First track for 2010…

…is one you’ve already heard! Been fiddling with my new computer which is significantly faster than the old laptop I tried for my first recordings, meaning it can easily handle the multi-track recording in Audacity. So, I brought back out my Hydrogen drum track for Masterpiece, fiddled about a bit and – voila. Masterpiece for 2010, recorded closer to how I’d originally wrote it. Compare the two versions and see what you think. The new version, while being a bit more dynamic is unfortunately a bit fuzzy. I’m putting this down to my lack of experience with the kit but, as this is pretty much me hobbying about, I’m sure it’ll come in time. Oh, and I’m also now uploading to Soundcloud as well as Audiofarm, primarily so that I can embed the tracks directly into the blog. Like this:

Enjoy!

Oh, by the way, I’ve also started putting lyrics on the lyrics page. Felt it was only fair you could understand what I’m subjecting you all to

Twenty Fifth

Hurrah for the first Mystery Beer Can Christmas song! I love Christmas, me, so I felt it fitting that I write a song for the season. With only a couple of days to go, I’ve recorded and uploaded Twenty Fifth for you to listen to on Audiofarm. I’m really pleased with this one; as always, please leave your mark in the comments if you want.

I’ll be back in the New Year…

Four New Ones

It’s been a while but I’m back with four new tracks for you to listen to and download. Grab them from AudioFarm using the “Released Songs” link. I like these tracks but I’m not 100% happy with the recordings being as I was suffering with a minor cold when I did them! Still, I’m all for rough hewn music, devoid of studio glamour so – there you go!

I’m planning on recording one more track this year which I’m hoping to get out before Christmas. Look out for more Mystery Beer Can in 2010 when I hope to have an extra musician on board to spice things up a little.

Music: Three more tracks + downloads!

Hey all! I’ve just uploaded three more tracks to AudioFarm. These tracks were recorded last night in the usual 1 mic setup (sorry for quality and slightly waverey voice in a couple of spots) and are entitled “A Place for Hearts to Stay”, “Not my Fault” and “The Door”. Fire up the “Released Songs” link over on the left to get access to my AudioFarm page where you can have a listen.

Also, I’ve now made all my tracks available for download should you want them as MP3’s. Again, this is available on the AudioFarm entries for each song. Hope you enjoy – please leave feedback!

Music: Acoustic Session

Well, I’ve done it. I’ve uploaded the music I recorded. It’s hosted on Audiofarm and is accessible from this link: Mystery Beer Can on Audiofarm.

Please go and take a listen, comment either on Audiofarm or on this post and let me know your views. I think that, going forwards, I may record and release ad-hoc on Audiofarm, so please register to the RSS feed there. I will, obviously, also announce new releases here but you’ll most likely hear them on Audiofarm first.

I’m babbling now; please go and have a listen and let me know what you think

I’d say be nice, but I’d prefer you to be honest…

Trying something different…

So, the setup I was using was failing me. Recording guitar and then trying to layer vocals on top was not giving me the results I desired sue to latency. I sat on this for a few weeks, thinking how I could do the recordings better and then it hit me; I’d record in one go, using my acoustic guitar with the mic set up so that it captured guitar and vocals equally. I’d read that a lot of old records were recorded with a single mic setup so I thought I’d give it a go.

My folks were away for a week so their house was empty, giving me the privacy I needed. I carted my mic stand and acoustic round to theirs, set up Audacity on their computer and went for it. On 4th August 2009, I recorded all six (yep, it’s six now) planned tracks, the full list of which can be seen to the right. Unfortunately, now I’ve not recorded in my kitchen, I’m going to have to change the name. The EP is now simply Acoustic Demos (04/08/09). Easy.

I’m just doing some volume levelling on the tracks before I release them. I want to get some feedback from others first though, so hopefully look out for something on this site next week.

Getting there

Three down.

Three songs recorded and converted to MP3. I have to say that the recording process is being hindered somewhat by the fact that Audacity seems determined to desynchronise things I’m recording; this is annoying, particularly when I have to re-record vocals I’m not happy with and subsequently have to shift the audio up and down the timeline until it matches the guitar.

I’m also slightly disappointed with the fact that this means I can’t record the songs as I’d originally envisioned them, with drum and lead parts as well as rhythm. Still, I’m happy with things so far; I just need to pluck up the courage to finally release them (especially as I now know that one of my listeners only lives over the road from me – hyperlocal!)

The track list for kitchen sessions thus far is:

1. ????
2. Masterpiece
3. Signs
4. Closer to the Sun
5. ????

The Beat Doesn’t Go On…

The drums are out.

I’m having too many problems with the synchronisation of the imported drum track and my recorded guitar track that I’m reworking the KS songs to be purely guitar and vox.

I’m disappointed; I would have liked to have layered some drums in there but, I guess I’m working in the restrictions of both my personal skills with the drum software (i.e. not good) and the foibles of Audacity. I’m sure that some higher end software would do me proud, but this is only a hobby at present.

I’ll be rewriting one of the tracks tonight, both music and lyrics. The title is “Masterpiece”, however I do not claim that it is one…

Kitchen Sessions

This was last night…

For the first time in nine years my guitar is plugged into my computer. The laptop in question sits on the kitchen table, Zoom G2.1U rigged in via USB, my faithful old Tanglewood jacked into that. I’ve already set up a drum track in Hydrogen and dropped it down as a .wav file. Importing it into Audacity, I pick up my guitar and record my first pass at the rhythm track.

It’s out of sync.

The whole recording of the guitar gradually creeps out of sync to the drum track. This is not good. I try a few more passes before recording a basic guitar track which I overlay a lead track onto. It sounds good – nice to finally hear the Zoom put to work as a recording aid. But it’s missing the drums.

The my internet connection goes down and I give up the ghost. I go to bed at 11.30pm, disappointed. Maybe tonight I can get something recorded…

Kitchen Sessions will be the first EP from Mystery Beer Can, recorded in my kitchen on my laptop using open source software. I have four songs written so far and hope to have five for release.

Watch this space, sign up to the RSS feed and hopefully you will like the music I eventually put out…