whatz on your mind

Well had a great Jam session the other day with my friend Jimmy J. ! But took a while for the session to heat up and the main problem was with the timing of our playing. Music can sound sweet or like the clanging of a bad piston in a car. Just like the piston if the timing is off the music will not run right. So how did we get into time and how can you do this too? Try to jam along with a drum machine or something that has a beat to it. This will improve your timing and ability to keep a rhythm going. Many instructional methods now have CDs with them that you play along with. If you can afford a drum machine or guitar effects pedal or amp with a drum machine built in go for it. You can also buy a keyboard or Synth that has rhythmns and patterns built in to play along with. The Korg R3 and the Boss BR1600 both mentioned in other articles have these features to some extent. The more reinforced the Beat is the easier it is to follow. This means having a drum and Bass guitar track is usually easier to follow than just a drum track. I hope this will help you. Check out my tunes at Reverb Nation especially the Track ‘Hole in my Shoe’ Jimmy J. and I just completed! click here.

I was working with the R3 Last night and put together a song by overlaying 4 of the different effects. I started with a keyboard effect intro and then went with the decibell voice laying down a machine like sound. I then added the first melody and finally an almost crying voice just off an 1/8 beat from the first melody. Putting the patterns off by just a 1/16 or 1/8 beat allows them to be heard but yet blend with the other effects. I placed this song at my reverbnation site click here to hear it! It is just a small demonstration of the R3.

Well finally got the Korg R3 synth I ordered a couple weeks ago and let me say it ROCKS!! This synth not only has all the great synth sounds with 128 different patterns but you can tweak the modulation, pitch and so many other things it could take years to use them all well. Not to woory though because you can quickly grasp how to make sounds work for you and with your other instruments and recording equipment. I already have a rough cut of a new tune that I decided to post at Reverb nation after only a few hours of use!! I took the SEA TALK setting on the R3 and a drum pattern from my BR1600 and put them together. It did take a while to get the drum beat to a tempo that closely matched the delaay and modulation on the R3. After a couple dozen tries I found a good match and then added some guitar to it.

click here to give it a listen at Reverb Nation when you get there just click on the song titled ELECTRONIC PSYCHOCUTION!!

So for the last 3 days, I have been changing around things in my music studio. I bought some rather inexpensive plastic racks and glued some laminated counter tops on them then transfered my equipment to them. This not only gave me more room but organized the equipment better. I also rearranged the furniture in the room so that the speakers all have open space to play in and their is room for 8 to 10 people to play in. The Racks and the counter tops I bought at Menards for under $125 so I feel this was a great investment. see the picture below or all my pictures in the

Racks give room to work in

gallery at reverbnation by clicking here!