Here's another SG-12 track. I keep recording possible candidates for an album of more refined works. With "more refined" I do not mean "compositions" but rather a good sound and a consistence feel throughout the performance. As usual this was recorded in a rather improvisational manner: only the first three to five notes given for the main theme and then I just take it easy and let things happen over a chord structure (that I might change as well if some incident leads me astray). Bass and melody side were recorded to separate mono tracks, rather than the full shebang amp stereo output, and this turned out to be lucky as I could apply a bit different reverb characters to the two fretboards (not possible in the AxeFxII due to its CPU limitation). The cheesy strings were added in post.

I really like the tone of this SG-12 and your chords progression...nice job.

It sounds fantastic Per, bravo! Another fantastic original composition.

If I could venture a question - it sounds like the beginning of the song is from a different song, it's a little darker than the rest of the song, which is sweet! I suspect that is part of your vision, but I am curious to hear your thoughts on that.

Beautiful tune. Lots of emotion and well played. Evokes a similar vibe as John William's Cavatina:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_8d0DJpbBI[/youtube]

Well, my thoughts on that is simply that I like the dissonant part leading abruptly into the sweet melody part. Normally (as in when I play this idea out street busking) I don't start with the dissonant part but with the sweet part and a broad smile. The dissonance, that starts the song in this version, comes around a couple of times during the piece but now when I was up for recording it I thought I should try to rip it up a bit for starters. The idea was to add (in post prod) a devvilish orchestra crescendo during those atonal first seconds (like some stabbing-the-cute-girl scene in a horror movie) but after I had recorded the SG-12 first-take I was, as usual, totally seduced by the glirring PASV-4 sound so I left that bombastic orchestra idea and just panned the melody and bass side full out left-right for this short intro part. When I was playing the first-take I used two delays as well, one on each side, and I wiggled both delays with one foot on the two pedals. These delays are faded in during that atonal part and the pedals also maximise delay loop feedback so you get that diminished-fifth-plus-halftone interval hanging like forever. I realised it sounded scary enough that way, as to kick off the piece. Later in the piece I added strings to those screamingly dissonant intervals (the very last hanging chord before getting back to the sweet melody theme).

Yes, Marty - that Cavatina is so sweet and I like it a lot! I wanted my piece to be rougher though, and I can still get away with that by avoiding to compose what to play during the second part of the sweet melody theme; forcing me to improvise something every time I get there. I think this keeps the song fresh and fun to play. But I'm noticing that the more I play this piece out in the streets the harder it gets to come up with something new every time, so I guess I won't be able to keep it from evolving into the a more "Cavatina-like" state over time.

This was recorded through the AxeFxII amp with a crisp Fender Tremolux style clean sound, but on the Street Cube + Reverb pedal that I use outdoors the melody side single-string playing comes out with an almost "singing bluesbreakers tone" (early Marshall Clapton style) wish gives a more Gary Moore-like atmosphere to the music. And I do a lot more shredding-on-the-fly with that rig, something that works well in front of an audience but not comes across if done in a recording. So playing it with this clean sound was kind of new to me and a fun challenge.

I always look forward to your new music, Per. I've yet to be disappointed. This was yet another gorgeous track.

My thoughts exactly! That PASV-4 pick-up has me grinning too

It's because of the sound of your SG-12 that I've ordered mine with the same pick-up, it's an absolutely beautiful tone - Per, which settings are you using on this track, the melody side is awesome!

-Marc-

Hi, Marc. What wood did you order for your SG12? Mine is bamboo but I'm really not sure that shimmering tone is caused by the bamboo - it might be just the lucky combination of the tuning and string length at 26,5" (standard MR, medium guage).

This recording utilises my standard setting on the Stick: dual PUPs in phase on both sides and full filter fatness cranked by the PASV-4 knobs.

I've ordered a second SG12 with the same PUP but in wenge. Must have a backup for pro gigs.

Thanks for the reply Per - I've ordered my SG-12 in padauk, green turquoise linear inlays and black tuners, and MR like my 10-string. Could be a while as it's only just gone off to be machined this week, but it's worth the wait!
With so many different settings to choose from on the PASV-4 it's going to be fun finding 'my' sound, but I hope I can get something close to this recording in tone by starting with your suggestion.

Like your idea of wenge for your new Stick, I almost went for that too, but ended up choosing padauk as I wanted something a bit less like my rosewood 10-string in colour

Cheers

-Marc-

TOUCHE' BRO!!! That's what I've got too for my wenge! I'll pick it up around october 3 when I'll be on the US west coast.