Shipwrecked... My Sentiments

It's been a little over 4 years since the release of Shipwrecked... My Sentiments. To this day I still have people telling me that they really like the album. In fact, there are some people that are still discovering it for the first time. Thus, I decided to put together a PDF data sheet. Please feel free to download it and share it with your friends.

Download Shipwrecked... My Sentiments Data Sheet (9.14 MB)

Recently I've been working on some keyboard parts for the songs that are going on the album. We have a MIDI keyboard in the studio, which means we can get everything from synthesizer to piano to organ sounds at the click of a mouse button. Sure, each individual sound may not be quite as good as "the real thing", but a MIDI controller is a cheaper solution to a much bigger problem (i.e. many of the top keyboards start at $3,000 CAD). As far as versatility is concerned, you're probably better off with a MIDI keyboard, unless you prefer buying a new keyboard for each sound you need. As I said, there is a difference in quality, but all in all you can still get some great sounds.

So far I've recorded two very simple and very short keyboard parts for two songs (I'm really not much of a keyboard player). Since I know 6-year-olds that play better than I do, they had to be simple. I'm currently working on one last keyboard part for another song, and I've put together some great ideas, but since I'm not exactly proficient with the instrument, it's taking a considerable amount time to put it all together. It will be great once it's done. As far as practice is concerned, it's very difficult to pull me away from a keyboard once I get started, so that shouldn't be an issue.

As a guitarist, I am somewhat picky about my tone. I don't spend hours trying to find the "best tone", but I like to try to get 80 to 90% of what I really want. When I'm playing a bass or acoustic guitar I don't mind as much, but when it comes to electric guitar, if the sound isn't right, I get a bit upset - especially when I've spent a couple grand upgrading my gear.

This year I picked up a Roland JC-120 amplifier, and a Boss GT-8 guitar effects processor. The Roland JC-120 amplifier is beautiful in appearance, and likewise its tone. The clean jazz tones and extraordinary chorus effects coming from this amp are virtually unmatched by any other amp available for purchase (after all, it is called the Jazz Chorus-120). On the other hand, the Boss GT-8 is a very versatile multi-effects processor with dozens of effects, pedal distortion sounds, and amp models. The JC-120 is basically an amp to end all amps, at least in the clean department, and the GT-8 is perhaps the most flexible multi-effects pedal obtainable, and superior - at least for the time - in many ways.

I found it rather upsetting, then, that I wasn't getting any of the sounds I wanted. I wasn't even getting decent to good sounds. I was getting tones that would send a cat up a tree. As it turns out, the reverb was turned up on the JC-120 amp, and as soon as that was rectified, things started to look up again. The reverb knob was thus dubbed the "suck knob." When I thought about it, it made sense. When you already have reverb running through the GT-8, you don't want additional embellishment from the amp. You want to keep the sound on the amp as clean and crisp as possible (which is what the amp does well).

As cool as it is to have this gear in my possession, I can honestly say that not many of my practice hours were spent exploring and understanding it. Moral of the story, know your gear. With the right settings, and a little patience, your gear will work for you. If you fight it too much, you will get goulash.

I had the distinct pleasure of renting and making use of a sleek black Takamine electric-acoustic for this recording project. Renting the guitar for a month proved to be more than affordable, and came in very handy in the studio as well as performing at Thistles and The House.

In the studio, the guitar was used on 4 tracks total - fewer than I would have thought when I went into this project. I had played all the songs acoustically in pre-production, but once I heard the completed drum & bass parts for the songs, it was obvious that certain songs lent themselves to an electric sound. The truth is that you never really know what a song needs until you have the "bed tracks" laid down. It's really all about what the song calls for.

At the three shows I played over the course of the renting period, the Takamine served as my companion and partner. The House and Thistles are both smaller coffee house type environments, so I basically played alone, acoustically, and unaccompanied. One thing's for sure - I'm far more comfortable singing with a guitar in hand. I'm not much of an acoustic player, and I definitely noticed a difference when I went back to my electrics, but once I got on stage it didn't bother me. I guess practice does pay off.

I was a tad melancholy when I had to return the guitar today. My false hopes of keeping the guitar through some miraculous series of events, or getting a really really ridiculously good deal on it, alas, did not happen. I will miss the guitar, but it was a very useful tool for the month I had the pleasure of using it.