Wednesday 14 April 2010
Thursday 6 August 2009
Wednesday 13 May 2009
Dear audio software makers...
...stop living in the past. This is the Sony Oxford EQ, widely considered one of the best EQ plugins:
...and this is Tracktion's built-in EQ:
They're both extremely similar in both function, and the amount of control they offer, but the second works like a real computer program (drag and swoosh the circles around til it sounds as you wish), while the first, 'pro' offering has a pile of twaddly little knobs as if keyboards and mice were never invented. Crossing fingers that one day, VST makers will realise that they're designing GUIs, not rack units
Friday 1 May 2009
Monday 16 March 2009
Seeing infinity
I'm not a Sasha Frere-Jones fan (due to tripe like his "Paler Shade of White" nonsense), but this really resonated:
Russell’s recording sessions were a departure from the average hit-making process: they were closer in principle to jazz than to pop or dance. Musicians received brief instructions, rehearsed equally briefly, and then played for as long as felt right. Tapes from these sessions were then edited and recombined to make multiple records, a practice common to Jamaican pop forms like dub reggae. Russell often mixed songs more than ten times, highlighting different instruments each time, seeing infinity in an inch of tape.
Wednesday 11 February 2009
Wanted: Musicians (Dublin area)
I'm starting a band to play originals (and covers that I can pass of as originals) and need
- a drummer
- a bassist
- a keyboard player
The Ecuador Three - Hey (or how the band did its thing)
The Ecuador Three - Easy (Thus Do All)
The Ecuador Three - Gideon
The Ecuador Three - Handshake Drugs
The Ecuador Three - Dublinism
Friday 6 February 2009
Prog Prog Prog Prog
Prog Rock Britannia - An Observation in Three Movements (part one of three)
Pretty self-explanatory, really
Tuesday 6 January 2009
Helm's Deep y'all
16 year olds write songs, 16 year olds forget about songs, 26 year old man digs up songs he wrote when 16, finally records album, thinks wistfully about how things have changed, chorus til fade... by Rob Matthews and His Mate Hamish.
Saturday 20 December 2008
Monday 17 November 2008
The Ecuador Three - Handshake Drugs
Here's a mostly pointless cover of Wilco's Handshake Drugs the veers into Television's Marquee Moon for a few minutes in the middle. Contains viola. And doubletracked tambourine.
Wednesday 8 October 2008
Coltrane in slow motion
"Hey what's up with Don the bassist, he's looking like shit"
"Don started doing heroin"
"Jeez, how could he be so stupid"
"All the really good jazz musicians did three things. They read the Bible. They did heroin. And they practised a lot. Don wants to get better, so he's started reading the Bible and doing heroin."
- I Love Music thread
I've been listening to a lot of John Coltrane lately. It's not just that his playing is fast - it's more like he's playing amazing melodic lines and he just happens to want to play them extremely quickly. They'd be just as interesting slowed down. By way of example, here's India at half speed:
John Coltrane - India (The Ecuador Three treacle remix)Thursday 28 August 2008
Carpenters Challenge: Rainbows
The Carpenters Challenge: record a Carpenters classic, if possible making it even more airy fairy than the original. First up is our man Manketta (or Brian to his mam), seen here on the right, with a glitchy update of a middle of the road classic. Stay tuned for versions of Superstar, We've Only Just Begun and more...
Friday 15 August 2008
Jenny Is A Fox
This is one of those tunes where I tried to put too much stuff in and it never quite came together as I planned, so I uploaded it so I can leave it and finish something else. Oh well. I'm one track closer to finishing the Peace And Love EP (provisional cover above).
Tuesday 1 July 2008
The Ecuador Three - Gideon
Quick little cover of the My Morning Jacket song recorded in just under an hour on a rainy Saturday afternoon
Friday 13 June 2008
Opus Dave
There comes a time, it seems, in every young man's life when his friends sit him down and make him listen to the album they've been writing about him behind his back for the past two months. Here it is: (all tracks credited to The Retro Cowboys of Delta Dineenadelica)
- Opus Dave
- The Curse of Dave Dineen
- (Baby, I'm) Dave Dineen
- The Legend of El Dineeño
- Pin Stripe Revolution
- 13 Choses Qui Sont Meilleures Que Dave
- (The Tale of The Bastard Child of The Suitor To) The King of The Midweek Scene
- Dance It Off With Dave Dineen
- Hey, Mr. Dave Dineen!
- Dirty For Double D
- The King of The Midweek Scene (Suite)
- Bad Bad Dave Dineen / The Dangerous Dave Dineen Rag
Friday 9 May 2008
Free VSTs that aren't shite
I use Tracktion 2 for all my recording needs. It came free with my soundcard, and is a joy to use. The built in EQ is pretty good, and very intuitive. The MDA plugins included, however, leave a lot to be desired. For those of you interested in this sort of thing (hi Andy), I present to you my list of usable free VST plugins to get you started:
- Steroid Bouncer - processing for stereo tracks that aren't really stereo, i.e. bass direct and mic'd amp
- Cyanide - simple sigmoid type distortion
- endorphin - excellent dual band compressor, intuitive controls, good for heavy squashing
- Bionic Delay - nice dub type delay - make left and right delay times different and you can get nice Haas effect placement
- newB - bass enhancer, can be good if used subtly
- Freeverb - the daddy of free reverbs. Only really has one sound (medium room) but it's a good one
- Ambience - good reverb for when you want an obvious effect
- SIR - impulse reverb. Get impluses here and here.
- Tapeworm - Mellotron VST. Nice flutes
Thursday 1 May 2008
Easy (Thus Do All)
I thought I was onto a winner with this one until I realised that not only did it rip off Place Your Hands by Reef, but Wide Open Spaces by The Dixie Chicks. Oh well...
