Day 4: "Soulmate" by Natasha Bedingfield

Hi all, Happy Day 4! Okay, so I came into today with very clear goals and expectations...and completely did the opposite. I was planning on doing something a little lighter/happier today after last night's song. I actually spent all day thinking I'd do "Dog Days Are Over" and then came home from work to discover that I really only knew the chorus of the song. Rather than taking that opportunity to actually learn the rest of the song, I proceeded to listen/sing to about 30 other songs. At around 10-something I started panicking, and a little after 11, out of the blue, I recorded "Soulmate" by Natasha Bedingfield (yes, another beautiful but depressing song). But I love it so much, so it just came to me. Unfortunately, it came to me too strongly, and I maxed out the vocal input, which distorts the sound. I re-recorded in a way that didn't max out at all but it sounded too...boring, so in the end I went with the distorted version. It kind of sounds like I recorded it on a cassette tape, but that's okay. It's retro! (Side note: I really need to learn how to use Audacity. Right now the only features I've been using are "record" and "stop.")

I then went and added a karaoke track to the background for good measure. By the time that was done, it was a little after 1. Ah yes, time to record the video! I recorded the video in color, no glasses, hair down. And then when I went to save, my recording program crashed and I lost the video I'd just made. Forced to rerecord using a different program, I decided to take a different tactic. Alright, it's in black and white again. Sorry, I'll try to use some more color going forward. *But* I also put on my glasses and pulled my hair back. I thought it fit in well with the "nice girl who just can't find a nice guy" theme of the song. Unfortunately, as you'll see in the video, a few overdramatic head shakes in, my nice hairdo falls out. But no big deal! At least the saved. It's almost 3am and I'm happy to be done. This whole process feels very much like "Julie & Julia"....definitely a labor of love, and it will all be worth it in the end.

In other news, my video software came today, and I'm psyched to learn how to use it! I think it's definitely resulted in a higher quality video already and I haven't even tried anything fancy yet. The only downside I've found is that it takes ~15 minutes to turn the project into a "movie" and then about 15 minutes to upload to YouTube. hmm. (...and that's why it's almost 4am now. not pleased.)

In unrelated news, today the Red Bulls sent me a DVD of my performance from last week! I thought that was so nice of them!!! (...and in semi-related news, Amazon continues to directly receive the better part of my disposable income for music-related items. I'm officially cutting myself off, at least for a few days.)

See you tomorrow...with a happier song! I promise!