A website called GuitarWars, if I recall correctly. 

Listening to some of the submissions, I was compelled to give it a shot.  Recorded the "tune" in 20 minutes or so.  When I submitted it - a immediately got a message from the other guy - he said "Sorry - I know you're new here but I really want to win"....  But - a minute later he messaged me [before the songs had even finished playing] and said "congratulations - you spanked me man - I thought you were a noob,lol"   

So - I won a bout at this website.  But - I'm not a "competitive player" in truth, lol...  It was fun but - someone else has to lose and bumming out.  

One player who had some very good recordings up messaged me and complimented my vib and extreme bends = he liked and reminded him of Howard Leassee - guitar for "Heart".. so, twas a compliment heh.   I think I sound a bit like early Michael Schenker from UFO.  Well.. verbose mod OFF.

I was eh... 22 in that pic - just started playing with Gil, Carl and David around that time - and another guitar player, George.

Percocet days and Norco nights

A lil Couch Composure

Written and recorded in 1991.  I just re-mastered this hoping to bring out the vocals and guitars - both were somewhat buried in the original mixdown from the 8-track.  Voxengo MarvelEQ plugin...  Sh**...  I recorded this in 1991 !!!  Unreal.  Anyway - it really does sound better after an EQ tweak - the guitar and vocals almost "present" with a little tweaking of 1K, 3K, on up... +5,+6dB...   *listen for the guitar in there - this is maybe my favorite original, despite the terrible mix from the multi-track 
*  Song and Lyrics by Stephen Francis.  I've included a lyric below, it can help with listening, getting a perspective on the somewhat buried vocal.  Anyway - drum track using the Korg M3R sounds.. a fairly basic and repetitive drum part... Driving..   Began, iirc, as an exploration of the sawtooth waveforms... the Korg M3R, Yamaha DX7, Cakewalk (strictly MIDI) DOS (hey, 1991.. I was barely a child.. ;-), Tascam 1/2" 8-trk, Roland JC-120.. 
Inspired by a short friendship.

* listen to the guitar*  .. the mix is just .. unfortunately quite bad because back in '91 what I had for mix/master was a punishing basic compressor/peak limiter... I mean, yeah, I had an ok board, but the room... tricked me.  Despite the technical problems, I am attached to this song - well, it's history to me now, complete with requisite melancholy/nostalgia..   Me and Kilroy... we were here...

If I'm not around, ... can't be found -  you can find a part of me in this recording...


Just a Few Days

Remembering words
    Differently than she
I had to say
    What she heard it's not what I said

Day's gone by
    Left unforgotten
Erase what might-have-been
    Wishes never...  knowing days

Scars will show
    From wounds unhealed
Uncovered once again
    Pains of old that never mend

Next to no time
   Was time enough
For remembering
    Attraction quite unreasoning

I'm a sacrifice
    So he'll prolong...
Her fantasy

And I'll let go of...

    Just a few days
    Just a few days

Justafewdays - Tascam 1/2" 8-track, Cakewalk (DOS) Living Room Production

* 20181217 - replace with previous version - noticed too much compression, mastering artifacts that result in a "pumping" sound to some elements of louder portions of track
* 20180715 - Re-Mastered Waves - Enhancer and LL3 MMxmzr

Cover of a favorite UFO tune.  I recorded via an Akai 12-trk, 1998, living room of my condo.  All instruments and vocals performed by myself (drums programmed).. just a fun Hard Rock tune from the '70s.  My keyboard playing had improved - though these parts are not that extreme.  I am a big Michael Schenker fan, and I'm especially fond of the live version from "Strangers in the Night".  Guitar: Hamer USA Sunburst, through a Mesa Triaxis pre and speaker-emulated out.  Just fun guitar playing.

Lights Out 98 - Akai 12 track, Living Room Production

'80s Rock (recorded at 24-trk "Prairie Sun Studios")
BabyStrange Demo 1986 - band collaboration; lyric & orig. song Alexis
I was all guitar, backing vocal.  That's me with Jackson RR model.. Kahler, not Floyd trem..
Pic is very embarrassing, but relevant historically... ;-)

NightTime - studio recording, Prairie Sun Studios

'80s Rock (recorded at 24-trk "Prairie Sun Studios"
BabyStrange Demo 1986 - band collaboration; lyric copyright Carl
I was all guitar, backing vocal.  That's me tugging on my shirtcollar.
Solos were all clipped in half, which was prob. right thing commercially - 
but it hurt me.. since I didn't think there were any expendable notes ;-)
Pic is embarrassing, but relevant historically... ;-)

Strong Love - studio recording, Prairie Sun Studios

Take Me On - studio recording, Prairie Sun Studios...

BabyStrange was an original 80s band - among the bandmembers, influences were varied and diverse...well - my interests at that time were not all that diverse, I have to admit. I liked hard rock guitar music, and harder rock guitar music - melodic & commercial, but still - not diverse... but thanks to my bandmates - each of them really, I eventually broke out of that narrow mindset and discovered an appreciation for a far wider spectrum of bands and genres, and now MOST of my all-time favorites are not Hard Rock - so "Thanks, guys".

    This is the RAW live sound - we were still working on this song's structure - the bridge to chorus was NEW (kind of obviously), the break to the guitar solo - BEFORE the solo.. in the "studio" recording, it was AFTER the solo (which was cut down in the studio).. this is a full length, live in-your-face guitar solo part... despite the guitar-favored mix, since the recorder was on my side, for me to use to critique and improve my parts, the EQ is harsh.   Best listened to with good equipment or headphones maybe... Like any guitar player, I always sought the ultimate, holy-grail tone - and after I paired EMG pups with a Laney AOR-50/Roland JC120 foundation, I was often complimented for my tone at gigs (and thus inspired, for my playing.  One local guitar god told me "I LIKE WHAT YOU PLAY" (he was.. a recognized authority, and spoke in capital letters almost all the time - no one questioned him) lol ;-)  I was suitably pleased, for this guy was a great guitar player - one of the elite.  

My rig: Jackson USA RR in to a Laney AOR50 slaving a Roland JC120 (the Jazz Chorus amp..)..  with.. iirc I was using a Duncan Custom at this point (I used EMGs for awhile. but the Duncan was sweet)...
It's interesting to listen to the studio version once or twice, then listen to THIS...   OH... Gil was using Alexis' drum machine as a metronome...  his reasoning was very sound... but it SOUNDED REALLY BAD.. especially in the break before the lead..  oh god.. it just fights with my chukachuka parts and kills them...  (or I kill the drum machine's sound... ;-)   Carl sounds really good... though we were working out PA & EQ issues.  David, solid as a rock, like always - laying down a feather-mattress of bass awesomeness.. Alexis was always great, and a firecracker!  Gil was a rocker and held it all down... and a great showman.  He held the band together if I'm honest.. the leader when we needed one..   oh, and I .. had my moments I suppose..  we're ALL singing ... I seem to be the loudest background vocal.. but I didn't set the levels.  It may be that my monitor had me isolated, but I don't think that's it.  The cassette recorder (obviously) was mine, and was positioned on my side... it's actually surprising how much of everyone comes across, all things considered...  but there's monitor bleeding in to the recorder for sure...

Take Me On (Live rehearsal Santa Rosa, large "modern barn")

* 20180718 ReMaster EQ tweaks...

This was kind of fun, if a bit rushed...  and not quite finished (drums, bass, keys - even scratch vocals but .. got sidetracked - so this is it.  It is heartfelt, that much I assure you..)

 I recorded this in 1998 in my condo in Marina Bay.  Using an Akai 12-track HD system.  There is really no mastering applied - just a rookie's rushed attempt at quick mix. 
* Anyway - The cover of "Wish You Were Here" - never completed, however - there were some things.. for one,  I know that even in '98, I  had an "aura of amateur" to my singing, yet I think that there were moments where I ... felt it.
* Guitars & Vocal tracks are pretty much scratch tracks themselves  - useful in that I could come in and do proper tracking for instruments .. biggest hurdle was EQ and mix - preprocessing/mastering - the condo wasn't quite setup for audio, so just trying to fight headache frequencies on mastering was challenging.  I usually EQ on playback, typical V shape, leave 500hz at 0 or -1db, bump from there, stepping up in a wide V pattern, perhaps a little more on the lower freqs.. but also at 1k (~+5), 3K (~+7)... and so on.... brings the life back in to the guitar - vocal tracks too ;-)

I perform all parts - instruments and vocals, and didn't get to the drum tracks which would have made it more authentic, but eh..

As to track pre/post - Well, acoustic guitars can be quite a pain to get right, but it's slowly getting more familiar as I learn the room and the equipment.

This is a song about friends, eh?  Cheers!..

Yesterdays, Living Rooms & Warehouses

Wish U Were Here -  - Akai 12 track, Living Room Production ; Mastered w/M3Horse

Lost for a while.. trying to be found (by myself - not by anyone else, thanks ;-)  
Newer material mostly tied up, at least for now..  meanwhile, if anyone has interest, *listen to the guitars* ..  where I am most .. honest... most "myself".  Though I love the keys and synth, and those sounds - I am only truly home upon the fretted board.  Shall upload - and hope to be completing some material.  "Just a Few Days" I wrote and recorded in 1991 - at home.. a big 'ol Tascam 1/2" 8-track midi-coupled (yes - way back then) to my P.C., running Cakewalk - which was just a midi-program then, before PCs were fast or big (storage-wise) enough to truly handle audio well...    Anyway - Just a Few Days .. was written in one day, like anything I do.. either completed or left forever uncompleted.  The drums are from my Korg M3R rack version of the M1 - a big deal in 1990.  The synth comes from there, and from my Yamaha DX7.. the guitar was mic'd with a Beyer dynamic mic - from my Marshall 4x12 and my Laney AOR50 slaved via my (classic) Roland JC120 (yeah - the venerable Jazz Chorus.. only solid-state guitar amp I ever loved)..  I seldom recorded as clean a tone as on JAFD... and

 it is unfortunate that I rushed the mixdown, and buried the guitar significantly more than I realized at the time. 

 I was quite connected to the instrument when I recorded that part.  It's like I remember everything vividly every time I hear it --  Oh - the guitar was a Jackson Soloisit Professional.. a very capable guitar that I owned for 15 years.. wish I'd kept it, like most of them ;-)   Still lost - ...  trying to keep moving forward -- and keeping true to that one thing - guitar - the thing that saved me a very long time ago.  True story.

aprilia1k