mangobananas music : The Andy Band : life is what you make of it

from the album: babble on

download: life is what you make of it.mp3

Info for song: life is what you make of it

Andy: drum kit loops from GarageBand; acoustic guitar, vocal, bass, four backing vocals, two electric guitars.

Recorded in 2004 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.

Link: https://mangobananas.com/music.php?songID=42

Download: life is what you make of it.mp3

This song was the Pick of the Week on 2015.06.21. Here's the story:

( show )

I don't remember exactly when I started doing it, but sometime in the late nineties or early aughties, I started taking my old, beaten up Yamaha acoustic with me on my long walks in the woods with my dog, weather permitting. That guitar was originally my older brother Doug's, but sometime during the mid-eighties he handed it down to me. It had a bad puncture wound on the soundboard near the bridge, caused by an accident involving a metal post on his bed at Cornell's U-hall, if I remember the story right. [The square scar is still visible in the picture here: the Yamaha's in the lower left.] I got the awesome guys at the Ithaca Guitar Works to glue that up and put in a pickup under the bridge so I could play acoustic with my band E.B.A. sometimes.

Anyhow, my long walks in the woods with my dog and an acoustic have led to the discovery of many new riffs and tunes over the years. When inspiration strikes, I try to record it as soon as possible. At first I had a little dedicated voice recorder, then after it died I'd call my work voicemail, then once I had my first smartphone (a Nokia 9290 Communicator!) I'd record the idea into a voice recorder app. This is one of those tunes that came to me out in the fields and woods behind our house in Danby, NY, just south of Ithaca. The title and theme might be a bit cliche, but I was really feeling it. How you perceive and pursue your life is all in your head. If you focus on how desperately messed up the world is, it's easy to get despondent and messed up. If you focus on beauty and love, it's easy to fill your head and heart with beauty and love.

Recording notes: this started with a canned drum loop of real drums, then I recorded the acoustic guitar part. Then I deleted the drum loops from the beginning so the drums don't come in until the first chorus. Next was bass, plugged directly into the computer audio interface, which was the M-Audio Duo at the time. Then I did a clean Strat track with a glassy chorus, then another Strat track with distortion that doesn't come in until the third verse, driving the climax of the song. The electric guitars were direct through a Line 6 POD 2 and the Duo. Last was the lead vocal and four backing vocal tracks. Recorded with Deck II on a 233 MHz bondi blue iMac.

This ended up on my 2005 album babble on.

Thanks for listening!

-Andy

life is what you make of it

walking my dog
strumming away
I try to do this 
almost every day
an attitude
a point of view
take it or leave it
it's all up to you

   over and over again
   life is what you make of it
   over and over again
   life is what you make of it

so I stumbled along
and found this song
watching the clouds
as the sun went down
it's either the same thing
again and again
or the most 
beautiful thing in the world

   I'll tell you again and again
   life is what you make of it
   over and over again
   life is what you make of it
   over and over again
   life is what you make of it
   over and over again
   life is what you make of it

I want to know 
I want to see
but sometimes I have to
just let it be
day after day
trying to get along
what is the point
of a simple song?

      over and over and over again
      life is what you make it
      over and over and over again
      life is what you make it

pull out the stops
don't hold back
this might be the one chance
you'll ever get
day and night
over and over again
never the same
but it never changes

   over and over again
   life is what you make of it
   I'll tell you again and again
   life is what you make of it
   don't you know, don't you know
   life is what you make of it
   oh yeah, ooh yeah, ooh yeah
   life is what you make of it
   over and over again
   life is what you make of it
   over and over again
   life is what you make of it

©2004 by Andy Wyatt

Info for album: babble on

This is an album with some polished tunes and some sketches, recorded between 2001-2005, all of which were left behind or re-recorded when Andy got Logic Pro 7 and a PowerBook G4 in 2005. They were recorded with Deck II on an iMac G3 (Bondi blue, Rev B).

Andy plays all instruments and sings.

Link: https://mangobananas.com/music.php?albumID=4

Album recording info:

( hide )

song recording info favorite / pick of the week
at the end of the day Andy: drum loop brought from GarageBand to Logic Pro, acoustic guitar, bass, electric guitar, piano, vocals (up to 8 tracks simultaneous)

Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY. ♥︎ 2015.02.08
HASR spot rockin Andy: drum loops, claps, snaps, guitars, bass, vocals

Recorded in 2004 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
peppermint Andy: GarageBand drum loops (Funky Pop Drums and Funk Drums, both MIDI); real bass and electric guitar

Recorded in 2004 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
how Andy: drum kit loops from GarageBand; acoustic guitar, two piano tracks, bass, four vocal tracks.

Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY. ♥︎ 2016.02.08
life is what you make of it Andy: drum kit loops from GarageBand; acoustic guitar, vocal, bass, four backing vocals, two electric guitars.

Recorded in 2004 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY. ♥︎ 2015.06.21
funk loops / howl Andy; drum kit and bongo loops from Deck 3.5.1 CD-ROM from PowerFX.com; bass [DADG], two electric guitars [DADGBE], babbling vocal

Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
moon Andy: GarageBand drum loop; three electric guitars, bass.

Recorded in 2004 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
groovee nutsy Andy: GarageBand drum loop, acoustic guitar, two electric guitars, babbling scratch vocal

Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
islands Andy: drum loop and bongo loop from Deck 3.5.1 CD-ROM from PowerFX.com; bass, fuzz bass, electric guitars

Recorded in 2003 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
silk Andy: four acoustic guitars

Recorded in 2002 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
husky Andy: drum loops constructed with a juicer played with drumsticks plus a bunch of drum samples from Pitchshifter; bass, two acoustic guitars

Recorded in 2001 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
hammock Andy: tabla loop and hi-hat loop from Deck 3.5.1 CD-ROM from PowerFX.com; acoustic guitar, bass

Recorded in 2004 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
moon knight Andy: iDrum drums, sampled bass, modelled clavinet, sampled piano, modelled organ, sampled horns, acoustic guitars, vocals, bass

Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
thunderbolts Andy: electric guitar

Recorded in 2004 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
pads Andy: Logic synths and samplers

Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
twins Andy: two electric guitars played through my good old Fender Twin Reverb amp

Recorded in 2002 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
whales Andy: improvised electric guitar

Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
the lay of the land Andy: improvised acoustic guitar

Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.

song	recording info	favorite / pick of the week
at the end of the day	Andy: drum loop brought from GarageBand to Logic Pro, acoustic guitar, bass, electric guitar, piano, vocals (up to 8 tracks simultaneous) Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.	♥︎ 2015.02.08
HASR spot rockin	Andy: drum loops, claps, snaps, guitars, bass, vocals Recorded in 2004 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
peppermint	Andy: GarageBand drum loops (Funky Pop Drums and Funk Drums, both MIDI); real bass and electric guitar Recorded in 2004 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
how	Andy: drum kit loops from GarageBand; acoustic guitar, two piano tracks, bass, four vocal tracks. Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.	♥︎ 2016.02.08
life is what you make of it	Andy: drum kit loops from GarageBand; acoustic guitar, vocal, bass, four backing vocals, two electric guitars. Recorded in 2004 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.	♥︎ 2015.06.21
funk loops / howl	Andy; drum kit and bongo loops from Deck 3.5.1 CD-ROM from PowerFX.com; bass [DADG], two electric guitars [DADGBE], babbling vocal Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
moon	Andy: GarageBand drum loop; three electric guitars, bass. Recorded in 2004 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
groovee nutsy	Andy: GarageBand drum loop, acoustic guitar, two electric guitars, babbling scratch vocal Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
islands	Andy: drum loop and bongo loop from Deck 3.5.1 CD-ROM from PowerFX.com; bass, fuzz bass, electric guitars Recorded in 2003 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
silk	Andy: four acoustic guitars Recorded in 2002 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
husky	Andy: drum loops constructed with a juicer played with drumsticks plus a bunch of drum samples from Pitchshifter; bass, two acoustic guitars Recorded in 2001 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
hammock	Andy: tabla loop and hi-hat loop from Deck 3.5.1 CD-ROM from PowerFX.com; acoustic guitar, bass Recorded in 2004 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
moon knight	Andy: iDrum drums, sampled bass, modelled clavinet, sampled piano, modelled organ, sampled horns, acoustic guitars, vocals, bass Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
thunderbolts	Andy: electric guitar Recorded in 2004 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
pads	Andy: Logic synths and samplers Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
twins	Andy: two electric guitars played through my good old Fender Twin Reverb amp Recorded in 2002 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
whales	Andy: improvised electric guitar Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.
the lay of the land	Andy: improvised acoustic guitar Recorded in 2005 in mangobananas studio, Ithaca, NY.

Info for artist: The Andy Band

eclectic acoustics

Members: 
Andy Wyatt - vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, mandolin, ukulele, studio.
Guest musicians have included co-conspirators from other projects/bands including: Jon Morse, Tim Odell, Pete Downes, Ayman Mobarak, Paul Tuckey, Tommy Whittle, Pete Bosanko, and Eric Krivitzky

Years of Activity:
1978-present

Overview:
There are cassette tapes by "The Andy Band" dating back to 1979, when Andy was 14 years old, and he is still an avid recording musician. Sometimes The Andy Band is all about "hit record and go" improvisation, other times it's all about one-man-band multi-tracking in the studio. Since 2010, Andy has been playing some of these songs live near his new home in Vermont at open mics. He relishes the thrill of improvising with an audience, as well as singing three-part harmonies and playing bass with players there. But he also loves building up a song with layers and layers of Andys, singing and playing everything.

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