soundgasm.net

dont-you-know_vocalMix_june2025
This little tune just popped in my head on my way home from the Grocery Outlet a couple of days ago, and I harmonized it the same day by adapting some chord progressions I had recently been working on for an instrumental piece... it's a happy, fun tune, not the style of song i would intentionally write... but, since it's catchy and fun to play, I recorded it the same week... hope you dig it... recording process: starting with the beatboxed "live click" track, I added the electric bass guitar (tuned EADGC), and finally put the vocals down as the third track... no chopping, looping, metronomes, time-stretching, warping, quantization etc... high pass filters were applied to the bass & vocal tracks... stereo mixdown using Audacity
Play Count: 578

dont-you-know_instrumental_june2025
Came up with a tune today while walking home from the Groce(ry) Out(let)... the melody and the lyrics just popped into my head, so i harmonized them into a 16-bar chorus, and made an intro & outro for it... i'll try to do the vocal part later! ... recorded using a beatboxed "live click" track on the first track, and then the electric bass guitar part on the second track (tuned EADGC). no quantization, metronome, warping, time-stretching, chopping, etc. high and low pass filters applied to the bass track. stereo mixdown using Audacity.
Play Count: 149

flyMe_aka_inOtherWords_fiveTime_May2025
Here's an updated version of "Five Me", an arrangement of Fly Me to the Moon in 5-time, for a 5-string electric bass guitar tuned EADGC... This time, I used an alternating on/off beat rhythmic pattern, giving it a more intricate feel than before... i used the same basic recording process as before: 1) beatboxed the "live click" track, 2) recorded the bass track... Recording was mixed using Audacity with no quantization, time-warping, looping, slicing, or other edits... lowpass and highpass filters were applied to the bass guitar track, and the volume and panning was adjusted for a stereo mixdown.
Play Count: 171

G-minor_suite_for_bass_guitar__may2025
here's an updated version of my G-minor suite for bass guitar, May 2025 edition... i have recorded bits and pieces of this suite before, but never in its entirety, and also never on my electric 5-string G&L bass guitar (tuned EADGC)... the recording process was as usual: 1) beatboxed "live click" track recorded, 2) electric bass guitar track recorded. monophonic mix (Audacity). no edits, quantization, warping/looping, or time stretching used. the bass track was filtered using a 24 dB/octave high-pass filter centered at 66 Hz (to reduce boominess of the subharmonics), and with a 12 dB/octave low-pass filter centered at 4400 Hz (to reduce fret noise and cable clicks/pops). other than that, only volume adjustments were made.
Play Count: 300

seven_pentatonic_blues_may2025
This collection of blues grooves was developed using the concept of a pentatonic "blues generator" riff, which was good enough to be used as a sequence over a standard 12-bar blues progression, transposing the same pentatonic riff to the tonic, subdominant, and dominant scale degrees... Four of them are in A minor, and three are in E minor... I arranged the seven to alternate from A minor to E minor (Am-Em-Am-Em-Am-Em-Am)... Each one was composed individually, with the E minor ones dating back to audio logs I had made several years ago, well before I came up with the idea of a "blues generator" riff... But once I had this idea in mind, it became obvious on review that that's what they were! ... When I injured my ring finger on St Patty's Day, I could only play pentatonic scales and that's when I started working on pentatonic blues forms for almost a month straight... happily i did regain function of the finger and i could use it on these recordings :) ... the process was the same for each groove: 1. record the beatboxed "live click" track, 2. record the bass track... after that, each recording was mixed in stereo using Audacity, with only volume and pan adjustments (no filters etc.), and then combined back-to-back into a single FLAC file using Audacity.
Play Count: 252

immanuel_dub_drum-bass-piano_apr2025
pre-release version of "Immanuel Dub", produced to honor the memory of Joseph "Imannuel" Brown, lead singer of Dub Astronauts (Ithaca, NY) recording process: 1. bongo "live click" track (not in the mixdown) 2. bass (5-string Sadowsky bass guitar, with flatwound steel strings for EADG, and a pure-nickel tapered flatwound string for the low B) 3. synth piano (Roland XV-5080 rackmount module, Studio Logic 73-key fully-weighted MIDI controller) 4. then, tracks 1-3 were digitally transferred from San Francisco CA to Denver CO 5. drums were recorded in Denver, using 3 channels (kick, snare, and overhead), and digitally transferred back to SF once I got the drum tracks from my friend in CO, I mixed everything down using Audacity on my Windows 10 laptop :)
Play Count: 72

ten-jazz-standards-for-bass-guitar
here are the 10 jazz standards i have arranged for bass guitar, and recorded demos of to document the arrangements. two of the tunes were recorded as pairs, yielding a total of 8 recordings, which are arrange here in the following order: 1. Lullaby of Birdland (Ab Major) 2. Fly Me to the Moon (5:4 time, C Major) 3. Blue Bossa (G minor) 4-5. Where or When > There Will Never Be Another You (Eb Major) 6. These Foolish Things Remind Me of You (Eb Major) 7. Out of Nowhere (6:8, G Major) 8. Night and Day (C Major) 9-10. Autumn Leaves > It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing > Autumn Leaves (G minor) below are the streaming links for each of the individual tracks, listed in the same order: 1. https://soundgasm.net/u/katchwreck/lullaby-of-birdland_feb2025 2. https://soundgasm.net/u/katchwreck/flyMe_aka_inOtherWords_fiveTime_Feb2025 3. https://soundgasm.net/u/katchwreck/blue-bossa-feb2025 4-5. https://soundgasm.net/u/katchwreck/WhereOrWhen-ThereWillNeverBeAnotherYou_jan2025 6. https://soundgasm.net/u/katchwreck/theseFoolishThings_jan2025 7. https://soundgasm.net/u/katchwreck/outOfNowhere_6-8_jan2025 8. https://soundgasm.net/u/katchwreck/funky-night-and-day-feb2025 9-10. https://soundgasm.net/u/katchwreck/funky-autumn-leaves_into_dont-mean-a-thing_feb2025
Play Count: 47

flyMe_aka_inOtherWords_fiveTime_Feb2025
Here's my 2nd attempt at a 5-time version of Fly Me to the Moon (aka In Other Words). Compared to the version I recorded in January, this time I slowed down the tempo considerably, and tried to go for more of a "legato" feel in the phrasing, especially on beats 4 & 5. Note that this recording is mostly meant for sharing with other musicians to explain what I'm going for, and are not intended for release. Recording process: 1. beatboxed the "live click" track (one take) 2. played the bass track (one take, G&L 5-string tuned EADGC) Mixed to FLAC using Audacity. No quantization, warping/time-stretching, chopping, looping, or metronomes used. 66 Hz highpass filter with 24 dB / octave rolloff and 2000 Hz lowpass filter with 12 dB / octave rolloff used on the bass track. Other than that, only volume & pan adjustments were made.
Play Count: 146

funky-night-and-day-feb2025
This is a re-do of this previous post: https://soundgasm.net/u/katchwreck/funky-night-and-day-dec2024 the bass track was re-recorded using the same beatboxed "live click" track, and then the corresponding Audacity project was updated with the new bass track and re-exported to FLAC. The recording process was otherwise the same as described in the previous version (from December 2024)
Play Count: 149

blue-bossa-feb2025
For this "updated" version of my "Blue Bossa" rendition, as before in G minor (instead of C minor), but this time using my newer 5-string G&L electric bass guitar tuned EADGC... As before, I added my original introduction (with a slightly compressed form compared to last time), but this time, I slowed down the tempo... There's also a new "tag" type of riff (based on the G-minor-pentatonic scale) that I throw in occasionally on this version, which is also used as an "outro" at the end... Recording process: 1. beatboxed the "live click" track (one take); 2. Electric bass guitar track (one take)... No looping, quantization, time-stretching/warping, chopping, etc. was used... There was a 66 Hz Highpass filter applied to the bass track, using a 24 dB-per-octave rolloff. Also, some volume and panning adjustments were made, during the stereo mixdown process (via Audacity).
Play Count: 195

lullaby-of-birdland_feb2025
I was inspired to do this version by the Cal Tjader & Mongo Santamaria version of this Jazz standard, "Lullaby of Birdland" (Shearing & Weiss): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lullaby_of_Birdland Recording process: 1. beatboxed "live click" track (one take) 2. electric bass guitar track (one take, 5-string G&L tuned EADGC) I did do one "fix" of the performance: the first "F major" triad out of the bass track was shifted slightly earlier in time, because it came in slightly too late (at around 43 seconds in, right at the beginning of the "B" part). Oops! Other than that, there was no editing, chopping, effects, quantization, time-stretching/warping, looping, etc: Only basic volume & pan adjustments. The Cal Tjader & Mongo Santamaria version can be found on Track 21 of the 1993 CD release of this 50s recording: https://www.allmusic.com/album/black-orchid-mw0000100385#trackListing
Play Count: 569

funky-autumn-leaves_into_dont-mean-a-thing_feb2025
Inspired by the Mel Torme 1957 recording of Autumn Leaves, I sandwiched Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got That Swing)" into this "funktified" arrangement of these two Jazz standards. I will admit to using two corrections of the actual performance, on two of the notes of the bass track: 1) I lowered the volume on one note, and 2) somewhat more egregiously, I slightly nudged another note to the left (probably about 50 ms), because my right hand came in just a touch too late on that note... with apologies to purists, this is meant mainly as a "practice track" for other band members, and so "99% live" is close enough to "100% live" as I need for my current purposes :) Recording process: 1. beatboxed "live click" track (one take) 2. electric 5-string bass guitar (customized G&L tuned EADGC, one take) Postprocessing included: volume & pan adjustments, volume adjustment on one note, and also chopping one other note out and nudging it about 50 ms to the left (earlier in time). also, a 24 db/octave high-pass filter centered at 66 Hz was applied to the bass track. no quantization, warping/time-stretching, looping, or metronomes were used.
Play Count: 209

flyMe_aka_inOtherWords_fiveTime_Jan2025
Here's an idea for "Fly Me to the Moon" (originally titled "In Other Words") in five-time. I had been planning to do this in 6-8, but because I am doing so many other standards in 6-8, and also because this one is especially "played out" (because the Sinatra+Basie version was such a big hit), that I decided doing something a little more unusual with it might be better :) Recording process: 1. beatboxed the "live click" track (one take) 2. played the bass track (one take) using my 5-string G&L electric bass guitar (tuned EADGC) Recorded onto SD card using a dedicated digital 8-track (Zoom R16), transferred to Windows10 laptop, and mixed with Audacity. No filters, processing, quantization, time-stretching/warping, loops, or chopping used --- only basic volume & pan adjustments (stereo mix).
Play Count: 394

outOfNowhere_6-8_jan2025
"Out of Nowhere" in 6-8 time, originally by Johnny Green & Edward Hayman (Bing Crosby's 1st hit song): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_Nowhere_(Johnny_Green_song) Recording process: 1. beatboxed the "live click" track (one take) 2. recorded the 5-string electric G&L bass (one take, tuned EADGC) All tracks were recorded using a dedicated Zoom R16 digital 8-track, transferred from SD card onto a Windows10 laptop, then mixed with Audacity using minimal processing (volume & pan adjustments). a high-pass filter was added to the bass track, centered at 66 Hz, with a 24 db/octave slope. No quantization, looping, metronomes, warping/time-stretching, etc. was used.
Play Count: 503

theseFoolishThings_jan2025
Here's a rendition of "These Foolish Things Remind Me of You", by "Eric Maschwitz, writing under the pseudonym Holt Marvell, and music by Jack Strachey": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/These_Foolish_Things_(Remind_Me_of_You) Recording process: 1. beatboxed the "live click" track (one take) 2. one take for the 1st chorus (chords/harmony) 3. punched-in the second take for the chorus 2 (melody) recorded using a Zoom R16 dedicated digital 8-track, onto SD card, and transferred to a Windows10 laptop. Stereo mixdown using Audacity, with no filters, processing, or chopping (aside from volume and panning adjustments). No quantization, time-stretching/warping, looping, or metronomes used.
Play Count: 181

WhereOrWhen-ThereWillNeverBeAnotherYou_jan2025
Two jazz standards back to back: "Where or When" by Rodgers and Hart, into "There Will Never Be Another You" by Harry Warren and Mack Warren (both in the key of Eb major). The recording process was as follows: 1. beatboxed "live click" recorded first, in one take 2. bass recorded second, also in one take, using a G&L 5-string (EADGC tuning), plugged into a David Eden tube preamp All tracks were recorded using a dedicated digital 8-track onto SD card (Zoom R16), transferred to a Windows 10 laptop, and mixed down using Audacity. Highpass filter (60 Hz, 24 dB per octave) and lowpass filter (2000 Hz, 12 dB per octave) were applied to the bass, to tighten up the tone and remove "pop" noise, respectively. Other than that, no editing, quantization, time-stretching/warping, loops, or other processing was applied.
Play Count: 441

lets-do-it-dec2024
The idea for this song came to me while listening to a heart-wrenching story from one of John's neighbors about the aftermath of the Balboa St liquor store robbery in the Outer Richmond, in which her friend who worked there (John) was killed (https://abc7news.com/richmond-market-san-francisco-employee-killed-baseball-bat-beating-sf-vigil/13724077/). I had joined her on her porch, acoustic guitar in hand, and while she was telling her tale, I started to hear some parts of this song. It was as if they came to me from somewhere outside of myself, and I immediately found the chords on my bass guitar that matched the key of this powerful and ethereal music that I was hearing in my head, while listening to her story. Later, I was playing these chords, and I came up with some lyrics that seemed to fit. I decided to write this song to honor John's memory, because he was someone that everybody in the neighborhood loved and cared for. It's people like John that help make the Outer Richmond neighborhood what it is, and I hope that this song can serve to honor John's memory and to honor the entire Outer Richmond neighborhood. This song is a message that we should try to carry on John's spirit of strength, courage, generosity, helpfulness, and protectiveness. This was recorded in a single session, but using separate takes for the intro section and the main part. The arrangement is still unfinished, and I cut out some parts from the second half, because they were adjacent to parts that didn't make the cut. I would like to put back in for the final arrangement at a later time. The vocals come in at the end of the song --- i hope the intro is not overly-extended at 2 minutes in length! The recording sequence used for this recording was: 1. a "beatboxed live click" track (not present in the mixdown) was put down, 2. electric bass (G&L 5-string bass, tuned EADGC) 3. synth drums (Roland XV-5080 sound module and Studio Logic SL73 MIDI controller) 4. synth piano (same Roland/SL keyboard rig) 5. vocals (only appearing at the end of the song)
Play Count: 225

funky-night-and-day-dec2024
here's an idea for a funky version of "Night & Day" by Cole Porter, using an electric bass guitar over a "beatbox click" track. G&L 5-string tuned EADGC into a David Eden tube preamp, and then recorded in one take onto an SD card via a Zoom R16 digital 8-track. mixed with Audacity using a Windows10 laptop. trimmed the instrumental intro down and added a fade-in, but otherwise no other effects or processing added.
Play Count: 154

a-minor-winter-solstice
very rough take on a new intro for a tune in a-minor that i've been working on... started with the "beatbox click" track, then added the electric bass guitar track (G&L customized 5-string, tuned EADGC). Recorded to digital 8-track (Zoom R16) onto SD card, then transferred to a Windows laptop, and mixed with Audacity. just in time for the Winter Solstice! :)
Play Count: 143

D-minor-blues-jam-dec2024
Sometimes a simple groove is all you need :) This time, I tried beatboxing the "live click" track, instead of using my bongos. After putting down the beatboxed "live click" track, I recorded the bass jam using my customized 5-string G&L electric bass guitar, tuned EADGC, running it through a David Eden tube preamp into a digital 8-track (Zoom R16). The Zoom R16 digital 8-track saves each input as a WAV file on an SD card. Then, I moved the SD card to my laptop, loaded the WAV files into Audacity, and mixed them down to a 16-bit stereo FLAC file at 44.1KHz (lossless compression).
Play Count: 148

LeosShufflePlusStumpJam
This is an arrangement of three different grooves: Leo's Shuffle, named after the great Leo Fender, was the 1st groove I wrote using my new customized G&L 5-string bass (strung EADGC). The other two were written on my 4-string Breedlove acoustic bass guiar (strung ADGC): Stump Jam was written while sitting on a stump by Spreckel's Lake in Golden Gate Park, and several months later, combined with another un-named groove that I came up with in the Locrian mode while warming up for my music lesson. These three grooves were all spontaneously composed on separate occasions, without intending to be combined. But they ended up fitting together quite well! Eventually, I hope to incorporate them into the suite of original grooves that all fit together, which I've been assembling for the last couple of years. Recorded using a standalone digital 8-track (Zoom R16), starting with the "live click" track played on the bongos, and then adding the electric bass (which was plugged into a David Eden tube preamp). The stereo mixdown was done in Audacity, with no added effects or digital processing: no quantization, warping, time-stretching, cuts, or edits.
Play Count: 594

lullaby_of_birdland_6-8_nov2024
the first recording with my customized G&L five-string electric bass guitar! this is a version of Lullaby of Birdland (by George Shearing) in 6:8 time, giving it kind of waltz feel. only two tracks in this mix: the electric bass guitar, panned towards the right, and a bongo drum panned towards the left (providing a kind of "live click" track). clean stereo mix using Audacity: no effects, no edits, no quantization.
Play Count: 589

SoulShine_Sept2024
I wasn't planning to write a song like this, but i found a cool pattern while practicing my acoustic bass and it was so relaxing I decided it was worth a song around :)
Play Count: 393

a_message_arrive
This song came to me in a vivid dream: Bob Marley was singing the chorus right in front of me! When I woke up, the song was still playing in my head. I rushed to the piano and figured out the bassline and the chord progression. Later, I wrote the verse part, and added some lyrics to the verse. Ska time!!!
Play Count: 255

SoulShine_July2024
1st attempt at an original composition tentatively titled "Soul Shine" :) Two tracks: Acoustic bass guitar over bongos (stereo mixdown). Not the best take but serves as a placeholder and reference point for sharing and further refinement.
Play Count: 500

Fly_Me_Blues1
1st attempt at a bluesy rendition of Fly Me to the Moon (aka In Other Words) using two bass guitars (acoustic & electric). the acoustic bass is tuned to ADGC, and the electric bass is has the standard EADG tuning. bongo track provides a "live click" or "live metronome", allowing the tempo to drift. slower tempos are harder to keep steady without speeding up... something to work on :)
Play Count: 164

there_will_never_be_another_you_june2024
1st attempt at "There Will Never Be Another You" using 2 bass guitars (acoustic & electric). I remixed the rhythm on a groove inspired by the Go-Go beat. there are four tracks in this stereo mix: left channel is mostly the electric bass, right channel is mostly the acoustic bass, and both channels have bongo tracks (but not the same one). the left channel has the 1st bongo track which was recorded before any of the other tracks and used as a type of "live metronome" or "live click" track. the right channel has the 2nd bongo track which i recorded more as a performance track to emphasize my interpretation of the Go-Go beat.
Play Count: 267