A Accident/I Am A Shadow Of Your Former Self - 010914

Sponsored by "Jimi Hendrix".

Plagued with technical problems today...:-(.

I didn't feel like tracking bass/guitar today, so I had a look to see what needed doing on the project, and found to my delight that I had two tracks ready to mix/master. I decided to give that a go...

A ACCIDENT

Mixed in CE5 and mastered in CE5/AA3. Benjy the Studio Cat doesn't like it. That's fine by me. He's a cat - what does he know?

...SHADOW...

Was all set to mix/master this, when the anti-virus software on my PC told me that one of the VST plugins used on the track, Motion 2.8, was actually a "trojan horse". This messed up the launching of CE5, but bizarrely the track would open but would only play some of the notes in the Motion 2.8 part. Strange that. I uninstalled/reinstalled CE5 and restored the project file from DVD to see if that would do the trick. No dice.

I wouldn't mind, but Motion 2.8 worked fine only a few days ago...

I was starting to desperate at this stage, until I remembered that I have CE5 on my laptop. I powered that up and found that Motion 2.8 worked fine. I did notice that the laptop was not connected to the internet, so obviously the anti-virus software was not as up-to-date as on the PC. Whatever.

I decided the thing to do would be to track the Motion 2.8 part in audio on the laptop and then transfer it to the PC. This eventually worked after several cock-ups, and I finally got a decent audio track. There was one big click on the track, but I sorted that with AA3.

So now I'm ready to mix/master the track at some stage in the future when I get a free day but don't feel like playin' geetarz...

As well that ends well, eh...?

Regards,

djp

A Accident/I Am A Shadow Of Your Former Self - 280714

Sponsored by "Dummy".

I was off on holidays/family business in the UK last week. Came back on Saturday night, absolutely wiped. Did very little yesterday apart from mooching around the house. And holidays are supposed to be a time where the body is refreshed and restored to its optimal physical condition? As if...;-).

Before going on holidays, I'd finished sampling all those 78s. I've been left with over 6 and a half hours of audio recorded at 45 rpm. I think I have worked out how to resample it to equate, more-or-less, to 78 rpm - there may be some issues with pitch, but I'll have to get over that in due course. Still, I'll have a shipload of audio to go through to see if there is anything really useful in it.

In order to get cracking on with the project after my break, I had a look at A ACCIDENT, which I'd decided just needed a bit of 78 "business" to finish off. I opened up one of my 78 files in 45 rpm in AA3 and edited a clip which included the stylus connecting with the vinyl. I inserted it into the relevant project file in CE5. I edited a segment of that clip, which is essentially the run-in section without the "contact" and repeated that a number of times. Then I took the first, unedited, clip, reversed it and repeated that clip a number of times also. All the vinyl elements are treated differently using various VST plugins. The track is pretty much ready to mix/master now. It's going to be a track on an EP, so it's not going to be High Art, alright...?;-).

I also had a look at ...SHADOW... for potential 78 treatment. It doesn't need a huge amount of vinyl input. I took another clip from the same 78 files, which included a musical intro, and inserted it in various locations in the relevant CE5 project file. The clip had to be detuned by two semi-tones to fit with the rest of the track. This may well be my "rule-of-thumb" for the future. The clip is not going to work in all circumstances, so it's really a question of finding the best-sounding locations. I may look for other clips to fill out the track. Not sure if this track will actually make the album. Probably will, at this stage. Got to finish it first, of course.

Mad road-trip tonight, then more work tomorrow.

Regards,


djp

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