Music video for a competition

The competition involved taking a one-minute drum track provided by Bogren Digital and writing music over the top of it and then posting this to social media for judging.

Alan, who is self-taught and has been playing the guitar for 20 years this year, utilised the high-tech systems available for research and clinical use in the Motion & Gait Analysis Labs at UDOTS to incorporate the tracked movements of himself, his fingers and his guitar to produce a Vicon software motion-synced track.

We hope this unique, as far as we know video, will highlight to competition judges Alan’s excellent playing as well as give that extra edge and uniqueness to his entry. Everyone at UDOTS wishes Alan well for the forthcoming competition. 

Alan told us:

“This competition relates to a new bunch of guitar plugins that simulate guitar amplifiers released last month. I trialled and bought the plugins as they sounded good and they’re easy to use. This is the first competition I’ve entered, and I figured the motion capture video would perhaps stand out a bit from other entries as I don’t imagine many people have access to a motion capture system and the expertise available at UDOTS. I’d like to thank Dr Graham Arnold and Mr Sadiq Nasir for their help in setting up and shooting the video.”

Technical note for all guitar enthusiasts out there, the guitar used for both the audio and the video is an LTD EC-1000 in See Thru Black Cherry tuned to D Standard that Alan regards as one of the best in his guitar collection. The playing technique is mainly a mix of down-picking and fast-tempo alternate picking.