Record an Album in 28 Days!

Reckon you could write and record either 10 songs, or 35 minutes of original material in 28 days?

Well, RPM Challenge is once again reaching-out to grab you by the collar and slap you in the face before shouting: Come-head then, show us what you've got man-queen!!

That's right, it's the 2007 RPM Challenge beginning Febuary 1st 2007, and ending... you guessed it, on the last day of Febuary (That's the 28th BTW! (sheesh!)).

A cool idea that had a surprising number of entrants getting involved last year, all buzzing off each other - This year should be even better.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Why then?

Like the heading suggests; you commit to the challenge and put yourself under the pressure of time to deliver.

But why?

Because, knowing you, you probably have the (sometimes debilitating) luxury of sitting at your DAW driving yourself, neighbours and family mad listening to the same half-constructed loop for 16 hours straight before finally settling on the right sound for the part... by which time you've completely forgotten where you were headed with the song in the first place!

If I Were You...

Or think about it another way: You've just finished a long tour and now your record label wants you to write and record your 2nd album. You've only got sommat like $50k to squirt on the project; the rehearsal room is booked and your name is down for studio time during the last week of the month when very expensive sound-type people will be expecting you.

Hey! You're not Pink Floyd quite yet, plus you're in hock to your master banker - your label - so you can't get away with spending 3 years crafting the masterpiece you were inspired to write when you left your mother's womb and had your placenta cut.

Or how about...

You've got a well-paid dream job making music for the sickest video game to hit the world's game consoles.

The brief is fairly strict: 35 mins of music - not a second more, not a second less. 3 minutes of which must be a spectacularly arousing orchestral score, complete with brass, violin and wind section. Another 45 second track must be a "Yee-haa, Giddy-up", Country 'n' Western number... and so on - You get the drift.

Those are the pressures of the music industry my friend, so consider the RPM Challenge as a taster of what it's like... but without the consequences of failure.

A New Musical Journey - Another Creative You

Truth is: Oftentimes when you're up against it, a new and quite different stream of creativity is unleashed. You're forced to make decisions a lazy mind would otherwise spend hours fretting-over.

You will see-through to completion your first inital creative spurt that ordinarily would otherwise morph into something completely different, simply because you had the time to play (sometimes too much!).

Who knows, you might well be surprised what you finish up with - I have to say: Whenever I've deliberately just knocked together a quick tune in an afternoon - just for the hell of it - although I personally never usually rate it, other people usually do! (I have shallow friends ;)).

Learn Sheet!

You'll learn sommat too: You may be forced to "make-do" with some tracks in order to crack on with the next one, for instance. The early tracks (particularly) might have the "stains" born from a few poorly-made decisions (Not necessarily mistakes others will hear either... the perfectionist within is never quelled eh!).

But as you progress - and because your mind is sharper and necessarily more alert - you'll learn to quickly identify those mistakes, or, most probably, learn to avoid them completely as your mind becomes more disciplined and organised.

At the very worst, you'll (hopefully) end up with 10 new original tracks you never had just 28 short days before, plus you'll develop skills most bedroom music-mashers won't have which can only stand you in good stead should opportunity come knocking on your fist-damaged door.

From the site...

Anyone can come up with an excuse to say “no,” so don’t. Many of you are thinking “But, I can’t do that! I don’t have any songs/recording gear/money/blah blah blah...” But this doesn’t have to be the album, it’s just an album. Remember, this is an artistic exercise. Just do your best using what you have in order to get it done.

Read the rules and enter the RPM Challenge.

Good luck and please do let us know who you are and what you enter... if you're STRONG enough to enter that is, RARR! ;)