Tom Sanderson: e-piano
Alan Sanderson: drums, bass, synth
Alan’s Notes
We got together for a live jam session on 19 June 2026, and laid down the basic tracks for this recording with Tom on the keys and me on the drums. After the session I cleaned up the midi notes on the piano roll and shaped the sounds. A couple of weeks later I laid down the bass track and added a sawtooth synth.
This recording project was started on Juneteenth and finished on Independence Day. I’m not sure that the music really reflects the meaning of those holidays, except that I am glad that we have the freedom to pursue happiness through making and sharing music. It is fitting that we celebrate the Declaration of Independence and the abolition of slavery in the same season. Those are really just different chapters of the same story.
Tom’s Notes
We got into a few jams together on a Friday and this was the last of the bunch. I think I burnt through a majority of the available time trying to learn the quirks of Alan’s newly-acquired Simmons electronic kit before I switched to played keyboard. We were playing this idea on PA speakers and built-in keyboard speakers for at least ten minutes before Alan rigged up the the USB cables to record our playing. Since there was a good 10 or 15 minutes setting things up, I am not sure I was playing the same exact thing that I did prior to the recording.
Alan saw potential in this jam session and decided to revisit it later to fill out the sound with bass and monophonic synth. I was especially impressed at the good lines and the patch Alan created on the Reface CS. He really made this ditty listenable.
Info and Stats:
- Production Dates: 6/19/2026 – 7/4/2026
- Equipment:
- Interface: Behringer Xenyx 1204USB, Behringer Ultra-DI DI400P
- Keyboards: Yamaha YPG-535, Yamaha Reface CS
- Bass: Ibanez ASB140
- Drums: Simmons SD 2000
- Software:
- Linux Mint 22.2
- Ardour 9.0.0
- x42 plugins: dynamic compressor, parametric equalizer, digital peak limiter, general MIDI synth
- Dragonfly Reverb: Hall reverb
- Guitarix: GxPhaser
- Noise Repellant
- CMT: Echo Delay Line
- Total Tracks and busses (including 2 midi tracks not included in the final mixdown): 7
- keyboards: 3
- drums: 2
- bass: 1
- effects: 1
Sanderson 