waiting to zoom... and ranting

went to bed, exhausted, at 9:30PM after working on music all day into night- well, from the time i woke about 8 or 9AM- only to wake wide awake at 3:30AM- even though i had taken my prescribed sleep and pain meds before bed. this sleep disorder is getting ridiculous. so after several cigarettes and listening to the days work i had done, watching some polish television, and some more minimal editing etc, for 3 hours- i tried again w/ 1/2 the prescribed dosages of meds... and woke at 1PM euro time. that's more like it. whatever it takes. 

i have managed maybe 3 new 'symphonic' songs in the past 2 days [more over the week]- multitracked synth to Audacity- i tried using the piano/3 mics with the Cubase/Lexicon/Omega interface- to the Mac, which gave me fits- the computer kept freezing up- so i junked it for jt's laptop [which is newer than mine] which also froze when i was trying to do the piano/mic thing- so switched to Audacity & my 32GB flash drive- i record/save the stuff to the flash which i then put in my laptop and work with in Acid & Sound Forge- my music softwares of choice. 

i was so frustrated from rigging 'merde' ensemble/zusammen- that i went online and did research on various recorders- and think the Zoom R16 is gonna be the ticket for me. it can be a portable stand alone 16 track recorder, or i can record up to 8 tracks at once- then, like the flash drive- [but without the 1st 'recording' computer] i can take everything into Acid if i need to, to mix and add more stuff; there again, i probably wont need to. this will make my musical life 100% easier. 

due to losing songs/tracks whatever in the past due to computers freezing before i saved- or even if i did- for the past few years i have been recording all solo piano projects with my TASCAM DR1- which does NOT freeze- has 2 great built in stereo mics etc.  and when i am home in louisiana have been playing piano directly into my Aiwa minidisc, which also does not freeze up. i even had a computer built a few years back- as powerful as i could get- but haven't even used it much- did everything in acid except transferring my 4 tracks, for which i used Cubase, which like Logic for the Roland VS1680 sucked.

the ZOOM also means we can record the band LIVE on gigs, even though we normally do- but not with separation. or in the rehearsal room, which i prefer. i thought that was what the Roland VS1680 was going to be for, but there was just too much technical BS to deal with. it never synced up right, even after i bought a 750$ sound card/studio system [ages ago] - never could make Logic [which is now mac only] work with it to my PC. i should have just continued using my damned cassettes, minidiscs, and Dats and such:

have been wanting to do a cd playing live through a board, mixed directly to dat [with someone mixing as we go] for years- and as usual- like wanting to record with only room mics [like old Chess record/jazz records] everyone told me my ideas wouldnt be 'cd quality'- screw that- my favorite records were done w/either 2 room mics or live. i want a feel, a vibe- more than something pristine. 

one is only limited by their lack of imagination. i have proved that point by working with all this junk stuff i have been using on these last projects: [an old kawaii synth bought in a brockenstube [junk shop]; an OLD mac [one of the 1st G4s]- a downloaded version of Audacity: and getting amazing results.

This Zoom, from all i read seems more like an old 4 track recorder, or even my old cassette decks that i used to use, which had built in mics, which i used when i wanted to sit down and sketch or write a song. easy. easy is good. the idea of punching a button, doing a track 'live' then adding to it, w/o any computer and peripherals and BS, sounds too good to be true. 

i once had a very thin flat Sony cassette recorder [circa 1972] w/a built in mic- very heavy, well made- and one of the better memories of using it was in Hollywood, at Nicky Hopkins house, when i was house sitting for him & Dolly. i sat it on his grand piano in a huge empty room,  which had an equally huge window which looked out onto the hollywood sign. i wrote many songs during those 'house sitting sessions'- i'd love to have that machine again. guess i should check ebay- but then- it was not 16 track like the zoom, which does have 2 built in mics for the same purpose. but it was a beautiful machine. 

of course i have done so many projects in ACID- multi track stuff- since the 90s- and the stuff still sounds great- and i even did a lot of live playing directly into Acid/PC- piano, synth bass tracks, and did things with tommy miller and doug johnson on guitar and bass. even had friends send me files which i would 'chop shop' and use. but there again... it was one track at a time. the idea of 3 mics on the back of my upright- which i can mix- EQ etc EASILY- then work with them in Acid- sounds amazing- as well as being able to record the band live- and take the thing with me wherever i go. mais, deja parle. and being able to do the vocal live with the piano- something i normally only did in the studio in New Orleans & Monroe- when they HAD real acoustic grand pianos- OR on gigs here where there is a grand- but i only have this acoustic UPRIGHT here. [i need to check out richard byrd's place in NO asap]

so... 'waiting to zoom'- i will work more of these new symphonic 'song' tracks i've done and have on my laptop- until the zoom comes on tuesday. i have enough, from the last sessions in august & these last few days, for a cd- some already have lyrics & vocals, but the lyrics are the problem. everything i have written lyrically this year has been unbelievably [if understandably] depressing; which is why i have done so much 'solo piano' and 'solo synth' improvisational stuff. no lyrics, no voice; only music. 

the whole 'cd' of this new vocal material is very dark, albeit artistically satisfying [to me]. cathartic, maybe. thinking i might find some 'lighter' yet solid lyrics, i even went so far as to look at 1000s of old lyrics i have on hard drives i brought, going back to the early 2000s and even 1990s- and even some of my old notebooks i had scanned: from belgium, holland, berlin, switzerland in the early 90s- but even they are filled with doom and gloom; all very fitting for this music, but definitely not for everyone. almost nothing over 70 BPM [beats per minute]- i did some even slower in audacity

i remember my mama once asked me why all my songs were about death, sadness, doom & gloom [again] etc- and i think i said something like "because my life has not always been happy" or "i write from reality" or some such [all paraphrased] - SHE liked "rock & roll and jump & jive". she would NOT like this new venture, or the last. But this having been the worst year of my life to date, i might as well make this artistic/musical/personal statement; file it away, and hopefully/eventually move on to more upbeat material; but i think this "dark night of the soul" will be here for a LONG time, as it always has been, but mega magnified this year. 

TRADITIONAL which i recorded last year and didn't release until this year was almost portentious- as brother Wayne alluded to this year. i had been wanting to do a traditional 'album' for a long time; and there are still many ancient folk and blues and jazz songs want to do... and have already begun for TRADITIONAL 2.  but... they are not particularly festive. au contraire

blues nowadays is just another commercial product. albert moore once [early 80s] told me "the blues is black people's country music"... profound statement for the time- before country went BIG TIME commercial- more like equating the carter family to jimmy reed; george jones to skip james. but then i think traditional folk songs weren't all that happy; they dealt with hard times and sad times, and deep emotions; they were personal- and a way to deal/cope with things- and pass things down- not meant for the mass market; which i suppose is why i have always been drawn to them. 

3:42PM and already the sun is setting on the Jura... life goes back to black after a 1/4 day of gray. more coffee, more cigarettes. maybe a shot of Jameson... then on to create more multi track 'songs' w/the synth/audacity/laptop... or stick my DR1 behind my piano and play for a few hours... which has worked well thus far. some of the less experimental, less adventurous acoustic piano tracks from 2009 remind me of old celtic type folk tunes... 

ahhhh but a week in zermatt with the band and the zoom- i feel the solo cycle will mercifully cease for a while. its time to write record and release some 'rock & roll and jump & jive'and get out of the abyss

UPDATE: an hour later maybe
actually all the solo/improv stuff on both acoustic piano and synth are NOT DEPRESSING.... lol... more meditative, reflective and introspective... more like combinations of jazz, new age, blues, folk & classical. even the 'lyric' songs do have a sense of 'hope' to them... despite everything. just didn't want anyone to think that everything i was/am doing NOW was/is totally down and maudlin... (-:

and there ARE STILL the unfinished 1990s-2000s FUNK files i haven't even reopened to do vocals on, yet- i'm thinking socio political funk ala james brown in the funky president/payback era... occupy this

[C]2011 DOUG DUFFEY