.Hey all!
Just a quick note regarding the missing videos from my YouTube account as I've had a lot of people asking me where they've gone!
I'm currently redoing the videos, for reasons which will hopefully be a bit clearer very soon :) Expect the first one to be up by the end of the week, with more to come including a Terminus video (not sure what I'll do about all the ambience...suggestions on a post card).
But in any case, apologies to anyone who has been trying to get to the videos or people who have subscribed to my channel only to find everything gone. Cheers for your patience, and I hope the new videos will make up for it!
- Paul
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Sunday, 3 January 2010
"Untitled" (2010) Pt 1
Hey everyone! So I thought seeing how I never did get around to writing those articles (notice how I cunningly removed the links?) I'd go through all the steps involved in the making of the next album ambitiously scheduled for the end of 2010. That way, it keeps things interesting, and it will also force me to make some progress as you'll all know when I've not been working ;) I also now own a camcorder! So expect to see plenty of tracking videos, and a hilarious blooper reel. Okay. Maybe not that last one.
So here's my new template. Real exciting isn't it. I'm going to be doing things quite differently this time around. With "At the Dream's Edge" I was writing, arranging, tracking, mixing and producing all at once. At the time I thought it was pretty neat, but in reality it made re-writing any part of a song an absolute nightmare, as the songs would degenerate into a tangled mess of automation lanes and parts and odds and ends. I had no option to re-amp, so I was stuck with the tone I tracked with. And my CPU was constantly hovering around 60% or so, limiting the type and complexity of the synths I could use. So for the next CD I'm going to attempt to do things way more traditionally, and split up all the processes:
Writing
Practicing
Tracking
Mixing
Producing/Mastering
So this template is where it will all start! I've made a bunch of tracks prefixed with "T". These are just going to be scratch tracks, no doubt with a lot of dropping in, copy and pasting, etc. I'll use them to learn/practice from when I'm happy with the arrangement. I'm hoping this way I'll be able to get out of the "sets of 4" trap, and do things because I want to...not just because they involve the least faffing around.
Those folder tracks will be the final takes. Each one has two tracks within it; wet, and dry. The wet track will just serve as a placeholder so I can record something vaguely amp-y sounding and listen back to it without using any CPU. The dry track will be the unprocessed signal of the guitar so I can re-amp later. Here's a look at it in the mixer:
Having the dry take at -inf doesn't affect what gets recorded. I've just done this so I don't have to listen to the uninspiring fart sound created by bone dry rhythm guitar. You'll also notice that I've got 3 input buses. This is how they're set up/routed:
I've set the X3 to output dry guitar over SPDIF (so there's no loss in quality) and the fully effected sound over 1/4" Line Outs. I've kept a stereo input bus in there so I can work out solo sections whilst hiding behind masses of reverb/delay. Makes me feel safe. Of course, using the old method I could've just tracked with send effects - so it does have its advantages but in the short tests I've done, there's a really noticeable difference in my playing when there's no latency present. Speaking of which, one last thing I've done is route the analog inputs directly to outputs 1/2:
Before, if I wanted to hear guitar I had to:
Have Cubase open
Create a track
Arm it
Monitor it (with 3 - 5ms of base latency, + whatever is added by additional plugins)
This way, all I have to do is turn the volume up on the guitar and start playing with zero latency. Much better. The only downsides I can foresee are:
[::] Reverbs/delays are going to sound mighty sucky, as the tails will be 'printed' to the take. If I stop recording, the effect stops too.
[::] Things like wah/whammy pedal will not get recorded on the dry take. Might have to automate these in later. But we'll see.
So, that's it for now. It's taken a little while to put the template together. Next up, I'll go into a bit more detail regarding the drums, and try and get a test video done and dusted!
So here's my new template. Real exciting isn't it. I'm going to be doing things quite differently this time around. With "At the Dream's Edge" I was writing, arranging, tracking, mixing and producing all at once. At the time I thought it was pretty neat, but in reality it made re-writing any part of a song an absolute nightmare, as the songs would degenerate into a tangled mess of automation lanes and parts and odds and ends. I had no option to re-amp, so I was stuck with the tone I tracked with. And my CPU was constantly hovering around 60% or so, limiting the type and complexity of the synths I could use. So for the next CD I'm going to attempt to do things way more traditionally, and split up all the processes:
Writing
Practicing
Tracking
Mixing
Producing/Mastering
So this template is where it will all start! I've made a bunch of tracks prefixed with "T". These are just going to be scratch tracks, no doubt with a lot of dropping in, copy and pasting, etc. I'll use them to learn/practice from when I'm happy with the arrangement. I'm hoping this way I'll be able to get out of the "sets of 4" trap, and do things because I want to...not just because they involve the least faffing around.
Those folder tracks will be the final takes. Each one has two tracks within it; wet, and dry. The wet track will just serve as a placeholder so I can record something vaguely amp-y sounding and listen back to it without using any CPU. The dry track will be the unprocessed signal of the guitar so I can re-amp later. Here's a look at it in the mixer:
Having the dry take at -inf doesn't affect what gets recorded. I've just done this so I don't have to listen to the uninspiring fart sound created by bone dry rhythm guitar. You'll also notice that I've got 3 input buses. This is how they're set up/routed:
I've set the X3 to output dry guitar over SPDIF (so there's no loss in quality) and the fully effected sound over 1/4" Line Outs. I've kept a stereo input bus in there so I can work out solo sections whilst hiding behind masses of reverb/delay. Makes me feel safe. Of course, using the old method I could've just tracked with send effects - so it does have its advantages but in the short tests I've done, there's a really noticeable difference in my playing when there's no latency present. Speaking of which, one last thing I've done is route the analog inputs directly to outputs 1/2:
Before, if I wanted to hear guitar I had to:
Have Cubase open
Create a track
Arm it
Monitor it (with 3 - 5ms of base latency, + whatever is added by additional plugins)
This way, all I have to do is turn the volume up on the guitar and start playing with zero latency. Much better. The only downsides I can foresee are:
[::] Reverbs/delays are going to sound mighty sucky, as the tails will be 'printed' to the take. If I stop recording, the effect stops too.
[::] Things like wah/whammy pedal will not get recorded on the dry take. Might have to automate these in later. But we'll see.
So, that's it for now. It's taken a little while to put the template together. Next up, I'll go into a bit more detail regarding the drums, and try and get a test video done and dusted!
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
Imperium Vorago now available for digital download
A small update - I've just uploaded my first CD, Imperium Vorago (2004) for digital download. You can get it for £5.00 here!
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
For people overseas!
Hey all - I hope everyone had a great Christmas! It was nice to have a rest but I'm kind of looking forward to picking up the pace again. So much to be done! Anyway, just a quick note regarding overseas orders placed before Christmas.
If you haven't received your CD(s) yet, there are a couple of reasons why this may be: some orders were placed on, or after the date for last Christmas post in the UK. So while they were taken to the post office the day they came in, they might not have left them straight away. We also had some pretty crazy snowfall and anyone who knows anything about England knows, all it takes is a little bad weather to bring this place to a grinding halt!
So, that said, post should be operating as usual starting from today (yesterday was a bank holiday). If you placed your order before Christmas, and it doesn't arrive within 5 - 10 days please just let me know and I will send another out to you right away. I can also arrange for free download links if you want to listen to the album ahead of its arrival.
Hopefully there shouldn't be too many of you still waiting but, if you are - thanks so much for being patient!
- Paul
If you haven't received your CD(s) yet, there are a couple of reasons why this may be: some orders were placed on, or after the date for last Christmas post in the UK. So while they were taken to the post office the day they came in, they might not have left them straight away. We also had some pretty crazy snowfall and anyone who knows anything about England knows, all it takes is a little bad weather to bring this place to a grinding halt!
So, that said, post should be operating as usual starting from today (yesterday was a bank holiday). If you placed your order before Christmas, and it doesn't arrive within 5 - 10 days please just let me know and I will send another out to you right away. I can also arrange for free download links if you want to listen to the album ahead of its arrival.
Hopefully there shouldn't be too many of you still waiting but, if you are - thanks so much for being patient!
- Paul
Saturday, 19 December 2009
At the Dream's Edge, now available for digital download!
Hey all! It's taken a little while to sort, but the new album is now available to buy as a digital download direct to your computer as 320kpbs MP3! If you're already at the site, you can find a link to buy at the top of this page, otherwise point your browser here. As usual, any problems - just shoot me a message using the contact form :]
- Paul
Friday, 18 December 2009
International orders
Hey everyone! Just a quick update for those of you outside of the UK who haven't received your CD's yet - there are various cutoff dates around Christmas after which anything posted won't leave the country until the start of January. For Australia, I think it was half a week or so before I put the word out about the CD. For America, it was pretty much bang on, so it remains to be seen if some made it in time. Otherwise, if you're still waiting, your CD is on its way :]
If, after Christmas, it still hasn't arrived, please let me know. I'll be posting an update here as soon as I hear they're starting to filter through to other countries, so that should give you an idea of whether anything has gone awry or not.
Thanks again for the patience and more importantly for the incredible support! It's been an absolutely amazing start (almost!) to the new year because of it!
- Paul
If, after Christmas, it still hasn't arrived, please let me know. I'll be posting an update here as soon as I hear they're starting to filter through to other countries, so that should give you an idea of whether anything has gone awry or not.
Thanks again for the patience and more importantly for the incredible support! It's been an absolutely amazing start (almost!) to the new year because of it!
- Paul
Thursday, 10 December 2009
One more update:
I've added a new item: At the Dream's Edge + Imperium Vorago. If you've already bought one with separate postage, please get in touch with me and I can either arrange for a discount on the postage/price of the next release, or PayPal you back the difference! Just use the contact form on this website!
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