Earlier this week, I started writing a post about how I couldn’t seem to choose a DAW, settle on an amp sim—the stuff I’ve been complaining about since I started this Substack—and then it dawned on me: I’m doing something I’ve been doing my whole life—focusing on tools instead of the thing I’m using the tools to create.
I need tools like guitars, amps, and effects to play music, and tools like a DAW, amp sims, and effect plugins to write and record music, but before any of that, I need something to play and record—I need songs. Songs started this whole journey, and songs will keep it going. I need to choose tools based on what I’m trying to create.
Last week I joined a community of like-minded recording enthusiasts who support and challenge each other to write and record original music. This month’s challenge is to write and record a song in one month. I’m responding by writing a Black Sabbath-style song inspired by the production process on the first Black Sabbath album. The band tracked the entire album live in the studio to a 4-track tape machine in about 12 hours, with virtually no overdubs. Four tracks—one for drums, one for guitar, one for bass, and one for vocals.
To recreate this, I plan to follow a similar production style: one drum track, one guitar track, one bass track, and one vocal track. For my DAW, I’m going to use Universal Audio’s LUNA because it closely resembles an old-school analog mixing console. For drums, I’m going to use Addictive Drums 2 and the Blue Oyster kit because it’s modeled after a 1960s Ludwig kit. For my guitar track, I’m going to use the UA Plexi Classic amp sim because it’s period-correct. Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi used a Laney amp, but the Marshall should be similar enough to get the feel right. For bass, I’m going to try the Marshall Plexi, but my fallback is an Ampeg SVT. For vocals, I’ll use a Shure SM57 microphone, and for effects processing, I’ll use the UA plugins I have that model gear available around the time this album was made. I’m no longer choosing gear indiscriminately; I’m choosing it based on what I’m trying to create.
When I got back into recording last year, my goal was to re-record the songs on my 2003 demo Feed the Beast. That stalled because I got wrapped up in tools. At the beginning of this year, I wrote three new songs and got stalled on tools again. I had no direction or idea of the sound I was trying to create. With this project, I have that sound in mind, and I’m choosing tools with a purpose. Maybe I was asking myself the wrong questions all along. Instead of asking what DAW I should use or what amp sim sounds best, I should have been asking: what am I trying to create? That question produces much clearer answers.