30 January, 2007

First version of the "A" track



Tonight, I have tried out my idea for the "A" track, mentioned in an earlier post. I started out with recording the nyckelharpa over a 60 BPM standard beat as support. I felt too restrained listening to the beat, so after a couple of takes, I skipped the drum machine. My intention was to leave the beat out of the final mix, but I decided to not use it at all.

Instead, I improvised completely freely until I found a short melody that could work as a loop. I repeated that melody twice and then continued in another direction. After a few phrases, it felt natural to end the track, so I did.

I cut up the recording and multiplied the loop maybe 7-8 times. I had intended to use the oboe as the main melody instrument, but since I was so eager to try the structural idea, and since the oboe takes 15-20 minutes to "start up", I went for the low whistle instead.

I recorded one take of that and then adjusted the volume on the accompanying nyckelharpa so they would work together.

Here's the result: "A", version 1.

First, I thought it sounded tedious and I hesitated on proceeding on the idea, but after I have listened to it a couple of times, I think it's quite nice. But, I can do better.

I'll try another variation, with less moving nyckelharpa loop and the oboe instead of the low whistle.

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