#Frail Autumn,, #music, #Retirement Projects, #songwriting

First little steps: GarageBand…

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Friend to the left of you, Jokers to the right…..but here I am….

So yesterday, I was looking after my grandson. He was in La La wonderland on the new Mac. In GarageBand (GB) music recording land. He loved playing a Steinway, synthesised keyboards, hitting the little drum pads, finding trombones, tubas and trumpets, and many other keyboard proffered wizardry, and singing weird operatic vocals over plinkety plonkety tunes he’d ‘composed’ off the cuff. “I love ‘classified’ music” he says. I know. He’s told me on numerous occasions. I introduced him to it as he doesn’t like music that is “Too noisy”. ‘Classified? It’s ‘classical’ I say to him. But I’ve said this to him many, many times. But ‘classified’ it remains.

Taken last night in the wonderful quiet and quieter still….

Bite the Bullet: Enjoy yourself…….

It’s a strange experience when exploring new undertakings. I often marvel when you begin to see all the little imagined worries fade away. The developing settling nature one feels, regarding intense learning or experiences, is often littered with little much welcomed lightbulb moments. I purposefully took the photograph of the monitor screen above in ‘Off’. The dark screen represents those perceived spooky hidden challenges. Turn ‘On’ the monitor, see the lighter side of life and simply get stuck in. The brain and emotions welcome the light far more.

Top to bottom drummer is GB source. To be recorded over the coming days/week are initially #2 Bass Guitar, #3 Vocals, #4 Acoustic Guitar. Maybe not in that order. But all 3 from the Shure MV88 external microphone source. Human musician input basically.

The Perfect Ergonomics for Harmonious Comfort.

These photographs above show a new found musical intimacy in ‘The Den’. My room for recording music and general chill and relaxing has the name ‘The Den’. Here in the photographs? Everything close and in touching distance. A bass playing at a lower and soothing volume, next to my desk, is lovely and comforting. The Shure MV88 small microphone choice is able to be simply turned directionally towards either the bass or electric guitar amplifier or over the desk towards myself singing or playing acoustic.

The Sound. The Vibe. The Initial Process. The Possibilities.

In closeness, that fantastic wonderfully balanced bass volume into the room’s ambience of other sounds washes over you. The Fender Rumble 500 amp and Fender Jazz bass guitar combination is a marriage made in heaven. Also, through the ‘quality’ headphones, balance to record is achievable within the direct ‘isolated guitar sound’ heard too. Note separation in those headphones is mesmerising. I did muck about with playing bass on its own last night onto the system. Once recorded, its sound finds a solidity of energy and drive which was surprising when listened back on. Also, any single instrument track recorded can be cut and tailored from any mistakes. Cut and moved to wherever is suitable in a song’s framework or deleted completely. Play an awesome bass pattern and mess up its outro, it can be salvaged. This is the experience of modern recording it seems!

From now on:

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.

Once the monitor screen is ‘On’ and the GarageBand (GB) music recording site is opened, a plethora of fast or slow learning curves sit waiting to be understood. Thinking of curves, an EQ (equalisation) setting I found took a bass line I ‘laid down….Maaaan’ (recorded basically) to the most strangest of places. Five minutes spent playing with this EQ offering. You have to have discipline in all this technology. Internal magic on this GB platform takes you down very many musical rabbit holes. Madder than Johnny Depp’s wonderful Mad Hatter role in his happy to sinister tea party scene. I found myself doing the EQ-uivalent of seeing the little Alice version and happily jumping on the tea party table causing chaotic jumbling’s. As said, the journey begins with a single step….but not by walking down three tables next to each other to become one, whilst kicking everything on it akimbo.

Layering the different sounds:

Which drum pattern to choose? I downloaded all of the available drums and percussion offered by GB by mistake. Hit the ‘bulk’ download button instead of single choices, which took 2 hours plus to finally finish. A very slow rural internet speed maybe! Took about 10 seconds to upload fix them into my GB system.

A plan has developed. Currently at base level it is essential to have a metronome or an inherent choice of one (from the, as said, many available GB drummers) playing a beat to play the bass guitar along to. It adds a tempo consistency to each song. I’m ‘acoustically’ recording my bass with the Shure MV88 microphone in front of my combo amp/speakers. So need a guide beat as you would playing in the band. The microphone is currently set in the direct Cardioid position.

From the Shure internet site:

‘The Shure MV88 classic mid-side stereo microphone technique uses two coincident capsules: one cardioid pointed directly at the source, and one bidirectional aimed toward the sides. This configuration allows the user to adjust the stereo width and provides excellent mono compatibility.’

Picture: Taken from the Shure internet site.
Again from the Shure site. The MV88 60 degree parameters here can be altered. Three extra settings to use the two side microphones separately or alongside the fixed cardioid are also available on the downloaded Shure MOTIV audio app on my iPad. Mac systems do not currently support the MOTIV app.

That little Shure mic can also be turned away from the bass cab and towards myself playing an acoustic guitar or singing vocals and harmonies to capture and add on top of bass and drums tracks. Also by, for example, adding a single vocal line and acoustic on top of bass and drums, four separate recordings, it is possible to isolate any one of them to listen back to. Or two or three out of the four. Bass, vocals and drums. Bass, acoustic and Vocals. Vocals, acoustic and drums. All four together. I can lay up to 180 plus tracks on top of each other! I could become a 100 piece choir or a badly played orchestra……Crazy.

Practicing and the solidifying of the song’s numerous parts:

Before committing to pushing the ‘red’ record dot on screen, you can capture self confidence in knowing your song is rhythmic/in tune/not too quiet or loud. By simply pressing ‘play’ you hear yourself playing and practicing over an inherent single ‘chosen’ drum pattern. Once drums are chosen and in place, you can simply add bass, vocals separately and then listen to all three alongside each other too whilst playing. My initial messing about with Bass, drums and vocals, even though sparse without electric guitar, is quite thrilling after months of sitting singing with just your bass as accompaniment.

When you do decide to record. If a bass playing track for example does go completely wrong, you just go back to the start and re-record over it again. Like you would an old fashioned cassette tape.

Afterwards, instruments like acoustic from myself can be added. Then to future consider added instruments from others playing at distance, that is from hundreds to thousands of miles away, they can be Airdropped in. The wonder of it all.

So…….Over the next week……or two?

Plan is to:

1: Find drum beats at correct song choice tempo and keep them catalogued. I must definitely also ‘fountain pen’ write and record all the drums and other settings like chosen drummers, alterations to beats, styles chosen, speed/tempos played at, bass amp settings, etc. Put them all down on proper paper! It’s the tempo/speed especially which is important for all further input instruments and vocals considerations. It would be sensible to only work on one or two songs. I can’t finish them without the other guys involved.

2: Practice play some bass guitar riffs over the top of the drums. Maybe play out one or two of the song’s two to three verses. No chorus, middle 8’s or Bridges unless the straightforward drum pattern allows it. The drums are currently a simple continuous pattern, so a full song cannot be realised. I can’t really programme drum dynamics yet. Don’t actually know how to! Don’t actually want to know how either. I’ll probably use the systems metronome when playing a whole song. The drums, on the songs’ recordings will be deleted anyway.

3: Record the Bass. Audio has the atmospheric vibe sound through an amplifier and cab speakers. An interface direct plug in for the guitar to go straight into the computer creates the electronic GB sounds. No thanks.

4: Record on top of the bass and drums the acoustic guitar with jangly or warm chords to add a brightness and some gentle soul for my peace of mind.

5: Record vocals. Maybe try out harmonising vocals with myself. But the plan is to get other voices on the songs. Much more eclectic.

28 thoughts on “First little steps: GarageBand…”

  1. You’ve put sooo much work into all this already, Gray! WOW! And I smiled thinking about your grandson and his enjoyment with you and the new gear too! Aww.
    You’re having so much fun! Fantastic!
    I think you really have a good plan laid out too, and wonderful recordings shall be born from all of this. It’s exciting!
    I knew you’d bring the fountain pen in as well. The mighty creative tool! Ha!
    Your den indeed ooze’s comfy!

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    1. Thank you for your continued support Sheila. Priceless. Of course, you yourself as a musician know about the need to complete all song parts in inclusions to realise a final release. And also actually having to mix a song once everything is in place. I have tentatively looked at mixing in GB, got spooked and went and made a coffee. Even had three ginger biscuits too! Burnt up my glycemic blood quota from fear. 😆 Steve, my brother, said start slow and build. So I’ll listen his wise mind. I love that time is my own to experiment and not paying out in a studio situation in a rushed affair. I know the equipment is expensive. But long term thinking and logic won the day on that one.

      Fountain pens? I have blog friends that are enthusiasts, so it’s fun to add that little recognition to how much we love them. That’s why it’s nice to spot a sand spiral and link you to it too. We are indeed a special community here on WP.

      My grandson is here tomorrow too. Angie is taking our daughter in law, who also works at Angie’s shop, to the local Gin distillery. They supply Dyfi Wholefoods with their locally made gin choices. They have won awards. Not sure, but it is probably a promotions day. 😉 All the best Sheila.

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      1. Ah, Richard loves gin and enjoyed trying different ones when we were in Ireland, England, and Scotland in 2019. We hope to return one day.
        Love that you’ll have some more time with your grandson tomorrow.
        By the way, I am grateful to know several couples (many of my classmates from the old home state of West Virginia), like you and Angie, have stayed‘happy together’ since age 18! It’s refreshing to hear about.
        Yes, I wholly agree about our supportive WP community (worldwide).

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      2. The additions of herbs and seaweed are very much admired in the Dyfi distillery gin. Angie’s and Jon’s shop have supported them from the very start. I like reading those books about 1001 whiskeys, real ales, etc. to try before you……. You know the ones. They have some makes in there that cost as much as buying a car!

        Relationship is all about letting each other find their own pathways too. No suffocation in not being allowed in seeking one’s own interests and values. The Wholefood shop is a massive success. And it makes both of us feel proud to see it become so. It was always Angie’s dream to do this. It is her found pathway in life. And much time and effort has been applied to it. And finances too. We now have the recent music project, which is my new adventure. There is freedom in knowing that I can focus and there is no challenge to my application to see it work. Richard and yourself are a fantastic example of shared interests and ambitions, whilst retaining your own personal interests too. It’s fantastic to witness all this positivity. All the best Sheila.

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      3. I love this, Gray! I think during my formative years I followed the guidance in that song, Hold on Loosely. Took it to heart.
        I love that you are both sooo supportive of each other, whilst allowing each room to explore your passions. Growing together is a beautiful thing! You are both inspiring to us!

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      4. Older now and still looking at keeping on keeping on. As you yourselves keep on searching, learning, sharing your knowledge, creating, etc. it just adds to having an interesting outlook on life. That gives a nice sense of purpose and well being. Whilst what is learned helps to balance us in many ways. Cheers Sheila.

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  2. classified, that’s a trip. you probably have more new toys at the moment than your grandson does. it’s really cool to hear about your sonic adventures and I hope they last and last, and I bet they will, and I bet they will keep you young to making music for a really long time.

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    1. Fingers crossed that a few little live mic nights in front of some people happen too. I think the building of these songs will give confidence to play the tunes in front of others. It is a necessity to keep the older head full of hopes and challenges I suppose. Thank you for your thoughts cookie. Very much appreciated as always.

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  4. Just six letters Gray, Gollygeewowee! The detail! It’s scaring me. Seriously though it’s really appreciated. Classified classicly 👏🏻 Your grandson must love your new music direction – less noise pollution? The old click track, hey. Never been a big fan of that in the headphones. BTW your previous post for some reason says download error – it’s private and I can’t view it. Technology! Cheers the Ol’ Dawg Hisself

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    1. I typed out a reply to you Shep, pushed to send and it disappeared! Hope it doesn’t happen with this one. Also, I have your site connection twice in my ‘Reader’ list too. Different avatars though. Your bowler hat one and one with a symbol. If this reply gets to you, I’ll try a proper reply again.

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      2. The replies not sending are weird when those two others go through. They were longer, but not an essay! They were saying that YouTube and the internet are my saviours. And clicks are a pain. When I used the monitor speakers and not headphones, the clicks were picked up on the mic recording the bass guitar. And that the post you mentioned as private is public in settings! 🤔 I’ll keep this shorter Shep. Just in case. Cheers.

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  5. WOW, you need a bigger house (for the studio). Can’t say I follow everything but WOW. My grandson was here when I played your song Satisfied. He also jumped up and down (dancing) with me – he is 14 months old. He is also a fan of the Ramones, clearing you are doing something right.

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    1. Your grandson has great taste in music then. I mean the Ramones. Mind you, my foot taps to Satisfied every time.

      I actually would like to sell up and move from here, but to a little seaside cottage somewhere local. Be nice to have a little outhouse to convert. But probably won’t happen. This house looks bigger on the outside than is actual reality to what is inside Danny. The walls are thick Welsh stone. So rooms are actually smaller than you imagine. The Den is the room with a bed settee in it too. So if visitors do call to stay for a while, all the recording stuff will have to be moved out. I’ve done it before when our daughter and four grandkids come to stay. Now I’ll have to move more and find somewhere to put the Apple Mac and guitars/amplifiers.

      Cheers Danny.

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    1. Cheers to you too Skinner. I find the comments back from my blog friends friendly, interesting and inspiring. This platform of WordPress has great positive energy. Getting back to music, properly, is doing wonders for my well being in retirement. Hope you are finding new avenues of inspiration through developing your own site too. All the best.

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      1. Yes sir you are right ✅️ wordpress does seem to have a positive glow to its overall depth…I think it’s part of the reason I’m back here again now…people’s stories, people’s words; I always enjoyed the real raw emotions I get from people who use WordPress. And yes it is amazing to get back into music…I recorded a few rhythm tracks and just overdubbed a few good ones with a nice lead…all acoustic…and its the one time I’ve realized… “I really enjoy playing with myself lol” 😆 pardon the pun
        …it’s good to see real people still exists out there…cheers Summer’s 🤘👁👁🤘

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      2. With hobbies and interests that are self pursued, there are many others on here, with fantastic knowledge, to read and gain further insights. I’ve learnt a fair bit from other bloggers. That’s a great part of WordPress. When in a band, I enjoyed writing songs with the others. Sharing ideas made the whole process dynamic. Now? I have my brother, a great guitarist, who is going to contribute to new songs. And the drummer from our old band Team 23 back in the 1980s. Both live about 140 miles from me. Hence recording now on this system and sending them ideas. Good to hear that you are layering your guitar and drum sounds. Opens up a whole new World. Cheers back to you.

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      4. Doesn’t matter…Skinner, Tyler, John. My real name is John Skinner but when I publish stuff I use Skinner J. Tyler as a author name. Just something I tried out at one point and found the feedback I got from it was…enlightening.

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