Sound Gardening: Making Some Noise

Nope again on the gardening. Well, I had hoped to get to the big city this weekend to take pictures at the Japanese garden but got caught up in mixing some music.

So, I started working on a cover of a song by the Police. This is a “good” thing because it has been a while since I have been inspired to pick up my instruments to play something new. It could be considered a “bad” thing because it takes me so much time and concentration to get one of these things “done”.

A Day of Fun

These little musical experiments usually are pretty rough and are only curiosities to short list of people I share them with, but they are fun and challenging. I have fun trying to see what I can whip up in a day or two. Usually, an a song will drive me wanting to record, a lot of times it is to learn something new.  When my muse is nice to me, there is usually enough inspiration to last me hours.

The Process

I usually put down all of the tracks really quickly after I get an idea. I move from instrument to instrument, playing one track over the next.  I rarely listen to them as I play.  I tend to listen as I play over the top.  It will tell me if something needs to be redone or something is missing. Then I spend a few hours, and in lately days mixing. If one of the tracks is a dud, well then I’ll try a new one.  Usually, I will avoid new tracks (especially voice ones), and if I do make more I will usually try something completely different, like with a different instrument.

Complex Software – Groove Clips 101

The software I used is called “Sonar” and is of the Cakewalk family of sound mixing tools. It is such a complex piece of software that every time I try and create something on it, I’m usually learning a new feature.  I haven’t stopped learning features, and I have been using one form or another of this software for years now.

This recording I learned how to make something called “groove clip”. A groove clip is a small recording, one that has a tempo and pitch associated with it.  The beat and pitch gets set into the properties of the clip, and if you create it right you can take one of these clips and just drag them across your sound surface on the tool and it will play the part for you.  It has the effect of a sound loop.  The neat thing is that you can change the number of beats per measure of the clip, and if you have done it correctly, it will change the clip to match for the measure. It is quite cool, but has been a challenge for me to figure out.

By using these little clips of music I can change the tempo of the whole song and all the clips will just fall into place. Unfortunately, my more organic tracks (the tracks I play straight through) don’t seem to change. I guess this is something else I need to eventually learn.  Neat technology, when you consider that they really couldn’t do this stuff outside of cutting actual sections of tape and looping it around the room through a machine 30 years ago (which is amazing in itself).  I’m not sure they could change the pitch like we can now.

Get Some Drumming In

I chose a Police tune. I really have wanted to put a little more percussion into one of my recordings, and I thought that recording a Police song would be perfect for this purpose.  I am also wanna-be drummer and have slowly worked some drums into my music. On a few songs I have used some hand drums. Since my stick drumming isn’t precise enough to make a track quickly, I haven’t used much stick drumming in my recordings. Using the stick drumming along with the groove clips has certainly made this much different for me.

Jazzy Singer Wanted

I have fun with music, but I won’t be quitting my day job… well… with ambition to be a rock star.  I have improved for trying over the years.  Singing is another story.  I am not a natural and I find it very difficult.  I am so sad at singing that usually my first test run is better than my actual attempts at singing.  Sad huh?   This recording I just gave up and used my test run, I chiseled a few of the lyrical mistakes off the original by cutting in some of my other recordings so I wouldn’t have to disappoint myself with more vocal tracks.  I find I’m much better at background singing than being up and in front.  Most of the recordings I have made have been focused on learning other than the vocal.  I add the vocal because it is needed and try to ignore issues with it. Perhaps one project soon I will be picking a song just to focus on some vocals.  It is certainly possible.  A project like that may take weeks…

It is surprising to me that singing would be so hard. It is difficult for me to control my voice, or really have a direction for singing. I’m not sure yet if it is a good idea to have an idea of how or why you want to sing it.  Those tend to be the recordings that I cut because they seem contrived. I really have thought that trying to use something I tend to use every day, like my voice, would be simpler.

Anyone have some singing tips for a newbie? And good books?  (Wonders if the “dummies” book is any good.)

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