Piano musings: "Mercury"

It appears I've been neglecting my blog quite a bit recently.....

I've been up to my ears in work commitments. Alas, retail  is a cruel mistress. But as always - there is plenty of time for music and I finally got around to securing myself a piano simulator. Which is frankly incredible, as the piano is my favourite means of composing! I wanted the best of the best and I researched all possible software before discovering "Mercury" for Kontakt by Waves Factory. It's a HUGE sample factory based on Freddie Mercury's Fazioli piano which he employed at the turn of the 90's before his untimely death. A huge chunk of his work from "Innuendo" and "Made In Heaven" were either composed or performed on this particular piano, which now resides in "Metropolis Studios", London.

I'm frankly blown away by the sound. It is truly remarkable, but due to such a huge amount of sampling it is quite taxing on the CPU so I don't employ all 5 mic positions at once. Nevertheless it sounds phenomenal and I am looking to using it on some of my pieces very soon. For the curious, here's a demo video:

TECHNOPHOBIA PT II

So, I've changed my mind again. I AM going the computer software route after all. I have ordered two important pieces of my musical puzzle to make this e.p. as professional sounding as possible, provided my ailing laptop can withstand it! I purchased my first ever MIDI interface master keyboard:

And the software to go with it:

It's getting pretty exciting now! The Quantum Leap "Silk" software is dedicated to the instruments of Persia, India and The Far East. They are actual recordings of the instruments by some of the finest instrumentalists in their field and contains variations on all single notes for maximum effect. Probably the closest I'll come to working with the actual musicians themselves. Her ladyship, The Magpie, will have one hell of a headache. I guess I should lock the music room door! Don't believe me, take a look HERE. After the Persian String Section, which I am crazy about, skip ahead to 5.54 to hear the Armenian Duduk - phenomenal. I covered it in my last blog. This is exactly where I'm at musically right now. Thanks for reading!

Hmmmmm.....

As I've already covered, I was considering using computer aided effects to help my demo. Upon research I was hit by the unmistakable stench of techno rip off. Best sticking to doing the entire thing in my own human signature. This is not admitting my defeat to technophobia. I have done the research. 

TECHNOPHOBIA!

Yep, it's true. I am a technophobe. Don't get me wrong - I know my way around a computer, such as switching it on and transferring files etc. But if I am presented with an interactive program or application, my brain switches off and I become angry or bored and start to drift off.........ooh a piece of string! I put this all down to the spreadsheet torture forced upon me in school. So as regards to a genuine interest in computers, I was a late bloomer!

But as music moves on, I must move on too. I have decided that the only way to make this E.P. perfect, will require the use of computer wizardry. No, not to manipulate the recording (no pro tools, EVER) but to add a little embellishment to my pre recorded material and improve the production quality accordingly. This will be expensive and time consuming due to needing 4 things:

1. A program to do this. To suit my sound I am looking at "East West Quantum Leap Ra". Est 180 Euros
2. A new dedicated laptop - There's alot of info in these programmes. Est 350-400 Euros
3. A Midi Keyboard - 100 Euros.
4. TIME, MONEY AND PATIENCE.

*Sigh*

Getting there!

A professional recording needs a professional set up and I am just about there! I've long sung the praises of pure tube amps over solid and valvestate and yesterday confirmed I have made the smartest purchase of my music loving life. As you will already know, on a whim after viewing endless demonstration videos I went and bought a Mooer AC Little Monster.

This little 5 watt amp has a power tube (EL84) and pre amp tube (12AX7) and runs hot enough to fry an egg on it after a while. I received my Vox V110NT cabinet yesterday and whilst initially having reservations about lack of bottom end the quickly dispersed when I plugged in! What a fantastic combo. I used my Hagstrom Deuce (F) guitar with humbuckers plugged into a BSM RM treblebooster on the top boost mode and found THE tone! The one I had in my head all these years but couldn't quite nail it. It sounds phenomenal! The Mrs tells me she hasn't seen me as happy in ages. Well I'm always happy but now I'm grinning like a six year old with their hand in the biscuit jar.

MOOER LITTLE MONSTER AC

VOX V110NT

A good looking combo and even better sounding! Gives me that lovely jangly British sound with a creamy saturated boosted tone. I'm almost done having my techno guitar gear nerdgasm here, I promise. So the point being, I've finally purchased a rig to help me record my songs in a professional manner. My rig is very spartan, unless I'm wigging out with the Ravish sitar, as I'm more of a plug and play type guitarist - (Bsm RM - Boss FRV 1 - Amp), maybe with a Boss Chorus or delay to add some character the odd time,  but I need one more pedal to complete my set up before this journey. A tonebender mk II. (The original Fuzzbox) - think Jimmy Page or Jeff Beck, for those gnarlier tones! I can't afford the actual pedal but the boutique clones are just as good sounding or better than the original IMO. As well as hand made so the build quality is top notch. I'm not a boutique snob but that route, though quite expensive (if you don't research it) led me to finding my treble booster from BSM. It's my favourite pedal and I'd never sell it. Am currently looking at Manlay Pedals. They look the shit and sound better, watch this space and thanks for reading