Introductions & Explanations
This substack will serve as the digital hub for the musical creations I make. It will act as both an ongoing catalogue and a convenient way to get sporadic updates, along with potential bonus written commentary.
The backstory:
I started experimenting with this musical regiment in October of 2022 (though it really started back in 2013 or so), and during the winter months began blueprinting various strategies to streamline the process. When ridiculously warm temperatures hit in April, I brought the gear back out into our open-air barn in Vermont and setup a simple studio area for recording these sessions. I conquered numerous technological hurdles (mostly of the post-production kind), did dozens of time-trials for editing sessions to maximize efficiency, and have settled on the current template which can quickly yield a rather unique, organic sounding product:
The template:
A smartphone is situated in one spot to record video (no moving allowed!!!), and all audio from the instruments goes from the mixer to a multitrack recorder which saves to an SD card (currently using a Zoom R8). I hit the start button on the camera and do all three takes of the instruments (keys, drums, bass) consecutively. A quick improv jam using a looper pedal like the one above will take about 15 minutes in total to record all three takes.
Once recordings are captured, the editing can happen anytime, but I got into the routine of doing this later the same night. It usually takes less than 10 minutes to put all the layers together for a single tune and render, sometimes a bit longer if I want to fine tune the mix of the audio better. The “cloning” effect of doing three layers like this allows for all three takes to be displayed at once, synchronized to each other, coming close to but not quite a display of a full live performance.
I use the open-source software Shotcut to import the full length video, dividing each take into a separate layer. I’ll import the mixed audio from the R8 and synchronize each layer to that full mix, isolate each instrument within the visual layers, and then render. The total editing time for this part takes about 5 minutes, and will give a decent rough rendering of the whole session, though it’ll take a good hour to render on my ancient laptop.
But to get the video above, it took approximately 15 minutes of recording time, and 15 minutes of additional editing time, to create a lil 3 minute jam with myself. If the mixing board is dialed in just right, then the sonic realm becomes your oyster.
The reason:
This sort of formula for recording can be a massively beneficial tool in refining many skillsets within musical production, especially as a sort of meditational practice towards performing live. The improv jams are an especially potent opportunity to work on soloing and various unmastered techniques, where the one-after-another approach to recording forces that “live mentality” to be adopted; a sort of “piss or get off the pot” sort of attitude. That’s what works for me.
Essentially, it’s a fun way to practice, and a good way to get that “feel” and energetic buzz one often gets when performing in front of an audience. I have a hunch that it could be a great catalyst to use when preparing for studio recordings, in that it can prime the mind for adopting and maintaining a very strict sense of rhythm and harmony, and an efficient way to warmup and/or practice as a multi-instrumentalist.
Oh, and also nuclear war and wild technological & biological experimentations are poised to wipe out our troubled little civilization in the near future. My soul has been needing some buoyancy, and it’s been years since I’ve really engaged with Music, so I’m gonna carpe the diem and have some fun with this while I still can. It started as a summer project for 2023, but has been a handy tool for honing my skills now as a gigging musician, and there’s some songs I’ve always wanted to cover my own way.
The goal:
The tangible end result I’m striving for is to have a handful of really solid cover song videos using this format, which can then be used to represent myself as a musician, as I have almost zero digital/online presence (by design). Even one of these can be used in lieu of a video resume, which is typically a choppy compilation of personal highlights, rather than an uninterrupted exhibition. I like to be a lil different.
I’d also like to get better with audio engineering and mixing, which I’ve always sort of approached with a “good enough” sort of attitude, settling with a mediocre product rather than striving to master the craft. This substack here will act as a way for me to chronicle my progress in that regard.
And this is as far into the cesspool that we refer to as “the internet” as I am willing to wade. Especially considering how generative AI1 is about to really muddy the waters, this may be my last foray into the global digital domain. It’d be cool to find better hosting than youtube, but for now, I’ll take advantage of it’s massive servers and reliable streaming interface. [I am very keen to see if a truly decentralized internet can blossom, with recent popularity surges in protocols like NOSTR giving me some whiffs of hope.]
If you’d like to receive occasional updates, subscribe for free and follow along :-)
full disclosure = I used substack’s beta image-generator tool to make all the “cover art” for these posts. I have no artistic ability when it comes to graphic design, and frankly I think substack’s image-generator is so primitive that it’s simply a fun toy to play with. This is also about as far into the AI pool as I plan on wading, at least at this point in time.