Midisphere

I continue my collaboration efforts with Jan Fischer, someone I barely knew before the launch of the Redline Project. Jan is quickly becoming a musical colleague and, even better, a good friend. He has helped me with so much already, from mixing tips to solid critique and feedback, even laying down some tasty electric guitar tracks for a couple of my songs.

He asked me to return the favor with a little keyboard work on one of his latest songs. Though I am glad for the opportunity to show my gratitude in this way, it is overwhelming to select from infinite possibilities. Logic Pro ships with roughly a bajillion keyboard and synth instruments, all of which can be customized until one is blue in the face. Add 10,537 plug-in effects to the mix and you have one entirely overstimulated musician.

I used to think that playing a set of drums afforded me endless sonic possibilities, and in a sense the nuances are vast. In fact, I used to revel in pulling a broad array of sounds from a fairly basic instrument. Turns out, I do pretty well with a limited set of options, like three drums and two cymbals for instance.

In a digital world there are a multiplicity of hats in the ring, and there seem to be as many rings. How does anyone narrow down the plethora of options to one sane choice? I find it much easier to select sounds for myself, but choosing some instruments for Jan was certainly a challenge.

He may very well dislike the choices I made, and I am comfortable with that. Whether he keeps each of my notes or discards every last one, I continue to marvel at the fun of putting music together with a fellow in a vastly different time zone.

Knee Deep

I spent hours yesterday and today tearing through online video tutorials for Logic Express. It is not my intent to advertise products or services on this blog, but I feel compelled to send out a hearty kiss on the cheek to Lynda.com, a service that offers complete access to their extensive library of video software training for less than a dollar a day. Superb.

Even if I had acquired a midi controller keyboard by now, I would still have a few miles before I was ready to work up my first scratch recording in Logic. So to tantalize the tastebuds of the Redline Project's worldwide network of fans (all fourteen of you), here is the latest scratch recording from good-old GarageBand. Completely different from the other scratch recordings I have posted here, this track is my first solo foray into the wondrous arena of midi music.

Thank you to my buddy David for the temporary loan of a Korg MicroKey. All of the tones you hear on this recording are GarageBand synth sounds that I inputted manually using the Korg. Thanks also goes to David for so many reasons. He is great at lighting fires under people (not literally), and he provided some of the key motivation to getting this project started.