This is a little weird for me, but I am recording an album, and it is close to being finished. This is not something I ever intended on doing, but have been asked to on multiple occasions. So, run it up the flag pole. (Name that movie.) If nothing else, at least I can show my grandchildren something someday with better tone than on my last recorded project. And that link is up on this site somewhere, and if you missed it, tough. I’m not posting it again! haha As every melody in that band was ripped off from U2, the best part about it is you can hear what Edge would sound like with bad tone and cement hands. But you’ll have to search to find it. ;)

Anyway, I used, of all things, a Boss DD7 for looping on my latest song. Forty seconds of looping time, unlimited overdubs, and maintains the sound quality fairly decently, even after a good amount of dubbing. And, contrary to every demo I watched on youtube, the first layer is your base, and then you can record liberally around it. I was a little worried as every demo shows folks frantically trying to switch it on and off at the exact start and stop points of the original layer; hence, I thought maybe it synced every layer to start at the same time as the base one. Nope. It works much better than that. And has an analog dry path. Oh, and there’s delay in there, too. ;) Honestly, I haven’t touched the delay part.

So here’s the song.

  • Mic’d up the Matchless (not the Peavey Rage that is inexplicably in the shot), tried out looping pre-delays this time, threw on some jazz chords, and thought about sad things.
  • The DD20 is doing the main swell sounds, with the Timeline, Arion SAD-1, and Behringer RV-600 doing some post-swell work.
  • The Arion SPH-1 from the 80′s is in there too, which sounds better than any phaser I’ve ever tried save the Moog, and it’s $25.
  • Sounds at the end are from the Hartman, and if you don’t own a fuzz, you need to. How else are you gonna make it sound like the city is crying? Or, more aptly, that a less talented Hendrix discovered and became fascinated with delay?
  • There is also a real ZVex Super Duper on the board now, so I am no longer a fugitive from Gear Page for playing a clone of it. hehe The Fugitive. Remember that classicness?

Harrison Ford: “I didn’t kill my wife.”
Tommy Lee Jones: “I don’t care.”

Such a great line. It’s even better when you look at it this way:

Han Solo: “I didn’t kill my wife.”
Two Face: “I don’t care.”

  • The Super Duper was not turned on for any part of this song, but I think just knowing it was there gave the rest of my rig moral support. It is pink, which is a bonus.
  • I got an incredible deal on it. See? Good can come from scouring Gear Page every second instead of practicing.

Oh ya, the song:

So, there’s the DD7. I must admit, it did a nice job looping. I still think the Timeline’s looper may sound a little better, but I may need a new Timeline, since as kind as Strymon has been in fixing this thing, it has never really been the same since I smashed it into my car this summer. So, the DD7′s looper for now. The DD20′s looper is fine, but you have to hold down the switch to overdub. Seriously, Boss? So, since you fixed that with the DD7, is it time for a DD20XL release? You know, with the DD7′s looper, more tweakable tape delay, and maybe a third switch for tap built in? I promise, it’ll be a huge seller. But that’s the DD7′s looper, and I’m having fun recording the album if for no other reason than just to do something with music besides buy more things not to play. I would highly suggest it.

Also,

…Okay, there were no funny pictures of The Fugitive, because it’s actually a pretty good movie. So, I am substituting this, with apologies to all of my non-US readers. Don’t know why Hulu does that. But still:

Don’ You Go Rounin’ Roun to Re Ro.
Karl.

P.S. In the coming weeks, I will probably be promoting the album because unfortunately, I’ve been learning that you don’t get anywhere if you don’t. So apologies in advance. But I will link it to a different site, and this site will always remain a service to musicians, specifically church musicians, and hopefully just a bit to the church as a whole, as the word was originally intended.