ACNakagawa

Got a Gig...

2008-04-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine has been performing at his local Hermosa Beach church/school Fiesta for the past few years. As his lead guitarist decided to bow out this year, I was asked to fill in. After mulling over the set list, I agreed to join, and added a few of my own favorites (Mr. Crowley is alive and well!!)

The date will be Saturday, April 26, probably in the 7:00 or 8:30pm time slot. Here are the details:
http://www.ourladyofguadalupeschool.org/Pages/Fiesta.html

We are called "Roberto Parkalotti and that 70's Band", even though we do play some 80's stuff as well!! The set will be somewhat eclectic, with stuff from Ozzy, Sabbath, Rainbow, Zeppelin, Stones, Def Leppard as well as pop masterpieces from Sweet, Bruce Springsteen, and even a couple of Partridge Family tunes!! Rehearsals have been sparse, so expect alot of loose playing, some improvisation, and a few extended solos. We do hope to share some great Rock'n'Roll and bring a spirit of high-energy fun to all who attend. Most of all, we wish the school a highly successful fund raising event!!

P.S. I did get acquire a used Demonizer peadal, but it gave up the ghost in rather short order. I haven't had time to try to resurrect it, but the tone was too strictly nu-metal for my taste...which is to say it sounded brain-melting, but just lacked warmth and versatility.

Cheers!
ACN

Been Awhile!

2008-02-10T19:53:00.000-08:00

Given my lack of progress on new material, I decided to post "Continuitae" on the download.com site for streaming:

http://music.download.com/acnakagawa

For those of you to whom I did not distribute this song via email, I hope you get some good vibes!!

Yes, the "next" album will still take some time to complete. I am, however, piecing together a new stomp-box based recording rig to try to get my creativity going again. Here's what I have in mind:

Wah Pedal (undecided on type)

MXR EVH Phase 90

MXR EVH Flanger

Damage Control Demonizer

Marshall Echohead

Marshall Reflector

Hey all of you with computer-based recording setups...try the free download of Guitar Rig 3 by Native Instruments. It's fun to play around with, but in the end, I was not quite inspired by the sound. The Dimebag, Brian May, and U2 presets are pretty damn cool though (especially the Dime - what a squeal!!)

On a non-muical note (pun intended), I have been hitting the gym quite a bit lately, as I have gotten tired of being sidelined in cycling and surfing by nature's whims. It's been a few months since I've paddled out...definitely got to get that going again!!

Rock On,

ACN

Continuitae

2007-07-19T22:19:00.000-07:00

Hey out there!! I finally finished up the first song of the next album, entitling it Continuitae, which rather reminds one of Cartman's vocal inflections ;). Despite the feedback I had received during several phases of its development exclaiming that it had already reached a state of perfection, I did not quit until I was genuinely satisfied with the final product (which is about 95% of the perfection I hear in my head). From the date of the last post, it seems that over a month has passed since the song's genesis. At this rate, the album might be entitled....ummm...2112??? (heheh)

I will forward some of you an mp3 of the tune...I hope you aren't all too shocked by the stylistic deviation. Hey, it's all good...right???!!!!

Also, a shout-out goes to those who recently purchased a Meandering Tides CD. THANK YOU!!

OK, here's some nerd stuff. The guitar parts were all cut with the PRS using the primordial digital technology of the Boss GT-5, using my "Rooster" (left), "Chitlinz" (right), and "Cap'n Crunch" (lead) patches. The lead guitar was processed in Sonar with a compressor going into a new sofware toy called Vintage Channel. I used the "liquid" setting, slightly modified, to give it that sweet glowing tone. The bass was once again pumped through Amplitube with some EQ, which was again sufficient, but not outstanding. Of course, given my lack of timing in the bass area, I didn't want a standout tone anyway!! Next time, I will play with another new software feature called "Audiosnap" that should help correct some of the timing. The synth parts were performed with the Dimension sampling software synth set to a Rhodes/Strings patch...nice and jazzy. I really tried to capture the essence of "melancholy" with this song, especially by playing behind the pocket with the keyboards. Of course, my fat-fingered keyboard entries were time and velocity corrected using the mouse. Haha, the mouse is my best instrument ;). The drum sound is new also new (Session Drummer 2). The drum patch and groove I came up with basically inspired the entire song, as is often the case. The jazzy sounding drums are modernized by detuning the kick drum. It's provides quite the "kick" the song needs, if I do say so myself!!

Anyway, as usual, I hope the song makes your day just a leeettle bit better....

ACN

Recording in Progress....

2007-06-10T23:22:00.000-07:00

My recent upgrade to Cakewalk Sonar 6 has given me the push to start writing/recording again. My latest song (working title "Continuity") has a Latin jazz flavor which was inspired by the drum sounds provided in Session Drummer 2 (part of the Sonar 6 package). The PRS guitar is sounding good in this application, and I am having fun woking on interesting chord voicings and lead melodies. So far, this piece is sort of an intro. I hope to develop it into a full song...we shall see how the journey of musical discovery continues...

The Mob Rules

2007-04-30T23:15:00.000-07:00

For those of you who think I have abandoned my metal roots, fear not, as I had the priviledge of witnessing a killer show with Heaven and Hell (Dio reuinted with Black Sabbath) and Megadeth as the opener. Dio's voice is perhaps just slightly less forceful than it used to be, but is still in in fine form and emotionally charged as ever. The guitar playing and tone were spot-on (heavy!!), and Geezer's bass playing was extraordinary. Vinny Appice's drumming, while lacking finesse, had the force of cannon shots going off. Standout songs included "Children of the Sea", "Die Young", and my favorite off of the excellent Dehumanizer album, a song simply entitled "I". (I love the lyrics to that one!!)

Megadeth had the large Forum crowd really pumped up, ripping through the classics with relentless force and precision. Dave Mustaine was in good shape physically as well as musically, and the band really delivered.

I must mention one more aspect...namely the crowd. The arena setting with the open floor was like the old days and really triggered some good memories. One noteable exception was that with this older crowd, there was a lot less pushing and shoving going on, and people were really open and cool. Of course, the air was thick with "smoke" as well.

I need to do this more often...

Theme from "A Summer Place"

2007-04-18T21:42:00.000-07:00

I have not created any new music lately, but I did put together an arrangement of Theme from A Summer Place for a friend's wedding. They used it during the cake cutting, and it was quite a smash (in a good way). I have sent a copy out to most of you, so please enjoy. The entire song was cut with the PRS guitar with custom pickups. Of course, I had to rock it out a bit at the end, but I managed to keep it civilized. Amazingly, the arrangement appealed to the older and younger crowd equally!

On the equipment front, I ordered a couple of 1x12 cabinets from Lopoline.com. I'll try to post some pics soon. The idea is to be able have a good jammin' rig that can still fit into one of my li'l sports cars. I am using a Crate Powerblock as a power amp. Since the cabs are loaded with Celestions (Vintage 30's), the GT-5 patches that use Fender amp/cabinet emulations needed quite a bit of tweaking to get to a decent sound. I'm still not quite happy with some of the tones, but I'm mostly a recording musician anyway. The Marshall based tones rock though!! The Crate is powerful, but I had to work around a design idiosyncracy in that the CD inputs must be used to bypass the cabinet emulator when using it as a power amp.

The PRS has enabled my picking technique to move forward. Somehow, the Strat that I was playing for a number of years was giving me wrist problems, and I could never quite adapt to the bridge/string/body geometry. I still have some wrist problems, but not nearly as bad. Also, I just bought a new bike (Novara Strada) with greatly improved ergonomics over my last one, so I'm hoping that will benefit as well.

Hopefully, this new recording will get me to produce some new originals...wow, I actually remembered how to use Cakewalk Sonar after a layoff of several months ;)

Stay tuned, take care, and keep on rockin'

Happy New Year

2007-01-04T22:30:00.000-08:00

Hopefully, I will complete new album sometime during 2007. I am working on a few new guitar sounds, and I will definitely utilize the PRS. Also, my brother gave me his 1979 Guild S-60, as he does not play it (thanks!) It is a rather unusual guitar, but the woodwork is very nice. It's great for those who like narrow fretboards, and it has a 24-fret set neck. The single pickup is somewhat weak, but it has it's own character. I'd say it cleaned up pretty nicely!

Track #8

2006-11-18T22:49:00.000-08:00

Now, on to the slow and dirge-like tune entitled "Twang Opus". The intro to this song came out of some early explorations of the new gear I acquired. The snare drum pattern was the first MIDI track I layed down, and was inspired by the orchestral percussion preset in the Cakewalk TTS-1 soft synth. The snare drum sound immediately conjured up one vivid image: Hogan's Heroes!!

This snare pattern served as a template for the rest of the song and is reflected in the bass as well as hi-hat. The guitars in the intro are the only guitar tones on the album generated within the computer itself, utilizing the Cakewalk-provided modeling software and the guitar plugged directly into the audio interface. I concluded that the Boss GT-5 provided far superior guitar tones than the modeling software, but kept these early tracks, as I liked the genuine improvised feel of the lead guitar. I was looking for a powerful and dramatic keyboard sound to go with the intro, and a de-tuned sitar with a heavy chorus ended up fitting the bill. The overall feel is a bit Indian and Middle-Eastern.

The bass tone heard throughout is MIDI generated. The guitar tones build in intensity with "Bloooz", "Oz" (a variant of Bloooz), "Cap'n Crunch", and "Main Dist". There are a few sections I would like to have punched in and fixed, however, I did not have my recording techniques down yet, and could not re-create the precise settings. Well, I suppose keeping things a bit raw and spontaneous is good as well!

The intro is then reprised and embellished with the heavy distortion tones. I think they ended up meshing quite well!! The lead guitar in the fadeout is with the Strat on pickup position 4, and includes GT-5 reverb on top of the normal Lexicon Pantheon software.

Although some people don't really "get" this song, it could serve as my requiem!! ;)

We Like Oktoberfest!!

2006-10-23T19:41:00.000-07:00

Oktoberfest is supposed to end on the first Sunday in October, but we crazy Americans will party on through to the end of the month anyway!

Prost!!!

iTunes!!

2006-10-10T21:24:00.000-07:00

I'm now online with iTunes!!! Just search on "AC Nakagawa" (duh) !!!

CD still available at:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/acnakagawa

Rock On!!!!

Radio Paradise

2006-09-26T23:39:00.000-07:00

Be sure to vote for me on RadioParadise.com!!

Thanks!!

http://www.radioparadise.com/content.php?name=review

Needed to Add a Pic

2006-09-20T22:44:00.000-07:00

One of my fans...shall we call her "Sandy"? (Boooo)

Track #7

2006-09-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

A big "THANK YOU" goes out to all of those who purchased CDs! I'm currently trying to get my music played on www.radioparadise.com . The tracks I submitted are being reviewed, however, it will be tough to get approved, as they are quite picky about their playlist.

Now, on to the mighty Track #7, entitled "Offshores". This was the last I created for the album. I had about 35 minutes of material, and I was aiming for at least 40 (about the length of an old Van Halen album, haha). I had zero ideas floating about, and the project was dragging on. Soooo, I was desperate for a good riff!! I needed that stupid song that was written in 5 minutes that turns out to be a hit single!

I was noodling around and finally came up with a good nugget (not a butt-nugget) that inspired the rest of the chord progression. A lot of it is typical of what I do when I improvise, but then tend to forget about and never record. The rhythm part with the "chugs" are done in drop-D tuning (think "Unchained" or "Lack of Communication"). I used standard tuning for the other parts, as the guitar was not setup well for drop-D and did not play cleanly. The last part I came up with was the intro, which is reprised near the end. It's a really simple ascending pattern, but it is interesting because of the time signature. The trippy part at the end is like drifting off to sleep at the end of the day!!

I tried out some effects on the lead guitar to differentiate this song from the rest. I used a delay (software effect) to produce the echo, and EQ'd the echo so only the mids would come through. I was trying to copy a vocal effect from the bridge section in "Get Him Back" by Fiona Apple that is kind of trippy (her and the song). The guitar line after the intro was inspired by an old Scorpions song called "In Your Park" (off of the "Virgin Killer" album with the great Ulrich Roth on lead guitar) where the meldoy jumps octaves. I keep thinking I'm going to stumble across a Vai or Satch song that I had forgotten about and find out that I completely ripped off the lead melody, because, yes, a lot of it conjures up other artists' styles. I rushed the final mix of this tune, but I guess it turned out to be a good thing because it does stand out in the album with a signature sort of sound. Well, it took a lot longer than 5 minutes to write, but it is the closest thing that I have to a single. I had all of the songs downloadable for free on www.download.com for a while, and indeed, "Offshores" was the the most popular of the bunch!

Also, special thanks goes out to Vince S. for the excellent feedback (quoted without permission, hehe):

"Hey bro - sorry, I meant to send you some additional feedback a while back, but I've been pretty much overwhelmed lately and it slipped my mind. I wanted to let you know that I had finally had a chance to listen to all of the final product. I had still been listening to the demo version you had originally given me (because it's burned onto my system at work) so I hadn't heard the additional track you had added to the album: Track 7, (Offshores). Dude, that track is AWESOME. I liked the whole album, very calming and easy to listen to, and like I had told you before, it sounds almost like you're just playing around and having a good time, like a kid with a new toy he wants to share with everyone. It's very relaxing, and conjures visions of tubes of glassy blue-green. But track 7 really does stand out. It is amazing. I finally remembered to take the final version of the album for a trip to Palm Springs (it was all work, no play; I go thru a lot of music nowadays with the mileage I'm putting on my car), and had played the first six tacks. Then, this song came on. It was almost like the rest of the album was sort of a warm-up, and now you were taking off the gloves and getting serious. Like you had been personally challenged by Satch, and you set out to teach him a lesson. It has a different feel from the rest of the album, maybe darker, a little more serious, definitely heavier. It really has an epic kind of a quality to it. I don't know how to explain it, but it sounds like you recorded it differently from whatever you did with the rest of the album. More of a live show/live band feel, a little more polished. While the rest of the album conjured visions of surfing, with this song, you could picture a whole day in the water. The intro reminded me of getting tubed right at daybreak. The rest of the song felt almost like a progression of the entire day. Anyhow, I think I could go on for awhile, but hopefully you get the point. The album rocks, and that song seriously kills. Remember, let me know if you want to play any of that stuff live for any reason. And if you ever, EVER, want to play that song live, and can't find a decent bass player, and will settle for a crappy noob, let me know. If you don't mind, I'm gonna try to learn it. Anyhow, congratulations again on a killer album. Keep 'em coming -- and then let the touring commence... Almost forgot to mention about how I could hear Rush, Satch, EVH, and maybe even some Vai, all in one song."

CD SALES NOW ON-LINE!!

2006-07-30T23:54:00.000-07:00

http://cdbaby.com/cd/acnakagawa

Thank you, CDBaby, for providing such a valuable service to independent musicians!

CD available for sale soon!!

2006-07-24T22:12:00.000-07:00

The CD will be available for sale through www.CDBaby.com

There's another artist named "Alan Nakagawa"...that's not me!!

Look for "AC Nakagawa"!!!

Stay tuned (pun intended).

Track #6

2006-07-16T22:58:00.000-07:00

Peelin' on Glass (not peein'!!) I get a lot of compliments on this song. It's the most fun song of the bunch, and has lots of classic surf themes. It's almost danceable! The title describes perfect, fun waves peeling on a calm, glassy ocean. Get into your mental "happy spot"!

I intentionally set out to create a song in Mixolydian mode...Zappa/Vai influences creeping in (My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama!) The bass is tuned to drop-D, as it was throughout the album. The bass line is the absolute foundation of this song. Once I developed the bass line, it took me many takes to get it to "groove". The final loop is actually comprised of two different clips pasted together. Yes, my bass playing sucks, but thanks to modern technology, I got my groove on!

I recorded exactly what I heard in my head while creating this tune. The rhythm is simple bridge pickup, again with tone on 7, with the "Bloooz" patch. The lead comes in with pickup position 2 (bridge/middle) using Cap'n'Crunch, the first time around, then Erup-shun in the second solo with the "metal" sounding transitions (A-mixolydian to E-Phrygian). I think the modulation makes this a real surf song; it adds the element of danger! I really enjoyed creating this tribute to the gods of surf guitar...I was stoked during every incremental playback! There's even vibes from Steve Stevens doing the "Top Gun" soundtrack in there...that fifth interval!

Surf gods, please send me some waves! Today's swell wasn't even worth chasing!

Free Downloads

2006-07-16T22:51:00.000-07:00

For a limited time only (months, years, millennia?) those of you who do not have CDs can download MP3s for free:

http://music.download.com/acnakagawa

I don't know how well this service works, but I'm hoping for the best.

Rock on!

Track #5

2006-07-01T00:55:00.000-07:00

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.

Track #4

2006-06-26T22:12:00.000-07:00

Ah yes...this one is perhaps the strongest track on the album, maybe just touching upon a professional-level of production...great mix, good tonal balance, and a nice groove. The intro is rather ominous, as many of my intros seem to be, running through some unusual chordal patterns that shall go unnamed (because I don't feel like trying to analyze them). The bass line took lots of development to get right, but in the end, provided an excellent counterpoint. The percussion in the intro is one of the few areas where I employed a clip from a sound library. Going into this project, I expected that I would be using these pre-canned clips quite liberally, however, I could never find quite the right patterns or sounds. I was able to slow down and lower the pitch of this clip to make it work.

As the delay winds down from the intro, the main verse kicks in. I came up with this riff a number of years ago, but only recorded a short clip onto the 4-track recorder I had back then, and I kept this idea "in my back pocket" ever since. This clip also had the main ideas for the guitar solo plus drums, but no bass. The riff definitely sounds like some familiar song out there, but no one could ever name it, so I claim it as my own! I also surprised myself by coming up with a decent bass line here, although my playing is definitely lacking in a rhythmic and dynamic sense...many, many takes were required just to make it this good! The main riff is a mixture of three guitar tracks: "Rooster" patch on left - bridge pickup, "Acoustic" patch on right - neck pickup, and "Crunch" patch on center/bridge pickup. It took me a LONG time to develop a good sounding combination here, and the mixdown period was extensive.

The bridge/chorus (is there really a chorus in this song?) sounds very different than the original clip, as I added a jazzy octave melody over it switching to the neck/mid pickups on the Strat with the "Crunch" tone. The acoustic is emphasized in the mix, and a faint twangy fill is added, panned extreme right (labeled "way right guitar" on the track!) When the verse kicks back in, the neck/mid cruch tone serves as the lead guitar sound too...that "cool cat" sound.

Now for the lead: I used my "Rush Lead" patch to mix things up a bit, which I afterward thought was a big mistake during the initial mixing. However, it got to grow on me. Besides, there was no way I could re-record that entire solo and have it come out anywhere near as good as the original. The solo does quote Michael Schenker very liberally at times (all rock guitarists MUST own a copy of "Strangers in the Night" by UFO), expecially in the "turnaround" sections. Acutally, I am very proud of that fact!

The return to the cut-and-paste verse sounds a bit bland after such an extended solo, and in hindsight, I maybe should have bumped up the center guitar in the mix, or given it more overdrive, but I am still happy with the overall results.

The fadeout section reprises the percussion loop. The Rooster track in this section has reverb active in the guitar processor, if I remember correctly, for an extra-thick sound. I again used the neck/mid pickups for the Crunch lead in the center, and faded out with some Way Right guitar also (I think it was Crunch, with bridge pickup - I wasn't documenting details so well in the earlier recordings).

So there it is, submitted for your approval, one of my life's greatest accomplishments.

At least so far, haha.

Fiona Apple in Temecula

2006-06-22T23:14:00.000-07:00

Fiona rocked the house last night at the Pechanga casino. She sang exceptionally well and delivered a very energetic performance. It's really incredible how she seems to express her music with every fiber of her being. I think performing is almost a kind of therapy for her (and for the audience as well!!) This show may have been recorded, as I noticed the microphones positioned to capture sound from the audience. I hope they captured video as well!! I'm so glad she decided to continue to share her gift with the world. All I can say is: BRILLIANT SHOW!!!

(picture not from actual show, and posted without permission)

Track #3

2006-06-18T23:14:00.000-07:00

OK, I kind of slacked off this weekend when it came to shipping CDs. I did get in a couple of surf sessions and a bike ride though. It's been tough this summer trying to shed the winter pounds. Hmmm, I guess someone must be getting old? ;)

I also bought a new skateboard called "The Wave". It's definitely a new challenge! I get lots of looks on the Strand when riding this thing because it's so maneuverable. Check it out at http://www.streetsurfing.com/.

Now on to Track #3 - everyone seems to be either puzzled or amused by the title "Captain Quirk". Well, it came about when I created the original riff way up on the 17th fret. I used the middle pickup on the Strat, with the Bizkit tone again. I retained the delay in the GT-5 patch and programmed the tempo in Cakewalk to match. Now, whenever you save a new project for the first time, you have to come up with a file name. Since this was a strange riff utilizing the not-often-used middle pickup, I thought of the name "Quirk". This triggered my memory of an old issue of Cracked magazine (a competitor to Mad) that I had back in the 70's containing a parody of Star Trek. Of course, Captain Kirk was renamed Captain Quirk...hence the song title. In the context of my surf theme, it is more like a nickname you would give someone with a strange and unique style.

This was the first song I completed when I set up my workstation. It definitely took a lot of noodling to figure out the mode changes required in the solos (again due to my hack-itude). I was VERY pleased with the results however, and instantly shared it with a few friends, receiving some positive and encouraging feedback. This propelled me to complete the entire album. The first solo utilizes the Acoustic Simulator patch using the neck pickup. The final solo is with the Eruption patch on bridge pickup (but with delay/reverb turned off). In almost all guitar tracks on the album, reverb was turned off in the GT-5 and added using Cakewalk to enable greater production flexibility. The solos are made up of MANY separate clips that were trimmed out of many improvised takes. Overall, perhaps the song lacks a strong central melody or theme. However, every time I tried to incorporate one, the song seemed to get weaker, again telling me that the song was DONE.

I intentionally went for a somewhat harsh bridge in the middle section, as this is what I heard in my head at the time. This is perhaps related to the influence of early Iron Maiden and early Rush on my sense of musicality...both were characterized by very abrupt transitions, which I found highly captivating, both then and now. I really like the way the main loop starts back up after the middle section, with a smooth acoustic melody to ease back into the flow.

The choir parts were again created with the TTS-1 software synth. I think that embellishment made the song really special, perhaps imbuing a sort of haunting yet transcendent angelic aura (haha, I'm getting cosmic here).

...quirky indeed.

Ready to Ship!

2006-06-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

The CD copies arrived from the duplicator yesterday. Other than a slightly green color balance (or did I get a dose of gamma rays?), everything came out great! Some you lucky people have copies in your hands already. Thanks for the Ragin' Cajun lunch..."will work for food", haha.

Track #2

2006-06-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

"Ride at Dawn" quite naturally follows the sunrise image depicted in the intro: catch the first wave of the day, and get a great shot of adrenaline! The original title from the old demo tape was "Midnight Drive", which would have resulted in a rather large temporal (yum, tempura) discontinuity!

I opened the Cakewalk file to jog my memory regarding the recording of this song, and surprisingly, I only used five tracks! All guitar tones were my "Main Distortion" patch, bridge pickup, with tone control set at 8. Drums were TTS-1 once again, and bass was Amplitude processed...nice and simple.

I again stripped out the harmony lead used on the original demo, and only added some overdub on the sustained lines at the end of the intro. The melody and timing are slightly tweaked as well. It took me a while to get that time signature properly programmed...I guess I'm just a musical hack! I especially like the way the melody worked out at the end of each repetition of the lick...it projects a rather adventurous and exotic flair.

I am particulary proud of the guitar solo in this song, even though it is rife with cliches. I think it really captures a hard-charging, high velocity feeling, and is quite memorable in a melodic sense as well! I added extra reverb to the whammy-bar dip near the end to give it an instant of vintage surf-sound. I still play air-guitar whenever I listen back to it! The sustained notes in the end of the solo created quite a dramatic, almost melancholy conclusion, kind of like the end of a great ride. It somehow reminds me of some Led Zep song, but I don't know which one...maybe part of "Achilles' Last Stand"?

The solo then goes into an ascending section, and from there into a sort of chaos, kind of like a buiding sense of fear when you've gotten in over your head, and then getting slammed and tumbled around by some nasty wave closing-out, followed by the relief grabbing a lung-full of air. I definitely had to retune the Strat after that! The bass effects were added purely within the computer. I think I could have done something to jazz up the main riff when it comes back in after the solo, as it was just a simple cut and paste. However, whenever I tried to add something else, it seemed to diminish the song. I suppose that's how you know when you're done!

My only other regret about this track is that the bass is not prominent enough. I suppose a bit of parametric EQ would be warranted to give it a bit more thump. It's tough chasing perfection!

Just ask Seven of Nine.

Track #1

2006-06-05T00:19:00.000-07:00

There was a major beach crowd today, despite the overcast. Being a late riser, the El Porto parking opportunities were not-existent, so I surfed with my two nephews a bit north of the Manhattan Beach pier. It was the first time out for the younger one - he will definitely be working out those "lat" muscles to prepare for next time! The waves were messy and closed out quickly, and I was only able to grab a couple of short rides. Of course, it was only soup for the kook!

OK, back to the music. I will post some background info for each track on the album. Track #1, entitled "Arise" only requires a bit of discussion, given its short length. Some of you will remember it as "Prelude" from my original 4-track tape from quite a number of years ago. I retained the basic chords of Am-Fmaj7-G-Dm, but lowered the lead an octave and used a cleaner tone with no harmony lead. The lead tone was my "Limp Bizkit" clean patch that I created to play "The One", and I used the neck pickup on the Strat. The choir and percussion were created with the Cakewalk TTS-1 software synth. The rhythm tone is my "Crunch" patch with bridge pickup. Whenever I recorded, I disabled the reverb on the GT-5 and mostly relied on the Lexicon Pantheon in the computer (convolutional reverb was used a bit on other tracks). All of the bass guitar tones were created in the computer using Amplitube with the bass plugged directly into the audio interface. Amplitube only worked well for bass, and I really didn't care for any guitar tones that I tried out. Therefore, I stuck to my Boss GT-5 for all guitar, with the exception of the intro lead in track #8, "Twang Opus". I tried to keep the Strat tone controls consistent throughout the album: Bridge 7, Neck 8.

Overall, this track created a wonderful "sunrise" impression and served as a great lead-in to the album. One friend who gave some early impressions (thanks Vinz) cited a "Spaghetti Western" influence. That was a very unexpected but relevant sonic DNA connection, and I took it as an extreme compliment! Just call me Ennio ;)

The CD Has Been Completed!

2006-05-30T22:12:00.000-07:00

"Meandering Tides" has been uploaded to the duplication service. Here's a sneak peek at the artwork: