Recording: 'It's Not Happening' scratch track

This week, we start a scratch track for a song called It’s Not Happening. It’s been around for a long time, however, for some reason, I’m only pulling it together now. I’m recording in an apartment, with neighbors above, below and beside.

In the last post about recording a scratch track, everything was quite general. In fact, that could be said about most posts involved in recording Alroight Bab.

This time around, I’ll go into some more specific details.

Scratch track: rig run down

As can be seen, there’s nothing too surprising or exhaustive about the rig used to record the scratch track for It’s Not Happening.

Recording the scratch track

The room

As has been noted, this was recorded in a one-bedroom apartment, with neighbors above, below, and beside. I share the apartment with my SO, so there isn’t room for a dedicated, fixed, home recording set up.

With these points in mind, it’s easiest to record my music when I have the place to myself. The only real appropriate place to record is the dining table in our living area.

So, by keeping my home recording setup light, I can setup and take down my recording rig as needed, as I have the opportunity to record.

I’m not posting pictures of the room, because it’s my private home, and therefore none of your business.

The sounds

As shown above, I kept recording the scratch track simple, to the point of just using the Samson monitor with the audio interface, rather than both.

As ever, my Chromebook is at the heart of this, and BandLab will pull it all together.

I started with some acoustic guitar – Taylor TSBT-e. As before, I plugged it straight into the Samson with a 10ft Pig Hog instrument cable.

Then, I moved onto some guide vocals. Different from Alroight Bab, I rested the 2200a, in favor of the Shure 55SH Series II. Maybe for the whole track. On this occasion, I want to see how different it’ll sound, not just in the vocals, but in the whole track.

I connected the 55SH to the audio interface with the Pig Hog XLR cable.

And finally, I put some electric guitar on it. I used my Fender American Standard Stratocaster, for no reason other than the fact that it was out.

For overdrive, rather than micing up my amp, I sent it through my pedalboard, specifically the Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini. That was the dirt that I needed!

I like to keep bothering neighbors to a minimum, and as a scratch track is essentially just a guide, recording like this, without the warmth of a miced up amp, is perfectly adequate.

Conclusion

So far so good. Hopefully, throughout recording this song, you’ll get a more detailed idea of the philosophy of light audio recording.

Here’s what I have to add drums to!

A note about It’s Not Happening

As noted in the introduction, this song has been around for a long time. I can’t pinpoint an exact date, however, I’d guess between 2009 and 2011.

The lyrics reference a Brummie band called Ace Bushy Striptease, who we used to do shows with, and a pub called The Moseley Arms, which was always good for live music from local bands.

Otherwise, I have no recollection of what any of the rest of the lyrics are about.

Regardless, I started thinking about the song again a few months back for the first time in years.

Consequently, I was trying to remember if I had recorded it with Nerve Centre. I could remember lyrics, but couldn’t find them among my notes to verify them, and what I could remember seemed short.

Then, I remembered that there were no more lyrics, because I kept it short, with the intention of giving it an Ace Bushy Striptease feel.

Additionally, I couldn’t remember the guitar chords. So, I had to take some time to figure that out as well.

This song came very close to being lost forever! With the It’s Not Happening scratch track, it’s the start of its savior!

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