Track 5 of my debut studio album - Blueberry - which was recorded over the summer of 2018 and released on October 14th. It was produced, recorded, and mixed by MiNombreEsDolores! (aka Matias Hidalgo) and mastered by j.tomes. The album artwork was created by Natalia W Urban.

This song features layered vocals, acoustic guitar parts played on my 'trademark' tiny guitar (a travel-size model produced by Harley Benton, which I purchased at an instrument shop in the Old Quarter of Hanoi), electric guitar parts played on Matias' stratocaster through a Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail analog delay pedal, and rhythm played on the bodhran by Yumiko Kido.

The full album is available for purchase on bandcamp, at https://urbanorangutan.bandcamp.com/album/blueberry

Blueberry

Mantra

Horizon Blue

The first of (hopefully) many such little projects, where I set up some of my various electronic and acoustic instruments and just make some music, without a script or master plan, as I explore musical ideas, different combinations of gear, and diy recording methods. I will give the details of my set-up below:

sound sources: kalimba, Minilogue XD, Digitone
sequencing: Minilogue XD, Digitone
effects pedals: Vapor Trail delay pedal, Boss RC-3 loop pedal
recording: Zoom H2n (line input )

summary: in this jam, I am using a kalimba with a piezo pick-up in it, running into the Vapor Trail delay and then into one of the 1/4" inputs on the RC-3. I am also using a patch I made on the XD that uses its built-in delay effect, with the longest delay time possible at 44bpm, almost as a looper.  No midi-sequencing from the Digitone on this one; the XD sequencer and Digitone sequencer are both set to the same bpm and used individually. However, the XD audio is running through the Digitone's inputs for the master effects. I have a stereo split 1/4" to TRS 1/8" cable going from the Digitone left and right outputs into the aux input on the loop pedal. The same type of cable is going from the outputs on the RC-3 into the 1/8" line input on the Zoom H2n. This is my first time recording in this way, using the Zoom, and I am quite pleased with the resulting clarity, for a first attempt at least. After normalizing the track on the Zoom, I did no further processing with the audio.

I find that when you are working with sequencers, a loop pedal often seems like it would be redundant, and, when you mix the two, things can get out-of-hand quite easily. However, I am finding that a loop pedal can inject much more spontaneity into a sequencer-based dawless setup, especially when it comes to layering different sounds live (if you have limited voices/timbrality on your synths), incorporating live instrument parts (if you don't have sampling capabilities), and even just for hands-free control while playing guitar. The possibilities are endless, which can be overwhelming and/or delightful.

Anyways... probably my explanations will become more clear and concise as I continue to do these. Feel free to ask me anything about the stuff I'm using, and how I'm using it. Cheers!

Sketch 1: A Sunlit Journey

This was an odd session, for me. The idea for this one was to see what kind of sounds I could get with my kalimba going through lots of delay and reverb, and to try and build a soundscape around that and see where it goes.

The kalimba is running through my delay pedal (Vapor Trail) and then into one of the inputs on the Digitone (Minilogue xd going into the other input) for further effects processing. The Digitone outs are running into the Boss RC-3 loop pedal, then into the Zoom H2n. During this jam I play the kalimba in the intended fashion, but I also experiment with tapping and knocking on the kalimba, as well as singing and whistling into it, which results in a strange, ethereal reverb.

First I set up a pattern on the digitone, turning up the input volume on the master page (the kalimba pickup has no volume control and I have no mixer, so the master page allowed me to adjust the levels coming from the kalimba compared to the other sounds), and loading in 4 different sounds into the synth tracks. For this, I used only sounds which I made from scratch on the digitone: a kick, a snare, a high hat, and a pad. Next, I turned the delay time on the vapor trail down to its slowest possible speed, and matched the tempo on the digitone to sync with the echoes. Then I sent the kalimba though the digitone's delay as well, at a subdivision of the Vapor trail's delay time.

Next, I prepared a sequence on the digitone that I would bring in at some point during the jam - mostly a drum beat, with a simple melodic line with the pad. I chose to work in E phrygian because the kalimba is tuned to the C major scale. Once I adjusted all the sounds to my liking, and felt satisfied with the pattern, it was time to start.

I began by building a loop on the rc-3 with just the kalimba at first, then introduced the minilogue. Eventually, when the loop was starting to get pretty chaotic, I turned off overdubbing and started the digitone sequence. I gradually lowered the loop mix on the rc-3 as I raised the volume of the digitone sounds. After messing around with bringing the loop back in behind the sequence a number of times, I lowered it to zero and stopped/cleared the loop before bringing the mix back up. In the second half of the jam, I record the digitone sequence into the loop pedal, tapping the looper to start playback and stopping the digitone at the same time. At the end, I ramp up the feedback on the vapor trail delay and let the loop fade into noise, while playing a lead on the minilogue.

At a few points in the jam, I got some nasty clipping/popping sounds from the kalimba when it's level was too high. Because of this, I knew I couldn't share the piece without some doctoring, so I put it into reaper and tried to minimized the offending sounds as much as possible with eq and stuff. In some places I cut out those bits of audio, and patched it up with audio taken from other places in the track, which didn't really sound cool until I tried playing the audio in reverse.

To top it all off, my jam ended up going on for 22 minutes, which felt much too long... so I ended up increasing the tempo by about 70% (without changing pitch) and then pitching it all down 3 semi-tones, just because.

And that's that! Let me know what you think, and feel free to ask me anything about my set-up or creative process.

Sketch 2: Echo Chamber

The Elektron Digitone now has class compliant usb audio! So, I took it out for a quick spin, recording a track I sequenced on the Digitone, using sounds I designed from scratch using its fm synth engine, and also sending midi to the Minilogue xd, which provides the bass (also a patch I made). The Minilogue is running into one of the Digitone's inputs, which is added into the master out through the usb, into Reaper on my laptop. This means I can record other instruments, like guitar, or kalimba, through the digitone inputs, in lieu of an audio interface (which I have yet to purchase).  Worked like a charm, with minimal struggle trying figure it out. Awesome!

Sketch 3: Test Drive

This track takes its inspiration from the view outside a friend's house in Su Pan village, in the mountain province of Lào Cai (northern Vietnam) and the suspended feeling that comes sometimes when you're on a mountainside, surrounded by clouds, watching chickens go about their business.

CloudLand: Kingdom of Chickens

This is a one-take jam using a combination of two synthesizers: the Korg Minilogue xd, which I am playing live, and the Elektron Digitone, using its sequencer.

The patch I am playing on the Minilogue is one I made in order to explore Sinevibes' Albedo granular cloud reverb, which has a "freeze" function when the reverb depth is at max. In this patch the depth is set to maximum, while moving the joystick down lowers the reverb depth. The result is that when you initially play it, there is no reverb on the sound until you move the joystick, then the reverb comes in directly to full force, then lower if you go further. The cool thing is that when you release the joystick, whatever is currently sampled by Albedo will get frozen, making a drone that you can play over or continually add to or alter by lowering the stick to grab what you are currently playing. Also, you can play with the time setting which will change the size of the granules making up the cloud, changing its texture. However, at several points along the travel of the time knob, a little digital "pop" occurs.. something which I mostly removed from this jam with a bit of editing in reaper.

I was having fun with this patch and really liked this shifting tone I had frozen in Albedo, so I drew up a beat on the digitone incorporating a lot of randomness into it, plus one track dedicated to triggering a spacey pad at low probability, plugged the digitone into my laptop over usb (class compliant now), and started recording. After a couple false starts, the third take resulted in this track, which I tinkered with a bit in reaper afterwards.

I hope you enjoy it! Feel free to ask if you have any questions about my setup or sound design, or whatever.

SmogHorn

A wannabe orangutan from the concrete jungle

urbanorangutan

Popular tracks