I've been trying to work on song writing here recently. I put together a play list of songs which contained elements I thought I might like to use writing. For your interest, here's what I put on the play list:

Celldweller - self-titled (2003), other singles (2000-present)
Evanescence - Origin (2000), Fallen (2003)
Fold Zandura - all (1995-2002)
Juggernautz - self-titled (2002)
Orgy - Candyass (1998), other singles (2000)
Skillet - selected songs from Alien Youth (2001), Collide (2003)
Hoobastank - self-titled (2001)
Muse - selected singles (2001-2006)
A Perfect Circle - Mer De Noms (2000), Thirteenth Step (2003)
Apoptygma Berzerk - You And Me Against The World (2005)
Max Justus - all (circa 2008)
Circle of Dust - selected songs from Disengage (1998)
Leaderdogs for the Blind - most of Lemonade (1995)
Massivivid - demo (1997), Brightblur (1998), Dressed to the Nines, Armed to the Teeth (2002)
Mortal - most of Lusis (1992), Fathom (1993), self-titled (1996) and Nu-En-Jin (2002)
Fireflight - The Healing of Harms (2006), Unbreakable (2008)
Galactic Cowboys - self-titled (1991)
Lovewar - Soak Your Brain (1993)
All the Day Holiday - We'll Be Walking on Air (2007), The Things We've Grown To Love (2009)
Glisten - Starlight Wishlist (1999), Looking Back on All of This (2003)
The Choir - Speckled Bird (1994)
The Violet Burning - self-titled (1996) and selected tracks from Demonstrates Plastic and Elastic (1998)
Coldplay - Parachutes (2000), A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)
VHS or Beta - Night on Fire (2004)
Morella's Forest - selected songs from Super Deluxe (1995) and Ultraphonic Hiss (1996)
Starflyer 59 - self-titled (a.k.a. Silver) (1994)
Zeta - Unfinished (1997)

I have no fewer than 8 synths and 4 samplers, most all of which have nearly limitless sound possibilities. With thousands of patches for each one and endless tweaking possibilities, it's hard to know where to start!

Ok, so I realize I almost never blog/journal here. Well here's a little update: I've been working on putting together a little project studio of sorts, and really trying to get some of my own music projects going. Right now things are going slower than I'd like—I feel like I'm going up a steep hill. I'm hoping things smooth out, lock in and start rolling here soon. Anyway, I'm going through things, seeing what I have laying around. It turns out that I have maybe a hundred pieces of "lyric fodder" laying around. That's obviously a lot to work through. I've messed around with writing some music in the past, but haven't had the means to work on it very seriously. I've had a few good ideas and started working on somethings, but now I'm really wanting to try and do it more seriously. I want to make songs (and recordings) which are worthy of being released. This requires my doing things at a higher level than I have in the past. But right now I'm trying to figure out if I have the tools to make the quality of music I want to, and trying to figure out how to use what I do have to get there. It's a slow process. I can see why it takes Celldweller years to release an album.

Delusional
I believe I can cure it all for you, dear
Coax or trick or drive or
drag the demons from you
Make it right for you sleeping beauty
Truly thought
I can magically heal you

You're far beyond a visible sign of your awakening
Failing miserably to rescue

Sleeping Beauty

Drunk on ego
Truly thought I could make it right
If I kissed you one more time to
Help you face the nightmare
But you're far too poisoned for me
Such a fool to think that I can wake you from your slumber
That I could actually heal you..

Sleeping Beauty
Poisoned and hopeless
You're far beyond a visible sign of your awakening
Failing miserably to find a way to comfort you

Far beyond a visible sign of your awakening
And hiding from some poisoned memory

Poisoned and hopeless
Sleeping Beauty
(A Perfect Circle)

I just recently finished off a new compilation. I haven't actually done an "official" compilation in several years. Interestingly, I recognize that this will likely be the last CD compilation that I make, since CDs are on the way out. While on one hand it can be frustrating, I think there is also a benefit to working with the time constraint of a CD. It really forces me to narrow down the track list to the best stuff.

Originally, MARC stood for "Modern Alternative Rock Compilation". I've generally tried to keep compilations centered on one genre. However with MARC V, my main desire was to highlight artists that I've been digging over the past couple of years (much like with MARC IV). To do this, I felt the need to go outside the bounds of modern/alternative rock in a few cases. I believe I was still able to put together a good compilation though.

For those not familiar, I put a lot of work into making a compilation. I start with a general theme—usually a genre. I then go through my music and get a broad selection of artists which I think might fit. This list of possible songs can sometimes contain several hundred entries, so I begin gradually narrowing down the track list. I normally try to narrow it down to one, maybe two songs per artist. Once I've done that, there are typically still too many tracks to fit on a CD, so I continue cutting until the time requirements are met.

After that, the next step is to come up with an order. For me, making a compilation is just more than just throwing some songs I like on a CD. I want to have a CD that I—or someone else—can stick in and listen to all the way through, and that will have some cohesion to it. So I look for a song that sounds like a good first song, and then try to find another song that goes well after the previous one.

Now that the track list and order are selected, I import all the tracks into ProTools. I then make precise adjustments to the transitions between songs, sometimes cross fading, in other cases, making sure there's just the right amount of space between tracks. I also do some important mastering type things, such as matching the volume on all the songs, and on rare occasion, even re-EQing a track. After this is all finished, it's just a matter of exporting (as one file), splitting the songs into what will be tracks on the CD, and then burning.

The last step is listening to the final mix, just to be sure I'm satisfied with it. In the case of this comp., I did decide that there was a thing or two I wanted to change. Originally, The Felix Culpa track has more music on it. However it's a different musical "thought", and it didn't seem to flow well with the rest of the comp. So I decided to cut it out. Anyway, I guess that's just a little insight into what goes into my compilations.

It may be only August, but with the weather getting cool and everyone going back to school, it's fall to me. This makes be quite nervous, in a way I don't remember being before. I guess it's been a pretty decent summer, even if nothing too extraordinary has happened. I've made many new friends, which has been great. I'm dreading winter though. I really don't like the cold, and I'm afraid that I'm just going to be trapped inside alone by myself. I'm not real happy with where my life is at (what's new, right?), and I feel like the fall/winter aren't going to help me out at all. So, I guess maybe I feel like I have nothing to look forward to. I hope things go better than expected, but really I expect to be here in the same place with nothing having changed when next spring rolls around. And spring doesn't come for another seven to eight months! 8 (

This is unusual, but I may have a new favorite album. Apoptygma Berzerk's "You and Me Against the World" is one of the best things I've ever heard. My only complaint is that a few of the songs, while good, aren't as amazing as the rest. But probably over half of the songs on the album play through in my head, and are among my favorites ever. Even the limited edition bonus track "Shine On" is amazing and could be a single.

I'm now on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Vaapour of course.

Well I still remember how to play Autumn's Descent's songs (except for Mind Games), which is good, because I'm playing them again next week at Cornerstone!

Recently I've been thinking about my life's priorities as a way of understanding decisions I make regarding how I spend my time. This has a lot to do with the fact that I'm now working full time and my time is therefore much tighter. My first priority that I've identified is survival. Of course put this way, it's not surprising. This translates into putting top priority on eating, sleeping, working at a job and such things as hygiene, laundry, grocery shopping and paying bills.

My second priority is people/friends/being social/church. Since I'm single and live by myself, I don't have anything social "built-in" to my everyday life. So this requires me to be proactive and go out, attend events, meet up with people, etc. As a side note, by personality, I usually prefer a low key atmosphere to a large and wild crowd, meaning my preference is usually to spend time with one to a few close friends. So I wonder, if I were to get married, if I'd be as interested in getting out and being social as much.

I've recognized that between these first two priorities, there's not a large amount of time left over. These two things, and all of the other lesser ones, are in tension with one another, fighting for time and other resources. And there is some flexibility in them. For example, while eating is generally a higher priority than being social, I may put off eating for a while in order to do something social. Or if a major event happens to a friend, I might put off work and sleep temporarily in order to be with the friend.

All of the other things in my life are prioritized below the first two items. The main other things I can think of that I spend time on are blogging/journaling, reading and making music. Looking at it this way, it easier to see why I have a hard time getting around to working on music. And I don't have time for really anything beyond what I've mentioned. That's why I don't watch TV, among other things.