Not Covers

I didn't know where this was going when I started writing it, but as can often happen as a musician, I ended up with something that spoke of me personally. This is a direct result of pouring myself into a track.

And apparently, I didn't need to use words.

Originally recorded and mixed in July 2013.
Remastered in January 2017.

Most of the time I feel like I have to work at something before it's an acceptable product. This time, though, I spent one day, total, on writing, tracking, and mixing. I feel as though the music created itself. But, whether it did or not, I'm very, very happy with it. This song paints a picture, the way I believe all music should paint pictures. I can just see it in my head, and that is a beautiful thing.

Music really can talk.

THE PRODUCTION ===
PreSonus Studio One 2 Pro
PreSonus AudioBox 1818VSL
Dell XPS L502x
2x KRK Systems Rokit 5 RP5G2
Sony MDR-7506
Ibanez RG321MH
Squier MB-5
Toontrack Superior Drummer 2.0
Native Instruments Guitar Rig 4/5
= Vox AC-30
= Ibanez Tube Screamer TS808
= Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man
= Electro-Harmonix Black Finger
= Pro Co RAT
= Ampeg SVT-2 Pro
= Little Reflektor
iZotope Ozone 5
Waves Kramer Master Tape (Ampex 350/351)

The Soul and the Soil

This is a piece I wrote for an intro track I used live recently, but decided to cut it on its own to be used in my music licensing library (brand new!).

It's entirely possible for this to be extended, and I can do so if need be. Right now it's just over a minute long, so for some uses it would almost HAVE to be extended.

Production notes available upon request. At the moment that I'm writing this, I'm a bit pressed for time, so I'll have to do so later.

Regrets and Regression

Just an experimental clip. Could become a full song, although it heads in quite a different direction than the other compositions I have on my backlog. Friends seemed to like it, so here it is.

Guitars ==
Ibanez RG321MH
Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottom Cobalt strings
Guitar Rig 5, rhythm:
- Ampeg SVT-2 Pro, bass rolled back, bright channel
- Vox AC30 combo as a cabinet
- Royer R-121 ribbon mic
Guitar Rig 5, lead:
- BOSS CS-3 Compressor/Sustainer
- Ampeg SVT-2 Pro, bass rolled back, bright channel
- Multi-tap diffusing digital delay (unsure what was modeled)
- Roland RE-120 Space Echo
- Little Reflektor, long dark reverb
- Ozone 5 for stereo effect

Bass ==
Fender Highway One American Jazz Bass
Waves Kramer Master Tape
Guitar Rig 5, using
- Empress Compressor
- Ampeg SVT-2 Pro, driven, treble rolled back in GEQ
- Fender Bassman 4x10 combo as cab
- Ampeg SVT810E cabinet
- DI from amp mixed for deepness
Ozone 5 for hard limiting

Drums ==
Superior Drummer 2.0
- N.Y. Avatar kit
PreSonus Studio One v2.6 Compressors and EQs
Ozone 5 for slight coloration
Waves Kramer Master Tape, for fattening

20131128 Test Mix

This is a simple test clip geared towards learning the this and that of using outboard synthesis. I played some chords into Alicia's Keys, then played with some sounds on my Yamaha Portatone PSR-6300 from 1987. It's a digital FM synth, so it sounds a lot like the DX7, but the sounds are all pre-programmed because it's a Portatone.

In the first section, I'm just doubling the piano part an octave up, using the "Piano" preset on the upper orchestra. When the arrangement blooms, I turn on the solo voice (set to "Popsynth") and continue doubling. That synth track is going through Guitar Rig for tape echo, digital diffusing delay, a POG effect, and long/modulating reverbs, then into Room Reverb for a longer, blurrier modulated reverb.

The second section, when the arrangement blooms, I play another synth track, where I'm creating thicker and lower chords with the "Pipe Organ" preset on the upper orchestra. This track is going through a similar setup with Guitar Rig and Room Reverb, but the POG effect is turned off. In this section, I also play lower notes on the piano, and I boost the low end, so that Room Reverb on the piano track will resonate.

Outboard Synth Test - Yamaha PSR-6300

This is Harville.

It's the first single release from my project Okayfine. It's just me, currently.

This song is really, really meaningful to me personally, and I couldn't keep this to myself if I tried. So here it is.

Harville

Listen on Spotify

"Harville" - Okayfine

I wrote this song by accident.

The initial idea was a piano line I happened upon while jamming with a roommate in 2019, and iterated over again until recording a quick sketch of improvised vocal melodies and nonsense lyrics. I noticed the MIDI I had recorded for the piano line bore a striking resemblance to a mountain summit, and one night the theme clicked, and the verses came to me. Snowblind deals with parts of me I fear incapable of interfacing well with the world, reincarnated without the benefit of the cycle before. I don't want to explain everything I understand the words to mean, because it already does so for me, and can easily mean something else to any person that hears it.

This song was entirely finished 4 years ago, and sat waiting on me to decide it was good enough to put into the world. I spent those years feeling like my relationship to creativity was irreparably damaged, living with family and worrying about being perceived and feeling guilty about doing anything that wasn't in some way earning a paycheck. Since then, I've moved to Chicago and started over on the work to demolish the walls between myself and my outward person. I'll get there. The experience of recording this song is proof that I was able to do it before. I'll do it again.

Kelly Reaves: vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass, programming, mixing, and mastering
Jon Heim: some composition & drum motifs

Recorded at a previous residence in Beaufort, SC.
Mixed at a previous residence in Statesboro, GA.
Mastered at home in Chicago, IL.

Snowblind

Okayfine "Snowblind"

This work is currently in progress!

A song yet to be laden with lyrics, and borne out of improvisation. The first time I let my playing dictate the time signatures.

FALSEHOODS (Instrumental)

Remember Burning Solitude? Forget that. THIS is Burning Solitude.

Nail The Mix has changed my life.

You're welcome to guess what (Instrumental) means.

BURNING SOLITUDE (Instrumental)

Okayfine: "A Year" Scratch Track

Jon and I have been thinking about music. This song is actually an improvisation that we played on two guitars and recorded as a voice memo. Jon transcribed and halfway-arranged the parts we played on piano and synth. When I heard that, it instantly changed my view on the song. I couldn't get inspired by the voice memo, because it sounded too noodly. But when I heard the piano, with some parts Jon liked done on piano, I heard a mountain of new sounds, including vocal harmonies.

So we sat down with that set of ideas and started using guitars and synths for individual parts. In two or three nights we had a full structure.

Kelly & Jon: Late Night (Incomplete Scratch)

In the interest of seeing how I might write if I reverted to my most successful mode of composition in high school and early college, I pulled out my small selection of software synths and began playing. I flipped through a few, went back to more conventional piano sounds with reverb, yielding nothing, then pulled up Reaktor Blocks Wired instrument Submotion. I found one specific preset that did something with my mind nothing else had that night. And off I went.

I still have more ideas for this, but haven't addressed them yet. Will update in the future.

BR.20181115.20181115

Constellation 2018

BR.20190118

Written in 3 hours. Recorded in the same 3 hours. Here.

Okayfine "Bad Things" Rough

Working on a slightly re-imagined version of The Hylian, a song I started and never finished during my first year of college. Still trying that "no pitch correction thing." Still weird. Some of the later vocals were recorded while I was sick, my acoustic guitar wasn't in town with me, and I'm probably going to have to track the main guitar all over again whenever I add music to the song. I have some planned! But we all know how that works.

The Hylian (New Recording)

My friends bought me a Ditto. This is the first thing I did with it.

Thanks, Timmy, Adam, and Christopher.

20190808 Loop: I Haven't Been Well

First attempt at writing some Midwest emo sounds. Written and recorded in the space of about 4 hours last night.

"Midwest Southeast" Sketch

Knowing my tape deck was patched in, I just sent a few channels in whatever session I was in to it, and hit record. This is what I made.

Tape Improv 20200601

Hi. I'm Kelly. I'm a mixing engineer.
I produce, sing, and play guitar, bass, piano, and synthesizer.
I am Okayfine, using my most useful means of expression to get the hurt out.
Member ASCAP.
Currently based Chicago, IL.

Not Covers

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