Blog - occasional, random thoughts on music - March 2015
Audacity and Garageband
8.3.2015
I used to use a Roland 8-track digital recorder for most of my recordings when I first started in earnest about ten years ago. I used it in conjunction with a Zoom drum machine - for drum and bass - and a Line6 Pod for amp simulations. A Korg N1 keyboard and a Shure mic completed the outfit, and I produced some interesting and, at times, quite complex soundscapes. Over the years, my tastes have become simpler, software and hardware has become more sophisticated, and the drive on my old Roland is getting older and noisier! So most of my current recordings are done using a pair of Zoom H2 digital recorders, with processing using Audacity and Garageband. Let me explain what these programs are and how I use them on my Mac Book Pro laptop.
Audacity
This is open-source, free software which allows editing and manipulation of a sound file. For all my recordings, whether single- or multi-track, I upload the recorded track as a .wav file from the Zoom, via a USB, to the laptop. I open up the file with Audacity and do two things to it: (a) I top and tail the file, taking out extraneous bits before the start of the track and after the end of the track (b) I check the sound level and, if necessary, boost the volume with the "amplify" utility until I get a full but not overdriven wave file. The edited file is then exported. If the recording is a solo, single track, then that simple process with Audacity completes it, and it's ready to be synched to any video that goes with it. If I'm doing a multi-tracked recording, I then upload the edited .wav file into Garageband.
Garageband
This is a multi-tracking and music loop facility which comes as part of the Mac OS. It enables you to create as many tracks as you want and populate them with either loops from the instrument loop library, or your own recorded track. Typically, I might start by choosing a drum loop and creating a drum track. Then I'll choose a bass loop and create a bass track. Some loops can be edited if need be. I can then play the tracks back through earbuds and record an acoustic track or a vocal track into the Zoom - which in turn gets processed with Audacity and added to Garageband as another track. Each track can be processed with EQ and Pan, and the volume can be varied at will throughout the track - so sections can be brought up or down as required for the mix. As far as the whole Garageband project/tune is concerned, the key, rhythm and speed can be varied at will - but any external track you add will not be changed, so it is essential that the overall construction and shape of the tune has been finalised before you record on to it! Once the tracks are complet, the whole lot can be exported as a medium-quality mp4 file.
8.3.2015
I used to use a Roland 8-track digital recorder for most of my recordings when I first started in earnest about ten years ago. I used it in conjunction with a Zoom drum machine - for drum and bass - and a Line6 Pod for amp simulations. A Korg N1 keyboard and a Shure mic completed the outfit, and I produced some interesting and, at times, quite complex soundscapes. Over the years, my tastes have become simpler, software and hardware has become more sophisticated, and the drive on my old Roland is getting older and noisier! So most of my current recordings are done using a pair of Zoom H2 digital recorders, with processing using Audacity and Garageband. Let me explain what these programs are and how I use them on my Mac Book Pro laptop.
Audacity
This is open-source, free software which allows editing and manipulation of a sound file. For all my recordings, whether single- or multi-track, I upload the recorded track as a .wav file from the Zoom, via a USB, to the laptop. I open up the file with Audacity and do two things to it: (a) I top and tail the file, taking out extraneous bits before the start of the track and after the end of the track (b) I check the sound level and, if necessary, boost the volume with the "amplify" utility until I get a full but not overdriven wave file. The edited file is then exported. If the recording is a solo, single track, then that simple process with Audacity completes it, and it's ready to be synched to any video that goes with it. If I'm doing a multi-tracked recording, I then upload the edited .wav file into Garageband.
Garageband
This is a multi-tracking and music loop facility which comes as part of the Mac OS. It enables you to create as many tracks as you want and populate them with either loops from the instrument loop library, or your own recorded track. Typically, I might start by choosing a drum loop and creating a drum track. Then I'll choose a bass loop and create a bass track. Some loops can be edited if need be. I can then play the tracks back through earbuds and record an acoustic track or a vocal track into the Zoom - which in turn gets processed with Audacity and added to Garageband as another track. Each track can be processed with EQ and Pan, and the volume can be varied at will throughout the track - so sections can be brought up or down as required for the mix. As far as the whole Garageband project/tune is concerned, the key, rhythm and speed can be varied at will - but any external track you add will not be changed, so it is essential that the overall construction and shape of the tune has been finalised before you record on to it! Once the tracks are complet, the whole lot can be exported as a medium-quality mp4 file.
Freeing up the fretboard
5.3.2015
When I started out playing the guitar - autumn of 1964, if you're interested - I was fixated on getting to grips with barred chords. As well as mastering the basic, root chords as fast as I could, I practised and practised for weeks until I could play all the basic major, minor, 6th and 7th and 9th shapes up and down the fretboard. And, after around three months or so, I managed to do it. A lot of rock guitarists scorn the barré, preferring to play such chords with the thumb anchored to the 6th string - and many jazz guitarists also ignore a lot of barred chords, preferring to play with three or four fingers straddling the neck in "jazz" shapes. Be that as it may, I got very proficient with barred chords and played them for years on end.
As I grew older, I became more interested in playing "inside" the fretboard, i.e. utilising the inner 4strings - A, D, G and B - for chord work, and listened to the harmonies and style of players like the great Eddie Lang. What with that and playing a lot of fingerstyle guitar over the years, I find that I now play far fewer barred chords than I used to - and, in fact, quite like occasional dissonances of semi-barred shapes up and down the fretboard. Add to that, the use of double string playing - 1st+3rd, 2nd+4th, etc. - and the style becomes more minimalist and brings its own freedom.
In the end, the moral is: Don't get hooked on one way of playing - play what sounds good, no matter how you get there...
5.3.2015
When I started out playing the guitar - autumn of 1964, if you're interested - I was fixated on getting to grips with barred chords. As well as mastering the basic, root chords as fast as I could, I practised and practised for weeks until I could play all the basic major, minor, 6th and 7th and 9th shapes up and down the fretboard. And, after around three months or so, I managed to do it. A lot of rock guitarists scorn the barré, preferring to play such chords with the thumb anchored to the 6th string - and many jazz guitarists also ignore a lot of barred chords, preferring to play with three or four fingers straddling the neck in "jazz" shapes. Be that as it may, I got very proficient with barred chords and played them for years on end.
As I grew older, I became more interested in playing "inside" the fretboard, i.e. utilising the inner 4strings - A, D, G and B - for chord work, and listened to the harmonies and style of players like the great Eddie Lang. What with that and playing a lot of fingerstyle guitar over the years, I find that I now play far fewer barred chords than I used to - and, in fact, quite like occasional dissonances of semi-barred shapes up and down the fretboard. Add to that, the use of double string playing - 1st+3rd, 2nd+4th, etc. - and the style becomes more minimalist and brings its own freedom.
In the end, the moral is: Don't get hooked on one way of playing - play what sounds good, no matter how you get there...