rhythm

I spent most of today working on writing and recording percussion tracks.  At the moment this includes turntable scratching and what I like to call "cowbell".  All of the "bass" oriented songs that I've recorded so far I have first written and recorded a bassline, then I listen to it and play along with some sort of rhythm.  I've found that this generally works if I can pay close enough attention to the bass to notice if I speed up or slow down.

First I recorded a turntable track for a song.  The turntable actually sounds a lot less awkward than you might think.  I haven't learned enough about percussion in general to give the tracks a lot of variety, so I try to just sort of go along with the bassline the best I can.  I was actually able to do what I thought was some interesting stuff with the bridge of this track.  I'll have to listen to what I have before I have any further comments.

The second track I tried to record more turntable, but it sounded too similar to what I had just done.  Some people might not notice since the bassline isn't even close, but I would know.  So, instead of wasting my time trying to record something that wasn't working, I recorded a "cowbell" track instead.  Basically, I mess with the EQ settings a bit and it sounds close to the bass drum.  I think this will give me a way to distance myself a bit and hopefully have more luck writing another turntable percussion track.