I wrote a song ...

... and I don't think it came out too bad:

Click here to listen

For this, I used my trusty BR600. This machine offers good recording with minimal hassle.

The drums are completely "analogue".

I used a separate track on the BR600 for the hi-hat, snare and bass sounds.

The "hi-hat" is me tapping a plectrum half way between the stereo mics on the 8 track.
The "snare" is me clapping.
The "bass" is me tapping both of the stereo mics with my fingers at the same time.

Over this I put a simple guitar riff using the unit's "Crunch" guitar effect (P05).

After these were recorded, I used the A-B loop functionality to listen to the above composition repeatedly. This allowed me to start formulating vocal melodies in my head. As these came together I threw some words in.

Tracks 5/6 and 6/7 are used for stereo vocal recordings. I used both of these combos in recording a simple vocal harmony for the track.

Once I had all of the tracks recorded separately, I again used the A-B function to listen back to the full "song" a couple of times and to adjust levels. When I was happy with these, I bounce recorded all tracks to 6/7's Virtual Track 2. Using a stereo track here meant that the exported .wav file was in stereo.

I think it came together quite well. I'll definitely be working on more tracks in the future and probably be using the BR600's digital drum kit.... I've never actually used its mastering functionality, so it'd probably be a good idea to take a swing at that too :-)

Please let me know what you think in the comments.

Tomorrow's post will be on steam engines! (Trains)