Testing the Aviary Music Creation app for Chrome - put together a simple drum loop. Based on a rock classic - no prizes for guessing the tune :)

HTW-96

Testing mobile phone recording using the feee Android app Hertz on a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10. Ignore what I played (no prizes for guessing the tune) and how I played it (badly). The point was to check this recording setup.

Hertz writes in WAV format with selectable sampling rate and quality. Unfortunately, it doesn't offer recording level adjustment and it's easy to overcook the audio, getting badly distorted (clipping) results. Therefore keep away from the mic.

This test was done 50cm from the mic. Phone was on a desktop, guitar facing (end of neck and soundhole) roughly towards the mic. Used a cedar top Seagull S6 acoustic with old-ish Martin bronze strings. Then the whole thing was finished on the PC in Sound Forge with EQ touch-ups and a teaspoon of reverb.

Conclusion: decent method of capturing scratchbook ideas, little demos or drunken jams. The humble mobile phone is Man's best friend - now also a musician's best friend :)

Clementine By Phone

Blast from the past - attempt to mimic how we played back in my school days (many decades ago :)  The interesting bit is this was recorded 35,000 ft up in the air - on a flight from AbuDhabi to London several years ago - using my Traveler Pro guitar and the trusted ancient Zoom Pocket Studio 02. In complete silence, of course - no innocent passengers were abused in the process (but the ringtone is loud enough to be heard in peak traffic in Oxford Street or Piccadilly Circus :)

Rocking Axe rIngtone

SImple guitar tune with ethnic elements ranging from Celtic to Oriental. Up to 4 acoustinc and lectric guitar parts (including slide and slow-attack), over porgrammed simple drums and bass.

See also remix with some added bits - and compare the mastering (but don't look at the waveform, it is misleading. Listen! In which version do you hear ALL the instruments, better?)

Guitars in D

See the original description of the 'plain' Guitars in D piece. Because some listeners found the slow-attack moments (meant to invoke violin associations) sounding "oriental", I added a little more percussion to the(very basic) drums. Some exotic samples of tabla and other Indian instruments, almost randomly sprinkled over the track for "authenticity" ...

(Without the (rather hard) limiting in the mastering of the other version.)

Guitars in D - Remastered (much better, imho)

A little ballad tune, produced as a miniature (specially for a mobile phone ringtone ).

Can also be considered "work in progress" - the intention being to develop a full-length instrumental piece with this theme and some improvisations (most probably on electric guitar).

Midnight Sax RIngtone

A little piece with a somewhat Latin feel (more Iberian, I would think) looped in an 'ambient' way, but with a storng rhythm pattern of guitars helpd by percussion. The female voice used was a random sample form a royalty-free collection. Only much later I discovered the ultimate "flamenco chill" of Chambao - and how much it resembles my (earlier) experiment.

it's another true miniature (even looped to make it longer :)  - my favourite genre, given the little time  I have for music production :(

Ambilatin Ringtone

Instrumental backing track intended for "epic" electric guitar solos, but those were never recorded. The progression and 'classical' arrangement make this a 'soundtrack' onits own; the church hymn 'quotation' (organ section) is there with a slight touch of humour, but with ultimate spiritual respect.

Entirely computer-created by writng notes in a score editor, then converting MIDI to audio and producing a final mix.

Prayer 52

This is a song :) An instrumental demo - LYRICS WANTED - then VOCALIST/s WANTED for collaboration. A totally new arrangement and production are possible, provided someone is interested and serious.

Seasons

Essentially a cover of a well-known tune with a similar name, originally by a hugely popular progressive rock band, from an iconic album that made history. Interestingly, this 'virtual jam' was played online by people thousands of miles apart, who never met face-to-face - and therefore represents an example of social media collaboration.

n.b. All copyright is recognised and this recorded performance was made strictly for private, non-commercial, educational purposes. It is a 'Hats off!' to the original artist/s.

maistora

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