Over the summer I determined that it would be in my best interest to start learning about music production. "What better way to do that than to write an album," I thought to myself. Unfortunately (at least, unfortunately for this particular goal), I was working at a camp all summer and thus had very limited access to technology. I did however have many musical instruments at my disposal, so I was able to get some good material written. Come September, I had to have knee surgery, and was thus unable to do pretty much anything for a few weeks, and since then university has been keeping me very busy. As a result, this music endeavor has been pushed back and back, and now with the last of my final exams in sight, I am at last able to put some time into making music. Last week I made my way down to Long and McQuade, a fantastic music store, and invested in some recording gear. Since then, I've been holed up in my room conducting a multitude of sonic experiments. I figured I'd share some of these experiments with the internet at large. So here we go!

First, there's this, a rather sloppy recording of what is probably my favorite self-composed piece. I've spent the last half hour trying to get a good take of it and I've grown so frustrated that I thought I'd better take a break before I smashed my guitar through my computer screen. Compliments and criticisms are welcome!

Next, while I was laid up in bed for the better part of the month of September, my time was not completely wasted (at least by some definitions). The week prior to my surgery, I'd put together a homemade didgeridoo out of some PVC pipe and a beeswax candle. A lot of practice and a bit of reverb later, I've more or less got the hang of it. Despite what parts of this recording suggest, I can in fact circular breathe, but the mouthpiece on my didge is a bit too big at the moment, making it much harder to do. Add to that a stuffed up nose and you have a great excuse for mediocre breathing technique. Anyhow, excuses aside, here's some didgeridoo action.


Thoughts?
More to come.

Re: Guitar - I really like the composition, however your mic is picking up you breathing which threw me a bit. You might want to relocate it closer to the strings, perhaps?

Re: Didgeridoo - PVC pipe and a beeswax candle? Very cool. But you are getting really close to the brown note (and, I hate to admit, I'm not a big fan of didgeridoo music but I think that's my kiwi adoption talking).

JermCool wrote:however your mic is picking up you breathing which threw me a bit.

Yeah, I just bought my first mic and I was eager to get something recorded. As I said I've been trying for a better take all night.

The guitar composition is awesome. I've been looping it for the past fifteen minutes or so. The quick pace and the stepped change in the music make it very easy to keep in the background for quite a while. The didgeridoo is pretty cool, too. Like Jermcool, I'm not as much of a fan of the sound, but I listened to that repeatedly as well.

JermCool wrote:however your mic is picking up you breathing which threw me a bit.