I've continued to do a lot of mixing. It's easy to load an SD card into the deck at my local church and record all 32 tracks, and then you have 4 songs to experiment with. I have a mate from work who has been doing that sort of thing for years, and trained, so it's great to pass mixes to him for a critique. It is a universe into itself the world of mixing, I've got at least my toe in it now. The more I do, the more I practise, the better and faster I am getting at it. I'm not aiming for perfection, I'm aiming to be competant at it - so when it actually counts I might be able to mix a song with some skills.
From a fingerstyle guitar point of view, you may think "What's the point JAW?" I have noticed it is making me think more about production. What does a song need? How can I fit the bassline in? Percussive strums to make a strong beat? The melody IS SO IMPORTANT! There is no doubt that mixing a multi-instrumentalist song will improve your overall musicianship - and it helps improve your ear. So would many other musical pursuits - like learning more theory! What is the best bang for buck? I don't know. But I do know that I'm enjoying the world of mixing and I'm more likely to do something that is fun than something that may be more beneficial, but I don't currently have any interest in.
Meanwhile I need to do a stocktake on fingerstyle arrangements that I really should record. Before I forget I can play them :-)
- Don't Dream it's Over - Crowded House
- It Feels Like We Only Go Backwards - Tame Impala
- Come on Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners
- White Room - Cream
- I Want to Break Free - Queen
- Horse With No Name - America
- Rain - Dragon
There's few others that I have put effort into but I'm not sure if I will continue to pursue them...
- Got What You Need - Eskimo Joe
- Live it Up - Mental as Anything
- Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People
- Toccata - Bach (Sky Version)
- 19-2000 - Gorillaz
- Fly Like an Eagle - Steve Miller Band
Mmm. Fly like an Eagle.
Mmm.
<Some Time Later>
I'd forgotten how groovy that song is! I noodled further with my previous efforts from a few years back, started developing a cool bassline. I needed to refer to the chords (ultimate guitar) and a quick check of melody (musescore). I had a rough for the verse and the chorus pretty quick just from memory. I then re-listened to the song again :-) So much cool electronics in it. But I can't really emulate that. The bassline rocks, but the studio recording relies on the synth and the electronics to carry the, um, chord extensions progression? You can hear the chorus and verses moving through some chord extensions, but it's not in the bass. The bass is just hanging onto an A, popping up from a G on a beat, but it's hanging on the chord of Am. I couldn't come up with a chord progression and hang onto the A without it sounding a bit boring. But I can make the bassline emulate the chord extensions. Maybe the first verse could be just on the A? So much I could do!
And so groovy! I hooked up my practise electric guitar, dialed in a tiny bit of distortion and recorded a quick rough so I'd remember what I was playing with, have a listen!
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