California (the Song), Redux

I’m continuing to poke at recording music using my very DIY setup. This time, I worked on “California” by Tom Petty, a sparkly gem that was originally released on the She’s The One soundtrack back in 1996.

It was re-released in the Wildflowers box set. There’s a nice home recording of it, too.

This is the second time I’ve recorded the song. The first time was my first foray into home recording. I used whatever equipment I had laying around, ostensibly with an idea that I’d invest more into it if I had fun. But we all know I would’ve made the investment anyway. I even resorted to beating on books and antique objects with pencils for percussion. The result was not great, but I definitely walked away excited to make more music.

Here, I’ll re-share that crappy version and you can laugh at me all you want.

But I’m pretty proud of this new one. It’s far from perfect but is still a nice illustration of how much I’ve learned in a little over a year. Maybe I’ll share some other experiments if I’m particularly stoked on them.