Well after some tech difficulties and a a bout of ill health we're ready to go again.
      We having been coming up with ideas for new songs and I have recorded some rough demos of some of them.Gary meanwhile has been busy writing some stuff as well and we have plenty of ideas to be getting on with.
      We usually come up with the basic idea of a song on our own and then get together to work on the music or lyrics whatever needs finishing up and this method works really well for us,I don't think we've ever purposefully sat down together and started from scratch to write something.
      So,we're both looking forward to getting these ideas finished and to start recording them so we'll get them uploaded as soon as they're done.

      Have a good one

           Steve

    Well the last few weeks have seen us just getting together and running through some ideas for songs.Taking a riff or chord sequence and working with it and seeing if there's any idea of where to take it come out.At the very least we just record it (just so we don't forget it) and keep it for another day if nothing immediately comes from it.I have lost count of the number of ideas I've had where I haven't recorded them and of course forgotten them.
     So as it stands at the moment we have some ideas down and have started to work on one or two of them,usually putting down a basic drum track followed by rhythm guitar,though this is always open to change as the song develops and the lyrics and phrasing take shape,sometimes resulting in the song taking a whole new feel and direction.
     I guess that's a lot of the fun in doing this as you sometimes never know what the end result is gonna be from just a basic idea and to hear the song take shape as the tracks are added,although equally sometimes you just hear how you want it to sound and be arranged from the off.
     It finally seems I got Sonar configured properly as the last little niggles that have been bugging me have been sorted,the forums over at www.cakewalk.com have been a lifesaver and of course there's always the manual .
     I have also been given some more tracks from Nigel at www.bridal-tunes.co.uk for mixing from his latest project,so those along with some previous ones he gave me will keep me busy for a while.
    
          have a good one
                  Steve
                              

      After giving the ears a break it was time to load up the project to have a listen and set the mix.There wasn't actually much to do aside from just fine tuning the levels as we had been balancing it out as we went along and had been adding effects as we went.
      On the Sonar console there were 2 effects busses so a reverb was inserted on the first buss and a chorus on the second,this allowed us to patch in sends on the individual channel strips and send just the amount of signal we wanted to get the sound we were after,it also helps to lighten the load on the cpu doing it this way rather than inserting an individual effect on each channel.
      The kick drum,snare and toms were given just a small amount of reverb to liven the sound a bit and that was all.Similarly the main and backing vocals were treated to just a hint of reverb  which is hardly noticable but gives them a little bit of space.The acoustic guitar tracks were treated with Sonar's VC-64 plug-in with a 'strum acoustic' preset which gave them a nice light sound and seemed perfect for the song,a little reverb was added to one and a little chorus to the other,then one was panned left and one panned right.
       For the rythmn guitar track we inserted the  Twang combo from the Guitar Combos bundle from Native Instruments  and a little tweaking of the eq in the plug-in interface and that was it.For the solo guitar we used the AC30 combo plug-in again from NI,went through a couple of presets and didn't take long to find a sound we liked.A compressor plug-in on the bass track just to get a tighter sound,a final tweak to the balance and it's done.
      The stereo mixdown file was imported into Wavelab Lite and we used the T-racks mastering plug-in suite to give it a final lift and polish,mostly it was presets from the individual components that got the job done.
      It was a great feeling to have finished this song as it has been quite a while since we have had the opportunity to get together and work on the music and now it seems a more settled period for us (although life has a habit of throwing you a wobbly now and then),hope you enjoy it and for us it's on to the next one and it feels great


  Steve

    This week we had to re-do the main vocal.For this we used a Behringer B-1 condenser mike,with the compressor running on the main inserts just to help even out the levels.Took a few takes but we got one with a good feel and that was the keeper.
    The drum track was re-done to add some fills,balance the kit and add a touch of reverb to give it some more 'life',then the project was saved and left alone.It's always good to leave a project before doing the final mix to give your ears a rest and come back to it fresh,(learnt that the hard way).
    Gary had a riff he'd been working on,so we created a new project and started work on that.Again first thing we always do is get a guide drum track down and build round that.Next part to get put down was rough guitar track.This took us a long time to do  as we spent a long time  working on the chorus,particularly getting the end chord sequence right to take us smoothly into the next verse.
    So that's where we are at the moment,plenty there to work with as you can always hear little ideas that you think will work and isn't that why we do it ?


               Steve

       Well after listening to the track with fresh ears we decided just to start from scratch rather than try and fix things,so first thing to do was load up the template and we're good to go.
       Set the tempo and then drag the drum loop to the track and then it's on to the guitars.As before Gary laid down the first track,he'd been working on the layout of the song and so that gave us the basics to go on.Next I put down the bass track,then Gary did the acoustic part.As before the acoustic part was doubled and panned to get a fuller sound.After that was done Gary put down a solo,nothing fancy but just nice and balanced for the song.
       We then wondered about lyrics as we had no thoughts on them till this point.So Gary stepped up to the mike and just came out with some random stuff so we could figure out how we were going to phrase it.We got two lines out of it and that gave us a basis to work on and after about 20 mins or so we had the lyrics done.
       Gary tracked the main vocal first and then I put down the backing vocal,though after listening back Gary felt he would re-do his part as he felt it wasn't right and didn't flow as it should.
       On the guitar we used the twang combo plug-in and after some tweaking to take some of the highs off it was sounding right.The solo was treated to the AC30 plug and we chose a preset with a nice overdrive to it and it complemented the rhythm really well.
       That was all we did today so it's time to leave it alone and have a listen tomorrow again with fresh ears,and see if there's anything we like or dislike and take it from there.

          Steve

  Hi there and welcome
    After a crap year when so many things happened and kept us pretty busy with other things and events we have finally got here and at last we can get focused on writing and recording again.
We will use this as an ongoing account of us recording our new songs,what we did,how we did it,what we used etc.
    Having used N-Track in the past we have now moved to Cakewalk Sonar 6 Producer Edition so there's a new learning curve to get to grips with.It also includes a  host of plugs and features which no doubt we'll get  busy with as we go.
    First up i made a track template which consists of 8 audio tracks and the Session Drummer 2.The SD2 is set to open 8 tracks for itself and in the settings it's very easy to assign each sound to it's own track and this makes it useful for adjusting the volume,pan,effect and processing for each drum,cymbal etc.
    So with Gary playing the guitar part we went through some presets and found a kit we liked and fitted the feel of the track,got the tempo then it's drag and drop it down to the SD track,catch the end of it and drag it out so we got a basic drum track of about 3 1/2mins.
    Next Gary laid down the first guitar part,his strat through a Marshall DRP and to the desk.Couple of takes and then on to the bass.The bass went straight to the desk and I managed to get the part down first take but on listening to it we felt there was a small part in the chorus which needed a little something,so with a new phrase worked out and 4 or 5 takes later it's done.
    Gary did the acoustic guitar part next,we miked the guitar as plugged in the sound can be a bit on the brittle side,and got it in 1 take though on playback the first few bars are with a strong attack and then he mellowed a bit so there was quite a difference in the level throughout the track.I copied the acoustic to another track and panned one track 65% left with a touch of reverb and the other 65% right with some chorus.
    On the console in Sonar i routed all the drum tracks to their own buss for overall control of the drum level.I also routed the two acoustic parts to their own buss and by automating the fader on this buss I could adjust the volume automatically between the loud and quieter parts.
    Listening back we decided that we'll just re-record the acoustic part.Gary also suggested a little delay on the electric guitar part and a cool feature on the plug-in was an option to sync the delay to the bpm of the track.We also thought about doing some punch-ins on the electric guitar part to tidy it up.
    So that's the details of our first session after what seems so long and it was great to get back into it,hope you enjoyed it.

         Steve
   

    Hi and welcome to the Legal Reasons blog.
 We thought we would set up this blog to keep a record of our progress and methods as we write and record new songs.It's been a turbulent 12 months or so and it's now time to get on with what we enjoy doing.
   Enjoy the blog.

         Steve