Photoshoot – 260711

Sponsored by the letter L.

I’d planned to take some shots yesterday, but the weather was awful, so I scrubbed that idea. This morning wasn’t looking too good either, but in any event I was busy doing a session for Peter Fitzpatrick, so that put paid to that.

However, the weather improved considerably this afternoon, so I grabbed my trusty Canon camcorder and my tripod and headed for the hills to shoot about 10 mins of video. When I got home, I “grabbed” the video using Windows Movie Maker and captured a dozen or so frames. Unfortunately, only a few of the frames are really serviceable (I should’ve washed my hair, or cut it, or both, and I’m not exactly Mr. Photogenic anymore, if I ever was…), so I may have to go back at a later stage and have another session. Still, I have plenty of time to do this (sez he, hoping nothing untoward happens between now and September…).

Regards,

djp

Yes, it’s another session…

Sponsored by the letter C.

A second cut at a bass line for Peter Fitzpatrick’s song, Dirty Little Secret

Recorded 15 bass parts on the Tascam 2488, using the 4003 and Bass Pod XT.

Unusually for me, I played the bass with the fingers (actually, one finger…) rather than with a plec. Got a nice “borpy” bass sound, verging somewhat towards the sound of Free’s Andy Fraser on All Right Now. But nowhere near as good.

I need to do some audio cleanup of the wavs tomorrow and then I’ll Soundcloud ‘em for Peter. Hope he likes the work.

Regards,

djp

Another Yet Still Further Session Already – 220311

Sponsored by the letters U and W.

Spent a lot of the day recording a bass line for Peter Fitzpatrick for a song entitled Through The Lens. I recorded 10 different parts on the Tascam 2488 using the 4003 and the Bass Pod XT.

An interesting blend of styles:- Jah Wobble in the verses and Bruce Foxton in the choruses. I was going to do something fancy for the middle 8, but I chickened out and went for a plain vanilla line.

I’ll spend a bit of time doing audio cleanup and such, and then put it up on Soundcloud for Peter. Hopefully he’ll like it.

I have another session to do for him, which I hope to nail during the course of the week. And then who knows…?

Regards,

djp

People Who Look Like Other People – 210311

Sponsored by the letter S.

Recorded 9 different guitar parts on the Tascam 2488 using the 360 and the Pod 2.0. Very interesting results.

And that, my friends, would seem to complete the tracking of bass and guitar parts. Another project milestone reached!

Tomorrow, I hope to record an overdue bass session for Peter Fitzpatrick. That is, if the sky hasn’t fallen in the meantime…

Regards,

djp

What I was up to yesterday

Sponsored by the numbers 0-9 and no letter at all.

Early morning trip up to Dublin to do some work with Peter Fitzpatrick  in his studio. Edited some of my bass line and then recorded some Hey Jude-esque backing vocals. Great fun!

And here’s the fruit of our labours. You have to register with /log-in to Soundcloud to hear the track, but you should be on Soundcloud anyway, so…

Special word of praise for Steve Somerset, for his wonderful slide guitar work.

Tired but happy…

Regards,

djp

More another session

Peter Fitzpatrick decided to do a tighter version of the song we’re working on in memory of Paul Culnane, so I spent a few hours last night recording new parts on the 4003.

The original version of the song was based on guitars, while the new version is based on a lovely electric piano tone. This new tone suggested some changes to the bass line I’d already recorded – it’s more restrained than the original bass line, which is probably no bad thing.

This afternoon, I cleaned up the various bass wavs in Cool Edit Pro and comp’d together a bass line which sounds pretty good to me. Some editing issues, but Peter’s a good engineer so I’ve no doubt that he’ll do an excellent job on this, as always.

I’ll be popping into Peter’s studio in Dublin on Saturday to (try and) do some backing vocals. Should be fun!

Regards,

djp

Another session

Sponsored by the letters L, M and N.

I mentioned the death of Paul Culnane during the week.

Peter Fitzpatrick and I thought it might be a nice thing to write and record a song as a tribute to our deceased friend. Peter sent me down a rough demo and asked me to put some bass on it.

Which is what I spent this afternoon doing. 9 parts of 4003 in what vaguely approximates to a Maccaeqsue bass line. Hopefully it fits the bill.

Peter and I have been ping-ponging each other (oo, er) in relation to lyrics, as is our wont. Shaping up quite nicely. And there’s room for other contributors also. Should be a blast when it’s done!

Back to mine own humble efforts tomorrow…

Regards,

djp

Suite et fin

Sponsored by the letter P.

Finished editing together the bass line for Peter’s song Dirty Little Secret in CE5. Sounds pretty good, if I say so myself…

Regards,

djp

The Old Follow-Through

Sponsored by the letter N.

Spent some more time on Peter’s track tonight. Did audio cleanup on all the wavs using Cool Edit Pro and then spent some time editing the various wavs together in CE5 in an effort to compile a decent and authentic sounding bass line. Almost got it finished tonight, but I’ll spend a little more time on it tomorrow night and then let Peter have a listen.

Great fun, really…;-)

Regards,

djp

A secret session

Sponsored by the letters L and M.

I was very kindly asked by my good friend Peter Fitzpatrick if I might track some bass for a track he’s working on called Dirty Little Secret. Always happy to oblige Peter!

He wanted something in the vein of Mick Karn RIP.  Now, if I was ever asked to play bass in the style of any given musician, Karn would’ve been in the top three of bassists whose unique playing style I wouldn’t have an earthly hope of trying to reproduce. I’d have more hope of pushing an oil tanker into a dry dock with my backside than copying Karn. But I thought I’d be able to have a pop at doing a bit of muscular pub band funky bass, with the assistance of modern technology.

So I fired up the 4003 and the Bass Pod XT and spent three or four hours gamely attempting to follow in the thumbsnaps of the legendary Japan bassist.

Over 14 tracks of audio, I got most of the elements I think I need to edit together a decent bass line for the track. Of course, I’m not the client, so I’ll be giving Peter all the wavs so he can re-arrange the bass line as he sees fit.

It’ll take me a day or two to clean up the audio and then edits the various parts together. Hope Peter likes it…

Regards,

djp