As a drummer and studio engineer, i am always seeking out alternatives to live drums through convenience and overall quality. The Toontrack EZ drummer software is pretty amazing and realistic, and can cater for almost any genre or drum sound possible.
Duration: 2 hrs apprx. this is a video of me using the software (pretty badly :) along with my KORG nanoPAD midi controller. Its a bit sloppy but you can get the idea, check the XY pads roll function!
Today i have updated my myspace page. New additions include: - New Discography Section - Links to web log - Two tracks from the next EP 'Grabby Hands'
The next posts will include details about the composition and production processes involved with the creation of the six track 'Grabby Hands EP'
I am planning for this record to be a slight step back concentrating on more analogue sounds making use of MOOG, Roland JP 8080, Roland TB-303, TR-606 and Roland TR-808/909 drum synths.
Duration: 7 hrs apprx. Last night after a short live set from my band CASIOKID, I did a DJ set in Revolutions in Milton Keynes as part of the Christmas party. Just did a short mix of some popular pop punk and electro songs to finish of the night.
Duration: 5 hrs apprx. up until now i have only ever done DJ sets with the stu roland project and as fun as that is, as a musician i have always needed a bit more out of it! So taking advice from a friend i decided that it would be possible to play live drums along to my songs. Although i had this idea for a while, i never acted upon it as i never thought it would work properly and never really gave it a try. This was until i jokingly said to matt, I'd play in his basement as a support act for one of the gig/parties they have every so often in his basement. As soon as i had decided to do the gig i was pretty excited and intrigued as to how it would work out.
Next i decided upon a set and worked out which songs i could play along to easily. From hearing the songs so many times i had already got the structure and rhythms in my head, so without any real rehearsing i pulled of the show pretty well and got some very positive feedback. I have since decided to promote myself and put more time into playing in Derby and then around the UK hopefully.
Setup: - Macbook - Edirol FA101 soundcard with headphones - A big mash of amplifiers to blast out over the drums!
Video:
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Duration: 10 hrs apprx. In the last few days I have been working on a composition which uses a sample from the track: 'In the Region Of The Summer Stars' by 'The Enid'. This is a breakdown of what i have done so far: Whilst listening to the track and tapping along on my desk i decided it would have a lot of potential to be used for a down-tempo/instrumental hip-hop track. Taking this into account, i then went on to choose what sections of the song i would sample into loops. Using Audacity, I extracted 6 bars from the intro of the track and split it into 2 samples, the first being 2 bars and the second being 4 bars with a crescendo in the last 4 beats of the bar. I figured this would help lead the 4 bar sample back into the original 2 bar sample effectively once sequenced. (pic) I then used the recycle software to fragment these samples for further manipulation within the DR.REX loop player in Reason. To do this i inserted 8 sens points every two beats in the 2 bar loop, and did effectively the same for the 4 bar loop. This meant that when being used in Reason, each segment of each sample would be distributed separately on the first 16 keys or the MPC style trigger pads on my midi controller. By doing this i was essentially creating music in the way someone would using an AKAI MPC sampler. A lot of sample based hiphop is created this way without using a computer. I would like to be able to afford an MPC but i have found this method works quite effectively.
track still to be uploaded
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
Duration: 2 hrs apprx. Ok so today i just felt like making something, not for any specific purpose just for fun. I never know what random things i come up with can somehow turn into something reallly good. On the other hand ideas i think have lots of potential never progress or satisfy me. Its always good to experiment so opened up Reason and got my midi controller all set up nicely on my makeshift chair stand.
Firstly, i created a mixer and mastering suite followed by DR.REX loop player, a 303 style bass synth within the combinator and a subtractor synthesiser. To make the lead synth sound i started with a basic triangle wave, changing the filter and ADSR values to get the deisred punchy sound. This was mainly done by lowering the decay time of the notes played. The drum loop was played through the DR.REX and had some slight distortion applied to it using the Scream4. Depending on my mood i vary between editing and manipulating loops/samples and creating everything from scratch using the REDRUM device. I own lots of samples from 'old skool' drum machines from the Roland CR-78 to the Korg KPR-77, so i have a lot of choice when it comes to programming a beat. However in this case i just used a loop, which is common practice in many areas of hip-hop.
Using blutac i made a nice little camera stand for my phone and hit record. 15 minutes later i had something that resembled a loop! which was driving me nuts so i thought it would be a good time to arrange the song a bit using this loop. Using the handy iMovie software I have since edited a pretty boring video into a 3 minute overview of the process up to arranging. here it is:
For my complementary studies project I am proposing to document the composition and production processes that i encounter with my solo projects. I will constantly be experimenting with different areas of computer music production and real instrumentation such as vocals and guitar.
The majority of the documentation shall involve video footage and descriptions of my personal composition and production process.
The main solo project i do is 'Stu Roland', however i have several other aliases involving the sub-genres of electronica such as 'Setitonfire' and 'Rolo Tony'. Some of my work involves the production and remixing of my band 'Casiokid' and a fellow artist 'Misfemme'. Alongside running a small studio recording bands, i have been heavily involved in the prodcuction/programming of the death metal/elecronica band 'BURYTHELIVING'.
Although i shall be ultimately focusing on the compostion of Stu Roland, I have also decided that i will also document things from my other projects and musical persuits if i feel that i am learning or developing any new skills which could be worth documenting.
