Dave Grohl at SXSW

Awe inspiring keynote speech by Dave Grohl at the 2013 SXSW.

Read and watch the entire speech.

Sweet!

NOOB HOME RECORDING (009): PLASTIC FLOWERS BASS GUITAR

I think the easiest part to play on this song is the bass guitar. I tried to do it as close to how our original bass player did it. Just simple but melodic.

I used the Eighties bass module in POD Farm but left the Brite Room reverb module in place. My thinking is that since I used it on the guitar and the drums also had some room reverb within BFD Eco, the bass should be in the same "room" to make the sound cohesive.

Here's how it sounds...


Plastic Flowers Bass Clip

On the next post, I will share the rough instrumental mix. Stay tuned.

Next: NHR - #010, Plastic Flowers Bass Guitar

See the Plastic Flowers NHR String

NOOB HOME RECORDING (008): PLASTIC FLOWERS MAIN GUITAR

Back in December (2012) I finally managed to record the main guitar and bass parts of Plastic Flowers.

First thing was selecting the effect. When we played it live back in the 90s, I used a chorus pedal that fed into an amp with reverb that gave me a shimmery, watery effect. On POD Farm, I got close using a vocal preset called Verb Vocal which comprised of the Console preamp and Brite Room reverb modules. I then swapped the Console Preamp with the Class A-30 Top Boost amp.

 I then tweaked some of the amp and reverb unit to taste.

Here's what it sounds like.

Main Chorus Guitar

Next: NHR - #009, Plastic Flowers Bass Guitar

See the Plastic Flowers NHR String

Silvertone SS10 Update Part 2: Fixing Problems DIY Style

As you've seen or read in my first post on the guitar, chord playing was doable but that was also its limitation.

There were some issues with the SS10 out-of the-box. The biggest problem I found was that most of the frets had several shallow notches where the strings scrape over making string bending undesirable. So I made a decision to tinker with it at some point... and that was when it was time to replace the strings.

I do not own any luthier tools. Fixing it on my own with whatever tools I had was a conscious decision on my part, since it was a way cheap guitar, I wasn't worried if I turned it into firewood. It's more about the experience... of possibly ruining a low budget musical instrument.

NOOB HOME RECORDING (007): Laying The Foundation

I finally mustered enough motivation to continue my home recording adventures... well, being sick  and cooped up in the bedroom all day had something to do with it.

I fired up Reaper and continued working on the basic drum pattern on Plastic Flowers using BFD Eco.

Laying the "basic drum pattern" is my preferred method for starting a song project. It's as simple as setting the tempo, key in alternating base drum and snare pattern,  then copying and pasting the pattern to last the entire length of the song.

Doing so gives me, one, a better metronome as opposed to the usual beep sound that comes with most DAWs, and second, it serves as my drum template. I would already have one-third of my drum programming done since all I have to do next is add the embellishments.