Perry's Home Studio
Background: As a kid I grew up a little wanna be recording musician. I have *ALWAYS* wanted to have my own home studio. As
the years past, I fell in and out of playing. To this day I still have several non-scripted compositions that I'd like to one day organize
and record.
Technology today has made it real convenient for your amateur musician to record, produce and press their own audio CD's. It is
truly amazing to see how easy it is to put together a multi-track recording with just a little knowledge of a few recording techniques.
I was also fortunate to query the talents of a couple musician friends Pete and Ted.
The following is a list of the what I have managed to put together thus far. Check it out! Hope you get a kick out of it.
The Equipment:
Roland VS-840GX - 8 track, digital multi-track recorder
Shure SM57 - dynamic microphone
Shure SM58 - dynamic microphone
Rode NT1 - condensor microphone
Art Tube MP - tube pre-amp
Ensonique EPS - sampling synth
Ibanez RG160B - electric guitar
Digitech RP200 - digital guitar effects processor
Alesis SR16 - drum machine
Ibanez PF5NT - steel string guitar
Franciscan Mdl. #51 - classical guitar (borrowed)
DiMarzio Pickup - steel string clip on pickup
Fender Squire P-Bass - electric bass guitar
The Tunes:
1. Shape of My Heart - (First recording w/ the VS-840GX)
Steel string acoustic w/ DiMarzio pickup for guitar, vocals with SM58. Copied guitar and vocal track to alternate tracks. Added reverb to additional
guitar track and stereo chorus effect on copied vocal track. Mixed down w/ both wet and dry vocals.
Notes: I'm a pretty big Sting fan. I have always loved this song since it was released. Shape of My Heart was played during the closing credits
of "The Professional." Post watching the moving and hearing the credits I said, "I HAD TO LEARN THIS SONG." I hopped on the net and
grabbed the guitar tab. It ended up being the first lick I decided to use to break in the VS-840GX.
2. Generic Love Song (Ted 'n Perry) - Added use of Ted's
CAD E100 (supercardiod condenser). Double mic'd classical guitar w/ E100 and SM58. Performed similar micing for the steel string.
Used the E100 for all vocals. Since I didn't have a bass guitar at the time, we used the Ibanez RG160B and the Pitch Shifter effect on the
Digitech RP200 to give us something for a bass instrument.
Notes: Ted and I recorded this when he came up to to visit me in Boston. He played the steel string, did the backup vocals and did the pseudo bass
guitar. I believe we wrote the Generic Love Song somewhere in 1996 late one night. I think we've performed this song to a few femmes
with varied reactions. It was as much fun putting together the cheese as it is playing it.
3. Greensleeves - Double mic'd CAD E100 and SM58 at fret board.
Notes: Greensleeves was the first song I learned on the classical guitar. Originally I played it w/ vanilla (plucking the chords). As I progressed
and gradually learned to pick, I've been playing it more arpeggiated.
4. Original 1 - Double mic'd CAD E100 and SM58 at fret board.
Notes: Though short, I'm Perry proud of this song. This is a Perry Original. Sometime in my guitar enrichment I figured I could make something up.
This is my first conclusion on guitar.
5. Jesu, Joy of A Mans Desiring - Double mic'd CAD
E100 and SM58 at fret board.
Notes: Jesu was my ultimate classical guitar goal. When I started teaching myself guitar (w/ tips from a couple friends Bill R. and Alan O.) I heard
Jesu some time ago on classical guitar and felt that would be a great song to learn. I learned this song Perry slowly in peices and managed
to pick up some guitar techniques in the process.
6. No One Is To Blame - Used the old Ensonique EPS Grand
Piano patch (I think) for piano and SM58 for vocals. Recorded vocals twice. Managed to squeeze in a little bit-o harmony.
Notes: This is my attempt to replicate the vanilla acoustic version of this song as performed by Howard Jones on his Live Acoustic America CD. I
*love* this version.
7. Happy Birthday Sarah - Rode NT1 w/ the Art Tube MP to
do the three part vocals. Made it real lite on the verb per mix-down.
Notes: Enjoyed throwing this little blurp together. I ended up recording this a couple times, since I just wasn't satisfied with my voice and being
on key! Am relatively please with this version. It was alot of fun.
8. Sunday Wake - Various instruments on Ensonique EPS. Master sample
direct from EPS sequencer.
Notes: One day in high school I woke up on a Sunday and threw this together. Has kinda of a New Order'sh beat to me. Was glad I still had the disc
laying around so that I could re-master it.
9. One More Time - Vanilla Guitar/Vocal config,
steel string acoustic w/ DiMarzio pickup for guitar, vocals with Rode NT1 'n Art
Tube MP. No frills mix-down, no EQ and very little reverb.
Notes: This was a joke recording spoofing a spoof Travis did of the Britney original. Thanks to Matt for getting this goofy thing started in my head to actually spend the time to DO! It _IS_ rough and I'm choosing not to anything else with it. That's my quality disclaimer. :-)
10. Wonderwall - The usual config (at this point), steel string acoustic w/ DiMarzio pickup for guitar, vocals with Rode NT1 'n Art Tube MP. No frills mix-down, no EQ and very little reverb. Also added a simple bass line w/ the P-Bass.Notes: Just like everything else in the "mix", I figured I'd re-do this (for obvious reasons?). Alas, it hasn't happened and probably won't happen any time soon. It's here anyways, so enjoy.
Photo Gallery
