Rainy November

What to do with old recordings? As You may have read earlier I did exchange Me loudspeaker systems. My monitor´s - what a magic word by the way. With the new monitors I realise that most of My old recordings sounds like crap. The balance between each channels and the sound heard, seam to be out of order.

the B&O / Celestion speakers and the DDR made RTF-speakers is now acting as my main monitor´s. A fault in one of the RFT´s was a broken soldering that was easily fixed. they do sound GREAT.

Got this weird intention to produce a comple album and with the possibillitie´s of the new monitor´s with some weird intention to produce something looking like an album, Suddenly  I can hear my old songs in a totaly different way. 

The PHONIC mixer is used as a main recording mixer.

Starting with a long listening session. Each song should be judged and fault´s written down. More then 50% of Me songs is written with a female voice in mind, caused by this I had to record yet a couple of new tracks. Now using the magic of My "electroharmonix VoiceBox"!!

the Amazing VoiceBox 
who can make you sing in the right key.

Well it´s still very hard to make this unit sound exactly like a female voice but I´m slowly learning to use it and it´s getting better at every attemt.  A process that include´s learning how to sing!! I alway´s love´d to sing where ever and when ever, but to be truthful I´m not such a good singer.

That may include me playing on different instrument´s! As most players I know (and hear) is far better. This last part of my ability to use different instrument, I try to fix with getting more and more instruments and gadgets. Maybe those things still can make My recordings sound better if not great.

As far as I can see it, I should have rehears´d much more in My youth. the ability to learn new thing´s seam to be a huge problem when You grow older.

The latest addition to My gadget/instrumet collection is yet another guitar. Natuarly a BURNS guitar as this brand is my all time favorite.

The BURNS Double 6.
made in Korea and as far as I know, 
as good as the originals from the 60´s!

The new guitar is the famous "BURNS Double 6". In the good ole day made famous by big stars like Elvis, Beatles, Shadows,Birds, Honeycombs You name it. Everyone seam to use this guitar in favour of brands like Gibson, Rickenbakker and others.

Elvis Presley, with His Greenburst Double 6.

Hank B Marin - the Shadows with Double 6


the late Jet Harris and Mr Burns of today
Barry Gibson.

Why?? the Double 6 was a 12-string much cheaper then many others, but it was darn good. A heavy beast for sure, but its playability was to be compared with the most exclusive brands. That is a fact even today at different trials made by Guitar players and magasins. Actually the "Double 6" is one of a few 12-string guitars that you actually can use for a comple session, without acing fingers and hands. Only problem might be it weight.

Sharing the body with the famous BURNS basses it´s a large guitar. Natuarly "TriSonic" pickups and a load of diffent sound possibilities included. In all the BURNS Double 6" may well be the best 12-string electric guitar on the market today, as well as it was in the 60´s! At a price that You can afford.

yet another Burns player,
Mr Rob Taylor of "numubu"

regarding the modern line of BURNS guitar´s only one thing can be said. They are really as good as those made in the 60´s. Jim Burns original ideas still live´s. The Burns line of guitars can with ease be compared with brands like Fender, costing much more.

Sound

Where and when did this sound madness start? Possibly already back in the days of Adam & Eve. Dont know for sure. Anyway as a teenager Me and my band used a huge conference room for our rehersals. Guitars was plugged into rather small amplifiers, that also was used for our often cheap chrystal microphones. In once corner of the room a Taperecorder and some no good microphones (often tthose who was included with the recorder).

The latest hit was recorded, and God know it did sound great in our ears. With stereo recordes the sound improved even more. Reel to reel recordes was getting better also for amatuers. The 4 track machines was amazing. Later the Philips casett was used in 4 channel taperecordes. The music was then mixed (dont think the word Mastering even existed among amatuer bands).

the recordings was copied to a cassett who could be used at home, and in cars. Also the cassett was used to send to different Record companies in hope that they would love it and sign you up in a great record deal.

JAMO 120 B -  perfect for pop-rock-disco

Wharfedale - great allround system

the Colebox. CARLSSON OA5 type 1. (later SONAB)

Today its entirely  different. Band use equipment in their rehersal STUDIO´s that is so much High Tech that their own amatur recording are as good as those done at a proffesional recording studio. In my collection I do have one of those recordings on a CD made by  The Cardigans. The actual recording as as good as, or even better then the one made by pro´s!!!

So today it seams that artists, bands make their own recordings with a sound quality that with ease can be compared to proffesional recordings of the 70-90´s. And this with the purpose to make a DEMO for recording companies. The tape cassett belong to the stoneage.

This in run means that You need good speakers in your home studio. Good speakers that can be used as monitor, so you´ll get a proper balance in your recording. In hope to find that perfect sound, the sound that make My recordings sound perfect on a cheap Ghettoblaster, a car stereo system, a simple home system or a Semipro home sound system, You seam to need a couple of speakers to use as reference spekers.

On my behalf there´s been many different speakers that I used. Cheap one´s and expensive systems. It´s a difficult task to find the right monito  speakers. And maybe the best would be to arrange a wall of different speakers like in HiFi shops in the 70-80´s. 

LUXOR-SCANTIC Dirigents version of the Colebox

Yesterday, my old No:1 speakers was swapped for a new set of speakers. In the so called controlroom I already have 4 different systems. This time a pair of really nice Sonab speakers was disconnected in favour of a 1970´s  B&O 40 watt speakers. (Celestion Ditton 35).

B&O (Celestion Ditton 35)

RFT . DDR made system that was on top of my list, 

unfortinutly one of the speakers is brooken.

Suddenly the sound of some of my recordings was improved!! Anyway I will for sure go on searching for the perfect monitors.

Maybe the last three pics show the best monitors, as they are cheap and do produce a sound that can be used in different systems

Music madness

I once was told that the foundation to Our taste in music, is link´d tothose day´s when we were much younger. 

That may well be the reason why My own taste in music belongs to the 50´s - 60´s. I know and recognise that music, and its even easy to tell witch artist was the composer of a song. Even when its performed by an aother artist.

That may well be the reason why all those songs that I´ve written seam to sound the same. They could easilky be recognised as my song´s.



Yesterday a thought popped up in my mind, a subject to write a song about. Less then an hour later the lyrics and music was ready for a first recordning attemt.

Am I a composer? Well in some sense I might call me self that. On the other hand during my life I´ve only  written 4 songs in Swedish! And possibly a thousand songs in English!

The lyrics in my song often tell stories related to a darker world, for someone unknown world of HBTQ, Fetish & people with BDSM as a lifestyle. My intention is to tell their stories in a realistic way, instead of just using four-letter words.

In the recording process I´m forced to use my own talent both in regards of playing isntruments and to add the vocal´s on a recording. This is way to foten a huge problem for me, as I very often tend to write lyrics with a femnale voice in mind, and not a male voice. With that in mind i have to admit that I do love to sing, but as far as I know there may not be that many who enjoys me vocal performance.


Yesterday´s  song was once again written for a female voice, and I dont store such a sweet voice in my collection of instruments. 



Already a year ago I bought an electronic voicegadget. The blue box can perform harmonies, and even transform a male voice to something near to a female voice. Unfortinutly the use of it is not easy at all, I tried at least a hundred times to use it in hope to find something female!



 With this my latest song, it seams that I´m getting closer. There seam to be so much to learn in regards of how to sing, how to formulate each word, and how to make the Blue voice box perform the way I want it to do.



As usual I search among the drumsounds in my two keyboards, and finally when I found a suitible drumpattern I start the recording. The rhytm guitar in this case me Bison guitar, then the bass a Hofner copy thats really nice. Each channel is recorded until finally everything sounds almost like the song I can hear in my head.

"YOU LIED TO ME"

“you lied to me”

Music/lyrics by MJ

20131020

Chorus:

Am          Am       G             G

He, You lied to me, you fucking lied to me.

F                  G             Am       am

You sold me the dream, but you lied to me.

Dm           G             C            Am

You said I´m your Master, but now youre a slave.

F              G             A        A             

You need to be used, said you know to behave.

Verse:

E             E          Am        am

I cant go on this way with a man like you.

F          G            Am          D

Someone that told he need, a slut like me.

E           E           Am       Am

But you´re just a fake, it´s true cant be denied.

F             G             E         E

You can never own a slut me.

I know I am and always be a slut and a slave

In collar n chain for My man to use.

I am the one who need the love and pain He give.

A Master who know to play the blue´s on my back.

Break:

Dm                        Dm                    Am          Am

So pack your things and leave me while you can.

F                   F              Am          Am

Youre not a Master, not my man.

G        G         am       Am

just a fucking lier a fake of a slave

G              F             E         E

You´ll never be, my of man.

New recording of old song

Among hundreds of songs written I have to admit that only a few of them may be called good. Then sometimes a song that I written seam to penetrat my mind. I make new recordings of it in hope to get it better, or perfect.

So there it was, an idea of a song. Heard a song on the radio with a popular Swedish group. It made me wonder, why the hell could their sinple song with three notes be a HIT. So with the use of their three notes and two more I started to write me masterpiece!

Why not make a modern styled tune in the same manner as  Ravel´s - Bolero. 

So after an hour or so I set there with me guitar in hand and a song of no less then ten minutes. A song that was rather sweet and nice in the beguinning and reaching its peak during the 9th minute and ending sweet and soft.

As it seams to get colder everyday, working outside the house with cars can only be done at the afternoons while the sun is shining, so I used late evenings and even the hours before lunch to make yet another recording of this song.

S & M interlude

You can listen to the demo following this link.

Junkyard or...

A small guesthouse in our garden, app 30 sq metres divided into two rooms. A house that´s become a nice space where I can play my music and dream of fortunes and fame. Somehow it started with a couple of guitars and amplifiers that by now have grown in porportions like mad.

Searching every fleamarket, and scrapyards nearby have given me lot´s of gadgets that can be used in my little studio. Cause thats what I call it. Many of those gadgets have been brought home in hope they could be repair´d and later used as some kind of studio equipment and lucky for me, it has worked out just fine.

Today at least I can call it a Studio, even if it isnt HighTech in any way. Main part of the things is old things. Even the computer is regarded old by today´s standards. But still it works fine for me and have not cost a load of money.

Both walls of the outer room is by now stacked by amplifiers and speakers. 

the mighty BURNS Orbit Three D12. the VOX AD60 witha homemade cabinet.

playroom´s PA & mixer stack. including 2 old scrapyard mixers, 400 watt power-amp,

80 watt Stereoamplifier, EQ units and some sound effect gadget in the stack. Main part of those gadgets come´s from the scrapyard, even the heartshaped chair is a scrap finding.

me sweet little BURNS Double B 100 watt bass amp and a cab with 15 inch FANE speaker. Also one more homebuilt speaker system with 2 x 12". not to forget the cheap scrapyard guitar.

in the control room I stack´d up no less then 2 electronic organs from the 60´s and 2 keyboard´s. Keyboards bought cheap second hand, organs collected for free as scrap. Those organs that was so popular during the 60´s-70´s and costed a fortune has absolutly no value today. You can have them for free, still they are very nice sounding instruments.

Three heart´s in the system. SONY reel to reel taperecorders used with the hope of getting some kind of 60´s sound to the recorded tracks.

the modern heart of the studio. A computer, a mixer and a Sappire 6 soundcard. Mainly caused by "no money" I use a recording program called AudaCity. A nice tool that I´ve learned to use and it works fine for me.

so here on a swivel chair with an old guitar as a seat I can look out thrue the window in to the playroom.

more MAD gadgets

What to do with all things collected. Load of thing´s at no use piled in a corner. So I restarted a smal lproject of mine using the pedalboard with speakers and pedal from an old electronic organ.

This unit was the partly modified to house a 50 watt poweramplifier. A small kareoke preamp with some kind of echo inside, and a load of telejacks.

Finally the project was ready, and whoow it did work really great. The speakers was maybe a bit to small, bit using a telejack I can add external cabinets to this little gadget.

So everything went like inteded, I managed to produce a monitor system that actually  works, and there is also possibilities to connect the unit to the main amp-system.

Already a couple of days ago I managed to repair the 400 watt PA-power amplifier. this amp is going to produce power enough for the almost 15 sq-metre playroom in me studio. 

Yes - No - how to make it workD

During the last week or so, might been mmore I´ve been working  hard with one of My latest tune´s "COLD STEEL"

It may well be a common problem among musicians, the search for the perfect sound, regarding both the sound coming out of the amplifier´s and the sound recorded. Sometimes, well almost always I do get desperate in Me search for the perfect sound. With the hope to make a recording that sound as perfect as the sound you can hear inside your head.

To record a song is´nt an easy job at all. Maybe if you set up your band and record everything live, you´ll get the sound if not perfect, almost good.

So You start collecting and buying loads of recording equipment that fills your entire home-studio.

So once again I started the process of recording my song as I thought it was´nt perfect, it didnt sound the way I wanted it. By now the the two small rooms in our former guesthouse has been turned into My studio and stacked with gear. There´s even a so called controlroom.

Beeing an ole man, I still live in the world of Reel-to-Reel recording. Those was the day´s. Today I´ve been modernised slightly using my computer and the possibilities of a recording program called "AUDACITY". A program that was found free at the net, and after the first weeks of testing it It proved to work for me.

The intention with this program may well have been to contruct a modern program with the possibilities of today, but I use it in a similar manner as I use a multichannel taperecorder.

In other word´s, I do record each channel separatly. This means that every recording must be if not perfect, then almost perfect. I cant play the wrong chord-note.



So I start the job with searching for the right drumpattern in one of my keyboards. The old Casio CTK was really nice during the last years, but at this very moment I seam to prefere the drumpatterns from my latest gadget, the Yamaha unit.

The drumpattern is then recorded in stereo. In this tune I also  used the programs built in equaliser to make this pattern sound the way I wanted.



Next step is to record a rhytmguitar as a main structure for the song, this will possibly later be deleted in favour of new rhytmguitar channels. I mainly use my very nice Rämje Stratocaster as a Rhytmguitar thrue a VOX amplifier. 
After a couple of hours playing different styled rhytmguitars its time to play the bass. One of me three basses will be used with the same VOX amp line´d directly to the mixer. During the last weeks I´ve been using the inbuildt Octaviser a lot to get an extra low bassound. When this the first bass channel is recorded its time to fire the big one. My latest gadget is a 100 watts Burns-Baldwin bassamplifier with 2x15 inch speakers. The sound of this unit is in one word extreme. Three different microphones in front of the cabinet.



Finally I use two channels to record the leadguitar. One of them distorted with the help of a Burns Buzzaround Fuzxzbox from the early 60´s. the other one clean.

Almost or at least partly finished I start to mix each channel using three different sets of monitors. All in hope to get the best sound possible.

As I did´nt find the earlier recordings of the song good enough, I wanted to try out a new sollution to my problem. So with the mix in order I followed  my normal way of working. The song was recorded on my MiniDisc unit, and from that moved to a tape recorder.

The result showed that those old Reel-to-Reel recorders still do the job! Suddenly the recording did sound much better. 

complet chain of gadgets look like this:

Computer using AUDACITY and a Focusrite and and external recording mixer.

channel 1-2 / Drumpattern of aYamaha keyboard line´d into the recording mixer.
channel 3 / a Rhytmguitar that gives a clue of the chord structure of the song, 
later to be deleted.

channel 4-5-6 / Rhytmguitar, usually a Rämje Stratocaster line´d with a VOX AD60VTX. buildt in reverb used and AC30 settings.

channel 7 / Bass. In this song a Höfner Violin COPY used for the bassline. The VOX amp with both reverb and octaviser is used lined to the mixer.




channel 8 / Bass. The same bass used but now connected to my Burns-Baldwin BB100 amp with 2 x 15 inch speakers. 3 different microphones used to record its great sound.

channel 9-10 / Lead guitar. the Burns Marquee thrue a Burns Buzzaround fuzzbox, to a Burns Orbit Three amplifier is used or the VOX amp when I want some echo in the sound.

So once more, here´s the latest recording made of this simple tune.

COLD STEEL