This page has links to MP3 files of song ideas I have been working on since my last recorded album. Click on a title below to access the full mp3 file for the song.
Song Notes
There's a Land
The motivation for this song came from doodling around on the Korg Triton
Studio keyboard workstation and playing with the TC Helicon Quintet harmonizer,
which I had just gotten. I have many more half baked ideas still in progress
stored on the keyboard's hard drive.
A couple of years ago I totally revampled my music studio to make it simpler and more compact. I got a Korg Triton Studio keyboard that has a built in hard disk recorder. I figured I could keep and mix all my sequenced and recorded tracks for a song in this one device. This is the first song I put together using the new equipment. The synth lead part was played on the Alesis Ion and sampled into the Korg. I recorded the vocal track using the hard disk recorder. I used a TC Helicon Quintet to generate harmony vocals for the chorus.
The lyrics were improvised on the spot, so they don't have any conscious meaning -- just whatever came into my head. I thought they turned out OK, so I kept them. This song was more about composing and recording using this new equipment than communicating a meaningful message.
Finding Breath
The motivation for this song was to record a native american flute melody
accompanied by guitar. Typically, the native american flute has a five note
scale. For this song, I was playing in the key of A along with the guitar,
so I needed to add a note to the scale by only half covering one of the holes.
It took a bit of practice.
The Korg Triton only has a stereo hard disk recorder, which is limiting when trying to record multiple tracks of recorded parts such as vocals, guitars, and flutes. I had recently gotten a native american flute and wanted to record a song with it. I figured I should get an 8 track recorder. I ended up getting the Boss BR-600 Digital Recorder, which had just come out. I was a bit skeptical about how flexible it would be because of the porta studio design, but I have to say I am quite impressed.
It is very well thought out and efficient to use. It records to a memory card and has a USB connection to exchange files with a computer. The effects section is awesome and very usable. It even provides a special set of sophisticated effects for mastering and pitch correction! The inputs are a bit limited, but I run through a mic preamp and small 8 track mixer first so I can use multiple mics and condenser mics that require power. I then run the output of the mixer to the stereo line in of the BR-600.
I mixed the song onto a virtual stereo track within the BR-600. I then exported this to my computer where I mastered it using Sound Forge (which I am used to) and could output MP3 and burn to CD.
This is my first song I recorded using the BR-600, so I was in the process of learning. I think I can get better quality recording from the mics next time, but I am still pretty impressed with the results considering all the recording and effects were done using a $400 device that is smaller than a laptop computer.
Aeon Flux
The motivation for this song was to compose something with a kick drum on
every beat. This made me think of samba, so in that spirit, I used agogo bells
for the rhythm. I was also having lots of fun with my lead electric guitar
at the time, so I wanted the lead guitar to be prominent. The repeated layering
at the end was inspired by one of my favorite bands from the 70's, Camel.
This is the last song I recorded using my previous studio equipment (primarily an ADAT XT and Ensoniq TS-10). Although the song needed some kind of vocal, I did not get a chance to write something and record it, so I mixed the song without the vocal and stored it on my computer.
As I was putting this page together, I wanted to include this song, but still needed a lyric idea. I had just seen a movie called Aeon Flux, and I liked that title for this song (though I thought it was a terrible name for the character in the movie). So I threw together some lyrics inspired by the movie. This song is primarily about the lead guitar, so I wasn't too concerned about the quality of the lyrics.
To record the vocals, I imported the pre-vocal mix I had on my computer into my BR-600. I then used the BR-600 to add the vocal tracks. Although I have Sonar on my computer, I still find it easier to use the dedicated hardware in my studio. I do like how they work together, though. For example, A couple of vocal sections had a touch of distortion where I peaked over 0 db during recording. I was able to export that vocal track from the BR-600 to my computer and then use Sound Forge to redraw the clipped waves and smooth them out, greatly reducing the distortion. I then imported this track back into the BR-600 and continued with the mix down.
This song is a bit long, but there is some cool lead guitar layering at the end, so check that out.
Flight Over Night
This song was inspired by doodling around with the Yamaha QY-100 music sequencer.
For composing on the road, I had gotten a Yamaha
QY-100, which is a portable sound module with a 16 track sequencer. I
composed this song on the Yamaha QY-100. I did use the Holy Grail Piano on
my Proteus 2000 to play the lead piano part. I used my TS-10 for the keyboard
interface.