Week #31 - Longing

I built this song in chunks finishing one section before moving on to the next in a progression. It begins in Am very sparsely arranged, and gradually moves to C major as more instruments are added - the idea was to begin with a sort of absence and then end with a fulfillment of it. A slow tempo, minor chords and sustained tones seemed the obvious place to start for this feeling...



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Description:

...I had used a mellotron string sound from a (Puremagnetik Livepack) with some extreme EQ on an earlier project (Week #11 - Disappointment - around 1:37), and I immediately thought to go back to that to begin this piece as it had a sort of mournful quality that I thought would evoke longing were it slowed down and sustained. I came up with a chord progression, and the low end of a virtual clavinet seemed to fit with this. My next thought was a strummed acoustic guitar. I kpet the clavinet, but as it didn't work as well with the busier strumming when it goes major, I switched to an acoustic bass patch instead. I then brought the mellotron back as a lead part a well.

Tools:
Ableton Live 7
Propellerhead Reason 4
Big Tick Ticky Clav
PSP Audioware Vintage Warmer 2
BBE Sonic Maximizer
Waves MasteVerb LE
Takamine acoutic guitar
Audio Techinca AT2020 microphones
Presonus FireStudio interface/preamps

Notes:

- I also wanted to add an electric giutar for the final section, but I just didn't come up with a part I was really happy with, and I'd rather leave a song incomplete than include substandard parts.

- I approached mixing this very simply. As there aren't a lot of parts - at most 3 playing together, I didn't think it needed much. I set up a reverb on a send and put everything through it in various amounts. Then I used some compression and EQ on the master channel to blend thing together. And that was really it.

- I feel like I'm getting better with recording the acoustic guitar. This sounds to me like my best attempt yet anyway, though I'm still searching for the perfect setup. I simplified things this time which at least made mixing what I got easier, and I'm sure I could have improved it slightly with EQ had I been so inclined. I think I'm only going to do so well with my cheap Takamine guitar, but I"m itching to attempt recording my archtop.


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