#Frail Autumn,, #Lyrics, #music, #songwriting

Stars above the Dunes…….a raw take of a song written today. And others too.

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Here we go……Hello, hello, hello.

Actually. I’ve added a couple more experimental instrumentals below to try to get to grips with this recording my songs malarkey. 6 little takes on 3 different songs.

First:

A raw/rough unmixed base to a song recorded this afternoon on the Apple home recording system. No ‘mixing’ at all to level or change each added instrument. Just saved into a GarageBand file first with intentions of mucking about with the song later. Then sent to my email to load into files in the iPad at the lowest quality possible. That way it just does its job and arrives in the email box with no fuss.

Still experimenting at present. Wrote the chords an age ago now. First choosing a drum track, followed by playing over the song’s chord riff. Then wrote the bass lines’ melody listening to drums and guitar. Added another little guitar making ‘flick’ fillers.

I have said the phrase ‘warts and all’ over the last couple of blogs. Basically presenting the journey of this music project and not awaiting the final destination before unleashing it on your ear drums.

Who knows where these trial songs go. I just feel now that I should be actively writing songs whilst learning the technical adventure. The project is a fascinating, yet difficult one. Great fun though.

Drums are ‘Heavy’ from the GarageBand library of choices.

I played Fender Jazz Bass guitar, Falcon Tanglewood Stratocaster 6 string electric guitar twice. Once with dirty chords and one with more mellow fit in flicks.

The Stars and Dunes. Part One.
Dunes, Stars and Delayed Strings. Part Two..
Dunes, Stars, Flea Market Wurli and Evolving Shades replacing Delayed Strings. Part three.

Secondly:

Vibes on guitars are through the GarageBand amplifiers within their library. As with ordinary amplifiers, you can change the way each amplifier sounds by using all the twiddly knobs, graphic equaliser choices, etc. For example. A quick guitars based piece, written on the hoof the other day, is far softer in my approach to the guitar playing on the Stars and Dunes. A more Be-Bop sound.

Out of Touch.

Intended lyrics to the base model of Stars and Dunes above.

I remember stars above the dunes,

That September rain when we got soaked through

All those summer days and the lazy, hazy, crazy, afternoons.

We were so in tune.

Chorus:

We believed

Yes we believed

It was freedom

Or nothing at all

We believed

Yes we believed

In the gift of it all

We saw moonbeams as the midnight sun,

Threw terracotta ash keys and chased each one.

Living in a dream world, we watched it unfurl

In the palms of our hands.

Chorus repeat.

Thirdly:

What has been useful in learning about specific elements of moving files around, check out loads of various recording opportunities, etc. is to shove them all on one file. ‘Today’ , the build on build of the same phrase over and over again (2 tracks below) is a total aural/listening mess. But having all these different instrumental sounds on individual tracks , I can switch off the headphones of how many I want, and then tweak the instruments and compare against other instruments.

Creating a 16 bar ‘loop’ allows listening to a single track over and over whilst tweaking the specific instrument’s sound. Like the middle drums on their own section, beats can be tweaked to create a more unique drum pattern. I played Fender Bass guitar and 3 six string electric guitar parts (a Falcon Tanglewood Stratocaster) in amongst my naive playing some simple four/five note tunes on the Midi Keyboard. Adding layers of about 8 different synthesiser sounds. Also hand claps and finger clicks are added. It can get very mesmerising and produces a chill out factor on a repetitive loop.

TODAY #1.
TODAY #2 Basic.

16 thoughts on “Stars above the Dunes…….a raw take of a song written today. And others too.”

  1. what a joyful and upbeat tune, Gray. your guitar playing over the steady drumbeat is exactly what it needed to give it that fun vibe. I love that sort of swinging-swaying way you sing the melody, too. it sounds like you had a blast playing and bringing everything together.

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    1. Cheers cookie. It was an acoustic based song. Sat alongside a load of others in my little journal of song possibilities. So I just had a blast today of recording bit by bit and making the tunes and pieces up as I went along. Intentions presently is to just capture songs and a few months down the line, check out which ones may have possibilities.

      I did get your Bandcamp email cookie. Glad it went through. One of my blogging friends sent an email to me with a link to his own single on Bandcamp. So getting on the internet Bandcamp option meant I could expand the possibilities of listening and purchases. So. Can look forward to listening on the website now. Cheers cookie.

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    1. Thanks Sheila.

      Until I get the two guys (Steve and John) and other drop by musicians together, it’s just a case of getting a bunch of songs recorded. They may be either okay or maybe not worth bothering with. But once all are down, it’s easier to see if some may be worth working on properly. Also, with the technology learning process, (I gave it a fair bit of consideration last night) it’s that just by putting songs together like this gets the GB knowledge levels a bit higher too. You are right saying a rabbit hole.

      Today I learnt that creating a Master track tweaks the overall sound. But you can choose each instrument, open up a whole area of changing their sounds, at the bottom of the screen. The dynamics of the instruments can be individually worked on to get the sound you want. Low, mid or high tones, and dozens more choices to model the instruments sound. This ‘Stars’ recording is basic hit record and capture.

      Also. This song isn’t one that I have on the ‘I like this’ list. Maybe the lyrics as you kindly mentioned. But over the coming weeks I’m creating a ‘tick them off as captured’ aim by applying to a ‘simply record each song’ situation. A couple of dozen songs are floating around. Maybe more. A fair few songs may just be put down as a vocal and acoustic grab. Then add sounds to see what is in the GarageBand system. Then focus in the future on a dozen that are the strong ones.

      To be honest, the little ditty songs I’ve recorded so far on GB aren’t actually songs at all. Just little sound bites for experimenting with.

      To be honest Sheila, I’m a bass player with some self written songs to capture. No great ambition other than creating something to feel happy with down the line.

      Sorry for the long reply, but it is worth saying that this whole GarageBand scenario is such a strange journey. Watching YouTube advice on capabilities of what it can actually achieve and does sound wise is mind blowing to be honest. Cheers Sheila.

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      1. Oh, I hear you on all points, Gray. I understand you’re exploring and learning—and that, in and of itself is challenging. But as you say, learning GB and its complexitities is one thing, but capturing what you really want in a song, is even more complex. I can imagine. And everyone’s process is different. I suppose whether trying out the bits (or little ditty’s), or jamming with other pro players. So, no worries from me. I didn’t want you to think my short reply before was meant as a negative.

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      2. No. You didn’t say anything negative at all Sheila. No one says anything negative on here at all do they. If I did get it? I don’t worry what anyone says to me at all.

        Actually, I went back to the song and realised it was all wrong. The acoustic version of Stars/Dunes is a very simple one. Fits the gentle vocal more appropriately. Getting carried away with what can be done in GB, I was scrolling and playing loads of ‘loops’ for four bar repetition. I could then click on loads of choices without stopping and starting all the time. Be it brass, woodwind, strings, synthesisers, etc. it was listened to over the other instruments.

        What happened then of course is that the original vocal melody didn’t fit. Synth, oboe, and whatever else was chosen became a complicated mess. So I silenced all the tracks apart from drums, bass and two 6 string guitar parts on a Tanglewood Stratocaster. It’s bare bones again now. So I went back to my blog post and changed the audio to this basic instruments only version. Feels better now. If you have time, have a quick listen.

        I will never get offended by anything anyone says to be honest. Too old now to worry. 😊 Cheers Sheila.

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      3. Oh, you are so right, Gray! About not getting offended over anything anyone says, though I have a ways to go on that! Haha! It depends on what is said to me and how much I care for the person. I guess it’s situational for me, still. Ugh

        As for the song, yes, I can listen now with my headphones! Score!

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      4. I suppose, thinking about it Sheila, life could or can give a fair bit of negative challenges from others. I am not a full on Buddhist, but always read the thoughts and philosophy proffered. Believe in many written ideals and advice.

        How much you get thrown at you in life determines reactions Sheila. Times of heavy challenges could have made me sink or swim. I read to observe these challenges and not adopt them and allow them to soil the mind. Nursing produced, at times, my own negative thoughts and actions to go ‘boom’. I felt I let myself down. Never want to feel that way again Sheila.

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    1. That ‘pop/crackle’ is a dodgy Fender guitar lead Shep. Only bought it recently too. I tried it on all three guitars and it happened on them all. I called the lead Dodgy Jack. These little recordings are small made up on the hoof pieces to learn the technical ropes Shep. I’m not going to try to eliminate the pop. Just leave it in there to remind me of the Rice Crispy frailty in the story of ongoing learning to what can go wrong. Listenable evidence. 😊

      I have a few coloured vinyls that are a bit dodgy. Just bought Mazzy Star’s purple vinyl double album. Read some reviews saying it had some quirks on it. Cheers Shep.

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  5. loving the tunes, Gray…and wow to the words…your title “stars above the dunes” got me first…then the lyrics you shared… really wow…🤍

    lol had your posts saved … catching up at leisure now 🤍

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    1. Thank you for taking the time to catch up Destiny. The songs are really little snapshot catches from an intended full song. I can email them to my brother for him to write guitar tunes and chords over. So they are very naive sounds. The vocal tunes are the very last part to record. I do have melodies to songs, but it’s best to simply wait for the whole instrumental content and the melody can change subtly to suit an unlooked for resulting instrument dynamic. All the best. 🙏🏽

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