April 25, 2010, 3:38pm I just finished paying for site5 to host my domain name, jeffkelley.net Now I really have to get my website together. I've put most of my studio time lately into learning the sound software. Got to get back to the actual music. I've got a few things recorded, but without a decent rough mix, I don't want to post them. Well, at least I'm making progress, however slow.
February 3, 2010, 6:26pm I had made some good progress in the lil ole studio room. Worked hard with a metronome to get my tempo solid. Captured a pretty good version of Raining River. The mics are super hot, and there's some creaks and clicks and clacks that I'm hoping I can remove, or at least quiet them down. But even with, it's a captured performance I'd be willing to send to a studio for mixing and mastering and release. Then I got distracted with other things and haven't been back in since (well I did have fun trying different effects on it with the DP/4, but it was just for fun and experience). My musical efforts lately have been preparing for this Miracle Show on Friday. This post is mostly to say I haven't given up.
November 5th, 2009, 11:01 pm Ok, gear junkie that I am, I recently purchased two of these Art Tube MP preamps, hoping to warm up my AT2020 Mics. (and there's a plug for two businesses that keep sucking up my money). So tonight I did a quick test. I plugged one mic into the Tube MP and one into my Behringer Eurorack UB802. Then each of these went into the Fostex FD-8. The Fostex doesn't supply phantom power, and the AT2020's require power, so I can't plug directly into the Fostex. The Tube MP has XLR out whereas the Behringer only has 1/4" out. The audio resolution is at 16 bit, 41.1 kHz. I placed the two mics side by side at the same height, and played a little acoustic guitar. Then I swapped the cables, since one mic was closer to the hole and the other closer to the neck, I wanted to see if position made much difference. Below are 4 links to the sound files: Tube MP closer to the neck Behringer closer to the hole Tube MP closer to the hole Behringer closer to the neck If you're out there, let me know if you can tell the difference and which you think sounds better. If you're reading this I'm pretty sure you know how to reach me.
November 2nd, 2009, 10:27 pm After some frustating arguments with the software, I remixed Time's Eternal Key. Everything is eq'd flat so it's as recorded. There is a slight reverb on the voice. I'll check out how it sounds on the speakers during break tomorrow.
October 30th, 2009, 12:48am I have been a busy man in the studio. Bought a second mic so I could stereo mic the acoustic guitar. Been working on Time's Eternal Key. After many many takes, captured something not album worthy, but at least worth sharing. Spent a short amount of time working with some new software eq-ing, reverbing, and compressing. Can't say I know what I'm doing, but I know more than I did yesterday. Going to replace the old Time's Eternal Key with the new one, and post a link on Facebook. Then I'd better get some sleep. Tomorrow is a work day.
Sunday, October 18, 2009 Sporadically working on the album. My last push was learning my equipment better. I created hardware profiles for my studio computer, one for each sound card (I have 3), and I gained a pretty clear picture of how to set everything so the fostex talks to the computer, and I can hear playback as I transfer. Been working on Times Eternal Key. After I finish this blog entry, I'm going to work on uploading a scratch track. The newest accomplishment is the bass track. The guitar and vocals were recorded weeks ago, and I just composed a bass part for it over the weekend. Feeling pretty good about it all at the moment. Now if I can keep the momentum, maybe I'll actually finish recording my songs someday.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 This is the first day in a long while since I've seriously worked on the album. I've been doing family gatherings and rafting and other recreational activities, and with no regrets. Now it's time to return to this goal and see it through. I put a good solid hour in composing and rehearsing some missing parts to a few finger picking songs. I've been slow to accept a basic truth: you actually have to play well to sound good, and that requires a focused effort on learning how to play what you want to be in the song. I've left much of my music up to chance, simply applying techniques in a random way, with a result where I sound ok, but not great. Now I'm discipling myself to memorize exact fingerings for specific harmonic lines, and I'm excited about the results that are slowly manifesting into a natural sounding performance. Tonight, I intend to lay down some tracks and see how it sounds.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 So I spent hours and hours and hours on Curious Man, and a bunch of those hours were spent trying to compose a banjo part. I put it all together and thought I had something. With some well deserved feedback, and reevaluation, I realized it pretty much sucked. Well, it was just too busy and distracting. I considered a suggestion of leaving it just acoustic guitar and bass, but I wanted something more. Maybe it's simply because I didn't want all those hours of composing and rehearsing and doing takes of electric guitar parts to be unused, but I took what I thought was the best writing, and re did it all this morning with a new tone. Done or not, I'm moving on to a new song. If you're actually reading this and you want to check it out, click the link below. I have to figure out the right level for posting mp3's. It sounds pretty trashy like it's overdriving the player. Sounds fine in the studio."Curious Man
Sunday, June 7, 2009, 12:14am It's by no means done, but it's getting close. I put a bunch of time into Curious Man, and just wrapped up for now. Figured I'd post what I have and try and get some sleep. I'm getting up early and heading to the Summer Arts Festival in the morning. This mix is ok, but the phone ring harmonics are a bit too loud. Still, it's pretty satisfying. I think it's time to move on to something else, and I'll come back to this later. I've also put in a bunch of time working on the webpage layout. Got the format better, but need to work on the content so it looks better. Keep watching, it'll come.
Thursay, June 4, 2009 I think I'm pretty close to having the electric guitar lead for Curious man done. Maybe I'll even surrender and call it good enough (but I doubt it :). What finally helped was turning off all the other tracks, and playing the lead to the drum machine. Once I got comfortable with a steady placement of notes within the beats, it only took me a gazillion takes to come up with a version I liked. Then I churned out 3 tracks of basically the same part, and this little snippet was the leasted flawed.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009 Haven't gotten any new recording done, but I did write two new songs. The little snippet above is from one of of them. A good little sing-along song I hope will catch on somewhere. Last night I played at this Barbque place in Carlotta where you get a free meal for playing. I did all originals and people seemed to like them. I need to finish Curious Man so I feel I can move on. The next project needs to be getting some songs re- corded that I can use to book gigs. So maybe I should step away from the computer and get to it eh?
Saturday May 30, 2009 Last night, I played for 4 hours straight at the barn thanks to an invitation by the effervescent Leslie Q. I Haven't done that in a long time, and now I'm paying the price. Both of my arms are in pain. I'll be taking a break from playing until the pain recedes. I guess I'll be working on other aspects of my goals. I can work on the mixing and adding effects. And I have some software to learn. I'm learning how to program songs into Rebirth, not that I'll put that synth stuff on my recordings, but it's good experience for me. Helps me learn what drummers do. I've been pretty oblivious to the details of drums. I sure had an amazingly wonderful time playing so much music. Reminded me how deeply I LOVE music, listening, playing, talking about it, reading about it. I really am going to get my first album done. It's finally really happening. Please keep all disasters and distractions at bay until it's done.
Friday, May 29, 2009 I'm realizing something that should've been obvious. In order for a part to sound good, I have to play it really well, and I have to compose a part that artistically fits with the rest of the instrumentation. I've been oblivious to this basic fact, operating on an unexamined assumption that if I just jam it out, I'll manage to create a masterpiece. I've spent countless hours revising lyrics, and I have spent a fair amount of time working out the acoustic guitar accompaniment for the song, but not much time composing harmonious parts. I can now lay down a decent acoustic guitar track, and even add a basic basss part. When it comes to adding a melodic instrumental part that meshes with the existing tracks, I have a lot of learning to do, and I'm making progress. I think I've finally composed the electric guitar solo for Curious man. Now if life would quit getting in the way, I could finish it, rough mix it, and post it.
Thursday, May 28, 2009 Been chaining myself in the home studio all week, trying to get an interesting electric guitar part for Curious Man. Have done scores of takes, then I put a few on my iPOD and put it on when I'm driving or doing chores, listening for licks and sounds worth keeping. It's slow going, but at least it's going. Today it's going to be hard to sequester myself seeing how gorgeous it is out there in the warm, sunlit, breezeless air. I'm sure I can manage a walk with the dog, and still get some tracks cut. And today, I'm setting up the mic to start laying down acoustic guitar tracks for a new song. Been working on Curious Man exclusively for weeks now. I need a little variety to spice things up a bit.