Neurojack Studios

I tracked this out yesterday. Emilie thinks the two parts sound incongruous.

You can decide for youself.

It’s really rough, but who knows when I’ll work on it again, so I might as well add it to the website.

It is available here (on the Unfinished Songs page): Kaboom.mp3

After reading some discussion on the N-Track boards about creating more realistic drum parts, I decided to try something new.

Somebody had suggested only recording individual drums instead of trying to mic up an entire kit. This seemed like a pretty cool idea. Especially since I have a crappy drum kit, and only one microphone (Shure SM-57).

I took something simple that I had already worked on, and replaced the programmed midi high-hat and snare with a mic’ed live version. I noticed some things … like my snare and high-hat really sound pretty terrible. Also, my playing ability is pretty poor … but in my own defense, I only tried one take of each and I found it hard only playing one drum at a time.

I added some compression, some reverb and tweaked the EQ a bit … oh … and added a tambourine part. I think the end result sounds better. As a test anyways, I think it illustrates the point that with even more time and effort invested, the process could yield more satisfying results that just programming drums alone.

Here is the original:

Charlie Brown 1.0

And here is the new version:

Charlie Brown 2.0

It makes we want to buy five more mic’s, an interface with more inputs, and upgrade my aged second-hand drum kit. Oh! And my computer while I’m at it so I can track all those inputs at once.

Now … all that remains is to explain to the wife why I need a wad of cash ….

Edit:

I just downloaded and listened to version 2.0. It has some issues with pops & stutters that are not there in the original file. Those must have been introduced during the process of uploading it to the server on my crappy dial-up connection. I’ll give it another go later tonight. Sorry!

Well, it’s not *exactly* a hit single yet …. but it could be!

Today marks the official release date of my most complete song to date. It’s called “In The Dark”, and I couldn’t have done it without the help of a guy named Bruffie!

You may download it here:

In The Dark.mp3

Bruffie not only provided me with the vocal tracks you hear, he also wrote the lyrics.

It really has been fun collaborating on this song. I’m looking forward to doing it again.