Guitar Engines...

Had an interesting situation pop up this weekend with respect to the initial guitar parts for “A Different Kind of Weather”.  For a little background as to how these songs are built… I initially record demo parts for all of the instrumentation.  I do this using a keyboard controller; the process is fairly straightforward for keyboards, basslines and rudimentary string parts (since the notes themselves can be played directly on a keyboard).  Drum parts are built from a library of prerecorded patterns that are converted into midi format, so that they can be applied to an effectively unlimited variety of styles and tempos.   

For guitars, I use a complex simulator (https://www.applied-acoustics.com/strum-gs-2/).  It’s a great engine, but it’s got some limitations.  In addition to having to pick appropriate strumming patterns and guitar variants for the performance, I also have to choose chord types (e.g., drop lowest, movable-root, etc) and fret positions.  For whatever reason – there are some instances where no matter what variations of the chord type and position I use, the engine doesn’t pick up on some subtle changes.  I can see the chord changes register visually, but it doesn’t sound any different.  That was the case with some of the chord changes in this song. 

In this case, I provided the demo stems to Niels (the guitarist I’m working with) along with a lead sheet reflecting the chord changes.  In this case, Niels built the parts assuming the guitar demo stem was the intended structure, and that the lead sheet was outdated – when it fact, it was the lead sheet that was correct.  So we’re going to need to record those guitar parts again.  To facilitate this, I’ll head back to the workstation to generate a temporary basic (and very clear) keyboard pad reflecting the intended chord structure, so that Niels can develop the appropriate guitar voicings in concert with it.

And so it goes!

Sequential Recording...

Been focused the last few days on redesigning and developing a few new merch items.  Just got the first sample of a line of bathing suits that I’ll be introducing for the summer; looks pretty cool!

Also starting to go through Steve’s string arrangements in earnest; it takes a few hours to sit down with each set of demo stems and mix them into the rest of the recording so that I can really get a sense of what modifications and minor adjustments I’d like to address.  Any industrial engineers out there will be familiar with the “critical path” concept, where one task needs to be completed before any of the others can commence.  That concept comes into play when developing the overall arrangements sequentially, as we’re doing here.

The process of building each individual track is relatively straightforward at the outset.  You start with the rhythm section… record the drums, then the bassline that needs to work in conjunction with the drums (and in particular, the kick), then the foundational (e.g., rhythm/supporting) guitar.  This constitutes your basic track.

From that point is where things start to get interesting.  For most band/rock projects, adding guitar leads and supporting keys might be fairly straightforward – you’ve got some space, you pretty much know what’s going to fill it.  In our case, it’s a bit more complex.  The space available needs to be allocated among strings, lead guitar and keys.  In sticking to the ELO blueprint, the strings and keys are not just background instruments; rather, they are intended to have leading roles.

The string arrangements are by far the most complex, as they consist of multiple voices and lots of interesting runs and the like.  So, we generally want Steve to have enough space/freedom to develop those parts with little restriction.  We do, however, also have to consider where guitar and keyboard leads will be assigned – and develop sections where the strings will be responding to and/or supporting parts that haven’t yet been recorded.  And, we really can’t record those guitar/keyboard leads until the string parts have been finalized.

Due to Steve’s intensive schedule (and the fact that we’re not only not in the same room or even city; we’re not even on the same continent), we have a situation where Steve is running the first pass on each track without my involvement/feedback; we will convene at a later date to finalize the arrangements for all of the tracks at the same time.  That might not be for a few months – and we’ll need to defer on recording not only lead guitar and keys, but also backing vocals, until that later date…