The Easy Stuff is Over
There was a long break since my last post. Most of that time I did nothing musical. Work got busy with some end-of-year stuff and then it was off to Death Valley for family Christmas. After returning a few days ago, I've focused on getting my recording setup together. This is something I have done episodically over the past decade. At this point, I pretty much know my way around the software and hardware toolboxes, and while it took a little doing, figuring these things out is in my comfort zone. It's not writing music--especially lyrics--which is way outside my comfort zone. The fact is, I'm procrastiprepping.
Despite the fact that my subconscious motivation is avoidance, I still claim some progress toward my goal. The foundation of my recording efforts will be Linux recording software from the KXStudio repositories: Jack, Cadence, Ardour, Drumgizmo. This laptop is the multi-track recorder and the substitute for any instrument I cannot play, principally drums and keyboards. The software all runs on this machine. The laptop interfaces with a Zoom R16 to record audio from guitars, basses, and vocals, and also with an old M-Audio Axiom 61 key MIDI controller to trigger software instruments for drums and keyboard synthesizers.
I acquired all this gear previously and was using it for other purposes, so the good news is that I did not succumb to the GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) that has plagued me since I was 15. To wit, I traded a Gibson L-5S that my father gave to me to get a '57 re-issue Stratocaster. I then traded that guitar for a used Gibson Explorer (Scorpions model). That guitar was resculpted, refinished and reconstructed, yielding a metallic blue Explorer-like guitar with sloped contours, a locking Floyd Rose tremolo, Seymour Duncan pickups, and active/passive Carvin electronics that support coil-taps. That's just one example...
I got my GAS nut off by playing with new software. Ardour, my main Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), has gone from version 2+ to version 5 since I last pretended to be serious about it. I don't know what the major changes were, but it now supports MIDI tracks and things like track gains and so-on can be controlled using the Zoom R16. The latter also serves as an audio interface in this setup, effectively a sound card, but one with 8 inputs and hardware meters and monitors for recording. Drumgizmo is a free, open-source MIDI instrument that plays drums using very sophisticated recording of actual drum kits. Using the MIDI recording capabilities of Ardour and my Axiom 61 controller (it has 8 drum pads), I hope to be able to record my own drums.
There's more gear stuff, like finding the x42 plugins for MIDI channel filtering, but really I need to stop screwing around with my kit and write something. I did spend a little time getting my head right, listening to the audio version of Zen Guitar. Kevin Pakulis gave me a paper copy that I treasure, but I grabbed the audio book so I can listen to it while I'm fooling around with gear or doing yoga. I'm not religious, but I really appreciate the way that Philip Tashio Sudo describes describes Zen and applies it to guitar. Concepts like remaining open minded, practical, and humble, are embedded in his treatise. I played a session with AJ and DH after listening to that, and I felt like my changed mindset had an immediate impact.
The bottom line is that there's one day of Christmas break left now, and I need to get something creative done. Playing around with gear and attuning myself mentally is all well and good, but no notes were recorded. The hard work remains in the future. That said, there's something very right about where things are. There is exactly one-year, starting tomorrow, to execute the plan. The studio is set up and ready to rock. There are no excuses. I hit the ground running in 2018.
Despite the fact that my subconscious motivation is avoidance, I still claim some progress toward my goal. The foundation of my recording efforts will be Linux recording software from the KXStudio repositories: Jack, Cadence, Ardour, Drumgizmo. This laptop is the multi-track recorder and the substitute for any instrument I cannot play, principally drums and keyboards. The software all runs on this machine. The laptop interfaces with a Zoom R16 to record audio from guitars, basses, and vocals, and also with an old M-Audio Axiom 61 key MIDI controller to trigger software instruments for drums and keyboard synthesizers.
I acquired all this gear previously and was using it for other purposes, so the good news is that I did not succumb to the GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) that has plagued me since I was 15. To wit, I traded a Gibson L-5S that my father gave to me to get a '57 re-issue Stratocaster. I then traded that guitar for a used Gibson Explorer (Scorpions model). That guitar was resculpted, refinished and reconstructed, yielding a metallic blue Explorer-like guitar with sloped contours, a locking Floyd Rose tremolo, Seymour Duncan pickups, and active/passive Carvin electronics that support coil-taps. That's just one example...
I got my GAS nut off by playing with new software. Ardour, my main Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), has gone from version 2+ to version 5 since I last pretended to be serious about it. I don't know what the major changes were, but it now supports MIDI tracks and things like track gains and so-on can be controlled using the Zoom R16. The latter also serves as an audio interface in this setup, effectively a sound card, but one with 8 inputs and hardware meters and monitors for recording. Drumgizmo is a free, open-source MIDI instrument that plays drums using very sophisticated recording of actual drum kits. Using the MIDI recording capabilities of Ardour and my Axiom 61 controller (it has 8 drum pads), I hope to be able to record my own drums.
There's more gear stuff, like finding the x42 plugins for MIDI channel filtering, but really I need to stop screwing around with my kit and write something. I did spend a little time getting my head right, listening to the audio version of Zen Guitar. Kevin Pakulis gave me a paper copy that I treasure, but I grabbed the audio book so I can listen to it while I'm fooling around with gear or doing yoga. I'm not religious, but I really appreciate the way that Philip Tashio Sudo describes describes Zen and applies it to guitar. Concepts like remaining open minded, practical, and humble, are embedded in his treatise. I played a session with AJ and DH after listening to that, and I felt like my changed mindset had an immediate impact.
The bottom line is that there's one day of Christmas break left now, and I need to get something creative done. Playing around with gear and attuning myself mentally is all well and good, but no notes were recorded. The hard work remains in the future. That said, there's something very right about where things are. There is exactly one-year, starting tomorrow, to execute the plan. The studio is set up and ready to rock. There are no excuses. I hit the ground running in 2018.
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