Why should one get a point for a lack of experience? Let’s turn this around and give a point for everything you have done. And how about a Musician Edition?!?
Have you ever…
– Tuned your instrument using a tuning fork
– Recorded on a four track cassette recorder
– Used two tape machines to create looping
– Cut and spliced analog tape
– Recorded on a 16 or 24 track 2″ tape Machine
– Demagnetized the heads of a 24 track recorder
– Used a paper track sheet
– Used a completely manual mixing console
– Noted all of the settings of a mixing console, because that was the only way to preserve them
– Taken polaroids to remember the exact position of a mic in relation to the instrument
– Used a tube microphone
I love the way I get to record now, the portability of the equipment, the flexability, the ability to return to a mix at any time and continue where I left off, but I am also really grateful to have known the analog process. That process had to, by nature, be a deep dive as walking away meant losing all of the settings and having to start over (which could sometimes be a good thing). There was an intensity to that process that was amazing. A gentle pressure cooker of learning. And expensive AF.
There is a flow to creativity. Sometimes it’s there and that’s when one has to follow its trail, absolutely. Record whatever it is that wants to get out, come through, arise, however it can be done. Sometimes it’s not there. On those days I will obsess over reverb decays or the equalization of some element however small. I spent most of this afternoon working on a massive reverb for a short bowed bass note that I wanted to be the last sound of the piece.
It’s difficult to know ahead of time which way the wind blows. Sometimes one recognizes what’s happening immediately, one feels the invincible flow of creativity, one feels switched ON. Sometimes one can feel the struggle. For me that’s the sign to start working on details, or make a new mix of something in progress. Those hours are just as useful and feel just as necessary.
My laptop has a 14″ screen but Pro Tools works best on one big screen or using two screens. In my studio I used to have one main 23″ monitor and a second 15″ monitor. Last week I started using my iPad as a second screen, propping it up next to my laptop. It connects via a short USB-C cable, which also powers the iPad. I am really pleased with how well it works. Extremely portable, too. I would hesitate to carry a second screen with me, but I almost always travel with the iPad.
But what really struck me is the neurophysiology, which is, you know — sound waves coming off of streams, and moving bodies of water, activate the vagus nerve. They calm us down. There are chemical compounds in nature. You might smell a flower or tree bark, or the resin on a tree, that activate parts of the brain and the immune system, right? So our bodies are wired to respond in an open, empowering, strengthening way to nature.
I have always moved forward intuitively and discover only later why I turned this way or that. I look at the map during or after the journey, rarely beforehand.
I wasn’t sure why I wanted to make an album using river and rain sounds, but it turned out to be an inspired idea. There is the practical side, which is that the water sounds mask any traffic noise that might get onto the recording through the guitar microphone – because I live in cities and I am not recording in a soundproof studio. Another reason was surely that I had been concerned about water for more than thirty years, because Santa Fe is part of the high desert. Today I learned that Sound waves coming off of streams, and moving bodies of water, activate the vagus nerve. They calm us down.
Worked on this piece and created a rain rhythm background. Added a muted guitar and a reggae rhythm that accent the 6/8 against 4/4 feeling. It’s a rhythm I keep coming back to because I just love the forward motion of it. I have been playing with a few different melodies but haven’t commited to anything yet. Recorded with the HeartDrive Mobile Studio. :-)
