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The Making Of "Yule Hear What I Hear"

— AS  DICTATED  TO  A  COMPUTER —

 

5/22/14

 

I think about doing album of Christmas songs each year too late around early December and I tell myself I have to start giving it and this year finally doing.

 

But how to begin? I started noodling around the keyboard and had a rhythm 54 which I tend to like and send plus is coming to town came out and short and sweet as I worked on it I made it slightly less sweet but I decided it sounded like it could be the first song on my album and sure enough that’s my plan the first song on out and hopefully portend more to come.

 

Made a long list of Christmas song so I can look them over and bring some out market once I was interested ones I wanted to get to know a little bit better first and realize that I had way too many songs needed to cut it down to around 14 or 15 songs, which is what I listed and tried to very sequence.

As I tend to do some songs to have vocals and others the instrumental so I mapped it out projected some things which I stuck with them some things with change.

 

But I chose the songs and made approximate timing so I would have roughly 46 minutes. And I’m undecided about one or two songs thinking maybe I could have a bonus track or just work on the song for next years out.

 

Each song pretty much has it’s its own skin the first song I don’t know him because of some five for a familiar song done in another meter. Some of the songs seem to have have a parody element or borrow from

 

And I really got a kick out of making a medley of songs which are three quarter time but doing them in for four.

 

The need for the second song I did was text the whole. Not text the whole deck the halls with boughs of holly follow Lala Lala Lala and I dated a song that is usually in for four and three-quarter ton simply repeating the whole song three times in a row and that seems to be a nice ending from my home

 

But the real challenges I decided that I should have at least one song, maybe two, which I compose which I create, original songs, original. You know what I’m talking about songs that I write.

 

What to write about the whole album is not in a religious bent but instead more general and the religious songs are instrumental such as silent night which was the third song

 

Caroline the bells was always a favorite of mine and I did a version which I like very much, so I listen to it again and thought well I could replicate this. I put it into the computer program. It was amazing how easily it synced up, something that was originally done on tape which can stretch, now locked in to my 190 beats permitted perfectly. I did overdub several instruments such as soon and drums but mostly added new things piano marimba many bills, and I like the original signed through with its toy tambourine.

 

One of the final touches was adding the toy piano introduction to silent night, which really worked out well and the toy piano really swings!

 

Not all different styles, well not all, but several. There is a lounge, jazz, a cappella, some rock ’n roll, a sort of march, one where I attempted computer music, a bit of samba, I don’t know what I was thinking fresh work or, well anyway… Got hard rock easy rock and and the length of the combo got the jazzy combo doing the Met met. They speed up and speed up and speed up and who knows if they might explode at the end, but it’s Christmas, so they don’t.

 

I hope I can write some good original songs I’m thinking about one about Mrs. Santa Claus, because you really don’t hear any songs about her I don’t know that I’ve heard it if I did, well, I may have forgot. But Mrs. Santa Claus seems to have two different names, depending on your source so I don’t know what to call the woman.

 

I did not know that Johnny Marx wrote rocking around the Christmas tree as well as Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, but I did notice that rocking around the Christmas tree sounded very similar to jingle Bell rock which came out to year one excuse me one year earlier.

 

The most recent song of this collection other than my original ones, was do you hear what I hear, written in 1962. Gosh, that’s over 50 years ago.

 

I have this idea to do the song Santa baby. I didn’t think it would work as an instrumental piece, and nor would it make sense for me to sing the vocal unscented baby but I thought it might be fun.

 

Doing more guitar work than usual I should say guitar sounds it sounded like I’m playing the guitar. I would like to get the violin down from the shelf and make some noise on that, maybe in the psychedelic song, “listen to the falling snow.”

 

Outside birds are chirping, sirens are Cyrene. I’m going to cough now. Oh okay I’m clearing my throat. Now what. The coffee did nothing. It doesn’t recognize a cough as any kind of word. I guess that’s a good thing.

 

Now, where was I? Oh yeah. It’s 14 songs by since there are met off it’s really 21, no maybe 20 song.

 

The bass riff for a little town of Bethlehem was inspired by a happy Monday song, a song that they keep doing a lot of albums.

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5/25/14

 

Is he a keep listening back to the beginning through the whole song of have yourself a Merry Little Christmas oh it just overloaded.

 

I just added the speaking vocal that I’ve been thinking about sort of like almost ferry flight sounding although not that style of music so I finally just listen to it with out any vocals at all, and that didn’t work for me. I keep balancing fine-tuning the new vocal, in order to make it work and it’s growing on me.

 

When I began I was only putting in a few hours a week coming back to it when I had time and inspiration when I was in the mood, but lately I’ve just been working on it to every possible day for hours because it became a real project.

 

Christmas songs are very short except for the ones that repeat verse after verse like silent night versus that people really aren't familiar with and you never hear. But my songs tend to be alongside I notice.

 

That I started the carol of the bells seem too soon and peas since it was like a part one and part two, and all I really had to do was mean that eight bars of the glockenspiel part that I had early on so now it’s like Carol of the bells prelude, bye guy Sherman, and Carol of the bells as his parts one and two.

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5/30/14


I’m going to need a music video. At least one song. I think the best candidate at this point is do you hear what I hear? A lot of people know that song or at least I think it’s a pleasant song, and I can have a lot of shots of me holding my cup hand up to my ear. I probably should also have a music video for the original song if I can do the original song. Of course that will more difficult to do because it’s an original song and should be the best video that I can possibly come up with.

 

I just added a second guitar part or maybe it’s the third guitar part on what child is this parentheses a.k.a. smoke on the water).

 

Rocking around the Christmas tree began with the idea of computer music, or Kraftwerk car off there, or TiVo, with a robotic vocal sound. But that didn’t work out very well, so now that I did more normal vocal on it it’s very confused song.

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5/31/14

 

Two songs have modulations in them, Carol of the bells which goes up a whole staff, and do you hear what I hear, which goes up I have to stop.

 

I can’t tell if the base is too loud with the toy piano in the beginning of silent night and I keep changing it over and over again but then it depends on which headphones I used to listen.

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6/5/14

 

Old alike silent night is too long it. It repeats seven times, and I think I should make it six, at least I will try and edit like that and see if I like it. I may miss a few bit, but I’ll try to combine the first half of one verse with the second half of the next verse I think it’s versus three and four that I should combine.

 

When I began it was mid February and while I had previously thought I could do about one song per month, I realized soon that I would have to step it up and shoot for perhaps two songs per month. Well now I did about one song per week so that’s not bad.

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6/7/14

 

I started working on listen to the falling snow around 1 June a daunting task. I knew it would be on the long side, I thought around four minutes, now I’m seeing it may become six or seven minutes and in the Pink Floyd thing vein, I am going to call it listen to the falling snow parentheses parts I-V), it’s something like I’ve never done before. I think it’s going well, and it sounds more like echoes, with a little us and then added. Originally, I was thinking more along the lines of ultimate spinach. But Pink Floyd is perfectly okay.

 

It’s going to take a long time this summer.

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6/9/14

 

Shortened silent night by one repeat. It used to be seven times through the whole song, and now it’s six times through the whole song. I think he feels better this link I and I won’t miss anything because I already went through it and pasted a few with the bits that I took out into the song so that I would be sure not to miss any of it. So that hot 35 seconds off.

 

The new song, the original song, listen to the falling snow is looking like around eight minutes long now it could definitely get longer but I’m going to try to keep it on the shorter side so it’s going to be at least I think seven minutes which is hilarious.

 

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6/13/14

 

Really had an idea for deck the halls to be in five for time, I am reminded of this by a recording I did find it out in on January 21 but I’m glad ice that idea and did it and three three quarters time okay whatever.

 

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6/14/14

 

Hours redoing the vocals on “listen to the falling snow”, and when I listen back to the song I just started giggling at the end and that was perfect to replicate the Darkside of the moon so I went right away to record my laughter, and the whole thing just cracks me up boy misses. This is the biggest song I’ve ever done on the biggest album I’ve ever done. 

 

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6/26/14

 

The lady I wanted the new song listen to the falling snow, parts one through five, to be in the middle of the album around the fifth or sixth song. But now that it’s turning into a 10 minute piece I think it Kurt at the end. Change that. It must appear at the as the as the last track, the final song on the album and this way the listener could listen to the album again from the  beginning and not necessarily have to suffer through the 10 minute song. Or it could be considered as a bonus track.

 

Today I added a weather report. And also some sheet and birds.

 

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6/28/14

 

It’s after 2 AM, and my body is sore from working on part three of listen to the falling snow based on Pink Floyd’s on the run. It came out to exactly 10 minutes long. I had thought I might force it to be exact 10 minutes long, but I didn’t have to force it that’s what it turned into, and I don’t know if it’s too darn long or not. But there still a long way to go on this song. It needs guitar more of fact, the drums need work, although they’re not bad. And what amuses me is that although it supposed to sound like pink Floyd, and I think it does, if people are familiar with pink Floyd’s Darkside of the moon, animals, metal, is there another one? May be a little bit of wish you were here, after all of that it’s really an original song, and I think it’s even a bit catch.

 

During the heartbeat fading out at the end I want to have my voice saying something which is parallel to the end of the Darkside where the guy says there is no Darkside in fact it’s all dark. What I’ve got so far is there snow all over the lawn. In fact it’s all snow close quotation. I need to come up with something better.

 

I rewrote and recorded the weather report a few times, and it’s close, but still sounds a little bit like I’m reading, and I wanted to sound like Roger Waters radio Chaos K a OS.

 

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7/2/14

 

Little song if I already said this? The album I had more vocals.

 

The album is focal heavy in the first half and then a bunch of instrumental songs. And then the big vocal number at the end, so although I like the idea of having 12 tracks, 12 being the number of months in the year, I guess 13 tracks just as good.

 

So today, I did the final song. It came together very fast. It’s the song about Mrs. clause. It took a couple of sessions to come up with lyrics and ideas, but then I was able to make the song very quickly because it’s common boogie-woogie style. I think it’s pretty funny. It will balance out the vocals a little bit on the album.

 

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7/3/14

 

Today I spent hours read singing vocals on Santa Rudolph. It has a lot of vocal tracks and it’s trickier than it seems to get it right and make it blend. Now I need more remixing but it’s sounding much better.

 

Rockin jingle Madeley I use all the lyrics from Brockton and omit some from jingle.

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7/12/14

 

Been adding some clarinet to oh little town 2 steps forward, one step back.

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7/26/14

 

Made thirty second samples of each song for previewing.

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7/30/14

 

Added violin to snow — kinda sounds bad but I’ll work with it before deleting.

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8/1/14

 

Behind schedule.

 

Today I made the ending of the waltz medley a bit shorter. I think it’s better but now it ends on a different tonality, going over space at end. I miss the previous longer solo piano fadeout but it was pointless.

 

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8/4/14

 

Photo shoot arranged for Wednesday. Trying to find a Santa hat!

 

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8/5/14

 

Santa hat found!

 

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8/15/14

 

Hours on Mrs. Santa Claus. Who knew it would be so tough to get the vocals right on such a short little song? Every phrase every note has to be right because this is my original song. 

 

I added one beat to the song. There’s one measure in five, and it was a tough decision. I had to keep singing that phrase over and over throughout the day, and finally decided I should give it a try. And it feels pretty good, it makes the song a little bit different.

 

Just fixed one of rock ’n roll jingle Bell rock and I have to check out the final cord of Carol of the bells to see if it’s long enough. I think it’s okay.

 

And then listen to the falling snow still has the most work I thought I would’ve been finished by now with the whole album I thought I would finish at the end of July. But it’s now the middle of August.

 

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8/16/14

 

Picky notes now. Fixing one note in the melody of silent night. The note comes in a hair too early. I also cleaned up some vocals been rocking around the Christmas tree and have yourself a Merry Little Christmas. I’m going to fix one base no one brass know one little snare fill in a little town of Bethlehem and that double-time piano at the end of God rest you Merry gentlemen is still not coming through the way I wanted but I think I know what to do

 

Had to fix one piano note in she’s Mrs. clause. More of a vocal course in she’s Mrs. clause, singing Mrs. clause, Mrs. clause at the end to try to justify the middle, but I deleted all of that.

 

Have I mentioned the heart glissandos I wanted? I really wanted it somewhere on the album, especially in deck the halls, but I think the little ukulele did the trick there.

 

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8/19/14

 

I think all the songs are almost no stop I think all the songs are fresh 

 

I was eating I meant finished. I think all the songs are finished, except for listen to the falling snow, which need some acoustic guitar, maybe 12 string.

 

There is one note in a song, to fix and maybe a couple of tiny mixing touchups to do in one or two other songs.

 

Almost ready for mastering. But I got to be sure.

 

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8/21/14

 

Is the day I must, no plan to finish every song. I’m liking the acoustic guitar work on listen to the falling snow, and I finally found the one sour note in the Christmas walls medley it was not a wrong note, it was a harmonic in a cord that was a good cork and appropriate

 

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8/22/14

 

Today I touched up half a dozen songs, and I’m glad I did. Almost done!

 

Added a new guitar part in verse three of what child is this. It was going to be acoustic arpeggios, but it ended up being serve guitar blather on the right channel.This morning, I fixed one lead guitar note near the end of what child is this, and had to touch up some of the mix for a listen to the falling snow. 

 

 

9/3/14

 

Actual day that I have officially completed the recording and mixing of this album. I think.

 

 

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