It was a bit of a slog getting “Arms and Hands” done, and it’s been kicking around for a year or two now. I finally got some not-half-bad vocals recorded for it (using the ShinyBox ribbon mic) and now here it is.
Mostly keyboards this time, incuding the Kawai, the MicroKorg, and an accordion. The drums are an Alesis SR-16 sent through a Dean Markley amp — one of those tiny ones with a clip to put on your belt. There’s also, on the chorus, a couple of tracks of ball-point pens.
Possibly I should make sure to update this more regularly, rather than adding 3 songs in one day.
“Thanks to the Wishing Well” is my entry to a MetaFilter challenge to write a song with only two chords; this one uses D and G.
Instruments used, in order of appearance: Autoharp, marimba, marxophone, triangle, glockenspiel, and accordion.
I have a couple of other songs in different stages of completion that might only use two chords, but when I was messing around with one of them I accidentally wrote this one instead. Lyrics came about through one of my favorite methods, the “open your mouth and start making sounds” method; once I knew what the song was about I was able to figure out the rest of it.
Technical notes: There are actually two autoharp tracks. When figuring out the structure, I took single autoharp chords and cut and pasted and looped them; that track is still there, panned all the way to the left, and then there’s a straight-up ‘harp track dead center.
No electronic instruments, a rarity for me. Everything was recorded with the ShinyBox ribbon mic. Backup vox were recorded through the Electroharmonix Voice Box, and they’re doubled with a second, higher octave on top, but I can’t pick it out in the mix.
This arose from a songwriting exercise where you look around you and quickly write song titles based on whatever is lying around. For instance, I’m in the dining room right now, and I see a mug, a telephone, a piano, a ceiling light/fan, and a cat. Okay, so going as fast as I can and thinking as little as possible, I make up the song titles: “I Love Your Mug,” “1-800-THIS-SONG,” “88 Keys That Don’t Open Anything,” “Blow Out the Light,” and “Hey, That’s My Cat.” Obviously, most song titles you get this way will suck. But every now and then you’ll get a good one; one that never would have otherwise occurred to you.
It must have been around Christmas or someone’s birthday when I came up with this one.
Technical details: Let’s see. There’s Autoharp with a split signal panned, unevenly, L-R. Toy piano. Synth bass (Alesis Micron). Combination of real and fake drums (the snare is real; the kick is fake; the cymbals, I think, might be both). One lead vocal and a couple of backups; the backups were recorded bit by bit as I figured parts out. I think that’s it; it’s a pretty simple song.
More than anything else, I like making catchy bubblegum pop songs. “I’m Not So Sure It’s Not a Broken Heart” is one of those (high-quality versions are available here). Autoharp, marimba, and a whole lot of new wave synth.
I wanted that choppy rhythmic sound for the autoharp (the second sound you hear, right after the synth bass starts) but I didn’t know how to do it, so I asked on MetaFilter and it turns out that it’s done with a compressor and a ”sidechain.” So, there’s something new.
Technical details: There are two autoharp tracks — one with flange or chorus or something and the other one overdriven and run through a sidechain noise gate (see above!). There’s also marimba, Alesis Micron, a tiny bit of piano, and four vocal tracks. The drums are the Boss Dr. Rhythm (except for a couple of actual cymbals); the handclaps are the Boss HC-2 clap pedal.
Finally, I can’t really tell if my own songs are actually catchy, so let me know if you find yourself humming this one tomorrow or the next day.
Finally, after years of trying, I got a Marxophone off of eBay last week. A Marxophone is a gadget zither manufactured in the early-to-early-mid 20th century, and was often sold door-to-door. It has fifteen sets of doubled strings and fifteen spring-loaded hammers; pressing down on a hammer causes it to bounce off the string, creating a mandolin-like trill. More information about Marxophones can be found on the internet.
So, like I said, I finally got one last week and it felt like it might fit in with what I had been vaguely considering for my requested cover version of Nick Lowe’s song. I tried it out and thought “yeah alright” and banged it out that day, autoharp and vocals and all.
MetaFilter’s own es_de_bah takes over vocal duties on this one — I didn’t feel like I was the right person to sing it, and so I spent some time going through the “Music Collaborator” Mefi Wiki page until I found someone who would be. (It was his excellent song “a perfect preservative” which made me consider him in the first place.)
In addition, my dad plays trumpet; I play Magnus chord organ, flute, and interesting percussion. It’s a waltz.
Technical notes: The chord organ is this one. Emily found it out in an alley with someone’s garbage; it just needed a new power chord, is all. You can hear the fan whirring up to speed just before it comes in.
There are two trumpet tracks — one played with a mute, one without — and I think three flute tracks (they sort of mush together). There’s also a piano in there but it may be a little difficult to pick out unless you know what it’s playing already.
The percussion: there’s a cymbal hit while sitting on the floor and then slowed way down, a triangle pitch-shifted and distorted, and a stalk of celery being twisted in half. It’s fun to make your own noises.
Thanks again to Rob (es_de_bah) for agreeing to work with me on this one. Enjoy!
I played toy piano and marimba on a cover of Yo La Tengo’s “My Little Corner of the World” by an Argentinian fellow named Alantl, whom I met through MetaFilter. Listen to the song over here.
Here’s a song that I sing to my cat, who, like the song, is named Henry Pants. Because he has a lot on his plate and a short attention span besides, this song is less than a minute long. It features autoharp, glockenspiel, and the “Min-O-Matic” rhythm box.
Fun Facts:
1) The “choked” autoharp in the beginning is achieved by holding down two chord buttons at once, so that the only undampened note (F, in this case) is the one common to both chords (F and Bb). Mechanics!
2) I slowed the song down a little bit in order to sing the harmony part. (I sped it back up again afterward.)
3) Everything in this song is hard-panned. The lead vocals are up the center, autoharp all the way to the left, and everything else all the way to the right. (There’s a little bit of autoharp on the right, too, because I forgot to unplug the monitor speakers when I recorded the harmony vocals.)
4) This is a fun song to sing. You can sing it to your cat (or dog! or…hamster?) if they have a name that rhymes with “Pants.” If you are not so fortunate, I guess you can sing it to this picture of Henry Pants, himself. Here are the words.
