Dan Hewins: The Deck » percussion

Queen of Diamonds: Santa’s Taking Off For Christmas

hewins — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:50:55 +0000

Ok, so here's my Christmas Song. I didn't do a Halloween song or an Easter song or a Veterans Day song or an Arbor Day song (note to self: do an Arbor Day song). This is officially Christmas Song number 45225566265789001.

Santa's had enough. His back hurts. Let someone else deliver the loot for once. He's going on vacation. Deal with it!

Merry Christmas!

Three of Diamonds: Knuckles

hewins — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:43:27 +0000

The Three of Diamonds is based mostly on the percussive part of it. The percussive part is made entirely of sounds of my knuckles cracking (aside from the two handclap samples and two cough samples, which are both me as well).

Queen of Clubs: Half

hewins — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:25:37 +0000

Here it is, I made it to the halfway point. I've basically stayed on schedule, only posting songs 1-2 days late but mostly not late at all. I've created 26 songs where only a small few (2) are not really songs, but ambient soundscapes or some kind of whatnot. Not that there is anything wrong with that anyway, it's just that they are not exactly "written" or "songs."

This one is "written" and it is also a "song." I summoned my best 60's sunshine folk pop to try to brighten my day. I think I got there somewhat. I learned the effects of the D-Major 7 chord from John Mathias back in college and I've never put it to use until today. I also think it may be the opening chord (and rhythm) to Pink Floyd's "Dogs" (which is on Animals, an awesome album).

Anyway, this song is a tribute to "half" and the fact that I am halfway done with this whole thing. Half and half. Bring me the halfling. Halved bagel. Halva. Goodbye.

Jack of Clubs: That’s How You Act, That’s What You Get

hewins — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:30:25 +0000

That's how you act, that's what you get. What did you expect?

This is another African-flavored ditty. I think it's fun to add the drums and percussion to tracks like this.

King of Spades

hewins — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 06:46:54 +0000

Wow, I've made it through one suit. This is the King of Spades, another african-influenced song. This I did at the space with the electric guitar and some percussion.

Jack of Spades: A Man A Plan A Canal Panama

hewins — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:11:15 +0000

Face Card! That means I've made it to week eleven.

This song is another instrumental but instead of acoustic guitar, I went with electric. There are three guitar parts on here and some percussion tracks as well. This started with the original riff on the first guitar and I added a couple other parts. This may be one of the ones that could be built upon at another time to make something more out of it. But I do also like it how it is. I did this at the space on Saturday.

Ten of Spades: Subway Platform: 2:45 am

hewins — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 05:29:33 +0000

This week's song is about riding the subway late at night. Very late at night, or maybe very early in the morning. It's basically how I feel now, tired and overworked; but the only difference is that I'm home right now. Which is where I wanted to be in this song.

I did this one this weekend at the space. There are some differences between recording at home and at the space and they each have their advantages and disadvantages. At home, I have reason so I can do fake drums and synths and keyboards. But at the space, I have my better guitar, the ability to play it loudly, and my bass and, basically my better equipment. But the drawback is that the space is home to many bands and it's not the most soundproofed place in the world, as you will be able to hear at the end of this song if you listen carefully. I think it gives it character. But that's because I have to live with it.

Here's a photo of the A Train platform at 34th Street at 2:45 am:

from flickr

Six of Spades: The Sun Rises, But Shines Not

hewins — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:00:16 +0000

"The sun rises, but shines not," is a quote from Walt Whitman about a certain battle early in the Civil War. The Union lost this one and it set everybody in Washington in a pretty bad mood. This was Whitman's assessment of the morning that followed the battle. Because the battle was so close to Washington, civilians, including Congressmen and their families had picnics on a bluff from which they could see the battle in action in the distance. As the Union Army retreated they panicked and the streets back to Washington were clogged with soldiers and the spectators alike.

President Lincoln told General McDowell before the battle that "You are green, it is true, but they are green also; you are all green alike." I used part of this quote in the song as well.

This is the second song that I have used eight tracks of vocals (5 and 3). It's definitely "something."

Three of Spades: Letters Home

hewins — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:23:15 +0000

The Three of Spades is a bit more ambitious than the previous two songs. This one kept me in the space until four in the morning. A move that I regretted for the rest of the week since it was a Monday night. I don't think I fully recovered until the weekend. Regardless of my complaining, I think I came up with something cool, if not just unusual. I have been reading Team of Rivals, a book about A. Lincoln, and it's influenced the lyrics of this song. It's a bit about a man in that era that has to travel away from home to serve in government. The travel is slow and hard and he has to stay for several months away from his wife and family. The lyrics are contents of letters home to his wife.

What makes it a bit ambitious is the number of tracks on the song. Aside from all the percussion and the guitars and bass, I recorded eight vocal tracks. Five of them are in unison for the main part and the other three are all in unison for the harmony part. (There are some variances as far as unison is concerned: the "oohs" are not all in unison.) For one track of the percussion I banged on an electric fan with a drumstick; see if you can hear that.

It's got an African sort of feel too it, particuarly the guitars. I was previously playing in a band called Intermissions where our inital goal was to make our take on African-styled music so I started trying out some African-ish sounds on guitar back then. Note to purists: I am not trying anything traditional here, I'm just doing my take on things.

I hope you enjoy it.