Wednesday, November 30, 2005

11:20pm and the house is dark...

20 minutes past my target bedtime. *sigh*

I washed my hands, and started loading up my toothbrush. Hearing Bing Crosby's resonating baritone on "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" coming from Daniel's room had got me thinking about what I had mentioned at dinner: I am planning on recording one Christmas song in honor of the season, to post on the web and share with folks. My mind was at work.

I want to do something acapella. Not enough time or inspiration for instruments.
I sorta already did O Holy Night, and it's arrangement wouldn't be too fresh.
Let All Mortal Flesh is a way cool song - very much fitting my current thoughts.
It could start out with a solitary voice, and have voices join with each line, building to full 4-part harmony! Nice.
[numerious recording and mixing thoughts here]
I wish I had a really good reverb unit to make the lone voices more dramatic. What I have now would sound like a distant singer in a giant metal tank :-(
It should be stark. A bunch of barbershop-type stuff would distract from the blistering words of the song.
No, I want to do it complex. It would be a shame to have the one song I record be real simple.

*mental flash of light*

I am HERE to glorify God, through my music. Simpler would serve this song better. How contrary to my musical convictions is the thought I just had! Show off my arrangement and recording skills at the expense of the meaning of the song?? My place is to make recordings that people don't necessarily notice--that convey the song, and the song's message, to people's minds, hearts and souls. I am to stand beside the microphone and let the truth pass through, not dance around in front of it.

Shame on me, and how suble and iniquitious is my sin!

Then I capped the toothpaste tube and started brushing.

2 comments:

Laedelas Greenleaf said...

Wow. That's deep. And meaningful. And convicting. And expressed in such a eloquent, yet concise manner that I really understood it well. Thank you!

That said, the soundboard at church has a decent reverb (imo). I dunno if Dad could let you commandeer it after church or not...or even if you'd like to use it. Just an idea.

Clear Ambassador said...

Thank you very much, my elven friend! My writing is nearly meaningless if it doesn't communicate to others, so it is encouraging to see that it affects you.

And as far as the church's reverb...I'm sorry..I'm trying to choke back my laughter :-P Um, let's just say that I've got 'verbs that trump any live sound board, and still fall short of the ridiculous level of quality you need to support a lone voice on a computer recording. But thanks for the thought!