The Journey of a Mile Starts With One Foot

I got it guys. GUYS I got it!
My first instrumental is found and I'm almost done writing it! I can't really show you what I have so far because... I mean that's spoiling the song.

Otherside, by Macklemore originally was a song about getting sober and fighting through the hardships of life (if you want to go listen to it, go, but there's profanity in the original song itself so listener discretion is advised), so I thought it'd fit perfectly into my theme. The instrumental itself is not harsh like a Waka Flocka (-shudder-) song, but instead carries a mild guitar background sound track with the beat. (I'm using this as my first instrumental)

In this song (so far) I've been writing about the harshness that sometimes comes with life.



So as of now, I'm just working to get all my music aspects done so I can work on the technical aspects. Basically just a "meh".

All in all, I've finalized my idea for the EP.

Eat, Sleep, Chill.

Progression:

The Logistics

I guess I had already forgotten to write about my plan for this EP.

To be perfectly honest, I'm probably not going to start the inner depths of my project until after the week of March 6th, since I'll be depriving myself of sleep for the Musical.

When I get started I will do the following in order:

Find two instrumentals for my raps.
Write 2 three section (Verse, Bridge, Chorus) chords for my indie songs.
Beg my parents for a recording studio.
End up borrowing my friend's recording equipment.
Record the four tracks.
Edit.
Graphic Design the front and back cover
Make copies

the first five will happen in the first five weeks of the procees, in which ever order.
The last 3 will take up the last two weeks, which will result in endless nights with no sleep.

I also realized in order to make this somewhat of a unique progress, I decided that part of the proceeds from this EP will go to peace-making groups and anti-violence funding programs, since my central theme is revolved around relaxation.

Heh. Fun.

Eat, Sleep, Chill.

Chill Out

People who know me back in the day have told me I "sing way way too much" or I "need to stop singing" because they "need to copy down these science notes" (Like really? Are notes anyway more fun than listening to a wonderful rendition of McHammer's "U Can't Touch This"). I always keep those comments in the back of my mind and never really spent too much time thinking about those words. Until recently that is. I've been getting more and more serious about vocal performance. I've sat down and talked to myself in the mirror (and my sanity is still somewhat in check) and asked myself "Is this the road to take? Is this the path I'm willing to stick with until the day that I retire?"

I only find myself nodding after each question. 

So why make an EP?

Why would I want to exploit myself in a situation where people could potentially slap my CD on a table and point and laugh at it?

All because I want to. I don't want to live in a world of "What if's" in life. I don't want to live in a world of complete regret and denial. 

So in the next seven weeks of my life, I will be ripping my hair out trying to slap together a five song EP. Of course I'll be digging through my hundred-page long song archive to find some calmer school appropriate songs to record if not editing the ones that aren't so kid-friendly so I will be able to advocate my performances in school.

After days and days of pondering I finally came to the conclusion that I was to write an album based off of the idea of being "chill". Not "relaxed" since that word has a strong mature connotation and I want my music to be able to be tolerated by kids my age yet still contains the idea of calmness. 

Of course many close friends might snort after reading the last paragraph and think to themselves "When is Eric ever calm". If you're one of them, I'd like to say this: 

I am calm when I'm...

1.) Asleep

2.) Meditating

3.) Making music

I know this might be a change from my normal everyday behavior, but please don't go into any shock or anything... just understand that I'm exploring the Buddhist Monk side of me.

This EP is also to show anybody what I had changed from in the past. If you had known me freshman year you would have noticed the inability to focus and the lack of determination that I had. Yet this year, I have attempted and somewhat succeeded in fixing those problems. This EP is only here to show anybody how much determination I can really put into one product and how my passion for music can help me focus on completing the tasks at hand. In addition, I will be learning a few meditation techniques that will help to rid of all distracting thoughts while working on this EP. Though it may seem insignificant, if I am constantly distracted by outside stimuli, I will never be able to finish this. Also, my whole album is rotating around the idea of relieving stress, getting rid of stress/experiences of getting rid of stress, and being calm I want to see if meditation will help me. I will then be able to transfer that to everyday assignments, like studying or even fixing a technique in water polo.

With that in mind, here are the reasons of why I chose to do an EP (some reasons have been mentioned, others have not)
1.) To be able to keep a central focus (resource: Deep Meditation-Pathway to Personal Freedom by Yogani)
2.) To be able to rap with "flow" (I've had trouble in the past to keep myself on tempo when rapping)
3.) To be able to write songs and record songs.

Yet, after all, the main reason why I want to make "Calmbone" the EP, is because I want to spread my music and my abilities. That's all.

In order to keep track of where I am at, I will be creating a timeline/schedule that will keep me on task.

So welcome to my little adventure. 

Eat, Sleep, Chill.