Hint maybe ?

[peterp]

Ha, wife just gave me a couple of books  

" the Frustrated SongWriter' handbook " by Karl Coryat & Nicholas Dobson
and
" Set your Vioce Free " by Roger Love

Wonder if it is a hint that I am terrible at this music thingy, or she knows I've been stuck in a loop on that Pirate Songs thing.

Ever since I heard "David Archibad's" Pirate balad lyrics, it is all I can think off, over and over and.....
http://www.davidarchibald.com/audio/DAVID_ARCHIBALD-The_Ballad_o-2.m3u

"Your a Pirate"
"No, I'm not"
"Your a Pirate"
"Oh, I forgot"


.... Arguh.....

[Tony W]

LOL! that's awesome

[SE]

Ha way and up you go, my lagards,splice my main brace and sivere,s my timbers.

[AndyR]

Hey, the "Frustrated Songwriter's Handbook" sounds great.

I have Karl Coryat's "Guerilla Home Recording" book (excellent, I think everybody on this site could benefit from it) as described in the review on amazon. I'm not sure I'd ever read the appendix mentioned before. I just have, and the first couple of paragraphs describe the situation I'm stuck in... I'm sold, time to get me a new book!

[peterp]

I've got one called "The Everything guide to Home Recording" it covers the  basics, not bad to get you started.
That "Guerrilla Home Recording" looks interesting, maybe I'll add it to the next order going in to Amazon.

I've managed the intro chapter to the Frustrated Songwriters book so far, does look like it might have some good ideas further in.

[AndyR]

My "Frustrated Songwriters" was on order from Play almost immediately after posting yesterday!

[Ferryman]

And my "Guerilla Home Recording" was one-click ordered as soon as I read your post Andy!

[AndyR]

Hope you enjoy it and get as much out of it as I did.

I read Guerilla some time ago, when I was using a DAW, before I'd even considered Boss recorders.

My memory of it is it's not any specific techniques it gave me. My over-riding impression is that it taught me how to think about recording in a way a beginner/dabbler can understand.

Eg I already knew compression was a good idea, but had no clue why. So I'd just switch the compressor on and cross my fingers. This book unlocked the mystery of what compression is about and why... and I found it's actually no mystery at all!

There's loads of stuff in there. Some of it causes "D'oh!!" moments (you look round just to check there's no-one watching who might realise you didn't actually know why what you do works), some of it is "yeah, I knew that" (makes you feel good about yourself and trust the book more), and some of it is literally "scales falling from the eyes" moments ("you mean all I've got to do is X... and everything sounds better?" - and you try it, and it works...).

I read it on my daily commute, very enjoyable. Funnily enough, I've never had to refer back to it... (although I might reread it again soon) - it's that sort of book.

EDIT: I have similar hopes for the Frustrated Songwriter book

[AndyR]

My "Frustrated Songwriters' Handbook" arrived last Friday. I started looking at it that evening and then, even with a Saturday filled with new pickups and replacement strat bridges and doing set-ups etc, I'd finished it by Sunday evening.

WOW! lots of food for thought in this book. Not sure I can actually find the time to do the 20-song game properly, but everything in there makes sense. It's certainly going to have an effect on my approach to things.

I'd recommend it to all on here