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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
A Reggae-Blues tune....
A Reggae-Blues tune....
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isaacullah
2804 posts
Jun 12, 2014
9:57 AM
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Hiya friends!
I'm enjoying the summer break, which has given me some time to get back into writing and recording again. Here's a track I laid down today, and I thought I'd share it with y'all in hopes that you will enjoy it! It's a "Reggae-Blues" number, and I'll provide details about the instrumentation and recording technique below the vid...
This track is composed of a drum machine line from my Zoom G3, a bassline I played on my Korg Volca Keys analog synth, Reggae riddim chords on that same Korg, backing chords on my Hohner "Student 32" Melodica, and the lead was played on an A min (2nd pos.) Lee Oskar with Hohner Blues Harp coverplates. The harp and melodica were recorded into an Electro Voice 626 mic on a stand (in free air). All audio was routed through the G3 (with some FX) via USB to my computer where recorded the tracks in Audacity. I recorded it in four tracks over four takes (drums and bass in the first, reggae chords in the second, melodica chords in the third, and the harp lead in the fourth). In Audacity, I tweaked the levels and pan for each of the tracks, added compression to each of them, then mixed it down, added a bit more compression to the whole deal, and a very little titch of reverb to liven it up. I made the "video" in OpenShot, which is a pretty cool piece of software for Linux.
I'm happy to answer any questions about the track, equipment, or recording techniques! :)
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mr_so&so
836 posts
Jun 13, 2014
9:58 AM
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Hey Isaac. I liked that. Thanks for explaining your tool chain too. I just installed OpenShot and will give that a try.
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tf10music
197 posts
Jun 13, 2014
4:37 PM
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I snuck outside of the cafe I'm at and played this on laptop speakers. You've panned the chordal part really well, but I feel like the rest of the track is coming straight through the center. You could probably make the mix a bit crisper if you messed with some pass filters to ensure that the low ends of all the racks (except the lead harp) don't cut into one another. I thought that the composition stuck together well, though, and the harmonica melody was pretty.
Cool stuff.
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Check out my music at http://bmeyerson11.bandcamp.com/
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isaacullah
2807 posts
Jun 14, 2014
7:21 AM
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@mrso&so: thanks! Yeah, I've used a lot of video editing software packages for linux, and openshot seems to work the best for me.... Flowblade is a close second, and also well worth checking out....
@tf10: Thanks fie the critical listen to the mix! That is extremely helpful, especially since I know you know what you are talking about... I honestly recorded and mixed this in under an hour... I was doing it just for a demo for my own purposes, so I really wasn't paying to much attention to the subtlies that really "finalize" a track. Yeah, I panned the synth chords at about 75% left, and the melodica chords 75% right, but the drums bass and lead are all straight down the middle. Unfortunately, I recorded the drums and bass to the same track (saving some time), so I can't separate them to fool with the pan. I might indeed try some filtering, however, since I didn't mess with that on this mix. Honestly, I was surprised at how good the mix turned out with so little effort, and that's why I uploaded it! :) I'll be re-recorsing this tune later in the summer at a friends home studio, which is more sophisticated than mine...
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XHarp
554 posts
Jun 15, 2014
5:21 AM
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Hey Isaacullah, very nice indeed. While I didn't get the reggae in that I gotta say, you've come an incredibly long way from the last time we jammed together. You're phrasing, note clarity and timing are excellent! You're pushing the true definition of modern blues harmonica. I've no doubt that Chris would've been proud.
I like what you're doing. Thx for posting.
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"Keep it in your mouth" - XHarp
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Goldbrick
491 posts
Jun 15, 2014
7:19 AM
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I like it. I hear dub influence,some Augustus Pablo minor melody but no reggae.
Reggae neeeds that strong beat on 3 that identifies it as such..
Good music tho - I will leave the labels for the English majors
Hear da sweet bump on da tree mi brudda,seen? classic
Last Edited by Goldbrick on Jun 15, 2014 3:07 PM
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Diggsblues
1363 posts
Jun 15, 2014
11:23 AM
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Sounds nice but I don't here the reggae beat.
I used to play lot of Marley tunes in a band years back.
There is thick book that has the Marley tunes in notation which is great since it shows all the bass lines and show all of the reggae beats.
Emile
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isaacullah
2809 posts
Jun 15, 2014
7:25 PM
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Hi guys! Thanks for the positive comments! I really appreciate them! Perhaps I should clarify a bit re: the "reggae" in this tune. I wasn't trying for a reggae tune with some "blues vibe" to it. I've done that in the past, and I dig that idea, but its been done quite a lot, I think, so I was going for little "spin" on the reggae/blues connection by trying to make a blues tune with a reggae influence to it. To that end I purposely kept the skank low key and fixed to one instrument only (synth keys). I also shied away from classic reggae tricks like the "bubble" chords and a very syncopated skank. I also picked a blues-based drum loop, rather than a reggae one (like a One Drop, or a Rockers beat). I did keep to a pretty classic two chord reggae progression of A min - D min, but I wanted this tune to be mostly blues, with just a hint of skank on it. Dub, reggae, etc, is the "color" on this, rather than the main substance...
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Last Edited by isaacullah on Jun 16, 2014 4:58 AM
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