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Recently I've been doing some archival work on my last album, including copying the two synced 8-track masters to a single 24-track tape in case I want to remix it later.
This is one of the tracks I've been listening to a lot lately, the extended instrumental from "More Songs About Demons". For a long time this track was called 'Song 210', right up until I had to send the album off to be mastered, at which point I remembered an in-joke(*) from my old Doom level, 'The Sky May Be' at which point it became known as "This Is A Triangle".
A similar problem resulted in the instrumental on the forthcoming album being titled "How to build a sundial", a helpful suggestion from google while searching for something completely unrelated.
This track was recorded in June 2010, and the album was mixed on Nov.20th of that year. This version is taken from the mixdown tape, prior to mastering - just to make it a bit different to the album version.
EDIT: Incidentally, the motif starting around 1:48 and repeated at the end was intended for the song titled 'Demonhunter'. It didn't pan out and eventually I wrote a completely different song based on the Demonhunter concept, the one which actually is on the album. The original version was reused as part of this track, along with a couple of other bits and pieces including the section starting around 5:23, which was the bridge from another abandoned song called 'The vegetable son' (a rather mean jibe at The Who's concept album, Tommy).
The song was recorded on 1/2" 8-track tape, with the basic mono tracks on one machine. This needed some reduction mixes, so a stereo drum track and extra keyboards were recorded on a second synchronised 8-track machine.
Mixing was done on a Studer A807 on SM900 tape at 320nWb/m.
The final version of the track is available on Jamendo.
(*) - An argument occurred during level design of 'Sky May Be', where I was trying to do something which didn't pan out involving a triangular pillar with a switch. My brother fixed it, but made the pillar hexagonal. To get my own back, I created a gigantic sign, about 6000 points high, with the words "This is a Triangle" repeated down it. The icon is a screenshot showing part of this.
This is one of the tracks I've been listening to a lot lately, the extended instrumental from "More Songs About Demons". For a long time this track was called 'Song 210', right up until I had to send the album off to be mastered, at which point I remembered an in-joke(*) from my old Doom level, 'The Sky May Be' at which point it became known as "This Is A Triangle".
A similar problem resulted in the instrumental on the forthcoming album being titled "How to build a sundial", a helpful suggestion from google while searching for something completely unrelated.
This track was recorded in June 2010, and the album was mixed on Nov.20th of that year. This version is taken from the mixdown tape, prior to mastering - just to make it a bit different to the album version.
EDIT: Incidentally, the motif starting around 1:48 and repeated at the end was intended for the song titled 'Demonhunter'. It didn't pan out and eventually I wrote a completely different song based on the Demonhunter concept, the one which actually is on the album. The original version was reused as part of this track, along with a couple of other bits and pieces including the section starting around 5:23, which was the bridge from another abandoned song called 'The vegetable son' (a rather mean jibe at The Who's concept album, Tommy).
The song was recorded on 1/2" 8-track tape, with the basic mono tracks on one machine. This needed some reduction mixes, so a stereo drum track and extra keyboards were recorded on a second synchronised 8-track machine.
Mixing was done on a Studer A807 on SM900 tape at 320nWb/m.
The final version of the track is available on Jamendo.
(*) - An argument occurred during level design of 'Sky May Be', where I was trying to do something which didn't pan out involving a triangular pillar with a switch. My brother fixed it, but made the pillar hexagonal. To get my own back, I created a gigantic sign, about 6000 points high, with the words "This is a Triangle" repeated down it. The icon is a screenshot showing part of this.
Category Music / 70s
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 120 x 120px
File Size 8.98 MB
Listed in Folders
If you're curious, I've updated the description to describe where parts of this song came from.
As for 'Baklawa Doom', it was actually mixed in December, but mastering it has been a pain because emails from the mastering engineer have often vanished, dragging things out no end. It's done now, but I'm thinking I'll wait until I get the reference CD and take the album from that.
As for 'Baklawa Doom', it was actually mixed in December, but mastering it has been a pain because emails from the mastering engineer have often vanished, dragging things out no end. It's done now, but I'm thinking I'll wait until I get the reference CD and take the album from that.
There never was a Dr. Who concept album, though there are some compilations of incidental music.
What I was referring to was this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_%28album%29
...arguably the second concept album ever, after 'S. F. Sorrow' by the Pretty Things. You must surely know of The Who, if only from "Won't Get Fooled Again" :P. Tommy is a concept album about a boy who sees his father murder someone and goes catatonic. The only thing he does is play pinball, hence the chorus "That deaf, dumb, blind kid sure plays a mean pinball!" famously covered by Elton John in the film version.
What I was referring to was this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_%28album%29
...arguably the second concept album ever, after 'S. F. Sorrow' by the Pretty Things. You must surely know of The Who, if only from "Won't Get Fooled Again" :P. Tommy is a concept album about a boy who sees his father murder someone and goes catatonic. The only thing he does is play pinball, hence the chorus "That deaf, dumb, blind kid sure plays a mean pinball!" famously covered by Elton John in the film version.
Arghlblarg. Watch me be a faillynx again. I looked up Won't be fooled again, and I'm pretty sure it's the first time I hear it... and well, I have heard the name before but it didn't click...
Long story short it seems I suddenly have a lot more stuff to look up at youtube.
Long story short it seems I suddenly have a lot more stuff to look up at youtube.
This made me insanely happy!
Despite being a passionate lover of music I have never really looked into what music is being posted on FA. So, I just decided to see what would happen if I'd do a search for "progressive rock" and see the what comes up. Looking for the latest thing posted, it being this... and well...
Since I am a huge lover of the progressive rock from the early 1970s, and of mellotron and instrumentals in particular, I can only come to the conclusion that my first search for music on FA was more than successful.
This is a gorgeous piece.
Do you have an actual vintage mellotron from ye olden days, or is it just sampled?
The only things that I don't really like are the drumming and the bass. Why don't you use a real drum kit and a real bass guitar?
Well, I loved this anyway. Absolutely great!
Despite being a passionate lover of music I have never really looked into what music is being posted on FA. So, I just decided to see what would happen if I'd do a search for "progressive rock" and see the what comes up. Looking for the latest thing posted, it being this... and well...
Since I am a huge lover of the progressive rock from the early 1970s, and of mellotron and instrumentals in particular, I can only come to the conclusion that my first search for music on FA was more than successful.
This is a gorgeous piece.
Do you have an actual vintage mellotron from ye olden days, or is it just sampled?
The only things that I don't really like are the drumming and the bass. Why don't you use a real drum kit and a real bass guitar?
Well, I loved this anyway. Absolutely great!
Thanks, I'm glad you've enjoyed it.
To answer your questions, anything relating to drums in any form is a problem for me - on a lot of songs the drum track has been thrown together as the last thing (e.g. 'Return Ticket To Heaven' demo on FA has no drum track at all, the album version has one added). I just suck at writing drum tracks.
It would be nice to use real drums but it would also be nice to walk on the moon. I have absolutely no space left for a drum kit, even a V-drum set (which I have considered). Then you have the fact that a real drum set has to be mic'd so even if I did squeeze it in somewhere you'd have crappy acoustics and probably the sound of the computers and tape machines as well.
Then we have the fact that I have absolutely zero talent when it comes to playing instruments of any colour. You can usually tell where I've done live keyboards because the timing is way off. I'm not sure I can face spending 5-10 years learning to drum properly when I've kind of hit a creative doldrums with the music anyway.
The same goes for bass, while it takes up less room than a drum kit I don't really have anywhere to put one either. I have been very tempted to get one, though. But again, it's likely to take 5 years or more to get passable at it.
The mellotron is done using Mike Pinder's sample set, though I designed and wrote the playback engine myself. It runs on an old PC, boots DOS from a flash card, so you can just switch the thing on and off like an appliance.
A real one would be nice, but again, space. Plus the horrifying cost, my crappiness at maintaining things, and the lack of necessary musicianship to use it properly.
You have kind of hit a nerve with my lack of musicianship, as you may have guessed, but at the end of the day I've spread myself very thin, and I'm far too socially awkward to be able to find someone who actually can and would be willing to perform.
A the end of the day, I'm still amazed that I've been able to compose the music as well as I have, and I'm grateful for that much...
To answer your questions, anything relating to drums in any form is a problem for me - on a lot of songs the drum track has been thrown together as the last thing (e.g. 'Return Ticket To Heaven' demo on FA has no drum track at all, the album version has one added). I just suck at writing drum tracks.
It would be nice to use real drums but it would also be nice to walk on the moon. I have absolutely no space left for a drum kit, even a V-drum set (which I have considered). Then you have the fact that a real drum set has to be mic'd so even if I did squeeze it in somewhere you'd have crappy acoustics and probably the sound of the computers and tape machines as well.
Then we have the fact that I have absolutely zero talent when it comes to playing instruments of any colour. You can usually tell where I've done live keyboards because the timing is way off. I'm not sure I can face spending 5-10 years learning to drum properly when I've kind of hit a creative doldrums with the music anyway.
The same goes for bass, while it takes up less room than a drum kit I don't really have anywhere to put one either. I have been very tempted to get one, though. But again, it's likely to take 5 years or more to get passable at it.
The mellotron is done using Mike Pinder's sample set, though I designed and wrote the playback engine myself. It runs on an old PC, boots DOS from a flash card, so you can just switch the thing on and off like an appliance.
A real one would be nice, but again, space. Plus the horrifying cost, my crappiness at maintaining things, and the lack of necessary musicianship to use it properly.
You have kind of hit a nerve with my lack of musicianship, as you may have guessed, but at the end of the day I've spread myself very thin, and I'm far too socially awkward to be able to find someone who actually can and would be willing to perform.
A the end of the day, I'm still amazed that I've been able to compose the music as well as I have, and I'm grateful for that much...
Oh, I apologize. I would never have guessed that you were not a brilliant keyboard player. Well, your skills as a composer are highly impressive! I have just listened to the Baklava Doom album a couple of times and it is completely mesmerizing. Your voice reminds me of Neil Young, and the quality of the composition, arrangement and production is superb.
I am a composer of music myself, but I am not too good at making arrangements, and I really suck at producing. Not that I ever have had much practice with producing.
Apart from being a composer, I am primarily a bass player, but I also play guitar and keyboards. I used to be in two bands, one that existed between 1993 and 1997, and one that existed between 1996 and 2000. I really miss playing together with others, but for many years now I have not had much time. Also, most musician friends that I have at the moment are playing music that I am not too interested in playing myself.
I would have loved to play bass on your great compositions, though!
Anyway, keep up the good work, and enjoy your days!
I am a composer of music myself, but I am not too good at making arrangements, and I really suck at producing. Not that I ever have had much practice with producing.
Apart from being a composer, I am primarily a bass player, but I also play guitar and keyboards. I used to be in two bands, one that existed between 1993 and 1997, and one that existed between 1996 and 2000. I really miss playing together with others, but for many years now I have not had much time. Also, most musician friends that I have at the moment are playing music that I am not too interested in playing myself.
I would have loved to play bass on your great compositions, though!
Anyway, keep up the good work, and enjoy your days!
Thanks. Trying to learn bass is actually on my to-do list, but somehow there's always something else in the way, like Anthrocon or having to replace the mixing desk because the old one has crapped out and can't easily be repaired.
And yes, the whole thing is programmed. Aside from the drums and occasional things like the bass, it's usually hard to tell. I think that's probably one of the reasons I'm so zealous about doing as much of it as I can on tape, with hardware synths and outboard gear, so that at least I can feel that that much of it has been done in the traditional manner, if not the actual performance. Having the entire thing done within a single PC and just having it sit there and render it all as a WAV file somehow feels like cheating.
Incidentally, the weird noises at the start of the second track are the sequencer crashing and causing the mellotron cello part to play at about 1'000'000 beats per minute. It was interesting enough to keep the first few seconds of it.
The idea originally came from the very last part of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXBJdF9npgA
...I had always wondered how the 'lawnmower' sounds were done on that album.
And yes, the whole thing is programmed. Aside from the drums and occasional things like the bass, it's usually hard to tell. I think that's probably one of the reasons I'm so zealous about doing as much of it as I can on tape, with hardware synths and outboard gear, so that at least I can feel that that much of it has been done in the traditional manner, if not the actual performance. Having the entire thing done within a single PC and just having it sit there and render it all as a WAV file somehow feels like cheating.
Incidentally, the weird noises at the start of the second track are the sequencer crashing and causing the mellotron cello part to play at about 1'000'000 beats per minute. It was interesting enough to keep the first few seconds of it.
The idea originally came from the very last part of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXBJdF9npgA
...I had always wondered how the 'lawnmower' sounds were done on that album.
The intro of the second song sounds really great! Yes, quite often little accidents and other unplanned things give the opportunity to add things one would not have thought of originally. It does spark the creativity, and I do think that your method of recording provides for such opportunities, compared to if you'd just do it all on a single computer.
My first band would often record using an old analog studio that was situated within the rehearsal place that we were renting. It was set up in a strange manner and would never work the same way from one time to another. Little weird errors caused by the various components of the studio were reason for quite a lot of song-writing creativity. But also for a lot of frustration, as sometimes the tracks at the edge of the tape would go missing and it'd be impossible to get the tape-player to find the outermost tracks again.
We learned the hard way to never record the drums on track 1 or 8, because drumming were the most difficult thing to re-record afterwards.
My first band would often record using an old analog studio that was situated within the rehearsal place that we were renting. It was set up in a strange manner and would never work the same way from one time to another. Little weird errors caused by the various components of the studio were reason for quite a lot of song-writing creativity. But also for a lot of frustration, as sometimes the tracks at the edge of the tape would go missing and it'd be impossible to get the tape-player to find the outermost tracks again.
We learned the hard way to never record the drums on track 1 or 8, because drumming were the most difficult thing to re-record afterwards.
Oh, and by the way... I haven't had time to put together the announcement yet, but here's the new album, released last night:
http://dougtheeagle.com/bd.htm
http://dougtheeagle.com/bd.htm
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