Create

The desire to make things has taken a little bit of a hold on me during the last week. It has probably been brewing for some time; the past few years (especially since the completion of PYGA) have been kind of barren for me both intellectually and creatively (I'll even go out on a limb and say that engineering isn't always the most creative and satisfying way to spend my time!). Spurred by a cancellation of scheduled band practice I began recording and found myself surrounded by nearly all my instruments a few days later. I even started another song when I felt the first (I think I'll title it Grim Work) had been completed enough to be left alone for a few hours. I tend to think some music sounds really fun because it's been groomed quite deeply. And by that I mean every little sound is special, unique, inhabiting a special world of its own. And the question I struggle with is when to leave well enough alone?

I'd like to try to document how I recorded Grim Work:

1. Basic dobro rhythm pattern was played and looped.
2. Three notes were chosen and overlaid in a sparse pattern using the dobro, then doubled.
3. Some of those notes were reversed, arranged, then doubled in harmony to make a chordal like pad that worked with the first three note pattern.
4. Arppegiated chords were chosen and doubled over the length of the song. Four different patterns were played in a systemic order, to make it easy to double them. Those patters were later arranged in various orders...
5. Toy piano was introduced at this point; many variations were tried until an additional three note pattern stemming from the arppegiated guitar pattern was arrived at.
6. At some point a few toy piano notes were stretched and gated using the original hypnotic dobro rhythm part as the key signal. This introduced another beat and a dance club feel. The key'd gate was also applied to the original three note dobro part for a few measures to create another rhythmic element.
6. I think ebow and electric guitar parts came next. I later returned to one of the guitar parts to double it with a harmony that leads into the bridge.
7. A radio sample made it's way into the song somewhere in this area. I had been wanting one that dealt with the Tsunami disaster, so I tuned into the BBC and recorded a little story about mass graves. The entirety of the short clip fit perfectly into the first drop section.
8. Soon I start missing having percussion and felt that a beat for the climax at the end would be a good change (the song clocks in at 5:20!). A percussion section came together: first using sand paper, then a nut can (later nixed), followed by hand claps(x10), and finally a cat litter box being hit with an inhaler.
9. Last real instrument to be added was the Crumar, acting as both bass and ethereal filter sweep guy...
10. Tweaking; arrangement tweaks are the major thing now: Adding kick drum to earlier parts, putting some cut up BBC in the second break, changing the sound of the hand claps, fixing levels and timing oddities that I overlooked because I was working quickly... I've thickened up some sounds with further layering, and focused the bridge by reversing some of the guitar parts. I imagine a toy piano feature still to come in those parts.

It's funny to note how quickly a home made demo can reach 24 tracks!
For a future project it'd be cool to set a time limit. I think a week would be plenty!


Now I'm at Ima's and I'm somewhat in suspended animation here, waiting to get back to my laptop and instruments. Truthfully, I could keep busy messing with images or sending mp3's from my laptop, but I feel bad taking it away from Karyn for whom it is an indispensable tool in her caloric count quest. Besides, it seems as though I could find interest in reading; last night I almost had that old ache for a nice piece of paper and a beautiful and simple black ink pen to draw with - I haven't had that desire in a long time. I hope it returns sometime when I have both the paper and the pen.
My renewed interest in making things is partially the result of frustration with the Invisible Rays overly relaxed approach to rehearsing, and part out of exasperation with my home life that has been void of creativity entirely. I've always thought that I could make things or write down an idea or document a moment at any time in the future, and I still feel that way, but I've already collected way too many moments that need to be dealt with, and I think now that sooner rather than later is better.
There are things I'd like to be able to do better - writing is a big one. I'd enjoy being able to impart a moment in time the way some writers can, capturing the wit of the moment or the grand beauty of fate. I think writing well is a thing that is very difficult, especially for a person like me who can "write." But can I write really well, inspiring?