Test for Echo (RUSH cover) - recorded in 1999!

Click HERE for Soundcloud link- TEST FOR ECHO

Recorded in August 1999 - thirteen years ago!

This was the last song I ever recorded to TAPE.  A Tascam Portastudio 424 to be precise.  This is a cover of RUSH's "Test for Echo".  I played bass, drums, guitar and sung the vocals.  The guitars and vocals were only ever meant to be scratch tracks but I never ended up redo-ing them.  Proud of the bass and drum work though.

This was back in the days before I'd ever heard of autotune, non-linear editing, drum replacement, or audio quantizing (I know it existed but I didn't know any of that fancy stuff!)

Iust put microphones in front of instruments and hit record.  I used to record 4 tracks of drums (using a submixer to mix to 4 tracks), then bounce to DAT.  Bounced that DAT mix to 2 fresh tracks of a NEW cassette then recorded two more tracks (usually bass and a rhythm guitar).  Bounced that to DAT - repeat and rinse.

Used an Alesis Midiverb II for all effects and an Ibanez guitar compressor pedal for the snare drum!!

Good old days:)  Enjoy

Jim's Tips & Tricks: Late Night Analog and iOS Jam #2

Another late-night jam, writing a large piece of music right now, which is why I haven't uploaded anything in awhile - it'll all be worth it!  Decided to get out some gear and just jam it all up.  Korg Monotribe, iPad running Sampletank (controlled by Casio 88 note keyboard), and iPhone running Geosynth.  Took the time to record it all into Pro Tools to make it sound prettier.

Enjoy, thanks for watching!

BASS Cover! Dancing Machine - Jackson 5

Using my favourite new app, JAMMIT!  This app is amazing, for MAC/PC and iOS.  Gives you the REAL master tracks to jam with, something I've wanted since I was a teenager jamming with my favourite CD's.  I used to actually record my own versions of songs mainly for the purpose of muting an instrument and jamming with them.  JAMMIT lets me do that with two of my favourite bands of all time, YES and RUSH!  There's lots of others to choose from too, including Dream Theatre and this song, by the Jackson 5 - Dancing Machine.


Can't embed this one, so click to visit!

CLICK TO VISIT ON YOUTUBE

A word about the great folks at JAMMIT and some of the complaints they've had to endure. People write reviews that say you can't use your iPod library, or that the prices are too steep. There's no way that any current software could remove particular instruments from the multitrack iPod track with any sort of accuracy. If one assumes they can use their iPod library then they're not quite informed on what this app is all about. Try some inaccurate centre-cancelling software in that case.

The prices? All I have to say is that the JAMMIT people had to go to the source to get to the master tapes of these artists, as a musician with a little knowledge of licensing and publishing, the licensing fees must be huge! These tabs/notations are the most accurate I've seen, and I don't mind paying $3-5 to get a version of the song with the bass/guitar/keys/drums/voice muted so I can "play with the band". Nuff said, just wanted to say something in defence of this great service. Thx JAMMIT!

Back at it

It's been a little while, I've been on tour with Incura, as well as playing bass for Jason and the Diatonics.  Having a great summer, but wanting to get back into the synthy video game!  Decided to explore MIDI control of another keyboard (my Moog Little Phatty) via the Shredder app for iPad.  Worked pretty well, all things considered!  It's analog pitch-MIDI conversion, so don't expect amazing tracking...the glitches kinda make it all feel part of the analog domain though.

Hope to do some more videos soon.  Gotta admit, getting banned from Adsense really put a kink in to my work ethic, but I wasn't really out to make money with this stuff, just have fun with music so I'll be back at it.  Thanks for watching!