First thoughts this morning about proceeding with “All My Flaws” were how the feel/rhythm I want is like that of Rickie Lee Jones’ “Weasel & the White Boys Cool”:

I’m sensing some shades of Van Morrison may be seeping in as well as I posted to Facebook about Van’s “Wild Night” a week or so ago (actually June 24th – yeesh) and have recently read of his influence on both Elvis Costello (from his memoir) & Bruce Springsteen (from an email from my good friend Bill O’Driscoll).

I also read the following article: Gain Staging: What You Need to Know and More by Rob Mayzes (Twitter @RobMayzes) and attempted to implement some of it.

Of course “Gain Staging” made me think of gainsaying from Monty Python’s “The Argument Clinic” sketch (“Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes.”)

I played bass & snare drums, using the 110 bpm that I figured out from the Rickie Lee song above (I even played along with it for a bit), then added a cymbal part. I had a minor victory with the looping of those percussion parts – it allowed me to play just a few phrases & fix them (mostly).

I played guitar, getting used to the slower groove, but forgetting some of my earlier phrasing n the process – and then practiced singing over it.

What I implemented from the above-mentioned article is adjusting the gain on the guitar and vocals to get them into the referenced “sweet spot.”

You can hear the results of all this via the SoundCloud link below.

The other thing that my wife, Liz, suggested when I asked her for suggestions and possible future constructive criticism of my vocal efforts is that I should just sing for an hour weekly. I have not yet implemented, but certainly plan to do so.

-ReferencEd