a dear, strong woman coos gently along

As if i wasn't already doubting the direction i should go in, i realised that Efterklang are already doing everything i wanted to do, and better :D

Here is them in action anyway...



It's a glockenspiel darling ;)

i am an architect

Spent some time Sunday afternoon trying to improve my writing of drum parts in Cubase; it actually requires intense concentration otherwise you get lost in a sea of little red diamonds. Above the drum score just reads 4/4 6/4 4/4 6/4 ad infinitum and is no help whatsoever.

On top of that I found an infuriating little device called The Dr Liebezeit drum machine and through trial and error i managed to integrate it into Cubase with relatively few problems. It can only run two sounds at a time (i left it on the default of two clicking sounds) and you program a sequence of up to 32 beats by simply turning each beat on or off.



(click to enlarge and add colour)

This, however, is where the sanity ends. First i noticed that there is no way of setting a tempo on the drum machine, instead, it takes its cue from the tempo of the cubase click track. This is not such a big deal but there seems to be no way of lining it up with the cubase beat. In short, it plays at the correct speed, but starts at random and 9 out of 10 times is out of sync.

So, you have two choices; either keep restarting it until it lines up by chance, or make a lengthy recording of the Dr Liebezeit sound, which can then be inserted as audio and lined up relatively easily. Despite the romance of the former, I settled on the latter.

Then I listened to Efterklang and realised it was all futile.

walking clouds in the land

So there i am, waiting for my cake to cool, when my buzzer goes... it was Simon, open mic was cancelled and he'd come round to show me some new songs and share some posh coffee.

Having misplaced my capo, i quickly decided that trying to play guitar would be utterly futile and turned to the often-misused Casio MT-65 keyboard.



(a free-range MT-65)

In the past this piece of synth history has served two purposes; demo-ing unrealistic-sounding cello and trumpet parts, and producing "hilarious" chintzy covers of my own songs. Now that we're going all moody, Casiotone certainly has a place and the combination of fingerpicked acoustic guitar and 'Electric Piano' was certainly a winner.

After Simon left i iced my cake and converted my upbeat, guitar-led pop song into a slow, atmospheric dirge. Bardo Pond would be so proud of me.

Downtown! Pony! Work your pitch!

I think the building of a studio is a manifestation of my quarter-life crisis. Focus has shifted slightly to the Tascam DA-88 (or DA-38, or DA-78, same diff) - an 8 track digital tape recorder.



We used them at uni a lot and they have an elegant simplicity to them. They're even slightly cheaper than their tape-based equivalents and I am staunchly against any FX-laden multitracker, so this may be the best option.

Provided I can finish baking a cake in time, I should be off to watch Simon at open mic later, and then we're going to play through some new, darker songs tomorrow evening. May have a drummer at our disposal too; a face from our distant murky past, no less. Early days yet though.

so save your prayers

Almost forgot, an integral part of the recording process will be bottle after bottle of chilled ginger beer.

In other news, Simon got a lush new acoustic guitar this week and I am having trouble translating the Adore sound I have in my head into actual songs.

Still flushing the spazzy-ness out of my system.

in this big world I'm lonely

Fallen head over heels with this...



At £500 it's a little out of the price range I have of ZERO POUNDS, but still, you've got to have dreams - imagine that thing whirring away while I bash out some licks on my 1978 guitar and 1979 amp. Luddite? Moi?

My housemate pointed out the paradox in my argument that going back to older equipment can be considered 'breaking the mould'. Basically, I think anything that adds character to a band or a sound or a recording can only be a good thing - although I admit you're sometimes flirting with pretentiousness.

Listening to Kate Rusby again; I went off her a lot when she released 'The Girl who couldn't fly', partly because I didn't think the songs were up to scratch and partly because it included Roddy Woomble on backing vocals and artwork by Graham Coxon. My musical worlds were colliding and my diversity was at stake. And don't even get me started on the duet with Ronan Keating!

All this aside, her early work is brilliant and 2001's 'Little Lights' is a masterpiece.

every hill looks the same

Spent a very enjoyable evening going through a printed copy of the html code for this page, with a biro, in order to better understand it and to try and look impressive in front of my housemate. I then battled against our increasingly ropey internet connection to tidy up a few things.

Itching to get recording underway; i think we'll be able to tell quite quickly whether it's working or not. I've always been in love with bands who capture a feeling, Peeps into Fairyland for example - their second album would probably attract scorn from most producers but you can really hear that it was inspired by highland walks and mountains and cottages.

It's as if the surroundings and even the recording environment seep into the music; I want to record in as many different places as possible and hopefully capture something.

welcome to your life

A bloody frustrating night by all accounts. First off the broadband in my flat is reminiscent of 56k dial-up, both in terms of speed and reliability, and it was off for most of the night - subsequently I'm still yet to integrate Simon into the blogging process, although he is enthusiastic.

My housemate was out so I took full advantage of the noise-making potential; I'm about a hair's breadth from finishing my first song in months but the bridge is bamboozling me. What normally happens in the "process" is I'll toy with a difficult section for a week or two before dropping it altogether, which explains the haphazard structures of my songs.

Putting that to one side I set about consoling myself by layering kooky harmonies over the top - any kind of layering at this stage is largely futile but it's good practice nonetheless. I was hoping to put some mandolin over it but attempting to tune the E string to an F put a swift end to that.

This whole song started from an 80's-sounding riff and, as is often the case, this has now been removed - a little like stone soup - but I'm determined to use it. The riff itself was a result of repeated listenings of Tears for Fears' 'Everybody wants to Rule the World' - proof that inspiration can come from ANYWHERE.