Digital EP: Transmissions Part I

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.

Video: Well of Souls

One more video for the Atmospheres stuff. I'd like to eventually do a 'making of' for this track, but in the meantime I have a new e.p. out so look out for that in a forthcoming post.

As previously mentioned, the Atmospheres_Part I e.p. is available as a free download via bandcamp. If you'd prefer to just snag this track, you can find it on SoundCloud:

Video: A Night In The Big Room

Now that the new studio PC is up and running I'm devoting some time to work that was interrupted by the change-over. This includes completing a new e.p. of various experiments that don't fit with the theme of the new Manitou album, and videos for some of the pieces from Atmospheres Part I.

A Night In The Big Room was inspired by the building you see in the video footage. I shot this sometime around 2007 on a VHS-C camcorder. For the story behind the sound collage, see this post.

Digital Single: Superstitious by Disco Antenna

A lot has been going on at Manitou Productions behind the scenes, including a major upgrade to the studio. Unfortunately, the time spent wrangling hardware and software has eaten into time that should have been spent creatively. I've also taken on some consultancy work, but more about that later. This post is to celebrate the release of Disco Antenna's new single: Superstitious.

Way back in 2010, when Jimmy sent me a demo called There To Remind Me, and Disco Antenna was effectively born, I was inspired to write a song of my own for the project. The working title was Escape Pod - because it had a spacey feel to it. This was quickly abandoned in favour of Disco From The Stars. Jimmy then laid down some improvised vocals: the essence of which you can hear on this track. As years passed and Disco From The Stars evolved, becoming more ambitious and sprouting a chorus along the way, much of the original feel of the demo eroded away. With the release of Side A out of the way, I turned my attention to Disco From The Stars with the intention of finishing it off for the follow-up. We both loved how it had come to sound, but also lamented the loss of the parts that had made the demo special. What to do?


Side A had familiarized us with the concept of creating extended disco 'epics' as well as the concept of songs that blend into one another to form a larger whole, or 'suite'. Thus, it became obvious to give Superstitious its own distinct place within the larger framework of Disco From The Stars. Elements of that original demo were brought back in and polished up to compliment the new production, half-baked ideas were cooked to perfection, and the best bits of Jimmy's vocal improvs were re-jigued to evoke the spirit of the demo while still creating something new and exciting.

The full 17-minute version of Disco From The Stars is still incomplete, but the section consisting of Superstitious is done and dusted, so it didn't take much to lift it out and master it for single release. As we did with There To Remind Me, it's released under a Creative Commons By-Attribution license: you may download and share it as you see fit. You may also use it in non-commercial podcasts or video productions as long as Disco Antenna are credited for their hard work. Here, then, are the pertinent links and embeds:

High quality download via Bandcamp.

Streaming Audio (SoundCloud):

Streaming Video (YouTube):

Work continues on the rest of 'Side B'...

Digital EP: Atmospheres Part I

For some time now I've wanted to produce an album of ambient sound collages. Atmospheres Part I is 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.'

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New Track - Trans Earache Express

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.

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ADAM Audio Soundtrack Competition

Image (c) Thomas Easton.

ADAM Audio are running a competition until the end of the month, the details of which can be found here. They've asked participants to create a 30-second piece of music to match one of five provided images, including the one above, titled 'moon,' which has served as the basis for my entry, 'Nightrunner.'

To me, the image speaks of a journey. I could've interpreted it any number of ways, but as I'm in an electro mood at present, I decided to go with an 80's-inspired synthesizer piece, creating literal references to visual cues along the way: travel, clouds, the awe-inspiring image of the moon, the twinkling of stars.


Instruments called upon for this project, recorded in an evening, mixed in another, were Novation K-Station, Korg MS-20 Mini, Tal U-No-LX, Orchestra Silver, a few staple drum machine samples, and a field recording.

I don't expect to win the competition with this by any means. But as an exercise in creating music based on an image, it was a lot of fun.When time allows I intend to work it into a full-length track.