So,yesterday, I once again ventured forth across Brooklyn to Pirate Studios to record the official songwriting demos for the three chiptunes I have thus far.
I brought one of my boutique amps with me — an EAST Studio 2 — and even though I ran the amp’s internal load output into the CAB, the difference was not subtle. The amp sounds gorgeous even when going direct. There’s a chewiness and thickness that feels totally different from solid state to me. There’s also a ton of harmonics. Like Budda amps before it, the Studio 2 is touch sensitive and the amount of gain you get is directly related to how hard you dig in. I ran chorus and echo through the fx loop and a Catalinbread Naga Viper as a boost in front of the amp.
I will have to listen back with fresh ears, but I think the results are good! A major lesson I learned yesterday is that my tunes are a little too twisty for me to just learn them in situ.
I spent 4 of my 8 booked hours on
Forest Of Mystery.
The remaining time was a mad dash across the finish line to record everything else. Fortunately, the other two tunes are much more practiced and came together quickly.
UNfortunately, I couldn’t get the guitar to MIDI to work reliably. I abandoned it after an hour of trying to make it work.
I have a LOT of unpacking to do, I passed out at 11pm last night. The day was exhausting, 8 hours of standing and schlepping (I have views about recording performances whilst sitting down), trying to be swift whilst also engineering the session, and of course not settling for anything other than the best whole takes if I could manage it; I think I only punched in for one section of one tune, the rest were played head to tail as whole takes. I think that makes a huge difference in the performance. The entire thing was 11 straight hours, door to door.
Overall, a great day. I just hope it’s a keeper!
