Before it gained lyrics, this track was given a working name of "Eat80sAndDie"... because I was on an 80's kick and really wanted to channel some of that into our next release. It's got a few of those elements, but it ended up becoming catchy of its own accord.
Before Silverglow came along, this track sat around in my scrap folder with the working name "groove" for over a year. I just couldn't think of a way to finish it, which was really sad because I even had that awesome keys improv completed. Luckily, we managed to flesh it all out and bring it to life. Hooray!
A remix of A Glorious Dawn, a track written for the Symphony of Science project. I was stubborn about this; instead of simply asking for the vox samples, I went and dug them out of Cosmos and Universe and then vocoded them. You can definitely tell the difference between vocoded vox (in my remix) and audiotuned vox (in the original) as far as clarity goes, but I like how these sound, so I've kept them. Special thanks to John Boswell (Colorpulse) for the original tune and to Martin Lindhe (Bassic) for helping me get the sound levels right!
My first completed track in roughly two years, and the rust is evident. Still, it's a fun piece and it shows that while some of my finesse has deteriorated over the break, my style remains pretty much the same. And those cicadas at the beginning are from right outside my window. Yeah, they're that loud...
Nothing special by any means, but it's got a nice little groove to it. Received its name because of Gordon Freeman's frequent travels through air vents in Half-Life 2 (though this wasn't the track's inspiration).
Melodic, fast-paced, and quite varied throughout the entire piece... chord structure and instrument changes abound, so look out as the river twists and turns.
This track has been sitting in my scrap folder since May 31, 2006. Not exactly the best way to introduce a piece of music, but it's the truth. I'd like to say I've been composing fresh material, but it would be a lie! All I really did here was rearrange some things and add a melody or two. These things needed to be done before production, yes, but I don't think this counts as a new track -- just a finished one.
Just had to write one more before the end of the year, I guess. It actually reminds me of my older ones; didn't take too long to finish, practically wrote itself, has strong melodies, and a great chord transposition in the middle of the song. Definitely not like the relaxing stuff I've been doing, though. Bit sugary.
This track remained open on my computer for about three weeks as I gradually rounded it out and tweaked the vocoder... which, by the way, will most likely cause you to either love or hate the whole thing. What can I say, I wanted to throw in some words! This is sort of a companion piece to "75".
This one also took a week to complete. And this time, the delay had nothing to do with Warcraft. I've simply become such a perfectionist that I'll obsess over the smallest thing until I give up and decide it's really okay (and probably has been for the last two hours). As evidence of this, I saved nearly 7 minutes of material I threw out of the track. Yeesh.
This one had been sitting around half-completed in my scrap folder since 10/25/05 until I finally picked it up again and added a second half. Has some great ambience and a good 5/4 flow with soft percussion.
Another track that took an entire week to write. Hm. Honestly, I think it's because I'm addicted to World of Warcraft right now! This one's got some really cool harmonies, and I tried a few new things in terms of instrumentation. Overall, it's got a nice feel to it.
I'm usually able to write tracks from start to finish in one sitting, maybe two. This one took a week for some reason! I think the creation timespan might be detectable in the music itself, as it does jump a bit from here to there, and it isn't perfectly cohesive. Still, the final product is quite relaxing and full of some great harmonies. Oh, and the name... if you've heard the track and still don't get it, highlight between the *'s to reveal the meaning. *It's about some elven girl who apparently didn't want to be known as an elf, but her ears gave her away.*
Japanese with a dash of Celtic! It's sheer madness, whee! Actually, it's a pretty cool combination -- and the strings that come in later are some of my best. I'll have to do more like that.
This was actually written in November 2004, but I was waiting for some vocals that never happened. It sounds fine and relaxing without them, so I decided to release it tonight.
This one took a while to finish. I got the beginning down easily, but I wasn't sure where to take the rest of it. It went through about 4 mutations before I finally decided on the second half of the song! There are some really interesting chord changes and melodies, all atop great choirs and strings. Fun, haunting track.
First completed track in over two months!! Sheeeeeeeesh!! I've been busy. So this one started out as a little MIDI written by Arlak. He sent it to me asking for advice, but I just took it and finished it (with permission!). The beginning pads and bass are his work -- I did the percussion, melodies, and the entirely different section. Also arranged it and all that jazz, but whatever.
I've been listening to a lot of Tosca lately, and I dig 'em. I'm trying to venture into that style, while still keeping my own thing going. Guess we'll see where it goes...
I guess it's pretty obvious this was inspired by Vangelis' "Blade Runner Blues," but I really did try to deviate and make this my own. I'm new to random notes and spaced-out sounds, so don't expect too much... Hope it puts someone out there to sleep!
I probably could have made this an actual music track, but it ended up becoming a strange assortment of semi-humorous samples and whatnot. Good percussion, though.
This track is written in 7/4. Seriously. Count the beats. It's pretty messed up, but the result works out nicely. I used AT&T's Text-To-Speech engine for the voice.
Sort of a "warm-up" to get me back into the groove after being without composing software for a month. And yes, the title is in reference to when a plane takes off. Couldn't think of a name...
We got so frustrated trying to do this one, we almost trashed it! Eek! But we stuck with it and finished. This track really expresses the diversity of Lucy's voice... You'll hear her sounding like she's on the phone, singing in a chamber/hall, through distortion, echoing in both ears, and in the background like a choir! She's EVERYWHERE!
Not much to say about this one. I think the synth-sound at the end is pretty awesome, though. I'm going to try to come up with a way to use that more often.
Bassic sent me some of the patches he uses (the main pad and the sine flute). I mucked around with the pad and tried some weird chords, and got this...
Just plain weird, that's all I have to say. The vocal stabs are Lucy, and the weird guitar part is some dudes from Canada just being crazy. Maybe the title is for them!
I took the tracks and put them into some orchestral synths, and they sounded just as good (if not better). This version is actually very pretty and majestic, worthy of standing on its own. Oh, and the thing that makes it much better: NO VOCALS!
The track itself was actually written when Lucy first got here. We spent the entire month trying to come up with words for it, but nothing ever worked, so we just left it alone and did the other songs. After she left, though, I listened to it and figured I could finish it on my own. So here we have it: the corniest song, ever, with me vocoded in it. A lot.
This was written while Lucy was still here, but we couldn't really fit her into it, so we just left it alone and I finished it after she had left. It's like a techno/trance waltz in the middle... very weird. But the melodies are powerful and fun to listen to. (Valse Noire means Black Waltz in French.)
This started out as a nice, slow orchestral piece. Then I stuck a phaser on the strings, and woah. We had to do something different with this cool sound... So we made your typical trance anthem. This is the last piece we finished while Lucy was in America.
I was trying to write something fresh, but after a few loops, Lucy noticed that the progression sounded familiar. Well, it ended up being the same as "With You," our second original track. So we went ahead and made a remix! Recorded while Lucy was in America.
This was our "fun" song. We got some DJ software and I had to learn how to scratch. I didn't do it perfectly, but a little editing made it sound like I did! The "very bad quality" sample is from the very first audio file Lucy sent me, way back in early 2003. I dug it up and put it in the song, much to her embarrassment. And even more to her embarrassment is the sample at the end, about being sick! That was another really old audio file she sent me way-back-when. Lucy drank a Starbuck's Mocha and started to feel sick that day, and I thought that old sample just made everything come together. Hence, Mocha. Recorded while Lucy was in America.
Started out sounding like something Nine Inch Nails would do, then evolved. Lucy had tons of fun with this one because she had direct control over how we distorted her voice. Recorded while Lucy was in America.
The chorus for this song gave me a lot of trouble, but I finally arranged it to something really catchy and cool. I like this song and all, but the loudness of the static hiss just kills me... and yes, I've tried to fix it several times. Recorded while Lucy was in America.
The first song Lucy and I worked on in person. Actually, I had already written it and we just decided to record it once she got to America. I'm really proud of the orchestral interlude in the middle.
Secret's out: I enjoy jazz. For example, Chick Corea rocks. I tried to imitate the sound of his keyboard with this track by using a new distortion tool at my disposal.
I think this took a day or two to complete. My aunt gave me this track, "Oneski" by Richard H Kirk, and suggested that I try to imitate the driving feeling of the percussion. The outcome was more than just cool sounding drums... this track is long.
This is another one I wrote for a live audience over ComRadioF. That means it was actually written 7/15/03. Like several others, it sat around quite a while before Lucy put words to it.
I had a difficult time naming this one. I even asked my friends for help. I'm still not really satisfied with what I came up with, but it works. It's rather ironic, because I put this song on a CD with some others (including 75) and got on highway 75 to go a little bit down the street, and ended up getting lost as hell. Pre-emptive song-writing? You be the judge. Oh, and that little part in the middle was NOT written to sound like that "Na na na na, na na na na, hey heeeey, goodbye" song. That was purely coincidental and I felt like a moron when my friend pointed it out to me...
My first piece in 5/4 time signature! Well, the first one I finished, anyway. I had already started work on, and scrapped, "Mithras' Creek." I remember getting about three hours of sleep at a time, waking up, working on this song a little bit, and going back to bed. It was really, really difficult... probably because of the time signature. Cool results, though!
This was actually written 5/4/03, but Lucy didn't get around to it 'til August. We never really liked this track, but a lot of people name it as their favorite! Who knows.
Another huge leap in skill, in my opinion. The main theme of it (those echoing bell-noises at the beginning) is actually something I wrote long before I did this song. I put them in the scrap folder because I thought they were cool, but I had no idea what to do with them. Well, looks like I figured it out! This is the first time I really got to play with panpipes (I've always wanted to because of Enigma). I think this song describes some sort of adventure through something no one's ever discovered – an underground forest. Stuff actually growing in some air-pocket underground. Something you'd encounter in a fantasy novel!
I consider this track to be a turning point for me in terms of skill. Compared to previous works, it has a different sound and feel. It was inspired by Halou's "Political," which I heard because of my [at the time new] friend Erica. To hang out, we'd have to hop on highway 75 and ride for a while to get to the other's house...
I wanted to know what that fast, adrenaline-pumping, bassy game-like track would sound like if I turned it into an orchestral track. Well, it's actually quite nice!
This was going to be just another techno song at first, but I ended up turning it to the kind of music you'd hear in Final Fantasy when you get an airship. This is also the first time I used the vocoder on myself.
I composed this to a live audience while I still had my online radio station "ComRadioF." It then sat in my scrap folder for five months while I waited for Lucy to come up with lyrics and a melody for it. She was never able to, so I finally just released it.
Our second Bassic remix. E.I. stands for Electronic Incantations. The little vocoded tune in the middle there is actually Nightowl! I was so proud of how I merged those...
A creepy track with powerful strings and an intense, driving mid-section. Then, Lucy and I proceed to discuss the habits of some sort of afflicted people... in French.
This is one of my personal favorites. It's a really cool blend of strings with industrial instrumentation and drum patterns. I think the chord progression really stands out because of the powerful change in it.
This track was inspired by Gnomusy's "Ballerina" at first. We enjoyed making this one because it took almost no effort to complete, and it remains a favorite even today. The original version used to clip when the drums came in, so the current/final has slightly quieter drums.
Lucy's and my first original collaboration. I wrote that little guitar loop and almost decided to trash it. Somehow, Lucy convinced me to keep it going, and we got a finished song. I was using Ronan Hardiman's "Run Away" as inspiration for a lot of this song, but then it switches into some Final Fantasy sounding stuff. The critters at the end of the song are actually dolphins, not birds.
It really is a crime that I didn't have a subwoofer when I wrote this. It shakes my house, now. In other words, very good bass. This track sounds like the "final boss fight" music you'd hear in a game.
This track was started when I had a friend of mine over. We tried to write something sounding like Bassic's work, but we failed and gave up. I left it in my scrap folder though, and later pulled it out and finished it simultaneously while writing Nitrous. You may be able to draw a few similarities in the instrumentation between the two. One of the coolest things about this track is how I switch from 4/4 to 3/4 in the middle. It's a cool effect, and the waltzy part really is very nice.
I had originally intended for this to be a kinda sad, minor song. I couldn't figure how to carry that out for more than 8 measures, so I ended up spontaneously transposing the progression and creating something entirely different... something that just walks along nicely. This is actually a pretty good track, in my opinion. At the very end, that's me playing my electric geeeetarr! Seriously.
This is certainly one of my more popular tracks. The beginning is slightly reminiscent of the Mortal Kombat theme music, but it quickly takes off from there. You'll recognize the notes from "Can't Keep Up" being re-used in the middle, which I thought was a neat little effect. At the end I threw in some samples of a Kurdish woman singing.
I was inspired by a night on the town with some friends of mine. We rode this monorail/train thing, went to downtown Dallas, drove around some... So I came home with a lot buzzing around in my head. I managed to fit some [pretty crappy] samples in this one. All in all, I never thought this track amounted to what I had planned for it.
I don't remember exactly, but I think I was trying to imitate Bassic somehow. Didn't really work out. The piano part took forever, but at least it was worth it. I also remember spending a LONG time trying to find a sample of some professor or someone discussing the process of mitosis, but I never found it and just ended up publishing the track.
It's long and repetitive, not really something you'd listen to specifically to listen to. It's more like background music or something. That being said, the strings are pretty good, and I did some weird stuff with the time signature and tempo feeling near the end. It like... switches. It's hard to explain.
I think this is the first track I wrote using Reason 2.0 (as opposed to 1.0). Let me say something... I do not like Drum & Bass. I just don't. But I gave it a shot anyway!
I directly recall writing this one to imitate a track in the game "Chrono Cross"... specifically the koto part. It didn't really match up, but it's still kinda cool. My notes say that I wanted to add some female vocals, but couldn't find any to fit.
I was on a Bach binge, what can I say? I've had quite a few people suggest that this is a remix of one of Bach's pieces. Got news for ya – I wrote it from scratch.
This track is actually a combination of two. They were both in 3/4, so I thought sure, why not. *slap* The latter half was written before the former, actually... I just didn't know how to finish it, so I stuck it in the scrap. Turns out it made a fine addition to this new piece I was writing. The song was featured on 1sound.com's front page as "a perfectly dark bedtime sweet."
It seems I took a month-and-a-half break between this one and the one before. Yeesh. And that's unfortunate, too, because the result is a pretty bad song.
I think this was inspired by the lunar theme from Final Fantasy IV (II if you want to be all American about it). I used samples from Apollo 11's flight data recordings throughout the song.
This one's long, drawn out, and repetitive, but for some reason it got me a lot of positive attention and feedback. The vocals you hear are a small snippet from a Russian Vespers choir.
I was really proud of this one. I used samples from all over the place. There are some African kids singing at one point, and later on it's Ravi Shankar. Yes, I sampled it illegally, and probably shouldn't have. I think it's pretty harmless in this case.
I'm a pretty big fan of Enigma, so yes, that's obviously where the idea for Gregorian chant came from. My notes say that I stayed up all night to write this one. That was probably the first (but not last) time I did that for a song.
Just plain weird. I don't particularly like this one. I think I called it "The Cathedral" because I was thinking of Fallout at the time. Oh, and the clip at the end is the Church Lady from SNL saying "Could it beeee... SATAN!?"
My internal notes about this track claim that I had composer's block at the time. I remember describing it to a friend of mine as "Enya in the city" or something along those lines. Okay, so maybe it isn't, but it's still one of my favorite older tracks.
Tempus Gelu means "Frozen Time" in Latin. I had to do a fair bit of research to figure that out! This is the first track of mine that remotely resembles something you'd hear in a club. Keep in mind, I said remotely.
My friend Switch (the guy who got me Reason in the first place!) wrote out that little synth bit, and I did the rest. We sent it back and forth til it was done. It is my first collaborative piece with Reason.
Remix of an old MIDI ("New Home") I wrote when I was probably 13 or 14. It's not Never Home, it's Newer Home... Don't make the mistake! And hey I can play this on the guitar!
I was trying to write something a little lighter than my other opening tracks, and this was the result. I think this is the first one that has a title describing an actual setting – something I tend to do a lot these days.
My first "trance" piece, though the genre label is questionable. It's really repetitive, but it sort of evens out because the repetitive part is pretty cool. My internal notes say that I was "uninspired" as I sat down to write this.
Rays is actually an embarrassing track. Seriously. I don't like this at all. I can't believe I was even thinking I could have a vocalist sing to it. Eugh. You'll notice this track conspicuously left off my playlist whenever I'm listening to my stuff.
My internal notes say that I was trying to write a piece fit for lyrics, and that it "obviously didn't work." This track is more heavy bass, phasers, and whip drums. There isn't much in the way of a melody, but the song does roll along alright.
This is the first track I wrote with Reason. Well, not the REAL first track... I did have to play around a little first, of course. But this is the first one that I called a real song. I was obviously having a lot of fun with these new toys I had never seen in MIDIs... phasers, reverb, and really loud, gritty noises.
