Made with Paper
Intelligence by natebakescakes
Hey guys,
So I hoped you like my previous song. Was quite a good experience spending such a long time on the same song. Doing multiple jobs gets pretty tough.
Anyway, this clip was one that I created when I first got my Axiom 61. Found it buried beneath all the countless reformatting of my Windows Hard Drive. Transferred it to my mac and started the pre-mastering process which I finally got done today. Not sure whether it sounds good harmonically but you can’t blame me for being an amateur. It’s actually quite a good clip, something which I think could be expanded to reach a full song. Like one of these pop/dance songs that we listen to on the Top 10 billboards everyday.
The folder in which I found this clip stored like a HUGEEE backlog of all the songs I ever created since Secondary 4 - when I first got my hands on a DAW. Who knows, maybe I’ll decide to re-record all those songs and post them here. Probably when I run out of ideas.
P.S. My first DAW was Ableton Live. You can do wonders with that software.
Hey friends,
So this is my first full song solely by me. I hope you guys like it! I put quite a bit of effort into producing and engineering (if you can call that engineering) it. 1 month of toiling into a 5 minute track. But yeah, I know it’s a bit of a taboo to master your own songs but like not my fault right, people no money for professional mastering, so only can do fake mastering.
Really, any constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated! I would really like to improve my compositional skills. Maybe slowly get better at mixing tracks as well. :D
If you guys want you guys could just tell me and I’ll send the file to you. Only 99c.
Just kidding, free.
(Actually, it would be nice if I could earn some money off this)
This term was comforting to them
These sorrows were the blatant past
His stifled voice like melody
Your abated breath like violins
So send your case your tempo trumps these sounds
On the fifteenth you said to me,
“Hey guy, your life’s a cable car;
Hanging a mile above the sea,
Like a child with no ground.”(And I said)
Girl, we’re trading paint too fast
Stop treading like you own this place
Like thousands searching sheetsSending them into the void
You call yourself a saint but
You’re just another troubled preacher
Hold up now, turn back around
Your life is, your life is all you haveGirl, we’re trading paint too fast
Stop treading like you own this place
Like thousands searching sheetsYour surrender
So I just watched this movie called “Catfish”, a movie done in the style of a documentary. Without a doubt, the film manages to speak to me and gives me sort of like a warm feeling after watching it. There were quite a few parts in the movie which gave me the sort of chill down my spine, not because it was scary, or mysterious but more of mind-blowing. I love it when the cinematography and the flow of direction is that good.
Well I wouldn’t condone piracy but, in this case, it’s kind of forgivable, because you’ll most likely not be able to watch it in the cinemas here on our shores. The DVD release is out so you could rent it or something if you really wanted to.
This critic or journalist (not very sure what his occupation is) summed the show up really well:
Everyone should see “Catfish” — not because of the twist, but because of how powerfully and weirdly it speaks to our time, to internet culture and the way it allows the controlled illusion of intimacy. It’s a film about storytelling, about how a lonely Midwestern housewife creates a stageful of invented characters with which to flatter, entice and woo a supposedly sophisticated New Yorker, and who, when that New Yorker’s friends show up at her house with cameras, ends up wresting control of the narrative, not to mention sympathy, from them simply by coming across as more human. And that’s something to see.
The whole review can be found here.
Then there’s also this really amazing quote at the end of the movie. Not much of a spoiler, but if you read it the movie wouldn’t really feel so impactful once you watch it. But since I need to document it down on this blog, I’m just going to write it out. Feel free to close this page.
They used to take Cod from Alaska all the way to China. They’d keep them in vats in the ship. By the time the codfish reached China the flesh was mush and tasteless.
So this guy came up with the idea that if you put these cods in these big vats, put some catfish in with them. And the catfish will keep the cod agile.
And there are those people who are catfish in life. and they keep you on your toes; they keep you guessing, they keep you thinking, they keep you fresh. And I thank god for the catfish because we’d be drawled, boring and dull if we didn’t have someone nipping at our fin.
I died when I heard that.
I’d like to share a revelation that I’ve had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you’re not actually mammals.
Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area.
There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You’re a plague and we are the cure.
The matrix is a classic. Every scene is filled with so much content, i.e. trivia, quotes, religious, political, ethically controversial references that I’m forced to give an imaginary standing ovation.
Hey guys,
So I’ve been spending quite an amount of time reading up on how to use Mainstage 2 (Software included in the Logic Suite).
According to the Wiki:
Its primary purpose is to serve as a method of centralizing any virtual instruments that users might have installed on their computers that are normally used in Apple’s DAW software Logic Pro for use in live performance.
The instruments can then be played using a pre-recorded MIDI file or via a MIDI controller such as a keyboard. MainStage’s other features include the ability to play back pre-recorded backing tracks and to function as a guitar and vocal multi-effects processor.
Basically, it’s essentially a fully customisable rack of dials, effects, knobs at your disposable. These can be mapped to your controllers or whatever that would allow you to control any effect that you might have in your patch. In my case, I plan to use it as a replacement for my really really outdated Pod XT Live which I’ve been using for about 3 years now. So the rig would basically look like this guy’s rig which I’ve plucked off some forum.
So the thing in the middle is the Behringer FCB1010 which I’ve been trying to get. Apparently this thing is hardly sold in Singapore. I should know since all my efforts to get it have been futile and I’m this close to getting it direct from Amazon.
My Electric Guitar and the FCB1010 would connect to my Audio Interface (Currently, a PreSonus Audiobox) then connect to my MacBook. Mainstage would serve as a hub for the crosstalk and also the countless effects, both studio and normal guitar effects. The Logic Suite does include an impressive array of guitar effects found in the ‘Pedalboard’ and the ‘Amp Designer’. Both of which are obviously targeted at the Guitarist demographic. They do their job well but they’re a bit limited so I may consider getting an external plug-in for… nicer sounds.
If my budget allows for it, definitely thinking of getting Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig Program. Which I feel is a lot sleeker than it’s substitute, Amplitube.
I actually prefer the idea of having my effects in racks instead of individual stompboxes. Looks a lot more professional, imo.
A little explanation about MIDI controllers for the uninformed:
A MIDI Controller is a controller that sends out MIDI messages. (Yeah, straightforward; it is what it is) MIDI Controllers come in various shapes and sizes and foot controllers are apparently the minority of the lot. Popular MIDI controllers include those shaped like keyboards and those with pads attached. Well, right now I’ve got an Axiom 61 hooked up to my MacBook that serves as my keyboard.
Well to put it simply, all my guitar effects will soon be processed directly from my MacBook and I won’t ever be buying multieffects or stompboxes like… anymore. (for the most part). Unless I want a boutique pedal that mangles with my sound after the signal has gone through MainStage. Well that I’ll leave for another day but for now, I’m just going to concentrate on programming the FCB1010 so that it’ll be able to do everything I’ve ever wanted to do with guitar effects.
This includes but is not limited to the following:
1. Fully stereo sound as in two different sounds on each channel (yeah, I’m outdated, but my XTL didn’t allow me to do it).
2. Playing back and looping samples (Definitely going to be coming in handy for the church stage since my band doesn’t have a keyboardist).
3. Stacking multiple effects on top of each other for fun. (Buying the same stompbox multiple times doesn’t really go well with me. Also, I can have any number of repeat stompboxes and I’m only limited by my computer’s processor.)
4. Full-on Monitoring (Mainstage allows for any number of level displays that can display multiple-band EQ, volume, etc.)
Sadly, there are disadvantages:
1. I have to bring my Laptop on stage (Oh, the horror)
2. Audio Interfaces are generally… fragile. (I doubt my Audiobox can tank the power of my foot-stomp)
3. I have to bring my Laptop on stage (Seriously, if I accidentally destroy it on stage I might kill myself). I’ll probably buy a laptop stand if I actually manage to get this thing on the road.
Maybe I’ll put a price-check for people who are thinking of doing the same as me:
MacBook 15” i7 - SGD3188
Logic Studio 9 - SGD788
PreSonus Audiobox USB - SGD260
Behringer FCB1010 - SGD250
Cables + Stand + Accessories - SGD100
Till next time.
Hey friends,
It’s been a while since I’ve last updated. Mostly because of the holiday season (Christmas and New Year’s).
The song has been stagnant. I can’t really record since my brother’s at home. Yeah, the condenser mic picks up keyboard and mouse clicks so it’s totally impossible to record with him playing LOL all day long. (That’s League of Legends for the uninformed - it requires lots of clicks and typing). Anyway, now that school’s started, I can finally get down to recording vocals then moving on to the effects and synths which I’m really excited to get down on.
Whenever I’ve got some free time I kind of go online and read tutorials on Logic and I think it’s safe to say that I’ve read quite an adequate number of articles that would allow me to finally produce a decent track on the DAW.
Well, a little about Logic Pro,
The DAW is surprisingly a lot deeper than I would’ve imagined. After I bought the software together with the MacBook I kind of grew anxious since I wasn’t working with the industry standard in recording (Pro-Tools). So I kind of thought that maybe I made the wrong choice. However, after reading countless tutorials on the software, I’m assured that Logic is definitely the DAW for me.
One of the most eye-opening things that I’ve discovered in Logic Pro is this window called ‘The Environment’. I know right, sounds totally intimidating. The manual doesn’t really do a good job in explaining what it does and does an even worse job at telling you how to use it to it’s maximum potential. Needless to say, I had to resort to friendly YouTube uploaders for some information on the topic.
Well, for those of you who are interested, and I definitely hope that at least a few of you out there are interested in recording if not you wouldn’t be reading this giant block of text, here’s a brief description of what The Environment is.
Basically, in the old days, when synthesizers had just recently been gaining popularity, it was dominated by cables and analog oscillators and all that jazz. A synthesizer usually consisted of a simple keyboard connected via cables to a giant control board, on which you control the intensity of your oscillators, amplifiers, envelopes, etc. If you wanted to put some effects on it, you had to send your signal out to an external effects module, then sent it back into the control board which would then sent the signal out to the speakers or whatever output.
In short, it was a really tedious thing, synthesizers. Apparently, synth players in those days who had a set list to play on stage had to memorise or write down the countless positions for each cable corresponding to a sound that they would need.
So, what does this have to do with ‘The Environment’? Well this window is, essentially, a virtualisation of all that jazz dumped into a space called the ‘The Environment’. In it, you’re able to connect virtual cables between almost every single element there is in Logic Pro. If I wanted to, I could construct the above set-up in virtual space, or I could construct something totally different involving multiple instrument tracks, monitors, buttons, multiple keyboards. I mean the possibilities are literally endless.
Mostly, The Environment is used by modern producers to play with MIDI data. For example, I could play a C note on my MIDI controller (Keyboard-like thing) and have it control volume, play a chord, play a sample, arpeggiate, play a section of my full track, and so on and so forth. I plan to use some of these abilities in the next track.
Quite simply, ‘The Environment’ puts Logic Pro at the forefront of modern DAWs and is definitely a force to be reckoned with. (Sadly, I’m not really good at using it yet, but I’ll get to it).
Yup, quite a long What-I-have-learnt-from-reading-and-watching-tutorials-about-Logic monologue. I mean I thought it was quite exciting.
Anyway, I’m really excited about getting the new track done. I mean, after learning so much about the software I’m using, I really hope that it’ll turn out better than my previous song. I mean it should. If not I would be sad. Not very sure whether I can record vocals this week since my schedules packed again.
Till next time.
This song is a love song and I thought it was frikkin’ hilarious.
２５個目の染色体 (The 25th Chromosome) - RADWIMPS
The last part of the lyric goes:
いつか生まれる二人の命 その時がきたらどうか君に
そっくりなベイビーであって欲しい 無理承知で100%君の遺伝子
伝わりますように 俺にはこれっぽっちも似ていませんように
寝る前に毎晩 手を合わせるんだ
そんなこと言うといつも 君は僕に似てほしいなんて言うの
そんなのは絶対いやだよ 強いて言うなら俺のこの
ハッピー運とラッキー運だけは一つずつ染色体に
のせて あげて ほしいな
Which translates to:
Someday our baby will be born
When that time comes I want the baby to look just like you
I know that this is impossible but I hope the baby gets 100% of your genes.
I hope it won’t look anything like me.
Every night before I sleep I pray for this.Whenever I say this kind of stuff, you say you want the baby to look like me.
If it must happen, I only want it to get my happy luck and lucky luck parts.
That’s all I want to give it.
Sigh, love.
Well anyway, about the song. Yeah, I can’t seem to find a good time to record the vocals since my brother’s around half the time. And he types on his keyboard like a maniac. Okay maybe not like a maniac, but my condenser mic is too sensitive to even have the slightest noise in the background. It’s times like these that I feel that I should get soundproofed room just for recording (FUND MANAGEMENT, FUND MANAGEMENT!).
Also, I can’t do it at night or when my parents are around because that’s just embarrassing. They’re gonna be laughing at me the whole time and stuff, confirm. Maybe I’ll be able to do it once my brother goes back to school and I have the room to myself. Too bad that’s like next year. I’ll probably forget the melody by then. Son of a.
Sigh.
Right, I just spent roughly two days recording my next track. And I’ve got to say, it’s sounding pretty good so far! :D
Credit definitely goes to the Addictive Drums plug-in and my new bass which I just bought. (I’ve got pretty bad fund management) Well, my new bass is an Epiphone. Epiphone Embassy Standard IV to be exact. The staff at Swee Lee really know how to make a deal sound too good to be true. According to them, it’s the last piece ever. Even the warehouse doesn’t have it. Apparently la. Not sure whether it’s true or not. Nevertheless I bought the damn thing and I’m surprisingly not regretting it at all. Probably because it’s essentially my first bass. The staff wanted to sell me the Squier starter pack and I was like wtf, no. Anyway, the bass has an Active EQ so I can raise the gain on the different frequencies and the sound still remains quite warm.
Got it at SGD490 and zomg, it’s not a 5-string. Well the days of me needing a 5-string are quite over. I never really downtune my guitar anymore… only when I decide to improve my guitar technique with some metalcore songs.
Well, my new track’s almost finished. Sort of. I managed to map out the drums, and record the guitar and bass parts. So all that’s left is adding effects and synths and (oh my shit) vocals. I’ll probably record my own vocals since I don’t really feel like going out of my way to ask other people to do it. Well hopefully, it won’t sound that bad. I’ve got a feeling this track’ll turn out to be quite professional, maybe even sellable (if I manage to send it for mastering).
For all those musicians out there wanting to sell your stuff online, you guys can check out this website, bandcamp.com. It’s this site that allows you to put up your music for download or listening. If anyone buys it, the money goes straight to your PayPal account. I think the site earns a little bit of revenue but I’m not too sure about the details. Haha, maybe if I feel up to it I’ll produce a full record and put it up for download in the future.
Well that’s it! Going back to write lyrics for the song. Really hope it’s going to turn out awesome! Till next time.
Yesterday, my string broke. Frikkin’ pissed. They break like every two weeks. Nick suggested I ask my parents to put like 5 bucks into the Guitar String fund every 2 weeks. I think maybe I should bring that up. Maybe do up a Powerpoint presentation or something.
Probably going to be going down to Peace Centre today. Maybe check out CityMusic and Sinamex. Thinking of getting a MIDI Pad Controller. Currently, I’m eyeing the AKAI MPD24.
Apparently it’s the best and most highly praised among the budget MIDI Pad Controllers, a unanimous vote by most DJs. It was either this or the M-Audio Trigger Finger which has received almost equal praise. So I’m probably gonna go down there and try out both. See which can withstand the most damage. If I’m not wrong, these things go for about SGD200++. But yeah, I’m gonna be needing them since the pads on my M-Audio Axiom 61 (MIDI Control Keyboard) aren’t really sensitive enough for Drum MIDI programming.
Have I told you guys I’ve also just recently acquired Addictive Drums? It’s a software plugin for most DAWs that sort of allow for a more realistic drum sound. Yeah, I guess it’s quite appropriate for me since I don’t intend on learning to drum. Also, it would be quite pissing if I were to get a drummer to play out and record the drum parts for my tracks. Problems like the price of booking a studio, whether or not the drums are properly mic-ed up, whether the drummer himself/herself is able to keep up in terms of technicality and musicality, etc.
So far the program’s looking quite good, sounding quite realistic. The cymbals and stuff bleed out to the other drum heads (controllable of course). I can also control the room and ambient mic volume output. Most importantly, and I think most Realistic Drum Plugins have this already, is polyphony. What I mean is that when I hit a cymbal repeatedly, it wouldn’t sound like I’m playing a sample one after the other, but instead it would sound like I’m hitting an already moving cymbal. Quite difficult to replicate I would assume, but Addictive Drums have algorithms that take care of that pretty well.
Any of you readers out there thinking of tracking drums but totally suck to the core at them might want to consider purchasing this software. Comes in relatively handy.
So right, going to town for strings and pad controller. Why do I get the feeling my wallet is screaming for help?
So lately I’ve been listening to the Japanese band “cinema staff”. They’re are Japanese Indie Rock band that is guitar driven and feature almost no synthesizers or other electronic FXs. Good deviation from all of the hybrid-electronic-plus-rock-plus-other-elements-mixed-into-one (or Post-Rock as what wikipedia dubs it) bands I’ve been listening to.
So along with this band (which is my favourite out of all the other J-Indie bands), I’ve been noticing the trend in using Major 9th chords. (According to the Chord Namer) I, for one, would name it Major 7th Add 9th but whatever floats whomever’s boat. Well to make this simpler here’s the chord diagram below:
Yeah, I guess it should be just called Cmaj9. Anyway, cinema staff’s songs mostly comprise of such chords moved along the fretboard with the overdrive cranked up, making a mostly dissonant wall of sound. I like.
I plan on basing my next track based on the following chord. Also, I’ll probably add some other chords I’ve conjured up. One of which, according to the Chord Namer again, is called Gm13sus2. Not really sure what that means, but the tab of the chords would be:
0
3
2
4
X
3
A little bit ugly, but I couldn’t find a nice chord diagram from Google Images since a search of the chord name didn’t manage to get any hits. So I plan to put some of the newfound synth programming knowledge into good use and maybe use a better drum sample for added realism.
So yup, looking forward to finishing up another great track (hopefully it wouldn’t take as long as the first track, Senseless) At least now that I’ve mostly familiarised myself with the workflow of Logic, I hope I’ll be able to complete a project faster than before.
Till next time.
Even in Hong Kong, I felt that I didn’t really put the music thing on hold, being without the laptop and all.
Bought 3 albums in the country, one of which is the famous cantopop singer, Janice Vidal’s, compilation album. It’s pretty neat. I mean I might as well buy it since it probably costs a lot more here in Singapore. Also, it can’t be downloaded online… I think. The other 2 CDs were just random CDs that I couldn’t manage to get a good copy of online. Two Door Cinema Club’s Tourist History and A Day to Remember’s What Separates Me from You. No Japanese albums I’m afraid. They only had a small section for J-Pop, not very interesting.
Another thing music-related I bought in Hong Kong was a copy of MusicTech magazine, December 2010 issue. I bought it in the airport so I guess it’s not really counted. Anyway, it was cheaper than the one’s sold in Borders due to the lack of GST. (Hong Kong’s GST is 10% if I’m not wrong, sick.)
Anyway, the magazine’s quite cool I must say. Gives a lot of insight into the world of music recording, DJing and production. Lots of hardware and software reviews inside too (which kind of made me feel like spending more money). Not good, I’m gonna have to tear out those pages. A few crash courses inside for newbies like me as well. For example, there was one article about frequencies and amplitudes. Relatively eye-opening for a person that has never taken physics. So if you’re as interested in this stuff as I am, I’d recommend you get the latest issue of MusicTech, or better yet, subscribe for a year’s worth.
I read the magazine from cover to cover and sort of feel… empowered by the newfound knowledge. It’s as if I’m restarting. I’m also planning to get the Logic Pro 9 issue part of the MusicTech Magazine’s Focus. Sort of a compilation of all the tips, tricks, interviews and random goodies found in previous issues regarding Logic Pro 9. I think it’d be more appropriate for me compared to getting a full HowTo book.
So thanks for reading, and I’ll be sure to post another track as soon as I get some inspiration. :D
Hey fellow Tumblr users,
Just came back from Hong Kong explaining the absence. Realised my parents are really really really familiar with the country. So much that it seemed like their second home.
In any case, I’ve been reading up on tutorials for Logic Pro and started messing around with PMWs. The short clip above is sort of a mixture of all the stuff I’ve learnt. For those who don’t know, PMWs are short for Pulse-width Modulations. They’re basically advanced Tremolo effects (at least that’s how I see them). Either way, I’m still new to this whole synth programming thing so this isn’t really what you’d call amazing.
Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy it!
So here’s the song I’ve been working on for the past two days. Took me a while since half the time I didn’t know how to access the tools on Logic but I’m getting there.
A little about the track:
The laugh track and rain fx are apple loops so no, I didn’t purposely go out and record rain although it would be quite cool if I actually decided to do that. It’s not a very good mix since the whole song is without a bass and I had to rely on Cello pads to get a relatively balanced sound. Basses cost quite a lot of money see and after buying so much shit I have no more.
I think towards the end I managed to make a filter sweep (that sort of whooshing sound) which I learnt how to do so on YouTube (You can seriously learn how to do anything on that site). Yup, maybe later on I might decide to add a bass track and maybe some light vocals to the mix, but all in all I think it’s a good start to this recording thing.
Oh yeah, and the drums are fully programmed by me. Yeah sounds slightly plastic but not my fault lei. Drums too expensive. Some more must mic up and everything. Confirm bankrupt one.
If you guys like what you hear you can uh, comment… I think. (Not sure whether Tumblr allows for that since I haven’t really used it much) Anyway, any kind of constructive input is welcome! If you can’t seem to comment on the Tumblr itself you can check out the track permalink itself found under the embed player.
So yeah, hope you guys like it! :D
Hey Tumblr friends out there, So I decided to use this Tumblr as a blog for my musical endeavours. Recently, I bought a MacBook Pro 15” i7 model and Logic Pro for myself. I know right, it cost a bomb and now I owe my parents my life (not that I didn’t before this).
Well, after meddling and experimenting with it for about 3 days, I’ve finally sort of composed an instrumental building on everything I’ve learnt in that span of time. Sadly, I’m not quite done with it to be proud of posting it here under all your scrutiny. I’ll be using SoundCloud for the streaming as I plan to make this a constant thing, updating the blog with short songs that is. Yup, I’ll probably upload it tomorrow so till then! :D
