Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t?
Well, hot on the heels of the first track the other day I’ve got another one for you. It’s just a quick acoustic thing this time though and it’s a cover of an old Jazz/Blues tune by Louis Jordan, “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t?” … my baby 
Shocking grammar I know but a really good tune non the less. It’s something I only learned how to play recently as well. I watched a comedy series I love called “Spaced” with a friend and the song was featured in it. She mentioned how much she liked it and it got me thinking, after a quick look around on the Internet I found the chords and just kind of bashed out my own version. Bosh!!!! As I believe loud stereotyped cockneys often shout.
I’ve simplified the arrangement a lot as it was written for a big Jazz band but I think it still works ok. This recording was done not long before Christmas and it’s just something I did very quickly with one microphone. I recorded the main guitar and vocal and then overdubbed the little lead guitar later, it took about 20mins start to finish. The fast food of music I suppose but hopefully a bit less harmful to your arteries 
(click to enlarge)
The picture above is of my studio which I like to call the Bunker, for no other reason than it’s a nice place to hide away from the world at times. My refuge if you will. I’ve always been interested in science and this is probably my equivalent of a lab, I’d like a lab too but I really don’t know what I’d do in there, other than don my white coat, play with Bunsen burners and try to look intelligent. It needs some work to be honest, the computer I use (which you can see a bit of under the desk) is… well… to put it bluntly, completely buggered hehe I’m hoping to sort that out soon when I get a new machine though. The studio is pretty basic and I do everything on the PC really, I work a lot with Cubase VST and Propellerhead’s Reason software which does the job for me. I got the mixer quite recently and it’s my first digital desk (shudders), I’m still getting used to it but once I get it all automated I’ll be really happy, I can sit there watching the faders go up and down on their own, smiley face… sad face… smiley face… sad face… you get the idea. What better way for a grown man to spend his time I ask you?
I’ll post more information about the studio and how I record stuff as I go along if anyone’s interested. I don’t think this track will be on the album really it’s just a little bonus thing but I thought you might enjoy it. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Happy new year everyone
Dan
Fab said,
January 2, 2008 @ 10:47 pm
I love it!
And yes, I’m definitely interested in your setup and workflow!
Podo said,
January 5, 2008 @ 10:03 pm
Ah yes!
Just clicked on this site again when going through our links. Was a bit surprised to see all the new improvemnts. It’s looking good. The new track puts us lot to shame by miles. Nice one.
Dan said,
January 5, 2008 @ 10:12 pm
Thank you kindly sir, the blog is pretty new, less than I week old. I’m still playing with the bubble wrap
It’s coming along nicely though, I’ve added a link to the Mighty Nibbs on the links page too 
Podo said,
January 5, 2008 @ 10:19 pm
You are too kind. I go away for a while and look what happens! Its good though. Inspirational to me anyway. I might get the others interested in recording stuff properly this year.
Oh and to respond in kind you have your own blogspot! All hail the omnipresent webmonkey!
Dan said,
January 5, 2008 @ 10:23 pm
Hehe thanks
If you want any help with the recording let me know I love the songs, Scarfez is definitely a single 
Podo said,
January 5, 2008 @ 10:38 pm
Woah! Erm yeah….best go and practice. But I am sure the offer will be gratefully recieved.
GK said,
January 7, 2008 @ 6:27 pm
That is one fine tune you have there – in fact both of the tunes on here so far are fine, and you say you did it all yourself?!
Keep it up – I’ll certainly be subscribing if I can figure out this RSS thing works…
Ben Jarvis said,
April 16, 2008 @ 12:51 am
Dan,
Have you tried Ableton Live? I really love it. It’s one of the 2 programs keeping a dual boot windows on my laptop. I don’t know if you do any sample/soft synth based music, but it is unique and great at unblocking musician’s block.
Dan said,
April 16, 2008 @ 11:04 am
Hi Ben, I have tried Ableton Live yeah but not very extensively, I’m not sure I fully understand it but I know a lot of people use it for live performance and to help them write. I know Beck uses it a lot to build up loops of guitar or whatever he’s playing and then make songs from there. I’ll have to give it another go, maybe I should break the habit of a lifetime and actually read the instructions… nah