This track has been a long time coming, but it’s finally done! It’s my first original track with lyrics; it’s about leaving my job after so many years there, though I wouldn’t read too much in to the words. It’s certainly a departure from my usual electronic stuff — this has just piano, bass, drums, and vocals — so I’m keen to hear what people think of it.
You can download or stream it below, or at Bandcamp. Some production notes are under the cut.
Earlier today, when I was setting up another quick impulse response recording that I made, it occured to me that some of this stuff is really non-obvious — setting up Jconvolver takes some work, and using sends to share a single reverb within Ardour instead of using a separate reverb on each track can be a bit of a leap, too. Here, then, is a three-part tutorial that covers:
There’s a lot to get through, so let’s get cracking!
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SooperLooper is proving to be a lot of fun! Last weekend I fired it up and did some impromptu jamming, following this basic formula:
I saved those sessions, and had a quick stab at turning one of them in to a proper track, which I call “sl3″, by importing the loops in to Ardour and moving/coping them in to an arrangement. I also threw in some effects for good measure: EQ, a couple of delays (can’t help myself with those!), and an insert out to Rakarrack to add some guts to my fairly limp bass loop. I’m sure I could make it more interesting by re-recording a few parts — replacing the drum loop with a properly programmed part with a bit of variety, for instance — but hey, for an hour-and-a-half’s work, I think it sounds okay!