what is going on in your musical life

My church choir recorded my arrangements and I’m really, really pleased with how they came out

Just put down the money with CDBaby. Limited run of CD-Rs and digital distribution expected for early January.

And just found that a 1m cello piece I wrote was selected by a local new music group to be part of a livestream concert of 1m pandemic pieces in the spring.

That's cool!

had good jam w/ electric sound of jim today! got some nice Berlin school vibes down.

I have been working on doing solo stuff all year (what other choice?!) and finally recorded what I consider the best sounding version of this improvised solo percussion jam. I recorded another one that is similar but this one turned out groovier so I am sharing this one. (description: instrumental solo improvisation with various small percussion)

https://soundcloud.com/marshmallowy/new-recording-33-12302020

oops
(description: instrumental solo improvisation with various small percussion and drumset)

I'm transcribing/writing an arrangement of Ride On, King Jesus based on the Burleigh version for our MLK weekend service

LL that percussion loop at the beginning is really cool, what is that?

It’s me! I looped some cymbals, a cowbell, some small bells

I just bought a cello!

Wow!

LL that is cool, love it

the now on hiatus band I'm in with global t. has an EP culled from a bunch of jams we did in our drummer's basement coming out, and a couple of the guys are doing a video for one song

I bought a midi controller and an trying to learn Ableton Live

did this kinda hip house song, just trying to learn how to structure stuff in Ableton and I'm pleased with this, at least did a breakdown then brought it back type thing

Ableton is weird/cool, very different from other DAWs I've used but starting to get the hang


https://houseofsleep.bandcamp.com/track/the-palladium

I recently upgraded my ableton set up as the gear I was using was ancient and collecting dust, new laptop, new audio interface, new version of ableton. I'm getting reacquainted with it, making various sketches, but still find putting together full song arrangements to be more challenging than it should be. Testing out various workflow approaches that might make it less painful.

Sympathies, moodles. I have a VERY clunky setup with utterly ridic workflow.

I vacillate between wanting to embrace the clunkiness (like in an "oblique strategies" spirit) and spending gobs of money on gear that will leave me slightly less frustrated but just as limited in terms of skills.

A couple weeks ago I had some free time (between jobs) and put put a call to my musical friends seeking collaboration opportunities. Got like eight songs, and am busily working up tracks. Things are good on that front for me at present... but I really do miss playing live.

What is clunky about it?

You mean what is clunky about my setup?

I run all my signals (mics and direct instruments) into an analog mixer. The tape out from that mixer goes into a USB interface, then into a laptop for mixing. It works, kinda, for my purposes.

These days I typically record a track at a time, alone. It's pretty much all wood and metal and skin and air in front of microphones (that is, no synthesizers or MIDI or drum machines).

But there's still a lot of plugging and unplugging and finding the right cables and connectors. I can simplify things slightly by going to a mixer with USB, which could serve as an interface.

I recently added an M-Audio M-Track Eight to essentially serve this same purpose, although I've been doing very little recording of analog signals lately, mostly just working 100% on the computer.

the novation launchkey controller/keyboard I got is amazing for Ableton, just plugged it in and it automatically mapped everything

Those look really nice

I'm playing (guitar) an awful lot more at the moment and there have been a couple of times recently when I'd have liked to record stuff to share with people (no more widely than a couple of mates!). I'm still pretty shit and wouldn't want to spend much but is there a decent basic mic setup I could/should use?

Honestly, it doesn't matter too much for amateur recording purposes, given the standard of contemporary recording technology. If you're playing electric, a Shure SM57 (costs about $140 CAD here) on the amp would be great and that's a pretty versatile mic. You could also just DI the guitar straight into your interface, which would give you an even cleaner sound. For acoustic, a spaced pair of condenser mics is often the standard so if you can rent those affordably from a nearby store, you could try that, but you can get a perfectly acceptable recording with less, as long as you take the time to set things up right and EQ after. I did this with just an SM57 in a non-soundproofed downtown apartment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOOYYQE9HKg . I wouldn't charge people money for it but it's reasonably clear and quiet, without any loss of sound during quiet parts or distortion during loud passages. A Rode USB Mini condenser (also about $140) can give an even cleaner, crisper sound, I find, and that requires barely any setup and is great for videoconferencing as well. Start out with the mic about 15 cm from the soundhole, test the sound, and adjust from there.

Good starting point: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/recording-acoustic-guitar

Imo if you’re going super budget lo fi & it’s just casual sharing among friends just record on your phone — no extra cost!

Yeah, that's totally fine for sharing with a few friends; was just filling in on options if you wanted to spend a little more.

Thanks for the recording advice. I've recorded a couple of things on my phone but the fidelity + my arthritic rhinoceros playing was too much to bear. This thread has convinced me that it's the guitar and the mic that's the issue :).

tbh, a quiet room, pointing the iPhone at the guitar the right way, it's kind of amazing how good it sounds. I've released recordings with iPhone-recorded guitar. Even the quality of the guitar is kinda arbitrary, I have a $200 cheapo classical guitar and a very-expensive pre-war Martin Concert and they both sound great into an iPhone. If the room is quiet, that is. And the iPhone is placed correctly.

Re: my cello. I was corresponding with a luthier these past two weeks whose instruments I am VERY passionate about, and he turned out to be a total fucking weirdo. He refused to give me an estimate, and instead wanted me to convince him to make me an instrument, like I needed to convince him of my artistic vision, and eventually said that I seemed "fearful"?! it was a very bizarre exchange and I think this guy is either insane or just very Russian. Anyway, I ended up getting a budget instrument, for now.

i always feel extremely alienated with my music friends because i don't care about the recording quality

re: instruments obtained in sketchy circumstances, my first set of drums was a jason-segal-in-freaks-and-geeks type of set-up, 2 BD, 6 rack toms, 2 floor toms, 5 or 6 cymbals. it arrived in my life somewhere in 8th grade. my dad worked in some sort of ambiguous sheriff's dept / cop role back then, and drove an unmarked gigantic white van everywhere. one day the big side doors on the van opened in the driveway, and all of those drums came out of it and into our basement and they were mine. all of those drums, plus the smelliest, toughest bags you've ever seen to protect them. our entire basement immediately smelled like cigarettes. anyway, my dad told a very short, vague story lie about where he had obtained them. i didn't pay attention to his story back then because even back then it was apparent he was a giant fucking liar. anyway, sorry to whatever pour soul lost their awesome huge-ass drumset back in the mid-90s, my dad's an asshole

Wow fgti, I kinda respect that he's acting like the master sword maker in Kill Bill asking you to prove your righteous quest, but also no one needs that irl.

Those were a couple of great stories, guys, thanks!

I’ve had similar weird encounters with a luthier and, indirectly, with a drum maker. Imagine having to convince Siemens to make you a Dishwasher.

luthier is a profession that attracts some odd guys

lol

luthier vandrodd

I found a viola in a dustbin last month. Don't think I'll ever learn how to play it, but it's fun just to make terrible noise with. Lockdown has been doubly cruel to my family.

Yah when I asked the luthier a ballpark idea about what his instruments cost, he said "oh I don't want to be like two people arguing in the grocery store about the price of potatoes" and I'm sitting here like dude it is a cello, it is a huge investment, it is not a potato.

He kept talking about art, and meaning, and spouted a bunch of "impossible is nothing"-style "you have to give your 100%! this is all there is to it!" When I explained that music is actually my job and I don't have a legal profession to fall back on to drop huge bucks on a passing fancy, that I always have to make purchases with cost-benefit in mind, he got ruffled by suggesting that his clients were lawyers, and talked about a number of them and their backstory

Then I said "no, I only mentioned 'lawyer' in passing because my lawyer brother also plays the cello and can afford to have a finer instrument than an amateur perhaps deserves" and the luthier suggested I have my lawyer brother buy one of his cellos for me instead

I am starting to think this is kind of part of his sales pitch

To keep me off-balance and 'wanting it' enough to not-flinch when he tells me a probably-outlanding figure

Man, what a dude. His instruments sound amazing though, gotta give him that

*outlandish

Haha I have to admit I haven't come across luthiers like that but I kind of want to now.

lmao at NickB's post in the midst of all this btw

I really have to up my dustbin game.

I sold my college guitar (modded up Squire) to a friend after undergrad in 1991.

I had not heard from him SINCE I SOLD IT, and he hits me up on LinkedIn two years ago. He asks for my address so he can send a holiday card.

A week later my college guitar shows up on my doorstep unannounced with a note that says, "I'll bet you wondered what became of this." The electronics were rusted from sitting in his attic for 27 years but the neck was straight as an arrow so I fixed it up and it plays really well now.

A lot of guys I know get guitars from this luthier who seems to be a model of sanity, at least based on my own interactions with him and everything I’ve heard: http://www.borysguitars.com/

You have to keep this luthier talking (and you have to keep sharing him here!). He's a character waiting to be written.

thread contributors, you are obliged to work in "you have to keep this luthier talking" into the lyrics of a new song you write this year.

ddw that is a great story, post pics of the guitar!

I was thinking this morning that I might send some of the information re: this luthier to a doc-making friend, see if he's interested in doing something about early music lutheries and musicians. The characters I've met are compelling and exhausting and the music (and instruments) are spectacular

Also James those guitars look gorgeous

I got my archtop needs all taken care of already but they really are beautiful

I wonder if drum makers (drumiers?) are like this? Probably.

I'm still working on a mastering chain & workflow so I can self-release tracks that I'm happy with (partly because the label I've been working with for the last 5 years is coming to a natural conclusion this year). So far the results are improving, basically I'm doing very little EQ and going back to the mix if I need to change individual levels or EQ, and focusing on loudness/dynamics. The only problem is that when I add something to the chain or learn a new trick, I feel like I need to go back and re-master this clutch of 8-9 unreleased tracks that I was previously happy with. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also have my album of programmed kalimba pieces coming out in in a little over 2 weeks! With some video bits by our own Karl Malone.

Oh, agree 100% that EQ should mostly be dealt with at the level of individual tracks at the mixing stage when possible. Mastering is mainly about dynamics imo.

Does that mean you programmed sequenced music for sampled kalimba sounds? Or did you actually play kalimba?

Last week I recorded a video performance of a classical guitar piece for a video 'concert' a Toronto guitarist and former teacher is putting together. I probably got enough material that I could put together a proper studio recording as well.

Yesterday I was interviewed on Zoom by a New England-based guitarist/blogger about my album for a series of video interviews he's doing. I keep going over it in my head, feeling like I rambled too much and went too often to the self-deprecation well.