Sometimes you just have to acknowledge that things aren’t working out. For whatever reason, I could not get the drum, bass, and acoustic guitar tracks to gel. I got tired of tweaking to no effect, and decided it was time to shake things up.

  • Mute the drums and the Chapman Stick.
  • Activate the click track.
  • And break out the Carvin BK5 and lay down an alternative bass track.

In my head I’d always heard the bass lines played on a Stick, and almost instantly, the feel of the piece changed, but in a good way. The change in feel is inevitable: a normal bass guitar lends itself to a completely different vibe than the Stick, but suddenly I was thinking of alternative cool riffs and laying them down in places where, before, magic was missing. This was a good thing. Sure, that one particular riff that kinda wanted to be a Stick riff didn’t sound so cool anymore, but this was offset by all sorts of good stuff coming in elsewhere.

Once I had a good, clean, complete take, I moved to the acoustic guitar, and re-did any part where it wasn’t locked in to the new bass line. Yeah. 

Now it’s back to the drums for the same treatment. There’s some places that need tidying up, and the second half of the track never had anything more than guide drums on it anyway. So… it’s progress. I wish it was faster, but at least I’m happy with the results.

Here’s a teaser: