Finally some new Rusty Mike Music

[Rusty Mike]

This one was a very long time coming. I've had this in my head informally for years, and it's taken me many months to get it realized.

Medley of two American standards: It's Only A Paper Moon (composed by Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg and Billy Rose) and Tuxedo Junction (Erskine Hawkins, Bill Johnson and Julian Dash).

The goal behind this recording was to challenge myself to create near-authentic wind and acoustic instrument parts. I tried to emulate how these instruments might be played by real musicians to achieve something a bit more than just a mechanical sound. Particularly for the horns, all dynamics and articulations were manually created. I'd give myself a C+ on it.

The entire guitar part was recorded manually. I was looking for Freddie Green style strumming, but could not find MIDI patterns that I liked. Instead, I voiced and played the rhythm and solo freehand. This helped achieve the slight inaccuracies in timing for a more realistic sound.

Same mindset was used for the bass. I wanted to achieve some of the nuances and realism an actual bass player would bring to a recording session.

Bass: Orange Tree Samples Core Bass Pear
Drums: Kontakt Abby Road 60’s Drummer with various patterns added from Band-In-A-Box
Clarinet: VG Jazz Clarinet
Trumpet: Kontakt Session Horns Trumpet
Guitar: Kontakt Picked Nylon, manual playing (no auto rhythm)

Piano: Nord Piano Library Pearl Upright: Yes indeed, this had the perfect personality for the recording. I auditioned every piano sample and library I had and felt the Pearl was the right instrument.

Recorded, mixed & mastered with Cubase Elements 14; final volume finishing with Audacity

Effects:
Arturia Pre TriA
Arturia Comp VCA-65
TDR Nova GE EQ
Brainworx bx_console Focusrite SC channel strip (drum track only)
Reverb: Native Instruments Raum, modified Subtle Acoustic preset
Arturia BusFORCE and Slate Digital Fresh Air were used on the Master Track.

I limited the use of effects gear to mimic the limitations of a real studio with minimal outboard gear. I'm rarely pursuing a super modern sound, as I like a more vintage air. All instruments use the same reverb buss at various levels to simulate all musicians in the same room at once.

Hopefully you're entertained one way or another!

[Rusty Mike]

Sounds great! Thank you for sharing.

[JayDee]

Nice work Mike. Love the standards