RPM 2008 Challenge: record an album in 29 days
The rules of RPM Challenge are simple: write and record 10 songs, or 35 minutes' worth of material, in the 29 days of February, using anything and anyone you can shanghai into your project. Last year, over 850 records emerged from the competition. The RPM site will connect you with other challengers and let you offer support to one another as you go.
Link (via /.)
This is the challenge: record an album in 29 days, just because you can.That’s 10 songs or 35 minutes of original material recorded during the month of February. Go ahead… put it to tape.
Don't wait for inspiration - taking action puts you in a position to get inspired. You'll stumble across ideas you would have never come up with otherwise, and maybe only because you were trying to meet a day’s quota of (song)writing. Show up and get something done, and invest in yourself and each other.
Anyone can come up with an excuse to say “no,” so don’t.
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There's two of these in February?! (There's also February Album Writing Month at http://www.fawm.org, which goes for 14 songs during the course of the month.)
Bryn Jones (Muslimgauze) could record an album in a day, and did so fairly regularly. If we (Soleilmoon Recordings) needed a new album from him I'd pick up the phone and ask him to record something, and it would be in the post the next day. Say what you will about the quality of his output, but he would have laughed if I'd said "you've got a month to do this album".
Man, I miss that guy.
Charles
Here are two other projects with time parameters.
On the short side:
Drown Radio's "Crate Digger Deathmatch"
http://www.drownradio.com/crate-digger-deathmatch
Artist we're given 12 hours to purchase, sample and create a track.
On the long side:
V/Vm's 365 Project
http://brainwashed.com/vvm/micro/vvmt365/index.htm
V/Vm created at least one new composition for everyday of a year of 2006.
I signed up for RPM a couple years ago. Last year I volunteered, but didn't make an album. This year I plan on doing both. Its a great competition and the listening party is also great fun. It isn't too late to sign up, and people of all skill levels are encouraged.
Check out the jukebox from last year on the site. 8500 tracks of original music. Some of it pretty darn good.
Thanks for helping spread the word Cory!
And I think practically every SST album would also handily beat a 28 day deadline. Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade was done in 40 hours, and it was a double.
Of course how long it took to WRITE the songs is a good question.
And Muslimguaze is missed. My wife and I have been getting into tribal bellydancing, and I've been inspired to dig out some of my Muslimguaze. Damn. Forgot how good he was.
Karl Barx
The artists who can produce an album in 28 days already do so, and do it well (note previous comments referencing Muslimgauze and various SST bands, I'm sure there are others, Aphex Twin for example, although i also think that some of these artists already had the songs written or even recorded in home studios, and could just compile them into an album on short notice).
But methinks this just encourages people to rush release an album that's only half-baked. If the Beatles were on deadlines like that they probably would never have bothered experimenting with arrangements and studio effects.
Of course that's The Beatles, and not mere mortals like us.
I suppose I can appreciate the challenge, but in the end I think : "Just what we need, more half-assed albums." Maybe I'm just frustrated that there's so much music produced today, and so little time to actually listen to it.
karl barx kind of touched on this but don't punk bands do this all the time?
hell nofx's "fuck the kids" was done in two weeks or less.
Let's see....
The first Beatles album was produced in approximately twelve hours. Yes, the songs were already written, but arrangements weren't finaled and in a couple of instances I believe the songs were new to the band.
Van Der Graaf Generator's "Aerosol Gray Machine" was produced in a total of twenty-fours, which included learning and developing the material, all of the production, post-production and mixdown.
Bil Nelson regularly produces full-blown tracks in the span of two hours. This includes writing the lyrics and music, and full multi-track production. The results aren't always brilliant, but he hits more than he misses.
Composers for television shows produce fifteen to thirty minutes of new music a week. Yes, this often comes with a series of pre-built themes and variations; often it doesn't, though.
I think we could come up with literally thousands of examples of speed production, but the point being serviced is that fast doesn't equate to crappy and it doesn't even equate to under-produced or lacking polish. Even today, with home studios that lack the spit and polish of pro shops, it's possible to produce tracks that sound fantastic. You don't even need to lay out a huge wodge of cash for the tools anymore.
Hmm, the difference in processes will be interssting: who will write all the material first, and then record it, who will create each track one at a time, and who will really mix it up, leaving and returning to ideas as they go?
I might have to get in on this. No musical trainining to speak of, and I can't play an instrument, but there are ways...
John Cougar Mellencamp and his band recorded "Uh-Huh" in 16 days back in July 1983. 10 songs, 1 album... check the liner notes. The songs weren't all written during that session, though.
I think some people might be missing the idea that RPM is not necessarily about making an instant masterpiece (any more than NaNoWriMo is about writing the Great American Novel within the time constraints) as much as it is about kickstarting the creative process and getting inspired with new ideas to go further and do more. As others noted, sometimes the results are indeed surprisingly good--which is a nice bonus--but for a lot of folks getting involved, it's an excellent momentum builder for loftier projects.
Pfft, amateurs. Filker Tom Smith has made one in 24 hours on two separate occasions now...
I made an album in 2 weeks back last may, one track per day with a total of 3 days off, all by my lonesome. It's here: http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/6575
Yes, that includes writing the songs.
I might take part in this, since I have nothing to do at the moment. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
I completed the challenge, and I'm very satisfied with my new album. The best part was I finally got to use all the musical equipment I've bought over the past 10 years. Download the album for free http://www.myspace.com/platinumdestruction