glow, diffused

glow, diffused Idea: Create a track with the use of my own sampled kit. Must have cool guitar, and syncopation. Process [step 1] I recorded samples of my drum kit using mics around my studio. The kick sample was recorded with 2 mics - one in front of the batter head and one in front of the porthole. I made sure the sound of the kick porthole was in phase with the batter side by adjusting it small amounts while kicking the drum. Snare was one close mic and 2 "room mics" that were just guitar amp mics left on. I panned hard L and R to create stereo field. The way that I mixed the drum sounds was unique in the sense that I mixed them into a song - an album o be exact - "ghost in the machine by the police" was my reference. I recorded a few more samples the night of Feb 4, but left a few more sample recordings for the morning of Feb 5. To name a few - hi hats, crash cymbals and "cymbal residue" tracks which were just extremely close mic'd cymbals. Creation [step 2] Started at 125 bpm, and started laying down beats in midi using the samples. I played one of two "cymbal residue" tracks I had recorded and was happy with the simplicity of the two units grooving [best heard from 0:00 to 1:15]. I then started experimenting with just using more of the samples I had created to make a complete composition - but it was lacking. I started on ideas with guitar. I knew I wanted it to be lush to compliment the stark / sparse rhythmic sound-field now being created. Once I was happy with a guitar progression - in this case just G#m to E major. I reversed the track to give it a more spooky feeling. The guitar already had such lush effect on it that it just gave it some more spice. I then processed the signal further in my DAW by adding a little EQ, more delays and reverb. I decided the "verses" {0:00-1:15 and 2:18-3:34) were too sparse with just the beat and cymbal residue, so I added a textural looping guitar line over those sections. I then EQ'd the 2 guitar tracks smoothly to get rid of the high frequencies so that it stayed in the "ethereal" realm. The choruses feature some interesting percussion calls, with the use of cabasa, shaker and tambourine. I also added a bassline using a Moog Subphatty synthesizer. The arrangement came together in little over 4 hours total. The last signal process to be added was limiting to boost the overall volume. Experience [step 3] This track has many twists, turns, dives, grooves and moves happening all at once. I'll leave it at this - every second is bound to have something to catch the listener in this one.