Lots of progress for today

Got that song#4 sorted this morning from drums point of view. Then I went working with the song#3 and managed to get about half of it sorted out (drums) before it was time to do some social matters. After the nice little break continued with the drumworks and got song#3 sorted out during the afternoon. Turned out nicely.

I continued with drum matters only in the evening but with excellent results; finetuned both remaining songs, song#2 and song#1. Yes! But even that's not enough progress for today ...

... suddenly I realised what will be the final song order in this album. I have a strong feeling my idea will stay as it is now, but I'll of course have to listen the songs in this new order to get the hang if it's the ultimate flow. Actually I'm doing that just now as an end to this evening.

While I was listening to the songs in their current stage, I got idea for lyrics. Started working on the lyrics right away and I already know what song these lyrics are for. It's a good start as I will naturally have to get the lyrics completed as well at some point.

Seems at times that this package is forming itself as much as I'm helping it to take its' shape. Like a massive hidden device cloaking in the darkness of ... space.

Lots of things to be done, but as said, lots of things got done today, too. Satisfied? Yes!

Less progress but still ahead

Today I managed to finetune drums only for song#4 - turned out to be song demanding closer attention and I'm still not 100% sure if I got it fully completed yer. Needs more listening. The song definitely improved quite some already.

Otherwise I'd managed to complete that one song's drumworks certainly today, probably one more song too - but today I also received a package from Thomann, and it took few hours of my time as well. Tools for adding into the space element recordings as was mentioned in earlier posts.

Well, I'm not continuing the space soundscapes yet, but instead I'll continue with the drums tomorrow.

Drumworks and spaceworks

Another day with an excellent flow ... Three songs now have final drumworks as I went all the drums carefully through and humanized them (by manually programming, sample by sample, hit by hit). All these three songs clearly improved with the drumworks, much more lively now. One of them is now not just lively but has all new edge to it. Cymbalworks can do miracles. Songs I got the drumworks completed are (working numbers) songs #5, #6 and #7. Six and seven got completed by midday, spent the morning with them. Just finished the drumwork on number five some fifteen minutes ago.

I spent the afternoon working with space elements & sound processing. Got some exciting soundscapes already, even that I just scratched the surface of post processing the sounds I recorded few days ago. More sounds will be recorded, but this time whole different way ... could well be already during this week, continuing the space recordings. But even if I didn't continue, I have lots of post processing to be done for the sounds I already have. To get them sounding the way I have envisioned.

Bottom line, once again: Really happy how this musical wormhole is progressing.

Masspickin'

You could say today was rather productive ... I got bassguitars recorded for songs five and six before about 1:30 pm. Then it was time to go for a social visit for a couple of hours. After that, I sat down and recorded bassguitars for songs seven and eight. Yeah, it means that all the bassguitars are now recorded for this package. Didn't imagine beforehand I'd record bassguitars for four songs today but that's what happened. Satisfied? Yes!

Now my focus goes for two things; I'll have to humanize the drums some more, go them all through and I'll also continue with the work on space elements (and I'll get one especially helpful new physical tool for that probably next week already). I'll also start writing the lyrics at some point soon. So there's certainly things to do still, ... also gotta start thinking about the coverart at some point.

More basspickin' & beginning of space process

Recorded bassguitars for the fourth track this afternoon. Was going to record more bass originally, but there was fitting time & space for beginning something else ... so I worked some two hours with beginning to create some potential space / machinery soundscapes / ambience for the album. Got a good start, but can't reveal the exact details as I think it would ruin the surprise of hearing the soundscapes in the end. Some things are better left secret. ^_^

Anyway, things are going good and I expect that to continue.

Thunderous session

I was still working with the bassguitar sound today, and actually I got the sound tweaked into something I really like. Now there is slight distortive element in the sound, not too big but still, enough to make the bassguitar crumble nicely.

I recorded bassguitars for the third song as a test of the soundscapes and it turned out really good. This recording made me realise that now it's close to what I envisioned. Great thing, yeah! So, ... I re-recorded basslines for the first two songs in a row and result clearly improved a nod or two.

Oh, why thunderous session? Because when I started recording track three, there was thunderstorm getting closer. I recorded the first two songs while thunder and lightning gave a good atmosphere. So there you go. It was a fitting mood ... for doom! ;)

From guitar into bass (with a little twist but not shout)

So, I started working and tweaking the bassguitar sound yesterday afternoon. I worked several hours in a row and recorded numerous democlips, thought I got close to what seemed to fit ... continued with the same matter this morning and spent multiple hours more tweaking. As a result I got a sound that fits even better than yesterday's sound - after demoing and testing I recorded already bass for two songs and it feels pretty good to me. Very fitting.

Though here's another little twist to this tale (and another case of "plans were this, the result might be that") ... originally I thought I'd like to use distorted, crunchy sounding bass, but the sound I've settled for now anyway (haven't yet decided 100% if it's final but it could well be the base sound ... not bass sound, ha!) is something quite different than what I had in mind. Perhaps it can't be labelled as soft sounding, but it's certainly not the distorted bass sound I thought would fit the best. How come?

Well, after intensive testing this kind of sound simply seems to fit the music the most. So it's logical direction to go then. Check out the brief demonstration clip for the bassguitar sound below.