Category: DCWAVE
19Apr
21Feb
Raw Cut – This is what I am working on next. Written about 10 years ago. Licensed the lyrics and melody through TAXI to another artists but it never went anywhere. Never recorded before. This is the rough guitars to allow me to get the timing down. We’ll see where it goes. I plan on it being much bigger and more bombastic in the choruses and second and third verses.
* Update – A short clip with a preview of where the song is going
Need to add the chorus backing vocals and then re-track the lead vocal.
Then add the lead guitar and some additional ear candy. I thought I would have it finished this weekend but came down with a wicked head cold and can’t hear anything (or sing)
07Dec
Another wall of sound productions from DCWAVE Audio Productions.
(over produced to the max!)
Distorted Guitars, Strings, Pianos, and the raw yet pleasing sounds of Allen McConnell.
20Oct
Hey guys. Got a raw cut for your input. This is DC and Allen – our new name is Eminent A.D.
This is one of Allen’s songs that I have heard people singing after open mic night so I wanted to play around with it a bit and see what I might do to it
All tracks are just scratch tracks. I think we might kick it up a key.
I have thought about pulling the electric guitars during the verse back more and adding piano and bringing in the guitars gradually until the prechorus change then the big chorus. I do know that I want a thick, almost Def Lep vocal during the chorus so that Allen can do a nice intense sounding Gone part up an octave (maybe).
20Oct
Raw Cut
I’m working out the lyrics to this song. It’s dedicated to my 16 year younger brother who is headed to either Iraq or
Afghanistan in a month.
He too is a talented musician. (http://www.myspace.com/114665321). I hope he comes back with all his fingers so he can keep playing.
The verses have to be finished by next Thursday.
Before the end of the year this should be finished. There will be crunchy guitars and a string section.
*Full Lyrics – 3 verses
Had my son playing the acoustic bass (he’s just learning the bass)*
22Sep
This will probably be the only song like this on this site. This is not a rock song, or pop.
The singer is my baby sister. Violins, Cello, and arrangement are my younger brother, and I am piano and engineering.
My dad asked if we could record this song, it’s one of his favorites.
I wish I could get her to do some more songs but she just got married, is finishing her degree, and had a baby 3 months ago…
Oh well…
14Sep
A little ditty – just acoustic for now. But I have plans for it. Just a raw track put up the mic and play
Those of you on anti-depressants should take an extra one or two before listening.
Okay so here is the final version.
This was a tough song to mix, as simple as it was.
Here’s why:
The Guitars, Drums and Bass where recorded as a lesson to some young musicians who were telling me that they could not make a good demo cd because they had crap gear. So I went over to their place with a mobile recording rig and used their gear to record a song.
The guitar and basses were Rogue by Squire (cheap <$100 guitars from Musicians Friend).
The drums where a cheap Tama set.
The Amp was my 25 year old Peavy 30 watt transistor amp and the mic was a radio shack $20 dynamic.
The mic pre and bass DI was a Art Tube MP ($30 mic pre)
Plugin used were freeware or stock plugs.
The results where decent enough for what is was. Until I showed it to Allen, it was just going to be a “when I get to it song” as far as vocals.
Once I recorded Allen, I had a problem. Do I re-track the parts or work with what I have? I chose to work with what I have. It made mixing very hard. None of the tracks would take EQ very well. Compression brought out strange things and getting the vocals to sit right was a chore since they were recorded with a bit higher end chain.
I probably could have re-tracked everything with better gear and spent half the time mixing.
Overall I am pretty happy with the results.
Crunchy preview of mine and Allen’s next tune.
I may retrack the guitars on this. I think this should satisfy those that wanted something with a little more grit in the music.
09Jul
I started working out a guitar riff and the words just kinda came to me. Not sure where it is going to go. Someone told me the chorus sounded too much like a Cheap Trick song, which means I might bury this for a while…
What do you think?
09Jul
Acoustic / Classical
Here in the USA we have a small problem with illegal immigration from Mexico to the USA. It has created many a problem for both citizens of the USA and for those immigrants that end up having their families broken up once they get caught and deported.
This piece was designed to give a musical voice to the that sorrow that can ensue for both the families of the aliens, the citizens, and there is a bit of voice given to the human traffickers that profit from it.
Acoustic guitars, classical strings, horns, and haunting operatic voices are laced through out.
Political song.
In ancient Rome the government distracted the people with Bread and Circuses. This kept the people from rising up and overthrowing their government.
I think I might redo this song with some crunchy guitars chugging along.
A rare song with me singing and my kids doing background vocals
26Jun
Here come the 80s!, I was playing around one day a few months ago and came up with this little number after listening to some old 80s records I had lying around.
Well I sent it off to the music library I use for TV placements and I just learned that it is being picked up for a show on ABC Family (no idea when it will air). They think they are going to use it in a flashback scene, which means at least 20-30 seconds or more. Which means some decent money. I am waiting to hear if they are going to want vocals.
16May
A little number I wrote long ago, but re-recorded the past couple of weeks. I am the singer on this one. Mellow song, finger picked guitar and synth. Guitar is my strat.
Talk To Me
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14Apr
This is a new song that my singer and I are working on. I thought I would post the evolution for the raw cuts.
This is just two guitar parts I had floating around in my head. Allen (the singer) will hand me some lyrics this week and then I can start crafting the music around the lyrics better and start determining what instruments will be playing what parts.
22Mar
This was the first song that I recorded with the singer. He wrote the song and was performing it acoustically when I first heard it. I thought it was catchy and he told me how he heard it in his head, so we recorded what he heard. More wall of sound guitars. This was mixed before my last one, but I needed to hold off on one last part and that was the short guitar solo – I wanted a classic amp for it – a 68 Fender Princeton for the solo… sweet, sweet amp. I think I might need to bring the solo up just a hair.
13Mar
I thought I would post an older song while I am mixing another one with my new singer…
About two years ago my wife was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor in her abdomen. That night I laid in bed wondering what the future would hold. I got up about 1 in the morning and drove a couple of hours into the desert and just sat on a rocky hill listening to the night sounds; the sunrise was one of the coolest I have seen. I went home and came up with this song. It is a couple of years old and its a mellow instrumental with orchestra, synths and guitar riffs. It mirrors my experience just laying there in the middle of nowhere and the feelings I was going through at the time..
This past Christmas my wife was able to successfully have her tumos removed and was given a relatively clean bill of health for the time being.
Desert Voice
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Relationships are often complicated things. We all have walls put up to shield ourselves from others. Its when those walls come down that the relationship changes. Sometimes it’s time to leave.
Crunchy guitars, melodic piano and memorable bridge and chorus create a toe-tapping / head bobbing rock song.
When The Walls Come Down
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