Slowdive guitars

So this is a big bummer for me. You don't know what you got until it's gone. (I think that's how the song goes...)

I've been *REALLY* diggin' Ulrich Schnauss's music as of late. Some very spaced out electronic pads, and guitars that are so incredibly reminiscent of one of my all-time favorite bands, Slowdive. Shoegazer goodness to the core, and so incredibly enjoyable.

Apparently, Slowdive achieves their characteristic dreaminess by utilizing the Yamaha FX-500 box, a box I owned for YEARS up until a few years ago when I wasn't really doing anything with guitar anymore. So I sold it. I loved it when I wrote guitar tunes in the 90's but just stopped using it when my electronic music making took me entirely inside the computer.

Skip to current day, as I listen to Ulrich and then replay Slowdive and think to myself "Damn I love this sound, I wanna incorporate it into some of my newer tracks." I could, if I hadn't sold the damned thing! (I don't even think I sold it for anything more than maybe $75)

The setting that I loved the most (and the one that seems to be the characteristic of these artists) is a setting called "Soft Focus". The type of patch that, if you hit a few key notes here and again, it will seriously drift the notes out into oblivion. Super washed reverb, soft delays (hence soft focus)... I used it frequently when I didn't have access to a synth, and wanted to create dreamy pads. Plug in an electric guitar, turn on Soft Focus, and plunk away. Drifty goodness.

And now here I sit, listening to this music, realizing as I type this that I had the answer. I just sold it to make techno music. Now I want it back.

So now, the hunt begins again. You really don't know what you have until it's gone.

I love my compu(PFFFT).........................

I love my Mac... except when the power supply fizzles and dies, and a replacement costs 3-4 times more than what it would cost if I had a PC...

BUT, small price to pay for the 99% of the time that I thank my lucky stars I'm not writing music on a PC anymore. (What can I say, the benefits, FOR ME, outweigh the ickies.)

So yeah. Music is on hold while I check the backseat for loose change and purchase a $300 power supply. Ugh.

Will keep you posted. You, one person. Yeah I'm talking to you, random person who stumbled upon my blog with a Google search term like "tech house san francisco."

Resolutions remix for Tarantic...

Finished Dub Rotation. We'll see what the release schedule is for that, but it will be out on Jah Love in some sort of digital form, I suspect.

Ivan and I started a new remix for Tarantic called Resolutions. The original track was a slower tune (somewhere's around 110 BPM if memory serves)... We decided to try a somewhat slower BPM remix of the track. Turns out we settled for 120 BPM, which is slower than our standard 125 BPM, but not so slow as to be considered a down tempo track.

We also wanted to try our hand at a bit more electro-ish House. In four total sessions, we have nearly completed the track and dare I say (all hail the broken record) this is one of my favs. Nice smooth synth pads, some really interesting electro-rhythmic textures. Solid beat foundation. And we were able to work a compressor/expander combo with sidechain to get a nice deep (with a titch of funkiness) bassline. Overall, very happy with our progress.

That means it's taken us four 3 hour sessions to pretty much complete a track. Our fastest yet. And we both agree that the level of our productions is increasing.

We re-tooled Blessed Dub with some vocals that Jah Rootz from Thievery Corporation recorded for Mike Tea at Jah Love Recordings. We're honored to have them to play around with, and Tarantic should be releasing "Blessed Dub vocal remix" soon.

We are working on a MySpace page for B-Side Dub (the official name of our collaboration project) and I will post the details here once completed.