I’ve been playing around with some simple home recording recently and am impressed with the state of the tools.

GarageBand comes is “free” (with an expensive computer) and is remarkably capable. I’ve been playing guitar quietly into my headphones via the Fender Mustang Micro. I realized I could plug the Mustang Micro into my laptop and start using modelled (‘virtual’) guitar amps and effects.

When I lasted checked in with digitally modelled guitar gear around fifteen years ago, it was still mostly a novelty. Now, they sound great. If anything, they give you an immediately paralyzing paradox of choice by offering you every guitar amp and effects pedal ever made.

As a way to try out getting something recorded, I conceived of an intentionally simple and limited recording project. I made a simplified arrangement of Niel Gow‘s Lament for the Death of his Second Wife. Gow composed the original in 1805 at 78 years old. The piece has been haunting me since I heard Tim Chaisson play it on a piano at the Zap Your PRAM conference in 2008.

My arrangement is much less nuanced than Tim’s. It was a quick proof-of-concept to see how recording guitar with digital gear can work.

While I’m trying not to focus too much on the technical details and enjoy making music, I do have some implementation details for anyone interested:

• I played my 20ish-year-old Yamaha Pacifica 102S guitar – one of my favourite things.
• The Pacifica goes through the Fender Mustang Micro as an audio interface on my laptop.
• I recorded into GarageBand.
• The lead guitar is using Bias FX 2 amp and effects modeller – the settings I used can be found in the “ToneCloud” under the name Dumble Glass.
• The organ is a the “tonewheel organ” virtual instrument that ships with GarageBand. It’s a an emulated Hammond B3 organ. I didn’t actually play anything on keys – I just clumsily entered the notes of some simple three-note chords into the “Piano Roll” feature in GarageBand with my mouse.
• The bass is just my guitar run through a Octaver effect to drop the pitch, and then piped into a modelled bass amp in Bias FX 2.
• There’s some quiet acoustic guitar in there too – that’s the beautiful Taylor GS5 (mostly wasted on me) recorded hastily through an SM57 mic.