Rocking blues from the LoftStudio by the Solid Rock Blues Band. The new album “Don’t Say We’re Over” is now available at BandCamp! Stream for free or download the 8 original tracks for only €5.00. The pre-release at BandCamp includes a free download for the song “Pandemic Blues”.
Powerful Blues and Rocking songs about Love, Life, Society and Religion. Little stories based on observations not prejudices based on beliefs, politics or personal views. The new album by the Solid Rock Blues Band is now available.
Some of the songs have been around for some time already, including the video for the title track. All songs have been mastered using BandLab (you can stream the album from Bandlab also). The album will soon also be available from our SoundCloud and Drooble accounts.
Tracklist
Some of the tracks included were released as single. To read more about the tracks, click on the highlighted titles.
The official album release will be around October 4th. The album has been submitted for release trough Amuse. We are currently considering re-releasing some older albums trough Amuse also making them available again to the public trough services like Spotify and Amazon Music. Our experiences with DistroKid were fine so far but didn’t turn out to be successful in terms of sales. So we’re giving Amuse a try for distribution! In the end it’s not really sales that are our main goal but getting the music out there the most effective way. It seems Amuse will fit the bill for us.
The “LoftStudio” has gotten a major hardware and software upgrade. Because of the fact the old coputer, a DIY Intel i3 computer, decided to call it quits after having been a trusty companion for many years we had to buy a new computer. We bought an Acer Aspire with an Intel i5-9400 Hexacore(!) cpu on board, 8 GB of RAM, a Saumsung 256GB SSD and Western Digital 1TB Sata-disk.
We’re not going to bore you with lots of technical details but in the end we decided not only to upgrade the hardware but the software also. So we’ve installed Linux Mint 20 as well as Ardour6 and of course re-installed Mixbus5. For those that can understand Dutch, here’s an unboxing, test & review video.
ARDOUR6
For those of you interested: Ardour 6.x now comes with Linux 20, for free(!). It’s available in the Linux Software Manager as a free download. They do ask if you want to support them and as far as I’m concerned I’d say: Do so! If you use it on a regular base, just pay them for their efforts. It’s great software.
STUDIO SESSION
Of course we did some testing, after installing all the software. Here’s a video of a short recording session. Including a tip on how to get a nice, full, guitar sound.
NEW ALBUM
It’s been quit here because we’ve been working on recording a few new songs. We finished them the day before the old computer broke down! The new album is getting close. Some of the tracks are available at Soundcloud (some are free downloads!) at https://soundcloud.com/barkingaunts.
Slow rocksong, lovesick, broken heart. Male vocals. Heavy guitars. Don’t Say We’re Over. The new single by the Solid Rock Blues Band has been released today on SoundCloud and BandCamp.
Free streaming at BandCamp as well as on SoundCloud. If you’d like to download it, you can buy the single at BandCamp.
It’s yours for only USD $0.79
The single was recorded at our home-studio and written and performed by Rudy using a Digitech Trio for Drums & Bass, Gretsch Electromatic, Harley Benton Telecaster and Fender Starcaster Stratocaster, so yeah you guessed it: lot’s of guitar on this track! There’s clearly heavy blues influence but it sure ain’t your standard 12-bar blues song. It’s more a slow rock or perhaps blues rock song.
VIDEO
ABOUT THE RECORDING
Details about the recording, for those interested:
Radiohead’s “Creep” is one of those songs that I have been listening off and on for many years now. It never bores me. This is classic rock songwriting as it should be done. I recorded an ‘acoustic’ version today at my Home Studio, using my Samick electro-acoustic guitar, my Washburn and added some additional guitarwork using my Gretsch Electromatic. Vocal mic: AKG C900, a gift from a friend in the United States and I really like this mic a lot!
Mind you: after recording the initial guitar parts and vocal I re-recorded the vocal track because that would allow me to edit the vocal without effecting the guitar sound since the acoustic guitar was, of course, causing bleed in the vocal track and your really don’t want that to happen!
Anyone who knows the original will notice I left out the bridge. Impossible for me to sing!
There’s no way to escape from the coronavirus and the news about it these days. It inspired me to write a song, recorded in my living-room. Fear mongers and fake news aside, this is a critical situation we’re in. A pandemic that is sweeping over the world. It has spread and still is spreading like wildfire at the moment.
For all of you that have been hit hard by the corona crisis and those worried what’s going to happen next. This pandemic will change our lives for months, perhaps years or even decades to come. Stay strong! Don’t be overwhelmed by fear and please listen to those in charge: keep your social distance and if possible stay away from others as much as you can.
Acoustic session – Live from the livingroom.
Recorded using my Motorola Moto G7 smartphone
Edited with Flowblade (Linux Mint).
Guitar: Samick Greg Bennett.
Social Media is all around us. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tinder, SnapChat, Youtube. We can’t live without, can we? Well, perhaps we can but we love being online. And of course we all like to life that glamorous life we see others have. So we fake it. Fake it till you make it right?
Here’s a song about Social Media. How one portrays him or herself on it. And how someone else might be looking at this social media life of the other person.
The song was written in parts on snippets of paper, collected and put together, over a period of time. Video was created using free stock video downloaded from Pexels.com. Recorded at the LoftStudio Home Recording Studio using the Digitech Pedal for drums and bass, Harley Benton Telecaster and MXL770 as vocal mic. Recorded using Mixbus5 (DAW). It is, for now, available on Youtube and BandLab.
VIDEO
BANDLAB
By the way: if you’re looking for a great place for some free, basic, mastering, checkout BandLab. For the Solid Rock Blues Band we use bandlab all the time for the final mastering.
May your life, be as great
as it is on Facebook
May the sun, always shine
as it does on your Insta
No I got no interest
for your feed on pinterest
don’t care for your moodboards no more
And I really don’t know
why I should be looking
at the carpets you want for your floor
(chorus)
And your tweets on Twitter
always sound so bitter
is it really that cool to swear
Do you really think we all
want to know
you don’t know what clothes to wear
Swipe left, swipe right!
Where to spend the night
Who’ll be knocking at your door
It’ll come as no surprise
some won’t be nice,
it ain’t love they’re looking for
(chorus)
It ain’t me stalking
I can just see you walking
SnapMap tells me all
I want you to be,
happy and free
but can I just give you one call?
(chorus)
May the sun, always shine
as it does on your insta
May the sun, always shine
as it does on your insta
SoundCloud has decided to stick to it’s old policy so our music still is and will be available trough SoundCloud. Today two new tracks were added – fresh mixes and 100% original songs! Two completely different tracks: one song leaning towards hard rock and the other is ‘christian rock’.
Let’s start with the Christian song, it’s not the average gospel song. Of course it’s a song about a christian theme in fact about Jesus but I think the music won’t fit in the standard ‘gospel songs’ you know. Writing the lyrics took a lot more time than expected despite it’s simplicity.
Both songs have an original approach and chord progression. For the songs two different vocal mics were used and both were recorded using a different DAW. The first one was recorded using a MXL770 vocal mic and Mixbus as a DAW. The second one was recorded using an AKG C900 with Ardour as a DAW.
Guitars: Hondo H-175 (vintage) guitar for rhythm, Harley Benton Telecaster for lead guitar and Harley Benton bass.
Drums: AVL Drums (plugin)
The Mad Men’s Show
Well the fires in Australia triggered this; that is: environmental damage. Done by lunatics who deny this world is going down hill fast. The power of crazy guys at the top also inspired it. So it all got mixed up in this song. And in the end the “master of slaves” shows his face. Hope you like it as much as I did writing, recording and mixing it.
Guitars: Harley Benton Telecaster for rhythm, Gretsch g5420t for lead guitar, Washburn WD-42S (acoustic) and Harley Benton bass.
Drums: AVL Drums (plugin).
It’s the time of the year again, Christmas is almost here! So here it is: Figgy Pudding. A free Christmas song. You can download it for free at SoundCloud or listen at Drooble.
ABOUT THE SONG
The song was written many years ago and recorded in 2014 using a Fostex 4Track Tape-deck. For the backing (drums, bass, keyboard) we used Chordpulse; vocals and guitars were recorded straight into the Fostex and mixing was also done on the Fostex. After that it was exported to digital format and mastered with Mixcraft. So basicly this is as analog as it can get these days.
Bob Marley is of course a well known reggea singer and songwriter. I like many of his songs a lot, especially ‘Redemption Song’. So, while testing some improvements on my studio (video) I was playing it and decided I wanted to record it for the ‘Acoustic’ series.
For this track I used the following:
Guitar – Samick Greg Bennett GD-101 SCE/N
DI – Behringer Ultra-DI DI600P
Vocal Mic – MXL770
DAW – Harrison Mixbus5
I duplicated the guitar on two tracks to widen it more and put some reverb on the vocal. On the master bus I put a limiter. That’s all 🙂
Audacity is a free DAW, a program for audio recording and mixing, and it’s popular for some very good reasons besides being free. It’s easy to use, stable and is the perfect little DAW for anyone who wants to get his feet wet in home recording. It is also perfect for recording things like voice overs or a demo for a (small) band. Record, for example, the basic tracks an mix them later on in a more professional DAW or let someone else mix them. Some even record full albums with it. So, it is popular for many reasons.
Audacity the Free DAW for Windows, Linux and MacOS
Some time ago, in 2018, I made a video about mixing and recording with Audacity and the Behringer UMC404HD. The UMC404HD allows for four inputs to be recorded at the same time (4 tracks) so you can record 4 musicians, or instruments/vocals, at the same time. The Behringer UMC404HD is amazing and it’s availble for only a fraction of the costs of several competitors. For example (at this moment) at Thomann. It is out of stock a lot, it seems to be very popular and rightfully so. I am still considering to buy a second one, as a spare, in case mine will stop working or will have mechanical problems one day.
Recording with the Behringer audio interface works perfect with Ardour or Mixbus. Especially since they don’t need any additional drivers. On Windows it also worked perfect on, for example, Mixcraft. I showed this in various videos as well as other people. Many of the viewers however seemed to be having issues with Audacity and the Behringer UMC404HD.
DRIVERS
One of the biggest issues most have is the drivers for the UMC404HD. Behringer has been changing their websites a few times recently and people were complaining they can’t find the drivers. They’re not included on a CD with the interface. Now, there is a good reason for this: production costs. Including a driver CD costs money and Behringer tries to cut the costs so you will have a product that is as cheap as possible. Besides that: most computers and laptops these days don’t even have a CD(r) station. Even if they would include a driver CD it would, in most cases, be useless. Including a CD would only lead to more trash (environmental issue!). You can download it. No environmental damage and cheaper. I’d say that’s a win-win.
However, as noted: the drivers have been hard to find. And, for some reason some complain the new drivers don’t work well. So here’s an older version that does work. Download and use on your own risk, I am not responsible for it.
DO NOT USE ASIO4ALL
Asio4All has been a pretty popular hardware driver for Windows. Do NOT use it. Remove it completely from your system (uninstall) if you wan tot use the Behringer UMC series. They have their own drivers (official site). You won’t get Audacity or any other DAW running on Windows working with the UMC404HD when using Asio4All.
AUDACITY LACKS SUPPORT?
Some noted that the version of Audacity they have doesn’t record 4 tracks. It only shows 2 tracks. There might be two reasons for this, I’m not certain what the reason is in certain situations:
it is showing you 2 stereo tracks (meaning 4 mono tracks!).
You don’t use the correct settings for recording 4 tracks. Set the ‘preferences’ to Windows Audio Session API (WASAPI) as I do in the Video!
Some claim it isn’t available on their Audacity version. On the Audacity website, however, it is still mentioned and what’s more: it’s been a standard in Windows ever since Windows Vista. In fact it is one of the “unique selling points” in Audacity! So I do have a hard time believing it isn’t available and my best guess is you’re not using the corect settings.
Prefereces Audacity
I am having the Dutch version but you should be able to see where this setting can be found (under preferences). In case you cannot get it working with the current version of Audacity – and I really do advice to use that one since it has hundreds of fixed bugs! – there are still older versions available. Like over here. Please note, this versions dates back to 2015 and this link (from Google Drive, it’s my “old” Windows version, works on Windows8.1) is to be used solely at your own risk.
VIDEO DEMONSTRATION
So this is the video I’ve been talking about, hope it helps or is at least entertaining 🙂 As I said in the video I don’t prefer Audacity for recording. These days I use Mixbus5 (and Ardour) running on Linux Mint. I’ve never looked back at Windows recording since I started using that even though I still have Mixbus on my Windows laptop (Windows 8.1). That doesn’t mean recording using Windows is less good. I simply prefer Linux (Linux Mint).
Powerful Blues and Rocking songs about Love, Life, Society and Religion. Little stories based on observations not prejudices based on beliefs, politics or personal views. The new album by the Solid Rock Blues Band is now available.
SoundCloud has 
