stefkeB

Apart from software, there is a wealth of possibilities for guitar sounds. From real amplifiers and stomp boxes till software plugins and combined software/hardware products.

Right now, I'm borrowing a Korg ToneWorks AX3000G from my brother, which is mostly a hardware guitar effects and amplifiers simulator. One machine with a nice range of sounds. Maybe I don't need to buy two or more amplifiers and effects at all.

Dutch song about love and marriage. The kind of song my wife asked me to write. I'm not that good in happy and positive songs, but this one is OK. It probably needs a less mellow arrangement, though, to improve.

Electric guitar duet. This instrumental piece is created while I was finishing my PhD. I was experimenting with guitar-amp plug-ins (Devil BVC), to get a more realistic guitar sound. This combined both a regular recording and the emulated amp. The coda includes a small echo experiment.

Three layered guitars, straight from the Korg AX3000G into Ableton Live. This instrumental is nothing but three riffs with three guitars. It is in 7/4 and is probably one of a series of pieces where I explore 7/4, 5/4 etc... Unfortunately, Live 6 does not support changing this throughout the song, as it was only introduced in Live 7. This could be beginning of a song. I often only create an A and B theme and gradually build them up. This time, there is also a C or "bridge" theme involved.

I often improvise on metal riffs, but seldomly record them. When I borrowed a Korg AX3000G from my brother Peter, I noticed it had some emulations of Mesa Boogie amplifiers, which are often used in current metal recordings. This is an improvised example. Rather slow and with little variation. It uses drum loops.

Riff based rock instrumental. Only guitars and a drum loop. It is a good start of a song, without any words.

Electric guitar with a rock feel, as an arrangement for a stageplay piece. Not happy with the sound, but that's what you get when plugging your guitar into a SoundBlaster line-in card.

Yet another instrumental guitar piece with some synthesizer thrown in for texture and background.

First draft of a re-recording of "Weg" (Away), which was originally recorded in 2000. With better microphone and guitar, now using Ableton Live. But I'm not fully pleased with the drums and the guitar solo right now. A friend once told me that it had something of a Red Hot Chili Peppers song.

Jazzy popsong, about, well, Religion. It was musically originally inspired by "Here In My Head" by Tori Amos, but the arrangement is totally unrelated to Tori Amos music. The lyrics are thematic but also somehow vague, to indicate general directions but with some freedom to give your own meaning to the song. It combines two themes. One about religion and one about loss and death. The two paths are combined and related. This is the first listenable demo from 2000.