Day #7

Today was an interesting day, and we ventured into something that we didn't expect. Unhappy with the results of our samples, I was seriously worried about the state of our album. A few tracks heavily relied on samples, and I feared that with them, the songs would not sound good, and without them the songs would sound empty. For a brief moment I considered scrapping these tracks entirely and was worried that our album would only feature a few songs. However, I decided to try something that I hadn't tried in a while, but realised it was a last ditch effort to save some of our songs. During the previous summer I had spent a considerable amount of time creating music for independent films back home in Australia, and utilised an unusual technique of playing a semi-hollow guitar with a violin or cello bow. With the right guitar rigs, pedals and effects, such a technique could produce a sound similar to that of a cello, but much darker. I resolved to arrange such a setup again and lay down perhaps seven tracks of my bowed guitar playing on one song with the samples still in the mix. The result was astounding. The very bright, high strings contrasted with the darker, richer bowed guitar tone, yet together they melded a sound that was different, yet suitable for our music. On their own, each part did not seem to fit the music to our liking, but together they created an orchestral presence that filled the missing void in one of our songs. I am very pleased with the progress today, and maybe I'll use this bowed guitar technique in some of these songs in the future.