May 21st, 2007 @ 8:24PM
Just realised that I haven't updated this bit in about two years!
I am still having loadsa fun and still recording into Sonar4 and loving it. Moved house - even less room now so am recording in the kitchen - works fine til the cat wants to go out or the washing machine hits spin-cycle right in the middle of recording backing vocals (put a flange effect on that one and it sounded really good!).
I am planning on winning the lottery and building a recording studio. I don't expect to put out any number one hits, but it will be sooo much fun anyway
June 13th, 2005 @ 6:49PM
I am now recording mainly into Sonar4. It has the multi-track facility I have been dying to get my hands on, plus effects and so much control over what has been recorded that I am almost putting too much emphasis on that aspect rather than the music itself. I know that just about every track I have uploaded has the odd error - a duff note in the backing somewhere, a vocal that could have been done a little better - but perfection is not what I am aiming for. I am trying to create enough of a representation of what the song could be if it were recorded by professional musicians (which I am not) and professional vocalists (which I am not) in a professional recording studio (which I do not have).
I love the sounds I can create using just a guitar, a keyboard, a mic and a computer. For me it's all about the sounds I can create rather than a perfect performance.
I will upload pictures of my keyboard and my new mic - cos some strange little part of me thinks it is necessary - and perhaps a screenshot of Sonar too. That's it, I am off to play something else.
Having loadsa fun!
May 19th, 2005 @ 7:01PM
I should also have mentioned before today that I have acquired a proper microphone too. I say 'proper', it's a Professional Cardoid microphone, according to the box it came in. It was a discontinued model at work and it went for fifteen pounds. I don't know what cardoid means, to be honest, and I suppose I really should find out, but I do know that it sounds much better than my old one.
All I need now is a mic stand (another fifteen quid), a keyboard stand (twelve pounds with staff discount), a mixer/preamp and a room to put it all in so the missus can use the living room again. She must love me an awful lot to put up with all this
May 19th, 2005 @ 6:52PM
I have a keyboard. It's not a top-of-the-range synthesiser or anything like that, but I am very pleased to find that I can play most of my old tunes with my nine remaining fingers. I can't get all the high notes in some of the faster pieces and I am going to have to re-learn many of the scales, but to be able to knock out a short instrumental or add real playing to a backing track (rather than relying on MIDI which I find boring and difficult to 'express' with).
Because of this I am now re-working an old tune which was my first (and, so far, only) attempt at a dance track. I have been long-berated for creating sad, suicide-inducing music and hope that this lively tune (about a man who doesn't believe a single thing that his lying bitch of a wife says) will change people's opinion of me
March 27th, 2005 @ 4:36PM
A bad workman blames his tools I was once told (probably by a guy who could afford the best tools that money can buy). If that is true then my constant whining about equipment should suggest that I haven't a clue what I am doing. That could be right.
However, I recall an incident that occured in my teenage years while I was a member of a local Venture Scout troop.
We decided to take part in a forty-five mile hike across the hills of Derbyshire (I think) called the Four-Inns. It had to be undertaken in teams of four people and I volunteered to make up the second team of four. In the other team from our group were two young men who had excellent jobs and still lived at with their parents. Consequently they could afford to spend hundreds of pounds on equipment - Gore-Tex jackets, proper hiking trousers, survival equipment, lightweight tents etc. They also both bought themselves state-of-the-art walking boots, that were leather inside with some sort of hinged stiff plastic arrangement on the outside.
During our practice hikes they often took the lead, carrying all their gear in their top-of-the-range rucksacks, all the time comparing their superiour equipment to ours. It was nauseating.
Also in their team was a slim, stick of a girl aged about seventeen. She had no money and no equipment. She had to borrow a pair of boots for the event and struggled during the practice hikes to keep up with the group.
On the morning of the actual challenge we queued up to have our equipment inspected (safety rules and all that). The girl admitted to us that she did not have everything she needed to pass the inspection and our team, following our inspection, handed her some of our gear long enough for her to pass the check.
We all set out into the cold, foggy, windy morning and after fifteen miles I was, to be totally honest, completely out of steam. I was tired, my feet hurt and I was so cold that I thought my extremities were going to drop off. However, I knew that from fifteen miles onwards the teams could carry on as a threesome or take an additional member from another team and become five. I pulled out, feeling happy to have gone a third of the way round and knowing that at least my team mates could carry on.
I was interested to find that my remaining team members were joined by two of the other team from our group because two of them had pulled out. I was extremely pleased to see that the two that had pulled out were the guys with all the expensive equipment. With my old boots and poor-quality clothing I had managed to hike as far as they had - and slightly faster too.
The girl? Well, she was physically restrained at the final checkpoint, five miles or so before the end, because she was borderling hypothermic and her feet were almost totally blistered. Had they not held her back she would have reached the end of the challenge or literally died trying.
I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere.
March 27th, 2005 @ 4:23PM
Mmmm. Working on a couple of new tracks and also helping the eldest daughter with her first composition. I am hoping to upload that one in a couple of weeks and would appreciate (as she would) some nice comments if anyone can spare the time. Bearing in mind, of course, that she is only nine.
March 21st, 2005 @ 7:29AM
Still working at the store. Still can't afford much new gear. Little brother now moved back from Australia but I have a new guitar - pics have been uploaded.
It's hard to record with my partner sitting a few feet away playing computer games, but I'm still working - more tunes soon.
March 17th, 2004 @ 8:52AM
I now work in an electronics store during the day. This is great for many reasons because as well as enjoying it immensely, I have access to lots of equipment to play with and try out to see what works well. Lotsa fun.
I have an understanding boss and a female colleague who sings professionally, so lots of advice there and also the opportunity to plug in a load of gear, stick a backing track in the MP3 player and blast some tunes out over a decent sounding system.
I am building up my gear bit by bit - not cheap tho - and have some really good multitrack software (allegedly) coming from another colleague - can't wait.
Oh, and my little brother, bless him, has just moved to Australia (from the UK) to live with his woman - big shouts to Chic and the Tone!!!!
February 26th, 2003 @ 6:55PM
Downloaded Fruity Loops hoping to create a better backing track for Persecution. Trouble is that the Fruity Loops stuff is too fruity for the song - finding it hard to create something slow and sad with that program. So instead I created a silly little piece of electronic nonsense using mainly a sample of me saying my girlfriend's name. Daft, but I like it
February 25th, 2003 @ 5:59PM
Working on another track - Persecution - written around ten years ago (newer than either of the two I have already uploaded). Probably take a couple of weeks cos I have to fit it around work and stuff.
The girlfriend is getting really pissed off about the amount of time I spend playing with this stuff. I better go do something to cheer her up
