I listen to an eclectic mix of music and am very guilty of listening to the stuff I already know and like on a loop rather than experiencing new things. However my good friend Pete Vanderveen, in an effort to help me break this habit, gave me some music written by the Japanese composers Kawai Kenji, Toshihiko Sakahashi and Ishii Tatsuya. I have to say that I’ve really enjoyed listening to them. I’d liken the genre of music I’ve been listening to with that of film music, often featuring full orchestras with the addition of more popular instruments like electric guitar, keyboards and drum kits.

The soundtracks are epic!! (And incidentally they’re great to run to.)

But as a musician there were just a couple of phrases here and there that had a great impact on me. It can’t be that much of a surprise that these were all trumpet lines that made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

It’s difficult for me to explain why I felt this way. I’d say that it’s less the feeling of the music having a strictly emotional impact like an orchestral piece or a good jazz lick and more of an “I can imagine playing that myself!” excitement. It’s hard to put into words but I knew I wanted to take a stab at it so I isolated the opening theme from a particular track and took a stab at it.

This is an exciting clip of music and when I first heard it I just thought what a great and effortless tone this trumpet player has (I’m still trying to track down their name) and how they’ve capture the excitement of the music whilst managing to maintain such a big and relaxed sound.

Now I know that putting a slightly raw clip of myself playing up on the internet could leave me open to criticism but to be honest, I don’t care .

I’ve spent so much time over the past few years, particularly these past few months, facing up to my own flaws so that I can improve myself, for myself, I think it’s important not to hide.

Plus it’s a bit of fun.

So here is the original track. It’s a segment taken from the “Gundam” series written by Ishii Tatsuya and it’s called “Code Name Heero Yuy”.

[podcast]http://mattrobertsmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/Gundamorig.mp3[/podcast]

I think the trumpeter is great on this so I took my pen to manuscript and scribbled out what I could hear and spent 10 minutes in my studio to see what I’d get. It lacks a little energy without the kit and full band but I’m only one person

[podcast]http://mattrobertsmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/Gundam.mp3[/podcast]

I’d say that the transcription is pretty bang on. There are a couple of uncentered notes peppered around and I’d like to blow out a fatter F sharp in the climax but it’s not too bad and it was great fun to play.

And now I have a new ring tone

I had a session in my studio yesterday where Johnny Hodges and I got down a few jazz duo charts. The quality of recording (even unmixed) was really good. I’m always impressed by the quality of my home studio. We managed to get a few takes of four charts down in less than 3 hours which was quite an achievement.

Between having a listen to a few of the better takes of the day (when I was packing the studio down) and starting the mixing process that evening, one of the trumpet tracks completely disappeared.

What did I do to make it go? Nothing! All I did was listen to it.

I’ll have to try and play back what I’ve lost but because of the nature of the combo I’m not sure it’ll work. To empathise with a pianist from the past might sound a little odd. At least it’s only 1 of 6 files but it’s still very annoying !!

I need some anti-gremlin software to stop random files being stolen from me. Mac will probably have some right??

Forums are a great place but very frustrating when you can’t find anyone who has the same issues. It makes me wonder if I haven’t just missed something really obvious but I’m hoping to hear back from Mr Presonus with some advice.

I’m out to a jam session at Ronnie Scott’s tonight (just to listen tonight). It’s my first time there so looking forward to it. Jonny’s coming with me and I might even drag Dr Birch (my flat mate) along for the ride.

Mic stands, pop shields, Sennheiser headphones, KRK monitirs, Cables, Keybord, Mac….

… all I need now are the things that make it all work.

]]> http://mattrobertsmusic.com/2008/08/17/whats-missing/feed/ 0 http://mattrobertsmusic.com/2008/08/12/my-nice-new-monitors/ http://mattrobertsmusic.com/2008/08/12/my-nice-new-monitors/#comments Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:00:47 +0000 Matt http://mattrobertsmusic.com/?p=400 MORE]]> I’ve just bought a shiney new pair of KRK RP5 G2′s. These are the new addition for my studio but for some reason I don’t seem to be able to upload photos at the moment so once I sort that problem out I’ll show you them.

That’s about as much as I can say at the moment. Until my mic’s and interface finally arrive in store I can’t listen to them… and you can’t see them … I really didn’t think this post through.

Now I’ve got my money back from Turnkey it’s party time! But what to buy?

I’ve done some research on how I can turn my macbook a portable studio. I only know the basics when it comes to recording and at this early stage in my career I have limited funds to work with. Something that’s really helped me make the most of my investment is the magazine Sound On Sound. It’s crackin’!

Okay fine, I had to google some of the sound tech speak that I found in there but it’s a good read and has some great price lists in it.

A really useful purchase when it comes to researching mic’s, interfaces, head-phones, speakers and other audio technology.