Last night I started digging a bit further into my initial DAW, Ableton Live 9 Lite, and began the demo process for the oldest, and most fully-realized, track I plan to put on the album, “Christie.”

I’m the type of learner that likes to get in and work with something – typical guy not reading directions, right? So I plunged in and made an acoustic guitar track (forgetting one verse and not worrying about the playing too much). It starts and ends rather abruptly – I don’t yet know why the ringing guitar didn’t stretch out at the end.

I then halfheartedly sang some vocals (I’m really selling this, yes?) to test the mic with the interface and how things would balance. I believe I added a little reverb on the vocal track with one of the plug-ins. Here’s the result:

I need to decide how fussy I want to be with/about the demos. They are for me to use for the final recording (which will be a complete re-record), so I’m looking to get the ideas down as a sort of blueprint I suppose.

With Christie (just thought of the parody possibilities with respect to NJ’s governor), I’m fairly certain I’ll need to re-record to make room for the missing verse and make it a little cleaner. For one thing, there’s some extra noise on the guitar track – clicking of the pick against the guitar body?

Another need, of which I read a suggestion of along the way somewhere, is an extension cord for my headphones. It’s really tricky to fit the cord around things and if you forget and get up, there’s a not-so-gentle tugging reminder that you’re attached.

I feel like I’m making some progress.

-Ed’s in the Machine

I bit the bullet and pulled the trigger (sorry). I bought the Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB Audio Interface at a Guitar Center. It comes with the Ableton Live 9 Lite DAW (so that will be the 1st one I’m trying out) and some Focusrite and Novation plug-ins. I went with the 2i4 over the 2i2 to get midi input functionality that I might not use – my keyboard midi functionality goes directly into a USB on a computer as I understand after some initial research – oh well. I also forgot about the AKAI EIE I/O Pro which is in the price range where I ended up – trying not to question the purchase too much.

Anyway [insert line from the Genesis song here]… as you can see from the above picture, there are lots of knobs and meters and inputs – oh my! This old dog has a lot of learning ahead of it.  It’s a far cry from the old TASCAM four-track cassette recorder I borrowed to make my previous solo recordings in my in-laws’ garage – they would be: “I Used to Know Her Name” and “Twisted and Torn Apart” – probably not suitable for public consumption. 🙂

I set the AI up Sunday night and managed to install the software and plug-ins. It was a little tricky getting the plug-ins to display in the DAW. After a little fiddling, so-to-speak, I recorded a few seconds of bass and, after a little more fiddling, was able to play it back. I got some extra, unwanted buzz on export (I don’t think I heard it when I was listening initially). Much to figure out. Here it is with the buzz:

Meanwhile, “Regular Folk” is coming along nicely and taking a decidedly political turn.

-Rite Ed

I wavered on whether or not to put in-progress pieces of work up, but decided if I’m taking y’all through the process, I’ll share and bare and hope you’ll like.

The song “Future Psychic Girlfriend” was merely a title I liked. I jotted down a few words that it inspired and got a tune in my head. Last night I figured it out a bit on my $50 Mitchell (pictured above) and recorded the snippet/sketch on my Android phone using the FourTracks Lite app – just something to get the idea down – here it is:

I slept on it (the song, not the guitar) and came up with another verse and few more bits of lyrical madness. I’m thinking new wave with  a little funk/disco – I really want to have some fun with this one. I’ve got the title to the tune of Shake Your Groove Thing by Peaches & Herb in my head, but I’ve really got to steer away from that as it’s now being used to market incontinence products.

I also got an idea for another song, tentatively titled “Regular Folk.” Don’t know exactly where I’ll go with it. I volunteer pretty regularly at the Philadelphia Folk Festival and some years they really stretch the boundaries of what one might consider folk music. While I thoroughly enjoyed Todd Rundgren performing what was basically a Utopia concert a few years back, much of my group of ‘folkies’ were less-than-thrilled.

Hoping to get to Guitar Center today to get me an Audio Interface – yay!

Rocking on,
-Good, Bad and Edly

A lot has transpired these past few weeks:

• Family celebrated my mom’s 92nd birthday
• My wife and I toasted 25 years of marriage (I tried to toast to another 25, but…)
• Performed civic duty
• Planned for laminate flooring in our bedroom
• limped around and nursed foot pain

What? Oh, yes – this blog is about making my album.

Did more reading and, in addition to the audio interface, figured I should acquire the following:

1.  At least one piece of sound board
   “First, get some soundproofing. Real soundproofing. Forget about egg cartons. Forget about carpet. They don’t work. You need a panel or two of some real soundproofing material” *
2.  A reflection filter
   “like the sE Reflexion Filter, mounts onto your microphone stand and stops room reflections from reaching your mic from the sides, or behind.”*
3. A pop filter
   “like this one from Auphonix is possibly the cheapest way to take your recording quality up several notches.”*

*All quotes via http://homerecordinghome.com/microphone-technique-and-room-management/

Practiced piano for “Christie.” Looking at the keys as I figure out the chords sparks increased understanding through a perspective I don’t get playing guitar.

Also had a few new lyrical ideas which I noted under the umbrella of “Covering Myself.”

-Edtil Later

P.S. Top image is 1/2 of The Get-Up, David Husted & I, rocking Shermans Dale, PA in April of ’14 (Photo: Alan Schwartz)

I spent my Record Time this morning perusing home recording websites and found a couple that seem to have some decent information:

1) Home Recording Home: I started perusing their “What is the Best DAW for Beginners?” (finally committed to memory that the acronym is for Digital Audio Workstation) page which reaffirmed that it is probably best for me to start with Audacity and go from there after the demos are completed. It also has a line about, as a beginner, not wasting too much time sifting through all the options.

2) RecordingReview: Blogger Brandon Drury cites 10+ years experience working from humble beginnings, using “Sonic Foundry Vegas” software in his bedroom to recording local bands. I used his Audio Interface Wizard 2.0 to further (confuse?) my search for the appropriate Audio Interface for my needs.

I also saw the results of the below poll there that threatened to lead me down a whole other path (rabbit hole?)

I resisted researching the various processors and software (for now).

-Mice Elf

I was torn between figuring out the Audacity program for multi-track recording, learning some of the features of my Casio WK-500 and actually recording something for a demo. Last night’s output fell somewhere in the middle.

As I attempted to plug things in, I became thankful that I have collected connectors from Radio Shack over the years (keeping them in business, I’m sure). My headphones’ male was too small for my keyboard’s female [insert joke here] and the opposite was true for plugging my Shure SM58 microphone into my laptop.

I used only the metronome on my keyboard and recorded an acoustic guitar track for Christie on audacity to play along and practice parts for bass, keyboard, etc. It took me a bit to figure out the settings in Audacity, and on the laptop, that would actually pick up the input from the microphone. The sound is OK for now. My feeling is that I will need to get an audio interface in the not-too-distant future.

-Dolby Gillis

Took some time to set up the home studio. I was thinking of naming it Silent Z Studio (really want to make it Studios as I think it sounds better, but there is only one – “Two Studios” Bejzak?) as I’ve wanted to use that name since I was a young man, but there was(is?) a New Jersey band named Silent Z (http://silent-z.com/) – listened to one of the tracks on the site & kinda liked it. Anyway…  Set up mostly involved making things more accessible for now so that I can work on the songs and ready them to make some demos.
[Disclaimer: Some items were positioned specifically for the photo – probably no surprise. The didgeridoo is not always at the ready.]

Speaking of Demos
A friend on Facebook mentioned Audacity, which I have used to convert my vinyl to digital, but hadn’t thought about to use for recording my songs. I’m thinking I will still need a hardware interface to my laptop as it only has a mic input.

Song ‘Stylings’
Worked on Christie some. This is one I’ve wanted to go all “Power Pop” on – we’ll see. Added a bridge that I was never aware it needed. It just kinda happened. I love that! Think I’ll work on the bass part next.

Found the lyrics to another song I had started, on my iPod Touch. It’s called Your Only Option and I actually remember how it sounded in my head – I just need to figure out the chords.

-Moving Edward