I've been working on a quadrupal album for the past 2 years as a one-man band. Please listen!

(Skip to the end of this post if you want to just get into the music.)

(Also, I meant to post in the title that one double album contains all cover songs, and the other double album contains all original material.)

With that all out of the way, it's good to be back on ATS!

My life has been extremely busy for the past few years. I stopped getting into conspiracy theories. I was also able to get my depression and anxiety in check a while back, so I got back to work. There, I met an awesome woman who I've been with for almost 2 years. Unfortunately, my car started acting up early this year, and so I had to give up my job. I'm about to get it fixed, so I'll be back at work real soon.

Anyways - right around the time I started dating my girlfriend, I went full-speed into making music. My vocal range not only increased to a tenor (something I've always wanted), but I also developed vibrato. If anyone remembers my deal when I posted a while back, they knew that I would always complain about my low vocal range and how much it was holding me back.

So once I was confident enough with my voice, I just put the pedal to the metal. Back before this all culminated, I would average putting out 1 song every year or two. Now I find myself almost at the end of 2017 with 44 friggin songs. 19 covers and 25 originals - all in less than 2 years. I cleaned out the basement and then some. I still can't believe it.

The amount of work I've been putting in to this is unbelievable. Multiple day benders with zero sleep; working 12+ hours on recording and mixing while only taking a few bathroom breaks (and eating junk food I would have within reach, unless my girlfriend brings me some real food). I've never worked so hard at something in my entire life. It's insane. But it's worth it.

All because I set a dead-line: I want everything done and ready to go by the second week of December 2017. I can still make this deadline if I continue to bust my ass. And since I'm currently unemployed with no money to fix my car in one shot (there's barely any money - it sucks), I've just been gunning it with this music thing.

75% of the songs are complete. Some just need minor mixing tweaks (like EQ, etc). 3 or 4 songs need to be completely recorded from the beginning.

I'm almost there. I've come this far - and I've waited this long for my voice to get to where it is.

The name of the cover song album will be named "The Light". The album of my original songs will be named "The Grip of Night". The concept comes from an original song of mine that I've posted here years ago, which is named "The Light and the Grip of Night".

Each album will be two discs/parts. That's four discs in total. I was highly considering letting it all loose at once when everything is done. But I think I'd rather start sharing some of what I have now - and the rest in December once I complete everything. One of the main reasons I've chosen December is because of "Feliz Navidad" (one of my cover songs). I've been holding on to "Feliz Navidad" since Christmas of last year, but I've never posted it. I missed my mark. My girlfriend and I are the only ones that have listened to "Feliz" (as well as 95% of my stuff). I've been keeping my cards close to my chest. Time to let others see what I've been holding on to. And when it's all said and done, I will NOT be charging for my music. It's all getting put into a huge torrent and I'm seeding it until the day I die. It's also going up and staying up on Youtube, Soundcloud, and wherever else I can post it.

I'm also going to be shooting a music video or two. I've already made a few test videos where there are multiple me's in the same frames and shots (playing my respected instruments, interacting, etc.). It can be done. Perhaps I'll post a few of those test videos.

Here's the list of cover songs from the first double album of covers:

Lifelong Lesson - "The Light" (Cover Songs)

1. Fade to Black (Metallica)
2. Would? (Alice in Chains)
3. Without You (Badfinger/Harry Nilsson/Mariah Carey)
4. A Matter of Trust (Billy Joel)
5. Losing my Religion (R.E.M.)
6. Movin' Out (Billy Joel)
7. Eons (311)
8. La Isla Bonita (Madonna)
9. Unchained Melody (Al Hibbler/The Righteous Brothers)
10. The Kids Are Alright (The Who)
11. Love Will Lead You Back (Taylor Dayne)
12. Everything She Wants (Wham!)
13. Strawberry Fields Forever (The Beatles)
14. Space Oddity (Dave Bowie)
15. Be my Baby (The Ronettes)
16. All of Me (John Legend)
17. Gotta Get Away (The Offspring)
18. Something Just Like This (Coldplay & The Chainsmokers)
19. Feliz Navidad (Jose Feliciano)

I'm not going to post a list of my originals, but "The Light and the Grip of Night" will certainly be included - and redone.

Also to note - I'm playing all guitars (including bass guitar), drums, keyboard (synth), and all vocals - as well as doing the recording, mixing, and mastering. I'm doing every single thing on my own. No one else is involved in Lifelong Lesson. I'm also self taught with everything. Never had music lessons nor did I go to school for audio engineering, for what it's worth.

And so, here we go. I'll post a handful of covers and one original for now. If there is any interest in this stuff, I'll continue to post...

Thanks for reading and listening. I hope you all enjoy!

"Fade to Black" (originally by Metallica):


"Something Just Like This" (originally by Coldplay and The Chainsmokers):


"Space Oddity" (originally by David Bowie):


"Would?" (originally by Alice in Chains):


"A Matter of Trust" (originally by Billy Joel):


"Without You" (originally by Badfinger - covered by Harry Nilsson/Mariah Carey) - Covered with Mariah Carey's version in mind:


"Here I Am" (an original song by Lifelong Lesson):


Screw it. Here's another original:

"Nowhere Around" (an original song by Lifelong Lesson):


Thank you, again, for listening.

Not bad....Digging your originals.

Are you playing all the instruments on the tracks?

Maybe get yourself a band together and lay down song rocking songs........practice and get tight.

Never know what it may lead to.

Good luck.

a reply to: impaired

Congratulations on nearly achieving your dreams and on finding love
This will always be my favorite, I think.
www.abovetopsecret.com...
With that said, I enjoyed listening to your music and would listen again and to any new originals that you share. Curious what you will come up with for your videos.
Perhaps making music IS your new vocation?

originally posted by: gort51
Not bad....Digging your originals.

Are you playing all the instruments on the tracks?

Maybe get yourself a band together and lay down song rocking songs........practice and get tight.

Never know what it may lead to.

Good luck.

Thank you. Yes, I am indeed playing everything.

As far as getting a band together, it's not something I want to do - at least not at the current time.

I've been in a few bands when I was younger. It never worked out. Scheduling conflicts, conflicts of interest - the whole nine.

Plus, I want to be able to call the shots to a tee. I admit that I'm a control freak. That's some of the reason why Lifelong Lesson is a one man band (but it's not the entire reason
).
I've thought about doing this all as a full band for decades. It will just never work out for a multitude of reasons, unfortunately.

But that doesn't mean i don't like jamming. And if I ever was to join a band, I would keep my own stuff separate because of how territorial I am with the stuff i write. And so with that said - if I was to join another band and take a back seat with calling the shots, I would actually like that - as contradictory as that might sound.

But as far as my stuff is concerned, Lifelong Lesson has been the product of a decades-long dream and vision. It's mine. I've tried having others in on it, but it never seems to work out.

Plus, if I decide that I want to cover or work on a song, I can begin immediately, go on a days-long bender (if it comes to.that) - and have the entire song completed in days. My turnaround (for one dude) is pretty short - averaging 4 days to about a week and a half per song - start to end. (Somewhat) instant gratification... I can't do that with a real band.

But on the flip side of it all - if I could assemble a band where everyone would let me have the final say (screwed up, I know) - and basically not have anything going on in their lives (unrealistic as hell) then maybe Lifelong Lesson could be a real band. However, I wouldn't want to put anyone through that. It wouldn't be fair to them and it's not right to be so controlling of others. Or is it? What if they want to just do whatever I ask?

I don't know...

Whatever the case is - it's my vision and my dream, and so let me be the one to boss my own self around and put myself through the ringer. Let it be my problem.

I apologize for the long-winded response. But I hope that answered your questions.

Thank you again for checking out my music. I seriously appreciate the interest more than you know.

originally posted by: TNMockingbird
a reply to: impaired

Congratulations on nearly achieving your dreams and on finding love

This will always be my favorite, I think.
www.abovetopsecret.com...
With that said, I enjoyed listening to your music and would listen again and to any new originals that you share. Curious what you will come up with for your videos.
Perhaps making music IS your new vocation?

There it is! The original version of "The Light and the Grip of Night"! Thank you for posting that.

Good to see you again, MockingBird. Thanks for stopping in.

That song is one of the last ones on my list. I've been slowly chipping away at it. It has to be perfect, and so I'm really putting a lot into it.

If you like the older version of that song, I think you'll be blown away with version 2.0..

I have to get to sleep now, but I'll address the rest of your post when I wake up soon. It's 7am here and I have to be up in a few hours to try and get a loan, hehe (to get my car working once and for all).

Talk to you soon..

a reply to: impaired

The b flat's pretty impressive, I get excited when I hit A

All your work payed off, dunno if they do it like they did in the eighties, but you have enough material there to get a label interested.

That thing you have going! - Work your songs into loops like Sheeran, even better if you can loop more instruments. Looks like a trend happening.



Oh! and in the age old tradition of the arts, stay popular, then you earn your creds for the cutting edge stuff.

Well done mate!

Not much to say, as a fellow musician but Hell yeah! Didn't listen to the covers, just wanted to hear your creations.

a reply to: impaired



You do realize that no 1-Yang Band isn't complete unless they start/end EVERY song w/stepping on drum pedal to smash the cymbal... hahahaha

In reflection as it relates to 'ZERO Sleep' during the longer sesh: Were You more/less involved w/'the process'? Were You able to 'tap-in' to Your 'other' levels of consciousness? e.g. Conscious; Other than conscious; sub-conscious?

Stay Hydrated...

a reply to: impaired

Well, certainly a lot of hard work there, and all pretty professionally polished as any good job should be. Well done!
And some of the original work is well organised and good sound, 'Here I am' is one.

a reply to: impaired

Nice work! Your originals are great- doing covers is helpful when starting but I'd say you've moved way beyond that. Besides, if you're planning an "official" release of your cover material you're going to get hit with licensing fees for each and every one. I would direct my energies to the originals, something I've been trying to do for the last 10 years (life always gets in the way!). Glad (and a little envious) to see someone realizing their dream. Rock on!

a reply to: impaired

Dude, you freaking rock! I mean that. And that's something coming from me since I think I'm pretty damn good myself. Haha. No really. You have a wonderful voice too! And I envy you having all that time to put this together, I'm too busy at my job and with the kids and all, just no time. Even though it's been on my radar to do basically the same thing. I'm gearing toward playing live rather than the recording being the end goal though myself.

Really really love your choice of covers too, reminds me of stuff I'd pick myself to cover. Especially Without You, I was thinking of doing that one myself! Didn't think anyone would really think of that one. I like to pick great songs from the past that most people wouldn't even think of.

Dig your second original but if I can be brutally frank, don't get me wrong, you're great, but after hearing the covers I was expecting just the slightest notch higher on the originals. Don't take this the wrong way, they're great, but I was expecting to get my ass knocked over by the time I got there and they were only just very very good. Not your fault you weren't the absolute best thing I've heard in my entire life, that's just my own fault setting the bar that high. Probably should have listened to the originals first.

Hey guys - I've read all of the replies that were posted to me in this thread. I will still address them - just give me a few more days and I got you. And I seriously do apologize for being away again. I'm back, now.

Anyways, Merry Christmas! Here's my version of "Feliz Navidad":

originally posted by: wtbengineer
a reply to: impaired

Dude, you freaking rock! I mean that. And that's something coming from me since I think I'm pretty damn good myself. Haha. No really. You have a wonderful voice too! And I envy you having all that time to put this together, I'm too busy at my job and with the kids and all, just no time. Even though it's been on my radar to do basically the same thing. I'm gearing toward playing live rather than the recording being the end goal though myself.

Really really love your choice of covers too, reminds me of stuff I'd pick myself to cover. Especially Without You, I was thinking of doing that one myself! Didn't think anyone would really think of that one. I like to pick great songs from the past that most people wouldn't even think of.

Dig your second original but if I can be brutally frank, don't get me wrong, you're great, but after hearing the covers I was expecting just the slightest notch higher on the originals. Don't take this the wrong way, they're great, but I was expecting to get my ass knocked over by the time I got there and they were only just very very good. Not your fault you weren't the absolute best thing I've heard in my entire life, that's just my own fault setting the bar that high. Probably should have listened to the originals first.

Thank you for being honest. I really appreciate that more than you know.

I read your comment months ago, and it motivated me to start tweaking and finishing up my other originals. I went on a very long time consuming tangent and got diverted big time. To make a long story short - I actually ended up switching from Sonar - my DAW off choice for decades, over to Pro Tools. Finally. I was having problems with my recorded tracks syncing up with other tracks in a song/project. I needed my music to sound as good as possible, and so I jumped to Pro Tools so that things would work out better.

I continued trying to get my better sounding originals finished, but I ended up working on even more cover songs and not giving as much attention to my other originals. However, these past few weeks, I've finally gotten to the originals. I will upload them soon.

After reading your comment, my goal was to just finish some originals and upload them, but my tangent ended up lasting months. That's why I didn't pop up back here. I just wanted to post them, but my tangent happened and then I ended up fixing my car as well and getting a job in early December.

And so, here we are....

I'll upload some more originals later tonight or tomorrow. The other problem I've been noticing is that I'll mix a song down and it will sound nice at the time. But once I upload it to YouTube, it ends up sounding a lot different - sonically speaking (for instance - the equalization will sound off, and there will be added mid-range as well as some treble taken away). I don't know how to get around that issue, and so that has stalled me as well. Hopefully I'll figure out a solution to that problem soon. It seems to be hit or miss when uploading my songs.

I apologize, once again, for taking months to respond. I really wanted to try and impress you.

But yeah, the originals I've uploaded aren't the best of the best (although I think "Here I Am" is one of my better works). "Nowhere Around" was composed in 1999 and I haven't changed much of it, fwiw.

I hope you like the originals that I'll be uploading soon. Thank you again for the post and for keeping it real. ☺️