Hello, this is Jooyoung Kim, a mixing engineer and music producer.
Some time ago, I briefly saw a bow for an acoustic guitar. I wanted to buy it, but it was too expensive to justify purchasing it as a novelty.
Time passed, and when I was ordering a toroidal transformer for device repair from AliExpress, I wondered if they might also sell guitar bows. To my surprise, they were selling them very cheaply. I decided to purchase from a seller with a decent number of reviews and buyers.
The packaging was quite neat, which was surprising. Including shipping, I think I paid around 15$, and they even included rosin. The package contents seemed quite substantial.
Below is a video I recorded with my phone camera, so the quality isn’t great.
Due to the structure of the guitar and the bow, you can play double stops.
I also tried bowing sideways to see if I could play all six strings simultaneously, but the bow was too short, and I couldn’t apply enough pressure to produce a sound. A better guitar might produce a smoother and richer sound, but I didn’t want to use too much rosin and risk it absorbing moisture and becoming sticky.
When playing, I noticed that if the bow touched the guitar’s harmonic points, the sound would break. It was quite challenging to play, and I realized I might have underestimated it.
Originally, I planned to use this bow to dub MIDI recordings of violin parts, since recording strings can be expensive. However, it might be too difficult. The bow is too short for fast pieces, and the speed required would make it even more challenging.
On the other hand, it seems quite effective for fiddle techniques often used in country music, such as tremolo effects and repeated staccato chords. I think I’ll try writing some pieces incorporating these elements.
I have some songs I’ve been working on, but I haven’t released anything recently. This year, I plan to release at least three songs.
I released my single album ‘Defective Product’ at 12 PM on Saturday, November 21, 2020. I will reorganize the work records I previously wrote on my Korean blog and write them in English.
Concept & Opportunity
It’s been so long that I can’t remember, but I first came up with the song between February and March 2020. Considering that the main guitar was recorded in mid-March, I think it’s probably about right.
This was a really mentally difficult time for me. Due to my mother’s sudden illness, I stopped all performances and outside activities, was eliminated from dozens of contests throughout 2019, and in the meantime, the coronavirus suddenly broke out again…
I couldn’t avoid doing household chores, and I didn’t have time to do stress-relieving activities like exercise. I was so busy and exhausted, but nothing came back to me.
In the meantime, there was a time when I was working hard all week to submit an orchestral piece for a contest, and suddenly I got so dizzy that I had a hard time even standing.
After going through this series of events, I suddenly felt like I was a person with a screw missing. When I was young, I went to many places and won awards at national competitions and quite a few awards at math and science competitions, but compared to who I am now, I felt like I had a flaw somewhere and was falling somewhere.
That’s how the first lyrics came out.
추락하는 모든 것들에는 날개가 있어. 그런데 난 날개 하나 없는데도 계속 아래로 떨어지는지. (Everything that falls has wings. But why do I keep falling even though I have no wings?)
And the next lyrics were written naturally.
‘I am a defective product, but my body is fine, right? So is my head broken? Or is my heart broken?’ The thoughts came together one after another and the lyrics came out.
With these lyrics, I wanted to quickly spit out what was in my heart.
And from the countless self-deprecatory lyrics that came out, I selected the ones that I felt were most appropriate for my situation. That’s how this song started.
Instruments
Percussion – Real Kick Sample, 808 Kick, 808 Clap, Battery Ride, Cabasa, Shaker, Cymbal, Reverse Cymbal, Chime, Reverse Tambourine, and other FX.
Bass – Real bass module, tremolo bass module (both sources from Trillian)
Synth – Pad synth with slow tremolo (Arturia Analog Lab)
Guitar – Acoustic guitar (recorded myself)
String instruments – I put in full orchestra size string instruments, but the string instruments seemed to be playing a little separately, so I mixed them with chamber size.
Vocal – pad, doubling, main vocal
Recording
Vocal & Guitar are recorded by ISA One, Peluso P87.
However, if there was something unusual, I wanted to test the dbx 160a at this time, so I set it so that when the vocal sound approaches the headroom, the compression is applied slightly. (It was so slight that it didn’t seem to have much meaning whether I put it on or not)
The reason we considered a compressor at this time was because the part shouting ‘down’ in the last chorus was so loud that it broke through the headroom. However, if you listen to it softly, there is a big dynamic difference between the small and loud sounds, so the part that connects to the front part feels different.
When recording vocals as a pad, I used the P87 as the main microphone and placed it facing the front, and installed the second microphone, WA-47jr, on top of it and placed it facing both sides for Mid/Side recording.
Album Cover
When the song was almost finished, I asked the person who had always taken care of my album covers to do the album cover this time.
He said he would create a rough draft and work on it in about a week, but personal circumstances suddenly arose, so I had to create it myself.
There were two concepts I initially thought of.
1) Torn paper airplane 2) Broken robot toy
Among these, the robot toy is actually too difficult for me to buy or draw myself, so I decided to make it with a paper airplane concept. And I worked hard at folding the paper airplane.
While I was making this and that, I thought the shape wasn’t right, so I looked for a paper airplane, and I found a paper airplane called a Stinger that looked just right.
Also, I thought it would be too boring to just use white paper, so I copied the sheet music I was working on on both sides, and as you can see, it came out pretty, which was nice.
When I folded it all up, I wondered how this paper airplane could represent the theme of ‘defective products’… After thinking about it for a while, I thought of a mirror.
I thought it would be a good contrast, like the lyrics of the song, to make the part in front look fine and the part reflected in the mirror behind look broken.
That’s how the song was released. It’s been so long since I made the song that I forgot how I made it, but while translating it into English, I feel like I took a trip down memory lane for the first time in a while.
These days, I can’t release it due to financial issues, but I’ve been working hard on making songs and stocking up on them. I will gradually release it later.
Hello music lovers! My name is Jooyoung Kim and I’m mixing/mastering engineer & singer-songwriter. I’m thrilled to announce the launch of the English version of my music production blog!
I’ve been running a Korean blog for a while now, sharing my passion for music production with a dedicated audience. As my passion for music has grown, so has my desire to connect with music enthusiasts worldwide. With this English version, I’m excited to embark on a new journey of sharing my knowledge, experiences, and insights with a global community of music lovers.
To kick things off, I’ll be translating some of my most popular Korean blog posts into English. This way, you can get a taste of the content I’ve been creating and the topics that resonate with my Korean readership. As I settle into this new space, I’ll also be crafting fresh content specifically tailored for my English-speaking audience.
Whether you’re a seasoned producer or just starting to explore the world of music creation, I hope my blog will be a valuable resource for you. I’m committed to providing in-depth tutorials, sharing industry tips and tricks, and delving into the creative process behind music production.
I’m excited to connect with you all and embark on this musical adventure together! Feel free to leave comments, share your thoughts, and let me know what topics you’d like to see covered in the future.
Jooyoung's Music Blog 