Keep It Simple with Da Sequencer innit!

Drum'n'Coke This track is a good example of what you can do with samples and a sequencer. Took an hour to write and I kept it really simple. The less you have in your track the easier it is to mix and I think simplicity is the key to a good tune. Enjoy!

Maximising Studio Time And The Forgotten Art Of Organisation

Last night I was in my friends studio laying down a few tracks with an old Keyboardist friend of mine. I played some guitar, he played some keys, I had a few back-lines set up already for the session and things went well. It made me think about how you use your time in a studio.

Organisation is paramount. Too many times in the past I have gone to the studio with the aim of getting things done and when  I got there, we start playing a few tracks and try to remember where we left it last weekend, usually are at a loss. This is is generally down to the consumption of too much alcohol etc. but also down to the fact that there is no set work pattern and no list made for the next session to go into with.

Time is everything and ways to maximise the time you have in a studio are paramount, if you are to ever have any chance of releasing a well polished, cohesive track. Going into the studio armed with a set of tasks for the next week, means that you can literally get in there turn on the kit and get down to work. Without this there will be huge amounts of time wasted trying to remember what you did, where you left the thing and what direction you were intending the track to go in.

One particular track we have been working on for the last three years is an absolutely blinding piece of music, with all the right elements for a great tune. When we originally wrote it, the tracks sounded great, although in need of arrangement and a good mix down and master it was not far away from completion. Three years later we are still working on it after changing it several times and making the mistake of micro-managing each individual bit instead of concentrating on the wider arrangement first. This led to us forgetting what we had originally done, which sounds we had used, VST's etc. as the original file was consigned somewhere to the lost dimension of "it'll turn up somewhere". The track was quite innocently called "Do It All Over Again" and we never imagined how true that name would ring!
Lesson learned :-

• If something ain't broke don't try to fix it. 
• Don't micro-manage until you have the full arrangement already there, otherwise you will lose the flow of the track. 
• Be organised and make sure everything goes back in the same place with the relevant folder name and date etc. or you will be in a real mess further down the line.
• At the end of the session write down on a whiteboard or whatever you have a list of aims for the next session so you can be fully armed when you return
•  If you drink alcohol etc. in the studio you will get no work done if you have more than a couple and aside from laying down a few riffs maybe, from a musicians point of view, you can forget mixing down, mastering or arranging anything very successfully. 

What seemed to be the best tune in the world ever one night, when everyone was having their jollys, will usually, the next day be what we musicians technically term, 'a piece of shit'. You have been warned. :-)

Recording Live Guitar And Delay Into Your PC

Well, it has been a while since I posted on here and with everything that has been going on in my life I can't blame me. However, I'm firing up the blog again and will try to get more post on for you as time allows.

I just got a new acoustic electric guitar and vintage delay pedal and have been busy recording new tracks for several of my outfits. I love the sound the pedal gives and I am pleased to say it is reminiscent of that classic Cure sound, a band who I absolutely love for their simple yet awesome tracks that have inspired a generation and will keep inspiring generations to come I hope.

Recording with guitar can be a bit of a pain if you don't have the right set up, especially if you are working on old equipment at home or through  your laptop and sound card. I use a very simple and relatively inexpensive (as sound cards go) M-Audio Fastrack that has one jack input and one XlR input for a mic. You can use a normal jack to input a mic but the sound doesn't seem to be as good. I got the Fast Track from Inta Audio and they have some pretty decent kit.

I am still using ACID Pro as a sequencer and I have to say it has handled my heavy bit rate delay very nicely. Bit rate? It's how fast the computer processes the line you record in relation to the amount of information that is being sent from your instrument. A guitar with a delay pedal will have a pretty heavy bit rate as all the information is squeezed down the tube to the sequencer. The more wide your sound, the more bits in it and this will tax your computer if it has not got a good processor. I use a USB connection but have to say if you want to get the best rate use a Firewire connection as this can handle a lot more 'bits' and process them faster.

I'll get a link for y'all to my latest track, recorded using the above when it is ready so you can hear what I mean. This is all done on a laptop in my bedroom at home so if you think you need the best, most expensive set up in the world, don't panic. A little expense can go a long way if you use the equipment right. I have a mate who has a great home studio with a proper set up with studio spec. Cubase and a 16 channel Behringer Mixer and while I love recording there I still like the simplicity of using my little set up at home. I can always take my tracks to the studio to polish them up later if I feel it is necessary.

Stayed tuned peeps and I 'll bring you more updates from my Computer Music journey. I will go more in-depth into recording with your sequencer as the blog progresses. Please feel free to ask me anything you like and I will get back to you promptly :-)

 PoWlo