The Rule of Zero Hero
A cramped little guest room home studio
Check Out the Album
Original Concept:
This album will not have a cohesive theme. It will not be 40 minutes. It will have too many covers. I will unapologetically use material previously recorded as well as ideas and songs that were originally conceived long ago. It will be an album that should be disqualified before you even give it a chance.
Artist Post-Game:
This challenge was well-timed and very motivating. My gear is made-up of stuff from 20+ years ago that had been collecting dust AND a new laptop/AI/DAW that I had just purchased about 2 months prior.
My goal was to have fun and try to finish some ideas that had been bouncing around in my head along with figuring out how to use my new toys productively.
The whole Animals thing was inspired by the haunting acoustic and melodic solos of Dogs, the groovy bass of Pigs and the rockin outro of Sheep. I wanted to capture the sound and feel of one of my favorite albums (a concept album) and that ended turning into a little obsession that left little time to work on original stuff... but it was fun and I blew my own mind a little. I learned so much about working in my new DAW!
As for the other four songs, those are ideas that have been in my head a while, but never put together. I really cannot sing or write decent lyrics, so my motivation was getting my musical ideas into a format where I might try to collaborate with a lyricist/singer or maybe other musicians. I cut all the songs down to a point where my ideas were complete and shareable, but hopefully not too redundant (but easy to edit for multiple verses/choruses/etc in the future).
Also gotta mention the INCOALMO organizers are enthusiastic and helpful. The rest of the INCOALMO community members were supportive and interesting. I love the approach everyone took and the vibe that we were all challenging ourselves rather than competing with each other. It was a lot of fun and I definitely have some unfinished business so I am looking forward to next March!