Layered Air

After finishing my Disquiet Junto track this week, I applied the technique shared by Brian Crabtree in project 223 and layered all the takes -- including the interruption at the end.

Naviarhaiku228 – A snail

The haiku shared by Naviar Records this week prompted me to think about something glistening and led me to revisit a multilayered approach I learned from the 'Layered Sameness' Disquiet Junto.

Naviarhaiku 139 - Insomnia

Great haiku by Yu Chang shared by Naviar Records this week.

It speaks to me as I like feeling the low rumble of trains in the early morning.

For this project I've experimented with incorporating MIDI into the 'layered sameness' process. The result is okay, although I found myself preferring the sound of the guitars to the sampled instruments.

Daze On End

More 'layered sameness' recorded using my four-string guitar.

Descent

Brian Crabtree's project for the Disquiet​ Junto in April was called 'layered sameness' and it's a good description.

In this video I've layered the takes recorded with my four-string guitar for the Junto this week.

Naviarhaiku126 - rowing through

At first I wasn't sure about the haiku this week from Naviar Records.

I can't think of having sailed on sea but I started to imagine the movement of the waves when I layered up the 17 takes on my four-string guitar from the Junto this week.

In it I could hear the shifting rhythms of a waterway.

The idea to layer multiple takes also comes from the "layered sameness" Junto project that led me to produce a remarkable result. I was surprised at how good that sounded because throughout every step I was sure it would sound terrible.

Disquiet Junto 0223 Layered Sameness

This Junto has a self-explanatory title in Layered Sameness, although in my case it was more like 'layered similars' as there were pronounced variations in the argeggios I played:

Record multiple, slightly varying takes on the same looped composition in this project by Monome’s Brian Crabtree.

In a way the track has echoes of the E minor I've fixated on fingering this week. Recorded on a 'Nashville' tuned guitar that was also recorded on Thursday as Ashmore Reef.

For the Junto I cut a corner and used the mic input on the camera to record the guitar, and the noise floor rose considerably -- even after EQ -- across 11 takes.

The playing drifted and varied a lot, but I knew it'd be a blur with many parts. Now I think about it, the result is a big smear. I expect it's like 'free-bowing' in a string section.

I arrived at the Em to G and C to A after thinking about Dave Graham's tips that I'd read earlier today. The mid-range overlap of the tuning works well not to overpower the multiple takes. I like how arpeggios with 'Nashville' tuning become more like melodies as they hit the same note across chords. Notes that would be an octave apart using a standard tuning.

The parts were layered in Live with compression on a few channels and reverb smears it further. The two longest takes were of a similar length and I panned them hard left and right with compression so they'd stand out throughout. They're slow to follow the chord progression and it creates a slowing sort of feeling. Overall it's a good result, I think.