Arranging and Backing Tracks: Bird on the Wire

[spinland]

So, this isn't strictly about guitar playing but, for me, it's a very important part of the process. I love arranging and mixing, and am aspiring to begin composing; so, in Spinland, those aspects of music are a HUGE part of my playing (and singing). Most of my "musical career" was in choral groups (Lots of Rogers & Hammerstein and Webber/Rice in our repertoire, and I understudied for a tenor lead in Don Giovanni and Pirates of Penzance) so I reckon I'm prone to some many-layered productions style-wise. You'll see it come together as I grow into this, have no fear. :silly:

In that vein, this is the fruit of last night's arranging and mixing (I have problems during the Winter with cracking fingertips and right now the tip of my fretting index finger is in bad shape so I have to take a playing break for a day or two) as I get closer to recording Birds on the Wire "for realz." It's in D (I can't hit the notes in F any longer, age takes its toll) at 88bpm and is almost there in terms of capturing the song for me. The rhythm guitar and synth lead melody will, of course, not make it into the final cut since those will be my parts. B)

Hope you guys don't mind my sharing this. Like I said: to me this is important stuff and I want to share all the aspects of my musical journey with folks who can appreciate it. I promise to keep my harder-rocking stuff over at Totally Electric.



M

[michelew]

Thanks for sharing your journey on this project Mark. I'll definitely be following you. Be warned though I may steal some of your approaches.

It will be fun to hear how this develops as you replace the backing tracks with your own playing.

I really enjoy these sorts of projects; being involved in the, and watching from the sidelines. Developing the accompanying tracks and producing the final is huge fun and really rewarding. The most frustrating thing for me is having to work within the skills I have, but it's also a big motivator to improve.

I need to find the right balance between actually playing and doing the tech stuff which can be a bit of a time-sucker; getting into right brain-mode means that time gets away from me. Sometimes I resurface and hours have passed without me realising it.

Thanks for sharing.

Michele

[spinland]

Love the feedback, Michele! I'm still on my enforced guitar break (got some "Working Hands" lotion today and it's already helping with my fingertip-splitting woes but I intend to give them another day off) but today I've been working on integrating the new condenser mic I gave myself as an early birthday present. I plan to use it both for recording vocals and "mic-ing up" my acoustic in keeping with Ness' admonition to spend more time working with that instrument. I'm a geek from the word boo so the techie-equipment side of this art fascinates me. :silly:

ON EDIT: Okay, the image-uploading feature has stopped working for me so I'll have to post a link to this picture as I have it hosted on my web site account.

http://spinlandhosting.com/images/newmic.jpeg

[michelew]

I need to learn more about how to mic up. I need to work out how to use two mics at once going straight into my Mac; one for vocals and one for acoustic instruments. I generally record each separately at different times unless I'm doing a video with just me and the guitar.

I haven't worked out what sort of setup I need to do simultaneous tracks into GarageBand - I think I can do a mic and midi keyboard... but I haven't tried that either. If you have knowledge in this area and/or you can direct me to some good "how-to" resources, I'd love to hear about them.

Take it easy with your hands. I have a permanent dent in one of my fingers that never gets filled in because I overdid it when I first joined and ended up with a bad blister on that finger.

If you want to play you need to look after your hands. Don't rush it. Let them heal. You'll be doing yourself a favour in the medium term.

Having said that I also know there are things you can do to speed up the process - I presume the ointment you're using is one of them.

I'm wishing you a speedie recovery.

Cheers

Michele

[spinland]

Ask and ye shall receive, Michele! B)

I've been studying that very issue since I now have two mics to play with. Today I found this video to be very helpful—and he uses Garageband!

[video type=youtube]8PJkmNhbQyM[/video]

[michelew]

Mark thanks so much. That's very informative. I'll be checking out more of his videos.

I doubt I'll be able to afford or be able to justify high quality mics - which I assume they are - but the principles are GREAT to know.


I also need to understand how to hoom them up to my Mac itself. I currently have a USB mic which I just plug in. I suspect I may need to invest into an interface, an intermediary box that allows for a number on inputs. I've seen a menu item for a second input on GB too from memory and I need to educate myself on the software and hardware techo needs there too.

Thanks for the recommendation. I feel like you've put me on a path to better sound quality already.

Brilliant!

M

BTW - that's a cool song he's playing and he sounds wonderful.

[spinland]

I'm somewhat limited at the moment as I'm abed with my iPad. I'd be more than happy to chat about recording interfaces and techniques; just not sure how (or where) such discussion fits this forum. I'd be more than happy to resort to email if needed.

I'm very far from being wealthy, I just place priority on quality tools for what I intend to accomplish and I take advantage of killer price deals as I find them.

[michelew]

Mark,

I hope that doesn't mean you're sick. If it does I wish you a speedie recovery.

Yeh I'd love to learn more from you. You've already put me on a good path so no rush to give me extra info. I'll be busy checking out the videos you put me onto. But I will PM you.

Regarding tg threads - I try to use a subject heading that's as intuitive as possible. That way people can easily decide whether it's of interest to them or not. Actually I'll start a poll and see what the temperature of the forum is at the moment.

There are quite a few people on the site with techno expertise. And there are others who seem to benefit and can take what they need and leave the rest.

Threads about religion, politics, personally believes and ways of living are to be avoided. Here we're all music lovers, players and students. We're all united in our quest to become better musicians. If you respect that then you'll be fine and people can then choose to participate in your threads or tune out as suits their interest and time constraints.

I've strayed into those taboo areas a few times and ended up regretting it. And it really does reduce the general fun of TG when those sort of subjects come up. We all have differences and that's OK.

So as long as you're being respectful generally it's all good.

Others may want to chime in. But that's what I believe

M

[wrsomers]

Mark,

Thanks for the video on recording. Very informative. I've been using one condenser mic to record both my voice and guitar and have had good responses to my posts sound-wise. But this technique takes it to a new level. I too will be looking into an interface. I would welcome your recommendation for a good economical one. I hope you and your fingers are feeling better.

As an aside...
I have problems with split fingers too, especially in the winter. Besides lotion, I find some relief by closing the splits with..."wait for it"...super glue. Some call me crazy for doing it, but it really works for me. I wouldn't use it for cuts, but for splits on fingers, it seems to be fine. It's important to use super glues that are not toxic. Here is an article about its use. Possibly as retired military, you know something about this already.

http://www.realfirstaid.co.uk/superglue/

Disclaimer: I am not endorsing this process and caution all to do this at their own risk. I would add that if you do it, do it carefully and use tiny amounts of the glue so you don't end up gluing your fingers together

Bill

[spinland]

Morning, Bill! Thanks for the kind words and for the sage advice. I have clipped that web page into my reference documents and I intend to look into the vet glue idea. My wife used to be a vet tech and we have a close relationship with our local cat hospital. I'm going to pick her brains and possibly give them a visit.

On the audio interface side of things, you probably already know you'd only need one if your mics are XLR and/or 1/4" jack style cabled. In my case this is an interesting set-up because my original mic is XLR and the Yeti is USB so to get simultaneous inputs going for my DAW I had to create a virtual "multi aggregate" channel in MacOS to combine them. Good, geeky fun! :silly:

As to good and affordable audio interfaces personally I only trust two brands: TASCAM and Focusrite. I personally use the Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 which is normally a US$200 device but I just checked Amazon and they're going for US$170 right now with Prime shipping available. Based on my readings their device has better clarity and lower latency than any other home studio device on the market, though the TASCAM is quite good. It (the TASCAM) is quite popular because the price point is a little lower: US$150.

Here are Amazon US links to both devices:





The Scarlett 2i2 is in the TASCAM price range but sacrifices a couple of features I wanted and, with the new price, the 2i4 is only US$20 higher. The Scarlett Solo is under US$100 but only has one input.

Here is a very recent "best 10" article. I take any of such with a huge helping of salt but they do introduce some other options you may wish to research.

https://wiki.ezvid.com/best-usb-audio-i ... oCS3Hw_wcB

They seem to focus on the larger versions (4x4 or more) but I expect the brands will lead you to websites showing the smaller options.

Hope that helps! :side: