A couple of months ago, out of the blue, a guy named Matt Love contacted me via email about the possibility of some kind of online collaboration. He went on with some spiel about how on Last FM, our music had earned the rare designation of "abnormal." We exchanged some joking emails. I was amused and intrigued and thought what the hell. So we hemmed and hawed about how we would do it. Finally, Matt sent me some lyrics with a vague notion that it would be a countryish truck-diver song.
I liked the lyrics and fiddled with a software banjo until I came of with a line that resembled an actual banjo. I then bracketed it with a dobro bit. I set these to a quickly worked-up bass line and click track. It was very up-tempo, about 200 bpm. I added some talking lyrics (I can't sing) and sent it to Matt. He liked the instrumentation but struggled to come up with a vocal melody. So he shopped around for someone to do the vocals.
Well, the project sat around for a month or more until suddenly, Matt's friend, Vincent sends Matt a workup of the whole song complete with vocals, effects, piano, harp and guitar. I was tickled by it. But, being a budding sound engineer, I wanted to remix it. Fortunately, Vincent's individual tracks were available for download. I re-did the bass and drums and came up with a mix that, apparently, everybody was happy with.
Here it is ... Coked Up in Kentucky
The artist here is Remote Possibility, Matt's online band brainchild. It appears that some of the stories about the band may be fictionalized.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Serendipity & CO2 Scrubber
One of the great things about making and mixing music with modern software is the role serendipity can play. With CO2 Scrubber I was messing around with an echoey synthesizer patch which was sounding nice with a drum & bass line I'd come up with. Looking for a counterpoint, I played a plucking mandolin line. It just so happened the echoes of the synthesizer syncopated perfectly with the mandolin, creating pretty trippy effect. I laughed out loud when I first heard it. I use it at the beginning and end of the song.
As I was getting rolling on this one (June 2006), I had been watching a documentary about the Apollo 13 mission so I decided to build the song around that. This gave me an organizing theme: normal operation -> explosion -> frenzied anxiety -> solution -> triumphant return -> normal operation. (More about using a story later.)
I was still working with GarageBand at the time and still recording drums with a single stereo mic, but it represented my most complex effort to date and sort of culmination of the skills I'd developed so far. For the explosion, I put a couple of bricks at the bottom of a large cardboard box, hung my mic over it and hurled beer bottles at the bricks. It didn't turn out as good as I'd hoped, even with effects added, but it was fun.
As I was getting rolling on this one (June 2006), I had been watching a documentary about the Apollo 13 mission so I decided to build the song around that. This gave me an organizing theme: normal operation -> explosion -> frenzied anxiety -> solution -> triumphant return -> normal operation. (More about using a story later.)
I was still working with GarageBand at the time and still recording drums with a single stereo mic, but it represented my most complex effort to date and sort of culmination of the skills I'd developed so far. For the explosion, I put a couple of bricks at the bottom of a large cardboard box, hung my mic over it and hurled beer bottles at the bricks. It didn't turn out as good as I'd hoped, even with effects added, but it was fun.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Sputnik Tears
Jumping to the present, I just uploaded a new one: Sputnik Tears.
This effort began with wanting to learn how to extract a sample from an existing song and turn it into a loop. I wanted something in the public domain, not wanting to worry about copyright issues, so I thought something from Django Reinhardt's 1930s recordings might work. I listened to quite a bit of stuff before I came across Django's introductory line to a song called "Tears." I really liked the feel of it and it was clean (there's a quiet bass keeping quarter notes but nothing else going on).
Before I imported the audio file to Logic Express, I used a metronome to figure out the tempo, about 58 bpm (beats per minute). Once in Logic, I snipped off everything but the line I wanted and went to work on turning it into a loop. The tricky part is cutting it at just the right spot so the sound is smooth when it loops back to the beginning. Also, the tempo didn't match perfectly (it was close) so I needed to use a tool in Logic that will stretch or compress the sample to the nearest bar. After considerable trial and error, I got a smooth loop. And, boy, was I pleased with myself.
What to do with it? I had no idea.
The loop sat around for a couple of months. I knew the next step was to figure out what key Django's guitar riff was in and the basic notes. It was going to be chore for me because I don't have trained ear for it and I'd have to hunt and peck as best I could. I put it off. But one day I played it for my piano-playing friend, Greg, who has actual music training. He identified the key immediately as blues in C (kind of minorish blues). And he showed me the notes of the bass line.
Now I was off and running. I fiddled and diddled with different instruments to go with it and opted for clarinet, electric bass and drums. I worked up a quicky drum & bass loop and started playing leads with the clarinet (on midi keyboard, of course). To make a long story short, I worked up a lead with staccato at first and then went to legato. Then I recorded live drums to the piece. Feeling like I needed some sort of counter-melody, I added piano (a sampled clangy upright). Also, the bass was sounding too loopy so I played a bass line through the whole segment. I ended up with a nice loose, bluesy, improvised feel.
As I was doing all this, I had read a number things about Sputnik, being the 50th anniversary of its launch. I was also reading a book about a group of scientists that work on secret defense projects, the Jasons, who got their start largely as a result of Sputnik.
While I was liking what I had put together, it wasn't feeling like a song yet. In my experimentations with instruments, I came across a heavy synth bass sound that caught my ear. It was dark and foreboding and sounded pretty cool when I played it using the notes of the bass line above: C, Eb, D, G. It also sounded pretty cool when I plugged it in at the end of the jazzy part.
Okay, here's the song: a kind of melancholy jazz tune morphing into a techno monstrosity. The idea being maybe to catch some of the angst of those Sputnik years when the Soviets seemed to be lording it over the U.S. technologically.
I read that Sputnik put out radio beeps that HAM operators could hear. I thought there must be something on the web and there was. I couldn't find a file to download so I recorded the beeps from streamed audio. It's scratchy anyway, so sound quality wasn't a big issue. I turned the beeps into a loop and used it to introduce the song. I wanted to give an effect of arcing across the speakers so I used track automation on the volume and pan. I thought a doppler shift would be cool too, so I figured out how to automate the equalizer. I'm not sure it sounds exactly as I'd hoped but I think it works well enough.
This effort began with wanting to learn how to extract a sample from an existing song and turn it into a loop. I wanted something in the public domain, not wanting to worry about copyright issues, so I thought something from Django Reinhardt's 1930s recordings might work. I listened to quite a bit of stuff before I came across Django's introductory line to a song called "Tears." I really liked the feel of it and it was clean (there's a quiet bass keeping quarter notes but nothing else going on).
Before I imported the audio file to Logic Express, I used a metronome to figure out the tempo, about 58 bpm (beats per minute). Once in Logic, I snipped off everything but the line I wanted and went to work on turning it into a loop. The tricky part is cutting it at just the right spot so the sound is smooth when it loops back to the beginning. Also, the tempo didn't match perfectly (it was close) so I needed to use a tool in Logic that will stretch or compress the sample to the nearest bar. After considerable trial and error, I got a smooth loop. And, boy, was I pleased with myself.
What to do with it? I had no idea.
The loop sat around for a couple of months. I knew the next step was to figure out what key Django's guitar riff was in and the basic notes. It was going to be chore for me because I don't have trained ear for it and I'd have to hunt and peck as best I could. I put it off. But one day I played it for my piano-playing friend, Greg, who has actual music training. He identified the key immediately as blues in C (kind of minorish blues). And he showed me the notes of the bass line.
Now I was off and running. I fiddled and diddled with different instruments to go with it and opted for clarinet, electric bass and drums. I worked up a quicky drum & bass loop and started playing leads with the clarinet (on midi keyboard, of course). To make a long story short, I worked up a lead with staccato at first and then went to legato. Then I recorded live drums to the piece. Feeling like I needed some sort of counter-melody, I added piano (a sampled clangy upright). Also, the bass was sounding too loopy so I played a bass line through the whole segment. I ended up with a nice loose, bluesy, improvised feel.
As I was doing all this, I had read a number things about Sputnik, being the 50th anniversary of its launch. I was also reading a book about a group of scientists that work on secret defense projects, the Jasons, who got their start largely as a result of Sputnik.
While I was liking what I had put together, it wasn't feeling like a song yet. In my experimentations with instruments, I came across a heavy synth bass sound that caught my ear. It was dark and foreboding and sounded pretty cool when I played it using the notes of the bass line above: C, Eb, D, G. It also sounded pretty cool when I plugged it in at the end of the jazzy part.
Okay, here's the song: a kind of melancholy jazz tune morphing into a techno monstrosity. The idea being maybe to catch some of the angst of those Sputnik years when the Soviets seemed to be lording it over the U.S. technologically.
I read that Sputnik put out radio beeps that HAM operators could hear. I thought there must be something on the web and there was. I couldn't find a file to download so I recorded the beeps from streamed audio. It's scratchy anyway, so sound quality wasn't a big issue. I turned the beeps into a loop and used it to introduce the song. I wanted to give an effect of arcing across the speakers so I used track automation on the volume and pan. I thought a doppler shift would be cool too, so I figured out how to automate the equalizer. I'm not sure it sounds exactly as I'd hoped but I think it works well enough.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Getting Started
My current obsession with making music probably started a couple of years ago when I met a guy at work, Tom, who played bass and guitar. We hit it off pretty well and our jamming session re-awakened my enthusiasm for making music.
Things really got going, though, when I bought my iBook which came loaded with GarageBand. Suddenly there was this possibility of creating and recording music that hadn't been there before. I had been cultivating an interest in drum 'n bass/techno/dub music and wondered how they did it. When I looked into it, though, it seemed a little inaccessible. It required a considerable investment in equipment and I wasn't sure if I'd really take to it or not. But today's fast computers, which allow playing software instruments in real time without other dedicated hardware, changed the picture. As well as simplified sequencing programs like GarageBand that make getting started a lot easier.
Okay, gee, I've got these software instruments, a sequencer, a keyboard, an amp and pre-amp (about $600 not counting the computer). What do I do with it? I figured I'd better learn about things like notes and chords and stuff. So I bought a sort of keyboard-for-dummies book which basically just lays out the basic chords and scales in easy-to-read keyboard diagrams.
I then would load up something like a software electric bass, pick a chord, and start banging the keys. That's how the magic started to happen. Playing the drums, I guess, has given me a pretty strong rhythmic sensibility. I'd try different rhythmic patterns with different notes until something started to sound good. When that happened, I'd hit record and try to play the riff in time to the metronome. Eventually, I'd nail it well enough that through the wonders of GarageBand, I could turn it into a loop.
Armed with a looping bass line, I'd set up an audio track, put on some headphones, and play my drums to it. Once I found a good beat, I'd press record and play a bunch of measures (30 to 60 depending on tempo). My drumming isn't always as precise as I'd like it to be but in the span of 60 measures, there's usually a segment or two played accurately enough that I could turn the beat into a loop.
That's when the real fun begins. With drum and bass loops going, I can start playing melodic bits over it with other software instruments, creating loops as I go. Before long a song starts to develop.
Probably my first noteworthy example I called The Riveter. It's basically variations on the B flat blues scale with different vintage syths. Another thing that I did here was to play fills with my drums, make loops out of them, and plug them at the changes. I was delighted how seemless it sounded. The music is coarse, amusingly simplistic and the drums are super lo-fi (I recorded them with one cheap stereo microphone).
Things really got going, though, when I bought my iBook which came loaded with GarageBand. Suddenly there was this possibility of creating and recording music that hadn't been there before. I had been cultivating an interest in drum 'n bass/techno/dub music and wondered how they did it. When I looked into it, though, it seemed a little inaccessible. It required a considerable investment in equipment and I wasn't sure if I'd really take to it or not. But today's fast computers, which allow playing software instruments in real time without other dedicated hardware, changed the picture. As well as simplified sequencing programs like GarageBand that make getting started a lot easier.
Okay, gee, I've got these software instruments, a sequencer, a keyboard, an amp and pre-amp (about $600 not counting the computer). What do I do with it? I figured I'd better learn about things like notes and chords and stuff. So I bought a sort of keyboard-for-dummies book which basically just lays out the basic chords and scales in easy-to-read keyboard diagrams.
I then would load up something like a software electric bass, pick a chord, and start banging the keys. That's how the magic started to happen. Playing the drums, I guess, has given me a pretty strong rhythmic sensibility. I'd try different rhythmic patterns with different notes until something started to sound good. When that happened, I'd hit record and try to play the riff in time to the metronome. Eventually, I'd nail it well enough that through the wonders of GarageBand, I could turn it into a loop.
Armed with a looping bass line, I'd set up an audio track, put on some headphones, and play my drums to it. Once I found a good beat, I'd press record and play a bunch of measures (30 to 60 depending on tempo). My drumming isn't always as precise as I'd like it to be but in the span of 60 measures, there's usually a segment or two played accurately enough that I could turn the beat into a loop.
That's when the real fun begins. With drum and bass loops going, I can start playing melodic bits over it with other software instruments, creating loops as I go. Before long a song starts to develop.
Probably my first noteworthy example I called The Riveter. It's basically variations on the B flat blues scale with different vintage syths. Another thing that I did here was to play fills with my drums, make loops out of them, and plug them at the changes. I was delighted how seemless it sounded. The music is coarse, amusingly simplistic and the drums are super lo-fi (I recorded them with one cheap stereo microphone).
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