Sketches
from an upcoming cd.
a little sumthin' sumthin' about
this project ...
Henry
(Warwick) and I (Gene Maruszewski) are having a go at putting
out a cd or two. Some of our past work was well received
so we thought we'd turn up the serious knob a notch.
Just a
smidge.
So he packs up his
synths and drives up here to lay down some tasty tracks. I
have a few tracks left over from his previous trip playing my
Proteus II. We have those, the live tracks we did months ago,
some from 2005 and 6, and some D&B sketches I'd been
working on. Henry had some things he wanted recorded, I needed
some leads and pads. One weekend later, after surprisingly few
beers, we had filled the can. Henry went home to get ready for
work, moving, reunions, and to tend to his two ladies. I
stayed in the studio trenches.
Concept (or
Context, if you prefer : -)
We found our tunes
fell into two basic groups. One beat based, one more free form
ambient. This suggests two seperate cds to us.
I had
already couched some of our previous work on the arabic sofa
know as "the Al Qaeda Astronaut". The basic story line went
like this:
"We join our hapless
hero Habib, on the eve of his father's final mission (the
Terrist). After suffering through the funeral (Procession),
Habib slips into sleaze at the local night club circuit (Belly
Button, Kradoutja). The following morning at the disco mosque,
Habib is inpsired to mend his ways (Exhortation). Work
commences on his spacecraft (M'n'M's), he fuels up (My
Hydrogen Gas tank), and his girlfriend says adieu (Bye bye,
Habib). Habib takes off (Launch), gets slung into orbit
(Saucerful of Saturn), and we hear final communication
attempts (Jibber Jabber). Finally, Habib enjoys his just
desserts as Al Qaeda's first astronaut martyr (Pie Pie)."
The tunes were a mix of live tunes Henry
and I had done together and cherry picked tunes from my
previous 'releases'.
The finished CDs are expected to hold
a preponderance of collaborative efforts. The tentative title
for the ambient/electonica CD is "1/2 Orange 1/2 Blue".
We
remain open to suggestions for tune names and a band name.
Meantime we are using "Marz Warwick" until we think of or hear
something we both like better. Tune titles may change in
likewise fashion.
Instruments
Henry used his
DSS-1 and his Yamamaha CS2X and my Proteus II and DX7.
I
used an Electribe SX, Nord Lead RackII triggered by an
Expressionmate ribbon and a Digitar, HandSonic, Kaoss II and
III pads, a Doepfer modular, Minimoog, E-Mu Audity 2000 and
Proteus II, Echoplex Groupmaster, and a pair of Revox pr99s in
a 'frippertronics' configuration.
(Please note that
that is NOT me playing my recently aquired Gu Zheng in "Cherry
Blossom" but rather Henry on the Proteus II !!! The man has
chops!)
Tracking
Tracks were
recorded at Tapewarm studio with Nuendo on a PIV 200 with a
RME Fireface installed. Typically the instrument output feeds
are run through a Speck SSM mixer before hitting the sound
card breakout box. But not always, occasionally the SSM is
bypassed if the signal is solid. A MasterRoom spring reverb is
patched to one of the FX sends and a Sebatron pre was used at
the front end to punch a few tracks. An Orban
compressor/limiter/de-esser and paragraphic eq were also
employed on a few tracks.
Of special
noteworthiness, if this isn't immediately apparent, there were
no clocks employed for timing accuracy (despite what you might
see in the flow chart), nor was any midi info recorded. We can
discuss the pros and cons of this if you like.
lol
Arrangements
Some tunes were
recorded 'live' as in Henry and I playing together in the same
room at the same time. ( the Terrist, Procession, Exhortation,
2Cliffords and in part Bye Bye Habib) These tunes have a feel
unto themselves.
A few others were overdubbed (Streets of
Baghdad, Grump 'n' Bind, Saucerful of Saturn, Jihad), Henry or
I playing along with a previously recorded track later in
life.
The other half are what you could call collages,
tracks never meant for anything in particular, surgically
joined at the hip. (Somber Interlude, Henry's New Morning,
Cherry Blossum, Emerald Tines, Torture, VD, Fatwa) ...
Frankentunes.
Fixing and
Mixing
Tracks are
assembled, mangled and massaged using Wavelab and Waves
plugins. While I have a reputation (deservedly) as a
gear slut, I prefer to do this work inside the box with
software. Making the noise in the first place is another
matter and there I prefer hardware to the virtual
stand-ins.
Mastering and
Marketing
... are still in
the distant bridge category.
link: http://www.tapewarm.com/half-blue-half-orange.html
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