Release - Far Away

This was recorded in December of 2008

It’s been quite a while but I finally had the urge again to create something new. This one isn’t anywhere near as thrashy as the stuff I usually write but there’s a heavy section in the middle that’ll let you know I haven’t forgotten about the heavy. This one is more mellow with a slow groove and lots of different things going on. The acoustics, the bass and the ebow lead are all doing different things at the same time but they all seem to work together pretty well. Very layered. I had a lot of fun with it and it felt great to get back to recording again.

Tools:

Digital Audio Workstation: Logic Studio
Drums: Addictive Drums Plug-in
Guitar Effects: Line 6 POD XT Live
Guitar: Line 6 Variax 300
Additional guitar effects: EBow
Bass: Fender Precision Bass

Release - The Forgotten

This was recorded on April 12th and 13th of 2010 

Man, it really HAS been a while since I recorded anything!  For this one, I came up with the bass line during practice a week ago and it stuck with me.  I came up with a really basic drum beat, laid down the bass line and another line that could be used elsewhere and just jammed along with the guitar until the other parts came together.  Honestly, I wasn’t even trying to work on a song at that point.  It was more about playing around with Guitar Rig 4 and see if I even remembered how to do anything in Logic.  I got the basic framework together and then realized it needed something.  I wanted a speech in the background, something that you couldn’t quite make out everything that was being said but you know you’ve heard it before.  I looked online for some samples and remembered a scene from Saving Private Ryan that could work.  I don’t think the samples and the music are perfect matches but something about it kinda works.  Anyway, it’s far from the best thing I’ve done but I’m pretty happy with it.  I got to use the Strat for recording, which is a first, along with using the Taylor acoustic.  I was going to go back and work on the drums a bit but I think I’ll just leave it where it is for now.  And you know what?  It feels really good to have recorded something new for a change.

Tools:

Digital Audio Workstation: Logic Studio
Drums: Addictive Drums Plug-in
Guitar Effects: Guitar Rig 4 Plug-in
Electric Guitar: Fender 50‘s Road Worn Stratocaster
Acoustic Guitar: Taylor 312ce
Additional guitar effects: EBow
Bass: Fender Precision Bass

Release - Ryan

I believe this was recorded in late 2006

Oh man, this song has a frustrating story behind it.  It’s called The Epic because that’s what it was originally going to be.  It was supposed to have multiple parts and styles with a theme reoccurring throughout the song and be about 20 minutes long.  It was supposed to have acoustic parts, some orchestration, the works.  It was going to be huge and adventurous.  And then…… the friggin’ hard drive crashed, taking the entire song down with it.  This wasn’t the first time I had lost a song due to a hard drive crash…… but it certainly kicked my ass into making sure I had everything backed up in at least one other place.  It’s too bad too because I really liked where it was going and had some of the most advanced playing and writing I’d ever done up to that point.

Tools:

Digital Audio Workstation: Digidesign MBox with Pro Tools LE
Drums: Drum Kit From Hell rewired into Reason
Guitar Effects: Line 6 POD XT Live
Guitar: Line 6 Variax 300
Bass: Ibanez 5 string Bass

Release - The Epic

Who’s the happy guy?  This was recorded on July 9th and 10th of 2012 

If you listen to the song below (and you’ve heard my stuff before), that’s probably what you’re thinking too.  No angry-face metal riffs, no brutal tones, no samples, no double bass.  It’s just…. happy.  I had the main chord progression for a while now but I could never figure out how to make it work with drums.  I’ve tried a handful of times to record it and always walked away defeated.  The main reason I think I got it to work this time was because of the new amp modeling software I’ve been demoing…. but more on that in a minute.  Overall I’m pretty happy with it.  I really dig the repeating lead melody lines but I’m not too thrilled with the violin-like lead part in the middle section yet.  I put it down as just a placeholder but after trying to come up with something to replace it with last night for 2 hours, I had nothing to show for it.  Ive decided to call it Pushing Forward  for a couple of reasons (pretty original title, huh? LOL!).  First of all, it has a driving/constant motion kinda feel to it.  Second, and more importantly, it’s about me pushing myself to get back to recording.  It’s definitely different from what I’ve done but I kinda dig that.  I’ve never been a fan of bands that put out the same song 12 times and call it an album.  Yea, the parts in the song just repeat over and over but it’s catchy (like all my stuff!  LOL!!).   But even if nobody else likes it, at least it got me back to recording again.


Tools:

Digital Audio Workstation: Logic Studio 9
Drums: Addictive Drums Plug-in
Guitar Effects: S-Gear Plug-in
Electric Guitar: Fender 50‘s Road Worn Stratocaster
Additional guitar effects: EBow
Bass: Squire Precision Bass

Release - Pushing Forward

Had an old idea that I recorded a while ago.  It made me laugh so I turned it into a song.  A really, really dumb song.  Enjoy.

Release - The Epic

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