James’ goal to produce a new piece each day has me in awe and I often stop by his site when he tweets that another new tune is up. His Twitter timing is flawless, with delicate pieces so frequently providing a port in the storm of a busy day.

On 30 March, James posted Grey Space, a track which really caught my imagination. I could immediately hear all sorts of instruments – an “unplugged” treatment with acoustic guitars, a french horn or trombone and maybe a fretless bass to accompany the drifting piano.

James’ original allows the timing to float more than my arrangement (constrained somewhat by the drums) but I’ve tried to retain some of his freedom by letting the piano amble along behind the beat. I wanted to capture the apparent spontaneity of the original piano part – as if somebody was tinkering in a music shop.

OK, enough of the introductions. Hope you like it – though as ever this may not be the final mix!

Ready for mastering?

I’m oscillating wildly between love and hate for this one, but here you go – latest scribblings in Cubase.

This uses a couple of bass instruments from “Orca” (free from FXpansion) – Closing and Deepening. Many thanks to @rozz3r for the nudge to download Orca. I’m also using Green Oak’s Crystal (Phased to Meet You and Trouble), LinPlug’s FreeAlpha along with the usual HALionOne suspects, Prologue and Groove Agent ONE drums from Cubase 5.0.

I think this piece really lifts with the drum ‘n’ bass rhythm change at 2’20″, but ask me later today and I’ll tell you I can’t stand that section!

As ever, would really love any feedback!

The six notes in question form the “lead” part which uses a slightly modified AtmoEPiano instrument from Crystal.

There’s still work to do on the arrangement, levels and particularly with EQ on some of the instruments (notably those in the lower frequency ranges).

With Juice, I’m trying to create a kind of retro funk groove complete with high brass stabs and wah wah FX on one or two of the instruments. The addition of the crowd was inspired by Gutterpump. The cheers and general mayhem is actually a recording from a volleyball match.

I wanted this track to contrast with the other three on the EP, whilst using several of the same instruments which ship with Cubase. My intention, having learned at least the fundamentals of recording and mixing with Cubase (out of the box) is to depart from this kind of music and begin on my quest to produce something much edgier. I need new sounds, FSU plug-ins and – to quote Maxi Jazz – “a fresh direction”.

Let’s see how I fare with that!

Update 26/03/09: Mastered version uploaded

02/03/09

The latest piece now has a title – “El nueve de agosto”.

As mentioned, I’m still not done with this. I don’t think there’s too much more, just a counter melody or perhaps some additional arpeggios to accompany the main melody and maybe some alternative instrumentation to lift it a little in the second half.

06/03/09 Update

I’ve made a few changes: swapped out one of the drum kits, removed some of the synth pads, added a flute (from the new HALion Symphonic Orchestra VST set, which is on 90 day trial!) and attempted to “glue” the various sections together.

Frankly, I’m pretty tired of this piece now – mixing fatigue according to @ECmaj7 (thanks for the positive words), so I may come back to remix in a few days before sending to Topfloor Music for mastering. But I’m itching to move on to something a little more interesting. I intend to create a fourth tune to complete the Disarray EP and as soon as that’s completed move in a completely different direction.

07/03/09 Update

Managed to get a couple more hours on this tonight. Changed drum pattern #1 for the fifth time. This time I altered everything, from the pattern itself, to the kit used and all FX. I also removed even more effects from synth pads and reduced the stereo panning and phaser on a couple of instruments.

Unlike our marriage – the date of which is referenced in the title – I’m still not completely convinced by this piece, though I believe it’s ready to send to Pete for mastering. Unless, of course, you can spot any howlers in the mix.

10/03/09 Update

Remixed and mastered version uploaded. Thanks, as ever to Pete @ Topfloor Music for mastering.

I’ve reverted to the original voice for the melody line, a mellow jazz grand piano from the HALionOne VST instrument set in Cubase. I think this is much warmer than the synth voice from yesterday’s version and contrasts nicely with the overall electronic feel of the piece.

I’ve also added some arpeggios, done a little more work on the arrangement and begun to think about the overall direction. It’s getting closer but still needs some work yet.

Melody 1 [Solo]

I’m not sure if this piece will require more than one melody or whether soloing / featuring instruments such as the bass and percussion in the mix along with the introduction of the “haunted” pitch-bent voice from time to time will be enough. Anyway, here’s the work so far (still a way to go with arrangement etc):

All instruments and preliminary arrangement

The piece (still work in progress) starts with industrial and machine-like claves and guiro pattern, to which I slowly introduce other percussive sounds. The rhythm builds, but the 6/8 time signature (backbeat on the 4th), isn’t properly established until the synth pad enters at bar 21. At this point, the feel changes significantly and the “broken” percussion is resolved with the introduction of bass drum and snare. Then comes a gentle melodic bass line at bar 45 and a distant pitch bend at bar 59. (It was so much easier playing the bass line on the Axiom, though all the drums were still produced in the grid editor – the laptop screen is still my preferred input device for drum programming.)

Built around a classic Em 12 bar turnaround and far more “ambient” than its introduction would suggest, I’m pretty happy with the direction this one is taking – though I’m not convinced it fits the project brief any longer (will need to get the client’s view of that!). If it doesn’t, I don’t mind at all. I think this one is going somewhere.

To be frank, I don’t think much of that has rubbed off (but I really love the M.I.A. track and remix of Paper Planes!). This still has some way to go – in terms of arrangement, voices and the mix – but at the moment I’m pretty happy with the overall direction it’s taking.

If you can spare a moment to comment, I’d love your feedback!