In the Rushes, from Music of the Lake. This video is only a year late (haha!). I've combined footage gathered over the last two years at Bouchie Lake, with studio footage and some mimed performance in front of my home-made green screen. Aside from some lighting issues, I think the latter turned out pretty good for a first go. This is one of my favourites from Music of the Lake, so I hope you like it.
It's my goal to publish at least one video per month this year, so I have my work cut out. If you like the song, the video, or both, please share it around on your social media of choice.
A couple of years ago I entered a competition run by ADAM Audio. The brief was to create a thirty second piece of music based on an image (of which there were five to choose from, if I remember correctly). For more about that, check out my earlier blog post.
I liked what I made so much that I expanded it into a longer track, using the original material as the intro. Nightrunner was completed at Christmas last year, along with a handful of other tracks that are waiting in the wings. But it wasn't until testing some new video equipment that I decided to complete the promo video and release the track.
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The b-side is a track called 'Solve It': a quirky synthpop thing I wrote with the Korg MS-20 Mini, an iPad drum computer called 'DM2', the VTech Talking Whiz Kid, and TAL U-No-LX. My original idea was to have a friend of mine help me finish the demo, but he sent me enough material to make an entirely different song! So I finished it off in my own way and will revisit our collaboration at a later date.
While I was working on Radioatomic, I had a few offshoot ideas that further explored the radio theme, to the point of incorporating snippets of distorted radio transmissions into them. This was the loose concept behind 'Transmissions.' The project has since morphed into a home for 'orphaned' experiments that came about from tinkering in the studio. I foresee a series of EP's of this nature, with a full album as soon as there's enough material. For now, you can grab Transmissions Part I here, or stream from the player below:
Bandcamp Player:
1. Microbes - Testing some new equipment gave rise to this Frankenstein's Monster of a track. I never quite knew where I was going with it from one minute to the next. While searching for a title, I found an old educational film about bacteria; a monologue from which tied everything together.
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Equipment: Korg SQ-1 sequencer and MS-20 Mini
(wobbly 'bassline,' panned left, and pink noise 'footsteps', panned
center), iVCS3 soft synth (bubbly swamp noises, panned center) Korg
Monotribe (space drum-thing sequence, panned right), Curtis for iPad
granular synthesizer (pterodactyl sounds), GMedia M-Tron (choir), various field recordings.
2. Echo of the Telegraph - The Korg MS-20 synthesizer is equipped with CV (Control Voltage), and can be patched in such a way that it effectively plays itself. The usefulness of this is very limited, of course, but it leaves your hands free to shape the sound while it's blooping merrily away. One such improvisation forms the backbone of this track. To that I added TAL U-No-LX (melody), Crumar Performer (strings), cymbal, and synthesized percussion.
3. Trans Earache Express - Of the many recordings of trains I've made, I had one striking passage I wanted to build a song around. I called upon the Korg Monotribe to provide bass accompaniment (recorded live), and added a little percussion.
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4. Ghost Box - In 2013 I worked on a soundtrack that could be described as steampunk-meets-chorale. I think it's one of the best things I've done, so I hope I'll be able to release it someday. This song shares some of the sonic characteristics and overall mood, with the exception of vocals and snippets of radio recordings. A 'ghost box,' in case you're wondering, is a radio wired to constantly cycle through frequencies in the hope that spirits will vocalise through it.
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5. Lost Transmission - Written around the same time as Ghost Box. I took a lengthy recording of a transistor radio tuned so that the signal stuttered, and played it back at half-speed through a digital emulation of tape delay. I then came up with something complimentary on the Roland HS-60.
For some time now I've wanted to produce an album of ambient sound collages. Atmospheres Part Iis the first step towards that goal. The soundscapes presented here are built from my ever-growing collection of field recordings, spiced up with minimal synthesizer sequences, circuit-bent sounds, and the occasional home-built instrument.
It's released under a Creative Commons license. The music may be used in non-commercial productions royalty free, on the condition that I'm credited.
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As usual, here is some track-by-track commentary:
1. Night Of The Cacti - In 2010 I was fortunate to visit a correspondent of mine, Jay Ellington Lee, at his home on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona. Sadly, Jay passed away the following year. Among other things he was a composer for film, radio, and television, had a hand in designing the E-Mu modular synthesizer, and was an all-round creative boffin. I shall forever be grateful for his friendship, and the opportunity to see some of the Sonora Desert. This soundscape is based on recordings I made at his home, and is an attempt to capture my impressions of the desert, which is more alive than one might first imagine.
One evening Jay dug out some LED light boxes, which led to the both of us venturing out into the night to light and photograph cacti. Despite only having a digital point-and-shoot camera with me on the trip, I was pleased with the eerie and surreal results. I had those photographs in mind when I set about recording this track.
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2. Down In The Data Mines - 'Data mining' seems to be the gold rush of the new millenium, with companies like G**gle and FaceB**k collecting and storing data left, right, and centre. This track looks at the concept from the point of view of the virtual robots whizzing around the ethernet, doing the actual 'digging'. A lot of circuit-bent sounds, and a fridge, went into this one.
3. A Night In The Big Room -A restless night in an old asphalt testing lab in the industrial zone, marked by strange sounds and waking dreams, was the inspiration. Recordings from the actual location were used, along with some stand-ins and a few tape experiments to exaggerate the experience.
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4. Landwhales - A synthesizer sequence made with MS-20 Mini and the SQ-1 sequencer, rejected from an early version of 'Cacti', became the basis for this track. 5. Well Of Souls - The bulk of this track consists of sounds made by a faulty toilet flusher valve. It also features an out-of-tune piano a kind lady by the name of Cleo allowed me to sample. Incidentally, her wheezing dog makes an appearance on 'Landwhales.'
I spent a couple of days this week editing the backlog of train recordings I captured over the course of the year. This inspired me to do something creative with them, so I called upon the Korg Monotribe to create a sequence (recorded live) to accompany a particularly striking recording made from beside the train tracks in August. Everything came together quickly over two recording sessions, and here is the result: Trans Earache Express (a nod to Kraftwerk, in case you're wondering!).
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Other instruments used on this track include Korg MS-20 Mini, Roland HS-60, Freebird VST, and Shortcircuit sampler.
An experiment to test some new hardware and software has yielded this cheerful little ditty about bacteria. I plan on releasing it as part of a three-track e.p. in the near future. I'd like to point out that it will not be on the forthcoming The Manitou album - that is an entirely different affair and will be far more accessible!
Featured gizmos include the Korg SQ-1 sequencer controlling the MS-20 (wobbly 'bassline,' panned left, and pink noise 'footsteps', panned center), the iVCS3 soft synth (bubbly swamp noises, panned center) Korg Monotribe (space drum-thing sequence, panned right), and Curtis for iPad granular synthesizer (Pterodactyl sounds). Some samples from an old educational film and a varied selection of my personal field recordings round it out. If you listen carefully you can hear one of the pebble-drop sounds I recorded at the City Pit, as described in this post.
My intention was to release the Radioatomic album tonight, to coincide with my birthday. But the booklet and liner notes aren't quite finished. Thankfully, the seventh single from the album was ready to go, so here it is: Radium Smile.
Radium Smile is inspired by the plight of the 'Radium Girls', who unwittingly poisoned themselves working for the Radium Dial Company in the early 1900's. Though the lyrics are tongue-in-cheek, I like to think this pays tribute to them in some small way. Musically, it's one of the poppiest from the new album (insasmuch as I write that sort of thing!). Unusually, the lyrics were written first. Once I had an idea of how I was going to sing it, I programmed a bass arpeggio on the K-Station. That synth provides most of the sounds and melodies. The Roland HS-60 makes a brief appearance on the chorus, and string chords from the Crumar Performer give what is a fairly bare-bones track a bit of meat. All percussion is either created from scratch or sourced from found sounds, with the exception of tom-toms from the Boss DR-550. Most of the sounds had already been added by the time the Korg MS-20 Mini arrived, but I managed to sneak it in on a bit of percussion before the mix-down. AnalogX SayIt provides the computer voice.
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I hope to release the album before the end of the month. Stay tuned!
Production on the Radioatomic album has slowed due to summer activities, but hasn't come to a standstill. I present the latest track intended for the album: Atomic City, plus a remix.
Atomic City was a last-minute addition to the album tracklist and slow to crystallize. For a long time it existed only as the treated film clip passages and atmospheric sound effects. It was only when the arpeggios and chorus melody came along that things fell into place. The bulk of the sounds heard here were realised on MS-20 Mini, marking its debut on the album material. The K-Station provides the arpeggios, HS-60 the main melody, and tom-toms were sequenced with the SamplePad as usual.
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Atomic City [electro mix]came about when I sent the original track to my friend and collaborator Jimmy Aaron. He was curious to hear what it would sound like with a 4/4 beat behind it. The notion had also crossed my mind, so I gave it a shot. I turned it into a full-blown electropop track, and added some ideas that didn't make it into the original: such as the cut-up vocals towards the end. The new percussion elements were all created on MS-20 Mini. Also featured is the Lounge Lizard electric piano VST.
The Korg MS-20 was produced from 1978-83 and has since become something of a legendary synthesizer. The brand new (as of this writing) MS-20 Mini is a complete recreation in a slightly smaller housing, with the addition of very simple MIDI implementation (it has MIDI In to allow sequencing, nothing more). The basics: it is analog, monophonic; has two oscillators, one LFO, and two filters (high & low pass). It's also semi-modular in that certain functions can be re-wired or patched-in via the patch panel on the right-hand side of the synth.
In 2002 I bought my first proper synthesizer: the Novation K-Station. It's a fantastic machine but at the time I found it exceedingly complex. While it has a wealth of hands-on control, a great deal of its parameters are hidden in the menu system. As I've come to learn its ins-and-outs, it's proven its versatility and I still use it as my main instrument. But circa 2005 I wanted to get my hands on something simpler in order to get to grips with basic synthesis.
The K-Station, a true workhorse.
This led to a search for such an instrument, and among the contenders was the MS-20. Unfortunately it was long out of production, and I'd missed out on the 'great analog purge' of the late '80s early '90s, when analog gear was practically being thrown away in favour of digital. By this time analog was back in vogue and the MS-20 was fetching upwards of $2000 USD. So, after much consideration I settled for a Yamaha CS-5. It only had one oscillator, but its design was such that it had oodles of character. It was simple and easy to use, and it helped me get to grips with synthesis and the K-Station. Being of a vintage, and I suspect mistreated by its former owner, the CS-5 failed within a short time. The handful of songs I made with it are among my favourites, and for a long time there was a void in the studio that couldn't be filled.
Alas, poor Yorick... the ill-fated CS5.
When the MS-20 Mini was announced I was understandably excited, and I pre-ordered it the first chance I got. The demand for it was such that it took 11 months to arrive. It has not only filled the gap left by the CS-5 in my sound palette, but expanded it to undreamt of horizons. You will no doubt be hearing a lot from it in the coming months.
The day of its arrival. The postlady dropped it and ran away (I kid ye not).
