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50 Words For Snow: Kate Bush-Review by Calum MacDonald

Posted on December 17, 2011

50 Words For Snowis the new album by Kate Bush. She doesn’t tour but will she tour this new album? keep your fingers crossed, but I think they may be crossed for a long time.

This is Kate Bush’s 10th album containing what I can only describe as lovely, beautiful music. This is an artist that gets better and better and I wouldn’t be surprised taking the rigors of the road out of her life helps a great deal with maintaning the inner energy that is required to produce truly artistic work. She doesn’t get herself wound into that album touring, album touring life that so many bands need to do. Mind you she can obviously afford to do that, not everyone can.

As you might expect this is an album heavy on piano peices and such intense chordings. There is an appearance from Elton John on the track “Snowed In At Wheeler Street” I do like his voice and interesting to hear him sing someone elses melodies and lyrics. This song rises and takes you away with the performers. In fact the whole album has an ethereal feel to it, you are taken on a lush fantasy.

Another surprise appearance comes from the (popping up everywhere-and good luck to him) very talented Stephen Fry reciting the “50 Words For Snow” track, a nice touch.

Kate Bush 50 Words For Snow

How Kate Bush manages to make by what is now a well heard combination of piano and vocal into something so full and still interesting as this is a measure of her talent. Bush sits on the perimeter of rock and art and then pops in at amazing speed with such dramatic albums.

Of course she is not to everyones taste, her music requires time and positioning, and by that I mean placing yourself in the moment, being with her on a journey to wherever she has set her compass. It’s not always to the stars.

And my favourite track? well I don’t have one. This is an album that is complete in its near perfection, and I say near, as perfection is in the eye (or ear in this case) of the beholder and I haven’t seen perfection yet. I guess if I was to make a negative comment about this album it would be that it is, and only a tad, overblown. There is a tendency for this to happen when artists put together work that has imagination, sensual intensity and fantasy. In other words combining many emotional aspects, getting them all to sit with meaning, a tough task to pull off respectably. Kate Bush does this well though through her weaving of jazz hints and slight electronic moments. This essentially however is a piano album and a worthy one.

The production as one might expect is second to none. I like my music very rough at times but I also appreciate the lushness that a well played, well produced album can bring to the ears and heart. The voice? well as beautiful, if not better, as ever.

And the snow? well! the backdrop of falling snow? have a listen. If you are a Kate Bush fan you won’t be dissapointed, if you are new to her albums? well you might well become one.

50 Words For Snowentered the British charts at no 5, so Kate Bush has another hit on her hands and not interested in touring as yet, although wouldn’t that be a marvellous thing.

Tracklisting:

Snowflake
Lake Tahoe
Misty
Wild Man
Snowed In At Wheeler Street
50 Words For Snow
Among Angels

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Ryan Adams: Ashes and Fire – Review by Calum MacDonald

Posted on November 6, 2011

by Calum MacDonald

Ryan Adams known for his work with the alt country band The Cardinals has released the solo album
Ashes & Fire.

The album is produced by legendary producer Glyn Johns who has worked with Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Midnight Oil, Eric Clapton and The Eagles just to name a few.

Glyn John’s production is spotless and the songs and instrumentation are given plenty of space to move, a well made record and dare I say it, may be too well made.

The first track “Dirty Rain” reminds me of the rhythm section from Neil Young’s “Old Man”. There is the same pace, the sparseness and tempo that Old Man has. Not a bad sound to have and with Glyn Johns at the wheel the production feels as if you may just be in the room with the band. As Adams sings “Last time he was here it was raining, it ain’t raining anymore” there are some nice organ touches that move in and out with the clarity that this album has for each instrument that appears, nothing out of place.

The album does cross over into territory from the 70’s, Neil Young, The Eagles and even what seems to be a little reminder of Bruce Springsteen in “Lucky Now” but in a more restrained manner.

The track “Rocks” reminds me of a James Taylor acoustic intro. A lazy tempo leading up to an appearance of strings later in the song. Another nice tune and Adams sings it well as he does on all the tracks.

Below is a link to the Ashes and Fire acoustic promo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4VGlkcBtfw

“Do I Wait” has the band taking off for the first time as Adams sings “do I wait for you” and maybe this is where you feel at times you would like to see the album head. If there was a little more frantic playing , some risks taken with the vocals then maybe this album would grip you more. There’s an impression happening here that letting things rip a bit would just bring this album closer to the edge for the listener.

“Invisible Riverside” sees Adams singing “standin by the ocean like I’m freezing here in time” with some nice electric piano as he laments “not let go don’t change your mind”

With “Save Me” we enter ballad territory, a nice melody, acoustic guitar, piano and organ backing all done sparingly and with style. This has the feel and sound of a Jackson Browne track. Adams sings “what am I doing here, what am I” all questions we’ve all had and then, “somebody save me, it’s just too much pain” more introspection, more wondering.

Ashes & Fire isn’t a bad album. I really wished that it wasn’t so perfect in production and instrumentation, but that’s just me I like a rough edge.

I’ve listened to this album several times and there were quite a few moments where I felt I was listening to the artists mentioned earlier in this review. Not a bad thing, maybe not particularly an original sound, however I’m sure these new songs will appeal too many. I can’t help feeling though that Ryan Adams has more individualism in him than these current songs are showing.

This album may gain plenty of radio airplay, I’m sure there will be a great many people who will like this. Lovers of that American 70’s Neil Young / Jackson Browne era will understand and feel comfortable with the album.

For me, well I did enjoy the experience of listening to the album. I would like to see more risks taken, I like to find new parts to an album each time I listen, new noises and little mistakes that all add to the experience an album can bring.

Ashes and Fire lays it all out on the line for you straight away, and if you like your music like this then you will enjoy the new Ryan Adams album.

There are no risks here as Adams sings gently, songs of introspection and of waiting for a loved one.

I look forward to his next release, I wouldn’t be surprised if it has more edge.

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2 Things I Know About Song Writing

Posted on October 18, 2011

by Calum MacDonald

Where do you start? - Well where do you finish? That could be a better question. Do I have song writing tips? Not really, I know we all find our own way eventually but there are techniques that you find useful and these are worth passing on which I will do from time to time.

Is it easier to start with the lyrics or the music? Would you be better writing on your own or with someone else? If you are attempting to make a million writing the latest hit what style do you write in? Are you making it all so complicated that the enjoyment can disappear and you actually dry up?

Well as is with a lot of artistic endeavours in life there is the old, by now cliché, no rules.

I personally don’t write to sell a hit (although I have had my share of this type of writing, hitless though). For me it is an artistic endeavour that is quite a selfish act and if other people enjoy what I do then that is fine, I’m glad and humble. I do this because I have a need to write songs, I like to experiment with lyrics and music but not particularly following a set pattern.

I have had my share of writing -Verse-Chorus-Verse-Verse-Chorus-Bridge-Chorus type songs and a good majority of smash hits follow this formula if not close to it, there may be a key change towards the end to add more interest. Now when I’m writing I do not even consider the format of the song, I can’t remember when I last wrote a bridge, the chorus just comes and sometimes it doesn’t, that’s the way I enjoy it.

The interest for me is in the flow of what comes and a lot of what I do now would never fit into standard radio formats but they do fit into an album format, just no real singles (although I could pick the odd one out of my tunes if radio came a calling and it is quite easy these days to have your songs played at an online radio music station).

Now I’m not knocking top 40 hit songs because there is a lot of satisfaction to be gained from listening to that perfect little pop song and I love them, always have but writing them is not for me anymore, but never say never (another clichéd line, but true).

There are a lot of cheap books online that may give you a few pointers and I may review one or two of these at some stage. You may find a dictionary thesaurus online which can prompt you for a direction, but it’s something I rarely use. I found a thesaurus hindered my natural flow of words and made what I wrote seem stilted, but everyone to their own method.

There are two things I would recommend if you wish to become a songwriter:

1.Write about what you know.

A songs lyric should mean something even if it is a 3 minute pop tune. I am however partial to progressive rock bands and who knows what those lyrics mean at times, but they have a feel and intention that goes with the music and because of this they are an important style of writing.

Read a lot of books, talk to a lot of people and as you go through life the stories will come, they will almost jump out at you at times. Find a relaxing spot, or write about your teen/middle aged angst but it has to mean something to you. You can’t expect someone else to connect with your lyric if you don’t find your own connection within what you are writing, write genuinely with purpose.

2.Give yourself time.

My best lyrics come at all times of the day, when I’m tired, when I’m wide awake, when I least feel like writing a song. I guess what I’m saying is if you sit down to write a song and nothing comes then the time is possibly not right. Don’t lose sleep, hey even in the middle of the night, things can come (keep that writing pad and pen by the side of the bed)

Learn guitar chords,as many new ones as possible, tune your guitar differently, there are endless ways to stimulate the brain, try them all.

I very rarely sit down to especially write a song anymore but I still write many songs. When the words present themselves the music quite often follows close behind, or it may be the other way around however I write when it comes, unforced.

Try writing poetry, write in a different way, make the mind twist a little and you’ll be surprised at the results.

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John Lennon and Yoko Ono – A listen to the Wedding Album once again – Reviewed by Calum MacDonald

Posted on October 13, 2011

by Calum MacDonald

In July 1964 John Lennon bought a house in the St George’s Hill estate in Weybridge,Surreynamed “Kenwood”.

In an earlier post of mine I talked about his home based recording setup which was put together for John Lennon by Paul McCartney. McCartney had set up John Lennon’s tape recorders so that he could overdub tracks, essentially mono / stereophonic tape recorders joined so that an overdub could be done and this was done in the houses attic area.

This set off John recording and demoing future Beatles songs but also a series of avant garde music which didn’t sell well at all but are of great interest to Beatles fans.

I’m going to review all three of John Lennons avant garde albums in release order this is the third and last:

This album was not recorded at Kenwood but the whole Kenwood idea of avant garde was continued on here.

Wedding Album – Released 7/11/69. Recorded March and April 1969

calum macdonald john lennon wedding album review

Front cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Wedding Album

calum macdonald review of Lennon and Ono's Wedding Album

Back cover and inserts of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Wedding Album

This album was the final in what is now a series of three avant garde albums recorded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the late 1960’s.

The album has two tracks, one on each side and the CD re-release has three bonus tracks.

Track one “John and Yoko” consists of John Lennon and Yoko Ono repeating their names to each other over the sound of I would imagine their own heartbeats. They instill a different emotion each time they name call each other. Effective avant garde.

“Amsterdam” track 2 on side 2 was recorded as you would guess in Amsterdam at their now very famous bed in. They were married earlier in the year and this piece has Yoko singing of peace and a journalist interviewing them with John and Yoko answering as they always did with understanding of how the world needs peace. There are various other sounds underpinning the track and I enjoyed this.

The CD bonus tracks are:

“Who Has Seen The Wind” sung by Yoko Ono with a really nice backing. The song was Lennons “B” side for single Instant Karma in 1970.

“Listen The Snow Is Falling” once again sung by Yoko Ono and this was the B side to John Lennons “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” from 1971. Once again a nice track.

I really quite like that period of Lennon and Ono working together with her child like vocal style to his musical backing, this track also features session musicians.

“Don’t Worry Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow)” is another Yoko Ono track with Lennon backing her on acoustic guitar. This appears to be a demo recording and from my research possibly recorded on cassette at Queen Charlotte’s hospital, London in November 68. It is quite a rough recording but quite magical too.

Interestingly enough the CD re-releases of the John Lennon Yoko Ono avant garde albums seem to come with bonus Yoko Ono tracks, not a bad thing just interesting as I’m sure there were many Lennon tracks that could have been added to the collection. Maybe contractual licencing issues were a reason for this.

The album sold somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 copies. It came as a box set with many inserts such as a copy of Lennon and Ono’s wedding certificate, press clippings and a picture of their wedding cake.

As per the other two avant garde albums they didn’t dent the charts and were possibly a mystery to Lennons Beatle fans at the time.

I for one am glad they did them, they were unusual and apart from the recordings themselves represented a period were one of the musical greats of history decided to change course and as we all now know leave The Beatles behind him. He was to take on a more political stance with his music in the future and he moved styles away from the “She loves You” type tracks.

I’m sure these recordings, that seem an aberration in the middle of Lennon’s other work, were necessary to him and in some ways propelled him in into his later styles more than maybe The Beatles tunes ever could. Being an artist to me should be an evolving process and Lennon showed that through his lifes work.

At the end of the day we have albums that love or hate them, make you think, and that can’t be a bad thing.

Track Listing

Side one

John & Yoko – 22:44

Side two

1. Amsterdam– 25:00

CD bonus tracks

Who Has Seen the Wind? – 2:05
Listen, The Snow Is Falling – 3:25
Don’t Worry Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow) – 2:35

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John Lennon – Life With The Lions – 41 years later – Reviewed by Calum MacDonald

Posted on October 11, 2011

by Calum MacDonald

In July 1964 John Lennon bought a house in the St George’s Hill estate in Weybridge, Surrey named “Kenwood”.

This set off John recording and demoing future Beatles songs but also a series of avant garde music which didn’t sell well at all but are of great interest to Beatles fans.

I’m going to review all three of John Lennons avant garde albums in release order this is the second:

This album was not recorded at Kenwood but the whole Kenwood idea of avant garde was continued on here.

Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions-released May 9^th 1969-recorded 11/68 to 3/69

calum macdonald john lennon life with the lions front cover

John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Unfinished Music No 2: Life With The Lions front cover

calum macdonald john lennon life with the lions

John Lennon and Yoko Ono's back cover of Unfinished music No 2: Life With The Lions

This album was the follow up to the Unfinished Music No 1 – Two virgins release from 1968.

Track one was recorded live on the 2/3/69 at Cambridge University. The recording has Yoko Ono improvising to John Lennons guitar sounds. The couple were joined by a saxophonist and percussionist during the piece.

If you are not a Yoko Ono fan and I wouldn’t say I am but I find her interesting then this shrill track of Yoko Ono backed by John Lennon using feedback won’t appeal. The track lasts for 26:30 minutes and takes some patience to listen to but again as in the “Two Virgins” album this is historical and that may not mean you have to like it but it does add an interest and a feel to what is being produced.

Yoko Ono went on to endure three miscarriages, one can only imagine how traumatic that must have been for the couple. The rest of the recordings are done on cassette tape and were made at Queen Charlotte’s hospital in London in November 1968 were Yoko Ono was admitted.

“No Bed for Beatle John” is a recording of John and Yoko singing or chanting, take your pick, words from press clippings that were written about them. Yoko’s voice seems to be more to the front here.

The track “Baby’s Heartbeat” is as it says a recording of the baby’s abnormal heartbeat and that is what it is for the whole track.

“Two Minutes Silence” is actually two minutes of silence and reminds me of the John cage 4’33 piece that he did, which was 4’33 minutes of silence. Apparently this was meant to be in memory for the baby and a reminder to us all that violence and death are not the way we should go.

“Radio Play” which lasts for 12’35 is apparently John Lennon moving through a radio, flipping between channels with at one stage John Lennon involved in a phone call. This track for me was annoying, I guess as a piece of avant garde it may appeal to some but once John Lennon was on the phone as well as the radio dialing, the piece lost it really for me. Once again though interesting in a historical sense.

The CD re-release comes with two bonus tracks. The first is “Song For john” which is a song sung by Yoko with Lennon on a tinny acoustic guitar. I quite liked this, maybe after “Radio Play” it felt good but you wouldn’t have heard this on the original album and this type of track is what Lennon and Yoko did well.

The other bonus track is “Mulberry” a piece with John lennon playing fairly wild acoustic guitar and Yoko Ono vocalizing over this. As a piece of avant garde I like this as well, once again not on the original album.

The front cover of the album shows Yoko Ono lying in bed at Queen Charlotte’s hospital next to her is Lennon lying on what appears to be two bean bags. A very hard time for the couple and you can see this clearly in their faces.

The back cover is a shot of Lennon and Ono leaving Marleybone police station after having been arrested for drugs in October 1968.

I think listening to these tracks, 41 years later is immensely interesting. There has always been a fascination for many many people regarding the Beatles but not so much these uncommercial Lennon and Ono albums. For me they are essential listening and throw in the fact that the pieces provide you with gripping memories as well as sonic interest, I am very glad i made the effort.

“Radio Play” not so much but hey that’s just me. The album according to Lennon went on to sell around 60.000 copies, quite a few more sales than “Two Virgins”. Maybe the new avant garde style of John Lennon and Yoko Ono was starting to catch on.

Track Listing

Side one

Cambridge 1969 (26:31)

Side two

No Bed For Beatle John (4:41)
Baby’s Heartbeat (5:10)
Two Minutes Silence (2:00)
Radio Play (12:35)

CD bonus tracks

Song For John (1:29)
Mulberry (8:47)

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Recording studio of the week – Abbey Road

Posted on October 9, 2011

by Calum MacDonald

calum macdonald studio of the week Abbey Road

While I'm on a Beatles theme Abbey Road

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John Lennon and Yoko Ono – Unfinished Music No 1: Two Virgins – 42 years later – Reviewed by Calum MacDoanld

Posted on October 9, 2011

by Calum MacDonald

In July 1964 John Lennon bought a house in the St George’s Hill estate in Weybridge, Surrey named “Kenwood”.

This set off John recording and demoing future Beatles songs but also a series of avant garde music which didn’t sell well at all but are of great interest to Beatles fans.

I’m going to review all three of John Lennons avant garde albums in release order this is the first:

Unfinished Music No 1: Two Virgins – released Nov. 29, 1968

calum macdonald review of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Two Virgins album

Pictures of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Two Virgins controversial front cover

calum macdonald review of john lennon and yoko ono two virgins album

Pictures of John Lennon and Yoko Ono from the back cover of their Two Virgins album

The recording was the result of one all night session between John Lennon and Yoko Ono (possibly 19th May 1968). The music is definitely avant garde and if as a Beatles fan you expected melody and a form of coherence then the result was far far from this and possibly shocked those who were mop top fans. There are no John Lennon songs or John Lennon lyrics here unless you count vocal adlibs.

The cover of the album possibly became more controversial than the recording itself. The front cover had a full frontal picture of John Lennon and Yoko Ono and the back cover a full rear picture of the couple. This caused the distributors to sell the album in a brown paper cover.

There are many drum, organ, piano, vocal edits and tape looped sounds that John had recorded himself with Yoko in monophonic and overdubbed onto other tape recorders creating an ensemble type sound, if you will.

I must say I do enjoy avant garde music and produce some of it myself so this album I enjoyed listening to. It would be fair to say that once every few years I will probably get this out and listen again, maybe finding more sounds and new parts. It is quite hard to listen to and not an album I would put on too many times in a row, but nevertheless fascinating in terms of it’s origin and as a peice of art.

I think listening back knowing the history of John Lennons home studio and The Beatles and Yoko Ono there is an almost surreal feeling that you get whilst hearing the sounds and the vocal add libs that Lennon put together, this definitely added to the overall impact of the album listening to it after it’s initial release 42 years ago.

There will be listeners that will say it is utter nonsence, well I know where they are coming from but John Lennon in my opinion was always genuine about his work and this is as genuine a work as any of his Beatle tracks just not as commercial. Not commercial at all in fact it sold around 5000 copies.

If I had put together an album such as this it would have gained little interest. Massively successful identities in our society almost demand you listen to them and you can’t help but see more maybe than what is there, as a species we are what we are and well known people do make us listen and see things in a different way.

People like John Lennon were creating musical history and this strange as it may be to some, is part of that.

The CD re-release on Rykodisc has a bonus track. “Remember Love” sung by Yoko Ono with John Lennon on acoustic guitar backing her.

I liked this, Yoko Ono’s voice is almost child like and the Lennon guitar backing is reminiscent of something he would do on the white album. The track has a folky quality to it and really is a melodic musical piece whereas “Two Virgins” isn’t.

If you are a Beatles, John Lennon or Yoko Ono fan listen to this album even if it is only once and take it all in as an interesting piece of avant garde history, a time now well in the past.

Track Listing:

Side one

Two Virgins Side One – 14:14

Two Virgins No. 1
Together
Two Virgins No. 2
Two Virgins No. 3
Two Virgins No. 4
Two Virgins No. 5

Side two

Two Virgins Side Two – 15:13

Two Virgins No. 6
Hushabye Hushabye
Two Virgins No. 7
Two Virgins No. 8
Two Virgins No. 9
Two Virgins No. 10

Rykodisc CD bonus track Remember Love (Yoko Ono)

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Why is my vocal track way behind the guitar track – could this be latency?

Posted on October 2, 2011

by Calum MacDonald

You’re recording happily into your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) application,

guitar part done, vocal done and on playback the vocal line is dragging behind the guitar, this could well be a good example of latency.

The delay is milliseconds but it might as well be a minute as your track starts to sound quite weird. Add a few VST plugins and you quickly end up with one giant out of sync mess.

So what is actually happening?

Your DAW application processes your analogue audio input into digital audio via the use of analogue to digital converters. To do this takes a small amount of time and this time becomes the amount of latency you are experiencing.

Now if you are experienced with digital audio you’ll know that bit rates make a difference, your analogue source is effectively sampled into a digital signal, the higher the bit rate the better the quality of your audio, there are things the computer needs to do and do well.

Bit rates, sampling rates, the type of software and hardware (computer processor speed and RAM) all figure in latency. Because we all have slightly different recording setups, individually we have differing latency issues.

So what can we do to solve this dreaded latency thing? A good thing you can do is buy a soundcard that has built in DSP (digital signal processing) so that effectively you are making the soundcard do more of the work as opposed to the computer. A computer is regularly working hard to keep itself operating efficiently and the extra work required to process audio data can lead, amongst other things, to your severe latency issues.

Steinberg developed the ASIO driver (audio stream input and output) which lessened the delays by communicating with the soundcard directly as opposed to going through the computer. ASIO drivers are now written by the companies for their soundcards and are used on both the Apples and PC’s; they were developed originally for the Macintosh.

The advantage of a good professional soundcard, a computer with a fast processor and adequate RAM are many and lead to a much better quality of sound for your recordings. Making sure your soundcard supports ASIO drivers and has DSP onboard may sound like icing on the cake but really they are essential in this world of digital audio and VST and will stand you in good stead avoiding many hours of frustration.

A lot of people go the digital hardware route, a dedicated digital recorder with built in DSP, hard drive etc, designed to work as a unit on it’s own. This solves the latency issues that can come when using a computer to record audio.

Oh there is one thing you could try if digital becomes too tasking and that is record using analogue equipment as there is scarcely any latency.

Lose all the pleasures that come with digital recording? well that’s not for me but I still have a strong love of analogue and from time to time it will be part of my work and I’m also happy to say I havn’t had latency problems for many years.

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Avoid losing your songs using Digital Audio Workstation software (DAW)

Posted on September 27, 2011

by Calum MacDonald

One of the problems with recording digitally to a computer using DAW software is that you can lose work in an instant if you haven’t been making regular backups. There is nothing worse than after just getting that guitar part right and working on it for (put your own time in here) it disappears, the computer has frozen and a restart is required.

What can also happen is that you can end up with a corrupted file. Say you have been working on “song one” all morning saving to the same file, what do you do when this file ceases to work, start again? well I guess you have to.

I have become somewhat paranoid about this and now make a point of saving within my DAW software to a new file name at least every half hour or so. Every half hour I’ll have a file “Song 1 two”, “Song one three” etc plus add the date to this file. This does add up to a few files by the end of a song but at least they are all there, unless of course the whole main drive of your computer goes down and that is why I save the files to a second drive and only run my audio recording program from my main drive on the computer.

A backup to a USB memory stick, a good 16gb (or larger) is also a good further backup to cover all angles after all this is your heart and soul we are recording for posterity here.

Recording using one of the many audio programs (I use Steinberg Cubase) involves a lot of data being saved to that one file. Along with your song are all the plugins that you have used, your mixer settings, VST synths etc. By the end of a session you have a lot of data all hinging on being loaded up tomorrow from one file.

So why do files corrupt and computers go down? Your operating system can lose it’s connection to where that file is, it may not remember the files number (allocated by the computer) anymore and that’s that. Audio requires a fair amount of computer grunt, the more memory the better and I always use an external sound card (I have been using a Focusrite audio firewire interface for a few years now) but there are many very good audio interfaces available. These interfaces give you a much more professional sound via the high quality audio they produce through good circuitry, you have more choice in the amount of input and output jacks, microphone preamps and are usually from my experience, quiet.

A computer checks constantly for the mouse, the keyboard, all your different plugins and the myriad of other processes it needs to function. Recording audio is processor and memory intensive, if anything is going to make your computer hit the wall then recording your audio tracks will.

An internal sound card can also pick up noise and affect your recordings but more importantly the computer is working harder using an internal soundcard instead of letting an external audio interface do a lot of the work. This may be OK if you don’t use many VST plugins but your computer memory will be sorely tested once you start to pile them on and the dreaded freezing screen may not be too far away.

Now I don’t want to sound too scary about all this, but losing hours of work using your DAW software is never fun and a few little simple methods put in place can save a lot of heartache and make the creative process just that little more relaxing.
Let the music flow.