Track: Xmas Party track

This Sunday, we had our workshop Christmas bash. Fine food was eaten. Fine wine was quaffed. Guests were also subjected to a quiz, which was mainly an opportunity to take the piss out of everyone by disguising the mockery as questions. The final round of the quiz was a 'guess the Xmas number 1' round, where I played a few 'reinterpretations' I had recorded of well known No. 1's for the quizees to guess.

Here's my favourite. Guess what it is. I should point out, the mixing and levels are optimized for my boxy little Marshall amp in a hall of a hundred chatty people, so on headphones the guitars sound a little oversaturated.

'Guess the Xmas No. 1' Party Track by Buttonbasher

TRACK 4 - Soul Crunk

I experimented a bit with this one by using my Orange Crush amp as a line-in preamp on every sound here (apart from the guitar and sitar parts, which is sampled straight from vinyl). There are some really cool tones going on here, such as that bell-like buzzing/ringing you can hear in the chorus and the beefier, nastier synth lines later on.

Soul Crunk by Buttonbasher

Gear: The Alphasphere

It's been around for a while now but it's the operating system and software behind the Alphasphere that make it really interesting. Midi is a system where an instrument is loaded as a plug-in (also called a VST, or Virtual Studio Technology) and the 'notes' are drawn into a timeline. Thousands of VSTs exist, for nearly every instrument or synth engine imanginable, and are analogous to the third-party Apps you can download for your Iphone or Ipad. They're great for studio use, since instead of buying the hardware, you can buy the software and replicate the real thing. For example, Korg's MS-20 Analogue synth will set you back at least a grand; or you can install the VST for £50.

However, they don't always translate well into a live situation. While Midi controllers are becoming increasingly flexible, there's not a lot you can do in terms of performance and note expression. That's the gap the Alphasphere bridges.

AlphaSphere - Now Alpha Testing from nu desine on Vimeo.

TRACK 3: Woodworm

Another Friday, another track; there only a few samples in this one, everything else is VSTs and plug-ins. It took a while to figure out the right combination of effects to get that growly, soft tone out of my bass guitar. It's a nice mellow tune and ramps up nicely into some transitions.

Woodworm by Buttonbasher

Badass: John Carter of Mars

I got into John Carter through Frank Frazetta (who is one of the greatest artists of his century). Burrough's stories of a lost man on another planet were compelling to me purely for the monsters; bollocks to character development, I want things with teeth and claws, and paragraph-long descriptions of breasts.

So this is the trailer for the film, which somehow doesn't seem red enough for Mars, but that's OK because it's got Lynn Collins.

More John Carter Videos

TRACK 2: Busy Weasel Bounce

Second track for y'all now; cheesy space house. I love tablas. I also love latin percussion. And buzzy rave synths.

Also, the ending after the main buildup is still a little unresolved. I've put some glitchy effects over the verse synth line as a placeholder, and it still needs some work, but it's more or less there. Let me know what you think. Blam!

Busy Weasel Bounce by Buttonbasher

Gear: Dewanatron

Dewanatron, a duo comprising Brian and Leon Dewan, are 100% punk rock. They make barely controllable electronic curiosities that make weird noises and no sense in equal measure; it's impossible not to love their anarchic approach to electronic instruments.

They're also enormous nerds.

TRACK 1: The Intro

Hello Internet. I've been making a fair amount of spacey noises over the past year; while a lot of it is experimental rubbish purely to get to grips with recording again, some of it ended up being quite good and deserves a bit of an airing. I'll be uploading a new track every Friday from a collection named 'Elements and Lessons'.

The tracks are mostly constructed from samples culled from 70's Prog rock, old funk records, and VST software synths. As a result they're ambient, glitchy and weird.

This became the intro to the set. It's built around two samples; the first is from a ridiculously over-the-top eighties Prog band called Pallas, and the second is from the soundtrack of a Ralph Bakshi animated film called Wizards. Enjoy.

Intro by Buttonbasher

Gear: Teenage Engineering OP-1

If you're a fan of Swedish House Mafia you'll have seen this thing used as a prop in their video for 'One'. It's absolutely amazing, if only for the screen and the fact it has a mono FM radio built into it. And for the screen.

Musics: Outhouse Phantom

This dude has the courtesy of listing the (often modified) gear he uses on each track. He manages to make some pretty sweet textures with really minimal setups.

Cool Thing: 3D Audio

This is quite old by now but it seems really weird to me how producers really haven't cottoned on to how AMAZING an album would be if you recorded acoustic elements this way. Imagine an orchestral album recorded with depth like this. Or a metal album. Or a live album!

Musics: Buck 65, Oh Gawd Damn

I think that's a Leadbelly sample in there. Damn fine tune

Track: Hard Road to Harlem

A nice mix of light and heavy; the plate echo on the second drum break is only a small thing but it makes a real difference. I'm still not convinced about how it leads into the bongos (which also sound a bit too clean and smooth).

With hats and cymbals, I like adding points in a volume envelope at random. This humanises them a little and makes the drums sound like someone playing a kit - little organic variations that pleasingly wonk things up.

Hard Road to Harlem by Buttonbasher

Noodling: Numero Uno

Woo! First post on the shaaany new blog. This track is nothing more than an experiment in acoustic recording, something I've never really got to grips with properly. Some details on gear:

Bell-sounds are a resonating circular saw blade, balanced on one finger and struck. Mic'd through my 'orrible little Marshall amp.

Amp lined out to the Laptop, recording into Reaper. Track dublicated and panned for a stereo cheat, EQ'd more bass and some reverb.

Bounced out to WAV and sequenced in Acid 8.

Drums have had most of the midrange pulled down, making them sound 'scooped' as if they are rising up from below.

Circular Saw Test Recording by Buttonbasher