So Easy

Yeah, right! I spent the better part of three days putting this thing together and I'm still not entirely happy. But I guess this is as good as it'll get without starting over from scratch. Check it out:

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6orange Rollin'

I finally have some half decent recordings of my band to show you. The stuff below was taped last week during rehearsal. Of the 12 songs we did that night, I picked four which I consider my favorites.

"Social Vein" is the most recent of this lot and features some neat shifts in time signature. I really get off on the almost brutal middle bit ("But when you're middle class..."), pure energy...

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"Beautiful Jails" is one of the earliest numbers from this project. The song, goes through three riffs the key of A, F and G. The song then goes into a bridge section, borrowed from "The End" by the the Doors. The idea came from our drummer, Mel Goulding, after we jammed that part with our former singer, Kewin Moret (who left us just a week before this rehearsal). With Kewin out of the picture, we might substitute it for something else (Hendrix' "Third Stone from the Sun" was brought up as an alternative).

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"Famous Faces" is typical Mark Theis (keyboards) composition. Check out the bass riff in the verses, I think it was Matyas Zlatnik (our former bassist) who came up with that one. But my favorite part is the "outro" section with the chugging V-IV-I chord progression.

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"What's Your Style" is again a thing Mark came up with. His original version didn't seem to hold up well, so I sat down with it at home. I rewrote the lyrics around Mark's ideas, added a part (verse 2: "Because you were so frustrated...") and that was basically it. It's also the only song I play in dropped D tuning.

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The band that you hear on these recordings is composed of Diane Frisch (vocals), Mark Theis (keyboard, vocals), Mel Goulding (drums, backing vocals), Zsolt Pataki (bass) and yours truly (guitar). All four songs were written by Mark with each one of us adding their own bits and pieces here and there. The recording was made in stereo using two ambient microphones. You'll hear some clipping, we had a pretty hard time setting levels.

Bass Riff

I came up with this while practicing...

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Kubica

That he walked away from this one with only minor injuries is astonishing...

F1 - New video => Crash Robert Kubica
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Singing At The Street...

I just have to put this up here. One half of Szegényanyámhalátna (God rest his soul) and the bunch singing on (sorry, at) the street in the headlights...

Barcelona

Just got back from Barcelona, where we spent most of the week. Here's a video slide show of the pictures we took:

Ocean Bound

This is my latest recording, the first to feature my new bass, an Ibanez Artcore AFB 200 (pictured). The song itself is pretty old, I wrote it about ten years ago after seeing a TV documentary about how coastal areas will vanish due to global warming. I always had a hard time singing it, but since I since I've been using a capo, I finally found my range: I can hit just about any note at a decent volume when I play at the third fret. Initially, this was supposed to be a single take, I recorded myself singing and playing guitar with my USB condenser mic. However, I found the results good enough to add other instruments: I first recorded a second guitar, which developed into the part that is played with an electric on this final version. I used my Telecaster through a simple Guitar Rig 2 (GR2) preset comprising a Vox amp emulation and a stereo tremolo effect.

The bass was also recorded with GR2. The instrument itself was an unexpected find. Since I never actually owned a bass, I always relied on BG's lent by my bandmates, so it was time I got my own. I went to a guitar shop here in Luxembourg, called Stage Music, and tried several instruments. I picked this one up purely based on its look but was surprised to find that it felt the best to me. It's all passive, the action is pretty high and the neck isn't exactly a modern slender cut but it just felt right. It has a very down to earth acoustic tone that reminded me of what I heard on Beatles records.

Anyway, hope you like the song. It still needs drums but I didn't want to ruin it with fake electronic stuff. Maybe someday I can get someone to record live drums for it... Enjoy:

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Tapedeck

This is a little something I recorded tonight using the tapedeck in GR2. I've been playing around with the software, creating new presets. I was aiming for some old school blues/rock overdriven sound and what you hear on this recording is what I came up with.

Tape Deck 2 Apr 01...

Pedalboard In Action

Since I recently posted about my pedalboard, it's only fair that I show you what it actually sounds like. This is an outtake from a 10 minute recording I made by mic'ing up my Park G10 practice amp (basically, a Korean made solid state Marshall). On this piece, you'll hear my Les Paul Double Cutaway guitar (check it out here) using the rythm (neck) pickup, playing through the Boss overdrive and delay units (set to a slight slapback). I'm kicking in the Phase 90 at about a third of the way through the track with an extreme, Leslie-speaker type setting, then roll it back for a slower phasing effect. Check out the crunch this latter setting adds to my tone, I just love it... Oh yeah, the backing track is played on the Boss RC-2 Loop Station (this loop came stock with the pedal). Enjoy!

Live Guitar 1.mp3

Reptile

Here's a recording I made this evening. The song is called Reptile, one of the numbers we're doing with my band, Sixorange. The lyrics were written by Mark Theis, music by yours truly. I also sampled a recording posted on freesound by sagetyrtle (that's the howling wind you hear at the beginning and end of the track). I used my trusty old Samson USB condenser mic for both guitar and vocals. I'm not very happy with the quality of the latter but it's only a demo, it'll do. Oh, by the way, I did get a little carried away, as I sometimes do, and hadn't noticed how late it was. I have a rather "civilized" neighbour who believes that the best way to let me know that I'm too loud is to turn up his stereo, thereby ensuring that everyone gets their fair share of late night entertainment in the building. And he has to have horrible taste judging by the stuff he puts on. (Luckily, my mic didn't pick up his crap oompah techno record :)...) Anyway, dude, if you ever read this, next time you hear me banging away on my acoustic and howling at the moon, feel free to ring my doorbell and tell me to shove it face to face. I ain't gonna bite you...

Reptile (acoustic)...

Going Acoustic

Just had some of the best time tonight. The band decided to bring acoustic instruments for rehearsal and it worked out great. The dynamics of the songs just came out much better that way. We'll keep working on our program like this, it just sounded so good... For one, we could actually hear each other. And I guess it was better for the vocalists as well, not having to fight my 100W amplifier. Anyway I can only recommend it to anyone who gets stuck with working their sound. It's a change of settings and it therefore makes you think differently about your songs. And you also hear a lot more, stuff that you miss when your volume is maxed out. It's really worth a try.

In Effect

Check out my new pedal board. Unpacking and hooking up all my pedals had become quite a hassle, so I finally decided to dish out the cash. I also bought a Phase 90 to complete my floor arsenal. Here's the signal path: Ibanez LU10 tuner -> Cry Baby GCB-95 -> MXR Phase 90 -> Boss OD-3 -> Boss DD-3 -> Boss RC-2.

Originally, I intended to use Guitar Rig 2 running on my laptop in the effects loop of my amp. Although GR2 has an unbelievable amount of effects and awesome amp, speaker and mic emulations and sounds great live, it proved unpractical for many reasons. First, the laptop is much too delicate for the stage. Second, the many features GR2 offers are overkill for a player like me, who tends to use a constant tone throughout the set.

I therefore decided to rely on trusty old stomp boxes. The only effect I had initially was my Cry Baby wah-wah pedal. I then got the Boss OD-3 Overdrive to give me some boost for solos, but I grew fond of the nasal character of its tone. Then I found my old Marshall Drivemaster, which I’ve been using a lot for the last couple of months but has fallen out of favor recently. It tends to be slightly too brash for my taste. I received the RC-2 Loop Station as a gift from my wife this Xmas. That’s an awesome practice and songwriting tool. I love it to death at the moment. However, I haven’t been able to integrate it into my live playing, mainly because of its accuracy. Drummers are less so ;), so the loop eventually falls out of tempo…

Anyway, when I got this far in collecting pedals, I began to think about what other effects I will need. I was definitely sure about a delay pedal, though. I decided to get the Boss DD-3, which is simple enough. It does up to 800 ms of delay but I usually have it set to a slight “slap back” echo to add a little space to my leads and clean guitar parts. I can also play around with the knobs for some weird sound effects. I knew I could also use some sort of modulation effect. While recording at home with GR2, I got into using phaser effects for nice liquid rhythms and outlandish warbling. I chose the MXR Phase 90 for its crunchy tone and utter simplicity. The fact that the rubber cover on the knob allows you to change the speed of the phasing effect with the tip of your shoe while playing, is a great plus.

I now feel that I have a nice array of sonic tricks in my bag to keep stuff interesting without overdoing it. With the new pedal board, I have everything set and powered up, so all I have to do is plug into my amp and play.

El Che

Sometime during the last couple of weeks, a big fuss was made in Hungary about the fact that the youth organization of the Socialist Party presented Che Guevara as a role model to its members. Not long ago, I got an e-mail from a friend, with obvious reference to the fact that I wore a T-shirt with Alberto Korda's famous photograph of El Che at one time, with a link to an article containing quotes from the man, which place him in a light that is obviously much different from that, which the above mentioned leftist youth society would propagate. At first, my gut reaction was to shoot back with some cynical remark, but I found myself questioning my own ideas. Was I wrong to display the image of man who, apart from being driven by compassion for the oppressed people of Latin America, also had a reputation of being violent and ruthless with his enemies? Is his status as the pop cultural icon of hope for the underprivileged cancelled out by the legacy of the totalitarian regime he participated in establishing? I clearly remember this same friend confronting me at the time, claiming that my wearing this T-shirt was analogous to wearing one with a stencil of non other than Adolf Hitler. Is Guevara a leftist equivalent of the Führer?

Of course, my choice of casual clothing had less to do with political inclination than with a certain sense of “cool”. Nobody can deny the appeal that Korda's fortunate shot of the iconic revolutionary has. I'm quite sure that Guevara's cultural impact would have been much more muted if it wasn't for this photo of him seemingly gazing into the future with determination. It also bears an element of provocation against the capitalist establishment, a liberating “fuck you all” by which one may feel the sensation of having asserted his/her individuality. Granted, much the same appeal and effect can be attributed to, say, the Swastika. Both images are tools of propaganda, weapons in the battle for our hearts and minds… Yet I still feel a marked difference between the two.

Is this down to my upbringing? I was born into a leftist family, my grandfather held high office in the socialist Kádár regime. My leftist leanings were also certainly reinforced by the official line of education in Hungary. However, I was also heavily exposed to Western indoctrination, especially during the years spent in a New York public school. I remember a social studies class when the teacher portrayed communism as a sort of oppressive utilitarian ideal, a far cry from the utopia that was presented by the official Marxist curriculum. Nevertheless, to avoid getting into events and issues that would steer me further away from the theme of this post, although I never felt a conviction for communism, I can't deny that I do sympathize with some of its elements. Undeniably, my suspicion towards nationalism and utter rejection radical forms of the same are rooted in leftist doctrine.

I am strongly determined that Nazism is wrong, and thus find offensive any representation thereof. This moral judgment is easily justified by the events of World War II and the holocaust. Ironically, even some present day fascists acknowledge it by their denial of the latter. After all, what need would there be for them to deny the reality of the Ha-Shoah if they were convinced that it was “right”? However, a similar justification exists against communism. The Siberian labor camps mirror the Endlösung of the Third Reich, and Guevara was allegedly involved in setting up the first such “establishments” in Cuba. Why is it, then that I'm not outraged at the use of his likeness on fashion items? Am I guilty of applying double standards? After all, the violent oppression of dissent is a sine qua non element of all totalitarian regimes, whether rooted in ideology or religion. However, there is a pronounced difference, which makes it impossible to regard these two ideologies as opposite sides of the same coin, though it is often overlooked by many these days. Nazi or fascist ideology is based on the idea of the supremacy of a race (be it German, "white" in general or, for that matter, any other group defined along national, ethnic, religious or other lines), which is destined to assert its rule by all available means, not to mention the fact that it draws heavily on traditional European anti-Semitic sentiments. Fascism presents the ideal of a hierarchic society, in which each creed has its place as servants of the supreme race and designates those groups, which have no place in this utopia and should therefore be “dealt with”. This, if anything, is synonymous with outright oppression. On the other hand, even though Marxism admits that the so called dictatorship of the proletariat, in which dissent (ie. the "counterrevolution" of the bourgeoisie) may be suppressed by force, is a necessary transition towards a communist society, it does not call for the extermination of any group of society, be it economic, ethnic or religious. The purpose of this “dictatorship” (actually closer to a certain form of direct democracy) is in essence to prepare the ground through the indoctrination of a new generation, which is free of preconceptions such as possession. It is seen as a station in the progress of history, which inescapably leads to the establishment of a stateless and classless society, in which all men and women are equal. The aim is to free all from oppression, eventually.

In this light, while Hitler is a symbol of oppression based on a false sense of supremacy and delusions of grandeur, Guevara stands for revolt against oppression and the illusion of egalitarianism. It is the hope of such equality that is embodied in the popular image of El Che, the hope of a better world, free of all that which divides us, be it wealth, race, nationality or religion (and, lest we forget, the will to fight for it).

However, is it possible to separate this aspect from communism’s dark legacy? As a totalitarian ideology, communism is inherently intolerant of competing views of the world. Where Marxism has prevailed, this has inevitably meant the suppression of checks and balances, which could have avoided its falling victim to the perversions of power (look no further than Stalin’s Soviet Union). Moreover, the fact that the ideal of socialist society openly clashed with prevailing perceptions and economic realities also increased the damage toll. A classic case of the road to hell being paved with good intentions… Speaking of hell, there exists a comparable totalitarian and egalitarian ideology, actually a religion, the same shortcomings and perversions of which are effortlessly forgiven by many. The crusades, the inquisition, the conquest of the American continent or the burning of Giordano Bruno at the stake come to mind. And similarly to communism and its Che Guevara, Christianity has its fair share of warriors (ie. men whose hands are stained with blood) revered as ideals, even saints. As a Hungarian, St. Stephen I is an obvious example for me. Stephen established the Christian Kingdom of Hungary and is therefore credited for assuring our survival to this day as a European nation. Yet it is difficult to assume that the Magyars willingly gave up their own brand of shamanistic religion, customs and freedom to join the flock of Jesus and become serfs of the king’s vassals. Moreover, Stephen’s decision to mutilate his defeated pagan adversary’s body, although often presented as having been taken under pressure from his (foreign) supporters, is hardly a deed of Christian forgiveness worthy of a saint. Thus, by analogy, it seems that the answer to the above question is yes, to the extent that it is possible and morally justifiable to the masses.

We like to view our icons as being faultless and pure, which is seldom the case in reality. Therefore, when raised into this realm, it is inevitable that certain elements of the personality in question are magnified and others are discarded. In fact, it is no longer the person which is venerated but rather our own perceptions of it. To the chagrin of his detractors, the Che on T-shirts and posters is no longer Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, the erring, reportedly often violent guerilla warrior, but an icon, a trademark, if you will, of the struggle for the emancipation of the oppressed. Look at it this way: stating that your role model is John F. Kennedy does not imply that you feel compelled to commit adultery. By contrast, having the image of Hitler tattooed on your biceps rarely implies that you merely like dogs and Bavarian mountain resorts.

This, of course, does not exculpate Guevara from any of his wrongs, but the display of his likeness does not indict anyone of identifying with such elements of his personality. For the rest: "El conocimiento nos hace responsables".

A 3rd One

Here's the last recording for this weekend. It's something I came up with Sunday morning. It seems I'm kind of stuck with slow minor progressions for now... This is just one acoustic track with some nice stereo reverb. I spent 2 hours trying to come up with a second guitar track, but in the end I just stuck with this. It sounds full enough to stand on its own, and everything I added seemed out of place. Anyway, have a listen:

B minor song.mp3

Another Acoustic Demo

Here's a new one I recorded 2nite with my acoustic. This is a song we've been working on for the last couple of weeks with the band. The main riff and chorus are from our keyboard player, to which we added stuff during rehearsals. The arrangement is (hopefully) the one we came up with last Tuesday. I recorded this demo on 3 tracks panned left, right and center. The guitar on the left has a capo at the 8th fret and plays the basic rythm part. In the center I put another rythm guitar, this time playing the chords at the lowest possible position (even adding the low 5th if the root falls on the A string) to add a bit of dimension. On the right, I'm playing the main synth riff with a slide (standard tuning) and adding some other elements just to keep it constant. Check it out:

Mark's Song.mp3

PS: I did screw up a bit towards the end, falling out of tempo on the last couple of chords. Being the lazy bastard that I am, I just faded the whole thing out before it got really nasty ;)...

New Song

Hey, I just came up with a new thing on my acoustic while I was noodling around. I recorded it using my Samson C01U condenser mic. I haven't got any lyrics yet, but it's the best thing I've come up with in some time. Check it out:

D minor song.mp3

Where's my bandwidth?

That's the latest result:

It's 2:30 AM, for God's sake! This can't be just the traffic.

Scam

I'm paying for 2Mbps Internet access. Here's the result of my latest speed test:

Am I being fucked or what?

Back From the Depths

Ok, so it's been a while since my last post. Went through quite a rollercoaster ride... This is kinda stupid, 'cause I ain't gonna post anything about it. Now way. Just so that you know that a large chunk of what I am will always be missing from here.

Anyway, I'm back and that's all that matters. I'm going to start recording again pretty soon, got new things to do with the band as well, we're doing a Rockhal gig in May. We'll also be recording a demo of three or four songs and try to get some air time on local radio to promote ourselves. On the downside, it seems our singer, Kewin will leave in July (the country boy's moving up to Brussels, where he plans to start a new career in music). Diane may also be off to Germany next semester, so we'll definitely need to find new voices... Or start singing ourselves... Naaaaa :).

Did I already mention our first gig? Man, that was the weirdest shit I've ever done! We backed a Catholic children's choir during the first 30 minutes, then played some of our songs to an audience mostly made up of the kid's parents and the local pensioners' club. Personally, I was scared shitless about what the reaction of that crowd would be. Plus the sound was awful, and I had so many lights in my face, I couldn't even make out the first row. But they actually liked it and started clapping along to the songs and shit... Either we're doing something right or just very, very wrong ;).

Anyway, if people keep coming and going at that rate, we'll need to play more regularly to avoid having a new lineup for every other gig.

Guitar Synth

Here's a recording I made using the new "harmonic synth" unit in GR2:

Texture (short).mp...