As the title says. There are changes that truly matter that can only be realised bit by simple bit. A simple four stage comparison below of new trials. I will revisit this blog over the weeks and months ahead and add the progress by updating the blog. ‘Technology will allow this’ said in a Dalek voice in my head.

Latest attempt with realisation that I am about 1% into learning this new recording malarkey. Still a long way to go. Autumn to early Wintertime should show a mass of improvement.

First.

Asked last year to get a band called The XCerts back together from my past? I began the relearning process of playing my old songs. Initially. To seek confidence I chose a song, see below, that I really liked which I wrote way back in 1981. What followed was a simple attempt to sing the song and play acoustic guitar into my iPad. Very naive. Very stuttering. But. An initial attempt of remembering how to revisit and capture my past songs. The song chosen is called ‘Trust Me’. I wrote this song to be performed with the band Team 23. I played bass and backing vocals on this song, even though I had written it. So this little ditty below is trying it out on acoustic guitar and to begin with finding out the chords I wrote back then. I played it on the EKO acoustic dreadnought/jumbo guitar I originally wrote the song on back then. I never sang the song with lead vocal in the band. The lead vocalist, Jerome, sang the song in the Team 23. Did a great job. So I had to try my own main vocal version here with trepidation. So started with a bit of nervous endeavour. It has improved confidently since on subsequent playing. I feel I definitely want to get it recorded again by myself.

As said, I will keep improving this one and definitely record it later.

Secondly.

I own a condenser microphone called the Shure MV88. A wonderful, but very sensitive microphone that could pick up a sniffle at a hundred miles distance. I used the new Apple Mac technology I purchased and began experimenting with it for the very first time. I was playing anything that came to instant mind to capture something that could, not be built on, but understood. A questioning of ‘How does this modern technology actually work!’ scenario. The microphone picked up the sea waves from five miles away! Joke. But I could hear cars going by on the road and the loud tick tock of the clock in the room…..insistently. So screened the microphone from interference. Results were very naive. But gave a buzz that progress was being realised.

Below. Used the Guild acoustic guitar for chords and a little single notes tune, tapped on the square key pads on the Akai for finger snap sounds and a side drum, then keyboard for a tune with mild synth sound. Five separate track recordings over about 50 seconds. Nice gentle exercise of springboard learning.

Recorded on this system.

Then added vocal. The reality of adding vocals on this one was that I couldn’t hear them through the head phones against what had been instrumentally recorded. Found myself singing by ‘listening’ to the music in my head, and hearing my voice faintly from outside the headphones. Imagine you yourself, wearing earbuds or headphones, listening to a song and singing along to it. What do you hear of your own contribution to the song you are listening to. Later down the line of trial and errors I found you can hit a ‘monitor’ button to hear your voice inside the headphones.

Thirdly.

I love vintage. I own, amongst many vintage acquisitions, an old 1972 VeeDub Bus (camper van) and many old fountain pens. I needed to find vintage vibe by using my Shure SM58 1970s microphone. But with use of modern technology.

Seeking to use the original microphones from back then for vintage vibes, I attempted to use my love of the iconic Shure SM58 dynamic cardioid microphone. Many past recordings of our songs were made on that model and its partner the SM57. When coupled with my modern system of an Apple mini M2 Mac, the recording produced a background of annoying ‘humming’ which could be heard on the recorded GarageBand system. So changing to a more modern Shure MV5 microphone I found a lack of depth. But recorded anyway.

Fourth-rightly.

I found a way to get to using the Shure SM58 microphone with perseverance of getting connections that worked. I played a simple acoustic guitar 3 chord riff over a drum pattern off GarageBand. And was really happy with its vintage vibe of deepness and richness of tone.

And so…….so far? My past recent blogs will give a complete picture of this journey. This one here is a simple overview. I have started this blog so that I can revisit and update progress by showing the naive reality of recordings from the beginning and hopeful improved sounds for the future. I hope you are enjoying this retirement project as much as I am.

I do not, 100%, want to revisit my youth. Been there, done it and sent my ‘got the T-shirt’ to a charity shop long ago. I am simply a guy who writes little songs and has found playing my songwriting music again (in retirement) that assists my well being. But then, music in itself assists well being to each and every one of us doesn’t it.

So with this in mind, this project, again, for my own well being, has been won before it even started. I could simply hum my fave self written tunes into the local Welsh air whilst walking in the surrounding environment of beach and forest……and still find peace. Who needs technology! Well….. I suppose I do to share this journey with you folks.

I’ll leave you with these little Pentax camera captures from 25 years ago of a song called November, the Stereo and You…….my Friend. Maybe it’ll find its way into the FRAIL AUTUMN project.

Thank you (all of you) for being a friend…..as a genius songwriter called Andrew Gold once wrote.

I’ll leave you with a ‘go and look for’ YouTube search.

Andrew Gold wrote one of my all time favourite songs. I sing it often on guitar.

It’s called ‘Never let her slip away’. Go on…..it’ll make you happy.