As of the past few years, I produce pop songs performed in a pastiche of Leonard Cohen's mid-late 80's style (when he really started to sound super cool). My buddies and I call ourselves The Three Leonards. Our covers of Toxic and Rusted From The Rain have proven very popular. They're not jazz but they're also not not jazz. The cool kids seem to like them. We've made over 20 bucks in streaming which is as close to success as you can want. Have a listen and see what madness sounds like.
As far as home studio kit goes, I run Reaper: it's just great.
Also a shout-out to ReEQ for Reaper which is free and as close to FabFilter as I need.
I have a Nektar 61-key MIDI keyboard. Just the right size. One slider on it has gone wonky but I don't use the sliders that much. I like the touchpads; they're fun.
I record vocals and acoustic instruments using a Scarlett interface and a really sweet mic from Blue evidently from before they got bought out. I got it as a gift and it does the trick.
I have a reasonably decent multi-effects pedal from Boss that I mostly use for gigging but occasionally for studio tracking.
I did buy Diva and Kontakt and SSD and Analog Lab : they're all super handy, and are the ones I lean on the most. There are plenty of free VSTs out there to use: only when freeware/demo versions are insufficient should you consider spending money.
I had a roommate in my 20's who would sing AC/DC songs as if they were soft jazz while he was walking around the house. It took me a little while to figure out where he was coming up with all these banging lyrics on the fly. Haha. It's kind of the same idea that you're rolling with, just different genres, and you actually laid it out with music and recorded it. Pretty cool. Pretty fun.
Your roommate sounds fun. Just between you and me, I do have an AC/DC song in mind for a future album. It'll be a challenge to get it just right, though. Could take a while. You'll know it when you hear it.
Yeah, he's a creative dude. He was a bassist in a band back then, so he is musical too. I've kept in touch with him through the decades on Facebook, and he seems like he's just as fun and creative as back then.
Definitely let us know when you release new stuff! I'm interested in hearing it.
Please let me know what Creative Bassist Roommate thinks of our stuff. I always say you never know which song will be someone's favourite (that's why I try to do a good job on every one of them)
hey thanks :) That's so great to hear.
I enjoy talking about it because it's such a fun project.
I really want to get the word out even more, but i gotta say: social media promotional type stuff can be pretty draining. and I want to focus on the positive things, y'know?