album 3 update (or why Dell sucks)

The enforced isolation is having a weird affect on my third album. I've been trying to get this album done for a couple of years, but life has had a way of throwing obstacles up in my path. So you think that being not allowed to leave the house bit would mean time to record, right?

Of course things aren't going as smoothly as they should. My wife needs the computer all day for her work, and I still have to teach online after spending some time with the family. Truth is, I average about an hour of recording time a day. The only days I get sustained work time is on the weekends.

So I've been working in a piecemeal procedure, and, in spite of not ever being able to reach that mythical flow state, it actually has been going fairly well. All bass and drums are done. I've been bouncing back and forth between guitars and synths, and I've got over 50% of those done.

An hour here, an hour there is a pattern no professional musician would ever do but and is certainly not how I would ideally like to proceed. In spite of this, the album is actually working out pretty well. I have the time to really think out the arrangements, and I can also really focus on making all the sounds mesh. I'm already happy, and I bet the finished project will exceed my expectations.

Today, though, one of my few days with sustained work time, my computer decided to stop working. It's been giving me grief since I got it, with random freezes and crashes. I haven't even had it for a year, and nary a day goes by without me wanting to throw it against a wall.

What makes this so much annoying is that this is the first time I have ever bought a brand new computer. My last two machines have been refurbished units, and each one lasted about five years. So did I follow my tried and true method?

Of course not. I decided to get a new Dell. My computer guy at the University, upon seeing its specs, said it looked like the machine he was planning to build, but it only cheaper. So I thought I was set.

But no, my brand new Dell started screwing up that first week, and now, this about a year old machine is dead. Moreover, I am going to have to pay emergency repair rates, because my wife requires the desktop for her work. Sigh.

Somewhere, album three is locked in a digital prison, screaming for release. And it's jailor? Dell Computing.