Adventures in the virtual studio

Nevertimes

2007-08-06T08:59:00.000+01:00

I will not be maintaining this blog for the foreseeable future. See Neverimes for new music.

Song Update - The Perfect Way

2007-04-26T11:00:00.000+01:00

This song has now been renamed from "More Together" to "The perfect way". Added Scotts vocals. Maybe to many effects on the vocals, sounds a bit darthy. Eastern descender riff now repeats in verse 2. Fiddled with compression an the bass to bring down the chorus level.

powered by ODEO

Download

Song Update - More Together v2

2007-04-23T15:13:00.000+01:00

Drastically shortened the intro. Added a new chorus with a twangy guitar. Song now a lot shorter. Maybe need to ditch last chorus and have a bridge instead. I think I need to sort the levels out maybe bring up the twang and lower the bass in the chorus. I think the last verse with the twang guitar could just be a solo part. Also I think the 2nd verse needs the same descending eastern meloday as heard in the 1st.

powered by ODEO

Download MP3

Song Update - Midnight Show v3

2007-04-10T09:35:00.000+01:00

Took out the slow bit in the middle. Solo thats replaced has been reversed but it sounds just dreadful anyhow. Need to completely re-record the solo. Song been renamed from Downstrokes to Midnight Show.

powered by ODEO

Download

Song Update - Downstrokes v2

2007-04-04T12:48:00.000+01:00

New break after 1st Chorus and of course new Vocals. Break down in middle needs to be redone.

powered by ODEO
Download

Song - Chips 'n' Gravy v1

2007-04-04T12:43:00.000+01:00

Inspired by the likes of the White Stripes and The Eagles of Death Metal, this is a simple ,bluesey, raw sounding song with some intresting percussion.

powered by ODEO
Download

Song - What's to come v3

2007-04-04T12:10:00.000+01:00

Due to problems with my Odeo account there's been a build up of new songs that I can now publish therefore there are a lot of new ones today. This is the 3rd Version of "What's to come", the other 2 were never uploaded. This is identical to the 2nd version just a better mix. The main differences between version 1 and 2 were the drums. It may well be that we revert back to those old drums.

powered by ODEO

Download

Song - The Multiverse Song v1

2007-03-26T09:27:00.000+01:00

Stab at an elektro type tune. 1st use of the highly recommended EZ drummer and it's latin percussion library. I really need to add some variation in all drum patterns, and convince Scott lay down some vocals.

powered by ODEO
Download

Song Update - Princess Alexandra v2

2007-03-23T12:48:00.000Z

R-recorded vocals and guitar, added a second layer of guitar, panned both slightly. Used a slightly punchier drum kit. 2nd verse string synth is louder probably too loud ?!!? The break after 2nd chorus is now only Scott's guitar, this is a part we can't decide on. Added more drum fills. Also re-recorded bass now in tune ;) and altered melody slightly to fit G major scale.

powered by ODEO

Download

Song Update - I wanna be you dog v3

2007-03-23T12:40:00.000Z

Added Scott's Vocals and some more drum fills.

powered by ODEO

Download Mp2

Song - Heading Out v1

2007-03-21T17:30:00.000Z

An Acoustic folk song recorded by Scott on My new SE MINI M1C Cardioid Condenser Microphone.

powered by ODEO

Download Mp3

Song - Wasted Time v1

2007-03-21T16:17:00.000Z

Bass is inspired by "Love I Never Had It So Good" by DJ Krush & Ronnie Jordan . The percussive rhythm that appears later in the song is recorded with my SE microphone. Its just tapping on a desk going through a resonator.

powered by ODEO

Download MP3

Song Update - I wanna be your dog v2

2007-03-13T09:24:00.000Z

Recorded some live bass and guitar. Added so lofi Motown style breaks in background and removed the drum machine track. Dubbed a solo over the original too that has an auto filter effect on.

powered by ODEO

Download MP3

Song - I wanna be your Dog v1

2007-03-12T18:46:00.000Z

Dancier version of The Stooges classic for the intention of playing live with the band. Used some EQ to extract Iggy's vocals.

powered by ODEO

Download MP3

Song - More Together v1

2007-02-20T12:25:00.000Z

The intro chord is three identical samples of a clean guitar picking an Am triad chord. The 1st panned slightly to the left, the 2nd is in the middle and is reversed and finally, slightly to the right, the riff ends a 1/4 bar early and very slightly delayed. This gives a four bar variation, it's loosely based on a technique called "phasing patterns" which I learnt about in an episode of the South bank show a while back about a composer called Steve Reich. The main drums are a pattern taken directly from the Groove agent pattern bank, they sound a bit like Air's Sexy Boy. The intro electronic sounding drums are an impulse preset I got of Computer Music "Live Special" DVD. The descending harmonic minor scale melody was recorded clean through my alesis multimix and then through NI Guitar Rig on one of its trippy presets. The rhythm guitar was again recorded clean then fed though the Steinberg Warp amp modeler VST. The speaking sample at the start was off a recent documentary about the LA music scene in the 70's (recorded on my mobile phone), I time stretched it a bit to give extra trippyness. The synthy sound at the end is one of the free 8bit chip emulator VSTi's I have, can't remember which one now. I quickly laid down the arrangements using Live arrangement recording which can be tricky using only a mouse. Will have to revisit the arrangement really.

powered by ODEO
Download MP3

Song - Alone in the makeout room

2007-02-11T23:58:00.000Z

Song - You do best v1

2007-01-28T15:10:00.000Z

This is based on an old old song I used to play in my old band about 10 years ago. It's changed significantly though. The bassline is made using a Refx Junox2 VST plugin. The guitar melody over the verse is a placeholder for the vocal line, I don't have one for the chorus yet! The solos at the end are going through NI guitar rig, I mapped a nob on my midi keyboard to the wah wah pedal effect and recorded it's wah level seperatley to the guitar.

powered by ODEO Download MP3

Song - Downstrokes v1

2007-01-26T21:15:00.000Z

A straight forward punk song with 2 twangy guitars and a distorted bass.

powered by ODEO
Download

Song - Woo woo v1

2006-12-19T08:38:00.000Z

Song - Princess Alexandra v1

2006-12-14T17:50:00.000Z

First recorded collaboration with The shrimp boat captain Scott. Vocals and guitar is by Scott in 1 take - amazing. It was recorded through my new Multimix 8 firewire mixer/interface. They sound a bit clicky probably due to levels or clipping. They need to be done again I think. Drums are the rock drums on groove agent 2 with one breakbeat sample used in chorus. The bass was recorded by myself through my line 6 Guitarport. It has a URS Classic console compressor on it with a bas preset.

powered by ODEO

Download MP3

Song - See Line Woman Remix v1

2006-11-19T14:47:00.000Z

This was mixed last night, it took about 8 hours solid. I was listening to A live Nina Simone album and a gem of a song came on - "See Line Woman". It's a very sexy, rhythmic and repetative song almost like some kind of tribal chant, perfect for a dance remix. In the process of making this I have learnt in detail how the complex beat warping works. It's a time consuming process to sync each bar up but worth it. An amazing feature of Ableton. The intro beat is a Reason rex loop chopped up a bit so is the digeridoo and the 909 drums also come from a reason refill i have. The Indian drums are from the Live clip library, there's an autopan effect on them. The bass and guitars are all my recordings, I think they may be out a bit, may need to redo. I also learnt that you can cut up clips in the arrangement view by simply selecting a section and dragging it. This allows a quick way of making drum fills, something i was struggling with before. My fault for not reading the manual. The whole mix is going through the PSP Vintage Warmer compression VST plugin as will all my sets from now on. The combination of the bass guitar, beats and dark scale remind by a bit of an U.N.K.L.E tune.

powered by ODEO
Download MP3

Song - Gaps that don't exist v1

2006-11-14T14:05:00.000Z

Hi this is a song heavily influenced by DJ Krush, in particular the double bass sound in Ha Doh. I've just used my bass guitar with modulation to create the weird effect. This is my first use of the amazing PSP Vintage warmer VST. It is used on the whole mix with a preset. Reason is used heavily through out, all the beats are Dr Rex. I figured out you can save the midi rex info from Reason into a file then load that into Ableton. The scratching effect is also from Reason and is heavily choped up in Dr Rex. Its also going through reverb and distortion through Reason.

powered by ODEO

Download MP3

Song Update - Robotix v3

2006-10-31T12:50:00.000Z

Ok last time I left this track I said I would tidy up the bass as it sounded all off beat. I think I may have recorded it live or something. Anyhow I reprogrammed it properly and rerouted the midi from Absynth to Reason. There are quite a few presets in the factory refill in Reason so it took me a while to decide on the bass sound (They all sound bloody good). I fed the bass through the scream distorter, I love the warm distorted sound that makes. I’ve shortened and tidied the mid arpreggiator bit (reminds me of “Move any mountain” by the Shamen) and turn stuff off behind it as I thought that bit sounded cluttered, the scale is now bluesy minor pentatonic rather than the eastern sounding one (The Harmonic Minor I think), it’s going through an autopan effect as well BTW. There are now trumpets in the higher bass bit, these again are from Reason’s sampler. I added a break down towards the end and a couple of fills done with groove agent, after the first intro fill I leave groove agent playing a programmed beat with it’s rock kit.

There’s a click when the bass comes back in, not sure why, will sort that out, tidy the arpreggiator *again*. Also I need to turn the scary sound back on, I muted it by mistake J. Then I’m done with this track, getting a bit bored of it TBH, may see if I can get some vocals on it but not that fussed right now.

powered by ODEO

Download MP3

Song Update - Robotix v2

2006-10-19T12:58:00.000+01:00

Tidied this up by adding compression on the 303.
Making the bass start before main kick drum.

A few enhancements:
Used the "Beat Repeat" Live effect one of the beat loops. This creates the random feel to the snare sound.

Added a solo of sorts using operator synth, the Live arpreggiator and the midi scale effect. I used the apregeggiator's hold setting to make it insanley quick, this makes a kind of sinclair spectrum loading sound. This was also fed through Live's compression device. I'm getting a better grasp of compression now thanks to various magazines and some books I've bought.

Going forward, want to make it shorter and put a breakdown in the middle. Do move higher bits on the bass. Also the Bass timing is a bit dodgey.

powered by ODEO

Download MP3

Song Update - 1st Experiment v2

2006-10-13T11:51:00.000+01:00

This is an updated version of my first experiment with my bass. Think I got guitar and bass in tune now. It is alot faster now. Still need to work on the structure, maybe a bridge. Also have some melodies to lay over the verse and pre- chorus. Maybe do using a different instrument or maybe guitar I just don't know do I.

powered by ODEO

Download MP3

Song - Robotix

2006-09-29T12:49:00.000+01:00

This is a play with a new software synth I got last night called Absynth by Native Instruments. I had heard it was meant to be good and was extensively used and praised by numerous artists in future music. This took about 3 and a half hours.

My first impressions were good. I was able to work out how to load different presets straight away and got some instant mad sounds. Its main power thought is customisation which I haven't even touched. So the sounds in this track are 2 presets, one being the bass and the other being the scary pad sound.

Other things used were audiorealisms bassline for the 303, Live's impulse drum machine and two breakbeat samples run through a filter.

On reflection it reminds me a bit of "Another excuse" by soulwax.

Next I'm hoping I can get the vocals off this track for a remix.

powered by ODEO

Download MP3

Song - Mont Blanc

2006-09-25T00:15:00.001+01:00

I woke up Saturday morning with a bit of a hangover after an excellent night out with Emma. I picked up the guitar that I have given Emma and this is what came out my brain. I spent the best part of that day Composing this on Emmas laptop using just a barebones Live setup while she slept.

I emailed the set home where all my kit is and layed down the guitar tracks. I learnt that the live drum kits and Groove agent don't midi map the same which is a pain :(

Its influenced by TV on the Radio I think, been listening to them loads lately, definatley my fav band right now, return to cookie mountain is genius.

There is 2 drum tracks there. The first is groove agent with the disco kit and the 2nd is Live's native "impulse" kit with the "Tresor 1994" preset. I'm running through a resonator too, a trick I descovered earlier in the week, it reminds me of the drum sounds used by radioheads elctronica stuff. The bass is a new plugin I got today, its a 303 emulator (audiorealism bass), it's far better than rebirth because you can fully sequence it in your DAW. I love that 303 sound. I expect it will turn up in many other tracks. The guitars are just 2 tracks (except for the intro where theres that fedback sustained guitar). They are recorded through my Line6 guitarport, with the deeper guitar just playing powerchords and a higher slightly less disorted guitar playing fuller chords. There are parts you'll hear around the pre-chorus and chorus that sound a bit off key. Not sure if its my bad playing or I've messed up in some other way.

Going forward need to lay down some sexy dark vocals from Emma or Scott (theres a vocal line in my head) and need some lyrics. Needs a solo and obviosley to be better structured and tidied.

powered by ODEO

Download MP3

Song - 1st Experiment

2006-09-06T18:19:00.000+01:00

My first play around with my new bass guitar. I have used Live at 100 BPM. This is another old song of mine originally writen at 120BPM. My plan was to record slow in Live then speed up using the warp feature. The results of this weren’t satisfactory so I have left at 100BPM. I think maybe the bass and guitar are slightly out of tune. I have used NI guitar rig to add effects to all the guitars (recording them clean). This clip was also meant to be a lot longer, I think I messed the Live rendering screen up.

powered by ODEO

Download MP3

Song - A new DAWn

2006-09-06T18:11:00.000+01:00

This is the very first song I attempted in Live. It is an old song of mine that I originally produced in Cubase, it was a lot slower then. I will upload the old version soon. This new version is heavily influenced by Evil Nine, in fact the beat is *borrowed* of a track on You could be special too called "Devil stuff".

powered by ODEO

Download MP3

Kit

2006-09-06T01:24:00.000+01:00

Software

Ableton Live

Ableton was introduced to by Shakes who I was working with at the time. I was'nt at first moved by what I heard about Live even though Shakes so enthusiastically described it. I decided to give the demo a shot even though I had spent so much time learning cubase SX up until that point.
Needless to say upon my first play I was instantly sold on Lives slick, intuitive interface and original session/arrangement concept.

Cool Edit

Native Instruments Guitar Rig

Native Instruments Battery

Native Instruments Conkact

Propellerheads Reason v3

Steinberg Groove Agent 2

Hardware

Line 6 Guitar Port

Fender Esquire Jagmaster Guitar

Godman Bass Guitar

Acer Travelmate 800 Laptop

Evolution MK-225C midi keyboard

Digitech Control 8 midi footpedal.

Introduction

2006-09-06T01:20:00.000+01:00

Hi thanks for visiting my blog/ odeo podcast.

The purpose of this blog is to record the progress I make (or don't make) and lessons I learn in attempting to produce music. I also hope to gather some feedback on my homebrew tunes to assist the process.

My goal is to make a hybrid mix of indie and electronica using a plethora of (mainly) software based audio kit. The primary tool in my virtual shed will be Ableton Live, the ground breaking DAW. The plan is to write a bunch of songs, and publish them on sites such as myspace,garageband and indiestore to see how they fair.