Grunge Design Can be Fun

My penchant for Grunge Design is still strong, so I am continuing to share my efforts today.

I took the time to use CorelDRAW and printed out all the funky grunge like fonts I have in my fonts collection. I have about thirty-one grunge type styles, which was a surprise to me, I had no idea that I had collected so many.

Some of the names are fascinating. Epoxy History, Mister Twiggy, Plague Death, Trashco, and so forth. Some are really good and grungy others are a bit so. Some are almost illegible as words, and one is just a bunch of splatter like symbols, great for paint splashes.

I did not use any Vector graphics on today's image. But, as usual I added guitars in the theme.

I have a new song in the works. I have a chord progression for verse and chorus, no bridge, and a melody and chorus but no lyrics yet. I haven't tried to write any lyrics, as nothing is coming to mind. But it is a start of something new and that is enjoyable in itself. I recorded it naming it "No Words No Lyrics" to keep the juices flowing. It is somewhat upbeat, so that is cool, as I tend to write serious themes way too often.

Listening to it still hasn't brought out any words, I'm waiting patiently.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - No Words No Lyrics
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Grunge Guitar - with Vector Swirls and Symbols

Grunge is my fun of the moment. I mean in design, I have been getting some great grunge backgrounds form the web. Dr. Web Magazine has quite a few textures that I like. I will probably try to work them into my images for a period, as I like the theme and I like to do a series of images as a motif for the blog.

Wikipedia has some interesting links for the search "grunge design".

I took today's background from TextureLovers.com again. That and a few guitar images in PhotoPaint. I used object properties on the guitars "dodge burn" and placed them around the grunge background.

I decided to load the image up in CorelDraw and do some Vector work on it. I hand drew the swirls and stars and flowers and used some symbols from a dingbat font. Just wanted to try a bit of design work outside the bitmapped arena.

I haven't been a big fan of Grunge the "Seattle Sound" as far as the music scene goes. But I did pick up Kurt Cobain's "Notebook" once at the bookstore and looked it over. He seemed like a regular Gen X type of person. I did not care for the use of profanity in it so I did not read the whole thing. Just my opinion, not to detract from his fandom.

I am working on a few more grunge based images including guitars and perhaps some Vector work too. It remains to be seen. Stay tuned.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - Got Your Clouds In My Sky
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Grunge Guitar - Textures

Bald Eagle Lake, an all sports lake, is filled with boaters and jet skier's today. I look out my window and view their activity. Many are pontoon boats traveling slowly around the edge of the lake, others are speedboats with skiers and tubers.

I am listening to some new music from a friend. I am enjoying the music from Jeremy Fryc, probably not a name known by many, but he is good. He has a style that is like a combination of Jack Johnson and Postal Service and his own personal touch. He rocks really well and also can be romantic and softer. Great Stuff!

Today's image began as a free Texture file from Texture Lovers, a paper and paint crumpled look. I added a few guitar pieces to the image using the Thredgeholder from Little Inkpot.

I used the object properties in PhotoPaint to create the overlays of guitars and added a couple of grunge fonts with small quotations from songs that little children sing. I really enjoyed making the image and like it, so I am satisfied with my efforts. I hope you like it too.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Jeremy Fryc - How Billie Holiday Saved My Life
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Inadvertently Affected

Even I found myself inad-
vertently affected by all the publicity surrounding Micheal Jackson's death. I had been doing some songwriting and was adlibbing a chorus to a song I was working on.

It became a song titled "I Want You Back", unintentionally a line from one of MJ's songs. But the song must have been in the back of my mind someplace where it came out.

Now the song doesn't sound at all like his. It has the rumble of a jet at the beginning and has a dance beat to it but it sounds more like Rock than the music of MJ.

I won't be selling it anyway. But it was surprising to me that it was subliminally there, even my wife commented on it. I was affected by all the publicity as well as millions of others. Though I am not a real fan, as my generation was earlier than his by quite a few years with my roots in the 60's and early 70's. So I was kind of shocked that I found that influence was in my mind.

I am sharing another guitar montage made in PhotoPaint from a number of different photographs. I used the Little Inkpot's Thredgeholder for the lines effects and did a lot of shrinking and object placing using the properties of difference and multiply. I also flipped vertically the image and superimposed it on as a transperancy. I tried to keep it colorful and detailed so one can take time to examine it to see the details.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - ADEE7run II
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Home or Project Recording Studios

You love to write and sing and play your songs, but you want to share them. You need a way to do so. Today that is not a problem as digital products are in an abundance and many recording programs are even free. (Audacity for example.)

A simple home recording studio needs at least one microphone, a computer, an amplifier and some speakers, a headphone, a recording interface, a recording program, a mixing and modeling program, and you the songwriter with your instrument. Online access to some real drum loops is a plus as well if you don't have any percussion instruments.

Hopefully you have some good acoustics in the room you use. But we cannot always be picky about that unless you are prepared to spend some money to make an acoustically smart room.

Tweak's Guide to the Home and Project Studio has great information, and you can always do a online search for "home recording studio" to find plenty of help.

Wikipedia tells us that:

"A small, personal recording studio is sometimes called a project studio or home studio. Such studios often cater to specific needs of an individual artist, or are used as a non-commercial hobby. (italics are mine) The first modern project studios came into being during the mid 1980s, with the advent of affordable multitrack recorders, synthesizers and microphones. The phenomenon has flourished with falling prices of MIDI equipment and accessories, as well as inexpensive digital hard-disk recording products."

If you read my Bio on my blog you know that I have a very simple set up for recording my songs. I have everything I listed plus my 12-string Seagull guitar. I'd like to add a small keyboard in time, but for what I do, I have just enough equipment and programs to make some decent recordings. I still am not that good at mixing, that is a longer learning curve for me.

I have shared a manipulated photograph of my "studio". One thing that does not add to better acoustics is a window that overlooks a view of the lake below us. But the lake is a great view to have while songwriting, and it has played a part in some of my songs.

If you have any tips for a home studio write me or leave a comment.

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Now playing on Windows Media Player: Kirk Mathew Gatzka - I Want You Back
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