Here’s an update on my latest music. I’ve recorded around 23 tracks, a couple need to be re-recorded and another needs to be captured for the first time, having undergone a lyric transplant. I think around 18 will end up on an album, with the remainder being made available for people who want to buy the download.
I mentioned a bit before on the progress and what I had originally intended. In this post I wanted to expand a bit more on process. I am working on an analogue Tascam Portastudio 424mkiii. I have to ‘bounce’ tracks if I wish to have more instruments or parts than the four tracks on the cassette. This means mixing two or three tracks (say, guitar and bass) live onto a new track, so that I have room for vocals, harmonies or other instruments. It’s tricky and I can’t say that I have always enjoyed it, but I think it has a charm, and I find it is not so much about the choices you make, but your commitment to the choices you make. For example, once a track has been mixed or recorded over, you’re committed!
Quick bit of tape trivia for those who like to geek out on such things. I recorded most of the album on TDK SA90 Super Avilyn – High Position Type II cassettes but they are now super rare, so to complete on a few of the last tracks I’ve had to resort to some TDK FE90 Audio Cassette Type I cassettes. There is a perceptible difference, but I don’t think anyone will notice which tracks were which when it comes to listening to it! In each case I’ve been recording in high speed setting and at the highest position on the pitch dial (i.e. running through tape faster for quality sake.) I had envisaged doing a lot more reverse recording and pitch bending, but I’ve hardly done any. The process hasn’t really called for it, although I do fear it may be a bit sonically boring as a result, so the songs have been kept short so that ideas don’t outstay their welcome.
Most of the guitar parts have been on my Yamaha C30mkii, occasionally using my banjo, mandolin, guitalele or electric to accompany. As the Yamaha is electro-acoustic I usually take an XLR direct and capture spill on my vocal mic while I sing at the same time. I’ve rarely done this for albums before (my piranha had Skrew U or Sagittarius had Balmoral), most have been recorded separately. I chose to use a Shure SM63 for the vocals, primarily to get around the breathiness that annoyed me on more sensitive mics. Sometimes I have indulged in keeping the unintentional breathing, but on some of my albums I find it distracting and it is ultimately a limitation of my singing ability.
Ultimately the music gets captured (for ease) as mono mixes into GarageBand and I will later export them to Adobe Audition to master and arrange the overall album. I think this will probably be ready by the New Year. Perhaps I’ll update once more as I go through that process, but then it is out into the world!
