She kicked my dog and ran away
I spent about an hour last night recording this little blues ditty. Smooooth tones ahead. All in all it was a great start to get familiar with the beast that is Logic 9. This program has it's own specific terminology--which is always intimidating, and way more features than I'm used to. Volume equalization was almost automatic, and the quality is leaps and bounds better than anything I have produced in GarageBand. This clip is a mix of my amp and a dry signal--which results in more clarity and tone definition. I tried to get the second dry signal on a separate track so I could fiddle with it, but I couldn't figure out how to do it in Logic with my Apogee Duet.
(7 votes, average: 4.86 out of 5)
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The track isn't perfect. There's a couple of off time moments and one spot where I lost my footing, but hey--this is the Blues. As one friend described this track, "it sound[s] like you were sitting on an upside down bucket on maxwell street." It's not supposed to be perfect.
Awaken
Here's another quick interlude to introduce a cool little song that I wrote tonight. It seems inspiration loves to bite me late at night and steal my sleep (0.O). I just finished the mix down in GarageBand--which I have decided I do not like at all for real instrument mix downs. The track sounds pretty cool. Lots of layered guitar here as usual. I just like the feel of it. It makes me want to go lie out on a green grassy hill and watch white puffy clouds sail by in the azure sky.
Not very rock star like inspiration for a song, but eh. Who cares. The timing is off here and there but give me a break. It's 2 in the morning 
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(6 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5) Loading ...
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I miss recording.
Alice in Chains v 2.0
So my friend Ben gave me all his old CD's for my birthday (which was last monday). I was really excited about this because he had a couple of older albums that I have been missing a lot--including Stone Temple Pilot's Core and Purple, and Alice in Chains' Best of the Box. Alice in Chains is one of my favorite band. I love their slow grooves and harder rock riffs along with the incredibly harmonic vocals. Their lyrics tend to be a little on the stupid side, but I make an exception for this band.
Anyway, I jumped on wikipedia to read a little bit about the history of the band and found out that they have reunited minus Layne Staley--who died of substance abuse in 2002. The new vocalist is William Duvall, and they are working on a new album. This band, that is already incredible, is going to kick royal @$$ with a Duvall at the helm. Now if I can just convince them they need a Duvall guitarist we should be good...
Moar Musack Additions
I have many new arrivals to my CD collection. Too many to honestly review one at a time, so I figure an execution of the "shotgun" approach, falling in line with my humble heritage, is appropriate. The List:
Chimaira - Resurrection
Opeth - Watershed
As I Lay Dying - Frail Words Collapse
As I Lay Dying - A Long March
As I Lay Dying - Shadows Are Security
Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape
Foo Fighters - Foo Fighers
Foo Fighers - There is Nothing Left to Lose
The Chimaira album is quite obnoxious--it seems they are very angry at something and I have yet to figure out exactly what it is. This type of music is perfect for power lifting at the gym when you need to psych yourself up about nothing in particular; normally I go for the rougher side of music--as indicated by the three As I Lay Dying albums on the list--but unfortunately the lyrical content of that entire album is void of anything positive. The Opeth album, however, is stellar. It's dark and very well written. There are only seven tracks, but all of them flow and move about in elegant, symphonic ways. Overall, I'm very satisfied--though there are some lyrical problems with it as well. Why can't someone with something good to say about the world and/or their condition come up with such artistic and engaging music?
Shadows Are Security is the best As I Lay Dying album I bought. The others are more or less older recordings of older songs (some of which are performed terribly) and I wish I had known that before I bought them. At the very least I can say I own all their albums save the original EP.
Of course, all the Foo Fighters albums are great. Dave Groel has to be one of the best musicians of our time.
Sneak Peek
Here's a sneak peek of a new song I'm working on. It's just a simple intro riff, but I love the ambience of it. Looks like my Christmas break is going to be filled with recording =D. I'm planning on pickup up Logic Pro from Guitar Center tomorrow.
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It was recorded with my Firebird studio through my Orange AD-30R amp--miked with a SM-57 on axis, center cone. You can obviously tell that it's compressed--a downer for some of you tone snobs out there, but I love the warmth that the Keeley adds to my bird.