Another New Piece

I did not actually think of writing into the blog until I was in bed last night, to late to capture the moment, as is the intended desire for writing this. But in any case I did a bit of musical creation last night. I was, as nearly always after watching some sort of musical programming, inspired to play. I had just finished watching the movie, A Prairie Home Companion, an amusing construct, typical of the GK tradition. And immediately after turning off the video screen's power source, I opened my guitar case and for some very odd reason sat on my couch, which doesn't actually lend to playing the guitar very well.

I quickly found myself involved in something new, imagined. As these things usually seem, it was like something given to me, yet there is no giver and the melody felt complete. It was a lead riff, bluesy, later discovered to be in the key of C. I went through its progression several times, there, on the couch, where this melody must have been waiting me to find it. In any case, I realized this was something worthy to capture for all time, and thus I got up, guitar in hand, carefully carrying it across the room by its neck, with the weight yielding to gravities pull, I guided it into the guitar stand for reliece. I quickly then went about preparing the recording equipment, as nothing was turned on. I fired up the computer, its monitor, moved the microphones on stands, into an appropriate position, then went to the PA system, turned it on and adjusted the volumes to isolate the Shure SM-57 for recording the guitar. The old computer takes a long time to boot up so I had ample time to sit this time in the armless swivel chair and go through this melody again, keeping it ripe in my mind for what I wanted to become a captured musical thought. At this very moment, as I write this, the following morning, I can not recall the structure or even the melody of that tune, but I did successfully capture it. That is why I find it so gleeful to have the capability to record music, since my mind is one of holes, where memory takes time to capture the seemingly fleeting melodies that float around in there.

Having prepared the computer and other hardware for input, I first recorded a rough draft of the lead guitar melody I had found. Its durration was 2:20 something. I replayed it and discovered an appropriate metronome cadence (96 BPM) then with the metronome to hold the beat steady I recorded a separate track of rhythm guitar beside the melody. Both were rough, having not really played my guitar for a couple of weeks due to some other struggles in living. Yet with this I then over wrote the original draft of the melody, somewhat bringing it into a better state having the beat consistently delivered in the headphone. I was then somewhat satisfied with this result as a very rough draft that captured the essence of this piece. I wanted to then construct a Bass line that could further round out the piece. Back to the controls and the computer I went. The Bass line has to be constructed of MIDI having no Bass in my house. I chose an acoustic Double Bass because I prefer its tone and ability to reach for the bottom. All in all I think they possess a better sound than a Bass Guitar. With the MIDI window in the “piano roll” function I wrote out the Bass line. At first I wanted to initiate the use of some walk up lines to the theme, though I later realized that to be improper so I went a different way creating a very simple bass part.

The structure of this piece is like this. It is in 4/4 time in the key of C. The chords are C, 4 beats, C7, 4 beats, F, …., Fm …., repeat, then somewhat resolving to a G. There is also a b section though right at the moment I can't recall its structure. The above process took well over an hour. I refined the parts by muting the existing recorded tracks at will and now with a solid Bass line to follow, re-did both of the above guitar tracks. I then realized that the Bass line is lacking although, I was unable to recognize what exactly was incorrect about it. Thus I concluded that I could likely improvise the equivalent of a Bass line with the guitar, during play, where as after I could transpose that to MIDI, hopefully to create what my mind's eye sees. The obstacle of the night was having not played guitar the past couple of weeks. My fingers gave out as did my brain due to the late hour.

I then moved to the Piano where I played along with what I had recorded, just for the learning experience. I am still quite amateurish on the piano, though what better way to learn than to play something new. So I did that for a while by repeating the recorded material and playing along.

Another night in the music.

More, New Years Madness

I struggled to get into playing tonight. I turned on the computer early and prepared to do some rehearsal, then tried most of the afternoon to get up the motivation and energy to actually do it. Finally after watching a movie, I mustered up the motivation and had a good session. It seems this blog writing is going to become redundant if I continue in the same pattern used previously. Yet my initial goal has been to chronicle this activity. So...

I reviewed a bunch of older music through the evening with the hope of finding some spark. I did set down then with guitar in hand, opened the New Years Madness files and away I went. The first thing I realized in the review was that the tempo increases needed some adjustment. I just didn't like the result of what was. That took quite a while to get through because of the number of changes needed to bring the tempo up from 120 BPM to 240 BPM, transitioning smoothly. Any shift of the tempo in the midi track removes all possibility that the wave tracks within the same file set can be used, thus after making those changes I then had to tell myself this is okay, and then I went ahead and deleted the existing wave files of the song and started over. That was truly fine as none of those recordings were correct and flawless. Along with that I needed to change the corresponding flags to indicate where the changes actually are in a visual way, for tracking while playing along with the midi. Dealing with the computer part of the recording is tedious. I also find it detracting from the pleasure of capturing the music. Finally, I practiced the rhythm Guitar part. I went through it 4 or five times, then noticed yet another need to alter the tempo changes in two places. The end result of editing made a good difference. I practiced through the song a couple more times before deciding I was sufficiently ready to record the track.

And again the set up gets in the way of flow. I had to adjust the mics physically for recording as well as adjust the sound levels to use the mic to record the acoustic 6 string. Finally all is ready so I practiced another time through the tune, before actually pushing that mighty record button. I didn't get the track quite right through that tempo increase. In any case I saved the recording, wanting to then get a good vocal track recorded. That will allow me to better follow the timing through that transition on the guitar. I then had to change the recording setup, adjust the input levels for the vocal mic. I practiced that two times to be certain of the transition area. It is relatively easy to hear the drum beat while singing, where as I find it more challenging while playing Guitar. I was successful at getting a good vocal recording in one take. That is progress. All there is to show for the night actually, editing the tempo changes and recording a poor quality rhythm guitar track and a good vocal track.

At that point I had a desire to work at some electric Guitar parts. It may have been better had I gone back to the rhythm Guitar part but... So I went through the counter rhythm Guitar part, highlighting with off beats and putting emphasis on the 3 beat to create a contrast to the 1. I never felt quite on top of that part though I played through it 4 or 5 times. To prevent total burn out I then shifted to a lead guitar part for the introduction and an ending. I have yet to actually compose what these parts will be though I have some general ideas that will complement the split two part lead riff between the verses.

This kind of process does become really challenging to me, the switching back and forth between being the musician and the sound tech is mind shifting, distracting from the mental flow that can otherwise be achieved in rehearsing. All in all I must have played through that song 20 times tonight, at 4 plus minutes per. That is a lot of time when adding the technical adjusting of the electronics and the digital. I even remembered, with desire to write this while it was still ripe. :)

BaCoNatureMuse

I had originally written up most of what will immediately follow this, though with what was allowed in the Heading, I have edited that which became redundant.
Again, Welcome to, BaCoNatureMuse.
The name of the blog, BaCoNatureMuse can be understood if, and only if "you know." If not in the know, there is speculation, though you will never possibly guess the meaning in a name without knowing me. As I write this blog, I may refer to our little mystery from time to time, just because, throwing out a hint, then another, disguised of course. That is part one of this blog, the other more important part is intended to talk of my life as a singer songwriter. Music has been a life passion since somewhere around the age of 17. I started at 13 and am now more than forty years into this musical relationship. I want to express the inner workings, what it is, being in the process of composition, as stated from its sequential order. The words need to come out while the memory remains ripe. I start today, from today and move hence. I realize it to be fair to at times, review history, forming conclusions. It will become my instrument, to analyze hopefully answering the question as to why I don't work more at my music. Recent time has proven this personal path, to be trending more toward less of the passion, than I would like and actually need to continue moving forward. These activities are: playing instruments, practicing, recording, writing, editing, fiddling with recording setup, testing microphone input,mixing the recordings, Singing, strumming, learning and feeling the joy from being in the process.
Good Luck to Me! Actually since this is the beginning, a slight history is in order. I wrote New Years Madness in the late 1970's and have yet to complete recording with quality and completeness. I recorded it many times over the years on a stereo cassette tape player. This process of learning how to record through intuition, the method that brought me to where I am, is probably lacking but it is what I have done, leaving me at this point on the learning curve. I started working on it a few years ago. At that time I wrote a couple different Bass tracks (in midi) and recorded a rough draft with multiple tracks of Guitar a track along with a vocal track.

I had to review the many previously attempted versions stored on the hard disk (6 of them) before actually heading into working on the project (altering, adding, editing). In that process I found the two differing Bass tracks and what looks not to be a lot of wasted time and HDD space. As always when I wish to work with music beyond simply playing the Guitar or Piano, I have to start the old desktop computer that is now dedicated strictly to music. For what I do and the software (Cakewalk Pro Audio 9) I have and sort of know how to use and old P3 system with Windows 98 of all things. The system seems quite flawlessly stable since this is the only thing I do with it. I also realize in all likelihood I am again a dinosaur, but I don't care at this point. My goal is the end result which I can gain with this setup. I also use a Pevey PA system for gathering analog audio through Shure mics. That is fed into the computer sound card, on through the software to make individual wave recordings. It takes several minutes from the decision to work, until the old computer is booted up and some non essential programming is shut off, for the computer to be ready. It seems cumbersome. Anyhow after my review, for the sake of preservation, I made yet another copy of the preferred Bass track, to use as a guide, saving it, in yet a "new" file.

This is a complex song. Its tempo changes many times. At one point there is a transition over many measures where the tempo accelerates every second measure by a few BPM through 6 or 8 increases. In my writing the Bass line in Midi, I over looked that there is also a musical time change three times during this transition, where the time shifts from 4/4, to 3/4, to 2/4, and then resolving back to 4/4. Though having missed this during my initial writing the Bass part's score, when practicing the rhythm Guitar part, each time I entered this section of the piece, I lost the beat. It took a few times playing through this section before I realized just what it was that was causing me trouble. At least Cakewalk offers an easy editing method for this kind of a situation. After completing that edit and rehearsing a couple more times I was content with the resultant track and its flow. I rehearsed it three more times then although I was lacking absolute confidence in my guitar part through that transitional part, I went ahead and recorded the rhythm Guitar part. It was not perfect or up to the standard I will insist on with this recording. I can either do some punch-out editing over those errors or most likely I'll simply re record the track maybe tomorrow.

It was a good session. I made some decisions about the Bass track, and realized the error in the time through that transition section. I also did some editing in the metronome settings to allow for better enunciation of the one beat. That may be one of the glitches with this program. because I found there was a shift in those settings somehow. It could also be that I actually changed them at some time, having no recall of doing so. That was my experience for this day in my own musical being.