[Ardour-Users] Workflow for capturing improv

[jonetsu at teksavvy.com]

Le Samedi, 08 Mars 2014 17:22:56 +0100,
Damien Delpiroux <xzurukneg at free.fr> a écrit :

> > I'd like to basically just record a bunch of raw material, then edit
> > it all down to a song.
 
> I understand, but personally I have adapted this concept like this
> (for information):
> 1-I make "a bunch of raw material"
> 2- I export every interesting material (selection) to a specified
> folder 3-I let macerate or think how to make "a project" (or I have
> already me idea of project)
> 4-I redo an entire new project (so re-record), with the "support" of
> the selected material.
 
Since some time I have two modes of basic operation:

1) Laying down a very crude track and building other tracks upon it.
This serves as trying to do a first capture of whatever is in the air.
The flow is rather quick, wiht minimal considerations to sound.

2) When something starts to take a direction, I play the base track (so
far all pieces have a base track played on an acoustic insturment)
along with Ardours' metronome (which I have set to a uniform nice wood
block sound).  I found it not that easy to play along a metronome at
first but now I'm better.  That and setting the actual tempo of the
metronome.  Laying down tracks with the metronome asures me that I'm in
sync with 'something'.  It also by ricochet bring in some space between
notes due to the fatalness of having another metronome hit Very Soon.

I tend to by too dense, so it's nice to put Space in Music.  By
Ricochet.  

No, there's no Tangerine Dream in sight :)

And then surely one of these days there will be a third mode in which
refinement would take place.  Although not sure if that wouldn't be an
extension of mode 2) after all.

But being in sync at stage 2) allows me to fiddle with Renoise if I
wish.  So it's basically loose for the sketches, then sketches refines
while adapting to metronome sync.

Cheers.