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Reinvention
Inspiration & History
This song also came about pretty early on. It initially came about in late 1998 as well, after Watching You Fall, and probably about the same time as Speechless. The intro was all I had at first, and I knew it would develop into something, but I was unsure as to what. (I want to say there is a cassette floating around somewhere that has the original Watching You Fall, Speechless, some other random bit and the intro to Reinvention...I should see if I could locate it...) This was also the first song that came about that reinforced the fact that I NEEDED a 7-string guitar. The intro bit came to me with that in mind and was conceptualized around it. It was still going to be a few months until I got one, but the detuned Gibson wasn't going to cut it. The range, playability, tone, and challenge of an Ibanez 7-string was a necessity for me.
So anyway, I had the intro. It naturally flowed into this piece that was initially a collaboration between Chuck, a friend of ours from our old work Lillie Johnson, and myself. A little revamping and re-writing to this bit made it a pretty nifty addition to the intro. The "chorus" bit kind of just came about with the end of it having a very Fixx-ish sort of feel, as well as other random 80's bands that are just ingrained permanently into my style. The "finale" bit also just sort of came about as well, initially being mostly improvised initially, and the good bits kind of sticking. It also cements the duality that is my music sometimes, mellow clean sparkly guitar contrasted with heavy mean evil guitar. I also thought the idea of a bass solo was a bit interesting in a section such as the heavy part, so it had to stay. As a matter of fact this song is one of the places that emphasizes the fact that I am a guitar player AND a bass player, not just a guitarist who can play bass. There is a distinction, and I think the bass in this song impresses most bass players in the fact that it's solid yet busy, is actually a separate part from everything else, and most importantly it fits. I've garnered a few compliments on this from bassists and that makes me very happy. It's the way bass should be in such a song, not just following guitar bits. Not bad for some wanker guitarist, eh? =^)
My original "Aiwa" mix was recorded on New Year's Day 1999, and was re-recorded with the 4-track 05-15-99. This is another of my songs that I am proud of, especially since it sounds pretty much exactly like the original picture of it that was in my head as I first was writing it all. Most artists can attest that that almost never happens.
Technical Info
As was mentioned earlier, this song came about with 7-string guitar in mind. Thus, there are a few different guitar bits in it. The heavy guitar on this are the only guitar tracks on my CD that were actually recorded at an insanely loud volume. This was still when we lived in a house in the outskirts of nowhere, and I had the Mesa running through my Dad's Acoustic 4x12 cabinet. This cabinet is a high power cab, so it was nowhere as efficient as most other speakers, so it was quieter at volumes, as well as more of a power drain, so I had to crank up the volume to compensate. Generally volumes of 2-3 on my Mesa are what I would consider "deafening", and in many instances too loud even for shows, I had the amp at 5½, and it was LOUD. As in could hear it down the street loud. I had this setup in the bathroom. The speakers in this cab weren't really suited to the sound I like, but neither was the microphone, but they complemented each other pretty well.
Interesting side note, when this setup was in the bathroom, it blocked access to the toilet paper dispenser. Did you know that the back end of a mic boom works as a toilet paper roll holder in a pinch? =^D
Clean Rhythm Guitar:
Ibanez UV777BK through Korg A4 Bass direct
Heavy Rhythm & Lead Guitar:
Ibanez UV777BK through Mesa/Boogie Mark III with Korg A4 Bass in effects loop through an Acoustic 4x12 cabinet at insane volume close miked with a Radio Shack 33-3002 in a bathroom
Keyboards:
Casio CT-638 through Korg A4 Bass direct
Bass:
Rickenbacker 4000/5 through Korg A4 Bass direct
Drums:
Yamaha RY-10
Recording:
Recorded and mixed onto Yamaha MT120S 4-track. Mixed to Sony MDS-JE320 for final mix. Transferred to PC and mixed and finalized with GoldWave.
-={E-Mail Jake}=-
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