I've been enjoying playing the Paul Reed Smith SE Custom (Korean-made line) I acquired a few months ago. I keep playing around with the setup, and swapped out the pickups, and it's now pretty close to something I can really express myself with. The most amazing thing about PRS guitars is the resonance of the wood. The guitar almost feels like a living being, as the vibrations couple into your hip bone, and resonate through your entire skeletal structure. I bought the thing without even plugging it in, as I knew I could tailor the electronics to my liking. I have kept the action relatively high to maximize the resonant effect. It even sounds great just unplugged.
OK, on to Track #5. "Boardbreaker", which depicts those nasty, violent waves that can snap a board in two (and throw you around like a rag doll), is a combination of two old songs from my cassette demos entitled "Impending Doom" and "Sensing the Storm". This seems to be my second favorite song on the album, if I were to chart how often I listen to each track. I basically utilized the same guitar tones heard throughout the album, namely the patches I labeled A-Cue-Stick, Crunch, Erup-shun, and Blooooz.
This track was probably the biggest pain in the ass on the album. I tried out a new sampling synth for the drum track, which tended to bog down the processor like crazy. I ended up mixing down the drum track as a separate file, which I then imported into the main file in order to minimize this effect. The drum performance came out more human-like than the other tracks, but manipulating all of the sample clips was a daunting challenge that I undertook for this song only .
There is definitely a sense of impending doom in the intro. It's that feeling in your gut that tells you not to do what you are about to do...but you do it anyway. I suppose this part was classically inspired, perhaps some Mussorgsky creeping into my brain...and of course, Metallica's "Call of the Ktulu", but I state the obvious.
Interestingly, the song then uses the same basic chords in a sort of 2-chord blues vamp, which has got to be due to listening to too much "Get Him Back" by Fiona Apple (on piano). This section and the rest of the song are new, not part of the original demos. I don't know if everything I came up with works harmonically, but I think it came out quite well.
I keep telling people that the most surprising thing about this project is that I actually LIKE my own music!! When I say something came out great, it's because I actually hear the song in my head during the day and crave listening to it, and rock out when I do hear it. Believe me, it's not an ego-driven thing, although I can't claim complete objectivity! ;)
The melancholy interlude features some some Zep-like keyboards (I had "All of my Love" in mind") and a bit of ELP influence in the accompanyment after that. Obviously, the last movement is a homage to Pink Floyd. I decided to make the mix kind of crazy and sent bass guitar right, synth bass left (barely audible), and rhythm and lead in the center. The lead guitar masks the rhythm because of this. I used the whammy to give a slide-guitar sort of vibe, basically just soloing over the basic chordal forms (can't go wrong with that!!) Listening back, I should have given this section more bass punch, but I think with the right speakers, the bass or sub-bass will come through. The fadeout provides a nice, though ominous once again, wind-down to the intensity of the Floyd section.
This is one of those tracks I play through the headphones at night to help me wind down and drift off to sleep. Therapy good.
Where would we all be without music.
