Music Lab

23/01/2025

I'm certainly not rising from ashes, I'm just rising up, to take my place. . .

22/01/2024

So let's do a reality check quickly.

The music production industry is indeed a very expensive industry to get into. And while there are many free options, not all of them are "great".

So often, it's rather difficult to, not download a crack or patch for a particular program. Or fight with a free program that says it can intergrate with programs, but the process in so
laborious, and only then do you discover that it doesn't work😞

Sometimes it almost easier to just download the pirated software and use it. But, that's not the right thing to do. So, alternatives and other options need to be explored, as to which, many are time consuming, but accurate and free, at least.

Someone I know had made an interesting comment about a particular program I had looked at. And while technically it was legal to use and the demo version had no restriction or cutoff date, the it's not free window would pop up every time you open the program.

Hmmm...

One day I'll have the budget to buy the cool stuff. Till then, open course here I come. At least I got my opensource JCM 900 plugin.

31/07/2023

I'm hoping to be in the lab this weekend to get through some projects that have been standing due to school starting up.

04/03/2023

More often inspiration gets you on the back foot. When you're unprepared. Like at 11:15pm, and your recording rig is not setup. Neither is you gear🙄🤣

Then you opt for the next best thing
The basic overview of the song. That's the fancy way of saying, just put the time signature in, you'll figure the song out later when you realise all your 6/8 songs are in Bb.

27/02/2023

And the transformation has happened, Blind has now become an instrumental track. The lyrics just were not coming together as desired.

21/02/2023

Carlisle has been working furiously in the lab, to try and perfect a song, that doesn't seem to want to be perfected and finalized. This means that another option or route will be required.

O the joys of song writing. . .

At first the song was gaining momentum, and the sound was great.
Then I don't know happened, but the sound and feel of the song went pear shaped, and no it didn't over eat.

It's back to the drawing board, or rather, the writing booth🤓🙁

20/02/2023

How my sound has evolved over the years

18/02/2023

Tribute time. . .

Again, yes again. This time to my sister, Meghan Puhach.

We met in 2006 I think it was, and immediately we had a connection. We were up until 3am just talking about music, life, and everything inbetween. I suspect the distance was probably what kept us from becoming more than brother and sister.

Ironically, this girl from Barberton introduced me to Skillet. Wow, what an awesome band. Great sound.

There is a song in the pipeline for you Meghan, stay tuned. And it's not as some of the normal songs, it has a very jazzy feel (first attempt but that where the groove is going).

Let's see where it's going.

I have been un

18/02/2023

So MAYBE by some chance, the vocal track for Blind will be done today. It all depends upon what the weather is like and how Matthew copes. Unfortunately you cannot have a screaming baby in the background, you cannot filter it out. And I don't really want him screaming, the poor child. Let's see what the day holds.

17/02/2023

So

New Track:

Blind

Progress:

Still to record additional instruments
Vocals to be recorded (written down as I don't have the full song yet, lyric wise).

It is a very piano driven song, with mainly minor chords, except for the end.

Lyrical composition:

That will be shared on its release as again, it's a song from a personal experience, and I find it easier to explain things through music.

17/02/2023

Song writing has always come naturally, I've been writing since 2003. But they have never been the same when it comes to the writing process.

There have been songs where the melody and lyric just come (Seventeen Years). There are lyrics, but the melody doesn't fit, then years later you tweak it and it works (Run from Evil).

There have been songs that just need a freshening up (Startover), and some that need a new sound (Bring Me New Life).

Then you have a melody, and lyrics, but you just trying to piece it together (Blind)

All of my songs have a story behind them, some longer than others. Music is the way your emotions express themselves. I currently have 3 sets of songs that will fit into my expression albums, but it's to get to that point. But, Out the Box, and That New Album will be pretty much the same, I think. I will finalise everything in the month's to come

14/02/2023

A new track is being cooked up in The Lab called Blind. It is sounding very very different to what I normally write, so I hope it will come out great. Great enough to perhaps do at Eisteddfod this year.

30/12/2022

So, the great transition has commenced. And not without all the small details to consider.

For YEARS, since 2008, when I started recording, I've used Audacity. Audacity is a basic audio recording program. It allows you to add effects to recorded and imported audio tracks. You can manipulate the sounds to a large extent and more, depending on the plugins you have.

The one down side of this was needing to create my instrument tracks externally and then importing them. The guitar I would record in Audacity and run an effects plugin, but the rest needed Musescore.

I was using Drumsite for drums, that had a pretty decent sound, and many people thought I was actually playing the drums, which is not too far off. I definitely do not plan on programming in a beat I cannot play.

It then dawned on me, and with the suggestion from someone I know, just do everything in reaper. Which is what I have started to do. And to be honest, it is easier. The snag that I will work around is the sounds. Not all the plugins available have the same tones that I would get out of Musescore, but there are sounds that musescore never had, or for that matter, you couldn't get for Audacity.

The major advantage of the change is that, if there is a part of the song that needs changing, it's simple. Open Reaper, isolate the section, punch in or reprogram. The major great part is the fact that you can edit the plugin. Audacity would modify the sound and make it impossible to edit after hearing the mix and decide the drive is too crunchy.

I had to figure out the delay (still busy working on that) but so far, I am happy with the move. It took me some time to figure out the whole fade in and out (Yes I finally did the thing we never do, read the manual🤣).

But, I'm happy with it.

I would recommend, if you're on a tight budget, Reaper is a good option.

12/09/2022

Here's the Nelspruit Eisteddfod own composition winning song for 2022.

So this song is about a breakup that happened, seventeen years before the song was written. It tells how we went our ways, and we are doing well. But, why did we feel the way we did if we didn't end u

09/09/2022

Shared with Dropbox

08/09/2022

Writing a song is very different for everybody. And there is no such thing as a secret recipe, at all. There are some helpful guidelines that can get you going, but it comes down to the individual and your style of writing.

In my experience, I have had three types of writing

1) Standard song writing

This is generally a "normal" song.

It gets written, recorded, and generally sounds good. However, I have iced so many of my song like that just because it's not a "complete" song so to speak. It would generally get put on the back burner.

2) Back Burner songs

As I previously mentioned, sometimes songs get put on the back burner. months or years later, you find the song, or get some inspiration to redo the song. Maybe change it up, or redo the melody. Then the song suddenly has a whole new life.

3) Instant songs

These are "rare" if one could say that. But, I've had the experience 4 times in my life. The best one was when I wrote 17 Years.

I was house sitting outside Nelspruit, my wife had gone to spend Christmas with her parents. I had been thinking about my music and the songs I have written over the years. Analyzing them and their lyrical composition and value.

Years ago I wrote a song called "Where are you going". It was written from a place of pain and hurt, and the lyrics explained it clearly. But, I was convicted of that song as it was a song lyrically designed to hurt the other party. I woke up at about 4 am on a Tuesday morning in January, thinking about that break up, but analyzing the different aspect of the breakup. by 5:30 I have the basic rhythm structure in place, and an hour later, the lyrics started coming, followed by the piano riff. Added some bass and electric guitar.

I proceeded to record the vocals and then, the mastering. By then it was just after 7 am.

Job almost done. the bulk load of the song was recorded, now to just tweak it.

But here is the song:

Shared with Dropbox

08/09/2022

So today has been quite a challenging day. I've been editing a song in the hope I can save the vocal track. But sadly, it was all in vein. The track is to far gone. I believe a rerecord is in the air. But then, why not change the song up a little considering I'm redoing it. Here's to a redo come rewrite😎

05/09/2022

So huge congrats to Carlisle Steele for winning the own composition category at the 2022 local eisteddfod here in Nelspruit/Mbombela. Apparently he is planning to enter 2 songs next year, but he will have to see how everything works out as he will be a father at the end of October. Carlisle.

And ofcourse, his recording and backing were done here, at
Here's the song if you would like to listen to it:

Shared with Dropbox