Ear Candy

In case any of you are interested in what I have doing creatively with my 8str guitar of late, here is a track which has been percolating since the Futur 8 arrived last summer and is now finally sounding balanced and ready for consumption.

The extended bass of the 8str guitar has been a mixing challenge of note. To wield it responsibly in and amongst the band's staple instruments, a 5str fretless bass and mighty drums of Theo Harvey (both of which insist that they do the low end), has required carefully automating the subtractive EQ in the subs and upwards to about 150Hz depending on what the bass is doing (in terms of note choice but also in terms of its register and relationship to the kick).

Since the band’s music starts with my contributions, the creative challenge is for the bass to find a way of working with the imposter and this is done by exploring realms normally inhabited by melody instruments when the actual bass is covered by the 8str and drums. Even so, I will often adapt my parts to an accommodate a novel idea.

Additional work was required to make way for the vocal by Imogen Rosemary Storey (most of the music on recent years has been instrumental). Her voice shares frequencies from the lower mids right up to the upper treble, so the guitars, snare, cymbals, synths and upper register bass lines all have to give ground.

The bassist Ceri Smith-Jaynes and Imogen both add backing vocals and these compete for limited space.

Anyway, here is the track Oilocracy, inspired by the jeopardy and fallout caused by our dependency on black gold.

If you enjoy it then find The Hidden Mind on Bandcamp for more.