Sponsored by "Deep Purple".
New song today.
Are you ready for a long story? Good, pull up a sheep and sit down...
You will be aware that I generally track audio on my Tascam 2488. Turns out I actually have two of 'em - one is permanently set-up in the Gulag, while the other one (the Gulag Mobile) is used when I record outside the studio (as in vocals, which are recorded in a walk-in wardrobe). I bought the second one secondhand several years ago with a view to working on a particular project which never materialised (but that's another story). It was in storage for several years, and it was only when I moved into the new gaff that I decided to take it out of the box and, like, see if it actually worked. It did.
A while back, I decided to clear out the second one in preparation for some recording. I discovered that the previous owner had left a lot of recorded material on the machine - band rehearsals for a metal band. Most of it wasn't to my taste, but I was very impressed with the drumming - pretty good time-keeping and quite "busy". The drums were recorded over several tracks of audio and while possibly not the best recordings you'll have ever heard (rather "hot" and no separation between the tracks), I decided to save all the drum tracks with a view to potentially using them some day in the future...
...and today was that "some day".
I took one set of drum tracks (over 6-channels) and imported them into a new project file in CE5. I couldn't be bothered trying to work out what the tempo was (which would possibly have changed throughout the track anyway), so today's task was to play keyboards (always a challenge anyway) by ear.
I programmed a variety of MIDI VST plugins in CE5, using the Yamaha DX100/Phonic Firefly/HALion One Dreamy Spheres/4Front Rhode/Kore Player Holographic Lights. I edited most of the tracks "by ear", as I have no strict reference points to go by in terms of bars and beats. Worked out way better than I expected.
The track has a huge post-punk sound, with the live drum parts adding a wonderful dynamic dimension. The track is going to end up sounding like classic Simple Minds with John Bonham on the traps. You'll be impressed. Got the vibe of a single about it.
I must do some more synth editing, and then track guitar/bass parts. It'll be much easier to play the axes by ear than synths. I have form in this regard...
Regards,
djp
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