'Rivers', the making of

 

'Rivers'. 

I had been playing with electronic and overdriven guitar just previous to making this one but I wanted to go back to an acoustic tune again for a break.

I had been listening to different styles of acoustic guitar but my favourite is often the old medieval/renaissance 'feel' when I get on the acoustic strings. I don't really know what you call this style. 

I had been experimenting with a few chords and so on but on this particular evening, after a long day at work and also within a week of the first anniversary of my fathers passing; I locked myself away in one evening and finished the tune. After a few run throughs I recorded it live on my phone and directly from a microphone my son gave me into my DAW on the computer in one take.

It is surely technically very imperfect, I'm missing notes and hitting the strings dead at times. However, I felt that I captured the essence. That was enough, so I didn't lose the spirit of the tune.

So, here is the live recording before I added any other instruments, just me and the guitar: 

I'm a big fan of free VSTi's (virtual instruments). So I used a midi keyboard to play these once I started to multitrack it. In my head I was trying my best to play as if they were the real instruments.

So the tracks added after the live recording were:

2nd acoustic guitar - to add a bit more emphasis to the first guitar

Cello

Soprano recorder

Gentle percussion - you can barely hear it but it is there

Chinese style flute

I tried to keep it simple as though it was a small group of people playing in a hall.

Mutant Orchestra - cello

Soprano renaissance recorder

Percussion

Mini DiZi flute

I put together a breakdown of each track so you can hear the instruments separately.

If you have any comments, let me know. 

Probably the best way is through my music page on FB:     Tim Oestmann Music

Thanks for having a look and all the best with your own music making. We all draw from a great river of music and creativity that goes beyond time and boundaries.

 

 

'Fizzer' the making of

 

'Fizzer' started out as an idea of an all electronic tune. I deliberately chose not to use any guitar in the recording. Though I did write the chord progression on my trusty acoustic guitar first; as if it sounds good on a simple instrument, it should, in theory sound good in most arrangements. So here are the chords as I wrote them down. You can see I dated it at 22 August 2021. So, I wrote it in a night basically.

I also was already experimenting with VSTis to pick sounds I was after, and taking notes with every sound that seemed to hit the mark I was after:

I often still use a basic piano roll (by Bram Bos) to get the chords down, as I have been using it for years and it doesn't 'get in the way' of quickly writing down ideas:

I also got the structure of the song down fairly quickly:

The main ideas were to move from minor keys to major keys and move up in sound.

After using Tunafish to get the basics down, I moved over to LMMS, which has become a favourite of mine ot write keyboard based songs. And I wrote the melody using the midi keyboard attached to LMMS. Extra sounds came from the good people at Looperman who donate free loops. Most of the song, as usual is made via my own gear but some of the extra sounds add spice and lift the production a little higher.

Sonar lite 6 is my go-to DAW, as I know my way around it and can refine the sounds. It still took a number of nights and trial and error until I got the final tune. It's made to be partly melodic, partly art noise to be played loud. I used to play in bands for dancing and that has never left me. 

 

I did the final mix in Audacity and used Ozone 8 for the first time to give it more 'wideness'.

Here is a short video of the progression. I always like to push my boundaries. Hope you liked it.

I called the song 'Fizzer', as in Australia the term means 'it fizzles out', as in I didn't expect many to like it. I've been pleasantly surprised so far. Thanks and blessings.  Tim Oestmann  :-)
 

Blue Leaf Green, the making of

 Blue Leaf Green

The title of the song doesn't mean anything, I liked the images the words conveyed.

The background of this tune came out of conversations I was having with a few people about if it is -still- worth the effort to spend time making music. The end result is 'yes', it is part of my DNA and so it is important for me to keep writing, even if only a small number of people hear it. I get something mysteriously beneficial personally out of creating. And 'yes' if a small number of people hear it or download the music, then if other people's lives have been positively connected, encouraged, then that makes me very happy.  I have been told by people that they have used it in various ways. So onward I go.  

This song came from the end of a difficult day, so I locked myself up for a few hours and wrote it on acoustic guitar. I then used computers to provide the backing. I made a little clip here showing some of the putting together:

I partially take clips or pictures of when I'm writing or making a song, so I have a record of how I did it. I also like learning how other people write and record their music, so if anyone (I don't expect many) want to know how I do this, here it is.

I work on a tight budget (for music, after the household is taken care of), so much of my software is freeware or open source and surprisingly good. I have also been gifted a few instruments, computers and music software (and ideas!) from kind souls around on this globe. 

I have a bandcamp page which you can pay what you want - including a '0' if you are under financial pressure for my last decade of music: https://timoestmann.bandcamp.com/

This particular tune - isn't on there yet (as I write this 25 7 2021), as I wait until I have a least four tunes to make an EP. 

However, you can download it from my Soundcloud Page by clicking on the 'download' as shown here:

All the music I write and record is (and loops and samples as far as I check and am aware) are OK to use for personal use if you want, you can share it too. Just not for commercial use without permission. Basically, I'm OK for people to download it. If you want to use it for anything else just get my permission. You'll find me online :-)

I have really appreciated the many musicians who have enriched my life daily and I hope this drop in the big ocean of music will encourage at least a few others.

Blessings. Tim O  

'Sunrise' acoustic live

 Sunrise

'Sunrise' is actually an instrumental I wrote as a young pup in the 1980's. It was influenced by classical guitar, new wave chords, Larry Norman's acoustic guitar playing and just made it up over a number of months. I remember I was still working on it while travelling around Western Australia, so it was written in rooms, on a touring bus and who knows where.

This version above I don't play completely correctly to the original I wrote but it is close. I couldn't actually remember how to play it fully. This clip still captures the essence.

Back in the 80's and early 90's I would play it live at concerts as part of the set and some people seemed to like it. 

I recorded it in a studio back in the 80's also for a friend who was studying sound engineering but I have not heard that tape since. Part of the 'lost tapes' to make it sound more important then it is. I once had a copy of the tape but lost it years ago. 

This version is a mash-up of a 2008 recording I did into a multi-layered, over produced (on very poor equipment) version from the 1980s. I don't mind it but some of the simplicity is lost in translation. I don't regret it though, as music is always an ongoing experiment for me:

And here is the 2008 backroom version that I recorded using a web-like cam, I 'borrowed' from my kids gaming console:

And that's all I have to say about that.

'Couch Surfer' the making of

 Couch Surfer

When Hip Hop first became big (back when we were all younger) I really liked the funky beats, loops and bass lines. The drum-like lyric rapping was also great. I did get a little tired of some Rappers telling us how 'fresh' they were, or  how much money they had, or their unpleasant description of women. However, the - music - was sometimes magnificent in its power and 'in your face' attack.  I still like the beats and bass lines the most and the transformation of that into more melodic genres.

Then there is Chill or LoFi, which I don't actually listen to a lot but is on certain dedicated stations for old stressed and burned out ex-party animals, rockers and Hip Hop kids that have gone over the hill and faraway.

So, having no ideas of my own but a really old CD ROM called 'Hip Hop 3 - Street Style' EJay that I had bought at a thrift shop years ago, I committed a musical crime and used the street urgent, tough, gritty sounds on it and put together a pretty Chill track.

Here is the CD ROM:

As you can see, the gentleman on the front cover is already questioning my actions and not sure what to think about my musical genre pushing.

For me, it was fun. Here is a short clip as I was in the process of making it (just set up my mobile/cell phone on time lapse):

Even though I made the whole thing on computer using samples off the disk, I still needed to mix it and it all takes time:

So, whatever you think of it, it was good to have a break from trying not to fall into the same playing and it is what it is, so chill :-)

 

  

 

Going Home

After spending so long to make the last song (Spark) I decided I wanted to make a really simple tune and make it piano based. The title 'Going Home' is really from meditation on the world at the time of writing this and also losing people in my private life. So it's a sad but yet hopeful little ditty.

I wrote the initial chords on acoustic guitar and then transferred it to keyboards. I had my wooden headed companion to help me out.

I can play basic keyboard but find keeping in time difficult, as don't have a great sense of time, so I write on to a piano roll in LMMS and then tidy it up. I rarely quantise music, even though I use a midi keyboard to computer, as I don't want it to sound too perfect. I prefer to try and keep the original feeling, even if there are minor mistakes.

Even though the tune is simple, it still took a lot of work to try and get it tight and sounding 'right' to my ear as you can see from some of the files:

Some of the piano roll, using LMMS DAW:

And the final mixing together, as usual, I used Sonar LE:

Some of the VSTs used: 

Wooden Man says 'hello' to you and thanks for reading this ;-)

 

'Spark', the making of

 Spark

'Spark' actually took about six months to write. I had an initial idea for a purely electronic, computer built tune but I over layered it too many times and by the end had a complete cacophony of  sound. I had backed myself into a musical corner and needed to get out again.

If you look at the original chords, they sounded good, but I'm really a simple tune writer with a pop sense and I had bitten off more than I could chew. 

I also tried different instrument sounds and I'd go off on tangents and then lose the way.

Here are just a few of the WAV files and different program files out of many more I had:

So, I decided to go back to the beginning and start from scratch, ditching the purely electronic idea and bring in the guitars. Once I had brought in the guitars, then it started to focus itself again.  Here is a live solo I did (recorded on webcam) which became part of the tune:

Once it started to get a clearer direction, then it was a matter of tidying it up, re-inserting some electronic music I had made, but this time, it was more of a background orchestration with the guitars as the lead instrument. 

Here are some screenshots of FX and Guitar tones (Line 6) I used in it, including the piano roll I wrote on Sonar and also the synth sounds I wrote using LMMS

So the tune could have gone in many directions but I'm happy enough to leave it as it is now. When you start a song, what you end up with is sometimes a lot different than what you first envisaged, that's part of the joy of making music and I'm always grateful to have the opportunity.

 

Slow Beach Walking, the making of

 Slow Beach Walking, the making of

Slow Beach Walking was really a nod to the first wave Californian and Australian Surf Guitar sound.  I hadn't written 'Surf' for a while and thought it was due time.

I had been playing around with a guitar I had received and this tune really came out of the sound the guitar was giving; the twangy, bright sound.

The background music I put together as sparsely using keyboards, 2nd guitar, bass and drum samples (I don't play drums). I mixed it to try and give that 60's tinny/ treble sound.

The name is what I could picture while playing it.