This the first song of 2020. A mid-tempo ballad called Make Up Your Mind, You’re Driving Me Crazy. I will publish all of my songs this year first on this website and then on Spotify, Apple Music and everywhere else under the artist name DC Harper. Some guy is already my name on Spotify. That’s pretty lame. Let’s talk about some of the gear I used to record this tune.
Instruments
This song is acoustic guitar heavy. I used my trusty Guild. It’s an antique burst dreadnought.
Here is a link to it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2HvG84b
For electric guitar, I used my G and L Legacy with the pickup in the bridge position.
Here is the link to it: https://amzn.to/38BOEKD
The bass was an 80’s Charvel with active EMG PJ set. Amazon doesn’t sell that one anymore.
The drums were in the box. The sample library was Abby Road 70’s Drummer from the Komplete Ultimate collection.
Here is a link to that: https://amzn.to/38HBJHm
The piano was samples from EastWest’s composer cloud pianos library. It was the Bosendorfer run through Ohmicide. I’m a Composer Cloud subscriber, and I think these pianos are some of the best I’ve ever used.
Microphones and Interface
I like to record acoustic guitar with a small diaphragm condenser at the 12th fret. That’s how I recorded this. The microphone I used was the Audio Technica 2021.
Here is a link to it: https://amzn.to/38DcGF0
I recorded the lead vocals with an Audio Technica 4040. This is my go to vocal mic for lead vocals.
Here is the 4040 on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2u61SQS
I recorded backup vocals at my desk with my desk mic. I only did it this way because it requires many takes of the same thing and I’m very lazy. My desk mic is a Blue Spark.
Here’s the Spark on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2P1rhT6
I recorded electric guitars and bass straight into the interface. I use a Focusrite 2i4 as my interface. Not the fanciest, but it gets the job done. The new generation has added 2 line inputs, so it’s now the 4i4, so I’ll link to that one.
Here’s the 4i4: https://amzn.to/3bKsx6S
And finally, for piano, I used my trusty Akai MPK 261. I love this MIDI controller.
Here’s a link to it: https://amzn.to/37Bak8u
That about covers it. I hope you enjoyed the song and as always take care of yourselves.