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

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

Me & The Fly - 141014

Sponsored by "Bill Nelson etc."

Very productive session this morning. Tracked 15 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.

There are two different sets of parts - the first set has a dirty fuzz tone which lends the track a bizarre swampy lo-fi electronic feel, whereas the second set is more clean and dub-friendly. Either set works in their own right - the trick is how to combine them successfully. At this stage, I can envisage a "single" version of the track with a simpler mix and an "album" version which might just be maaaayn-tull...

Which brings me to an interesting stage in the project. I think I will definitely work on one more track for the album before breaking for Christmas, even though I have some more "spare" titles floating around. If I get to finish off that one track, I'll be happy - if I manage a few more, then bonus. As it stands, I have a shipload of editing to do that'll keep me going for a while. In the New Year, I'll start bringing the tracks "home" in terms of lyrics, vocals, additional tracking and editing, and mixing/mastering. And all that that entails. So that's me out of the snooker halls for the first half of 2015, then.

And in the meantime, we are off to Sweden tomorrow to see Younger Daughter. Should be a blast - but not on the aeroplane, hopefully...

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

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

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