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fragile

Entry posted by Rudi

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Pensive melancholy thoughtful contemplative

brooding pondering preoccupied absorbed engrossed. Yep I’m fragile alright.

The intensive shift pattern I'm working is partly to blame. So the last day of the rest period may be a Thursday, but it will feel like a Sunday because I'll begin work in the morning. If working on Sunday, I'll drive in and wonder where all the traffic went. I'll probably never see other engineers who work opposite me ever again. They are working the inverse of my shift pattern.

Oddly, it may be conducive to making music though. I am making progress again despite suffering ongoing jet lag like disorientation. Having 4 or 5 days off in a row is certainly helping me record.

 

Yesterday I completed the recording of my instrumental 'Flamingo'. This is a major landmark for me. It was begun when I was in my 20s. I'm in my 60s now. Its only 5 minutes long, but it has undergone steady changes throughout a period of about 30+ years. Parts of it came and went (were lost through neglect or purging). It was in constant a state of flux. Always changing with only a couple of core themes to anchor it to. After buying my Camps spanish guitar, I worked on Flamingo in earnest. This was the voice it needed. Within a couple more years I finally completed the tune. That is, I formed it into a fixed (well, 98%) and repeatable piece of music.

 

Since then I tried to record it a couple of times, but its my most technically demanding instrumental, and the Camps is my most difficult to play guitar. Being a classical guitar, the Camps has a much longer scale, and I had to adjust parts of the left hand technique to suit. I even invented a new technique to straddle frets, because my fingers could no longer stretch far enough. I gave up the task of recording twice. I couldn't get a good enough take.

 

I had another try this week and could not get the mics working successfully (a Shure SM58 and a Shure Unisphere). Before abandoning the attempt I thought I would try using the Yamaha Silent. This is a nylon strung practice instrument that uses a piezo pickup. Its still a classical guitar with the long scale & wide flat fretboard, but it isn't acoustic. I got a performance I was satisfied with (still with flaws though) in a mornings work.

It was certainly easier than using the Camps, but I was unsure how the sound quality would hold up on the Yamaha. Well it doesn't sound as rich, and you can hear the piezo sound too. Being a simple single instrument, I was bolder at tweaking the EQ and choosing a mastering toolset. Reverb also helped a lot too. But I'm enjoying the way it sounds.

So its done at last. True, it was always a complete mess as a composition, but then it isn't a composition. It was never written. It was never arranged. It just evolved.

 

Maybe I should just stick to acoustic guitar instrumentals. I've been steadily turning down the gain on my electric for years now. I'm never happy with my vocals. I cant play bass, keys nor drum. It makes good sense.

 

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Congrats on finishing that tune Rudi. It was a long time in the works. I will say however, you could possibly use an asterisks next to "completed". Considering there's that one instrument you want to use but ended up not … the Camps. 

 

Disruptive work shifts do make a person feel like they're living in another world sometimes. But like you said you now have more time to record and play. I'm no smart guy but I'd gather you'll still fiddle with that Camps to the point where you feel comfortably satisfied with how it's going and then your song will be 101% complete. :)

 

Interesting about your gain comment. I'm heading that direction as well. Shit, how old are we?!?!?

Edited by Just1L
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Thanks man. Maybe we could manage just one final burst of max gain!?

y'know, just to get a blip on the kids radar.... ;)

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Congrats on completing your project Rudi, 40 years must be a record lol. I have a country song that I started 4 years ago (I'm not a country writer) and although I have made a lot of progress with it I am stuck on one section of lyric that would tie everything together. I'll lay it down for awhile and come back to it in a couple of months to see if anything comes to me. I know I'll get there in the end, it's just a matter of knowing that inspiration will come when it comes and there's nothing that we can do to rush it. There's no chance that I will beat your 40 record because I'm 67 and I can't see myself still writing at103, I'll need to retire a little before then.

 

 

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