Notes on LITTLE ROMAN BOY, 2021 (Instrumentation)

The opening strings are from my recently acquired XV-5050, I thought it would add some interesting quality to that intro, make it a bit somber, then eerier with the pitch down.

This track heavily features a KORG MS-20 Mini, Roland SYSTEM 1, XV-5050 (formerly a JV-1010) TR-8 (for 707 kit sounds) and discodsp's OB-XD VST for the synth sounds. I wanted to have a palette that's almost "used" like the 80's, but doesn't quite sound 80's in itself. The moogish lead even has more of a 70's sound to it almost, I feel. A Roland U-220 is also layered in during the chorus to enhance the snare.

Guitar is a Squire Jagmaster, a pretty oldie family axe that's been around as long as I have! Various pedals and outboard effects were used alongside some plugins to record the guitar.

The real bass was kept despite not being particularly good takes to contrast against the sequenced bassline. I think it adds a nice back and forth having both kinds of bass and I think I've managed to have them occupy different sorts of spaces from each other. The real bass definitely contributes to the "rock" side I think.