Blog Archives
DumpTruck – Grungy Royalty-Free Sampler by BigAssRobot
Been a while, I know. But hey, life and stuff. So, this new song DumpTruck was actually completed a few weeks ago, and by “completed” I mean we just abandoned it as is. Made the mistake of really really liking it… obsession, that sort of thing … makes it hard to finish.
Anyway, DumpTruck is a swinging … er, lumbering tune that just begged for some noise, like old machinery, rusty metal, stuff like that. Guitars too. And of course, the first thing that comes to mind in that context is old-school square-wave synth … right? Well, this is a groovy tune that we like a lot, so after that … not much else.
And yes, that’s GTA San Andreas PS2, shot with handheld cam ’cause we were too lazy to walk the 30 feet to the tripod. And too lazy to find an actual dumptruck. But damn, shooting down a helicopter…
Hard Times Means Groovy Guitar Deals …
S. Knock went and got another guitar today. He goes off on these obsessions about a certain sound or … things that fly or … whatever. Starts as interest, then obsession, then moves to snobbery rather quickly. Some things pan out, some don’t.
This bad boy is an Ibanez Rg2ex2 (catchy eh?). SK bought it off a bass player who hardly touched it. Like neeeewwww! And with an awesome hardshell case.
And, he walked away with the whole package for, like, $180. So jealous, except I have too many guitars already, one being a classic Ibanez Blazer (more on that later).
Anyway, SK’s obsession this time around has to do with really low tunings and super heavy strings to accommodate that. That’s for going chucka chucka of course.
Here’s the strings: DR Strings Drop-Down Tuning Mega Heavy Guitar Strings. I like them DR strings. They do last a good long time.
But as usual, there are pickups to be swapped out, so we’ll have to wait to hear what this heavy-string tuned-down-to-A noise sounds like. Then we’ll work it into the noise, of course. And share.
Serf Lourdes – Brand Twanging New from BigAssRobot (it’s a homophone)
It’s a surf tune! It’s twangy mellorificness! It’s Serf Lourdes! It’s a homophone! It’s pronounced the same but has different meaning and spelling. It’s more new royalty-free music from the BaR. This would be a lovely recurring theme for a web show … a mellow one I suppose. Check it out.
And here’s S Knock mixing tonight… kudos.
Beastly – a BigAssRobot Royalty-Free Soundtrack
Here’s our newest rough mix – Beastly. This bad boy is a noisy driving thing … maybe for driving over. As usual, the tune is totally modular, dude. So’s we can move stuff around or whatever prior to final mix.
And yes, it’s my dog on the beach in Santa Barbara. Gotta save the good vacation footage for actual projects.
Schlock’s Vox Tube Amp Rocks
This is the new(ish) amp Schlock our main guit man uses in rehearsal. The Vox AC4TV Mini 4W Class A Tube Amplifier.
It’s tiny. That other amp there is a Fender Frontman practice amp and behind the Vox is a guitar case. Yup, tiny but super noisy. Its max output is 4 watts of rich tubey goodness. But you can’t play it like that … gotta cut the wattage. Sounds great in a mic, and way easier than trying to get playroom volume level outta my 100w Sundown tuber. It’s an envy-inducing little box.
Anyway, here’s some specs:
- Controls: Tone, Volume, OP switch
- Output Level: 4 Watt, 1 Watt, 1/10th Watt
- Tube Complement: 1 x 12AX7 (pre), 1 x EL84 (power)
- Speaker: VOX Original 6.5″; 16 Ω
- In/Out Jacks: Input (¼’), External Speaker Jack (¼’)
- Output Power: 4 watt RMS 16Ω
- Dimensions (W x H x D): 260 x 280 x 170 mm / 10.24 x 11.02 x 6.69 inches
- Weight: 6.1 Kg / 13.45 lbs
- Power cable included
* * *
Otherwise, laid down some noises tonight and we’ll call it generally productive. Later.
Dumptruck: An Afternoon NoiseBite
Here’s a riff that I ripped from a prominent television commercial, then changed the speed … and the rhythm… and the notes, making it of course a totally different song. Uber-rough sampler with only the idea down, no real tracks. Pretty sure there will be lots of noise and clanging and crashing involved in the end result. Called it Dumptruck to force the commitment. Noise is good.
NoiseBite of DumpTruck Here:
Party on…, and stuff.
BigAssRobot 