The Nagra Reels
Been working on a new project recently. I’ve got this old Nagra IV-S reel-to-reel analog tape recorder. It works well, so i decided to record a few songs with the acoustic guitar. Stripped back. Naked and simple. Just a voice and a guitar in my living room at home.
1. Hiding My Heart (Brandi Carlile) Hiding My Heart – Download [MP3]
2. You Brought Me To The Station (Wayne Glettig)You Brought Me To The Station – Download [MP3]
3. Iris (Goo Goo Dolls)Iris – Download [MP3]
I wanted to provide a counter point to the highly produced music of today. Simply taking two mics, hooking them up to a tape recorder, the way musicians used to do, before the comfort of digital interfaces and computer processing. I tried to keep this recording as purist as possible. Analog technology, with all the hiss and no frills. No EQ. No Reverb. Neumann TLM 102 -> Nagra IV-S (7.5ips) -> Quantegy 478 Tape
A first recording with my new Martin guitar.
Last night I sang and recorded three songs with my new Martin OMJM Acoustic Guitar.
Several friends have been asking me why i make such fuss about my super new guitar… Here’s the reason why! Take your time, have a listen, and let me know what you think.
1. Nothing Ever Happens (Del Amitri)Nothing Ever Happens – Download [MP3]
2. For What It’s Worth / You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Buffalo Springfield/Rolling Stones)
For What It’s Worth / You Can’t Always Get What You Want – Download [MP3]
3. Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
Hallelujah – Download [MP3]
Tip: Download the songs and put them on your iPod. Or burn them on a CD for the car! It’s worth it 🙂
For the technically interested: Voice -> Neuman TLM102 -> Nagra IV-S as mic-preamp. Martin OMJM -> Direct Martin Gold PU, and 2x RODE NT-5 distanced pair -> Presonus Fireface. Recorded and mixed in Apple Logic, with litte compression and reverb. No EQing.
Photo of Session
Strawberry JAM – a softer one
Well, as some of you might know, a few years back, I started the Soul/Funk/RocknRoll combo Strawberry JAM (www.strawberryjam.ch). In the meantime, the band has gained a solid reputation built on its powerful, lively and upbeat live performances.
But as we all know, life should consist of yin and yang, and balance is always important. So here i’d like to show a side of Strawberry JAM, a soft side, a recording we did a few years ago, and come to think of it, a song we should perform more often in the future!
Strawberry Jam – Why Did You Do It – Download [MP3]
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Technicology: 2 Versions
One musical project I’m involved with started off as a Dave Matthews cover band. Unfortunately, the real DMB are such phenomenal live players, that it is almost impossible to play credible cover versions of their songs.
So we decided to set out to try to write our own material. We set ourselves the following goal: At each of the next three weeks practices, two members of the band have to each present a song/piece/fragment they wrote. We will then try to adapt it to the band and develop a song around that idea.
This is the song I wrote for this occasion.
I made two versions of the song.
The initial clean and raw version I presented to the band:
Technicology[Acoustic] – Download [MP3]
And a highly produced and trashy dense version:
Technicology[Produced] – Download [MP3]
With this I wanted to demonstrate, that a song can be taken apart and interpreted in different ways. By keeping the song skeleton/chords/melody but simply changing the cosmetics around it, a completely different message can be expressed.
(Version 1 was recorded with a Nagra IV-S analog reel-to-reel tape recorder. Old school technology. 15ips. One take stereo, live, no tricks, no fx. Raw and straight. More on the Nagra in a future post…)
(Version 2 was recorded on 16 tracks in Sonar, tons of Synth use, Korg Electribe, Alesis ION, D4, Mesa/Boogie Studio Pre, t.c.electronic m300 & g-minor)
The Daves at Prina’s Studio
We needed a recording real quick, so we called up Prina and arranged a recording session in his basement in Basel.
The results are astonishing. Prina did a great job in recording and mixing the tracks.
So Much To Say: So Much To Say – Download [MP3]
Jimi Thing: Jimi Thing – Download [MP3]
Dan Armstrong Amp Revision
My friend Roman allowed me to nurse an old friend of ours: The good ole Dan Armstrong “Dan” amp.
This old 60W tube amp with a 4×12″ cab was a present from Roman’s uncle. Time had taken its toll, the amp wasn’t in its best shape. Not surprising, it was made in the early 70s. So Dr. Wayne decided to give it a bit of TLC, LSD, THC, and whatever else it needed, so that it would sound like it used to, back in the olden days.
P.S.: I got it sounding even better. – This beast is a killer.
Once the beginning of a CD
Last year, after moving into our new house, i set up a small, yet quite inspiring little studio. Pretty soon I felt like getting into some serious producing. My goal at the time was to record an entire CD. I took a week’s leave from work, and locked myself into my new studio, and set about composing and recording whatever came to my mind. Unfortunately a week isn’t very long. So the result of the week was not a whopping whole cd, but essentially 2 songs and a lot of unfinished ideas.
This is how the songs came out:
The tune starts with a jazzy kinda theme, with drums, DX-7 rhodes & organ. Synth was done with the Alesis Ion. The lyrics are a non-melodic (think: ‘I tried to rap’) adoption of a Segublis song, written by Mäci Kaufmann. Actually, I don’t even know the real title of the song was. I always referred to it as “toothbrush”. So this is the Wayne version of toothbrush. The chorus was taken from an other Segublis song…
Tons of other quirks and sound bites decorate the song. A demonstration of the tricks and stardust of the studio.
Ball And Chain – Download [MP3]
This song is basically a demonstration of the Korg Wavestation and the Alesis Ion. This is a synthetic one. Tip: Listen to it loudly. It sounds better. Meditative sound. Take your time. And wear headphones.
enjoy!
We want to believe something new.
This is a song i recorded in December 2008.
I was mucking around in my sound-lab, tweaking the knobs of the Alesis Ion, trying to get some funny sounds of it. This is what became of it:
We Want To Believe Something New – Download [MP3]
The beginning is a rudimentary synth bassline out of the Electribe MX, and then it the Alesis Ion starts ‘talking’. Guitar is a Fender Stratocaster, run in rather dry, to get that clean princesque character. Hammond is a Nord Electro 2.
enjoy.
Nice to have you here.
Hello World! So, I have decided to put down a website i intend to keep up to date.
The idea of this page is a place to post my musical output to the web, hoping for comments and people to follow…