A busy day of sequencing after a slow start due to lack of sleep.
The difference with this song is that I began only with bass and drums and so had to invent the next, guitar, parts without the luxury of hearing those as I sequence. I've got two main guitar parts and one sub-part. The main riff is a thick and deep sound, a bit like the guitars in You Ain't See Nothin' Yet by Bachman Turner Overdrive, or Hammer To Fall by Queen, or All Right Now by Free. This is augmented by a slight, single string, second guitar in the opposite speaker to give it a bit of a thicker sound.
I've also added a higher lead guitar to almost all of the song. This had a repeating riff which I sequenced first using mock-guitars as a guide. I'm unsure if this is the best way to do things; I could start with the bass/chord and improvise. I was also unsure where to add all of the guitars throughout the song. Do we want the thick sound everywhere? Without a whole band to try and play with, the only way is to time-consumingly experiment; record a bit, put it in the sequencer and see what it sounds like.
The real guitar lead, in the end, was more complicated (and better for it) than the guide, it has a bit of a wobble like Black Sabbath's Iron Man riff. I improvised lots of long and winding lead guitar bits over the whole song; unsure if this was too complex, or fine as it is.
What issues do I have? How can I improve efficiency?
Playing while listening to the guitar and backing track is great, but it can take a few clicks, a lot, to get the right part of the song to play from. Also, there is a lot of hum, which seems proportional to my distance from the speaker (or is it the computer?) - at about 2M away, things are a lot quieter, but, trailing a pile of cables and having to click on the backing track often makes the process quite complex; not conducive to easy playing. The music is simple here.
The hum can make the guitars a little boomy, but they seem to work better when band compressed so I've done that anyway. Listening to Free now, their guitars are so very clean (noise gated?).
I thought that the volume levels of the guitars would be generally consistent, as the guitars are distorted by the amp, but this isn't completely the case. They seem to sound more even with a bit of compression, which I've unusually done in the sequencer this time. Of course, this can also boost hum or other quieter parts. This is a relatively minor issue.
I've made 3 A4 sheets of notes, with the chords, noting what part is where on there. This is rare, I can normally easily keep track of the song in the sequencer. This is to know in advance what guitar parts are needed, what has been recorded and what to record. Could I use guide music all of the time? Perhaps my inexperience of the variety of guitar sounds and how to layer these and what they will sound like is making things more complex. I guess a lot of bands and producers fall into similar patterns and styles.
It's only when the guitars are done that other instruments can be added. I've added rock organs but have so many at my disposal.
Also, multiple layer vocals could work in this epic song, which will also complicate things. The mixing is relatively easy so far despite many voices.
I've sketched out an approximate structure for this album (probably E.P.) and written some words for the next track, a quieter song. I'm learning a lot and so enjoying it a lot. My goal here is to learn these new production techniques, improve, push my limits.
