This is actually the first track I recorded by myself since early 4-track recordings decades ago. Recorded at the start of lockdown on an iPad before I discovered Ableton; cleaned up in 2023 for a new airing. Always saw it as a sonic future-scape that is a little rough around the edges but worth sharing again.
Image: AI via Lexica.

El Futuro Es...

Image: MS AI.
Drums: NI 40.
Bass: Warwick 5-string.
Guitars: Suhr PRS CE24 through NI Guitar Rig and Archetype Rabea + mucho effects.
Keys: Karanyi, NI and Spitfire.
Mastering: Ozone 10 Standard.
DAW: Ableton.

Perfect

Photo: edited image from Rhodes.

Bit of an experiment, Music for Cars Collective vocal sample project track. All parts created from vocal samples and voices in a variety of Ableton and NI tools.

Voices

Photo: SWG3, Glasgow, 2019.
Drums: NI Rudiments.
Bass: Warwick 5-string Corvette through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Suhr Custom Classic and Godin Montreal Thinline Archtop through NI Guitar Rig and Archetype Rabea.
Keys: various NI and Spitfire Sounds.
Mastering: Ozone 10 Standard.
DAW: Ableton.

Round 1AM

Little bit of peaking on the mix I know, will fix this thanks.

Pretty much a guitar improv to a conga line with some stuff added later... lengthy effects driven solo for the guitar geeks in this one (NI Guitar Rig combined with Freakshow Industries Backmask freakshowindustries.com/backmask).
Photo: lane walk, Scotland, 2019.
Drums: Ableton conga loop.
Bass: Warwick 5-string Corvette through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Suhr Custom Classic NI Guitar Rig.
Keys: various NI and Arturia.
Mastering: Ozone 10 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 11.

Clouded

Photo: Capilla de Sallaco - chapel on the high altiplano, Abra La Pampilla, Valle Sandia, Puno, Peru (c 4,600 m asl), 2013. On route to amigos at Cecovasa & San Juan del Oro coffee communities.

Was looking for soundscape intro for this one, followed by some lofi funk before veering off in a slightly Latin jazz chilled direction. Anyway, thanks for listening...

Drums: NI 40.
Bass: Warwick 5-string Corvette through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Suhr Classic Custom through a few NI Guitar Rig and Archetype Rabea patches.
Keys: various NI, Spitfire (piano), Crow Hill (Small String Gestures), Baby Audio and Arturia.
Mastering: Ozone 10 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 11.

In The End

Photo: El Alto, La Paz, Bolivia, 2013.

This track is formed from three musical ideas that seemed to belong together with the opening theme repeated towards the end. If you get the time listen to it end to end, thanks.

Drums: NI Rudiments.
Bass: Warwick 5-string Corvette through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Godin Montreal Thinline Archtop with flats through a few instances of NI Guitar Rig.
Keys: various NI, Spitfire (piano), Crow Hill (Small String Gestures and Celeste-a-tone) and Arturia Wurli.
Mastering: Ozone 10 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Night Air

Photo: Orkney, 2024.

Not my usual genre so hope you enjoy.

Drums: Ableton Carbon kit.
Bass: Warwick 5-string Corvette through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Suhr Custom Classic through a few instances of NI Guitar Rig.
Keys: various NI, Karanyi Lofi Keys, Crow Hill Small String Gestures, Arturia Juno and CS-80, Spitfire BlankFor.
Mastering: Ozone 10 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Room 2A

Photo: La Paz, Bolivia 2013, pixels on purpose...

Started as bass groove after going to a Thundercat gig, needed something else so came up with the 11 note repeating figure on guitar which was then doubled on keys to give an almost Steve Reich type effect. 

One to check out start to finish if you have the time, thanks for listening. For the guitar geeks there's a wee solo at the end.

Drums: NI Karriem Riggins.
Bass: Warwick 5-string Corvette through NI Guitar Rig and during the 11 note sequence section sustained notes on NI Monark synth bass.
Guitars: Suhr Custom Classic and Strandberg Salen Jazz through a few instances of NI Guitar Rig. Short solo at the end is the Suhr.
Keys: various NI, Arturia and Spitfire.
Mastering: Ozone 10 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Talk It Up

Photo: pixels on purpose... digital drawing 2024.

Pretty chilled track again, one to check out start to finish if you have the time, thanks for listening. For the bass geeks there's a wee kinda solo at the end.

Drums: custom kit built as Ableton rack.
Bass: Warwick 5-string Corvette through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Suhr Custom Classic and Godin Montreal Semi through a few instances of NI Guitar Rig.
Keys: various NI, Arturia and Spitfire.
Mastering: Ozone 10 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Pixel On Purpose

Photo: Spanish building, 2024.

Using the new Dot Allison Dulcet Voice from Crow Hill for the vocals on this one. More info here: https://thecrowhillcompany.com/dot-allison-dulcet-voice/. Dot's from Edinburgh but that's okay 😊Always interested in using limitations for inspiration so made the guitar solo using only harmonics.

Drums: custom kit built as Ableton rack and some NI loop samples.
Bass: Warwick 5-string Corvette through NI Guitar Rig with an octaver.
Guitars: Suhr Custom Classic and PRS CE24 through a few instances of NI Guitar Rig.
Keys: various NI, Arturia and Spitfire.
Mastering: Ozone 10 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Bandcamp

Drop Dead

Photo: Union Place, Glasgow lane, 2024. 

Drums: custom kit built as Ableton rack and some NI loop samples.
Bass: Warwick 5-string Corvette through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Suhr Custom Classic through a few instances of NI Guitar Rig.
Keys: various NI, Arturia and Spitfire.
Mastering: Ozone 10 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Dead End

Photo: Aurora, Scotland, 2024.

My 100th SC upload💯. Another track using the new Dot Allison Dulcet Voice from Crow Hill for the vocals on this one. More info here: thecrowhillcompany.com/dot-allison-dulcet-voice/. 

Drums: NI 40.
Bass: Warwick 5-string Corvette through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Strandberg Salen Jazz through an instance of NI Guitar Rig with some additional VST's from Arturia and others. First solo is a kinda loose fingerstyle / hybrid picked thing. For the geeks, guitar in second half is all finger tapped (single and double) outlining chords and scales.
Keys: various NI, Arturia and Spitfire.
Mastering: Ozone 10 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Trapped

Photo: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2011.

Drums: NI Karriem Riggins.
Bass: Warwick 5-string Corvette through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Suhr Custom Classic and Godin Montreal Thinline through NI Guitar Rig.
Keys: various NI, Arturia and Spitfire.
Mastering: Ozone 10 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Night Flight To Addis

Photo: Granada, Spain, 2024.

Sometimes tracks can feel like a loose collection of ideas and maybe this is one of them. But if you get the chance listen to this one from the start, hopefully it takes you on a wee musical journey - thanks.

Drums: NI 40.
Bass: Sandberg Electra VS 4-string through NI Guitar Rig. First outing for my new bass. 
Guitars: Suhr Custom Classic through NI Guitar Rig and Archetype Tim Henson. PRS CE24 through NI Guitar Rig for the solo at the end.
Keys: various NI, Arturia, Baby Audio, Crowhill and Spitfire.
Mastering: Ozone 10 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

If Only, Part 1 & 2

Photo: Glasgow, Scotland, 2024.

As usual a few different musical ideas held together with good intent. Little experiment on this one, no reverb used 😊

Drums: NI 40.
Bass: Warwick Corvette 5-string through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Godin Montreal Thinline with flats through NI Guitar Rig. Suhr Custom Classic through NI Guitar Rig for the warped solo and the single note line at the end.
Keys: various NI, Arturia, Crowhill (Dulect Tones & Small String Gestures) and Spitfire.
Mastering: Ozone 10 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

A Moment

Photo: Alhambra, Granada, Spain, 2024.

This one took quite a while mainly down to inertia and faffing around on bass trying build some lines using higher registers while working in a Herbie Hancock piano voicing I found on YouTube, (A minor 11th). The 5-note sequences at 02:38 is something I've been messing about on guitar with for years and the guitar line was doubled / harmonised on guitar again and some keys. I kind of like the effect and did something similar on another track with an 11-note sequence (https://soundcloud.com/ubo-music/talk-it-up). The fingerstyle funk guitar that comes in at 03:40 was going to be played on bass originally but I liked the guitar and added some chords to it using a ring modulator resonator chord patch in Guitar Rig🤘.

If you get a chance listen to this the whole way through, proud of the outro bassline 😉 🙏

Drums: Ableton sample pack, Loopmasters Mixtape "AW_80_Massive_1", removed the reverb using a transient tool although there's some original crackle on the sample, it's blasted through Baby Audio IHNY-2 compressor in a couple of places with fills created DJ Shadow stylee shifting a duplicate fragment of the sample 1/64 or 1/32. Some other random Ableton loops through Arturia Efx-Fragments for the intro/outro sound design textures.
Bass: Warwick Corvette 5-string through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: all guitars Suhr Custom Classic through NI Guitar Rig apart from PRS CE24 for the end solo and the random noise that sounds like a 'seagull massacre' at around 05:25.
Keys: various NI keys and Spitfire Cinematic Strings.
Mastering: Ozone 11 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Song for Yesterday

Photo: Alhambra, Granada, Spain, 2024.

Like most of my tracks this started as a sketch of ideas that were gradually melded together starting with the guitar progression at the start. I was going for a textural kind of sound in this and in the intro there’s an effect approach to ‘grab’ a note from the guitar in a couple of places, sustain it and effect it – seemed to work okay and something I had wanted to try for a while now.

As ever, if you get a chance listen to this the whole way through 😉 🙏

Drums: NI Kontakt sample pack, through Baby Audio IHNY-2 compressor and Arturia Efx Motions for the intro/outro. Some sample editing for fills.
Bass: Sandberg Elektra 4-string newly strung with flats through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: a little PRS CE24 but mainly Godin Montreal thin-line jazz strung with flats including the solo. All through NI Guitar Rig and Archetype Tim Henson and warmed up with UAD Verve Analogue Machines.
Keys: various NI, Arturia keys and Crow Hill R+D Strings. Used Crow Hill Piano Rack for the first time on this as well for processing.
Voice: Dot Allison’s Crow Hill Dulcet Voice 
Mastering: Ozone 11 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Touch

Photo: Northumberland, 2024.

Liked the main drum loop with the brushes and had been inspired seeing Geoff Barrow's Beak> live in Glasgow to introduce some more analogue synth type loops and a bolder bass tone. So inspired by Beak> as opposed to sounding like them 😉

As ever, if you get a chance listen to this the whole way through 😉 🙏

Drums: NI Kontakt and Ableton sample pack, through Baby Audio IHNY-2 compressor. Some sample editing for fills.
Bass: Sandberg Elektra 4-string strung with flats through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: scarce on this track and found only on the outro with my Suhr Custom Classic into NI Guitar Rig warmed up with UAD Verve Analogue Machines and some Arturia plate reverb for some space.
Keys: various NI and Arturia keys. Analogue loop is NI Blocks with some delays and other automation.
Mastering: Ozone 11 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Like a Book

Photo: my home studio Jamo speaker, 2024.

This one started almost with a Bristol influence with the drum intro and bass line, seemed to need some energy so it moves into a kinda lofi jazz house vibe before revisiting some of themes from the intro again on the way out.

It’s a bit of a journey so as ever, if you get a chance listen to this the whole way through 😉 🙏

Drums: NI Kontakt through Baby Audio IHNY-2 compressor. Some sample editing for fills. NI Session Percussion for the congas etc.
Bass: Sandberg Elektra 4-string strung with flats through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Suhr Custom Classic into NI Guitar Rig. The pad sounding guitar is the same line through two different effects chains panned left and right.
Keys: various NI, Crow Hill, Spitfire and Arturia keys.
Mastering: Ozone 11 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Overfall

Photo: Granada, Spain, 2024.

Started with the drum loop, some Rhodes and bass and grew from there. Gentle piece I guess with a chill wee guitar solo at the end.

As ever, if you get a chance listen to this the whole way through 😉 🙏

Drums: NI Kontakt sample pack, through Baby Audio IHNY-2 compressor. 
Bass: Sandberg Elektra 4-string strung with flats through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: PRS CE 24 and Godin Montreal Semi-Acoustic into NI Guitar Rig and Archetype Mateus Asato.
Keys: various NI and Arturia keys. 
Voices: Crow Hill Dot Allison.
Strings: Crow Hill Small String Gestures.
Mastering: Ozone 11 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Consequences

Photo: Glasgow, Scotland, 2024.

Little tribute to my home city. Drum loop brought on the bassline (it's real bass through an octaver) and the rest just flowed from there pretty quickly for once. As ever, if you get a chance listen to this the whole way through.

Drums: NI Kontakt sample pack, through Baby Audio IHNY-2 compressor.
Bass: Sandberg Elektra 4-string strung with flats through NI Guitar Rig with an octaver.
Guitars: Godin Montreal Semi-Acoustic with flats into NI Guitar Rig and Archetype Mateus Asato.
Keys: various NI and Arturia keys.
Mastering: Ozone 11 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Great Western Road

Photo: coffee hand sorting, export mill, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2011.

In another life I spent time occasionally working in Ethiopia, and this track is a little nod to 70's ethio-jazz albeit with some kind of house beat influence; anyway...

Drums: NI Kontakt sample pack.
Bass: Sandberg Elektra 4-string with flats through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Godin Montreal Semi-Acoustic with flats into NI Guitar Rig and Archetype Mateus Asato.
Keys: various NI and Arturia keys.
Strings: Crow Hill Small String  Gestures.
Mastering: Ozone 11 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Time for Sleep

Photo: coffee mill, Santa Ana, El Salvador, 2010.

Some more chilled stuff, seems to be the way of things for the moment.

Drums: NI Kontakt sample pack.
Bass: Sandberg Elektra 4-string with flats through NI Guitar Rig with an octaver on from time to time which gives it a kinda synth bass vibe..
Guitars: Godin Montreal Semi-Acoustic with flats into NI Guitar Rig and Archetype Mateus Asato and Arturia Efx Motions.
Keys: various NI and Arturia keys. The intro rising pad Arturia Mini-V. 
Mastering: Ozone 10 Standard because Ozone 11 crashed!!!
DAW: Ableton 12.

Road to Santa Ana

Photo: coffee cupping/tasting, Piura, Peru, 2015.

Started out with the bassline against the drum sample at the beginning of the track and seemed to need a second section / theme. Most notable as I dug out my Jim Dunlop wah for the first time in a number of years for this one as well.

Hope you enjoy - as ever please listen all the way through = good karma.

Drums and percussion: NI Kontakt sample pack through Baby Audio IHNY-2 compressor and NI Transient Master.
Bass: Sandberg Elektra 4-string with flats through NI Guitar Rig + separate DI channel with Klanghelm MJUCJR compressor and stock Ableton EQ.
Guitars: Godin Montreal Semi-Acoustic with flats into NI Guitar Rig and Archetype Mateus Asato + Jim Dunlop wah. 
Keys: lots of synths for the pad build section with various NI and Arturia keys (mainly Juno). Some Crow Hill Dulcet Voice and Cosmos. Also some Spitfire BlankFor and UAD PolyMax. Rhodes is NI as well.
Mastering: Ozone 11.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Source

Photo: small-holding, Djimma, Ethiopia, 2011.

SC seems to be adding some distortion to bass/kick which sounds fine in WAV, hopefully won't be an issue for Spotify etc. It sounds fine on Bandcamp as well and it's free to listen there https://ubomusic.bandcamp.com/track/in-retrospect - thanks.

Pretty laid back, this started out with bass and drums and seemed to need go somewhere. The simple piano melody in the middle section is a grouping of 5-notes but off-set by 1/16 and then various delays added.

Drums: NI Kontakt sample pack.
Bass: Sandberg Elektra 4-string with flats through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Godin Montreal Semi-Acoustic with flats and a Suhr Custom Classic both into Archetype Mateus Asato.
Keys: various NI and Arturia keys. Spitfire piano with Crow Hill Piano Rack.
Strings: Crow Hill Small String Gestures.
Mastering: Ozone 11 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

In Retrospect

Photo: glass, 2025.

Initially bass and drums came together before I was messing about trying to mimic the 'Everything in its right place' synth sound, failed on that but liked the resultant Prophet 5 sound so repeated the guitar chords on that. The second section of the track has a Latin bass I guess, with a repeating 7-note ascending melody (I'm fond of these). There's a guitar part as sequence of 7-notes that is doubled on Rhodes.

Drums: NI Kontakt sample pack.
Bass: Sandberg Elektra 4-string with flats through NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Suhr Custom Classic both into Archetype Mateus Asato.
Keys: various NI and Arturia keys. Crow Hill Piano Rack on the Prophet there's some Crow Hill Cosmos double the Juno sustained pad later one.
Mastering: Ozone 11 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Just Remember

Photo: Seville, Spain, 2025.

Decided to go up-tempo with octave pedal bass over an electro beat. Short bass solo on the outro is a phaser tone Thundercat-lite attempt. Guitars are a little Discipline era King Crimson for some added prog.

As ever, listen all the way through = good karma... thank you.

Drums: NI Kontakt sample pack.
Bass: Sandberg Elektra 4-string with flats through three instances of NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Suhr Custom Classic into some NI GuitarRig patches.
Keys: various NI and Arturia keys. Spitfire strings.
Mastering: Ozone 11 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Destiny

Photo: Spain, 2025.

Another little musical journey. 

As ever, listen all the way through = good karma... thank you.

Drums: NI Kontakt sample pack.
Bass: Sandberg Elektra 4-string with flats through two instances of NI Guitar Rig.
Guitars: Suhr Custom Classic into some NI GuitarRig patches.
Keys: various NI, Arturia, Crow Hill Cosmos, Karanyi Lofi keys and Spitfire piano.
Mastering: Ozone 11 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

Falling

Photo: Spain, 2025.

Every now and then I seem to veer towards some sort of jazz house sub-genre and here's another. Think I just like recording the bass lines for these. This is my first track to use a hardware synth, a newly acquired Behringer Pro-800 which debuts as a pad on this.  

As ever, listen all the way through = good karma... thank you.

Drums: NI Kontakt sample pack.
Bass: Sandberg Elektra 4-string with flats through two instances of NI Guitar Rig. One pretty straight ahead and another through octaver / autowah, the latter side chained to the kick. 
Guitars: Suhr Custom Classic into some NI GuitarRig and Archetype patches.
Keys: various VST NI, Arturia, Karanyi Lofi keys and Spitfire strings + Behringer Pro-800.
Ambient sounds: some NI Kontakt library samples.
Mastering: Ozone 11 Standard.
DAW: Ableton 12.

One Door Opens

instrumental | soundscape | future_guitar

Guitarist & 33.3^% of Glasgow's finest power-trio, Imperfect Product. Ableton + guitars + bass. Member of Music for Cars collective.

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