This is the first of a series of audio exercises / experimental recordings for the purpose of studying the effect of "live rhythm" on hip hop and electronic beats. It took about 8 hours from start to finish, including setting up all of the equipment. The hypothesis I'm testing is whether or not purposefully creating rhythmic imperfections can make the groove more interesting compared to the "looped" version. Since I've gotten used to using a "click track" or "loops" when recording music, I'm hoping that my ability to perform better "live" will improve if I practice recording that way too. No metronome or time stretching/warping was used at any point in the performance, recording, or mixing process. all rhythm is 100% "live" in the sense of coming from a living being and not a computer or a machine/metronome. Each track was recorded live in its entirety on a digital 8-track using a Roland XV-5080 sound module and 2MIDI controllers. The sound module was configured to output Rhodes and B3 sample audio to the 8-track based on the MIDI input, and the stereo outputs were simply moved across the inputs of the 8-track starting from hi-hat, then snare, then kick drum, and finally keyboards. Four stereo recordings were kept on the 8-track: keyboard L/R, hi-hat L/R, snare L/R, and kick drum L/R. These 8 tracks were then transferred from the recorder to a laptop and mixed down using Ableton software. No digital edits or automation was used. Some digital effects and compression were added and the volume was limited and amplified using the Adobe Audition audio editor.
noedits, nometronome, raw, uncut by Katch Wreck