Inside Scoop on Challenge #1 - With Audio!

UPDATE: It appears that in some cases people were having issues with the audio player. In addition to trying a different one, I've also included a direct link to the MP3. Hopefully that covers everyone.

Alright, I promised that I'd give you some details on my progress, so I'll share a little of how the song has come to be.

I had to figure out how the hell I was going to use my name without it winding up sounding narcissistic on one end of the spectrum, apathetic on the other.  The idea came to me to make the song center around an Old West marshal (whose last name, as it so happened to be, was Brown).  By turning my name into something wasn't my name and making it another person entirely, I've been able to approach the song with enthusiasm without coming off as vain.  Hopefully.  In the song, the marshal is recruited by some townsfolk whose town has been overrun by bandits.  Unfortunately, things don't go quite according to plan.  I'm going to leave it at that; I'll leave it to the final recording to paint the whole picture.

But I also indicated last time that I might provide a sample of the tune, and here it is.  It hasn't had any sort of proper mix down, and I left the vocals out (for a variety of reasons, not the least of which they need work).


Click to download


So there it is.  You may have noticed the little banner below the tune.  This is the license with which I will be releasing everything on this blog; it wasn't really necessary for this clip, but I thought I'd get in the habit of using it.  It basically means that:

1. You are free to do whatever you like with it, provided that
2. You don't try and pass it off as your own,
3. It isn't going to be used for commercial purposes (i.e. no using it in money-making ventures), and
4. If you create anything using it, you have to share it like I'm sharing this.

Given the theme, it's not terribly surprising it ended up with kind of a western feel.  I've never been a huge fan of country music, and it's definitely the first country-ish song I've performed, written, or recorded.  That said, I enjoy some of the darker stuff by Johnny Cash, and I've always felt "Ghost Riders in the Sky" (a song at one point recorded by Cash) has excellent melodies and vivid, supernatural lyrics.  So I guess that came through.

I've got a little over a week until the deadline, which hopefully gives me enough time to clean stuff up and get a decently mixed version out.  I may post something informational in between, but if not, see you in a week or so with the results of Challenge #1!