"Make It" Audio
Ditty written & recorded in early July 2003 by Jim Lee. This song is goofy. I used an Ernie Ball bass, Ludwig drums, a Fender guitar, and a cheap violin with a Pro Tools system on a Mac computer. The drums were recorded in the desert... I used my Jeep to power the recording gear!
Click here to listen


I just finished a tutorial using this song

Creating & Recording "Make It"
This ditty has to do with a popular theme in my life: how business, entertainment, money, etc. influences (consciously or not) our lives & reality. As I was creating this ditty, somehow some of the words from the Laverne & Shirley show theme song revealed itself. It actually contains some TV audio samples, which I almost never use. I don't know for sure, but it just seemed appropriate to pop it in, so I did. Read on if you want to know the details of how I put "Make It" together.

As usual, I have some type of melodic groove in my head. Sometimes it's not even a legible melody, but more of a feeling... like in this case. I wanted a slinky verse & a straight feel chorus... that's all I knew. I then recorded the drum beat. After recording the drums, I usually add the bass. This is what I did. I played around to the drum beat testing-out different grooves & such, trying to capture the initial feeling/idea I remembered. I had to create grooves for the "verse" and the "chorus" that worked together in the way I wanted. The bass line had to be the leader in this because the drum beat is essentially the same in the verse & chorus.

So, after I was half-satisfied with the bass line, I then proceeded (as usual) to add the guitar. You may not even notice the guitar in the mix. I wanted it really low and out of the way. This is atypical because I often have guitar rock ideas, however, this time I wanted the ditty to have a sparse guitar presence.

After the bed track of drums, bass and guitar were recorded, I felt that the chorus needed some spice. So, after trying other guitar parts, I opted to add violins. The funny thing was that it was 1am or so, and a violin (believe it or not) is actually pretty loud. I haven't played the violin for a long time too, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Anyway, what I did was close all the windows of the condo and then I turned on the air conditioning. It's a sound that is very commonly heard at all hours in our condo complex... and it's just loud enough to cover the sound level of a violin or vocals. So that's what I did.

Finally, I came up with a violin melody that worked with the chorus. I then proceeded to hum various vocal melodies that seemed to fit the current composition. The words were written without deep thought... it just happened to fit the rest of the material. The vocals were actually recorded within the first couple of takes. Because I'm not a strong singer, I often repress some of my perfectionist tendencies when it comes to vocals. The feel is more important than the execution. Often, anything done after the first couple of takes isn't any better and I've lost any feel that was fun or unique originally.

That's it. The "song" was done, so I mixed it and now I'm presenting it to you. Any feedback is always appreciated... both good and bad.

I Play Drums at 2AM!

One thing I enjoy doing is creating songs. I've been very fortunate in that I have been able to record music since 1992 or so. I first started with a Vestex 4-track, and then used a recording program called Deck II for the Mac. I currently use ProTools DIGI 001 on a Mac computer.

I feel lucky in that I've had studio space to record acoustic drums in every place I've lived since 1997! It wasn't like I had money or anything, I just made it a goal. With luck, tenacity & such, I just made it happen. Oh, did I tell you that for 5 years I lived in two different apartments? The first one had a drummer living directly above us, so I'd jam with him, and the second apartment had a family living above who actually said "no, you're not disturbing us at all... we actually like the music." Wow! How cool is that? Needless to say, I didn't record drums after 9pm or so. I didn't want to ruin a perfect situation.

My best recording space was in a house that was in the back of another house. We used the guest house as the music studio. It was awesome and spacious. There was a control room separated from the recording room by a glass window. I was able to play a live drum kit at 1am! Of course, all of my studio spaces have been heavily "sound-proofed." I'm often creative when I need to be, so I have some soundproofing methods I'd like to share perhaps another time.

My most recent living conditions have been the worst, studio-wise. I currently live in a condominium complex. I never knew what "condo dictators" were, but I do now. These people feel compelled to enforce their authority by making sure everything is exactly the same and the way they think it should be. Needless to say, I don't play live drums in this condo complex.

The walls are paper thin here... I can hear someone snoring two units down. So, what do I do? I bought a Yamaha DTxpress II electric drum set. Don't get me wrong, I like acoustic drums a hundred times better than digital kits... but, I often thought it would be cool to rock-out with headphones at 2am. It's true, digital drums are very fun.

Back to my studio story. I was feeling the need to record real drums, as I often do. So, I pondered & schemed 'til I found the answer. I could ask a friend who has space, I could rent studio time but I wanted the freedom to record as my inspirations occurred, and without added expenses.

I happen to live next to the desert. I actually played a couple of gigs in the desert, and the acoustics were fantastic. Coupling this memory with the fact that there aren't a lot of people around made this an interesting option. So, I bought a power inverter for my Jeep and drove about 15 minutes toward the desert. I had my Mac computer, microphones, and acoustic drums. I found a remote spot and set-up the gear. It was funny, because every so often a truck on it's way somewhere would pass by. Anyway, this method turned-out to be a success! It was "free," relatively quick, and I had the autonomy of recording when I wanted to. I definitely feel that I've captured some good drum recordings too.

I guess my point is that one would've never imagined that I could play drums & record in my current living situation, but I do. It's like the old adage says, "where there's a will, there's a way." It's true!

Keep on rockin'

Jimmy