Helicopter Shots Of The City - 2870115

Sponsored by "Neil Hannon etc.".

Mixed/mastered the track in CE5/AA3. The heavy lifting had been done as part of the dubbing-up process, so the levels merely needed to be tweaked. A change to the EQ setting for the kick drum made a huge difference.

The tracks sounds really big over the monitors and I'm delighted with the finished product. It has given me a lot of confidence for mixing/mastering the rest of the tracks.

More work tomorrow!

Regards,


djp

Helicopter Shots Of The City - 050115

Sponsored by "Luke Haines etc.".

Finished off me dub-up work in CE5, concentrating mostly on the Squier Strat and 4Front Rhode parts. Luckily I was able to mask most of the deficiencies in my guitar/bass playing. I could have stayed at it forever, but I think 5 hours is quite enough, thank you very much!

It's probably not 100% perfect, and I'm sure a proper pro dub mixer would have done a different (and much better) job, but it sounds fine to me. Ready to mix/master.

Time to move on.

Regards,


djp

Accents/Helicopter Shots Of The City - 040115

Sponsored by "Last Played 2015".

Well, that was enjoyable! My roadtrip was postponed until the afternoon, which gave me a few hours to play around with.

ACCENTS

Solved the problem with the trailing decay. It was caused by putting the HALion Synstrings part through a long pre-fader reverb. Tracking the part (and the reverb) to audio in CE5, using the Phonic Firefly/Behringer Xenyx 1202 solved that problem and I can edit the audio to end exactly where I want it.

The track is now ready to mix/master.

HELICOPTER...

Had great fun "dubbing-up" the MIDI drum parts. Much trial and error was required, but I got there in the end. I realised that I need to set up a separate set of FX for each drum part, as sharing FX  between parts didn't work out for me. I wonder is there a limit to the number of FX channels I can have in CE5? Guess I'll find out tomorrow...;-)

Regards,


djp

Helicopter Shots Of The City - 281014

Sponsored by "The Boomtown Rats".

Programmed a strings-y MIDI part in CE5, using the Yamaha DX100/Phonic Firefly/HALion One SynStrings. Edited in CE5.

The track is now ready for the next stage. Time to move on.

More work tomorrow...

Regards,


djp

Helicopter Shots Of The City - 271014

Sponsored by "Bob Mould etc."

Frustrating, but ultimately rewarding, morning today. Programmed a number of MIDI parts in CE5 using the Yamaha DX100/Phonic Firefly/4Front Rhode. Edited in CE5.

My PC decided that today was the day to start acting the maggot, so I had quite a number of screen-freeze/hard reboot situations.My own occasional lack of decision didn't help here wither. But I kept plugging away at it and eventually got a satisfactory result.

A little more programming tomorrow and then I think the track is ready to dub-up.

Regards,


djp

Helicopter Shots Of The City - 201014

Sponsored by "Bing Satellites".

I was supposed to start work on a new track today, but the real world intervened and I had to change my plans. Luckily, I have a backlog of matters musical to attend to...;-).

Edited the various Squier Strat parts in CE5. Also did a little edit on the MIDI drum parts. I hear synths...

Hopefully I should be able to start on the new track tomorrow.

Sweden went great, BTW. Younger Daughter is keeping well, if somewhat penurious. Got back to Ireland yesterday tired, a little bit sad and somewhat out-of-pocket. But it had to be done, so you'll hear no complaints from me...;-).

Regards,


djp

Helicopter Shots Of The City - 170914

Sponsored by "90s Music".

Edited the Ric bass parts in CE5. Coming together nicely.

That's all for the moment. Real life impinges on me again tomorrow. Dang...;-).

Regards,


djp

Helicopter Shots Of the City - 030914

Sponsored by "John Fogerty".

Although not feeling the Mae West (I think I'm coming down with a lurgee), I still managed to track 11 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.

Again, like yesterday, I had issues with the levels changing while recording. Not sure if it's the cables after all - I used a different set today, as well as a different "sans amp", and different guitar. The only things in common with yesterday were the power supply for the Pod, and (more worringly) the Tascam 2488. I sure hope there isn't a problem with the dedicated guitar input on the Tascam...

...anyway, that's a worry for another day. Looks like this month and the next might be disrupted by travelling, so I may be coming close to the end of Phase 1 of the project. Let's see what I can put in place by the end of the year, shall we...?;-).

Regards,


djp

Helicopter Shots Of The City - 020914

Sponsored by "John Coltrane".

Finally got my act together and tracked 9 Ric bass parts on the Tascam 2488, using the Line 6 Bass Pod XT. Audio cleanup in AA3 and inserted into the relevant project file in CE5.

Had some problems early on with cables, which meant I had to re-record some parts I'd thought I'd put to bed, but no bother. Quite a bit of editing required, but that goes with the territory.

More work tomorrow.

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 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