Shinn the Writer

To Record or Not to Record 

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Some time ago I took myself out of the rotation for solo performances at church. I was feeling pretty burned out and didn’t feel like I wanted to add the stress of preparing. But lately I gave it a second thought and I’ve actually been trying to internalize a couple of songs I’ve written that would be appropriate.

 

“Wake Me Up” was written as a wake-up call to myself. Don’t be so lazy. Go out and make the world a better place, the song tells me. I actually performed it in church a few years back and it went over quite well. “Center of Town” was inspired by a conversation I had with a close friend many years back, but it moved from just that conversation to a life’s lessons learned kind of song which seemed to work better for me. And it would pair up nicely with Wake Me Up.

 

I talked to our music director, who was very positive about the idea, and asked that I send her a recording of each, or at least the lyrics. Lyrics would be easy, since I’ve had them written down for some time, but I’d rather send recordings to give her a better overall feel for how they might fit in to a service. And that brings me to a rather big issue for me. I’ve had the equipment to record for some time but haven’t been using it.

 

I could get away with doing a stripped-down version of each, just one guitar and one voice, as I’ve done when singing on my porch or more ambitiously at the annual Neighborhood Night Out. But I also had the chance to play Wake Me Up with my band, the Blues Daddies, and it sounds better that way. But there’s no recording of either. I made a stab at recording all my other songs, but somehow, I seemed to lose the urge.

 

I can’t remember how to program a drum part, it’s been too long. Now all you drummers out there who think it’s heresy to use a drum machine, well, this would just be a sketch of what I want to do. A decent drummer would only improve the music, but you have to “work with what you got”, as an old friend of mine once said in a song he wrote, though I don’t think drum machines were what he had in mind.

 

The keyboard part to Wake Me Up is (for those who know what I mean) a Professor Longhair style that I can’t do very well. (As if there was one I actually can play with real competence.) I could probably program the part. Nobody seems to care about programmed keyboards like they do with drums. I don’t know why.

 

I can handle the guitars and bass, although Center of Town’s guitar part is fairly difficult and would probably require several takes to get right. Curse my perfectionist ways. For the church, my one guitar, one voice approach will be fine. But for posterity, I’d like to play the songs the way they were envisioned, even if I don’t play all the instruments myself.​