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| studio boudoir a' suisse: mac G4 -toshiba laptop- tascam DR1- ext HDs |
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| moved this old kawaii synth from the studio boudoir to the garage |
due to jet lag mixed with whatever maladies i dragged over with me, i have been dealing with really screwed up sleeping patterns- waking at 4 or 6 AM- doing some music- then sinking in the afternoon, going back to bed to nap at dusk, then waking at midnight, and then trying to go back to sleep. so... i have been dealing with it the best i can.
i started 'music therapy' by working in Acid on my laptop- when i 1st got here; doing various weirdness [euro techno stuff] and did about 8 new loop based tracks to either add vocals to or not. then decided to get the Mac G4 hooked up & working- since its been sitting in my room for months- i never used it- dragged out the old kawaii to use w/the mac to make samples, OR long synth recordings which i can multi-track into orchestral type/jazz pieces...keyboard over keyboards over keyboards... alice coltrane meets professor longhair on acid in a back street goth club in Berlin.
but decided to eliminate overcrowding, since chaos is not conducive to creativity; so have moved the G4 & synth into the garage to the BIG desk there... and have not set it up.i downloaded Audacity to the G4 which i will use w/it & the synth, and possibly even do some things with the Dr1 as a MIC into it, try the piano and some percussion instruments [matzuki's congas & bongos?] BUT...
i instead began solo recordings of improvisations on my old Burger & Jacoby acoustic upright piano, built in Biel in about 1800. its a beauty. it lives in the garage. Jacqueline had the piano tuner come the day after i arrived- so before it loses tuning- i need to get busy. have done 4 days of playing/improvising/recording using my Tascam Dr-1 portable digital stereo recorder, set behind the piano to get bounce back from the concrete wall. it sounds great. has a very warm tone.
i do a few takes of whatever comes into my head and then edit/eq/ it in Sound Forge or Acid 7; but considering i haven't played or sung a note since my Mother passed away in April, i find I'm a bit out of practice; and tend to stick with slow stuff in dark minor keys [but that's not unusual for me]- she always said she liked "rock n roll & jump n jive" so guess i need to 'pick it up'... do some rockin' blues
i have my 1st European show tonight- so, i will spend the day playing & recording everything for possible 'solo piano' cds, or even solo piano tracks which i can eventually add lyrics and vocals to. might even do a few vocal & piano tracks today to warm up- maybe more traditional folk, blues, jazz & gospel tunes.there again might rent a Sennheiser or Neuman & plug it into the Mac- although the DR stereo mic sounds fine.
thank god the weather has been wonderful [for me- BUT NOT FOR THE SWISS] since i arrived: cool to cold and dark & cloudy [so the garage is naturally air conditioned] everyone is complaining that they had no summer... i have had more than enough summer for the whole of switzerland, thank you. i am not feeling the summer... and just as i wrote that the sun came out.... merde! but the good news is that we will play outdoors if the sun stays out. just hope dey aint no heat widdit.
[C]2011 DOUG DUFFEY
