Here is my debut acoustic EP, written and recorded in my van while solo traveling around Australia

Here is 'Silence in the Solitude', an acoustic EP written and recorded in my van by myself, Matt Blackwell :D.

Link Here
https://soundcloud.com/matt_blackwell/sets/silence-in-the-solitude-ep

This music project was created during my solo van trip around Australia through 2017 and early 2018. The EP, called 'Silence in the Solitude' is comprised of six acoustic songs written during this trip and recorded in my van using a basic laptop - interface - condenser mic setup.

The songs are inspired by my experiences during this trip, as well as from my past overseas adventures. The lyrics are written with the intention to tell some of these stories in a musical context. See some of my previous blog posts for each song and its lyrical meaning.

Artwork was made by my good friend, Hadley Perkins. Check out his steemit page @animaltooth for more epic drawings.

Follow me at https://www.facebook.com/matthewblackwellmusic/ to hear more of my music.

Last year I left Melbourne, my home for the previous three years to explore Australia in my van. In total I spent seven months touring the country, in an anticlockwise loop that saw me spend 3 months up the east coast, 1 month across the top end outback, and 3 months down the West coast and back to Melbourne. Throughout most of this trip I wild camped in any location I could find that was in nature, where I could do my reading, meditation and focus on writing this music. Occasionally I would meet people or experience events or ideas that formed the lyrics to these songs.

To record the music I used a laptop with Cubase elements lite, a 2 channel Steinberg UR12 audio interface, and a Sennheiser condenser mic. Some of the songs were recorded with the guitar and vocals as seperate tracks, layered together. Others were recorded as a single track, as the rhythm of the vocals was sometimes hard to get right when I wasnt playing guitar along at the same time. See below for a photo of this setup.

I found that the van was a surprisingly good place to record, as the acoustics were dampened by all the soft interior, and the walls seemed to stop most external noise. I would still park up somewhere quiet and do the recordings during the evenings when there was no wind, and it wasn't too hot. Some days in the van, and in the Australian heat it was impossible to have all the windows closed to stop external noise. So I was limited by the weather! Which is a constraint that you wouldn't generally find in a normal studio.

Thanks for checking out my post. I hope you get a chance to have a listen to the tracks. My favorites are Let Go, Two Moons Ago, and Salt. I'd be stoked to hear if you have any feedback on how I could improve my sound, or if you liked any of the tracks in particular.

Follow me here at Steemit or at my facebook page to hear any future music from me :D

Link here https://www.facebook.com/matthewblackwellmusic/