King Fidget – 170211

Sponsored by the letter I.

Recorded 10 guitar parts on the Tascam 2488 using the TA-40 and the Pod 2.0.

Most of the parts are simplistic one-string post-punk riffs, with some choppy harmonics and discordant arpeggios thrown in for good measure. Well, I suppose I could actually learn to play guitar properly but that would take me years.

I can hear some dub elements going on here. Furthermore, the HALionOne beats I’ve used have vinyl scratch sounds, and I’m half-thinking of keeping in all the accidental buzzes and pops that I recorded with the guitar parts. Only half-thinking though…

That’s the TA-40′s part in the project completed. Tomorrow I plan to retrack the bass parts for…HEAVEN… with the Jazz Bass. Maybe I’ll get it in tune this time, eh?

Regards,

djp

The Cop Car Hand Heel Wheel Turn/On The Lake Beneath The Shoreline – 040211

Sponsored by the letters U and V.

COP CAR…

Came up with a mad set of HALi0n One beats (3/4 time – 150 bpm) and recorded 7 bass parts on the Tascam 2488 using the 4003 and the Bass Pod XT. Having some serious issues relating to feedback on the bass, but I got it sorted in the end. This could turn out to be an interesting track…

Remember how I said today would be my last day for tracking bass? Well, I was wrong… turns out I have to record bass for LAKE also. And when I looked at the relevant CE5 project file, I found I also had to program some rhythm too. So I programmed up a “real” kit using Kore Player. This will need to be edited over the weekend, so I’ll be able to track the bass on Monday.

Not fully convinced that this track will make the final cut, but I’ll stick with it for another while longer. Maybe I’ll find some inspiration somewhere…

Regards,

djp

Perp Walk – 270111

Sponsored by the letter I.

Edited the MIDI drum parts in CE5. Not sure if I like all the HALion One voices, so I attempted to use some nice voices off Kore Player. Unfortunately, the Kore software seems to have become corrupted, so I’ll have to re-install it. Slight bummer, but hopefully nothing major.

Regards,

djp

Perp Walk/Hosanna In The Hiace – 260111

Sponsored by the letters G and H.

PERP WALK

New track. Programmed “real” drum parts in CE5 using HALion One. These need to be edited out, but should come together quite nicely.

HOSANNA…

Edited the Juno-D MIDI parts. I now have my “tune”. Programmed some “real” drum parts in HALion One. These will also need to be edited out. I have an idea for a nice bass line for this. Stay tooned…

Regards,

djp

Vichy Circles/People Who Look Like Other People – 210111

Sponsored by the letter B.

VICHY CIRCLES

So last night, I dug out the old Cubase VST/24 project file for VICHY… It seems I’d recorded three different versions of the track, comprising various sound effects and beats, my Rickenbacker 4003, my Rickenbacker 360 , my cheap-and-cheerful Godman 12-string electro-acoustic guitar and the Juno-D (OB Strings voice, I think).

There were problems with all three versions, principally around the bass playing, where I’d recorded full-length takes, but not very well. I also discovered that I’d recorded each of these versions at 110 bpm.

Unfortunately, I’d used a tempo of 104 bpm for yesterday’s attempt, so if I want to reuse any of the old versions (the synths are particularly good), I’ll have to change the tempo of the new version to match. No problem really.

Today I decided to see if I could break the bass line down into loopable parts, so I recorded the Jazz Bass roughly onto the Tascam 2488  using the Bass Pod XT. With careful playing, I can cover the entire track in two parts, so that’s a relief. I won’t be using the Jazz Bass though, this is a job for the 4003.

With a bit of time to spare I tried something new…

…which lead to…

PEOPLE WHO LOOK LIKE OTHER PEOPLE

I programmed up some beats in CE5 using HALion One and transferred them to the Tascam. I then recorded 4 bass parts using the Jazz Bass. The track sounds like “Peaches” by The Stranglers, but recast as a shuffle in 7/4 time. Interesting, nicht wahr…

The Jazz Bass is going to take a bit of a break for a while – I’m going to concentrate on the 4003 for the next while.

Toodle-pip!

djp

Vichy Circles/No Position To Argue – 200111

Sponsored by the letter A.

Mixed fortunes today…

VICHY CIRCLES

Some of you may recall that I made a number of attempts to record this track for my Raw Mesh album. None of them were satisfactory, so I abandoned the track. In the intervening time, I’ve felt that the track deserved another chance, so this morning I had another pop at it.

Recorded a metronome from CE5 as audio on CE5 via the Phonic Firefly and the Behringer mixer and transferred it to the Tascam 2488, and attempted to record the Jazz Bass through the Bass Pod XT. For some reason, I just couldn’t get my head around the bass line – when I eventually remembered what it was (which took longer than you might imagine), I found I couldn’t play it cleanly enough for long enough to record it as a single take. And the bass line is not one that lends itself easily to splitting into separate parts which can be looped.

I gave it about 10 minutes and then I jacked it in as a bad job. What I intend to do now is to go back to the old Cubase project file (Cubase VST/24, I reckon) and see what is retrievable from the old versions. Maybe I can work up something useful this time out. It’s worth a try at least, otherwise, what’s the point of hanging on to the old project file and wavs, eh? I’ll have look at this over the weekend.

Moving swiftly along…

NO POSITION TO ARGUE

…I thought I’d try (another) new track. Programmed a rough rhythm track using HALion One, recorded it as audio and transferred it to the Tascam 2488. I then attempted to record a bass line in one take, which sounded rather ropey. Luckily, this time out the bassline does lend itself to splitting into parts, so I recorded 4 separate parts which I will cut’n'paste to my heart’s content. The bass line is somewhat in the Joy Division style, but obviously not as good as Hooky might have done it.

The old transport panel problem reared its unlovely head again today (so much so that I actually worked NO POSITION… up in CE4 rather than CE5), so I decided to contact Steinberg support to see if they could offer any suggestions. A nice German lad suggested that a combination of adjusting my screen resolution and resetting the preferences might do the trick. Seems to have worked so far, but I will keep the situation under close observation, so I will.

Might be taking tomorrow “off” – depends on the family, doncha know…

Regards,

djp

The Tree Of Idleness – 170111

Sponsored by the letter U.

I should’ve known from experience (as in “the triumph of optimism over…”) that when I wrote “tomorrow” last Friday, I wouldn’t actually get to do any work on the track on Saturday.

As it happened, I was surprised with the offer of a night away in a nice out-of-town hotel Saturday night. Came back home yesterday tired but happy. No position to work on the track yesterday either.

So I made up for it this evening by programming the Dig Rhodes 2 voice off the JV-880 in CE5. Programmed two parts, but I might only use one. I also programmed an additional Warm Pad part off the D-110. Finally I programmed some tasty beats using the HALion One VST plugin.

Pretty much ready for recording bass and guitar parts. This week? Who knows? Should I tempt fate?

Regards,

djp

King Fidget – 110111

Sponsored by the letter N.

Another new track, and one which came together really easily, compared to A TRUTH…yesterday. This one sounds really promising!

Did a rough rhythm track in CE5, using the Breakbeat Kit in HALion One. This kit has “vinyl scratches” built-in and adds to the impression of restlessness and “fidgetting” that I want to create in the track.

I recorded 9 separate bass parts on the Tascam 2488 using the Jazz Bass and the Bass Pod XT. Even though the  parts were musically more complex than those I recorded yesterday for A TRUTH…, they came together very easily and quickly. Possibly something to do with the tempo and general swing of the track.

Rhythmically, the music reminds me of the theme for the nature programme Untamed World which I used to watch on TV when I was a kid. Some of you of a certain age might remember it – the theme was upbeat and very definitely native African. Mind you, my track will not sound remotely African by the time I get finished with it…;-).

The title KING FIDGET reminds of Elvis Costello’s track KING HORSE, but again, my finished track will bear no resemblance to anything that Mr. McManus might have produced…

Good, good day!

Regards,

djp

A Truth You Can Happily Accept – 100111

Sponsored by the letters K, L and M.

Another new track, begad…

Ran up a rough rhythm track in CE5 using various rhythm kits from HALion One.

Recorded four different bass partson the Tascam 2488 using the Jazz Bass and the Bass Pod XT. The parts weren’t particularly difficult from a melodic point of view, but there were a lot of stops, and I’m not particularly tidy in me stops, so there was an awful lot of takes and retakes. What I have should edit out OK, (I hope…).

More bass work tomorrow, hopefully.

Regards,

djp

Braille For The Feet – 080111

Sponsored by the letter I.

Dull, miserable and uninspiring sort of day today, so I thought I’d have a go at running up a new track in CE5. Not sure if it matches the mood of the day, but we’ll persevere with it for the moment.

Programmed a repetitive “pizzicato” part using the MinimogueVA VST plugin (Soft Mini Sweep). Detuned two of the parts and built a loop which will drop in and out of the track as it progresses. Programmed beats using HALion One. Found a nice strings voice on the JV-880 (SoarinString), the arrangement of which I built up and then reversed. I also used the ElecPiano3 voice on the D-110. I hope to put a nice tremolo effect on that when I record it to audio eventually.

Some nice ideas are coming together for the bass and guitar parts.

I’ll stick with this for a while.

Regards,

djp