Reinder Dijkhuis Does ArtMar 15
FAWM postmortem now that the website is about to shut down for the season:
I only wrote three songs, one of which was the sort of thing you'd put on a hidden track. The other two are among the best I've ever written, so there's that.
Throughout the event, I felt stymied by lack of recent guitar practice (arthritis had limited me to half an hour or less per day and I fell off in the final weeks before FAWM), the complexity of Reaper (I ended up doing most of the work in GarageBand again)…
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtMar 15
… and most of all, the steep drop-off in my energy levels after contracting COVID in December. What energy I had went into my day job and that also meant I had less time to work on songs than in previous years. It was a perfect storm of bad health, bad playing ability and bad external conditions.
The more important, then, that I learn from this and develop skills to compensate.
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtMar 15

So I've been thinking about previous FAWMs and looking at my archives from those events. My most productive one was actually 2023, when I was also ill with something, but it mainly affected my vocal chords. I did several lyrics-only postings that year, but when I did record things, the process was pretty smooth and fun.

On the recordings, the guitar playing is also pretty bad, but I put up with that because at the time, I hadn't played much for a decade.

Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtMar 15
I think I played pretty OK in 2024 and 2024 when I had put in a lot of practice, and also felt more comfortable with using GarageBand, even though recording still involved a lot of cutting and pasting of guitar parts to cover up mistakes. If anything, my new physical limitations this year helped me not to rely on copy-pasting so much, because I had a ticking pain clock that determined when the session had to be finished. So I kept things simple and did them in one take.
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtMar 15
(Again, I only finished three songs that way; let's not make this approach look more successful than it was). But back to 2023. The conditions in 2023 were weird. On the one hand, I had recently quit my job and had plenty of time. On the other, I was on an off-grid farm in Portugal with limited electricity and a small selection of tools and instruments to work with, some of which broke down at the very start of #FAWM .
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtMar 15
The tools were selected for portability and included Pocket Operators, a Korg NTS-1, and a Tascam DP-006, as well as a short-scale travel bass and my old guitar (which was the thing that broke down; we ended up having to go to town for soldering materials to fix it - until then, I recorded guitar parts on the bass with a capo).
This week, I dug out the DP-006 again and want to be spending some time with it, recording the way we did in 1995 except without cassettes.
https://www.tascam.eu/en/dp-006
Tascam DP-006 | 6-Track Digital Pocketstudio

An ultra-compact, battery-powered and easy-to-use multi-track Pocketstudio optimally designed for on-the-spot recording and home recording.

TASCAM Europe
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtMar 15
The link in the last post shows the DP-006 as a still-available product, which is impressive. It's more versatile sibling, the DP-008, which has more tracks and basic send effects for mixing and mastering, is discontinued, which is why it's surprisingly expensive on Marktplaats.
But it's literally what I called it: the 21st century version of a 4-track cassette recorder, made to record in almost exactly the same way as you'd use one of those.
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtMar 15
You get 4 tracks (2 mono, 2 stereo); if you want to add more parts, you make a bounce mix first and then continue (there's a workaround for preserving the tracks you bounced, but it'll fill up the SD card faster, and it ships with only 2 GB); there are no built-in effects so whatever you record is what you have to work with in your mix.
It's perfect if you have difficulty keeping things simple and if a full-featured DAW gives you choice paralysis.
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtMar 15

Well, it is if you have some experience working with 4-tracks, which I do.

My unit sustained minor screen damage in Portugal, but works fine otherwise.

Listening to the old recordings from 2023, I was way too cautious with the levels, so I'm gonna do some tests today. Then I'll put together a setup. Sadly, no bass guitar as playing that comes with a pain countdown of about 10 minutes now.

FAWM is over, but I'm finally getting the itch.

Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtMar 15
My two big questions after a levels test with a drum machine will be
1. What to use to create basses if I can't play a bass guitar for long enough to record anything (I have several candidates, but will pick the smallest that works)?
2. Is there something wrong with my headphones? I got a pair of Sony MDR-7506s a few years ago and those are supposed to be classics but lately I've noticed that pretty much nothing sounds good through mine.
Show threadCharles ☭  is a GreenMar 15

@reinderdijkhuis

2. Those are usually excellent headphones. It may be that you've gotten a pair that is defective.

People like them because you can hear a lot of detail and because they don't tend to emphasise any frequency range over any other. Sometimes music I make sounds better through worse equipment if it hides the mistakes and boosts the frequencies I want to hear.

Anyway, if you can, go with a device with a headphone jack to a shop and try out several models. British people don't tend to use those Sony's, but another headphone which is used by the BBC. I don't have them and j can't recall the name, alas.

Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does Art
@celesteh It turned out that there wasn't really any issue with the microphones, just that my 'new' refurbished iPod classic had a crappy DAC added and sounds markedly worse than the iPod I had that recently broke down completely. On the DP-006, the headphones work fine.
Mar 20 at 9:50pmWeb
Show threadCharles ☭  is a Green3d ago
@reinderdijkhuis I hope you weren't overly out of pocket for this?
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does Art3d ago
@celesteh I don't think we were.