Ceo

Ooops, how could I have forgotten?

This slipped out of the laboratory a few weeks back. If you haven't heard (of) it before, you have heard (of) it now...



It's supposed to remind you of the sensation of being trapped in fog. Not everyone shares that view. Tough on them...

Enjoy!

Regards,


djp

Helicopter Shots Of The City - 290814

Sponsored by "Jason Mundok".

Edited the various MIDI drum parts in CE5. I substituted a number of parts in Kore Player Sky Kit for HALion One parts with which I was not entirely satisfied.

That is all...

Regards,


djp

Helicopter Shots Of The City - 280814

Sponsored by "January 2014" and "Japan/David Sylvian/Mick Karn".

Programmed a variety of MIDI drum parts in CE5, using the Roland Juno-D/Phonic Firefly/HALion One Jazzy Kit/Kore Player Sky Kit.

I hear a nice Wobble-esque bass line behind this. But that won't be for a while.

Two road trips over the weekend. Only one of them will be enjoyable...:-(.

Ah, me.

Regards,


djp

I Choose Indecision - 220814

Sponsored by "Hawkwind etc."

Eventful morning today. Had to rise at 2.30 a.m. to drive my younger daughter to Dublin Airport to catch an early morning flight to Sweden, where she will be studying for the next few months. Back home around 8.30, determined to make myself busy for the morning, even though I was feeling knackered.

In spite of my fatigue, I did some significant work on ...INDECISION. I finished programming and editing the drum parts in CE5, and then I programmed two addition synth parts using the Yamaha DX100/Phonic Firefly/HALion One New Wave Synth/Minimogue VA Simsynth 3. The Minimogue part is arpeggiated, but for some reason that I cannot fathom, the pattern for the arpeggio changes towards the end of the track without my intervention. I've tried to program it a number of times but the same thing keeps happening. Maybe my VST plugins are haunted...;-). I'll stick with what I have, because the track is coming together very nicely.

Now I'm starting to flag, so I reckon it's the leaba for the afternoon. It'll probably turn out to be a nice afternoon, too. Bastid...

Regards,


djp

I Can Explain...Everything/Helicopter Shots Of The City - 200814

Sponsored by "Grizzly Bear".

...EVERYTHING

So I had a mad idea this morning and decided to record a musical instrument I'd never used before. Ladeeez and germz, I give you...

It's a Stylophone - imagine that...?

I'd bought this years ago at the height of the Celtic Tiger for the princely sum of €15 at the HMV in the Dundrum Town Centre (I think - don't hold me to that...).

Those of you of my generation, who lived in more innocent times, will remember that the Stylophone was promoted heavily by A Certain Person...

...but also that it featured heavily in David Bowie's SPACE ODDITY...

Anyway, I recorded three different tracks of Stylophone noodling on the Tascam 2488- not terribly well played, and not really sure if I'll use any of it, but it was fun to do.

While attempting to record the Stylophone, I accidentally connected the wrong set of cables to the Tascam, and ended up recording four minutes of electrical noise from the Phonic Firefly. It sounds vaguely like a helicopter, so I decided that I'd use that piece also in a new track I'd been planning, HELICOPTER SHOTS OF THE CITY.

All in all, a productive (if accidentally so) day.

Regards,

djp

I Can Explain...Everything/I Choose Indecision - 190814

Sponsored by "The Grateful Dead".

...EVERYTHING

Repeated yesterday's experience with the Loop Loft loops - different set today - DanceGate - and made up a fairly random beatbox drum part in CE5. Then programmed a number of VST plugin parts using the Yamaha DX100/Phonic Firefly/Sophia_1_1 2y2les/ Gargoyle Intereference (not my spelling...). I was checking out another plugin, when I decided it was good enough to use in a separate track, so that lead to...

...INDECISION

Programmed a trance-y part using Predator Dance. I was attempting to programme drum parts using HALion One T8AnalogKit, but I kinda ran out of steam, so I decided to leave at that for the day.

More work tomorrow (hopefully)...

Regards,


djp

Never Had It To Lose It - 180814

Sponsored by "Gentle Giant".

Busy weekend last weekend. Younger Lassie had a joint 21st birthday celebration on Saturday night, in advance of her moving to Sweden for studies for four months (or so) this Friday. So things were hectic around here for the last few days and I'm still very much "in recovery".

That being said, I wasn't in much form for doing anything that involved guitars or basses, so I had a little poke around to see what was on my computer. I stumbled upon a folder containing samples of drum loops which I'd downloaded from the Loop Loft ages ago. I'm not a great fan of loops, as some of you might know, and I've only ever used them very sparingly throughout my output. But since I wasn't in the mood to program up a set of MIDI drum parts today, I imported the loops into a project file in CE5 and had a bit of fun playing around with them. After an hour or so, I came up with a reasonably coherent drum part, which has a touch of the Chemical Brothers about it.

I then programmed an arpeggiated VST plugin part on the Minimogue VA/Emerson's Tarkus, using the Yamaha DX100/Phonic Firefly. After editing in CE5, I tracked it to audio using the Behringer Xenyx 1202 and did audio cleanup in AA3. For the gas of it, I tracked the same part in audio, but this time messed around with the oscillators on the Minimogue. Interesting - some parts work well in unison, while I can cut between other parts.

I also programmed a strings part using HALion One/JP Analog Stringpad. After editing, I tracked to audio and did audio cleanup. Without being aware of doing so, the JP part is somewhat similar to the Minimogue parts, but a little out of sequence, so there's an unintended "round" effect between the three parts.

I can hear certain bass parts, which I may have to track without one or other of the synths, because there's an awful of "music" in there. Must leave room for the Strat too.

Could be interesting...

Hopefully more work tomorrow.

Regards,


djp

Iye - 150814

Sponsored by "Funk etc."

Edited the Ric bass parts in CE5. Quite a lot of cutting and pasting. Everything sounds fine when you're listening at a superficial, but once things get forensic, all the fluffs were painfully apparent...

...but I've got a pretty decent bass line edited together now. No doubt there will be tweaks along the way..;-).

Now, what's for lunch?

Regards,


djp

Iye - 140814

Sponsored by "Free etc.".

Oh now, that was very satisfactory!

Haven't touched the Ric in a while, so I decided to have a pop at doing the bass parts for this track today. Did 12 different parts, using the Tascam 2488 and the Line 6 Bass Pod XT. Audio cleanup in AA3 and inserted into the relevant project file in CE5.

There's now a nice muscular Simple Minds/Derek Forbes/eurofunk vibe going on here, a la this:-

I plan to track some Squier Strat parts in the near future, but there's a lot of (good) stuff goin' on chez moi these days, so I can't be sure when I'll be able to crack on with another session. Keep tuned, nonetheless...;-).

Regards,


djp

Accents - 010814

Sponsored by "Ella Fitzgerald etc."

Based on my infamous spreadsheet, as referred to yesterday, I inserted 49 clips from the 78s into the relevant CE5 project file. I might have to re-do some of the clips, in that I may have edited them a little too tightly, but it's not a huge problem.

Beyond that, there isn't much more I can do with the track until I actually start, y'know, writing music and stuff.

Catch you on the flip side.

Regards,


djp