More stories about music and coffee
With the two ongoing music projects finally going on it has been fun, for me, to note that despite the radical differences (mostly to do with instrumentation, writing methods and volume levels) one thing holds them together. And I don’t just mean the bald guy playing fretless bass.
For one band the recording process got drastically simplified because we had a list of complex songs that would require multiple overdubs and some studio trickery to complete. When we played them live though they got stripped down to piano, guitar and bass. The process of recording was begun but then a technical problem meant all the work we had done needed to be wiped and re-recorded. Then, when this was at its most frustrating we got a one-off gig that meant learning and almost entirely new set of songs. With so little time we arranged and played the songs simply. This breathed some new life into the band so we agreed to record this set of songs in a similar manner.
So, as we only had a few hours free every two weeks we would get together, rehearse a song and then play it straight to tape. If anything went drastically wrong we'd play it again. If it went very wrong indeed, or refused to come together, we would abandon the song and start a fresh one.
What this did was reinvigorate the band and help us make an album that sounds fresh and uncluttered. Ok, it's not quite finished yet, but the rough mixes sound much better than our first attempt with the earlier material.
With the other band we're still in the stages of creating a set. Here again though, simplicity is winning over complexity. At least it is in terms of playing the music. No computers, sequencers or machines are at work; just three people with instruments and a positive attitude (and quite a lot of coffee).
The older I get and the more I play, the more important it is for music to be fresh and alive. This is an approach that works for me.
For one band the recording process got drastically simplified because we had a list of complex songs that would require multiple overdubs and some studio trickery to complete. When we played them live though they got stripped down to piano, guitar and bass. The process of recording was begun but then a technical problem meant all the work we had done needed to be wiped and re-recorded. Then, when this was at its most frustrating we got a one-off gig that meant learning and almost entirely new set of songs. With so little time we arranged and played the songs simply. This breathed some new life into the band so we agreed to record this set of songs in a similar manner.
So, as we only had a few hours free every two weeks we would get together, rehearse a song and then play it straight to tape. If anything went drastically wrong we'd play it again. If it went very wrong indeed, or refused to come together, we would abandon the song and start a fresh one.
What this did was reinvigorate the band and help us make an album that sounds fresh and uncluttered. Ok, it's not quite finished yet, but the rough mixes sound much better than our first attempt with the earlier material.
With the other band we're still in the stages of creating a set. Here again though, simplicity is winning over complexity. At least it is in terms of playing the music. No computers, sequencers or machines are at work; just three people with instruments and a positive attitude (and quite a lot of coffee).
The older I get and the more I play, the more important it is for music to be fresh and alive. This is an approach that works for me.
 |
Comments