Friday, January 31, 2014

You'll Never Miss Your Mother Till The Well Runs Dry - 310114

Sponsored by "AC/DC".

I thought I'd have a go at this new song today. It's intended to be a post-rock/ambient guitar-led track, somewhere in the general vicinity as Lowercase Noises, but obviously nowhere near as good as that. There will be synths and bass and possibly a bit of Ebow guitar, but that's all to come.

Tracked 10 Squier Strat parts on the Tascam 2488 using the Line 6 Pod 2.0. Audio cleanup in AA3 and inserted into the relevant project file in CE5..

I'm going to have to edit the Strat parts into shape before I proceed any further with the track, and that's going to be a major task, considering all the random stuff I tracked today, so I'll probably put it to one side for a while until I find a suitable "window" for editing.

With any luck this will be the last track on the album.

Later, gators...;-)

Regards,


djp

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Everybody Calls Me Darren/The Book Of Passwords - 300114

Sponsored by "90s Music".

Not feeling in great form today - still dealing with the bloody manflu (which actually turned out to be a chest infection) - I'm nearly out of the woods, but I'm still stepping on squirrel droppings...

I didn't really feel like tackling anything major today, so I had a bit of a think. I'd been planning to record a track called EVERYBODY CALLS ME DARREN for a long time, but I hadn't really worked out what I was going to do with it. Got a spot of inspiration over the last few days and decided that I was going to do a mad take on a barber shop quartet-style a cappella arrangement. In order to do this, I'll need some form of rhythm track and some guide tones. So I recorded a metronome track in CE5 using the Behringer Xenyx 1202 mixer. I also recorded some MIDI bass tones using HALion One Ocatve Synth Bass (hopefully you won't hear either of these on the finished track).

For some mad reason, the Roland Juno-D seemed to "miss" various notes while programming, so I resurrected my old Yamaha DX100 synth and programmed using that. No problems with "missed" notes.

The old reliable DX100 - only cost me a tenner back in the day...
I nearly have a set of lyrics for the track too, so I hope to finish those off in the next wee while.

Having some time to kill, I decided to mix/master THE BOOK OF PASSWORDS in CE5/AA3. First track of the album finished in January - remarkable!

More fun tomorrow (hopefully...).

Regards,


djp


Monday, January 27, 2014

Gomorrah - 270114

Sponsored by "60s Music".

Edited the Ric 4003 parts in CE5. Close enough for jazz. At least I have an idea of the track length now.

Hope to do some more editing on the track tomorrow.

Regards,


djp

Friday, January 24, 2014

Unwinnable Caption Competition/I Am A Shadow Of Your Former Self/The New Number Two - 240114

Sponsored by "20s Music".

Very busy day today!

UNWINNABLE...

Edited the Minimogue and MIDI drum parts in CE5. The track is ready to record some random bass (and possibly guitar) parts at some stage over the next few weeks.

I AM A SHADOW OF YOUR FORMER SELF/THE NEW NUMBER TWO

Two new tracks wherein I programmed a variety of VST plugins in CE5, using the Roland Juno-D and the Phonic Firefly.

I'm not exactly sure where SHADOW... is going, so I'll let it stew away for a while.

NUMBER TWO..., on the other hand, has a distinct Simple Minds vibe circa SONS AND FASCINATION. I can feel a Eurofunk groove coming on. Vaguely...

More work tomorrow, maybe...

Regards,


djp

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Tropes and Memes - 230114

Sponsored by "10s Music".

Edited the MIDI drum parts in CE5. Rhythmically, the track was a vague similarity with early Scritti Politti tracks. Hat tip to Tom Morley.

More editing tomorrow, hopefully.

Regards,


djp

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

You Have My Heart Scalded - 220114

Sponsored by "00s Music".

Tracked 10 Squier Strat parts on the Tascam 2488 using the Line 6 Pod 2.0. Audio cleanup in AA3 and inserted into the relevant project file in CE5.

Very satisfactory session. Not much more to add.

More stuff tomorrow, I'm guessing...

Regards,


djp

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

You Have My Heart Scalded - 210114

Sponsored by ""Live"".

New track today.

Recorded 5 Ric 4003 bass parts on the Tascam 2488 via the Line 6 Bass Pod XT, having earlier recorded a metronome part in CE5 using the Behringer Xenyx 1202 mixer and the Phonic Firefly. Audio cleanup in AA3 and inserted into the relevant project file in CE5.

It should have been an easy task today, but my poor bass-playing technique "shone through" big time stylee. Lots of timing fluffs. And harmonics - loads of unwanted harmonics.  And the fact that I'd set the tempo just that bit too slow for me didn't help either. Still, I made it through to the end.

I'll probably track guitar parts for this tomorrow.

Regards,


djp

Monday, January 20, 2014

Gomorrah - 200114

Sponsored by "Purchased".

Back in the game, somewhat...

...although I'm still feeling less than chipper, my health has improved sufficiently for me to contemplate tracking some audio, so I recorded 9 Squier Strat parts on the Tascam 2488 using the Pod 2.0. Audio cleanup in AA3 and inserted into the relevant project file in CE5. Some interesting stuff going on, particularly in relation to mad harmonics coming off the Ric bass part - possibly inspirational...

More tracking tomorrow if the old health holds out. New track, mayhaps...?

Regards,


djp

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Tropes and Memes - 180114

Sponsored by "Inventions For Radio No 1: The Dreams".

Still feeling less than well, so I had a pop at programming MIDI drums parts in CE5, using the Roland Juno-D and the Phonic Firefly.

Did 7 parts using a variety of VST plugins (HALion One Jazzy Kit/Kore Player Sky Kit) which I hope to edit at some stage tomorrow.

The track could probably be described as polyrhythmic (if I knew what exactly that term means...) with a class of a mathrock/white reggae drumbeat. Interesting. Odd. You'll either love it or loathe it...;-).

See you tomorrow.

Regards,


djp

Friday, January 17, 2014

The Book Of Passwords/Tropes and Memes - 170114

Sponsored by "Shock Me".

Still not feeling great today, so I decided to do some more experimental stuff with VST plugins.

THE BOOK OF PASSWORDS

This is a very simple Delia Derbyshire-esque moody interlude. I programmed one MIDI part (DSK xXx Reset) in CE5 using the Roland Juno-D and the Phonic Firefly. Messed about with a few insert effects. It's pretty much ready to mix and master now. Didn't take long, as you can guess...

TROPES AND MEMES

This was a little bit more involved. Used the following VST plugins:-

  • Cosmogirl 2 - The Cosmo Girl
  • FM8 - Almost Transparent Blue
  • Prologue - Forum Romanum (very impressed with that yesterday - must remember not to put the two tracks in close proximity on the final album).
I also recorded an audio metronome track, but I'm probably not going to use it.

There's space for bass and guitar in this track., Somewhere.

More work tomorrow, hopefully...

Regards,


djp

Thursday, January 16, 2014

A Accident/Unwinnable Caption Competion - 160114

Sponsored by "Rollercoaster"

I've been suffering from a heavy bout of manflu since the weekend, and here's the mug of Lemsip to illustrate that fact...

A mug of Lemsip, today...
The last few days at work have been a tough old slog for me, and while I know I should have been tracking guitar for GOMORRAH today, I just didn't have the energy to set up the hardware'n'stuff...

So today I thought I'd try a few electronic tracks that I could just program up in CE5 using various VST plugins.

The first piece to escape from my addled brain was A ACCIDENT, which is meant to be an abstract piece of electronica (whatever that means) with some vocal elements and a lot of heavy-duty hard editing a la Holger Czukay. Essentially, what I have is an audio recording (via the Behringer Xenyx 1202 mixer) of 3 and a half minutes of the Sun Ra plugin ("Sun arriving to Earth"). The plugin starts without touching a keyboard, so I just recorded it on the fly. Audio cleanup in AA3 and inserted into the relevant project file in CE5. I can edit to taste. Seemples.

I also started work on UNWINNABLE CAPTION COMPETITION. This started off with two MIDI parts (STS-86 Double Pad) programmed in CE5, using the Roland Juno-D and the Phonic Firefly. I then took the MIDI parts and applied them to an arpeggiated tone from the Minimogue VA plugin (simsynth3). Had to record this to audio via the Behringer mixer (usual audio cleanup/insertion routine). I then programmed up some basic drum parts in HALion One (Electrokit 1). On reflection, and for various technical reasons, the Minmogue parts didn't work with the STS parts, so I muted the latter and went on to program two different (but similar) "floaty" synth parts in Prologue (Forum Romanum) and Majken's Chimera. The track works a lot better now and barring some tidying-up, there is nothing to add to the track. It certainly doesn't need bass or guitar.

So that was it. Can't wait to get better. Not sure what I'll do tomorrow, but I'll definitely do something...

Regards,


djp



Sunday, January 12, 2014

Stiltwalker In The Wind - 120114

Sponsored by "Ocean Beach".

Edited the 10 Squier Strat parts in CE5. Sounds "close enough for jazz" for the moment, so I think I can move on to a new track tomorrow.

In other news, feeling a little manflu-ish today. Pauvre moi...

Regards,

djp

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Stiltwalker In The Wind - 110114

Sponsored by "Music (random)".

Edited the Ric 4003 bass parts in CE5. Almost there. Some little tweaks left to sort, but I might leave them closer to the final mix. I'm OK for the time being.

Had a bit of a problem with CE5 crashing while I was editing (but not saving). Pain in the bum. Eventually copped that Reaktor 5 Gischt part was eating up a load of processing power, so I recorded it as a stereo audio track using the Phonic Firefly and the Behringer Xenyx 1202 mixer. Problem solved.

Hope to have a go at editing the Squier Strat parts tomorrow. Who knows...?

Regards,

djp

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Stiltwalker In The Wind - 080114

Sponsored by "Ghostown".

Change of plans (part deux) - 'twere ever so.

I spent an idle hour yestere'en restringing and cleaning the guitar I was going to use today, my trusty old Aria TA40, only to discover that the poor thing is badly in need of a proper set-up - effectively unplayable, even by my poor standards - so that wasn't going to work.

Instead, I had to call up from the reserve squad my old faithful Squier Stratocaster. Never let me down before. Probably never will...


Tracked 10 different parts on the Tascam 2488, using my Line 6 Pod 2.0. Audio cleanup in AA3 and inserted into the relevant project file in CE5.

Tough going on my delicate lick'l fingeys. I am not a guitar player, as anyone who has heard my stuff can tell, but I have devised a way of working that helps me to get by. I'm happy with it and that's all that counts. So, hah...!

Back to the real world for the next few days, but I hope to do a bit of editing in the meantime. Might even start a new track. How cool is that? That cool? Eh?

Regards,


djp

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Gomorrah - 070114

Sponsored by "Down Colorful Hill"

Change of plans. I remembered late yesterday evening that if I was to track guitar parts today, I'd need to restring the guitar. And give it a good cleaning too, to be honest. I didn't have time (was too lazy) to do those tasks last night, so I decided that I would track bass parts for Gomorrah today instead.

So that's what I did. 6 bass parts on the Ric 4003 via the Bass Pod XT and the Tascam 2488. Audio cleanup in AA3 and inserted into the relevant project file in CE5. The bass parts are very "busy", so it was difficult getting decent takes, but I managed it in the end. Some editing to be done, of course.

On a related issue, I was sitting so long in the same position this morning that I seem to have done something funny (as in not "ha ha") to my left hamstring. Painful to stand up/sit down/walk about. Self-inflicted.

More self-infliction tomorrow, after definitely having restrung/cleaned the guitar.

Regards,


djp

Monday, January 6, 2014

Stiltwalker In The Wind - 060114

Sponsored by "Yes".

And so the tracking begins. I recorded 7 bass parts with my Rickenbacker 4003, using my Line 6 Bass Pod XT and the Tascam 2488. Audio cleanup in AA3 and inserted into the relevant project file in CE5.


And there they are - minus the Tascam 2488, which is very discreet and generally shuns publicity...

Took me a while to get back into my usual tracking routine - recording multiple takes of 8-bar sequences until I get a half-decent one - but it all came together nicely in the end. And there was an unexpected, and totally accidental, jazzy twist in one of the sequences. Niiiice...

The track has a nice "chill" vibe to it, and is probably a close relation to Hosanna In The Hiace of my album OPTIMISM 1 - EXPERIENCE 0...

I'll try not to go over too much old ground on this project.

Geetar tracking tomorrow, and the return of an old friend.

Regards,


djp



Sunday, January 5, 2014

Stiltwalker In The Wind/Gomorrah - 050114

Sponsored by "XTC".

Busy morning today.


STILTWALKER

Prepared a rough stereo mix of the work to date in CE5 and copied it on to my Tascam 2488. All ready for tracking bass tomorrow...


GOMORRAH

A new track, and not one that I'd planned to do at all, but the other day the following quatrain(?) came to me by way of inspiration...

 
GOMORRAH (draft lyrics - excerpt)
 
 
Baby's going back to Gomorrah
She's leaving on the morning train
I'll take her to the station tomorrah
I wonder will I see her again?
 
 
(c) 2014 Daniel Prendiville
 
 
As I said, I wasn't planning on doing this track at all, and I certainly hadn't intended writing lyrics at this stage of the process, but when inspiration comes, it comes and should be welcomed.
 
As it happens, I'm jotting down whatever useful phrases I come across these days for potential use as lyrics. Even the odd phrase that might appear from time to time, totally by accident, in these blogposts. This is not how I usually approach lyric writing - normally I just start with a blank page and an equally blank mind, but I would then come up with the lyrics to a song in one go. Then again, D(O)UB(T) isn't about songs as such...
 
I recorded a metronome track (75 bpm) in CE5 using the Behringer Xenyx 1202 and transferred it onto the Tascam 2488.
 
I plan to recycle a bass line that I'd used on my track The Survivalists' Guide To Hardwood Flooring...

 
 ...which featured on my 2008 album, RAW MESH.

(Sorry I couldn't imbed the track properly in this post. Bloody Reverbnation...)

I hadn't liked what I'd done with the bass line at the time, and so I plan to make amends this time out. I hope to track the new bass line on Wednesday.

That's enough to be going on with for the moment.

Regards,

djp
 


Saturday, January 4, 2014

Stiltwalker In The Wind - 040114

Sponsored by "X-Ray Spex".

Edited the MIDI drum parts in CE5. Because the parts are sourced from two different VST plugins (HALion One and Kore Player), I had to make sure that the preset reverb settings in both plugins were turned off so that the parts matched. I routed the various parts through a dedicated group channel and applied a reverb setting across all the parts.

I also had a look at the JP Analogue Stringpad parts and decided that the problem lay with the tone itself, so after much trial and error, I settled on HALion One StringsSt2 as an alternative. Works much better now.

I also added a wind tone (Reaktor 5 Gischt) which works very well, but required me to automate a fade in/out. Again much trial and error, but working fine now.

The track is ready for tracking bass and guitar parts next week. That's when the wheels fall off the wagon, I guess...;-).

Regards,

djp

Friday, January 3, 2014

Stiltwalker In The Wind - 030114

Sponsored by "Wishbone Ash".

Programmed 5 different MIDI drum parts in CE5 using the Roland Juno-D and the Phonic Firefly. I used a combination of the HALion One Jazzy Kit and the Kore Player Sky Kit. I'll edit these parts tomorrow if I get the chance. Definitely over the weekend. I may also have to take a look at the JP Analogue Stringpad MIDI part.

I also got over my issue with the Arpy Mystery Pad part by recording it as audio in CE5 via the Phonic Firefly and my Behringer Xenyx 1202 mixer. I did some audio cleanup in AA3.

Track sounding really good, I must saw. Delighted with the progress so far!

Regards,


djp

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Stiltwalker In The Wind - 020114

Sponsored by "Wire".

Oh, now that was very satisfactory!

Spent the morning programming various VST plugins in CE5, using my Roland Juno-D and my Phonic Firefly interface

What we essentially have is a slow-ish groove (95 bpm) using the HALion One Hip Hop Drums to program rough beats with electric piano (FM8 Rhode_) and synth strings (HALion One JP Analogue Stringpad), plus a voice from the Arpy plugin (Mystery Pad) which has a nice combination of feedback and delay. Very interesting, but you have to power it off/on after every take, as the tone "holds" indefinitely. I may well use that property in time.

Tomorrow, I hope to spend a bit of time programming proper drum parts and maybe a few other bits of melodic trickery.

I can hear the bass parts that I plan to use in due course (might even record them next week if I'm feeling especially inspired).

There isn't a huge amount more to do with the track beyond that. Very pleased with the progress so far. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come, but somehow I doubt it...;-).

More tomorrow.

Regards,

djp


Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Tús maith, leath na h-oibre...

Sponsored by "White Noise"

...or in other words, a good start is half the work.

So here I am, about to start off on yet another creative adventure that will take me God knows how long to do. And what's the very first task I undertake in this new project? Why, the project management spreadsheet, of course! And here's a sneaky peek of the spreadsheet, in all its virginal purity...


As I work on each track, I'll tick off all the elements I've completed and keep an eye on all the things I need to do. Seemples...

I have 25 potential track titles for this album. As I stated previously, I'm unlikely to use all the titles, but I plan to use most of them. I'll certainly try and start all of them...:-). There are certain tracks that I definitely want to use.

And with that in mind, I'm probably going to start work in earnest on the first track - STILTWALKER IN THE WIND - tomorrow. Been thinking of that track for quite a while now...

That's your lot for the moment. Hopefully more news tomorrow.

Regards,

djp