and found the following regarding the rest of the songs:

not the end – as it turns out, when i listened to it yesterday, i somehow had the piano muted. turns out the guitar only would need to be redone if it was by itself; when coupled with the piano it is all good. i might change a few piano parts but other than that — done! the vocals in it seem fine but i might give them one more shot as well for posterity. whatever that means.

nothing else – this one is pretty good so far too. i’d say it needs a little something in it but it’s just about there.

questions – the synth bass sounds better than i thought. eq’d the acoustic a little, so its sitting pretty well. need the creepy piano part in there still. and i would still like to find some kind of other ambient sound to go along…but not as set on it now since the synth is better than expected. weird song.

rise – love the simple feel of this also. this one is one of the all-acoustic ones. i have a lead part that i worked on some today for the beginning, then i’m going to try out a complementary light rhythm or pick track along with it and this one should be ready for vocals. i still left the synth string part in there; instead of erasing it entirely i think i’ll understate it instead — leave it in but more as background than a focal point.

we live – my vocals need work. i am not satisfied with the way i sing this song at all. the instrumentation is quite peppy, though, to say the least. it might even “rock out.” there may also be a few lyrical changes in the works as well. some work needs to be done on the levels throughout the song also, especially on the various electric rhythm parts. some parts of it are just the way i want them though.

you are never really gone – only acoustic here. i think it will only be that and vocals. since this was written later than most i don’t know about including it or not…we’ll see. might add some synth bits or something but not much — i think it will ruin the feel if i do too much to it.

so there you have it; i sort of know where i stand on everything. pretty soon i’ll start vocals and then i can start crossing some off the list as “done except for mastering”.

this deserves a hearty “woot.”