Psalm 13

Hey it's me, Brandon, again. I am the founder of Analyzed Within, a Christian Metal band being born. We are still recording vocals for our EP, Living in the Last Days.

This track was written for my band's (Analyzed Within) future worship album.

This will be an interlude with either Josh (my vocalist and cousin) or me speaking Psalm 13 over it. I want to start out soft and build the intensity to match the track's flow. I showed this track to Josh last night during our recording of Testing of Christians. Actually we were re-recording some parts we didn't like before.

Psalm 13 

O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?
    How long will you look the other way?
  How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,
    with sorrow in my heart every day?
    How long will my enemy have the upper hand?
  Turn and answer me, O Lord my God!
    Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.
  Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!”
    Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.
  But I trust in your unfailing love.
    I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
  I will sing to the Lord
    because he is good to me.

This Psalm speaks so much to what I am going through. Sometimes it feels like God has abandoned you, but really he is right there all the way. I have a lot of things on my heart I can't wait to get out on the new worship album. But we have an EP to finish first. The reason I am still working on new stuff is because me and my vocalist obviously can't work continuously on tracking vocals. So I just keep my mind fresh by pumping out new stuff. It will actually make the launch of the album faster this way anyway.

I quad tracked the guitars using POD Farm. The bass is my 8 string, the same I used to track the guitar parts, just over accented the bass frequencies with a simulated bass amp and cab. The drums are of course EZDrummer DFH, but in the end they will be re-amped by our studio guy. He is going to either use Superior Drummer or Steven Slate, or a combo of both. The synthesizers are a cool plugin called Serenity - and it's FREE! There are two synths going on that I blended, and then the ambient guitar part is my signature preset from POD Farm.

Updates

Just restrung my Drop B guitar. Working on a playing a cover of Demon Hunter's "One Thousand Apologies." That's a great ballad by them. Yes, it's in Drop B. I'm anxious to do a dual cover of RED's songs "Feed the Machine" and "Faceless." I want to do one live take, one after the other. I will switch from my Drop A guitar to my Drop B guitar for the appropriate song tunings. I really wanted to wait until I get an HD camera. I'm not sure if I can wait that long. I am saving up for a Canon T3i. I am almost there. I think I can reach this amount in a few months if all goes well, budget wise. My latest video is a short tutorial on how my setup is wired. I was not ready to show anything new, as far as compositions go, and so I cooked up that video for you. I am finalizing my song "Surge" and will hopefully get it mixed and mastered soon. That may set me back further from the T3i though. My subscriptions haven't been growing as of late for my new artist channel. I'm guessing it's just not drawing attention yet. Maybe when I get Surge complete, I can promote the video and people will see my channel. Again, costs money. Perhaps people will support me though. ;)

By the way, I don't seem to be sore from my 3.6 mile walk I took yesterday. :)

haha. Can you count how many times I said "I" in my first paragraph?

Brandon

Arranging a contemporary into metal

I'm taking the contemporary song, "Lord, I lift your name on high," and giving it a metal/rock twist as many bands already have. I will try to give it some "metalish" ideas to create the mayhem. heehee. I've been trying to compose, but it's not coming natural once again. So...I don't force it. Otherwise, I will become discouraged and want to quit. We can't have that. So, I bring you this update. I'm actually recording with my cheap Ibanez IJX 121, tuned to Drop B, and it sounds pretty killer.

Stay tuned at my soundcloud.com/fireball100
and youtube.com/thefireball100.


Brandon

What have I been up to?

It's been a battle with my allergy attack, or whatever hit me. hehe. I was still able to go to Pumpkin Hollow (to be scared by the goblins) with my friends and church group last Saturday. I thought at first I wouldn't be able to go because I felt really bad - and it was an hour before we were to leave. But I was determined. With the help of a nasal decongestant, willpower, and adrenaline, I picked myself off the couch. My back had been hurting too from the day at work. But that heating pad and 3 Ibruprofen had helped. After moving around, I did fine and felt a lot better. I proved that a little determination will get you places. I used to think the "willpower" thing was just a superstition, but not anymore. I had a great time with everyone. It's not exactly a haunted house we went to. The attractions were the Mine and the Haunted Forest, and then also a few friends went to the Corn Maze. We did not care to go to Bubba's Butcher Barn to see gory stuff. The Mine is basically a closed in tunnel you walk through. You go through rooms to get scared, but sometimes they get you in the walls too. The Forest is an actual forest you walk through - along a path you follow lighted by small lamps hanging from trees. Along the way you will get scared; sometimes I can predict when, but it's always fun. This year I wasn't as scared as I have been before because I'm getting older. I got startled a few times and that was cool. My friend Fred was acting like he was terrified of the scares. It was so funny - he was half the entertainment! Crouching low and covering his head he ran through the scares like a little kid. He was pretty convincing as he wailed in supposed fear.

I learned a way I can prevent my back from hurting so much as a cashier. I'm so tall that when I reach down to get change from the drawer, I would bend my back a little; but now I bend my legs more and it is much easier on my back. I also learned Walmart does not accept Kroger coupons! haha There's so much to remember.

I found another band called Red Seas Fire. They are in the UK. Pretty stinkin' awesome if you like Progressive Metal. They have 7 strings and at least one 8 string. The guitarist sometimes hits the 8th string and it sounds awesomely low. I hope to find lyrics to their songs, because I want to find out if what they are saying is okay and not offensive. Until I find the lyrics, I guess I'm listening in happy ignorance if they are singing bad stuff. I just hope they aren't. They produce awesome music and I fear the possibility of having to delete them.

I slowly working some projects for the future. This Christmas, I plan on releasing a Christmas Rock Carol on YouTube. I have 5 songs so far in this arrangement. I'm trying to figure out how I can transition from the 5th to the 6th song, whatever song it will be. I am also going to be doing some tutorials once I get rid of this congestion.

-Brandon

Update on my projects, things to come

Okay, so some of you may be wondering when I am going to release "Determination." I have it completed, I just need to do one final mix on it, and I think it will be good enough. It's time to move on. It just needs a little more bass. I was listening to it in my car and the bass just wasn't there as it should be. I hope to get some mixing speakers one day.

And about the lesson for God Bless America video....I started work on that today. I got the first song, "Star Spangled Banner," tabbed out. I will provide many goodies and helps for you, and of course, you will get the backing track. I will give you one with the rhythm guitars in it, and one with just the drums only. I will place this in a zip file and upload it to MegaUpload.com where you can download it. And, of course, there will be a spoken tutorial on YouTube. :) I'm honored so many of you enjoyed it!

Also, I've been thinking about doing another interactive game for YouTube. When I did the first one, it was really fun - yes, time consuming. I don't know what it will be, but I don't want it to be the same kind of thing, otherwise it might be dull...a deja vu. But the prize will be probably another behind the scenes. I will probably some time upload a bloopers video that is public and link you to the old blooper video. :)


Brandon