Spleen Arcana

Studio Diary 11 & Bob Moog

Julien — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:59:56 +0000

Here is a short video I did today to share some excerpts of SAII’s opening track, some Moog inspired sounds of course…

Happy Birthday Mr Bob Moog! http://www.moogfoundation.org/

May 2012 Playlist

Julien — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:19:52 +0000

I finally got my hands on Cherry Five’s album from Amazon Italy! This is actually the first name of the famous Italian prog rock band Goblin and it’s a brillant album in my opinion. Very The Yes Album/Fragile kind of symphonic progressive rock. I also got their album Il Fantastico Viaggio Del “Bagarozzo” Mark (released under the name of Goblin) which is also awesome! As you may know, Italian Prog Rock scene is pure prog heaven!

Current work – Bass guitar & more bass guitar

Julien — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:06:32 +0000

During the last couples of weeks, I’ve been working on recording bass. Well, actually, I’ve been busy searching for the best sounds I could get from my new “two tracks recording” rig (picture below). I started to record only one track using the great Tech VT Bass Deluxe unit but it appears that a second VT Bass unit would be really useful to record two tracks at the same time with two different settings, a classic SVT clean sound and a heavier 70′s overdrive sound. I could have used a bass simulation software to get that sound but I was not very convinced. I’m also using my other Supa Fuzz clone (Supa Bender) to get some Mike Rutherford kind of bass fuzz. As the result is quite satisfying, I started to record some tracks and got some nice takes. So the next weeks will still be dedicated to bass recording.

April 2012 Playlist

Julien — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 08:43:43 +0000

Italian 70′s prog rock + old Genesis = Endless inspiration!

The last days in pictures

Julien — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:35:17 +0000

Back to the countryside

Inspirational reading

Inspirational Forest

Spleen Arcana HQ

Inspirational Forest II

Working corner

Endless Inspiration

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March 2012 Playlist & Vocals Recordings

Julien — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 15:29:12 +0000

Hi everyone! Here is the traditional playlist, the music I listen to the most and inspire me a lot these days. I guess you already know this album but if you don’t, I can’t recommend you enough to check out Astra‘s The Weirding album. It is space psychedelic progressive rock at its best!

By the way, I’m on vacation for a week so I take the train tomorrow, early in the morning, to record some vocals at Spleen Arcana HQ. I’ll record with my usual favorite setup, an Oktava MK319 and a Great River preamp. I’ll only have three days so I plan to work on the most epic parts there and record the rest of the vocals here in Paris. Stay tuned…

Electronic Orange Pig Hoof

Julien — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:18:44 +0000

Latest part of my “vintage” oriented pedalboard, the Pig Hoof arrived today from the Czech Republic. This is a “Ram’s Head” Big Muff clone built by Electronic Orange. I read about this model on the great Gilmourish.com website and was amazed by the audio samples I heard. The Pig Hoof replaces my Big Muff reissue and my Supa Fuzz clone at the moment, boosted with my Colorsound Power Boost. It sounds great! A bit dark, very smooth, endless sustain and the Pig Hoof is quiter than the BM reissue. It may become the main lead sound for my upcoming recordings…

Read Gilmourish review here
Visit Electronic Orange here

February 2012 Playlist

Julien — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:25:45 +0000

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Colorsound Power Boost

Julien — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:53:33 +0000

This is my latest pedalboard acquisition bought in Macaris, London, in January 2012. It’s been a while since I wanted to try this booster and visiting Macaris in January was a great opportunity to get one. As you can see here on Macaris website, they added an LED on/off indicator plus put a power supply socket on the 2012 model which is really useful in my opinion.

I played it with my Supa Fuzz clone and I also tried it with my Big Muff. It sounds better with the Big Muff actually, very Gilmour-ish! I used to place boosters before my fuzz/distortion unit but the Power Boost works really better after the Big Muff, it sounds smoother and shapes the sound in a very subtle way. I’ll probably use it as my main overdrive unit too, it offers a very nice and warm overdrive, nearly fuzzy if you push the volume knob. I should get soon a Big Muff Ram’s Head clone (I can’t wait!!) which should be the perfect companion of the Power Boost. The quest for tone is endless…

Happy new year!

Julien — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:57:35 +0000

Better late than never : Happy new year to all! I wish you all the best for 2012, health, love, inspiration and of course a lot of wonderful music!

I just got back from London where I spent a very enjoyable week of holidays (very inspiring walk in High Gate cemetery), it’s quite depressing to be back in Paris but it is time to get back to work on my second album which is really exciting! I can say without taking too much risk that 2012 will see the release of The Field Where She Died follow up… More to come soon…