old dogs, new tricks.

[bongo]

Shortly before my tenth birthday, something happened which made me realize what I wanted to play with creatively in this life: The Beatles released the Revolver album. By the time they followed that up with Sgt Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour, and Abbey Road, I was convinced that multitrack recording had to be the coolest art form in the world.

Sadly, the technology for doing it yourself at home was non-existent. In the years I had the most time to learn and play I had nothing to work with! Even three decades later, the best I could do was an ADAT -- no non-destructive recording or editing, no automation, no time reference, no VSTs. I made over 100 mixes of one song, because I had to perform the mixes in real time, and seldom could do better than 90% of the fades, etc, I thought needed to be done.

On guitar I found myself equally frustrated. I never lived anyplace I could play a tube amp loudly enough to learn the feel of playing electric, or learn anything about amplification. So I mostly played acoustic for the last 40 years. I did waste a lot of money and time trying out pods, plug-ins and pedal boards, hoping something would enable me to play real electric guitar at headphone volumes. Sadly, these mostly sucked, and over the years I found myself playing less and less.

I bit the bullet on an Ultra about six months ago. A little experimentation revealed just how much I had to learn: Practically everything!
Everything about amplification, everything about playing, everything about combining tones in a mix, everything about defining guitar centered song structure in a DAW. Just about everything.

So I've been taking baby steps for the last six months. Here is the most recent:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=877078&songID=7692279

It's a sketch for a song I want to work on with my brother in law, who lives on the other side of the country. So I've tried to keep it like a backing track with no noodling over the top. Hope you like it!

 

[Zen Guitar]

I really dig this! It's got a nice vibe and great textures. I could definitely hear some vocals ala Mark Knopfler or David Gilmour or even Stevie Nicks over something like this. Very cool. Thanks for sharing your story as well... I'm glad that you've finally found your canvas and your muse!

Cheers,
-Matt

 

[imselln]

Wow! I love it. I would really like to work on this idea myself. But, I won't. Good luck and keep us updated.

Ed

 

[RiF]

Very very nice song indeed. Pretty catchy tune. I wish my mind would come with something like this...;-(
I really dig the sound of the cleaner guitar, but the right (more distorted) guitar sounds a bit far away to me (or is this made on purpose?).
To be honest, I downloaded the tune and really love jamming lead stuff on top of it (I hope, you don't mind...)

 

[bongo]

I would really like to work on this idea myself. But, I won't.

To be honest, I downloaded the tune and really love jamming lead stuff on top of it (I hope, you don't mind...)

Actually, guys, one of the things I need to learn and practice is flying in parts done remotely and integrating them in a new mix. So if anybody feels like adding stuff to this, please feel free, and I'd love it if you could send me any parts you do that you like. It's at 90 bpm, 4/4 throughout, and starts at the beginning of a bar. PM me if you'd like the cheat sheet I sent my brother in law.

Thanks for the encouraging feedback, all.

 

[Clawfinger]

Those baby steps are paying off. Doesn't sound bad at all.

I need to get Omnisphere...

 

[MarcoB]

I like it.
You got a PM. I am forcing myself to learn "new tricks" also. One of them is to break out of the same old pentatonic routines, and inspirational backing tracks help a lot.

Marco

 

[Zen Guitar]

I need to get Omnisphere...

Omnisphere is awesome. I think you would dig it, Jocke. I use it all the time. Not sure if you're a Dream Theater fan, but it is all over the BCASL. I upgraded from Atmosphere, which was my previous fav, but this just took it all to the next level. So many good VI's now days... I've got a nice bread and butter set of pianos, electric pianos, organs, synths, choirs, and drums. I just need bass next and some ethnic sounds. Are you going to get Metal Foundry for SD2?

I hope I just didn't derail this thread.

Cheers,
-Matt

 

[bongo]

I need to get Omnisphere...

Omnisphere is awesome. [...] I hope I just didn't derail this thread.

Well, it's "my" thread, so I doubt it counts as a derail if I join in .

My only problem with Omnisphere is that my getting the Ultra in December put my Omnisphere learning curve on the back burner. I personally find it a lot more useful than Atmosphere. I should figure out how to draw a pitch bend modulation curve in Cubase, as the harmonica sound in this demo (<--stealth thread reconnect!) is Omni, & it would sound cooler with some bends up into the note.

I just need bass next and some ethnic sounds.

Are you aware of Trillion? It will be the upgrade to Spectrasonics Trilogy, and fully integrated with Omni, so you could for example apply the Omni arpeggiator to basses, and load basses with other Omni voices in live mode.

Sadly, they had a death in the company family which has put off the release until fall. But I plan on picking it up. If it's groovy, I'll post something with it then.


cheers,
--bongo

 

[MarcoB]

In the SOS-magazine I read about Camel Audio's Alchemy, and that seems to be the most versatile VST synth around.
I haven't given it a test spin (3 week demo on the CA site), but the responses in the various forums are all very positive.

 

[bongo]

I read about Camel Audio's Alchemy, and that seems to be the most versatile VST synth around. I haven't given it a test spin (3 week demo on the CA site), but the responses in the various forums are all very positive.

Yeah, I do own them both (I'm a fan of both companies, and both gave me great upgrade prices from synths I already own.)

Both have incredible power to shape a sound from the ground up. I find Omnisphere a lot easier to get in to, partially because it comes with something like 4000 defined patches. I think my alchemy came with something like ten or twelve arpeggiated presets, from a total of a hundred or two.

So, while either synth offers me a learning curve in sound design comparable to the axe-fx learning curve, Omni has given me a head start with the thousands of patches to use or alter. I have to give alchemy another spin, and see if I can get something going there, too.

cheers,
--bongo