Never Had It To Lose It - 290115

Sponsored by "Neil Young etc."

Mixed/mastered the track in CE5/AA3.

Had a lot of "fun" trying to get the Ric bass parts and the drum parts to sit well together. Much faffing about with EQs and the like, but got there eventually. One or two little edits required for the Squier Strat parts also.

The track sounds fine, but I'm still not sure about its place on the album - it feels more like an EP track at this stage, but we'll see when all the other tracks are done.

More work tomorrow.

Regards,


djp

Never Had It To Lose It - 060115

Sponsored by "Magazine".

Dubbed-up the track in CE5. Much clearing-out of "muck", which wasn't easy, but I persisted with it, and the track sounds a lot better now than when I started working on it. Mixing/mastering should be challenging in terms of sorting out frequencies and that...

Not sure if this is going to make it on the album. Halfway through this session, EP obscurity seemed to be the track's fate, but now I'm not so convinced of that. Nice problem to have, I suppose.

The real world intervenes tomorrow and then I'm off on my travels all next week, so I'll see how much more I can do this month. Good progress so far...

Regards,


djp

Never Had It To Lose It - 261214

Sponsored by "John T. Baker".

Finished off editing the Squier Strat parts in CE5. Did quite a clear out of parts and there's a lot more "room" in the mix now. Feeling more optimistic about the track. Needs a good "dub-up" and a careful mix and then we're away...

Time to move on.

Regards,


djp

Never Had It To Lose It - 231214

Sponsored by "John Fogerty etc.".

Started work on editing the Squier Strat parts in CE5. A lot of work to do. Not sure if it's going to make the cut as an album track, to be honest, but I'll keep plugging away at it, 'cos that's how I roll...;-).

This is my last session on the project before Christmas, and I'll be doing my usual Facebook blanket blackout from tomorrow p.m., so I'd like to take the opportunity to thank you all for your attention and interest. See you all after the festivities!

Regards,


djp

Never Had It To Lose It - 141214

Sponsored by "Iggy Pop etc.".

Managed to sneak in a quick session, editing the Ric bass parts in CE5. Coming together quite nicely, if I do say so myself.

Not sure if I'll be managing any further sessions this week. The end of the week is going to be disrupted, in a nice way of course, by the return of Younger Daughter from her five-month study session in Sweden. I'm sure the place will be in a state of chassis in the meantime and thereafter...;-).

Regards,


djp

Never Had It To Lose It - 111014

Sponsored by "Augustus Pablo".

Due to an unexpected turn of events (more a case of "I told you I was going to Dublin today - you never listen..."), I managed to have a brief, but productive tracking session this morning. I recorded 10 Squier Strat parts on the Tascam 2488, via the Line 6 Pod 2.0. Audio cleanup in AA3 and inserted into the relevant project file in CE5.

I should be able to squeeze in another two tracking sessions before heading to Sweden next week.

Go, me!

Regards,


djp

Never Had It To Lose It - 101014

Sponsored by "August 2014".

In total contrast with yesterday, had an absolute breeze, tracking 12 Ric bass parts on the Tascam 2488, via the Line 6 Bass Pod XT. Audio cleanup in AA3 and inserted into the relevant project file in CE5.

The parts are mostly variations on a standard parts, with a handful of non-sequitors thrown in for good measure. Very satisfying.

Not sure how much work I'll be able to do over the next few days. Things are going to pretty busy around here, since we're all heading off to Sweden next week to see Younger Daughter for a few days. I might manage to sneak in a few tracking sessions, but I wouldn't swear to that.

And speaking of Sweden...

God eftermiddag, vänner ...

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