Dan improvised on guitar over some synth and drum MIDI loops Kevin had pulled from a collection he'd bought the previous day. Quick, easy, and fun way to spend a few minutes at the studio. :)

One Saturday afternoon at the studio, Nick played around on the Clavinova, running through some chord shapes and notes to try out the instrument's various piano sounds. Kevin recorded the performance and later chopped up and combined some of those…

One Saturday, Nick and Kevin met at Margaret's Lovely Studio to make some music. Nick played some pretty sounds on the Clavinova, and Kevin pressed Record on the computer in hopes that one day, other people would be able to hear and enjoy the…

Another lovely Monroe-Robinson collaboration. This one was originally titled "It's There For Us," but when Robbie's wife really liked the line "it's simple and easy to say the words that keep us alive" in a draft version, Leum was happy to retitle…

A love song from Kenny to his lovely wife Rebecca, about 20 years in the making! Kenny wrote and recorded the vocals and most of the instruments on his own, then kindly brought the tracks to the studio to see what magic our cadre of friends…

Another lovely song from Leum. He's prolific, that one is! It was fun to collaborate on lyrical tweaks for this one, working together to tighten up a solid draft into a rich, compact song. For recording, we used a couple of condenser mics…

Mike's fun rockabilly follow-up to Scammers, Spammers, and Cons from a previous RPM Challenge. We recorded the drums, bass, one rhythm guitar track, and a scratch vocal take live off the floor, then added the other guitar tracks and a clean…

Leum Monroe - Lyrics, songwriting, vocals, acoustic guitar Margaret Bibb - Vocals Kevin Craig - Recording, mixing

Leum Monroe - Lyrics, songwriting, vocals, acoustic guitar Mike Anders - Vocals, acoustic guitar Matt Appleberry - Electric guitar Kenny Tannehill - Bass, background vocals Nick Peshman - Recording Kevin Craig - Drums, recording, mixing

June 17th, Leum brought to the studio a lovely, plaintive reflection on lost love. He recorded a solid first take, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, then invited the rest of us to fill out the production as we saw fit. Margaret added some…

Leum dropped off these lyrics at the April REM Challenge recording session, to see what other folks would do with them. At the first May recording session, we scanned through the lyrics and decided to try to put them to music. Robbie had a couple…

When we assembled at the studio for our first REM Challenge 2023 recording session, Nick offered up a MIDI guitar piece he had been working on. Kevin, being chronically underprepared, did not have any decent sounding guitar VSTs installed on his…

Sweet origin story for the lovely Anders family. Mike had most of the song written prior to February, and he and Margaret fine-tuned the words at the studio while we were setting up to record. Mike invited his bluegrass pickin’ buddies over…

So, the RPM Challenge is to record an album of original music in the month of February, which had 28 days this year. Robbie texted me on the 27th of those 28 days to let me know he had another song almost finished – it just needed final vocals…

Kenny kept this song in his back pocket for a couple of years after an especially sweet revelation/confession from a couple of friends. The origins were specific, but as with lots of good songs, the lyrics could describe any number of situations…

This one has quite a convoluted path, too! The origin was toward the end of the first RPM recording session on Saturday, 2/4, when Matt said, "Hey, can we jam on G – D – Em – C and see what happens?" We arrayed ourselves around the studio…

Love can be complicated in this mixed-up world. Production notes: We recorded Leum’s first couple of passes at the vocals and guitar on 2/4. After listening back, he said he wanted someone else to re-record the guitar parts (Robbie, Matt, Nick…

Robbie’s lament for the Earth and the state we’re likely to leave it in. (This one’s vibe reminded me of Lady in Black by Uriah Heep, which our band covered several years ago, so I tried to add drums and bass to maintain that vibe…) Robbie…

After a bit of encouragement from myself, our Nadaband bandmate, and probably a few others, the Halls of Justice broke down and got a Zoom R16 recording device last year and have started dipping their drumsticks into the wild, woolly world of…

Maggie’s beautiful, heartbreaking hymn to loved ones lost too soon. The intense, somber feeling of loss, both individual and communal, and support in the room as the other 6 or 7 of us listened to Maggie and Sara Beth perform the first take…