This one started with a sparse and syncopated rhythm I imagined, and grew a bit organically from there: first vibes (removed) and PureMagnetik Berlin electric piano, and then PureSalem Mendiola guitar lines (straight into the Focusrite). Finally, a pass with Epiphone bass. My timing is very loose on this one.

There's the usual processing here: Drums are the 64 Pad Kit Jazz with Humanizer. Bass gets the usual EQ-8 rolloff. One guitar gets high-pass Auto-Filter with drive. Sends: one echo and two convolution reverbs (one large, one small). Wide & Warm audio effect rack preset on the output.

The title comes from NGC 89, a peculiar spiral in Robert's Quartet.

A very collage-like piece, tracked Friday night and Saturday. I started with an odd drum track with Ableton's 64 Pad Kit Special, added a few keys with PureMagnetik Rhodes (Berlin), and then tracked several loops with bass (new D'Addario half-round strings replacing the flats; there should be a touch more high-end) and PureSalem Mendiola through Reuss RF-01 and Vox Wah. The result? Kinda dense, maybe.

Sends: two convolution reverbs (with high-pass in front), Valhalla Supermassive, and Echo with modulated Auto-Filter in front, as a pouring-one-out in honor of Lee "Scratch" Perry.

Inlines: Max Humanizer on drums, EQ-8 for low-end rolloff on bass (still), some high-pass Auto-Filter and Cabinet on guitars. Wide & Warm audio effects rack preset on the stereo mix.

Title comes from 87 being the international calling code for (apparently) phone calls to Inmarsat.

I didn't begin this one until Saturday evening, with a sense of doing something sparse--a bit like Bark Psychosis, though this did end up going in another direction. Having checked out a few Ableton Loop sessions, I also thought to use the clip-level probability interface for the drums and keys--in these cases, usually the first beat is at 100%, but subsequent notes were at 75-80% probability.

Drums are Ableton's 64 Pad Kit Special, with a bit of Max Humanizer, and sends to convolution reverbs.

Bass is the usual 80s Epiphone Embassy II, with some EQ-8 low-end rolloff, and sends to the reverbs for air.

The keyboard is LABS soft piano, with Auto-Pan and a send to an Echo plugin.

Guitars are 2008 Danelectro baritone on both pickups, with inline high-pass Auto-Filter with drive, and sends to the reverbs.

The title comes from the fact that this is week 78 since the beginning of 2020, so...78 rpm records came to mind.

Happy halfway-point!

Another quick-recording/long-editing piece. This one started just as some drum syncopation, with a few atmospheric keys...and then kind of came together with bass and guitar.

Drums: Ableton 64 Pad Kit Jazz, with Max Humanizer
Keys: PureMagnetik Berlin electric piano
Guitar: PureSalem Mendiola through Vox Wah; one channel with Auto-Filter drive
Bass: 80s Epiphone Embassy II with EQ-8 low-end rolloff

Sends: convolution reverb (with high-pass Auto-Filter in front), Echo, Valhalla Supermassive

Master full-chain audio effect rack on the output.

Title comes from Messier 76, the Little Dumbbell Nebula.

Kind of like last week's, this week's tempo was all over the place before I tracked guitar and bass. Finally it seemed like uptempo dub, so here we are. Percussion is the 64-pad Jazz Drum Rack, 64-pad Dub Techno kit, Impulse of some hand drums I have, and hand claps. Keys are Puremagnetik Mark I Rhodes, Drawbar, and CP-70. Guitars: baglama-tuned Heit Deluxe for clean-ish rhythm, and Epiphone Moderne (Reuss RF-01 Fuzz and Vox Wah). Bass is the usual Epiphone P-J (with EQ8 to roll off lows).

Sends: auto-filter to roll off lows before a convolution reverb (marble foyer), and two Echo channels, one Dub Syndicate with high-pass, and one Analog Triplet with an LFO-bandpass filter in front. Full-chain master on everything, and auto-pan on the keys and percussion.

I submitted this, and then listening back...didn't like the lower mids. Here's a corrected mix (still on Sunday!)

Title from the use of erbium in lasers..

Started planning toward a dark ambient piece, and then wrote a funky bassline. Whoops.

Drums: Drum rack of dry funk drums, with auto-filter high-pass with resonance on both the kick and snare. This also went through a bit crusher, which I automated to vary throughout the track. There's also a 909 kick in places, and some hand claps.

Bass: Epiphone P-J into the Focusrite, with a bit of convolution reverb. Sidechained to the kick.

Keys: Ableton Electric (Wurlitzer) getting Auto-Filter with drive and Auto-Pan for tremolo, Ableton Analog (Glass2 Hollow), Bastl Kastle

Guitar: Epiphone Moderne into the Focusrite, Ableton Auto-Filter (band-pass with drive) and Auto-Pan (tremolo).

M4L Humanizer on all MIDI instruments except the keys, Auto-Pan on almost everything for spatialization, and Full-Chain Master on the two-channel output.

Title...from the election in France, which was better news than not. And it's the anniversary of Dien Bien Phu, so there's that too, if you prefer.