npk417

Description : (title pronounced 'uh-rahk-tus')

Here's an arrangement I put together in 2005 for guitar improvisation (I played the guitar part in one live take; the idea being to use the delay signal to mimic a duet at times, though there is only one track of one guitar present). The percussive eighth-note pattern in the background is actually the slapping the bridge of a solid-body bass guitar with the inside of my thumb -- I came across the idea by accident, heard how neat it sounded in the mix, and decided to record it as a part of the track. The idea was to weave smooth synthesizer fills here and there into certain passages to contrast with the ascending and descending guitar parts to create tension. Its title comes from the Irish, "Oireachtas" referring to a "gathering" of deliberation and contemplation.

Description : Written by a friend of mine a few years back, I experimented with an alternate version, recording it later in high school. I've never been particularly happy with how I mixed the guitar parts (lack of sonic depth), listening back after the fact, but I suppose its a good reminder that we all grow. Hindsight 20-20, etc. The percussion tracks are loops from the first edition of Garageband, and everything else is real-time instrumentation. Guitar amps were mic'd via small-diaphragm condensers, bass guitar captured via D.I., organ with a combination of a large-diaphragm condenser and parallel D.I.

Description : Not very often do I work much with software instruments or audio that isn't real-time, but occasionally I enjoy dabbling with an idea here and there. This is one of those, from a fairly run-of-the-mill tune I wrote a few years ago as a college freshman (I don't have the complete track at the moment - I'll see if I can dig it up to post).

The organ part was extracted from a funk sample that I thought could be applied to sit behind the beat in a reggae rhythm. I wrote the song around that, and wove in other instrumentation, along with a synthesized drum machine part which underlies the acoustic drum tracks. This version lacks the horn parts and backing vocals (as well as the full-length of the song, since this is a shortened, unmastered sample I mixed for brevity's sake) of the later product, but it was a fun spur-of-the-moment idea.

Description : A song I wrote 6 or 7 years ago, and originally intended to have a slightly different progression and more of a Dylan-esque sort of feel. After toying with it in the studio, this is what evolved. Other than the basic tabla/percussion track, the instrumentation is live. Recorded and mixed Fall 2004 -- I've considered re-tracking the vocals (never quite been satisfied with them, only did two takes initially), but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Description : Only superficially mixed, this is from the 2008 project release 'Seraphim' by The Eastern Gate, a group I worked with in college. Writing credit shared between J. Peterson/N.Kerr/E. Lewis/M. Bogacz. I enjoyed recording tracks for the breathable simplicity of this tune, and it still makes me smile.

There are no samples or loops in this recording, and only light overdubbing. Mic'ing was done with an array of condensers (small and large diaphragm), into a Fostex 8-track recorder, basic mix with ProTools.