I have been hard at work - at work and here at home. Its always a question of stealing the minutes, isn't it? So its too late, I am a bit tipsy from too much Dead Guy Ale - yes, that is what its called - but I thought you might like sharing a bit of studio time with me.
Many of the songs that I write are a long time in gestation - some of them longer than a real pregnancy. This used to bother me, but I have come to realize that they will all come out - or not - in their own sweet time, and that pushing them sledom works. So it is with the latest piece I have been working on - I think I wrote the basic parts a year ago, but it was long after that that I finally had the lyrics come to me.
It took even longer for me to than usual to get back to this piece and when I did, I came to realize that what it needed was a guitar. Its interesting to me how difficult it is for me to include the guitar in my music, as difficult as inclduding my singing. I was so convinced for so long that any guitar in electronic music, just like any vocals and anything approaching a "normal" song structure just wasn't good enough. Oh, yes, elitist, thats me! With the guitar especially, I have played for so long that I don't trust my instincts - I tend to over think and not just play the damn thing. Foolish really, since it is the one instrument that I feel absolutely at home on. Do you know this feeling? When I play the guitar, the strings feel soft and pliant under my fingers, and if I am in the groove, its more like just thinking thoughts rapidly, not really playing but more channeling what is going thru my head.
Yes, how pretentious, but if you have played your instrument long enough, you know exactly what I am talking about! Its the real gift of playing, this stepping outside of your conscious mind and letting that electricity flow unimpeded from your mind to your fingers. There is nothing like it. Its like the old saying: "If I have to explain, you don't understand".
Anyway, I realize that this song needs some guitar. I do a bit of practice, but not too much: I want to have that feeling of just improvising, of being fresh and not trying to be letter perfect, eh?
As I have written here, I recently got a new ultra-cool preamp, and I thought, boy this is perfect, I will try and do something clever with a couple of mics, something brand new for me.
I should explain before I go any farther my guitar setup. I used to have a totally customized Fender twin, that I sank a boatload of money into back in the 80's, that was a crazy dream of distortion. Unfortunately, it really only sounded good with my strat. At some point, the strat went and so did the amp. However, I never sold my best little secret weapon, my 60s Vox Cambridge reverb. Its the little brother of the AC30, and has without a doubt the best reverb ever made. Spun aluminum knobs and plastic (!) protective(!) corners - nothing like it anywhere.
I hook up my lousy distortion pedal to it, and get a fairly good tone dialed in, and set up the mics - an SM57 off-center of the speaker, and my Studio Projects C1 condenser in the room, to get that (supposed) ambience that only a basement can have, right?
I set up the sequencer, and give it a go. It sounds like shit - no definition, all middle, no top end, no bottom. OK, go to plan B. Change the mic position, change the settings on the preamp. Record. It sounds like shit. Go to plan C: bypass the ultra-cool preamp I just bought and go straight from the board into my PC. It sounds like shit.
I then proceed to go thru plans D-Q, with no better results. By this time, a LOT of time has passed, and I haven't got anything. I finally have to stop for the day.Next morning, sunday, I am at it again.
Now I can't use the Vox, since my wife is asleep upstairs. I pull out the old gun: my 1989 Yamaha FX-500, in all its what? 12-bit glory. I go direct in to my board and mess with the sounds - and for all its age, and you know digital don't get better with age - I have a lot more success with it.
I do several recordings and then have my siginifcant other come downstairs and listen. She likes it but says its sounds muddy. I say the timeless phrase "I know, but its not mixed yet, I will fix it in the mix". Of course, you've never said that, right?
A few days pass, I come back to it. I decide that the guitar work is too busy, and recut all of it. One of the nice things about actually knowing how to play is that this isn't a daunting proposition, and since I am not on the clock at a commercial studio, what the hell? It turns out much better I think, not so many notes and after all, I don't have to prove to myself that I can play. A solo has to serve the interests of the song, or its just masturbation. You can quote me on that.
The song sits a few more days, till the weekend. I listen to it again. over and over and at some point I decide the idea of the guitar on this song just sucks big time and kill it all off. I go upstairs and talk to my sweetheart and tell her and she looks at me like I am off my rocker and says - "I liked the guitar, I just thought it was a bit fuzzy!". Thank you! I go back down and restore off my backup - and you thought I didn't hedge my bets, oh foolish reader!
I do a bit of cleanup (meaning, remove some vocals that aren't necessary) and its pretty much done, as far as recording, except for some background vocals that I want Barbara to do.
You know, I had these ideas for the background vocals come to me almost a year ago, and they still seem like the right idea. Or, maybe I just don't have much imagination.
Moral of the story: NEVER sell gear! What sounds like bleh today may just do the trick tomorrow. Ya never know whatcha don't know!
For those of you that are interested, I don't think I will be posting any more songs until I get the CD done. Yeah, I know, your life is ruined now, but chin up, you will survive, I assure you.
So quit reading this humble scribbling and go write some wonderful musik of your own. Remember how fortunate you are to be creative, its a gift without peer.