Re-org

So I spent some time cleaning up and streamlining the studio today.  I've been playing out lately a good bit with my band and I always seem to come back to a mess as I'm always borrowing equipment from one place or another.  If either project ever cash flows positive, I'm fairly certain that I would just buy a duplicate of everything I already own and nothing amazing and new, at least right away.  For me, a messy environment is a detriment to focus and productivity, period.

Towers intro

So yeah, a little different.  Funky though, I think??  Hmm...

Stealing ideas

Sometimes I wonder if I buy so much NI stuff partly because they have such well produced product videos.  Very possibly.  Below is one of their latest Maschine promos/tutorials.  I like it because Mark Kinchen (who I admittedly hadn't heard of until now),  walks through his workflow and process.  For him, remixing involves:

Mute all the instrument tracks
Play drums with the acapella track
Find a key that sounds good
Chop up acapella vocals
Create a new melody

I'm going to let this be my guide for Towers.  By following this method, I'll inevitably stray much further away from the original than I did on the first three tracks.  I'm going to give this a shot and hope that the limb I'm on doesn't crap out.

Holocene final draft

Couldn't help myself

I have 8. I upgraded for their new monosynth. Buttery basslines coming soon. I may even have to try it out on some of the finished tunes.

Layering sounds

This is a new instrument to me, and as I'm not used to 8 strings and foreign tunings, one with a real learning curve.  However, picking basic rhythms seems to work well in this context.  I ran this direct into my mixer.  The amp was not mic'ed.  I also added just a touch of compression from my previously mentioned software purchase.  Someone obviously doesn't share my enthusiasm.

Soloed:



A portion of this same solo within the song:

Track count

I'm not ready to wrap this up yet, and I've got 19 tracks open in this song.  Usually, I rarely have to switch track banks in my hardware.  I have kind of a haunted vibe happening in this song right now.  We'll see where it goes.