David’s Adventures Through the World of Music Creation and Sonic Exploration

2008 has kicked off at an amazing speed. I do spend too much time at the office and haven’t had the time, inspiration nor excitement to start working with the pile of projects Fred has managed to get his hands on. My old DAW (a trusty Pentium 4 running at 2,8GHz) started to throw exceptions over and over resulting in dull blue screens so it wasn’t really that much fun working with it. And, when my studio space in the apartment is rather limited I turned to software since they only take up hard disk space (and the space on the shelf for the box, unless it’s a download version) and that didn’t really do wonders on the already tired processor.

I’ve finally invested in a new casing, new motherboard, processor, memory, hard disks, everything. It’s a Core 2 Quad at 2,4GHz with 4GB’s of RAM running a 64 bit operating system, and it’s really nice to work with. Waldoft Edition wouldn’t install though, but I’ve contacted the support and they will produce a 64 bit installer. Thank you!

I started working with a remix for the Swedish artist, Pandora, and when I needed a certain sound, I could just load a new instance of Native Instruments Massive or Gforce Minimonsta and start to program it not worrying about overloading the CPU.

When the Massive Disco Monsta Remix of “Don’t You Know” is finished, I’ll be turning to a track by Adam Tensta. As I said, 2008 has started at an amazing speed.

Last Saturday I was back behind the mixing console when Rogalski/Ström (Swedish site - you’ve been warned) performed a fantastic live show for almost 2 hours without a break. Routine job, but it was ton’s of fun. They’re an incredible live band and even if some songs might sound flat on the album, mixed by yours truly, everything comes to life on stage. It’s pure magic!

I’ve been asked to do a cover for an upcoming tribute to a great synth band as well as releasing an album on the same label. I now got three offers and just need the time to do, well, three albums at once. No pressure ;o) First out will be an album released at Hypersound.

To make everything fit in the small apartment where we live I’ve ordered a Studio RTA mixing desk from Thomann. I can have my Logitech G15 (I have the first version with the flip display and blue lighting) and MX510 on the sliding board, the Clavia Nord Modular G2 right in front of me, my E-Mu Audity 2000 and Roland JV-2080 behind together with the Motu 2408 mk3, the Emagic Unitor8 (being on its last legs since it’s a serial interface) and the Creamware A16 (the none Ultra version). And on top, I can have my Dell 2007FP. I know it’ll be pretty high up, but you can tilt the screen so it’s pointing downwards and since we really lack the space I just have to go with what’s possible.

I hope that I’ll be inspired to produce again when I can have most of the stuff permanently hooked up.

Patrik and I have spent some time in the studio working on some music for lyrics I wrote a couple of years ago. It’s electro flavoured and my girlfriend think it reminds of FLA. I’ll keep you posted as we continue to work on the track “Burning Wings”.

A fallen angel with burning wings
Like a tortured soul,
Can you hear her sing?
She miss the peace that heaven brings
Like a mourning soul,
Can you feel her cling to life?

There might be a surprise on the vocals. No, I’m not going to sing with a deep voice and neither is Patrik ;o)

I have my studio setup at the lovely Djurgården here in Stockholm, Sweden. All I need to do is to re-install my computer and install all the plugins that I use. I’ve previously had the computer for misc stuff (basically everything) but it will be a plain DAW now .. so re-installation is the shit ;o)

I haven’t picked up my update to Cubase 4 yet but I will .. anyday now.