Just extending the musical conversation from here. My interpretation of Fireproof_Babies’ remix also takes place in dark woods.
I’m imagining a scene that’s out of a Chinese swordfighting novel, where two lovers have to part (maybe they are being pursued by an enemy bent on destroying them). They separate unwilling, but each has a resolve to reunite again. While the future is bleak, they carry a resolute hope, still.
Call it neo-Chinese Opera if you will (not that I’m a fan of Chinese Opera).
DARK WOODS II2010 – Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0). Click here for how to give credit and other conditions.
Somehow this turned out to be a neo-classical piece. My first instrumental for 2010, thanks to Papa_Zulu. The guitar stems here (under a CC-BY license).
ISLAND JOURNEY REPRISE2010 – Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0). Click here for how to give credit and other conditions.
Got bored with songs in my MP3 player. So I turned to ccMixter.org to create one. Serendipitous searching led me first to admiralbob77, then suziqsmith, maajonic (this was a full mix) and BoHeart. This was pure remixing; no recording of original tracks on my part nor the use of any loops.
SO MOVED (THIS IS LOVE)
2010 – Licensed under Creative Commons Noncommercial Sampling Plus. Click here for how to give credit and other conditions.
“There comes a point in the evolution of every guitar player when knowing how to play the guitar is not enough. Sooner or later every serious player wonders, “How can I make this instrument work better?” ~ Gene Imbody (5/1/2001)
Indeed! That’s what I tried to do with my stock Epiphone Les Paul Standard guitar. The aim is to have a straight neck, with just a little relief (i.e. gap) and no buzzing of the strings.
What I learned (and tried), in summary:
Tune the guitar first.
Use the 6th string to check the gap between the string and the neck; capo the 6th string at the 1st fret and press down on the 14th fret.
To reduce the gap, you need to tighten the truss rod (turn clockwise).
To widen the gap (if there’s a ‘back-bow’ or buzzing), loosen the truss rod (turn anti-clockwise).
Adjust in small increments.
Although the pros all say the truss rod adjustment (i.e. neck relief) is not to adjust the string action, I found that once the neck relief is changed, the action has to be re-adjusted. E.g. turning the truss rod tigher (clockwise) does lower the string action.
Tightening the truss rod straightens the neck and consequently lowers the strings, which can create string buzz. However, string height is controlled at the nut and saddle, not in the neck.
The greater the gap, the more you will tighten the nut (clockwise). If you had no gap you will be loosening the nut (anti-clockwise). Keep in mind that most good necks require no more than half of a turn in either direction.
2010 Crystal Tears and the Dream Nebula by Starfish Stories : The Band is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Singapore License. As long as you ATTRIBUTE the music by stating this: “Starfish Stories :: The Band – StarfishStories.wordpress.com”* in your audio, video, website, printed materials etc., you are FREE to USE, COPY, SHARE, MODIFY, or SELL (yes sell!) any of the songs from this album. Or try reading this
* NOTE: Please credit Track 06 “Goodnight Not Goodbye v2.2.” to:
Dan O-Connor’s instrumental track, “Love Letters” (by Dan O’Connor’s “Free Music By DanoSongs.com” – licensed under a Creative Commons ATTRIBUTION 3.0 US license).
10. TEXT: How To Use Music in CRYSTAL TEARS AND THE DREAM NEBULA For FREE – 2.3KB TXT file.
We welcome comments on how to improve our music. Feel free to share what you liked or disliked at the band blog StarfishStories.wordpress.com or email us at starfishstories@gmail.com.
I can’t claim credit for this song. This is a song by a talented friend, Carrie Chan. I was lucky enough to be there for the ride, helping to remaster the sound a little bit.
She shared her demo with some folks over at Songcraft.
I’m not a trained music producer or sound engineer. But I know when I personally like a song (Carrie’s compositions tend to have that effect on a lot of people).
So I emailed Carrie and asked if she had a separate guitar and vocal track (thought I’d try a remix). She didn’t, but she sent the original demo.
There wasn’t much I could cut and edit, since her vocals and guitar playing were spaced closely. But I was glad it turned out that way. It was apparent that her songs requires her personal unplugged style. Too much of a studio sound would make it less “Carrie-Chan” like.
So I added some strings for the chorus, tried to beef up the overall sound by adding a Flanger effect, and also increasing the acoustic clarity to her original (GarageBand effects; not that I’m that Pro!)
Then sent off version 1.2. to Carrie. She was OK with the track being posted on the Internet, under a CC-BY-NC license.
As I said, I was just there for the ride only.
Hope to hear more from from a very talented musical friend.
My guitar stems can be downloaded at the ccMixter page.
For this remix, I opted for a straight-up soft rock remix, featuring panu’s lovely acoustic guitar playing. In his scratch demo, some parts of the played guitar chords didn’t sound consistent with his sung stanzas. I reworked the guitar arrangement ever so slightly. Went for something like this:
Em/ C/ D/ Bm (x2)
C/ Em/ C-D
C/ Am/ D
[Repeat]
I listened to panu’s scratch demo a few times. Figured out the chords. Worked out a very similar arrangement, with one or two additional stanzas.
Cut and replicated the choice parts from panu’s playing of the acoustic guitar. Added a slightly dirty (i.e. distortion) guitar track, and then a lead guitar. Put in the bass track. Adjusted the mix and mastering.
Unless otherwise stated, all works by Ivan Chew is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Singapore License. AS LONG AS YOU ATTRIBUTE MY WORK TO ME (Ivan Chew, MyRightBrain.wordpress.com), you are FREE to COPY, SHARE, MODIFY, or SELL (yes, SELL!) content from this blog. And you do not need to pay me anything from what you do with the content(if you do, I'd be very grateful but that's not really required of the license). Do remember to ATTRIBUTE whatever you use here, to me. For permissions beyond the scope of this license, please contact me via MyRightBrain.wordpress.com or at RamblingLibrarian@gmail.com
Posted by Ivan Chew 
