| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 11.1 | Topic Description | DYO780::SCHAFER | Brad ... DTN 433-2408 | Thu Sep 29 1988 17:44 | 14 |
| This topic will serve as a repository for Liner Notes for the COMMUSIC
tapes.
Only those responsible for compilation and distribution of the liner
notes should contribute to this topic. Only complete liner notes
should be entered here.
Please do not use this topic as a forum for submitting liner notes to
the compiler. Liner notes should be mailed to the appropriate
individual. Per tape reviews should take place in a seperate topic.
Procedures for submitting to and for ordering the COMMUSIC tapes are
stored in the previous topic.
|
| 11.2 | Tape II | WEFXEM::COTE | The Protocol Son... | Thu Nov 03 1988 16:46 | 30 |
|
-< ** Computer Music ** >-
================================================================================
Note 503.13 Tape II Submissions 13 of 40
JAWS::COTE "Let's change the rules and giggle!!!" 22 lines 19-JAN-1987 08:43
-< Guess What This Is!! >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Side I
"Woo-Woo Love" Karl Moeller
"The Kiss" " "
"Satan Never Sleeps" Mark Schmieder
"Across The Ocean" " "
"Vocal Ease" " "
"I Just Wanna Be On MTV" Rik Sawyer
"Still Loaded" " "
"Cruise Control" Jamaican Vacation (Stevie K)
"Be My Girl" " " "
"Top Of The World" John Sauter
Side II
"Cannes" Edd Cote
"Rio" " "
"Pastorale" Dervish (Rob Davis)
"Sveinung Hovensjo" " "
3 Untitled Dave Bottom
3 Untitled Paul Kent
|
| 11.3 | Commusic III Liner notes | DREGS::BLICKSTEIN | Yo! | Thu Nov 03 1988 16:46 | 596 |
|
________________________________________________________________________________
Side 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter LaQuerre
Selections for COMMUSIC III
These four songs were recorded on a Fostex X-15 4-Track cassette
recorder and mixed using a Nakamichi BX-1 stereo cassette deck.
All songs written and performed by Peter LaQuerre. All songs
copyright 1987. The instruments used were:
o Maderia six-string acoustic guitar
o An electric bass guitar
o A Casio CZ-1000 synthesizer
All vocals by Peter LaQuerre.
These songs are dedicated to Sheryl LaQuerre who bought me the Fostex
and put up with my late night ramblings. Special thanks also go to
Jeff Leavitt for supplying the bass guitar.
Specific information about each song:
1 Oh and It Seems Like a Long Time (2:31)
This song was recorded using a total of six tracks. Two
tracks for the bass and acoustic guitar were mixed into one
track, leaving three open tracks on the X-15. With those
three tracks, I recorded a three-part harmony.
The harmony took a while because the tough part is making
sure each vocal part cuts in and out at precisely the right
time. I wasn't totally successful, but it was closer than I
had been in a while.
2 My Name's Matthew (1:05)
This short piece was written for my seven-month-old son. It
started out as just a fun four-part a cappella song, and
ended that way as well. I thought it might add something
different to the COMMUSIC tape. The recording quality is low
because I was still learning how to mix down to the stereo
deck when I wrote this one. Since then, I've started using
higher quality tape and the SX and 70u settings on the stereo
mixdown.
3 Antenna Man Like Me (3:34)
I wrote this song after having a long conversation with two
antenna installation men. They installed a big UHF antenna
on our house so we could receive Boston UHF stations. The
song was recorded using the same technique as the first song.
I combined the bass, guitar, and acoustic guitar solo into
one track, which left me three open tracks to do the vocals.
After mixdown, I wanted to do the guitar solo over again, but
of course, that would mean redoing all the vocals, which I
didn't feel was worth the effort. This is one of the
disadvantages to working with a four-track machine.
4 Everything Would Be All Right (4:43)
This was the first complete song I wrote using my new
CZ-1000. The first four tracks were acoustic guitar rhythm,
keyboard rhythm, keyboard solo, and bass, respectively. Then
I mixed those four tracks in stereo into my stereo tape deck.
That left me with two open tracks for the vocals. Usually my
decision whether to use this proce9ss or the one used on the
1st and 3rd songs depends on how many harmonies I think I
need for the song.
********************************************************************************
Steve Sherman
Night Shade - (3:55) CZ-101, TX81Z, TR-505, QX5, cheapie cassette deck and R-box
for a mixer - entirely MIDI sequenced, original stuff, done for fun when I
could scrape together some time - Bass pumps kind of a tetrachord hook. Wish
I had the MV 2 when I did this one. If you like wearing sunglasses at night ...
********************************************************************************
Richard Machin
o Untitled (3:05)
This is a piece of music to accompany a dance. The dance was a
short examination-piece, so I had a strict tempo to use, and each
section of the tune needed to be a distinct structure that worked
with the dance. The lead sections are a fraction of a second delayed
on the commusic version; this was due to a technical problem in the mastering
process. I ask your indulgence, sympathy and imagination in lessening
its ill effects.
********************************************************************************
Andrew Norton
Infatuation (2:50)
-----------
This was sequenced on my ESQ1.
The drums were Tr505 and the bass was a DX7.
There's some guitar that I wish I hadn't put on.
It was recorded directly on my Tascam 244.
It's not a love song.
My wife did the vocals.
I did the talking.
We wish we had a reverb.
********************************************************************************
Dan Eaton
Studio Setup: My studio is a startup situation consisting of
o Fostex X-15 Cassette four-track tape deck
o Peavey PA-400 4 channel powered mixer (since has been
replaced by Peavey 600S)
o Casio CZ-101 MIDI synthesizer (Phase Distortion Synthesis)
o Roland Juno 106 MIDI synthesizer (analog)
o Yamaha FB01 MIDI Sound module (FM Synthesis)
o Korg MS-10 monophonic synthesizer (Non-MIDI, analog)
o Korg Super Drums (non-midi) (digital)
o Roland MSQ-100 Sequencer
o Shure SM58 mike
o Various stomp box effects (EQ, analog delay,...)
Goals of this contribution: To put a couple of my favorite songs
onto tape for an entry into the hobby of multi-tracking, for
review by more experienced multi-trackers, for pleasure, and
to broaden my musical experience.
General Notes: By the time these pieces are transfered from my master
to Dave's master to individual copies, it will become
immediately apparent from the contribution that I had not
learned how to handle the hum caused by mismatched and
mis-leveled signals. I have since done a great deal to correct
this by sending the recorder 'hotter' signals and cutting them
back at the recorder, rather than sending medium signals and
having to boost them at various stages of the multi-tracking
process.
Technical details: Noise reduction type: Dolby B
Song #1 'Is It Love' by Kelly Willard (3:40)
(Copyright 1986 Willing Heart Music)
Instruments:
o Rhodes Piano - FB01 'NewElectric2'
o Accoustic Piano - FB01 'Uprt Piano'
o Drums - Korg Super Drums
o Bass - FB01 'Elec Bass'
o String Pad - Juno 106
o High String - Juno 106
o Voice - Your humble CMIII contributor, me
Song #2 'Out in the Desert' by Dan Eaton (2:33)
(Unpublished Work, Copyright 1974 Dan Eaton)
Instruments:
o Drums - Korg Super Drums
o Ride cymbal - FB01 'Rd Cym'
o Bass - FB01 'Elec Bass' MIDI'd to CZ101 brass pad
o Oboe - CZ101
o Flutes - CZ101 (patch by Eric Persing, publ. in Keyboard mag.)
o Brass - CZ101
o High String - Juno 106
o String Section - Juno 106 MIDI'd to CZ101 Strings
o Counter-Melodic French Horn - Korg MS-10
Note: This is a Christmas song I wrote when I was 15. It
does have words, which I will publish if requested, but I felt
the piece stood up as an instrumental as well. This arrangement
is a loose attempt to duplicate an arrangement I wrote in high
school for the school band.
********************************************************************************
Karl Moeller
"Agua Calient�" ('Hot Water') by Karl SALSA::Moeller (4:52)
White Boy Salsa music. Piano, flute, and percussion.
This is a complete computer-based project. The piano track (MKS-20)
was recorded to a 120bpm click using Opcode MIDImac in the Macintosh,
where it was forgotten for months. After I got my E-Mu Systems' Emax
rack sampler, I rediscovered the piano track and used it as is.
That is, no editing, no quantization. All percussion parts, Emax
samples, were recorded to Opcode as well, using no editing, no
quantization. An FSK sync tone was recorded on 8-track tape, and
tracks transferred to audio, slaving the sequencer to the sync tone.
I have an Emax sample which consists of (low notes to high):
running water (5 notes), breathy sampled choir (2 octaves), stereo
windchimes (5 notes) and the famed Emulator Shakuhachi sample, 2 octaves.
I ran the Piano track against this and the Yamaha Fb01 'Hand Drum'
patch (to tighten the percussion), and, liking the result, added it
all to the Fostex 8track. The sampled flute line was recorded direct
to the 8-track using a bit of analog echo.
The piece is fun, nothing heavy, meant to make you want to dance.
karl moeller sws tucson arizona u.s.a.
********************************************************************************From:
Dave Bottom
Payday: (4:07)
Drums: TR-707
Bass: Yamaha single pickup p-bass copy
guitar: Fender strat (Duncan hot stack pickups)
slide/lead guitar: strat, my fingers and a bic lighter
vocals: me through an AKG-d-300
misc: recorded on a tascam 234
bass and drums bounced to single track
vocals enhanced by a tapco mixer (reverb) and an Ibanez DM-1000 for
delay
mixed on a teac PE-20 mixer (basic 4 track)
Old song recorded in 4 hours in one afternoon
Tried so Hard: (5:26)
Drums: TR-707
Bass: Yamaha
guitar: Fender telecaster custom thinline (two humbuckers semi-acoustic)
leads: tele again
vocals: me the AKG, the tapco and the DM-1000
recorded on the 234, bounced base, drums and rhythm guitar to one track
vocals on one track and leads/echo on seperate tracks
recorded in one afternoon (6hrs + or -)
originally this was two segments of unrelated songs
Both songs written by Dave Bottom copyright 1987
________________________________________________________________________________
Side 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rik Sawyer
----------------------------------------------------------------------
all songs were recorded on a teac 244 and mixed down to
a technics cassette deck (what kind? el cheapo). Delay= ibanez analog
Reverb = teac spring, amp= 30 watt marshall, mic = sm58, various picks.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
comfortable slaves (4:45)
==================
went to dave dreher's studio and, after playing with
his linn drum, came up with the drum beat. (i still don't have a drum
machine) Took the drum beat home on tape, got stoned and 2 hours later
had written and recorded all the words and music. Very simple and
repetitive. Not exactly finished but close enough for now.
equipment;
linn drum
washburn f5v5 guitar
it's political/social commentary...virtually meaningless.
it's about a guy and girl who fall in love and live happily
ever after in a new house with 2 kids, a dog and a rider mower but she can't
cook very well.
4 tracks: 1=drums, 2=lead gtr, 3=rythm gtr/bass/harmony vocal
4=lead vocal
========================================================================
spags (3:55)
=====
went to dave drehers and picked beat numbers at random...
almost...and made a pattern out of it. Stole it and took it home. 2 weeks
later i started playing with it and wrote this in one evening.
equipment;
linn drum
washbrun f5v5
it's about 2 boys who fall in love and buy a department
store and live happily ever after in a condo in shrewsbury with 1 kid, 1
gold fish tank, no lawn to mow and they eat out a lot.
4 tracks: 1=drums, 2=rythm, 3=bass, 4=lead
==========================================================================
periwinkle (7:35)
==========
wrote this on acoustic/classical guitar for 1 person
10 years ago. There was a lot more picking and improv. then. I had to
keep it more structured this time in order to complement (be complemented by?)
the additional pieces; percussion and keys.
equipment;
500 year old toy fisher keyboard...1 note.
500 year old toy fisher keyboard/percussion...basic beat rhumba
beat...?
very old ibanez acoustic 6 string
cheez kurl can with socks stuffed in it for extra bongos.
it's about a girl and boy who fall in love and live happily
ever after in an old home with 3 kids and 2 cats and a live-in gardener who
doubles as cook.
4 tracks: 1=keys, 2=gtr, 3=rhumba beat, 4=bongo
===========================================================================
********************************************************************************
Steve Sherman (4:42)
Tantara - CZ-101, TX81Z, TR-505, MIDIVERB 2, QX5, cheapie cassette deck and
R-box for a mixer - entirely MIDI sequenced, original stuff, done for fun when
I could scrape together some time - Alternates time signatures throughout.
Nice when it's loud enough that you can feel the bass. Fun to play while
cruising ...
********************************************************************************
Tom Benson
BAD DOG (0:50)
My brother-in-law needed a theme song for an animated cartoon he's
working on called BAD DOG. He gave me some lyrics and said he was looking
for something in the style of the B-52's, so I wrote and recorded this music,
and had him sing the lead vocal. This will be played over the closing
credits (if the cartoon is ever completed) - I have other variants for the
opening theme and incidental music.
Brian Mitchell - vocal
Tom Benson - guitar, CZ-5000, background vocal
BOINGERS (3:22)
The Bloom County comic strip features a band called Billy and the Boingers
(formerly "Deathtongue") made of up Opus, Bill the cat, et al. This summer
they had a theme song contest, and this was my entry. Part of the challenge
was figuring out they might be looking for... The band seems to lean toward
heavy metal - for instance, like most metal bands, they feature a tuba
player. Since I don't (yet) own a tuba, I substituted trombone. The recording
was done in two long nights, using a borrowed drum machine (thanks, db).
I barely got it in the mail on time.
This version is a different mix than what was submitted. Also, the fade-in
and -out, and guitar solo have been re-done. I'd like to change some of the
drum patterns, and bring them up a bit in the mix, but I'd have to start
over... That's life on a 4-track.
Tom Benson - vocal, guitar, trombone, CZ-5000, RZ-1
Guest vocalist Linda Benson as "the star-struck fan."
(Both songs are a bit too "bright" on this tape due to a defect discovered
in the deck I made the master on, which required they be played back with
the wrong EQ setting... close enough.)
********************************************************************************
Synergy (Daryl Gleason/Dave Blickstein)
"I'll Love You Forever" (?:??)
Music by Daryl Gleason & Dave Blickstein
Arrangement by Daryl Gleason
Lyrics by Daryl & Kristy Gleason
(Liner notes written by Daryl)
Vocals: Daryl & Kristy
Keyboards: Dave & Daryl
Drum programming: Dave & Daryl
Guitar: Dave
Bass: Daryl
Instruments:
Roland HS-60 and Ensoniq ESQ-1 synthesizers
Casio RZ-1 drum machine
Ernie Ball/Musicman Steve Morse model guitar
Carvin guitar
Ibanez Roadstar II bass
Other equipment:
Yamaha MT1X 4-track tape deck
Atari 1040ST running Dr. T's Keyboard Controlled Sequencer software
AKG BT-320 and Shure SM58 mikes
Mesa Boogie guitar amp
Roland keyboard amp
Traynor YT-1500 bass amp
Goals:
The main goal in recording the song was to get a copy of it onto
tape; it was my first original song, written about five years ago on
a little Casio keyboard. Also, we had to justify buying all of the
equipment :-). We ultimately intend to arrange and record each
original as it is written.
How we did it:
I developed a preliminary keyboard part on the HS-60 and sequenced it
with the KCS on the Atari. Dave and I then worked up the drum part on
his then-new RZ-1. When we had something we liked, we uploaded the
drum part to the KCS via MIDI into a single sequence.
We decided we really wanted velocity sensitivity on the lead keyboard
part, so we used the ESQ-1 to record a few variations on the lead,
recording them on the KCS and editing the imperfections from them.
After finishing the lead part, we devised the background keyboard parts
on the HS-60, also recording them on the KCS.
When we were finished, and I had everything edited and sequenced, we
fired up the two keyboard parts and the drum part from the KCS, and I
played the bass part. We recorded all four instruments on one tape
track.
Dave then worked up and recorded the rhythm guitar part on the second
track. Kristy and I recorded our vocals on track 3, then Dave
developed and recorded the guitar solo on tracks 3 and 4. The solo
required parts of two tracks because it was done in several segments,
with reverb added in on some parts and not on others.
The 4-track recording was then mastered right onto the COMMUSIC III
master tape via Dave's Beta Hi-Fi VCR.
This was our first recording project, and we learned a lot about the
recording process and capabilities/limitations of our equipment.
We're reasonably satisfied with the recording, but it was a long
process, and we may redo it at a later date to take advantage of the
techniques and experience that we acquired as the project was nearing
its completion.
********************************************************************************
Anonymous (3:15)
This piece was written by an occasional COMMUSIC noter. It was
submitted "anonymously" (Dave Blickstein knows the composer's
identity and agreed to anonymity for the time being) so that
COMMUSIC III recipients would react to the piece rather than its
composer. The composer's identity will be revealed eventually.
The piece, cutely titled "GetSiriusNoah", was written in
response to a challenge by other COMMUSIC noters to "write
something serious" for a change.
The composer wishes to thank Len Fehskens (who also knows the
composer's identity) for the use of his studio and his
engineering and sequencing skills. Len also suggested some
minor changes to the piece during the recording process.
GetSiriusNoah is 3'10" long, and is composed in the serial idiom.
It uses the techniques of inversion, retrograding and retrograde
inversion, as well as rhythmic augmentation by a factor of two.
Metrical groups employed by the piece are 27/8 (subdivided as
bars of 9/8, 7/8, 6/8 and 5/8), 27/16 (similarly subdivided) and 8/4.
There are 9 instances of 27/8, 9 instances of 27/16 and 1 instance
of 8/4. This makes for a total of 73 bars (each of the
subdivisions is a bar) (9*4 + 9*4 + 1), and a total length of
761/16. Both 73 and 761 are prime numbers. The piece exhibits
several other numerological curiosities (e.g., 761 = 27*27 + 32 =
(3^3)^2 + 2^(2+3); 27/8 = (3^3)/(2^3); 73 = (3^2)*(2^3) + 1; etc.).
The piece was executed by Len's MC500, and recorded on his Tascam 38
in 3 passes, using 6 audio tracks and a sync track. It was
scored for string ensemble (Roland MKS-80 Super Jupiter and
JX-10), flute (Casio CZ-101), marimba quartet (MKS-80 and JX-10),
gong (MKS-80) and brass ensemble (MKS-80 and JX-10). The MKS-80
was chorused through Len's two Roland/Boss RCE-10s, the JX-10 used
its onboard choruses, and the CZ-101 was chorused through a
Roland/Boss CE-300 SuperChorus. Len's Roland SRV-2000 digital
reverbs were liberally applied. (Thanks to Len for providing me
with an equipment list, or I would never have gotten this right.)
A detailed sequencer score will eventually be available to anyone
interested.
********************************************************************************
Tom Janzen (?:??)
"Interpretation III: LvB 2nd"
Tom Janzen, pianist and processing
Apologies to Ludwig van Beethoven and his Symphony No. 2 as transcribed by
Franz Liszt.
I first tried processing old music in about 1976, using short 19th century
character pieces for piano by Chopin, Schubert, Schumann, etc., but the only
processing available to me was editing, overdubbing, and speed change. The
original recordings were protected, so I can't use that piece anywhere.
Currently, Los Angeles composer Carl Stone sits onstage with a few turntables,
and spins old pop songs into digital signal processing equipment, distorting
and mixing them into a cubist re-assembly, and I've taken a similar tack
here in a non-real-time mode. Equipment for this included a cheap 2-second
delay, an SPX90, and a Kohler & Campbell 36" upright. Here, Beethoven's 2nd
Symphony was folded over 4 times; each overdub was separately processed with
loops, echoes, flanging, chorusing, pitch-change, and reverberation. - TEJ
Interpretation III Copyright (c) 1987 Thomas E. Janzen
********************************************************************************
Event Horizon (Bill Yerazunis)
Last Moonlight - � Peter Antoniou, Event Horizon Music. (?:??)
- P E O P L E -
Peter Antoniou
Larry Amrose
Rudy Kieser
Rudy's Ex-girlfriend, whose Name shall Not be Mentioned.
George whatsisname
Bill Yerazunis
- E Q U I P M E N T -
Sequential Circus
Prophet-600
Pro-1
Moog
Minimoog
Ensoniq
ESQ-1
Yamahaha
DX-100
DX-21
QX-7
Casio
CZ-101 (x 2)
Seil
DK-80
CBM-110 Bass Pedals
Two German-Named Places
two flutes, shiny
Korg
MD-16 Sampled Drum
Sholtz
Rockman
Rickenbacker
4001
DOD
Noise Gate, Compressor/Sustainer
Uher
U-81 microphones
Kelsey
K-16 Studio Mixer
Sony
PCM-F1 Digital Tape
3M
Masking Tape
Coca-Cola
Coke Classic
Cases by
Calzone
Anvil
Tough Traveller
Fruit of the Loom
- W H A T I T W A S L I K E -
Oh, what a mess. We could not multitrack
it onto the digital tape, hence what you hear is, essentially, "live".
Even the mixing had to be done "live". Because there was no effective
monitor system, we had to arrange the cardiod microphones to pick up
a minimum of the monitor feed. The cardioids were in the mix to pick up
the flutes. Actually the room ambience that this accidentally created
worked rather well.
We do a lot of "layering"; having one synth control another via MIDI or
CV and considering the resulting combination sound as one "voice".
if you think you hear someone changing patches dynamically in this
piece, you're right.
Because there were open mikes in this mix, we couldn't shout at, swear
at, or otherwise insult each other. This led to some extremely innovative
hand and facial gestures.
Heard after one particularly miserable "take":
"<<whistle>> First keyboard player, illegal trill.
Penalty is -5 dB and loss of take. It is now second take."
Do we plan to make a record? Actually, we do. We even had a contract with
a record company, but they went broke.
|
| 11.4 | Commusic IV Liner Notes | DREGS::BLICKSTEIN | Yo! | Thu Nov 03 1988 16:56 | 646 |
|
C O M M U S I C I V
L I N E R N O T E S
Recording Date: 1-Feb-1988
Summary:
Side A
Paul Harmon
- A Smaller World
- We're Not Supposed to Die
- Leap!
Karl Moeller
- Seven
- Walk in Music
Frank Rene
- Learning to Sail
- We Can Be (What We Want to Be)
Brad Schafer
- 10 to 9
- Compromise
Side B
Brad Schafer
- Hand in Hand
Peter Laquerre
- You Better Start
- Rebecca
Dave Bottom
- Born in Chicago
- TV Eye
- Pay Day
Steve Sherman
- Just About Enough
Dan Dube
- The Reason Why
- In Your Dreams
Mitch Norcross
- Visions
Tom Janzen
- Le Sacre de Printemps: Stravinsky.
- Suite for Cello: Prelude: J. S. Bach.
- On D: Tom Janzen
Paul Harmon
"A Smaller World"
"We're Not Supposed To Die"
Both of these songs were written/played by me and recorded on a Portastudio
244. Instruments and signal processors included:
Ensoniq ESQ-1
Fender Stratocaster
Kramer DMZ-1000
Yamaha RX-15
Hohner Marine Band harmonica
Deltalab Effectron I digital delay
Furman RV-1 reverb
Pearl Overdrive
"Leap!"
Also recorded on my Portastudio, with the same signal processors.
This is a free improvisation with some pre-planning. I decided in advance
that there would be four sections, and that they would alternate being
in/out of tempo from section to section. I recorded a drum track that followed
that plan, and then improvised over it until I felt it was finished. Except
for the distorted guitar in the second in-tempo section, everything here was a
first take. Instruments were:
Yamaha SA-2000 guitar
Fender Precision Bass
Boss DR-110 "Dr. Rhythm" (unfortunately)
Karl Moeller
"Seven" and "Walk In Music" - karl moeller
The selection of these two submissions was based on some value
judgements about Commusic noters' listening tastes. Call it market
research. I wanted 'you' the majority of noters (read 'rockers'?)
to like my submissions, and thus I was reluctant to send pieces
prominently featuring sampled ethnic instruments, like 'Andean
Agogo in 11/8' and 'Weekend Raga'. Or the entirely percussion
'Big Thing Stomps Around'.
"Seven" - karl moeller
This was one of those gratifying experiments. I recorded a left-hand
piano part to Performer's metronome clicking away in 7/8. Then I
recorded a right-hand part, and dumped it to cassette and played it
in the car for several days. Sections of the righthand part didn't
work at all, so I edited them out.
One of my goals for this piece was to avoid use of the 8track, so
I created an Emax performance diskette with fretless bass, drums,
sax, and Kurzweil strings (doubling the right-hand piano part).
Then I recorded the bass line, drums and sax. The Emax sax phrases
neatly filled the holes in the righthand piano part. Tried to make
the bass/snare parts as heavy as possible. I've since remixed it
holding off the righthand chords for two measures.
The phrasing works, complementing the time signature, and
occasionally the right-hand part slides into polyrhythms over
seven. I like it. It rocks.
"Walk In Music" - karl moeller
This piece was commissioned, and was used as walk-in music for
both the audience and actors in a locally produced play. When I met
the cast of the play several of the actors (all college students)
asked me if they could get copies of it. High praise. I love exact
specifications. BTW, my 'sound design' for the play won a 'Best In
State' award at the Arizona College Drama Festival 12/87.
The piece is both energetic and dreamy. Lots of bass/drums 'street'
feel, but becomes sort of meditative due to the stasis of the
bass pattern and the ethereal Fairlight stereo sweep on top.
Four basic layers in this piece, done with Performer synced to 8-track.
The bass line was played realtime to a Performer click, no repairs or
quantizing. The sound is a composite of the Fb01 'Cheeky' patch, an
Emax pizzicato acoustic bass, and the MKS-20 'clav' sound. During
the chord/chorus section there is also a right-hand component that
repeats thru the chord changes. Used a single track on the Fostex,
later stereoized with chorus and analog delay (perhaps too much)
during mixdown.
The Emax drum samples were apparently ported from the E-Mu Systems'
SP-12 drumbox. The drum track is a carefully quantized 16 measures
that repeats thru the piece, with edited pauses to match the bassline.
The drums got 2 tracks on the Fostex in order to preserve the stereo
imaging, and to allow me to use gated reverb on them (only got one
reverb unit, doncha know).
I wanted the piano part to sound chordal rather than linear. The
sound is mainly MKS-20 piano 1 with a dollop of Emax stereo grand
for hammer slap. Two Fostex tracks.
The top layer is an Emax sample of a Fairlight 'vocal' patch, using
the Emax' analog controls to diddle the filter and stereo panning.
Also used two tracks on the Fostex for obvious reasons.
Frank Rene
SONG #1
"Learning to Sail"
The way this piece started was very different than the way it ended
up. It originally wasn't going to include any horns, but one night I tried
it and it stuck. The reason I wrote this piece was to see if I could come
up with a reasonably interesting tune combining ordinary and not-so-ordinary
chord progressions/tensions. The drums,bass and electric piano were sequenced.
The horns,sax and piano parts were not. The recording was done on a Fostex
4-track with no bouncing. No outboard effects were used with the exception
of some digital reverb on the drums.
MUSICIANS:
---------
This piece was entirely written and performed/recorded by myself.
INSTRUMENTS used:
----------------
Ensoniq Mirage,ESQ-1
------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------
SONG #2
"We can be (what we want to be)"
My brother asked me to come up with a top 40-ish tune to which he
would write lyrics around. So that's what I tried to do in this piece.
The tune came out pretty much as planned. To give the tune something
extra, I added a bridge that had a different motif than the rest of the
tune and a guitar/drum break just to break things up a bit. The drums,
bass, horns and two of the syth parts were sequenced. The other synth parts,
strings (and of course) guitar and vocals were not sequenced. The recording
was done on the Fostex 4-track. Digital delay was used on the vocals
as well as to produce a stereo field from the rythym section. No track
bouncing was done on the 4-track.
Music - Frank Rene
Lyrics - Brian Rene, Vicki Oliveria
MUSICIANS:
---------
Keyboards - Frank Rene, Mark Dwinell
Drum programming - Frank Rene
Vocals - Brian Rene
Guitar - Don Mousseau
INSTRUMENTS used:
----------------
Ensoniq Mirage,ESQ-1
Roland Juno-6
Custom Kramer guitar
Brad Schafer
LINER NOTES - COMMUSIC IV
-------------------------
Tape contains three songs, which are in various stages of development.
All recording performed on TEAC Tascam 144 (Dolby B).
All mixdowns to Yamaha K-960 (Dolby B used).
All songs copyright � Brad Schafer / OldAbe Music, 1987.
10 TO 9 (8:45)
-------
"10 To 9" is more or less a recording of a jam session. The body of
the song was written in about 5 minutes, the bass line was sequenced
in about 2 minutes, used four drum kit patterns in "repeat forever"
mode. The title of the song is of dual meaning - the piece was
recorded at 10 to 9 (ie, 8:50pm); it is also almost 9 minutes long,
and took 10 "phrases" to get to 9 minutes ... hence, "10 To 9".
Although somewhat repetitive (what do you expect for 30 minutes from
start to finish?), there is a good deal of synergy developed between
Kent and myself during the piece. It is interesting to hear in
retrospect how players can complement each other almost automatically.
The most blatant error in the piece is toward the end, where I
mistakenly changed a patch on the Oberheim and was kind of forced to
go with it. As the piece is a jam, and thus has no real conclusion,
the piece kind of breaks down at the end - but the breakdown (and
obvious ending) is kind of fun to listen to.
RECORDING ERRATA
Other than bass line and drums, all playing was recorded live and
as-is, with no corrections, overdubs, or quantization. Headphones
used for monitoring during recording.
Players: Kent Burnside, guitar; Brad Schafer, keyboards
Mixer: Peavey Mk III 16 chan
Guitar: Fender hollow body
Guitar FX: Tokai Magicalbox (Rockman clone)
Synths: Oberheim OB-Xa (controller)�, 2 Yamaha TX7
Drums: Roland TR-707
Sequencer: Yamaha QX7
FX: None�
� The Oberheim is sorely lacking as a controller,
transmitting only MIDI note-on/note-off, with no
velocity, sustain, modulation or pitch bend.
� MIDIverb II used during mixdown from 144 to K960
COMPROMISE (5:41)
----------
This piece was my first attempt at composition/ recording/ MIDI. It
was recorded over a 2 week period around Christmas 1986. I had never
used a sequencer, drum box, or and kind of tape sync before attempting
this piece, and had never attempted to write any music before this
time.
"Compromise" was sequenced (and quantized extensively) using the QX7.
There are roughly 7300 "notes" in the piece - I ran out of memory
several times until the magnificent Mr. Edd (Cote) gave me a few hints
about the QX7 temporary buffer (thanks, Edd). Again, the Oberheim was
used as a controller, which was quite frustrating, as it does not
respond to or transmit anything but note on/off.
In programming the drums, I tried to intersperse random rim shots and
accent "strange" beats in order to make the playing sound a bit more
realistic. The mix seems to be a bit heavy on percussion, the hi-hat
in particular.
I got a bit carried away with tape sync, ping-ponging and layering,
using all three synths on each take. 4 MIDI channels were used; each
channel used all three synths (including the Xa in bi-timbral mode).
Due to this over-extension, there is a bit of distortion that shows up
every now and then.
The guitar lead was recorded thru the Peavey, using the board's reverb
unit. The mix is entirely wet - no dry signal was recorded. That's
why the guitar has no bite.
Unfortunately, after the first pass of "Compromise" was on tape in its
entirety, the sequence was lost (I forgot to back it up to tape). At
some point, I plan to resequence the piece, but have not yet done so.
My least favorite part of "Compromise" is the synthesized bells during
the solo at the end of the piece. These were recorded realtime and as
an afterthought, and are much too bright and loud.
RECORDING ERRATA
Players: Brad Schafer, guitar & keyboards
Mixer: Peavey Mk III 16 chan
Guitar: Hagstrom Swede (Patch 2000)
Guitar FX: Tokai Magicalbox (Rockman clone)
Synths: Oberheim OB-Xa (controller), 2 Yamaha TX7
Drums: Roland TR-707
Sequencer: Yamaha QX7
FX: spring reverb in mixer�
� MIDIverb II used during mixdown from 144 to K960
HAND IN HAND (4:22)
------------
This piece is another "half hour" effort. It was written around a
friend's lyrics, which discuss her personal struggle in giving her
life completely to the Lord. Since the piece is written for a female
vocal range, I have not attempted to add vocal tracks myself. 8-)
While the piece as-is can stand on its own as a soundtrack, it is not
yet complete. I would like to add a rhythm guitar track and sax fill
to the song at some point in time, as well as rearrange the bridge and
transition to coda al fin�.
"Hand In Hand" was written in about � hour to an hour, and recorded
over a period of roughly 5 days. The bulk of this time was spent
programming the drum kit and playing with the MIDIverb (ie,
non-productive).
All keyboard parts (excepting bass line) were played live into the ESQ
and then mixed to tape, allowing the Oberheim (strings and analog
synth patches) to be mixed live during recording.
The Peavey mixer is far superior to the BiAmp. Had I been able to
borrow it again, I would have.
RECORDING ERRATA
"Hand In Hand" was recorded in one pass to two tracks of the 144.
Players: Brad Schafer, keyboards
Mixer: BiAmp 1202 12 chan
Guitar: none
Guitar FX: n/a
Synths: Ensoniq ESQ-1, Oberheim OB-Xa, 2 Yamaha TX7
Drums: Roland TR-707
Sequencer: ESQ-1
FX: MIDIverb II
Peter LaQuerre
- You Better Start
- Rebecca
I use a Fostex X-15 4-track cassette deck, which I mix down to my
Nakamichi BX-1 stereo deck. I wrote and performed both songs.
"You Better Start" was performed on a Madeira six-string acoustic
guitar and a borrowed electric bass guitar. Difficulties between
two married friends inspired the lyrics, but I "fictionalized"
some of the events.
"Rebecca" was recorded with a Casio CZ-1000 and a Roland TR-505 drum
machine. I even did the bass track with the CZ-1000, but since then
I've come up with some better bass patches--some from advice in the
COMMUSIC notes conference.
Dave Bottom
These three songs were recorded at Studio 8 in Laconia NH using their fostex
A-80, tascam 320, proverb, Yamaha GB2020 etc.
The purpose was to attempt to capture the sound of our old band (now defunct)
the LA East Rhythm and Blues band. We chose two cover songs that we felt
were 1. easy to record 2. were representative of our overall sound. We also
chose to record Payday (also on CM III in a home studio version) as I wrote
that song for the band and we never learned/performed it until now.
The players:
Guitars/vocals: Dave Bottom
Vocals/harp: Doug Brosius
Bass: Steve Brooks
drums: Ray "the count" Corlis
The songs:
Born In Chicago: An old Paul Butterfield song. We recorded the bass guitar,
lead guitar and drums first. Added a rhythm guitar track, redid the lead
guitar track, added the harp and vocals last. I wasn't satisifed with the
lead guitar even when we stopped; it seems a bit frantic to me, but was
kept as it was representative of our 'live' sound which was what we hoped
to capture.
Television Eye: A John Mayhall song, one of LA East's old standards a great
favorite of mine. Rhythm guitar, bass and drums recorded first. We then
added the lead guitar track and did the harp vocals last. If I do say so
I think this is the definitive version....
Payday: My original. Ray helped rearrange the song the night before. We learned
and rehearsed minus the harp player the night before. We must have played this
song a total of 4 times during the rehearsals and the harp player did his
tracks cold with no rehearsals. Recorded the rhythm guitar, bass and drums
first, then did the harp track, then another rhythm guitar track and then the
slide lead finally we did the vocals, backup vocals are myself and our engineer
Bill Plisco.
We started recording this session at 11:00 am, we finished at 4:30 pm. It
was rushed a bit but the quality of the muscians that I had to work with
really shows through. Speaking for both myself and the band we felt the
session was a success, we accomplished exactly what we intended to, recorded
the three songs and had a great time.
personal euipment used:
Doug uses the standard hofner blues harps, mic'd with a shure green bullet
running through a fender super reverb for that dirty chicago blues harp sound.
Mik'd by a beyer mmike of some sort.
Steve ran the bas direct into the board, he uses a musicmman bass, a Precision
bass clone with active electronics.
rays drums are budget, consequently we did have some problems with ringing
etc. a total of four mikes were used, but I dunno what or how....
dave used a fender strat, and a fender lead 1, glass bottle for slide, an
Ibanez DM-1000 digital delay, some stomp box chorus that I borrowed (arion?),
ernie ball strings and tortex picks, run this all through a fender studio lead
mic'd by a Beyer mike of some sort....
Steve Sherman
Title: "Just About Enough"
> 1) Liner notes if you haven't already
Setup: CZ-101, TX81Z, TR-505, QX5, MVII
Comments: The weak point of this is the drums. When I get around to it (like
maybe when I get a DAT), I'll probably redo it. But, the idea is out so I can
start working on my next number. I'm starting to tinker a little more with
improvisation and phrasing on this one. The ending's a bit weak, but the tag
at the very last makes my boy giggle. This song's good for helping me adjust
my attitude...
Dan Dube
Both of my submissions were recorded in my 8-track studio in Nashua. This
is the basic list of studio equipment used:
- Otari Mark III 5050 8-track recorder
- Carvin 16x8x2 mixer
- dbx 166 compression/noise gate
- Roland SRV 2000 digital reverb
- ADA digital delay
- Minolta VHS HiFi VCR
All songs were recorded by the old version of my band, MAX Q.
1) The Reason Why (Copyright 1986 Dan Dube)
This song was a major experiment in bouncing tracks. This is actually a
3-generation tape consisting of a total of 20 tracks. The basic scheme was
like this:
1st generation (all drums)
Trk1 Trk2 Trk3 Trk4 Trk5 Trk6 Trk7 Trk8
Bass Snare Hi-Hat 1st Tom 2nd Tom Floor Overhead Overhead
Drum Drum Tom Left Right
|
|
(mixed down to VHS HiFi)
|
|
Bounce #1
Trk1 Trk2 Trk3 Trk4 Trk5 Trk6 Trk7 Trk8
Drum Drum Bass Crunch Crunch Clean Organ Piano/
Mix Mix Guitar Guitar Guitar Special
Left Right Left Right Effects
|
|
(mixed down to VHS HiFi)
|
|
Bounce #2
Trk1 Trk2 Trk3 Trk4 Trk5 Trk6 Trk7 Trk8
Mixdown Mixdown Lead Backup Backup Backup Backup Lead
Left Right Vocal Vocal Vocal Vocal Vocal Guitar
|
|
Final mixdown to VHS HiFi
2. In Your Dreams (Copyright 1987 Dan Dube/Bill Knox)
This song was a little less ambitious of an experiment, and is actually
the first song that I ever totally engineered and produced on my own in
the studio.
Here's the basic scheme:
Trk1 Trk2 Trk3 Trk4 Trk5 Trk6 Trk7 Trk8
Bass Snare 1st Tom 2nd Tom Floor Overhead Overhead Bass
Drum Drum Tom Left Right Guitar
|
|
(mixed down to VHS HiFi)
|
|
Bounce #1
Trk1 Trk2 Trk3 Trk4 Trk5 Trk6 Trk7 Trk8
Drum Drum Clean Lead Keys Lead Backup Backup
Mix Mix Guitar Guitar Vocal Vocal Vocal
Left Right
|
|
Final mixdown to VHS HiFi
Some of you may be wondering: why did he bounce to VHS HiFi instead of bouncing
six tracks to 2? The answer is simple: 2 extra tracks are opened up with
virtually no loss of sound quality.
If you bounced six tracks down to two, that leaves six open tracks for a
total of 12 tracks. If you bounce 8 tracks down to VHS HiFi (with a dynamic
range of 90 db, which is even better than my Otari 8-track!) back to two,
that leaves six open tracks for a total of 14 tracks. You can judge for
yourself if it was worth it - I'm a big fan of this method.
FREE PLUG:
By the way, if you happen to like these tunes and dig the band, be sure
to catch MAX Q live at a gig soon! We'll be returning to the Boston club
scene sometime in late March/early April with a new, improved lineup! Check
Music notes #5.* to see when MAX Q is gigging in your area.
Mitch Norcross
Visions �1988 Mitch Norcross
Produced by Mitch Norcross at Generic Sound
Sequenced using Master Tracks Pro, Yamaha FB-01, Korg Poly-800,
Alesis MIDIVerb II
Tom Janzen
Le Sacre de Printemps: Introduction, beginning; Igor Stravinsky.
Played on a PDP-11/23 in MACRO11 (even the score is an include
file in MACRO11) out an AAV11-C DAC (one channel).
It was recorded on cassette and reprocessed for digital
vibrato and reverberation with effects boxes. The program
allows four simultaneous voices, each with a different
waveform. The horn was just a sine tone, but the other instruments'
waves were found in The Psychology of Music by Carl Seashore.
Seashore gives the relative power of the wave's harmonics for
different instruments. I calculated the relative pressure
levels by hand, and fed these into a Pascal program that
generates both a MACRO11 include file of 256 bytes wave,
and a DECgraph load file to display the wave.
The program does not have envelope control or dynamic control,
but could somewhat readily, with bandwidth degradation.
The sample-output rate is 7.9kHz. It is very nearly in
tune with A440, and could easily play any form of intonation
desired.
Suite for Cello: Prelude; J. S. Bach. Same notes as above, but only
one voice was used until the last note.
On D: Tom Janzen copyright (c) 1983 Thomas E. Janzen. Using .REPT
blocks, the score is very short indeed. Cf. notes for Le Sacre,
above. No vibrato was used.
The operating system was RT11 5.4b.
|
| 11.5 | Commusic V Liner Notes | DREGS::BLICKSTEIN | Yo! | Thu Nov 03 1988 17:00 | 566 |
|
C O M M U S I C V
Side A
o Paul Kent
- It's All a Game (4:15)
- It's Because of You (4:30)
- The Instrumental (4:00)
o Dave Bottom
- Ain't Found Nothin' (4:35)
o Event Horizon (submitted by Bob Yerazunis)
- Beyond Event Horizon
o John Williams
- Rule of Thumb (3:05)
- Games from the Void (3:00)
- Caught Between Hemispheres (4:10)
o Pete LaQuerre
- No One's Paying Attention (4:55)
- A State of Mind (4:00)
Side B
o Steve Sherman
- No Excuses
o Karl Moeller
- Easter Morning (4:10)
- Suite Pt. I: The Procession (4:50)
- The Minefield (8:00)
o Dan Eaton
- He is a Rock
o Dave Dreher
- One Good Dream
- Seasons
- Need You Tonite
o Tom Janzen
- Goldberg Variations (Bach)
- Caterpillar Blews
- Sacre
o Tom Benson
- Jingle Jangle Jingle
Paul Kent
PEEKAY (attic studios) (sic)
Commusicians will all be aware of the progress one can make in
a short period of time. The stuff you did 6 months ago can
sound trite and amateurish compared with what you can acheive
mow. Thus my feelings on relistening to what were originally
my Commusic 4 entries.
"It's all a game"
I read with interest that all my entries were about 4 minutes,
I have never timed them myself. Thhis must say something about
my concentration span. "It's all a game" was based on a CZ
patch that I picked up on commusic but that dissapeared into
the background somewhere.
The bass is a multisample on the Akai.
The Voice is me.
The song is average.
Drums are the DDD-1.
"It's because of you"
About this time was when I got my Tx802 which is superb. All
SYnths are one pass on the TX802 sequenced by the Qx5 and with
some vocal samples in the background. The bass patch was my
first ever 6 op patch which had the string rattle added with
aftertouch. I was desperately impressed with it at the time.
The drums were DDD-1 (I am a fan) with th Snare sampled from a
real piccolo snare.
"The instrumental"
I have to admit I haven't got a copy of this at home so I
can't remember much about it, other than It was another "one
pass" TX802 exercise which I did to impress my colleagues at
Berks-Bum (The UK version of Lerds).
Dave Bottom
Ain't Found nothin' copyright 1987 dave bottom
written for a woman I never saw again...
Nits:
I am not truely satisfied with the drum parts, just can't seem to get the
dynamics the way they should be.
The vocals are a strain for me, I think this shows, at the time I submitted
this I was in the process of packing to move so they are not as perfect
as I'd like, I was seriously pressed for time.
It's far too long, I would have trimmed it in length but time constraints
were on me...
The song:
Constructed in pseudo-6-track:
Recorded the drums/acoustic guitar rhythm track in stereo on tracks 1-3 of my
3340. The guitar is a washburn acoustic electric, recorded direct, split into
stereo using a rockmodule chorus in the wide mode. Drums are Roland TR-707, the
last time I ever used it.
Added an electric rhythm (strat) and bass (yamaha, recorded direct) track on
the 3340.
This was dumped to stereo on my Tascam 234.
I added vocals and lead guitar.
The electric guitar is my strat, effects are a Midiverb II (patch #45).
Vocals were processed via my symetrix 525 comp/limiter and the Midiverb.
An AKG D-320 mike was used.
Beyond The Event Horizon - � Peter Antoniou, Event Horizon Music.
- P E O P L E -
Peter Antoniou
Larry Felman
Rudy Kieser
George Ray III
Bill Yerazunis
- E Q U I P M E N T -
Sequential Circus
Prophet-600
Pro-1
Moog
Minimoog
Ensoniq
ESQ-1
Yamahaha
DX-100
DX-21
QX-7
Casio
CZ-101 (x 2)
Seil
DK-80
CBM-110 Bass Pedals
Korg
MD-16 Sampled Drum
Sholtz
Rockman
Rickenbacker
4001
DOD
Noise Gate, Compressor/Sustainer
Kelsey
K-16 Studio Mixer
Sony
PCM-F1 Digital Tape
3M
Masking Tape
Coca-Cola
Coke Classic
Cases by
Calzone
Anvil
Tough Traveller
Fruit of the Loom
- W H A T I T W A S L I K E -
Oh, what a mess. Some of the equipment didn't have MIDI- and of course
those were the pieces that had to be played in the strictest synchrony.
Several MIDI chains were used "for depth" - the QX-7 sequencer driving the
sampled drums, and the DX-21 driving the DX-100 and one of the CZ's,
the Prophet driving an audio signal to the MiniMoog, the Seil DK driving
the other CZ.
There was a lot of shouting during this take, as various lines were
coming in, going out, getting retriggered, etc. We could not multitrack
it onto the digital tape, hence what you hear is, essentially, "live".
Even the mixing had to be done "live". Fortunately, there were no
microphones in the mix, or else you couldn't play this tape to anyone
under 18 without their parental consent.
If you count oscillators in the above setup, there's something
like 140 if them, not counting the LFO's in the various synths. And
we were worried that the sounds wouldn't be rich enough. We usually don't
use this much equipment, but some days, you just get crazy, eh?
It really isn't possible to assign a "who-played-what" for this piece,
because we all ran around at various times altering critical parameters.
Even Larry, the bassist, played some keyboards, even though we asked
him not to.
If you listen very carefully, the piece "calms down" for a few seconds in
the middle. That's because the pizza man came and he wanted money from
us.
Do we plan to make a record? Actually, we do. We even had a contract for
one, with a real record company, but they went broke.
John Williams
These three songs represent my first MIDI attempts. They were
recorded on an ATARI ST running KCS 1.6. The sounds are coming from an
MT-32 dumped directly into a tape deck in stereo.
1) RULE OF THUMB
This song is a little experiment with counterpoint. The bass
sticks more or less to tonic points. I recorded it completely one voice
at a time, the chord progression is more or less arpeggioed in the bass.
The patch is something I call wirestrike.
2) GAMES FROM THE VOID
This tune has some melody bass lines, which get fairly playful
in parts. No wierd patches on this one.
3) CAUGHT BETWEEN HEMISPHERES
The bass in this tune pivots, rather than roots, and the rhythm
sort of swirls around it. More drum fills to this one. Added dynamics due
to the addition of an MKB-200 as a controller as a replacement to the
CZ230S, so this one sounds a little more, how shall we say, realistic.
Peter LaQuerre
- No One's Paying Attention
- A State of Mind
Both songs copyright �1988 by Peter LaQuerre.
For these two songs, I used:
- A FOSTEX X-15 4-track cassette recorder
- A Roland TR-505 rhythm composer
- A Casio CZ-1000 synthesizer
- A Madeira six-string acoustic guitar
My goal over the past few months has been to develop and use a wider
variety of CZ patches. Some people observed correctly that the
patches on my last COMMUSIC selections were too recognizably CZ.
Some notes about the patches:
No One's Paying Attention
A while back some of you might have remembered me asking for
some bass patches for the CZ. Randi Rost replied with a bunch
of patches he got over the USENET. I'm pretty sure this is
the one from a random patch generator. I fell in love with it
and I think it works well in this song. Thanks Randi!
For the keyboard rhythm I used a patch I wrote myself. I also
tried to develop a nice lead patch, but after several ideas
didn't work out I found the acoustic guitar lead just
as nice as anything else on the keyboard.
The most interesting thing about the drum track was the handclap.
Before this song, I couldn't find a good use for it, but I
needed a sharp hit and after messing around with the congas
for a while, I thought the handclap was a nice subtle addition
to one of the patterns for this song.
A State of Mind
I programmed the xylophone/vibe patch myself. I thought it
came out pretty nice for a CZ patch and it was fun to use.
This bass patch was a more mellow one that I programmed by
combining the qualities of a couple I've seen around. Once
again, I think some of it was based on one of the bass patches
I found here in COMMUSIC.
The string patch was simply a modified version of the "string
ensemble" factory patch on the CZ. I added some reverb by
modifying the DCA 1 wave.
Steve Sherman
Title: No Excuses
Equipment uesd: S-10, TR-505, TX81Z, MV2, QX5, Rat Shack mixer and a little
cheapie reverb added to the drums. CZ-101 was not used in the mix,
but it will be used for the flute part in the 'live' version.
Notes: As Dave Orin pointed out, Eddie's demo at the Wurlygig was impressive
not just because of the equipment, but also because he did a good job
with the arrangement. Besides being just for fun, this piece was
partly done to show that a good arrangement (or close approximation
thereof) can even make a relatively inexpensive setup like mine sound
pretty good.
In addition, I do composition (to my taste - I love the freedom of
being my own patron!). I don't 'gig'. I'm just not good enough, nor
do I want to take the time to work up my real-time chops. However, my
church is putting on a talent show and I decided to work up this synth
number. (It was either this or embarass myself by taking part in
another skit this year ...) I'll be playing the flute and most of the
lead guitar parts in real time. I'm getting better at improv, which is
reflected in this submission and will be what I'll work on for the
talent show (May 27 at 7:30 at the LDS chapel in Marlboro, MA if anyone
wants to come and watch me embarass myself).
This was a lot of fun to do. The lead guitar and bottom distorted
guitar are both from Roland's Electric Guitar 2 patch for the S-10.
The other voices are the TZ (slightly munged presets with some
layering). The chorus repeats. I was going to change that, but found
I preferred the sound of the repeat.
The title is more to reflect the attitude I'm having at the time which
I feel is also reflected in the piece. In essence, I pretty much live
by the motto, 'Excuses don't get results'. (Mostly I like hearing
excuses for their entertainment value, but that's about it.) The
piece reflects more my personal life and feeling of drive toward
getting things done. 4/4 with a back-beat. But, hey, it fits and it
bakes my cookies. :-)
Steve
Karl Moeller
"Easter Morning" "Suite Pt.I: The Procession" "Suite Pt.II: The Minefield"
(these pieces (C)(P) Karl Moeller 1988)
The three pieces I chose to contribute to C-V illustrate two radically
different methods of creating new music. One method is to just turn
on the recorder (or sequencer) and go for it. The other method is the
more traditional layer-at-a-time composition/recording.
These were done with the E-Mu Systems' Emax Rack Sampler and/or
the Kurzweil 1000PX rack sample player. Original recording was done
with an Apple Macintosh 512K running Performer v1.2.
"Easter Morning"
... don't tell me to add squeaks. Everyone does.
"Suite Pt.I: The Procession"
This piece was carefully layered using both the Emax and Kurzweil. I've
since added a solo violin voice to the last third of the piece. After
'finishing' this (are they ever really done?) it sounded to me like a
prelude to something more energetic.. but it took about a month to find
the second movement. So I declare these two pieces wedded.
"Suite Pt.II: The Minefield"
This'll get mixed reviews. It's not always pretty. A small amount of
string orchestration added later. Why is it called "The Minefield" ?
"Someone who records an 'improvisation', and then distributes
it for other people to listen to in their living rooms, is doing
nothing less than laying a musical and aesthetic minefield."
- from a review of 'Free Improvisation', a Deutsche Gramofon release.
Dan Eaton
- He Is A Rock By Dan Eaton
(Unpublished Work Copyright 1982 Daniel K Eaton)
This piece is the first full-scale piece marking the shift I have made
from analog recording studio (albeit a modest one) to MIDI studio (slightly less
modest), with the intention of taking MIDI to the road. In other words, my
submission to COMMUSIC III was done on an analog multi-track tape deck. This
one was done all via MIDI (except for voice and a mono synth), and will be
performed live exactly as you hear it on tape. In fact, the recording was done
'live' on a normal home stereo. The only difference on the road will be that I
will play the piano live (I didn't here as I needed to man the board while
singing).
The sequencing was done entirely on a Commodore C64 using Sonus'
GlassTracks. GlassTracks is an eight track sequencer with limited editing
capabilities. While it has practically no single-event editing, there are ways
around that, and I have learned many of them. I don't think I'll want to use
this package forever (I would like more memory and more extensive single-event
editing), but it certainly helps to have more than two tracks and to have the
visual feedback. In performance, I will dump the data down to the MIDI DJ, a
dedicated hardware sequencer with a fast disk-drive (5 1/4" floppies).
The time-keeping drums were entered in step-time (bass, snare, ride cym
& hi-hat), while fills were done mostly live. This has been the most laborious
work I've ever done on a drum part. The drums alone took me well over a month
(one or two nights a week) to sequence. Those readers/contributors of DRUMS
may recall an inquiry I made about drum accenting. Well, this is the piece.
All other parts were sequenced in real-time (with the exception of the
'KRYSTAL-CHOIR' part in the first bridge).
The lyrics are a paraphrasing of a chapter from the second book of
Samuel, where King David celebrates the miraculous intervention of God on his
behalf.
Instrumentation is as follows:
Piano - Roland RD200
Mono Synth in intro - Korg MS-10 (love that analog!)
Drums - Roland MKS-7 Rythm block (Equivalent to TR707)
Bass - Roland MKS-7 Bass block (Equivalent to Juno 106)
Fill in 1st bridge - Yamaha TX81Z (Krystal Choir)
Brass - Yamaha TX81Z (ChorusBrass)
Effects:
Alesis Microverb (setting room #5)
ADA S1000 Digital Delay
Other:
TEAC V-103 Stereo Tape deck
KAWAI MX-8R 8-channel Mixer
Commodore C64 with Sonus' Glass-tracks Sequencing Software
Shure SM58 microphone
Dave Dreher
47 LaSalle Ave.
Framingham, MA 01701
(508) 877-7295
My tape contains three entries. All are original compositions.
All synth and drum machine sequences programmed into MC-500
and mixed down to master, synced by FSK. Only Guitar, Vocals,
and Bass were recorded on 8-track. All tracks recorded at Baby Shade,
my home studio.
1) One Good Dream
Written by Dave Dreher, Ellen Dreher, Ron Ross
Ellen Dreher - Vocals
Ron Ross - Keyboards
Dave Dreher - Guitar, Programming
2) Seasons
Written by Dave Dreher, Ellen Dreher, Ron Ross
Ellen Dreher - Vocals
Ron Ross - Keyboards
Dave Dreher - Guitar, Programming
Dave O - Bass
3) Need You Tonight
Written by Dave Dreher, Ellen Dreher, Ron Ross, Angel Clymes
Ellen Dreher - Vocals
Angel Clymes - Vocals
Ron Ross - Keyboards
Dave Dreher - Guitar, Programming
Recording equipment used:
Tascam 38 8-trk w/8 ch. dbx Aries 24x8 mixing board
Roland SDE-3000 digital delay Effectron ADM-256 digital delay
ART 01a digital reverb Yamaha SPX-90 effects processor
DBX 160 Compressor DBX 166 Compressor
Biamp 210 stereo equalizer AKG 414 microphone
LinnDrum (sampler) Roland S-50 (sampler)
Roland Jupiter-6 (analog synth) Roland MKS-30 (analog synth)
Yamaha TX7 (FM synth) Yamaha FB01 (FM synth)
Roland MC-500 sequencer Roland MKB-200 controller
Gallen Kruger 250ml guitar amp Kramer guitar
Tascam 2-22 2-trk Tascam 122 cassette deck
Tom Janzen
The PDP11/23 synthesis project (weekends and evenings) has been cancelled.
All of the expertise is being transferred to the Commodore Amiga, Deluxe
Music Construction Set, and Synthia (to make instruments).
If I remember correctly what I submitted:
Stravinsky: Le Sacre de Printemps, opening of Prelude. No post processing.
No MIDI. Only the Amiga sound port was used.
Janzen: Caterpillar Blews (c) 1977; The right hand and the left hand
slip an eighth every four bars.
Bach: Goldberg Variations: Aria. I used a plucked string model for the
first half, and mixed several instruments in the closing. I could have
used four different colors at once if I had put each of 4 lines on a
separate staff, but I used a piano staff, and a given staff may have only
one color (I think) in DMCS.
I used no post-processing or overdubbing. It's all mono.
I have many more examples that I and other people in the Amiga grapevine
have entered. Let me know if you're interested.
Tom Benson
Jingle Jangle Jingle
Fuso, a friend of mine, found himself singing this song while driving somewhere
with his wife. All he could remember was the first line and something like
"Oh Lulu Belle, oh Lulu Bell, you look like hell..." His wife claimed that it
was so dumb that he must have made it up. He asked me about it, and I agreed
that it was a real song, and started searching for proof. In the meantime, I
recorded this version and gave it to them as an anniversary present. I just
added additional dumb words to the ones Fuso remembered. Later, I found out
that it was a hit for Tex Ritter in the early forties, and got a recording on
a "greatest hits" tape. Later, I found the sheet music in an antique store,
and last month I found the original version on a 78 at the flea market.
As I've told db, no warrantee is implied with this song. I assume no
responsibility for the use or reliability of this music on any equipment which
might make it audible. The stuff I wanted to have on Commusic V isn't done
yet.
Implements: guitar, CZ5000 synth, RZ-1 drum machine with sampled saucepan,
griddle, steamer, and produce scale.
|
| 11.6 | Liner Notes for COMMUSIC Tape I. | DYO780::SCHAFER | Brad - back in Ohio. | Fri Nov 04 1988 12:49 | 590 |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note 395.1 COMMUSIC Master Tape - Series I, Tape 1 1 of 6
-< Liner Notes >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following are liner notes for COMMUSIC Master Tape volume I,
tape 1.
Liner notes are broken down into several sections. The first section
is simply a song/artist list to include with your copy of the tape.
Sections following section 1 are submitters comments. These are
organized in the same order that songs appear on the tape.
WARNING -
All songs appearing on this tape or any tape in this series are to be
considered copyrighted by the submitter. No unauthorized use or
reproduction of any part of this material may be made without the
express written consent of the submitter(s) thereof. It is permissible
to make one copy of this tape for personal use.
DISCLAIMER -
Not responsible for typos in submitter's comments nor the technical
accuracy thereof. Any suggestions on the either the liner notes or the
COMMUSIC tape itself should be forwarded to DYO780::SCHAFER.
==============================================================================
COMMUSIC Master Tape Series volume I, tape 1
Side 1
1. Just For Kicks Dave Bottom
2. Sometimes You Hurt Your Friends Dave Bottom
3. Bridge To Nowhere Dave Bottom
4. Introduction: From Songs Of Innocence John Arnold
5. Once A Year John Arnold
6. Hostage Of Nature John Arnold
7. Blend Trend Todd Rhodes
8. A001R Todd Rhodes
9. Alphaville Karl Moeller
Side 2
1. Toccatta Karl Moeller
2. Burning Passion Dave Dreher
3. I Can't Wait Dave Dreher
4. Acapulco Dave Dreher
5. I'm Sorry (That I Fell In Love With You) Edd Cote
6. One More Chance Paul Kent
7. Life Paul Kent
8. Chain Kisser Derek Speed (DLQ)
9. You're A Tease Derek Speed (DLQ)
10. I Met Your Parents Derek Speed (DLQ)
11. Fistful Of Passion Derek Speed (DLQ)
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
DAVE BOTTOM (MTBLUE::BOTTOM_DAVID)
-----------
I have submitted three pieces:
Just for Kicks
guitar: rhythm: strat
lead: Fender lead one/kahler tremelo system
bass: JX3-P
drums: TR-707
amp: Fender studio lead
DDL: Ibanez DM-1000
vocals recorded through AKG D130
Sometimes you hurt your friends
guitar: Fender strat
amp: Fender studio lead
bass: Yamaha ??
drums: TR 707
synth: JX3-P
DDL: Ibanez Dm-1000
vocal mike : AKG D130
Bridge to nowhere
synth: Jx3-P
guitar: Fender lead one
drums: TR-707
All songs recorded on my Tascam 234 using a PE-20/EX-20 mixer system
(very basic). Mastered on a Pioneer CTF-1000 using a dbx 128 dynamic
range processor/noise reduction system.
Apologies for the distortion in bridge to nowhere, it was my first
recording and the master is now destroyed, unfortunately the guitar solo
was very satisfactory in my opinion. (and is now lost other than this
version saved on a rough mix tape)
===========================================================================
JOHN ARNOLD (BIZET::ARNOLD)
-----------
Three Songs - John E. Arnold
==============================
Introduction: From Songs of Innoncence
Words: William Blake
Music: John E. Arnold
J.A. - Flutes, acoustic guitar, vocals
Once A Year
Words and Music: John E. Arnold
J.A. - Acoustic guitar, bass guitar, vocals, sleigh bells
G.A. - Organ (Hammond M-3), synthesizer (Mini-Korg)
Hostage of Nature
Words and Music: John E. Arnold
Reading is from "Life and Campaigns of Napolean", Phillips,
Sampson, & Company, Boston, 1856
J.A. - Acoustic guitar, vocals
G.A. - Synthesizer, bass synthesizer (both Mini-Korg), reading,
processed percussion (i.e., the gong is a slowed down
crash cymbal being struck with a felt mallet)
D.H. - Processed triangle (i.e., pitch change was done manually
on the tape recorder)
==============================
Recorded November - December, 1979. Equipment included a Teac 2340SX
4-track reel-to-reel with dbx II, Teac Model 2A mixer, and a Pioneer
RT-701 Reel-to-Reel (for intermediate mixdowns and final mix) with
dbx II.
All songs arranged and produced by the Arnold Bros. in association
with D.H. Perrin.
All selections: Copyright 1979 John E. Arnold
Performance copyright 1979 John E. Arnold
^
|_ (i.e., "p in circle")
appear with permission of the copyright owner.
===========================================================================
TODD RHODES (BARNUM::RHODES)
-----------
Liner notes for Todd Rhodes - Water Street Studios, Framingham Ma.
I. Musical background:
A drummer by background, I started drum lessions at age 9 and played
in the band/orchestra in elementary school. Got an accordian and
took lessions for a year at age 11. Realized that I liked drumming
better. Got my first drum kit and age 14 (small japanese junker),
and hacked around in a small rock band in junior high school.
Played in the high school stage (jazz) band, and also in a rock band.
In 1980, I left my drumset behind, and took off to EE school at the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst. By graduation in 1984,
I was very itchy (to say the least) to compose and perform music
after being strictly a listener for 4 years. Got a guitar, echobox,
fuzzbox, volume pedal, and Synsonic drum box, and started recording.
The studio grew from there.
II. Studio description:
1. Recording:
I use (2) 7.5" 2-track reel-to-reel tape decks, and utilize
a bounce-and-add technique using a 6-to-2 mixer between
the decks. Also have a Kenwood Cassette deck used to
put the final reel-to-reel version onto cassette format.
2. Musical Instruments:
1. (1) Hand made solid body (ash) guitar with an Aria
neck. It has (2) Super-II pickups, and one Arp Avatar
hex pickup.
2. (1) Arp Avatar guitar synth. Just an Oddessey controlled
by a guitar rather than a keyboard. It is two voice
(three including the guitar itself) monophonic.
3. (1) Simmons SDS-8 non-midi drum synthesizer. Played
in real-time and also by an Arp Sequencer.
4. (1) Arp Sequencer to sequence the Avatar. Output control
voltages also happen to be compatible with the SDS-8
triggering inputs.
5. (1) Commodore 64 interfaced with Sequential Circuits
keyboard. Commodore sound chip is 3-voice polyphonic
digitally controlled analog, each voice with its own
ADSR (not too shabby). DCF is noisy and mis-designed,
so I put it through the ARP's. (Of course this means
no filter tracking.)
6. (1) Mattel (No comment necessary) Synsonics drum box
with builtin (primitive) sequencer. No longer used.
7. Misc. Zildjian cymbals
8. Noname brand crummy mic for recording percussion.
3. Effects:
1. (1) Fuzz box. Home made.
2. (1) DOD analog delay/echo unit. Mono in/stereo out.
narrow bandwidth (~6k), and noisy.
3. (1) Boss volume pedal. Used mostly to smoothly blend
a sound into the above echo box.
4. (1) Neptune rack mount mic/instrument mixer with a spring
reverb. Reverb is absolutely gross.
5. (1) Midiverb. Purchased after I recorded my submissions.
6. Aaron-Gavin Instruments 10-band stereo Graphic equalizer
III. Submitted Music
Song #1 - "Blend Trend"
First recorded drums using the SDS-8's, and then added the
guitar and bass through the echo box. I believe that there
are only three tracks. Done as a texture experiment.
Song #2 - "A001R" (named after my CRX's Yokohama tires that *really*
stick)
First recorded the intro using the guitar/Avatar and SDS-8's.
The Avatar was used for bass and background_melody in unison.
After finishing the intro, I threw a switch (in real time) to
start the sequenced (via the Arp sequencer) drums, and went
immediately into the main body of the song. Later mixed in
a ride cymbal track and a 2nd drum track.
Todd Rhodes, Water Street Studios (a.k.a. "Budget Studios")
===========================================================================
KARL MOELLER (CANYON::MOELLER)
------------
ALPHAVILLE 10:38 long.
An extended semiimprovisation in a pseudoromantic style, Alphaville
began as a stereo solo piano track recorded on a TEAC 3340. Later
received two tracks of (in various spots) string/horn/harpsichord
using a Crumar Orchestrator. Added Juno 106 wind sounds during mix
to stereo. Added bass line during stereo dub back to 4-track. Added
a high plucked-string patch using DX7. Added rhythmic chordal punches
at the climax near the end using both the DX7 and Juno. Mixdown to
stereo. The original 4chord theme is reprised on piano only, with
only the wind sound to fade.
Does it work? I've heard nothing like it, stylistically, ever. It
feels like a modern piano concerto, except that the orchestra is
comprised of synths. It's almost 2 years old now and is probably
still my favorite.
TOCCATTA 4:30 long.
A short pseudobaroque rock instrumental on several themes, Toccatta
contains more harmonic motion than most of my stuff. The original
track was a DX7 on Perc Clav patch MIDI'd to a Juno on whatever.
A track of Juno strings, phased, then 2 tracks of hand-played MXR
digital drums. Rhodes added (faintly in the left channel) during
mixdown to stereo. Dubbed back to 4-track. 2 tracks of Crumar strings,
then mixdown to stereo; dubbed back to 4-track. Then a Crumar horn
track (left chan), and finally, a grand piano track, on which
I really lucked out, tuningwise.
This one's writing didn't come easy. The recording was a snap.
However, I punched in a couple of places on the original DX7 track
and it shows. Ignored in the heat of the moment. Adding the piano
at the end is a complete reversal of my normal recording method;
however, it freed the piano from carrying the rhythmic and
harmonic quackquack, and allowed it to 'float' atop all the
baroque intensity. I liked the DX patch, as it would really
crank when attacked. I like this one, too, and may redo it should
I ever sit down and compose a nice peaceful middle section
for it.
Karl Moeller SWS Tucson AZ
===========================================================================
DAVE DREHER (MASTER::DDREHER)
-----------
My tape contains three entries. Takes 1 and 3 are original
compositions. Take 2 is a cover tune. It was created
on a Tascam 122 cassette deck and no noise reduction was used.
The following text is a description of each take.
1) Burning Passion - by Dave and Ellen Dreher January 1986
All instruments were programmed or played by Dave Dreher.
All vocals by Ellen Dreher. Engineered and produced by D. Dreher
Equipment used:
Tascam 38 8-trk
Tascam 312 mixing board (12 X 4 X 2)
Roland SDE-3000 digital delay
Effectron 256 digital delay
ART 01a digital reverb
DBX 160 Compressor
Biamp 210 stereo equalizer
Byter Polysynch master clock
LinnDrum
Roland Jupiter-6 synth
Roland Juno-60 synth
Roland MD-8 DCB/MIDI interface (for Juno-60)
Roland MSQ-700 sequencer
Audio Technica ATM-41 microphone
Gallen Kruger 250ml guitar amp
Kramer guitar
TRACK 1 - Bass line (Jupiter, sequenced by MSQ-700)
TRACK 2 - Drums (LinnDrum)
TRACK 3 - Keys left (Juno and Jupiter, sequenced by MSQ-700)
TRACK 4 - Keys right (Juno and Jupiter, sequenced by MSQ-700)
TRACK 5 - Rythim guitar (Kramer thru G/K direct into board)
TRACK 6 - Lead guitar (Kramer thru G/K direct into board)
TRACK 7 - Lead Vocals (Ellen)
TRACK 8 - unused
2) I Can't Wait - by Nu Shoz April 1986
All instruments were programmed or played by Dave Dreher.
All vocals by Ellen Dreher. Engineered and produced by D. Dreher
Mirage programming and sampling by D. Dreher and Bob Peterson.
Drums were added on mixed down via LinnDrum off the synch track.
An addition stereo Juno synth line was added real time on mix down.
Equipment used:
Tascam 38 8-trk
Tascam 312 mixing board (12 X 4 X 2)
Roland SDE-3000 digital delay
Effectron 256 digital delay
ART 01a digital reverb
DBX 160 Compressor
DBX 166 Compressor/Noise gate
Biamp 210 stereo equalizer
Byter Polysynch master clock
LinnDrum
Roland Jupiter-6 synth
Roland Juno-60 synth
Roland MD-8 DCB/MIDI interface (for Juno-60)
Roland MSQ-700 sequencer
Ensoniq Mirage sampling synth
Audio Technica ATM-41 microphone
Gallen Kruger 250ml guitar amp
Kramer guitar
Tamborine
Glass of water
TRACK 1 - Bass line (Jupiter, sequenced by MSQ-700)
TRACK 2 - Rythim guitar and piano (Kramer thru G/K direct into board,
bounced with Jupiter piano patch real time)
TRACK 3 - Horns, tamborine and glass of water (glass of water and
horns sampled by Mirage, sequenced by MSQ-700)
TRACK 4 - Choppy guitar (Kramer thru G/K direct into board)
TRACK 5 - Backing vocals (3 part harmony by Ellen)
TRACK 6 - Lead Vocals (Ellen)
TRACK 7 - Sampled voice (Mirage, sequenced by MSQ-700)
TRACK 8 - Synch tone (Byter polysynch to drive MSQ-700 and LinnDrum)
3) Acapulco - by Dave Dreher March 1985
All instruments were programmed or played by Dave Dreher. Engineered
and produced by D. Dreher. All synth parts were played real time.
This song was a 3-hr wonder between midnight and 3:00 AM.
Equipment used:
Tascam 244 4-trk
Roland SDE-3000 digital delay
Effectron 256 digital delay
Tacsam spring reverb
DBX 160 Compressor
Biamp 210 stereo equalizer
LinnDrum
Roland Jupiter-6 synth
Gallen Kruger 250ml guitar amp
Kramer guitar
TRACK 1 - Bass line and drums (Jupiter and LinnDrum)
TRACK 2 - Synth 1 (Jupiter)
TRACK 3 - Lead guitar (Kramer thru G/K direct into board)
TRACK 4 - Synth 2 (Jupiter)
===========================================================================
EDD COTE (MENTOR::COTE)
--------
Title: "I'm Sorry (That I Fell In Love With You)"
Arranged, Composed, Performed, Written and Recorded by: Edd Cote
Piano: Roland JX3-P
Flugelhorn: Yamaha DX21
Bass: Yamaha DX21
Drums: Yamaha RX-21
Sequencer Yamaha QX-7
Strings: Roland JX3-P
Piano, bass, flugelhorn and drums recorded in real time direct to cassette.
Strings added "cassette to cassette" overdub in real time.
No outboard effects used.
Drum programming by Edd Cote.
===========================================================================
PAUL KENT (MINDER::KENT)
---------
The second song LIFE (I,ve never had to give it a title before)
dates back to when I first bought my basic home setup, which is
about September 85. Mostly it evolves around the use of a TASCAM
144, an RX21, and a YAMAHA CX5. The only effects I had then
where an HH tape echo. I was pleased with it at the time but in
reflection could think of one or two ways of doing things
differently.
The first song I recorded with a cold, hence the voice. Since the
first recording I had added A CZ1000, Ibanez digital delay and a
Yamaha midi router. The drum snare sounds are given some false
reverb by adding a slow decayed percussion sound sequenced from
the CZ. I am seriously considering buying a CZ101 just for packing
in the case when I'me away from home, you can do some great things
with this machine. The Guitar is a very old Jap copy of a Les Paul
and is pretty much out of tune buy the end of the song. If I was
the perfectionist I ought to be, I would have re-recorded the last
lead guitar section.
Neither of the above songs were recorded using my latest
acquisition the MIDIVERB. I feel that this device alone has
created the biggest quantum leap in my recording ability, and
perhaps the next tape we create might reflect that. The next stage
I believe would be a bigger mixer than that on the 144. When the
band I was in at the time we bought it (about 6 year ago) we
thought that 4 tracks was a real luxury after the sound on sound
AKAI's etc. I still reckon I could get by on 4 tracks if I had a
reasonable way of getting more than 4 inputs to each track. So
next up is a 12-4-2 mixer I guess. Just wish I new where the money
was coming from.
===========================================================================
DEREK SPEED (ADVAX::SPEED)
-----------
Overview
The songs on the demo tape are a compilation of songs done by my band "The
DLQ", which is short for "The Desirable Location Quintet". The DLQ has
been together, on and off, for approximately 4 years. We got together
initially to compete in a "Battle of the Bands" at Worcester Polytechnic
Institute, where we were all engineering students. After winning the
"Battle", we decided that playing in a band was fun and continued to play
at colleges, clubs, parties, etc. for the next two years. We have recently
undergone some long and painful personnel changes and are still looking for
a lead vocalist. We are in the process of completing work on a personal
use 8 track studio (Studio 99) at the home of our bass player, complete
with separate rooms for recording and mixing.
All songs on the tape are originals written by various members of the DLQ.
Members of the band (and instruments played on this tape):
Greg Atkinson - lead and background vocals (no longer with the band)
John Breen - lead and rhythm guitar
Jack Calhoun - drums, lead and background vocals
Jeff Copeland - bass guitar and background vocals
Derek Speed - keyboards, lead and background vocals
Dwayne Shores (played guitar in Breen's absence)
"Chain Kisser" and "You're a Tease"
Both of these songs were recorded as demos in January 1985 at MCM Recording
Studios in Worcester, MA. The mixes on the tape are rough pre-mixes done
before the final mixdown. Engineering was done by their own engineer
(who's name escapes me), assisted by Derek and Jeff.
MCM gear:
Soundcraft 2400 series console
MCI 24 track analog multitrack recorder
UREI 813 "Time-Align" monitors with Crown DC300 amplification
Lexicon Super Prime Time Digital delay
Roland SDE1000 digital delay
Yamaha D1000 digital reverb
AKG spring reverb
dbx compressors
Neumann, AKG, Shure, Audio Technica and EV microphones
Keyboards used:
Roland JUNO-106 (recorded in stereo)
Casio 202 digital synthesizer (Lexicon used to create stereo image)
All keyboard parts are performed live (no sequencers)
Lexicon used for chorusing; D1000 and AKG reverbs both used.
Lead vocals on "Chain Kisser" - Jack Calhoun
Lead vocals on "You're a Tease" - Derek Speed
Guitar by Dwayne Shores.
Bass guitar was taken direct, through a dbx compressor and into the board.
Keys were also taken direct.
Drum mics: Kick - EV RE20
Snare - ATM 813
Hat - AKG C515 electret condenser
Toms - Shure SM57
Overhead (stereo) - AKG C515 electret condenser
Vocal Mic: Neumann U47 tube condenser
Guitar mic: Shure SM57
"I Met your Parents"
This song was one of our most popular when we were playing live. The
lines:
"I Like Sex
I Met Your Parents
I Like Sex
I'm clean, I'm bright, and athletic"
used to cause some controversy, needless to say.
"Parents" was recorded basically live in Derek's basement using a Fostex
X15 4 track cassette unit during the summer of 1985. No real effects
except those by the musicians on their own instruments. All instruments
were recorded simultaneously; vocals were overdubbed later. Mixing was
done on a Kelsey 12X3 mixer we used for live work. Microphones were EV and
Shure, with bass and keys going direct.
Keyboards - Roland JUNO-106 (no sequencers)
Lead vocals - Jeff Copeland and Greg Atkinson
Lead guitar - John Breen
"Fistful of Passion"
Recorded during the winter of 1985 at AAA Studios in Boston, MA. The mix
on the tape was done at MCM in Worcester, MA. Don't remember the names of
the engineers.
AAA gear:
Custom Allison recording console (phenomenal!)
Old Ampex 16 tack deck (2" tape)
Lexicon PCM41 digital delay
Lexicon series 200 digital reverb
dbx compressors
EMT plate reverb
Many other effects
Custom JBL monitors
Linn Drum machine
Scholz R&D Rockman
Shure, EV, Neumann, AKG microphones
Keyboards used: Casio 202 digital synthesizer (no sequencers)
Lexicon used for chorusing.
Keys, bass, Linn and guitar through Rockman were all taken direct into the
board. Drums were miked (sorry, don't remember the set-up).
Lead vocals: Greg Atkinson
Lead guitar: John Breen
===============================================================================
|
| 11.8 | Extract this handy tape label | TALK::HARRIMAN | You're wierd, Sir. | Wed Apr 26 1989 11:41 | 40 |
|
This is the COMMUSIC VI tape label source.
To use this, extract and edit out these instructions,
and run this through DOCUMENT using the command:
$ DOCUMENT commusic-6.sdml CASSETTE LN03
If you don't have the CASSETTE format in your DOCTYPE library,
you can get an LN03 version from
BANTER::DISK$COMMUSIC6:[COMMUSIC6]COMMUSIC6.LN03
I'll leave a PostScript version there too.
/pjh
<CASSETTE>(Commusic VI )
<SIDE_A>(<LIST>(SIMPLE)
<LE>Mitch Norcross: One Candle
<LE>Tom Janzen: Five Pieces After Jazz
<LE>Danz of Der Hockey Pucque
<LE>Two Creek Quartet
<LE>Steve Sherman: We'll Never Belong / Zoot
<LE>Ken Hitchmough: 200 Ft. AGL / Speedster / Walking in Chains
<LE>Paul Harmon: Intimate Enemy / Red Shift
<ENDLIST>
)
<SIDE_B>(<LIST>(SIMPLE)
<LE>Paul Harriman: The Light and Form of Ordinary Joy / P.M. Song
<LE>Jens Moller: Alone Again
<LE>Dave Bottom: Blue Moon
<LE>Frank Rene:Vitour
<LE>Dan Eaton: Press On / John Mark
<LE>John Arnold: Silent Night / Jingle Bells
<LE>Mitch Norcross: Dreams
<ENDLIST>
)
<ENDCASSETTE>
|
| 11.9 | COMMUSIC VI Liner Notes (Revised) | DYO780::SCHAFER | Brad - back in Ohio. | Fri Apr 28 1989 16:30 | 368 |
| The following are the (updated) liner notes for COMMUSIC VI.
Mitch Norcross: One Candle (c) 1988 Mitch Norcross / John Pontillo
Produced by Mitch Norcross and John Pontillo at Generic Sound
Sequenced using Passport's Master Tracks Pro running on an Apple
Macintosh SE, E-Mu System's EMAX, and Roland's D-110 and
MKB-200. Guitar by John Pontillo using a Schecter Telecaster
and a Scholtz X-100. All signals were recorded to stereo
through a Roland M-160 and recorded onto a Technics
dual cassette deck. One or more signals were processed
using an Alesis MIDIVerb II, a Rocktron compressor/limiter,
a Korg digital reverb, and an MXR digital delay.
***
Tom Janzen
Five Pieces After Jazz (c) 1974
Danz of der Hockey Pucque (c) 1975
Two Creek Quartet Sketch (c) 1976
***
Steve Sherman
These pieces are not great works (not that I have ever been accused of creating
such a thing). Same equipment was used as last time (no new toys for some time
now). They are both going into my upcoming album (cheap Christmas gifts).
o We'll Never Belong - 2:59
No drums. I'll probably get scorched about how I handled
the twelve-string sample ('It doesn't sound like a
12-string ...'). I like it as it is in that it adds
a sort of percussive contrast to the pads in the back.
The flute is stock though modified a bit to fit the piece.
(Believe it or not I actually hack at the presets now and
then.) The motivation for this is pretty personal. You know
that feeling you get when you want a relationship to work, but
it just never gets off the ground and you finally realize it?
(sigh)
o Zoot - 4:12
Okay, so I hacked at the drum track from a previous piece and
there's a lot of repetition. But, I had fun and this kind of
purged out some leftover ideas. It's my first whack at using
a sax sample. I got the growl by breaking up an attack into
lots of little attacks with alternating velocity to make it
sound more natural. Squeeks were the standard addition
of accidentals an octave high. Mostly, I thought of 'The
Untouchables' or some such visual images with this one. The
last part adds interest in that the things become less triplet-
oriented among all parts but the drums. Sounds like a
different tune at the end. The 'wall of sound' at the end was
a layering of sax samples, a CZ brass patch, and a TZ pad.
Also, I really liked the trombone glissando up while
preserving a third between notes hit in the last part.
(My wife doesn't ...) That's hard to do but not impossible
on a 'real' trombone.
***
Ken Hitchmough
200 Ft AGL
Written, produced and engineered by K. Hitchmough
The title for this piece was suggested by a friend who was listening to
it whilst flying his Chuck yeager simulator at low level. It is done first pass
with no overdubs using Texture running on an AT clone.
Outboard gear:
Yamaha TX802
Roland S-330
Yamaha RX7
Digitech DSP128
And yes! I know the female "OOH" is outdated...
"SPEEDSTER"
This was an attempt to see if I could put an electric guitar sound in a
piece with the sampler. I think next time I'll use a real one and try and
overdub!!! Again, single pass using the same gear as in track one.
"WALKING IN CHAINS"
This was done during a depressed state and I think it shows! It was
done using only three voices on the TX802 (strings brass and bass) and the
RX7, no overdubs. I'm waiting till I feel miserable again before I work some
more on it.
***
Paul Harmon
1) Intimate Enemy
Instruments Used: Ensoniq ESQ-1
Fender Stratocaster
Yamaha RX-15
Effects: Deltalab Effectron Digital Delay
Pearl Overdrive
Furman RV-1 Reverb
Music history buffs will no doubt groove on the clausula vera
and Mauchaut-like half-step resolutions to the fifth.
2) Red Shift
Instruments Used: Ensoniq ESQ-1
Effects: Furman RV-1 Reverb
Red Shift is a free improvisation. The "piano" track was played first,
then the "marimba". I started off with no particular preconceptions,
but the first few events reminded me of a starry sky; after that, I
attempted to sustain the impression. As is the case with most of my
free playing, I was working with making tonality and atonality coexist
without exerting any pressure on each other. Red Shift also falls loosely
into a category I call "concurrent monody". By this I mean that there are
two or more threads or linear activity going on, and the rule of the game
is for them to stay out of each others' way without interacting in any
particular way vertically. Naturally, there *is* interaction, but it is
kept as accidental as possible. Horizontally speaking, each thread is
very non-accidental; although I didn't want to know the contents of each
moment until it arrived, I was making lots of deliberate decisions about
each moment or event *as* it arrived. Red Shift was played into the ESQ-1
sequencer, and no quantization was used.
***
Side 2
***
Paul Harriman
"The Light and Form of Ordinary Joy" (c) 1988
Equipment used:
Atari 1040 ST with Dr T's KCS
Ensoniq EPS (Piano, Sax)
Ensoniq ESQ-1 (Pads, Kalimba)
Roland MKS-50 (Choral effect)
Alesis HR-16 (Percussion)
360 Systems MidiBass (string bass)
Signals were processed through:
Roland M-160
Lexicon PCM-60 delay
Alesis MIDIVERB II
Deltalabs Effectron
This piece evolved from a single theme (the V of V of V part), and
consumed about six weeks of my life while trying to get it to sound
"right". Early productions saw the sax emulated on my Casio while I
tried to figure out how to "breathe". However they sounded worse than
what I eventually came up with, which was to use the EPS and it's
patch keys and aftertouch. The piece was done entirely on the KCS,
and was recorded direct to two-track.
"The P.M. Song" (c) 1988 P. Harriman / J. Cooper
This used the same equipment as above, with the addition of the
Tascam 388.
EPS - Piano, guitars, flute
ESQ-1 - Piano pad
MKS-50 - Steel Drum
HR-16, DDD-1 - miscellaneous percussion
MidiBass - roundwound
The majority of tracks were mixed to two tracks on the 388. I added
the vocals and flute solo as separate tracks on the 388. Jeff Cooper
gets the percussion credits, as I'm a lousy drummer. Sorry about the
vocal mix, I'm still looking for a singer.
***
Jens Moller
Alone Again - Second incarnation (originally done using older
Technology). Equipment Used: Alesis MMT-8 Sequencer,
Roland MT-32 (Drums, Bass & Chorus), CZ-101 (layered
on MT-32 Chorus), Teac Portastudio Model 144. Shure
SM-58 Microphone, Old (1957) Fender Reverb Unit used
on all instruments other than MT-32. Guitar used:
An acoustic guitar someone gave to me - Brand: Sekova
(a terrible guitar until I put light weight strings &
a TELECASTER Bridge pickup in the sound hole). I
normally don't sing this song, but I thought it would
be cheating if I didn't. The music part of the song
is an original composition by myself. Words by Gerry
Burgess. All of the drum patterns used are the the
ones that I documented in the COMMUSIC notes file.
Drum data entered into the MMT-8 using a Roland
TR-505 drum machine. All Synth Patches are factory
sounds (the CZ-101's chorus patch was provided as a
sample sound with the CZ-101's documentation). Other
than reverb, there is no additional effects or
equalization. This song has gotten limited airplay
(but not with my voice or the current guitar solo).
***
Blue Moon copyright 1988 dave bottom
I recorded this using my pseudo-6-track again. I did a stereo out of the
HR and played the 1st rhythm guitar in at the same time, the guitar was
a direct out of my Fender studio lead amp, into a rockmodule chorus for
that stereo "cast of thousands" sound. The HR had a little reverb added
via MVII. The guitar is a Strat with EMG select pickups (these have changed
since).
I then played a yamaha bass direct into one track and a second rhythm guitar in
to the remaining track on the 3340.
Dumped this into my 234 in stereo, added vocals and lead guitar. I processed
the vocals with a symetrics 525 comp/lim and the MVII. The lead guitar was
processed via my studio lead, the aforementioned rockmodule to generate
the stereo image at mixdown.
I have more time in this song than probably any other I've done so far.
I took as much care as possible to keep the noise managable (not easy as
the 3340 has no noise reduction at all).
***
Tune: VITOUR
Written/recorded: Frank Rene
Where: in a corner of a cold damp cellar 8^)
Instruments: Ensoniq Mirage
Ensoniq SQ-80
Fostex X-15 track config:
1) drums
2) bass
3) piano
4) any other noodling that is heard (synth, B3)
mixed in MONO/added some digital reverb for ambience
The tune was composed/developed as I recorded it. It took about
3 nights (total ~ 6 hours). Every where my mind wondered, so did
the keys. I don't think the tune has any real motif to it, as I
had intended it not to. Didn't want the verse/chorus type tune
this time. I wanted it to start simple and get increasingly
more complex/'intense' as it went along.
I really liked this one when I was done with it. Still do in
fact. My wife ( a dedicated Huey Lewis fan) had the usual
"..that's uh,, nice honey...what is it?" comments 8^).
***
This, my third COMMUSIC contribution was a last minute decision. I had
recorded these two songs for a tape I gave to family and close friends for
Christmas this year (88) and decided to pass them on to the COMMUSIC community.
They were both entirely sequenced (with the obvious exception of voice and
guitar) and recorded live into a medium-to-low quality cassette deck (TEAC
A-103).
These pieces also mark the return of the use of guitar in my music.
Obviously, I have a lot of practicing to get back up to snuff 8^).
(1) - Press On (words, music and arrangement by Dan Eaton)
Copyright 1988, Daniel K. Eaton
Drums - MKS-7 (Rhythm block)
Bass - MKS-7 (Bass block)
All fills - TX81Z (one patch by Angel City (RX Midas MD),
the other, a ROM patch (bowed bell))
Guitar - Yamaha FG_something_or_other
This piece was my first attempt using Dr. T's KCS software on C64. In
fact, I bought the software specifically for this song (and subsequent work, of
course). I had been using Sonus' Glasstracks, but knew that I'd not have enough
room to sequence this song in a linear format. Dr T's use of 'calling'
sequences gave my lowly C64 all new life and vitality. I was able to call
portions of the rhythm passages, but insert varying fills over them to reduce
the monotony. In the final analysis, I ended up using little more than half of
the C64's available memory on this piece, but still maintained a good deal of
variation in the arrangement.
The only thing I am thoroughly disatisfied with on this recording is the
guitar comping. I would like to have a better tone, as well as improved
technique. To minimise the distraction, I tried to keep it back as far as I
could in the mix.
(2) - John Mark (Words, Music and arrangement by Dan Eaton
Copyright 1988, Daniel K. Eaton
Drums - MKS-7 (Rhythm block)
Bass - MKS-7 (Bass block)
Strings - MKS-7 (Chord block) layered with
TX81Z ROM string patch
Guitar - Yamaha FG_something_or_other
The idea for this song come from a passage in the Bible where it was
noted that a person named John Mark had deserted the first missionary effort
of the apostles Paul and Barnabas.
This arrangement is actually a duplicate of one I recorded many years
back at a studio in the Worcester area. The better version included additional
vocals and another backup guitar. But in all other aspects, they are nearly
identical. The most difficult part of this piece were getting the guitar to
sound right. I will readily admit that I'm no wizard behind an EQ, but I was
relatively pleased with the sound I got onto this recording. I also used a
very lightly added digital delay to give a little space to the guitar. My wife
assisted me with the fade-in and fade-out of the strings.
***
"The Beat Elves" (John and Gordon Arnold)
- Silent Night (Franz Gruber; arranged by Gordon Arnold)
Rickenbacker 4001 bass (JA)
Korg PolySix (GA)
- Jingle Bells (J. Pierpont; arranged by Gordon Arnold)
Korg PolySix (GA)
Hammond M-3 (GA)
Gibson L6-S guitar (JA)
Roland Drumatix for the cheesy drum machine sound (JA)
Both of these were recorded (in 1982; why are my submissions always 6 years
old before they get on one of these tapes?) on a TEAC 2340-SX reel-to-reel
1/4" 4-track tape recorder with outboard dbx type II noise reduction at 7
1/2 ips. Mixed through Tascam model 2A mixer. Mixed down to a Pioneer
RT-701 reel-to-reel 1/4" stereo tape recorder with dbx type II noise
reduction at 7 1/2 ips.
***
Dreams Copyright �1988 Mitch Norcross
Produced by Mitch Norcross/Anonymous Guest
at Generic Sound/Anonymous Studio
Sequenced using Passport's Master Tracks Pro running on an Apple
Macintosh SE, Yamaha's FB-01 and TX-7, and Roland's
D-110 and MKB-200. One or more signals were
processed using various signal processors.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| 11.10 | COMMUSIC VII liner notes | XERO::ARNOLD | The network is the addiction... | Fri Mar 09 1990 08:54 | 601 |
| Welcome to the COMMUSIC VII Liner Notes...
COMMUSIC compilations enter the digital age! As I understand the
terms, this recording is AAD (that is, it was mastered digitally). In
fact, some of the submissions hardly ever left the digital domain. As
you'll see, Karl Moeller mastered to digital and I was able to copy his
submission without any digital->analog->digital conversions. (Our
equipment similarities let me make a digital "backup" of his submission
right onto the master tape.) Also, Mike Lynch's submissions entered the
analog domain for a brief skirmish in the real world (about 10 feet of
analog audio cable) but, due to equipment differences, did have to undergo
the digital->analog->digital conversions.
At any rate, I hope this experiment with digital mastering pays off. It
should save us at least one generation of noise, etc. on the tape. Of
course, the other noise you hear will be digitized for posterity from the
submission itself or infused when making the cassette dub off of the
master. (I know I don't have the greatest cassette deck in the world, but
I'm trying to make copies very carefully.) The details of this
extravaganza follow...
This tape was mastered with a Toshiba DX-900 Video Cassette Recorder
using the PCM (14-bit digital audio) feature. A few intersong clicks and
clacks may have been added during the mastering process (stopping and
starting the deck). I believe that the submissions themselves are as close
to the original as I could get.
Thanks to all of the submittors and others behind the scenes who helped make
this COMMUSIC tape possible.
This compilation is dedicated to the memory of David Orin.
- John Arnold -
COMMUSIC VII organizer, compiler, and lightning rod
+-----------+
| Summary |
+-----------+
Side One Submitted by Submission
======== ================= ==============================
Michael Lynch Ocean Time (excerpt)
Steve Sherman Brown Paper Sax
Tom Janzen Molto Vivace from Symphony #9
- Beethoven - trans. by Liszt
Brian Rost The Towers
Crazy Mama
Karl Moeller Jingle A
January Piano (excerpt)
Latin #89 (excerpt)
The Minefield (excerpt)
Lila's Dance
Michael Lynch Maple Leaf Rag
Side Two Submitted by Submission
======== ================= ==============================
Bill Allen Right Time Blues
A Mentor's Toye (for D.O.)
KHG-2 (trans. of BWV651, Bach)
Peter Laquerre Enjoy Your Life
Winnebago Free
Dave Blickstein The Low Calorie Blues
Dave George New City
What's the Problem
Mark Schmieder Native in a Foreign Land
Morning Breeze
One Less Ear
Michael Lynch Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Ocean Time (excerpt)
+------------+
| Side One |
+------------+
Michael Lynch
=============
The three pieces included on this tape are all based on work by Dave Orin. Two
of the pieces, _Eine_Kleine_Nachtmusik_ and _Maple_Leaf_Rag_, were sequenced by
Dave himself. The _Ocean_Time_ piece uses the EPS Sample Disk "Ocean Time"
that he built basically as a private sound source. The pieces you hear on this
tape were recorded using the data disks that I have of these works: the
sequencer information for the first two, and the "Ocean Time" sample disk for
the third, from which I arranged an "ocean".
Since this tape is dedicated to David Orin, I'd like to take this opportunity
once again to express just how important Dave's influence on my own work has
been. He and I had been working together closely on a number of musical
projects for about a year, such as music for planetariums and the EPS sample
disk projects. I was always amazed by his knowledge and skills. Also I think
we all owe him a vote of thanks for his tireless efforts at helping others out
and for his unbounded enthusiasm and gentlemanly manner. I doubt if I would be
as involved as I now am in music if it weren't for his guidance and support.
He is surely missed!
Ocean Time (excerpts)
Dave and I had collaborated quite a bit on EPS sample disks, since we both
loved our EPSs enough to want to build up huge libraries of sounds. The "Ocean
Time" disk, though, was one of his solo efforts. The sample disk consists of
about 14 waveforms of gentle waves, crashing waves, seagulls and the like.
These waveforms are rather long , so much so that the sample diskette is just
about fully stuffed. When played s-l-o-w-l-y, that is, by depressing a key
every once in a while, a pretty credible ocean can be obtained.
With that in mind, I created a "work" on the MIDI sequencer, which attempted to
build up a nice slice of ocean. Even though it's only ocean, and not a musical
work in the pure sense, I still wanted the arrangement to sound realistic, and
so I found myself spending quite a bit of time tweaking things till I got the
results I wanted. All in all, the EPS is just such a powerful synth that even
things like oceans can be handled with it.
Steve Sherman
=============
Brown Paper Sax
---------------
Hmmm. What to say ... After the climax, I always FF or REW.
Last section is UNFINISHED. The sax parts are, well, lacking.
But, I like the melodies and such. Someday, when I get MIDIfied
again, maybe I'll do it over. One thing I feel good about, the
sax adlibs were done in real time in one take and are practically
unaltered.
The reason I am including this is that Dave Orin was the last to
listen to it until his death. This tune reminds me of the help and
comfort that Dave was to me when I had to become deMIDIfied. Dave,
wherever you are, you have had a positive effect on me.
Tom Janzen
==========
molto vivace, from Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven, transcribed
for piano by Franz Liszt. SGU: Roland MKS-20; plus a little reverb.
Running time: ca. 12:20
I bought the Roland MKS20 cheap and used from Dave about a year ago, and it
enabled me to record all of my own compositions from 1972-1987 and hear them
cleanly recorded for the first time. I know Dave transcribed many classical
pieces in his work, and his care and precision in this effort are still admired.
I tried to transcribe this work of Beethoven's onto a sequencer as faithfully
as I could, and I feel that it represents the music that Dave worked so hard
to achieve. Currently I am writing real-time automatic composition programs
that run the MKS, as well.
Brian Rost
==========
[ Compiler warning: This submission was made in Dolby C and accidentally
mastered as Dolby. For better playback results, please back off the treble
or use Dolby C decoding. My apologies to Brian Rost. - John Arnold - ]
I thought that after three years of shooting my mouth off in COMMUSIC, I should
toss in a tape. Hope someone enjoys it. I'm under no illusions about my lack
of talents on anything except the bass! I'm not a songwriter and my home
recording is strictly a low-key fun thing. Real studios are for serious stuff.
Here goes:
"The Towers"
This is named after the college dorm where I lived (and recorded this) in
1980/1. All of the warts have been left in.
"Crazy Mama"
I sing this J.J. Cale tune with my band, the HUBCAPS. This solo version is
closer to J.J.'s recording, which BTW was probably the first blues record to
use a drum machine, an AceTone Rhythm Ace, back in 1970.
Karl Moeller
============
I decided to submit excerpts from 5 pieces rather than fewer pieces
in their entirety. These were all done with Performer driving both the
Emax and 1000PX, directly to PCM. Only the 60-second jingle and "Lila's
Dance" used the 8-track.
Jingle A (60 seconds)
Emax Nylonstring guitar, drums, Sax, vel-switch Bass. 1000PX
Stereo Grand piano, stereo strings, Hammond. It never sold,
but I like it. Lots of harmonic motion packed into 60 seconds.
I think the sax is slightly out of tune on this mix, as the
8-track drifted, and I didn't notice it until it was tooo late.
January Piano w/drums (excerpt)
1000PX Stereo Grand, Emax drums. Example of rubato recording
into Performer. No click. Nice and relaxed. Piano and drums
are so absurd together.
Latin #89 (excerpt)
1000PX stereo vibes, acoustic bass, Emax congas, flute. Fun,
though it needs one more part. Congas are quantized to the max.
The Minefield (excerpt) - this one is a rearrangement (shortened quite a
bit) from an earlier Commusic contribution. 1000PX Stereo Grand,
Emax Stacked Percussion. Intense and, uh, modern.
"Lila's Dance" 5:40 by J. McLaughlin, arr. by Karl Moeller
This one was a lot of fun. The original piece, on Mahavishnu
Orchestra's 'Inner Mounting Flame', is great, but I have to get
up to listen to it. I wanted to do my own version of the piece,
using as much MIDI layering as it could stand. 48K on the Mac.
1000PX clarinet, vibes, piano, stereo lead trumpet, celeste, stereo
strings, organ, and E-Mu Emax bass, drums, 12str guitar, plucked
strings. The only track synced on tape was the bass guitar, as
it took too much memory in the Emax.
All pieces except "Lila's Dance" copyright 1988,1989 Karl Moeller.
Michael Lynch
=============
Maple Leaf Rag
Dave MIDI-recorded this Scott Joplin piece onto MasterTracksPro by simply
playing it on his Kurzweil MidiBoard, which he could do from memory. What you
are hearing is a faithful MIDI reproduction of Dave's original performance.
The honky-tonk sound was provided by two synthsizers: the Kurzweil 1000-PX
playing its Honky Tonk Piano sound into a small-room reverb effect on the
Lexicon LXP-1, mixed with the Ensoniq EPS playing the "Bright Piano" patch into
another reverb from a Roland SRV-2000. Neither sound alone quite cuts it, but
they sound good together. This was Dave's favorite way of playing the Maple
Leaf.
+------------+
| Side Two |
+------------+
Bill Allen
==========
The following three submissions were produced in Prince's backup
studio, the Fuschia Fascade in Eagan, MN. (not to far from where
Mary used to toss her hat into the air). All selections were
mixed on a YAMAHA MT2X 4-track recorder/mixer and then mastered
(if we can use that term here) onto a NAKAMICHI BX-300 tape deck
using Dolby C noise reduction. (Fuschia Fascade uses TDK SA-90X
cassette tapes which have been previously recorded at least three
times, exclusively.) Some selections were enhanced using digital
reverberation from an ALESIS MIDIverb II. You are encouraged to
write, no it's winter, so come on out and visit us here in God's
Country: Minnesota! But for now, on with the snow...I mean SHOW,
and enjoy :^)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1) Right Time Blues Music by William Allen
Words by The Mighty Diamonds
Although I have heard many COMMUSICers speak about Reggae, I
don't know what others are actually doing in this musical idiom.
It is one of my favorite types of music so I had to include some
"Ire" music in my submission. For this set we were very fortunate
to have "Ras Snowball" come into the studio to help out with the
vocals. (As many of you may be aware, this reggae legend moved
here from Kingston, JA ten years ago to escape political oppres-
sion). He is backed up by the Chilly Idren (yours truly) on:
Flute : ROLAND D110 (Flute 2)
Keyboards: KAWAI K5 (Piano99, Dynaroads)
ROLAND D110 (FullOut Organ)
Bass : KURZWEIL 1000PX (Bright Acou Bass)
" " (*Custom Patch*)
ROLAND D110 (ACOU BASS1)
Percussion: ROLAND D110 and ROLAND R5
Vocals recorded using cheap Radio Shack Cardiod Mics (#?)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2) A Mentor's Toye Realized by William Allen
In days of yore (circa Elizabethan era), composers would write
short pieces to honor and/or amuse their patrons. These went by
various names such as almans, galliards, puffes, and toyes. This
short study is an early incarnation of one of my first pieces
using my then new ROLAND D110. Clearly it is not baroque, but
rather my feeble attempt at jazz. It shows how green I still am
at basics like mixing balance (e.g. the strings at the end) and
thematic development. But I like it, and thought I'd dedicate it
here to Mr. O..
Trombone, Trumpet, String Bass, Percussion, and
some drums - ROLAND D110
Rhodes piano, High Strings - KAWAI K5
Drums - KAWAI R50
-----------------------------------------------------------------
3) KHG-2 J.S. Bach (Trans by William Allen)
KHG-2 is a transcription of the first of Bach's 18 Leipzig
Chorales which our church used as the introit for a service in
which we featured synthesized music. After entering the lines in
real-time chunks, I assigned the voices to patches which I felt
would highlight the magnificent polyphony that came so easily to
Bach. If you have the ability to add a touch of reverb it sounds
even better, but I sort of ran out of time 8^). Certainly, not
the most innovative cut on the tape, but I think it provides a
nice effect. It also gives one a chance to learn what is really
going harmonically inside a polyphonic masterpiece. Now if only
I could learn to do this kind of thing with my music...
Celesta, Harp, Pizzicato, Ghost Whistle(sic), ContraBass,
and anything I forgot... - ROLAND D110
Synth Bass (Vel-Bass) - KAWAI K5
PS: At the conclusion of this selection, it is customary for the
assembled listeners to cry out (in unison):
"Yawl come back now, real soon!!!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Peter LaQuerre
==============
"Enjoy Your Life"
Lyrics by Jerri England
Music by Peter LaQuerre
�1990 by Peter LaQuerre and Jerri England
This song was my first shot at using someone else's lyrics.
I really enjoyed the experience since it freed me up to
concentrate on the integration of the lyrics and music rather
than the lyrics themselves. A very different approach for me
since most of my writing time is usually spent struggling over
lyrics.
"Winnebago Free"
Words and Music �1990 by Peter LaQuerre
The first line of lyrics and the basic melody for this song
came to me as a large Winnebago passed me on Route 3 (the
Everett Turnpike) one afternoon. What caught my eye was an
8-foot satellite dish strapped to the top. This is one of the
few times when a lyric and melody hit me in the car and I was
actually able to convert the idea into a concept and then into
a recorded song.
Technical Details
Both songs were recorded on my aging Fostex X-15 4-track
cassette recorder. I used my MIDIVERB II individually for
each track as they were recorded.
Equipment included:
Casio CZ-1000 Synthesizer
Several of the patches on these songs came
from a CZ cartridge of 64 sounds I purchased
from PatchWorks software in New York
Roland TR505 Rhythm Composer
Medeira 6-string acoustic guitar
No-name 6-string electric guitar
played through a Rockman Soloist (and
MIDIVERB II)
No-name bass guitar (sometimes played through the
Rockman as well).
Dave Blickstein
===============
The Low Calorie Blues
Submitted by: Dave Blickstein
Written by: Dave Blickstein & Peigi Cleminshaw
Producer: Dave Blickstein
Arrangement: Dave Blickstein
I performed or sequenced all the instruments and Peigi sang the vocals.
Peigi was my girlfriend at the time, then she dumped me - probably for
my MIDIholism.
The tune is a parody tune about the trials and tribulations of dieting.
Anyone who's gone through it will probably hear familiar things in the
lyrics.
Peigi would probably want me to mention that when she recorded it she had
bronchitis. We had endless debates about whether or not to re-record the
vocals. The take we did had some minor technical problems (it was supposed to
be a throwawy reference track that we'd rerecord when her condition cleared up)
but I *LOVED* the performance and I thought the bronchitis added a sort a bit
of whiskey-type gravel to her voice. We did a few more takes after she got rid
of the bronchitis - takes she probably would have preferred that I use, but the
one good thing about breaking up is that now I can use the take that *I* like!
There are three live tracks recorded with a 4-track: acoustic guitar,
electric guitar and vocals. The remaining track was for tape-sync.
The sequenced stuff is drums and snaps (HR-16), organ (SQ-80), bass (SQ-80),
and a horn section (Roland sampler).
I used the sequencer on the SQ-80. Basically I use it as real-time MIDI
recorder. Only thing I quantized was the bass and snare.
I had created a really nice reverb program on my SRV-2000 but after being
flakey on and off for several months, it gave out completely a week before
I did the mixdown so I ended up using my MIDIVERB II which I now feel is
very significantly inferior to my SRV-2000 (for reverb). The organ has some
stereo chorus on it (Boss RCE-10) - other track had smaller amounts of
chorus.
For mixdown (it's in stereo) I ran the outputs thru a compressor set to
a fairly high compression ratio that I use for mastering (something like
5:1) to try and get as much signal to tape as possible (the tune as
recorded and sequenced had some fairly dramatic dynamics).
The noise you hear is, I must confess, mostly NOT tape hiss. I have
a really cheap noisey mixer (Kawai MX-8R) whose noise level is acceptable
for gigging, but pretty bad for recording. The output of my Roland S-550
sampler is sort of low and I had to boost it via setting the impedance level
a bit high. This introduced quite a bit of noise although I muted it
when the horns weren't playing so it probably is insignificant. The
SQ-80 also had a slight whine to it.
Dave George
===========
New City � 1988,
What's the Problem? �1986, 1989
Both songs written and performed (except where noted) by Dave George.
Recording and mixing, in Raging Tourist Studios, was also by Dave.
"New City" is my first (completed) studio ditty. Most of it was recorded
one day in November '88 on a Tascam 144. Ingredients included: a two-day
old HR16, recorded (with bass) in stereo; an SG with Tube Screamer patched
directly into the deck; and a Radio Shack PZM for vocals. Reverb was an
ancient Pioneer spring thingy with a space alien green eyeball on the front
panel.
A few months later, the original four tracks were mixed in stereo onto
a Tascam 244, and the backing vocal track was added. Later still, a
DSP-128 hall was used to juice-up the final mix.
I still like this. Charming, simple, fun guitar noise. A touch goofy.
OK, more than a touch. So what.
"What's the Problem?" is my fourth studio project. It was recorded,
tweaked, and wrestled into stalemate over several months in the spring of
1989. The song was written in my 'bugs From hell' period a few years ago.
Three 244 tracks were used for bass, guitar, and vocal. The fourth was a
sync for the MIDI stuff, which was dumped 'live' onto the cassette master.
Joe Dietrich played (regular) bass.
A Fostek 3070 compressor was used to tame the bass and vocals, and (on
mixdown) to gate a wall clock 'tick-tock' which had crept into the vocal
track. A DSP-128 was flanged on the bass, multi-tapped on the guitar,
and halled on the final mix. A Quadraverb was purchased just in time for
overuse on the vocal during the final mix. The synthbass noodling, an
organ pad, and Gregorian "ooh baby's" are from an ESQ-1, and the drums
are the fault of an HR16.
I'm still not happy with it. Kitchen sink production. Not enough of
it is interesting, and some (the offbeat snare) is just obnoxious. It
might be fixable with more "arrangement", or "orchestration", whatever
that is. Better yet, prune it back. Make it faster. Normalize the beat.
Junk the arpeggiated guitar. Scratch one of the basses. Better still,
get it on COMMUSIC MCMLXXXX so I can put the poor critter to sleep. YOW.
Mark Schmieder
==============
"Native in a Foreign Land" - written by Mark Schmieder, arranged by
Mark Schmieder & Jim Buhrendorf
Recorded December 1988, using Shure SM58 microphones, Hot Wires cables, Tascam
246 with dbx on, mixed down to Nakamichi using dolbyC. One overdub for
percussion, two takes on main tracks. Originally written September 1988.
Performed by Fearless Hearts:
Mark Schmieder - "lead" (guide) vocals, bass guitar, backing vocals
Jim Buhrendorf - lead guitar, bodhr�n, vocals on final chorus
Guild Pilot bass, some electric guitar with BOSS multi-pad effects recorded
direct line through some guitar amp.
Over 90% of my songs are instrumentals, so when I come up with a vocal number
I'm real proud of it (even though I'm not a vocalist). I'm still moved by
these lyrics 1� years later. I've probably been hurt too much in the
intervening time to write lyrics like these again (maybe it's time for
some angry rock'n'roll!).
"Morning Breeze" - written and arranged by Mark Schmieder
Recorded years ago, with equipment no longer owned. Probably a Martin
12-string. Tascam 234 with dbx on. Vocals overdubbed sometime in the
last three years. Bass line added sometime in 1988 or 1989. Originally
written February 1974 (I was sweet 16 and never been kissed...). Drum
machine part erased when I mixed this down to Nakamichi using dolbyC.
Performed by Plastic Bottom (my name for solo and family performances):
Mark Schmieder - "rhythm(?) guitar", "vocals", bass guitar
Guild Pilot bass, Shure SM58 microphone, bass recorded direct to board.
Spanish guitar lead line accidentally erased a few years ago, along with
too many layers of vocal harmony.
This song combines the first two poems I ever wrote for myself (as opposed
to poems for English class), with additional lyrics added in the early 80's.
This remains one of my few poems that succeeds in being both clever AND
beautiful.
I've rearranged this countless times, including as a Renaissance style. I'm
toying with making it a reggae song sometime soon.
"One Less Ear" - written and arranged by Mark Schmieder
Recorded several years ago, with equipment no longer owned. Probably
a Martin 12-string. Tascam 234 with dbx on. Bass line overdubbed sometime
in the past three years. Drum machine was Yamaha RX11, I believe.
Performed by Plastic Bottom:
Mark Schmieder - "rhythm(?) guitar", "vocals", bass guitar
Guild Pilot bass, AKG microphones, bass recorded direct to board, guitar
recorded through microphone.
Lyrics since expanded, but not yet rerecorded. There's a certain ambience
to this recording that I'm not sure I can duplicate, even though the vocals
are weak and unrehearsed and I don't even PRETEND to be a guitarist (which
is why the guitar is barely audible at times).
The rip-off of the solo line from "So You Want To Be a Rock'n'Roll Star" is
intentional (if it can be heard; it didn't pick up very well), and is part
of the whole joke.
Written in 1981 when REO Speedwagon was #1 and Asia had just come out with
their first album and convinced me that Rock was Dead.
I don't find it a coincidence that this song has proven to be a bellweather of
good or bad working relationships with good musicians. I started on a hard
rock version with Jim Buhrendorf last spring, and am still hoping we can
complete that some day if he ever comes out of musical "retirement" and picks
up his guitar again.
Michael Lynch
=============
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Dave sequenced this famous Mozart work directly from the conductor's score.
Except for a very small number of editorial changes that I found were necessary
when recording this work, the performance you hear is all Dave's. The piece
was recorded onto a Tascam DA_50 DAT deck. Dave had sequenced the piece using
MasterTracks Pro on a Macintosh Plus, which is the setup I also use. The synth
is the Kurzweil 1000-PX, using the "Fast Attack with Hold" strings, which is
about the only patch that Dave found on any of his synthsizers that sounded
"good" playing this Mozart work. I think you'll agree that the string sound
works especially well here.
Sonic sweetening in the way of a chamber-sized reverb was provided by the
Lexicon LXP-1.
Ocean Time (excerpt)
(see Side One)
|
| 11.11 | Custom label | DREGS::BLICKSTEIN | Conliberative | Fri Mar 09 1990 09:15 | 249 |
| This is a postscript file that prints a nice cassette label for
Commusic VII.
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|
| 11.12 | COMMUSIC VII liner notes (added 1 line to db subm.) | XERO::ARNOLD | The network is the addiction... | Tue Mar 13 1990 12:52 | 602 |
| Welcome to the COMMUSIC VII Liner Notes...
COMMUSIC compilations enter the digital age! As I understand the
terms, this recording is AAD (that is, it was mastered digitally). In
fact, some of the submissions hardly ever left the digital domain. As
you'll see, Karl Moeller mastered to digital and I was able to copy his
submission without any digital->analog->digital conversions. (Our
equipment similarities let me make a digital "backup" of his submission
right onto the master tape.) Also, Mike Lynch's submissions entered the
analog domain for a brief skirmish in the real world (about 10 feet of
analog audio cable) but, due to equipment differences, did have to undergo
the digital->analog->digital conversions.
At any rate, I hope this experiment with digital mastering pays off. It
should save us at least one generation of noise, etc. on the tape. Of
course, the other noise you hear will be digitized for posterity from the
submission itself or infused when making the cassette dub off of the
master. (I know I don't have the greatest cassette deck in the world, but
I'm trying to make copies very carefully.) The details of this
extravaganza follow...
This tape was mastered with a Toshiba DX-900 Video Cassette Recorder
using the PCM (14-bit digital audio) feature. A few intersong clicks and
clacks may have been added during the mastering process (stopping and
starting the deck). I believe that the submissions themselves are as close
to the original as I could get.
Thanks to all of the submittors and others behind the scenes who helped make
this COMMUSIC tape possible.
This compilation is dedicated to the memory of David Orin.
- John Arnold -
COMMUSIC VII organizer, compiler, and lightning rod
+-----------+
| Summary |
+-----------+
Side One Submitted by Submission
======== ================= ==============================
Michael Lynch Ocean Time (excerpt)
Steve Sherman Brown Paper Sax
Tom Janzen Molto Vivace from Symphony #9
- Beethoven - trans. by Liszt
Brian Rost The Towers
Crazy Mama
Karl Moeller Jingle A
January Piano (excerpt)
Latin #89 (excerpt)
The Minefield (excerpt)
Lila's Dance
Michael Lynch Maple Leaf Rag
Side Two Submitted by Submission
======== ================= ==============================
Bill Allen Right Time Blues
A Mentor's Toye (for D.O.)
KHG-2 (trans. of BWV651, Bach)
Peter Laquerre Enjoy Your Life
Winnebago Free
Dave Blickstein The Low Calorie Blues
Dave George New City
What's the Problem
Mark Schmieder Native in a Foreign Land
Morning Breeze
One Less Ear
Michael Lynch Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Ocean Time (excerpt)
+------------+
| Side One |
+------------+
Michael Lynch
=============
The three pieces included on this tape are all based on work by Dave Orin. Two
of the pieces, _Eine_Kleine_Nachtmusik_ and _Maple_Leaf_Rag_, were sequenced by
Dave himself. The _Ocean_Time_ piece uses the EPS Sample Disk "Ocean Time"
that he built basically as a private sound source. The pieces you hear on this
tape were recorded using the data disks that I have of these works: the
sequencer information for the first two, and the "Ocean Time" sample disk for
the third, from which I arranged an "ocean".
Since this tape is dedicated to David Orin, I'd like to take this opportunity
once again to express just how important Dave's influence on my own work has
been. He and I had been working together closely on a number of musical
projects for about a year, such as music for planetariums and the EPS sample
disk projects. I was always amazed by his knowledge and skills. Also I think
we all owe him a vote of thanks for his tireless efforts at helping others out
and for his unbounded enthusiasm and gentlemanly manner. I doubt if I would be
as involved as I now am in music if it weren't for his guidance and support.
He is surely missed!
Ocean Time (excerpts)
Dave and I had collaborated quite a bit on EPS sample disks, since we both
loved our EPSs enough to want to build up huge libraries of sounds. The "Ocean
Time" disk, though, was one of his solo efforts. The sample disk consists of
about 14 waveforms of gentle waves, crashing waves, seagulls and the like.
These waveforms are rather long , so much so that the sample diskette is just
about fully stuffed. When played s-l-o-w-l-y, that is, by depressing a key
every once in a while, a pretty credible ocean can be obtained.
With that in mind, I created a "work" on the MIDI sequencer, which attempted to
build up a nice slice of ocean. Even though it's only ocean, and not a musical
work in the pure sense, I still wanted the arrangement to sound realistic, and
so I found myself spending quite a bit of time tweaking things till I got the
results I wanted. All in all, the EPS is just such a powerful synth that even
things like oceans can be handled with it.
Steve Sherman
=============
Brown Paper Sax
---------------
Hmmm. What to say ... After the climax, I always FF or REW.
Last section is UNFINISHED. The sax parts are, well, lacking.
But, I like the melodies and such. Someday, when I get MIDIfied
again, maybe I'll do it over. One thing I feel good about, the
sax adlibs were done in real time in one take and are practically
unaltered.
The reason I am including this is that Dave Orin was the last to
listen to it until his death. This tune reminds me of the help and
comfort that Dave was to me when I had to become deMIDIfied. Dave,
wherever you are, you have had a positive effect on me.
Tom Janzen
==========
molto vivace, from Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven, transcribed
for piano by Franz Liszt. SGU: Roland MKS-20; plus a little reverb.
Running time: ca. 12:20
I bought the Roland MKS20 cheap and used from Dave about a year ago, and it
enabled me to record all of my own compositions from 1972-1987 and hear them
cleanly recorded for the first time. I know Dave transcribed many classical
pieces in his work, and his care and precision in this effort are still admired.
I tried to transcribe this work of Beethoven's onto a sequencer as faithfully
as I could, and I feel that it represents the music that Dave worked so hard
to achieve. Currently I am writing real-time automatic composition programs
that run the MKS, as well.
Brian Rost
==========
[ Compiler warning: This submission was made in Dolby C and accidentally
mastered as Dolby. For better playback results, please back off the treble
or use Dolby C decoding. My apologies to Brian Rost. - John Arnold - ]
I thought that after three years of shooting my mouth off in COMMUSIC, I should
toss in a tape. Hope someone enjoys it. I'm under no illusions about my lack
of talents on anything except the bass! I'm not a songwriter and my home
recording is strictly a low-key fun thing. Real studios are for serious stuff.
Here goes:
"The Towers"
This is named after the college dorm where I lived (and recorded this) in
1980/1. All of the warts have been left in.
"Crazy Mama"
I sing this J.J. Cale tune with my band, the HUBCAPS. This solo version is
closer to J.J.'s recording, which BTW was probably the first blues record to
use a drum machine, an AceTone Rhythm Ace, back in 1970.
Karl Moeller
============
I decided to submit excerpts from 5 pieces rather than fewer pieces
in their entirety. These were all done with Performer driving both the
Emax and 1000PX, directly to PCM. Only the 60-second jingle and "Lila's
Dance" used the 8-track.
Jingle A (60 seconds)
Emax Nylonstring guitar, drums, Sax, vel-switch Bass. 1000PX
Stereo Grand piano, stereo strings, Hammond. It never sold,
but I like it. Lots of harmonic motion packed into 60 seconds.
I think the sax is slightly out of tune on this mix, as the
8-track drifted, and I didn't notice it until it was tooo late.
January Piano w/drums (excerpt)
1000PX Stereo Grand, Emax drums. Example of rubato recording
into Performer. No click. Nice and relaxed. Piano and drums
are so absurd together.
Latin #89 (excerpt)
1000PX stereo vibes, acoustic bass, Emax congas, flute. Fun,
though it needs one more part. Congas are quantized to the max.
The Minefield (excerpt) - this one is a rearrangement (shortened quite a
bit) from an earlier Commusic contribution. 1000PX Stereo Grand,
Emax Stacked Percussion. Intense and, uh, modern.
"Lila's Dance" 5:40 by J. McLaughlin, arr. by Karl Moeller
This one was a lot of fun. The original piece, on Mahavishnu
Orchestra's 'Inner Mounting Flame', is great, but I have to get
up to listen to it. I wanted to do my own version of the piece,
using as much MIDI layering as it could stand. 48K on the Mac.
1000PX clarinet, vibes, piano, stereo lead trumpet, celeste, stereo
strings, organ, and E-Mu Emax bass, drums, 12str guitar, plucked
strings. The only track synced on tape was the bass guitar, as
it took too much memory in the Emax.
All pieces except "Lila's Dance" copyright 1988,1989 Karl Moeller.
Michael Lynch
=============
Maple Leaf Rag
Dave MIDI-recorded this Scott Joplin piece onto MasterTracksPro by simply
playing it on his Kurzweil MidiBoard, which he could do from memory. What you
are hearing is a faithful MIDI reproduction of Dave's original performance.
The honky-tonk sound was provided by two synthsizers: the Kurzweil 1000-PX
playing its Honky Tonk Piano sound into a small-room reverb effect on the
Lexicon LXP-1, mixed with the Ensoniq EPS playing the "Bright Piano" patch into
another reverb from a Roland SRV-2000. Neither sound alone quite cuts it, but
they sound good together. This was Dave's favorite way of playing the Maple
Leaf.
+------------+
| Side Two |
+------------+
Bill Allen
==========
The following three submissions were produced in Prince's backup
studio, the Fuschia Fascade in Eagan, MN. (not to far from where
Mary used to toss her hat into the air). All selections were
mixed on a YAMAHA MT2X 4-track recorder/mixer and then mastered
(if we can use that term here) onto a NAKAMICHI BX-300 tape deck
using Dolby C noise reduction. (Fuschia Fascade uses TDK SA-90X
cassette tapes which have been previously recorded at least three
times, exclusively.) Some selections were enhanced using digital
reverberation from an ALESIS MIDIverb II. You are encouraged to
write, no it's winter, so come on out and visit us here in God's
Country: Minnesota! But for now, on with the snow...I mean SHOW,
and enjoy :^)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1) Right Time Blues Music by William Allen
Words by The Mighty Diamonds
Although I have heard many COMMUSICers speak about Reggae, I
don't know what others are actually doing in this musical idiom.
It is one of my favorite types of music so I had to include some
"Ire" music in my submission. For this set we were very fortunate
to have "Ras Snowball" come into the studio to help out with the
vocals. (As many of you may be aware, this reggae legend moved
here from Kingston, JA ten years ago to escape political oppres-
sion). He is backed up by the Chilly Idren (yours truly) on:
Flute : ROLAND D110 (Flute 2)
Keyboards: KAWAI K5 (Piano99, Dynaroads)
ROLAND D110 (FullOut Organ)
Bass : KURZWEIL 1000PX (Bright Acou Bass)
" " (*Custom Patch*)
ROLAND D110 (ACOU BASS1)
Percussion: ROLAND D110 and ROLAND R5
Vocals recorded using cheap Radio Shack Cardiod Mics (#?)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2) A Mentor's Toye Realized by William Allen
In days of yore (circa Elizabethan era), composers would write
short pieces to honor and/or amuse their patrons. These went by
various names such as almans, galliards, puffes, and toyes. This
short study is an early incarnation of one of my first pieces
using my then new ROLAND D110. Clearly it is not baroque, but
rather my feeble attempt at jazz. It shows how green I still am
at basics like mixing balance (e.g. the strings at the end) and
thematic development. But I like it, and thought I'd dedicate it
here to Mr. O..
Trombone, Trumpet, String Bass, Percussion, and
some drums - ROLAND D110
Rhodes piano, High Strings - KAWAI K5
Drums - KAWAI R50
-----------------------------------------------------------------
3) KHG-2 J.S. Bach (Trans by William Allen)
KHG-2 is a transcription of the first of Bach's 18 Leipzig
Chorales which our church used as the introit for a service in
which we featured synthesized music. After entering the lines in
real-time chunks, I assigned the voices to patches which I felt
would highlight the magnificent polyphony that came so easily to
Bach. If you have the ability to add a touch of reverb it sounds
even better, but I sort of ran out of time 8^). Certainly, not
the most innovative cut on the tape, but I think it provides a
nice effect. It also gives one a chance to learn what is really
going harmonically inside a polyphonic masterpiece. Now if only
I could learn to do this kind of thing with my music...
Celesta, Harp, Pizzicato, Ghost Whistle(sic), ContraBass,
and anything I forgot... - ROLAND D110
Synth Bass (Vel-Bass) - KAWAI K5
PS: At the conclusion of this selection, it is customary for the
assembled listeners to cry out (in unison):
"Yawl come back now, real soon!!!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Peter LaQuerre
==============
"Enjoy Your Life"
Lyrics by Jerri England
Music by Peter LaQuerre
�1990 by Peter LaQuerre and Jerri England
This song was my first shot at using someone else's lyrics.
I really enjoyed the experience since it freed me up to
concentrate on the integration of the lyrics and music rather
than the lyrics themselves. A very different approach for me
since most of my writing time is usually spent struggling over
lyrics.
"Winnebago Free"
Words and Music �1990 by Peter LaQuerre
The first line of lyrics and the basic melody for this song
came to me as a large Winnebago passed me on Route 3 (the
Everett Turnpike) one afternoon. What caught my eye was an
8-foot satellite dish strapped to the top. This is one of the
few times when a lyric and melody hit me in the car and I was
actually able to convert the idea into a concept and then into
a recorded song.
Technical Details
Both songs were recorded on my aging Fostex X-15 4-track
cassette recorder. I used my MIDIVERB II individually for
each track as they were recorded.
Equipment included:
Casio CZ-1000 Synthesizer
Several of the patches on these songs came
from a CZ cartridge of 64 sounds I purchased
from PatchWorks software in New York
Roland TR505 Rhythm Composer
Medeira 6-string acoustic guitar
No-name 6-string electric guitar
played through a Rockman Soloist (and
MIDIVERB II)
No-name bass guitar (sometimes played through the
Rockman as well).
Dave Blickstein
===============
The Low Calorie Blues
Submitted by: Dave Blickstein
Written by: Dave Blickstein & Peigi Cleminshaw
Lyrics and Melody by: Peigi Cleminshaw
Producer: Dave Blickstein
Arrangement: Dave Blickstein
I performed or sequenced all the instruments and Peigi sang the vocals.
Peigi was my girlfriend at the time, then she dumped me - probably for
my MIDIholism.
The tune is a parody tune about the trials and tribulations of dieting.
Anyone who's gone through it will probably hear familiar things in the
lyrics.
Peigi would probably want me to mention that when she recorded it she had
bronchitis. We had endless debates about whether or not to re-record the
vocals. The take we did had some minor technical problems (it was supposed to
be a throwawy reference track that we'd rerecord when her condition cleared up)
but I *LOVED* the performance and I thought the bronchitis added a sort a bit
of whiskey-type gravel to her voice. We did a few more takes after she got rid
of the bronchitis - takes she probably would have preferred that I use, but the
one good thing about breaking up is that now I can use the take that *I* like!
There are three live tracks recorded with a 4-track: acoustic guitar,
electric guitar and vocals. The remaining track was for tape-sync.
The sequenced stuff is drums and snaps (HR-16), organ (SQ-80), bass (SQ-80),
and a horn section (Roland sampler).
I used the sequencer on the SQ-80. Basically I use it as real-time MIDI
recorder. Only thing I quantized was the bass and snare.
I had created a really nice reverb program on my SRV-2000 but after being
flakey on and off for several months, it gave out completely a week before
I did the mixdown so I ended up using my MIDIVERB II which I now feel is
very significantly inferior to my SRV-2000 (for reverb). The organ has some
stereo chorus on it (Boss RCE-10) - other track had smaller amounts of
chorus.
For mixdown (it's in stereo) I ran the outputs thru a compressor set to
a fairly high compression ratio that I use for mastering (something like
5:1) to try and get as much signal to tape as possible (the tune as
recorded and sequenced had some fairly dramatic dynamics).
The noise you hear is, I must confess, mostly NOT tape hiss. I have
a really cheap noisey mixer (Kawai MX-8R) whose noise level is acceptable
for gigging, but pretty bad for recording. The output of my Roland S-550
sampler is sort of low and I had to boost it via setting the impedance level
a bit high. This introduced quite a bit of noise although I muted it
when the horns weren't playing so it probably is insignificant. The
SQ-80 also had a slight whine to it.
Dave George
===========
New City � 1988,
What's the Problem? �1986, 1989
Both songs written and performed (except where noted) by Dave George.
Recording and mixing, in Raging Tourist Studios, was also by Dave.
"New City" is my first (completed) studio ditty. Most of it was recorded
one day in November '88 on a Tascam 144. Ingredients included: a two-day
old HR16, recorded (with bass) in stereo; an SG with Tube Screamer patched
directly into the deck; and a Radio Shack PZM for vocals. Reverb was an
ancient Pioneer spring thingy with a space alien green eyeball on the front
panel.
A few months later, the original four tracks were mixed in stereo onto
a Tascam 244, and the backing vocal track was added. Later still, a
DSP-128 hall was used to juice-up the final mix.
I still like this. Charming, simple, fun guitar noise. A touch goofy.
OK, more than a touch. So what.
"What's the Problem?" is my fourth studio project. It was recorded,
tweaked, and wrestled into stalemate over several months in the spring of
1989. The song was written in my 'bugs From hell' period a few years ago.
Three 244 tracks were used for bass, guitar, and vocal. The fourth was a
sync for the MIDI stuff, which was dumped 'live' onto the cassette master.
Joe Dietrich played (regular) bass.
A Fostek 3070 compressor was used to tame the bass and vocals, and (on
mixdown) to gate a wall clock 'tick-tock' which had crept into the vocal
track. A DSP-128 was flanged on the bass, multi-tapped on the guitar,
and halled on the final mix. A Quadraverb was purchased just in time for
overuse on the vocal during the final mix. The synthbass noodling, an
organ pad, and Gregorian "ooh baby's" are from an ESQ-1, and the drums
are the fault of an HR16.
I'm still not happy with it. Kitchen sink production. Not enough of
it is interesting, and some (the offbeat snare) is just obnoxious. It
might be fixable with more "arrangement", or "orchestration", whatever
that is. Better yet, prune it back. Make it faster. Normalize the beat.
Junk the arpeggiated guitar. Scratch one of the basses. Better still,
get it on COMMUSIC MCMLXXXX so I can put the poor critter to sleep. YOW.
Mark Schmieder
==============
"Native in a Foreign Land" - written by Mark Schmieder, arranged by
Mark Schmieder & Jim Buhrendorf
Recorded December 1988, using Shure SM58 microphones, Hot Wires cables, Tascam
246 with dbx on, mixed down to Nakamichi using dolbyC. One overdub for
percussion, two takes on main tracks. Originally written September 1988.
Performed by Fearless Hearts:
Mark Schmieder - "lead" (guide) vocals, bass guitar, backing vocals
Jim Buhrendorf - lead guitar, bodhr�n, vocals on final chorus
Guild Pilot bass, some electric guitar with BOSS multi-pad effects recorded
direct line through some guitar amp.
Over 90% of my songs are instrumentals, so when I come up with a vocal number
I'm real proud of it (even though I'm not a vocalist). I'm still moved by
these lyrics 1� years later. I've probably been hurt too much in the
intervening time to write lyrics like these again (maybe it's time for
some angry rock'n'roll!).
"Morning Breeze" - written and arranged by Mark Schmieder
Recorded years ago, with equipment no longer owned. Probably a Martin
12-string. Tascam 234 with dbx on. Vocals overdubbed sometime in the
last three years. Bass line added sometime in 1988 or 1989. Originally
written February 1974 (I was sweet 16 and never been kissed...). Drum
machine part erased when I mixed this down to Nakamichi using dolbyC.
Performed by Plastic Bottom (my name for solo and family performances):
Mark Schmieder - "rhythm(?) guitar", "vocals", bass guitar
Guild Pilot bass, Shure SM58 microphone, bass recorded direct to board.
Spanish guitar lead line accidentally erased a few years ago, along with
too many layers of vocal harmony.
This song combines the first two poems I ever wrote for myself (as opposed
to poems for English class), with additional lyrics added in the early 80's.
This remains one of my few poems that succeeds in being both clever AND
beautiful.
I've rearranged this countless times, including as a Renaissance style. I'm
toying with making it a reggae song sometime soon.
"One Less Ear" - written and arranged by Mark Schmieder
Recorded several years ago, with equipment no longer owned. Probably
a Martin 12-string. Tascam 234 with dbx on. Bass line overdubbed sometime
in the past three years. Drum machine was Yamaha RX11, I believe.
Performed by Plastic Bottom:
Mark Schmieder - "rhythm(?) guitar", "vocals", bass guitar
Guild Pilot bass, AKG microphones, bass recorded direct to board, guitar
recorded through microphone.
Lyrics since expanded, but not yet rerecorded. There's a certain ambience
to this recording that I'm not sure I can duplicate, even though the vocals
are weak and unrehearsed and I don't even PRETEND to be a guitarist (which
is why the guitar is barely audible at times).
The rip-off of the solo line from "So You Want To Be a Rock'n'Roll Star" is
intentional (if it can be heard; it didn't pick up very well), and is part
of the whole joke.
Written in 1981 when REO Speedwagon was #1 and Asia had just come out with
their first album and convinced me that Rock was Dead.
I don't find it a coincidence that this song has proven to be a bellweather of
good or bad working relationships with good musicians. I started on a hard
rock version with Jim Buhrendorf last spring, and am still hoping we can
complete that some day if he ever comes out of musical "retirement" and picks
up his guitar again.
Michael Lynch
=============
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Dave sequenced this famous Mozart work directly from the conductor's score.
Except for a very small number of editorial changes that I found were necessary
when recording this work, the performance you hear is all Dave's. The piece
was recorded onto a Tascam DA_50 DAT deck. Dave had sequenced the piece using
MasterTracks Pro on a Macintosh Plus, which is the setup I also use. The synth
is the Kurzweil 1000-PX, using the "Fast Attack with Hold" strings, which is
about the only patch that Dave found on any of his synthsizers that sounded
"good" playing this Mozart work. I think you'll agree that the string sound
works especially well here.
Sonic sweetening in the way of a chamber-sized reverb was provided by the
Lexicon LXP-1.
Ocean Time (excerpt)
(see Side One)
|
| 11.13 | COMMUSIC VIII Liner Notes | AQUA::ROST | Who *was* Martin Lickert? | Wed Jan 16 1991 15:28 | 419 |
|
COMMUSIC VIII
The World's Most Dangerous Music
Welcome to the eighth COMMUSIC compilation tape. A hearty welcome to those who
are new submittors here! This tape has been compiled in no particular order,
mostly in the order that the submissions arrived. Any complaints about audio
quality of this tape should be directed to me.
Brian Rost
RICK RYEN
Foxy Lady
Fire
Riders on the Storm
Rick Ryen: guitars, sequencing, vocals, recording
John Gabrilli: vocals on "Riders"
Alan Starr: slide on "Riders"
Equipment: MT32, Proteus XR, Tascam 388, Shure SM58, Mesa amp, MC300
sequencer, Strat, Les Paul
KARL MOELLER
All three of my submissions involved original tracks on a Fostex
A8LR 8track, additional Kurzweil 1000PX and EMAX parts added via
MAC w/Performer, and were mixed to a Toshiba DX900 VHS deck in
14bit PCM format. These are the most recent pieces I had as of
when I mailed the cassette off to Brian Rost. Thanks, Brian!
- karl moeller Tucson Arizona USA
p.s. I notice that I've pre-reviewed each of the pieces submitted,
so you can just use mine.
"Ripping Off The Monks" 3:38 copyright c/p 1990 Karl Moeller
This is an atmospheric yet intense piece in F Phrygian (flat 2nd,
sharp 3rd, flat 6th) mode. I think. No chord changes. The vocals
were stolen from a Bulgariphon release called "Angeloglassniyat"
('angel-voiced'), written by a 14-century monk called John the
(you guessed it) Angel-voiced. The record isn't even an import,
it was given to me several years ago by a real Bulgarian Communist.
I'll bet he's changed his spots some since then. I took only one
channel from the record and mixed it to stereo with some highend EQ
rolloff, lots'o'reverb, and MIDIfex stereogen thickener.. going for
smooth. We don't have a copyright extradition treaty with Bulgaria,
do we ?
I first added bass & toms, recorded direct (no computer). The bass
line is a compound sound using KZ electric bass, with a velocity
switch to thumb pops, layered with a light, tuned KZ percussion sound,
which when run into my MIDIfex stereo delay patch 31, gives a nice
side-to-side syncopation. The toms are a combination of Kurzweil
and EMAX toms. The EMAX toms are a stereo layer, which when summed
to mono gives a nice subtle flanged sound, as well as some stick
definition. Part way into the piece the toms are run thru the
stereo delay, giving lots of stereo imaging and some killer
syncopation.
Then I added an FSK sync track, and played the remaining stuff into
MAC&Performer. The Kurzweil Singers kick in about half way into the
piece, followed by a MIDI-delayed KZ piano #17 track. It took lots of
playing with EQ and lots'o'mixes to get the proper balances, esp.
the delayed stereo toms vs. the repetitive bass line. I think this
one is 'sweeping and powerful'. Special thanks to John the
Angel-voiced, c/o Atman Central.
"Relentless" copyright c/p 1990 Karl Moeller
This was a (Kurzweil) Rhodes/bass echo improv on cassette, rescued,
EQ'd, and re-cued to 2 channels on the 8track. I then did the FSK
Sync thing, and recorded another 5 parts, incl. EMAX and Kurzweil
strings, and KZ 'echo lead' analog-sounding melody lead. Added an
EMAX stereo Fairlight breathy vocal pad. No percussion at all,
except for a light layer of tuned KZ percussion behind the Rhodes
and bass on the cassette original.
A favorite. Actually has chord changes. Probably needs compression
before it qualifies for radio play.
"Sunscape" copyright c/p 1990 Karl Moeller
The basic track for this also came from cassette, from '86 or '87,
using a Roland MKS-20 piano and a Kawai K3 sample & hold patch.
Minor release to COMMUSIC folk on my "Unreleases" 90-min cassette.
Dubbed the cassette track to 8track, FSK sync to MAC thing. Big
percussion c/o Kurzweil. EMAX drone tamboura track drifts in and out.
Occasional EMAX stereo thunder, just for impact (no redeeming social
qualities). It's meant to nail your meters. The thunder, with
attendant lightning, was a big hit ;-) at the planetarium show.
Actual backward KZ flute w/delay comes in from time to time. Final
sweetening with the exact same identical EMAX stereo Fairlight
breathy vocal pad as used in 'Relentless'. Tsk.
Science fiction rock. No chord changes. Sounds big, null content.
TOM BENSON
Jenny's Lullaby
- a lullaby written for friends of ours who are new parents, and
given to them on the baby's first birthday.
Fatboy and Chubs Theme
- a theme song for an imaginary Saturday morning cartoon, based on
a comic book a friend of mine did. As you can probably guess,
they are two overweight superheros. They have utility belts
filled with Hostess Ho-ho's, licorice (rope), etc, and one of
Fatboy's powers is microwave vision. To clarify the lyrics,
The Lunchbox is their hideout.
These were all done using Dr. T's KCS on an Atari ST, with a Korg DSS-1
and Roland D110. The lullaby also had a bit of Kawai K1m.
Tom
RICH COCCOLI
All songs written and performed by Rich Coccoli/Paul Gierman
Everyman copywritten 1990/Autoerotica copywritten 1989 by Coccoli/Gierman.
From the collective work " My Secret Life or How I Survived The Nuclear Age",
copywritten by Coccoli/Gierman 1990
These two songs were recorded at Mannik Studio, Snug Harbor, Staten Island.
Big thanks to Marsha and Ray for putting up with us (no small feat), taking
our money(quite easy), and feeding us brie and crackers(yum).
The equipment:
Roland D110 (for most of the sounds)
Kawai K1r (for strings)
Emax (bass and snare drums on "Everyman")
Voyetra (horns in "Autoerotica")
Korg M1 (snare drum in "Autoerotica")
HR 16 (for hi-hats)
DX7 II (for added bass layer in both songs)
Atari 1040 St running Creator/Notator smpte'd to the 8 track.
Various effect devices, including the dreaded Digitech MSP4 "flange o' matic".
The synths were synched to the smpte striped track on the eight-track tape
and went straight to dat without any noise reduction. Interesting effect
to hear the analog tracks "catch up" with the midi when starting a song in
the middle. Ain't technology weird.
The Songs:
Everyman (Paul on vocals)
Written together in Paul's living room after an extremely festive summer
bar-b-que, this song pretty well sums up the type of music we are into
composing/performing. I re-vamped the guitar solo and backing while in the
studio, trying to get a more "live" feeling.
Autoerotica (Paul on lead vocals..Rich on backing)
A favorite with our fans. We've plans to do a video of this in early
summer, 1991. It's about a cross between the robot woman from Fritz Lang's
"Metropolis" and a vintage Chevy. Don't ask me any more. It gets nebulous.
The kyoto solo at the end was done with my Casio MG510 midiguitar. I find it
comical.
Enjoy,
Rich Coccoli
The Pariah Effect is
Paul Gierman..vocals, sax, flute and programming
Rich Coccoli..vocals, guitar, synths, programming and sound creation
EDD COTE
"Rumble" - written by Chick Corea, Not Bernie's Publishing Inc.
(c) 1986, GRP Records, Inc.
Originally performed on "Elektrik Band" by Chick Corea and Dave Weckl.
Listen to this piece LOUD!!!
I've been working on this for what seems like an eternity, but probably
comes close to a year. The drum sequencing alone took me the best part of a
month, and is still subject to tweaks.
My performance is a combination of real time and step time. I'm shameless
in my use of quantization and micro-editing.
Instrumentation:
Drums: Alesis HR16
Bass: Yamaha TX81Z, layered.
Electric Piano: Yamaha TX81Z
Lead Synth: Yamaha DX21, layered, different porto-rates.
Brass: Ensoniq Mirage
Pad: Roland MKS30
FX: Alesis MVII (Drums, ambience)
Roland DEP-5 (lead synth, echoes)
Mixers: Korg 602, Peavey XR-1200
Monitors: Ohm E speakers, Koss HV1-A phones
Sequencer: Roland MC-500
Critic: aja the cat
All patches created by me.
Mixed direct to stereo cassette. Something went wrong in the mix-down, and
I've yet to find out what. I often check the mix in "mono" mode while in the
studio, and found no problems. However, when I moved the cassette to a different
system and played it back in mono, ALL the bottom drops out, leaving the piece
all but unlistenable. C'est la vie...
TOM JANZEN
These three selections were automatically generated by my
AlgoRhythms computer program. It is about 3000 lines of C for
the Amiga. AlgoRhythms is a windowed graphical environment
for automatic composition. The user specifies overall form,
musical scales, rhythmic boundaries, and MIDI. Form is
defined as the separate slow sinusoidal variation each of
mean pitch number, pitch number range, mean velocity number,
velocity range, mean duration, duration range, texture (how
many voices play at once), giving seven sine waveforms.
Range is displayed as a vertical thickness of the mean
waveform, enabling the seven parameters to be displayed as
4 waveforms. Random pitches, velocities, and durations are
found within their current respective ranges. Static forms
are made by specifying extremely long wavelengths for the
form sinusoids. There was no post-editing or adjustment.
AlgoRhythms improvises in real time direct-to-tape. The
sounds were created by MIDI synthesizers.
My own TX81Z patch loading software was used to load the
instrument set-ups.
o Piano Concerto 6:00
This is an excerpt of a 20-minute form. I seem to recall
that it is all on the white keys, like the Kurzweil demo
at the Computer Museum. Of 16 maximum voices, every other
voice is a piano. The remaining voices are miscellaneous
orchestra-instrument-like sounds. AlgoRhythms permits
transposition during playing, and I could have made use of
this to lend a harmonic progress to the work.
o Gamelan 3:00
A static form with four voices (flute and mallet
instruments) playing as fast as they can.
o JAM2 3:00
This static form is calculated to resemble free jazz from
a jazz quintet. I recall that it uses either a Hungarian
minor or melodic minor scale. The two top voices ("sax",
"trumpet") use a synthesizer feature to play in parallel
intervals. A guitar-like sound fills the middle while a
bass-like sound accompanies. A cymbal is hit irregularly.
BILL GRUNDMANN
All of these songs were done with a Macintosh SE, Sonus
MacFace, 2 Roland MT-32s, and a Roland Juno-1 which are
mixed with a stereo resistive mixer. I used some home-brew
sequencing software I call Music Machine.
The songs include the mix. There is no master tape, I just
run off copies directly from the system as I need them.
They're all written in my sequencer language. I never needed
to play a keyboard to do them (but I did doodle on the
keyboard to try out various ideas).
disco very
----------
Fooling around with using short notes percussively, and
cramming brief dissonances in front of notes in the melody,
it evolved from there.
bass |:
bass C--- Eb--/ G--. Bb-F-
bass |: Eb--- F--/ G../ Eb-D- :|x2
bass C--- Eb--/ Ab--. Bb-F-
bass |: Eb--- F--/ G../ Eb-D- :|x2
bass :|x2
The intro is fragments of the bass line, which eventually
become continuous. The middle section is filled with a bell
tone pattern that has a cycle of 9 notes phasing against the
4/4 beat. There's a transposition at the start of the middle
section, but because the melody is missing and the bass is
minimal, it sort of hangs in limbo until the end of the
middle section. When the melody re-enters, the transposition
feels complete. I was pleased to discover how that resulted
in a sort of tension to occur throughout the middle. I guess
the off beat open high hat is sort of disco-ish, thus the
name. Lots of reverb on this one, which is over-powering on
headphones, but which works pretty well on speakers...
CBabbage
--------
The tone sequence C B A B B A G E is used at various speeds
and retrograde, to form the basis of this song. Why this
sequence? Computers? Charles Babbage? I don't know, it just
came out this way.
clocks are skiing
-----------------
I was playing with the MT32's Hi Bongo, Rim Shot, and Hand
Clap to make ticking clock sounds. Making the tempo 120
beats per minute helps the effect. I used some sysex
commands to the MT32 to control the master volume to achieve
the fade-in and fade-out. The echoes are spaced at dotted
1/16ths intervals. I alternated channels to side step a
problem with some of the echoed notes prematurely clipping
off the main melody's notes. That was easier than changing
the MT32's note assignment mode.
part3 chan5, p,
part3 cue part3a 1/32,... chan6,
part3 cue part3a 1/32,... chan5,
part3 cue part3a 1/32,... chan6,
part3 cue part3a ||
The echoes intermingle into patterns that are high speed
versions of fragments of the melody. I enjoy listening to
this pattern at various speeds, it has a kind of fractal
nature to it, being interesting at different scales of
tempo.
schematically, if you numbered the notes:
1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9 main melody
...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9 echo 1
......1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9 echo 2
.........1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9 echo 3
1..12.123123423453456456756786789789.89..9 combined effect
A Fistful of Fives
------------------
This is based on the number five. The basic rhythm is 5/4,
and the repeated patterns are mostly five measures long:
bass |: E--- D--- --G- --D- --B- :|x5
snare |: ../. .... /... ../. ../. :|x5
bassd |: /... ../. .... /./. /./. :|x5
The glissandos are explicitly typed-in sequences:
sweep3 chan3, prog125, 1/16, fff, {3 C#4D# F#G# A#C# D#F# G#A# C#D# } ||
air gap
-------
This is supposed to be a high tension piece. Picture an
electric spark jumping across an air gap.
There are two basic rhythmic sections, one in 4/4 with the
snare beats in the wrong places (relative to standard
rock!), and one in 10/4 with the beats somewhere... Although
it repeats, there is no familiar pattern. My goal is to make
it feel out of balance and unexpected.
ride |: /./. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. :|x8
snare |: ../. .... /... .... .... /... .... /... :|x8
bass |: /... ../. ../. ../. /... ../. /./. ../. :|x8
ride |: /./. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. ../. :|x7
snare |: ../. .... ../. .... /... .... .... /... .... /... :|x7
bass |: /... ../. /... ../. ../. ../. /... ../. /./. ../. :|x7
The section in 10/4 has chords that are in 7/4. The chord
pattern gets in phase with the drums just as the section
ends.
The ending is a repetition of the 10/4 section, with the
last beat removed from each pass, until nothing remains but
one beat's worth of a fragment. I hope it might bring forth
the vision of an electric charge building up until finally
it jumps the air gap.
EIRIKUR HALLGRIMSSON
Rain
(for David Orin, 1946-1989, pillar of the COMMUSIC community)
I The Storm
II The Meaning of Home
III Coda
Triumph
(for Betsy Bennett)
MICHAEL WOLFE
Midnight Vibrations
On Top Of It
Studio: Otari MX5050 8 track, Otari MX5050 4 track, Pioneer RT1050 2 track,
Teac V670 cassette, Alesis Quadraverb, two Boss BX80 mixers
Listening Equipment: Adcom GFA545 amplifier, Hafler preamp, B&W DM330 speakers,
Quart Phone 30 headphones
Instruments: Korg Poly 61, Ovation 6 string acoustic, Epiphone hollow body
electric, Fender Squier bass, Roland R5 drum machine
|
| 11.14 | COMMUSIC VIII Philips Box Liner | AQUA::ROST | Who *was* Martin Lickert? | Wed Jan 16 1991 15:30 | 189 |
| Here's a postscript file which will print out a liner for COMMUSIC 8. Edit the
file where it says to cut, then run to a postscript printer.
Brian
----------cut here---------------------------------------------------------
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/savecur %saves current location in savex and savey
{currentpoint /savey exch def /savex exch def} def
/movecur %moves to saved location in savex and savey
{savex savey moveto} def
/nrtypefont /Helvetica findfont .12 inch scalefont def
/nrsymbolfont /Helvetica findfont .09 inch scalefont def
0.150 inch 1.000 inch translate
0 3.125 inch translate
0.000 inch 0.000 inch moveto
4.000 inch 0 rlineto
0 0.625 inch rlineto
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| 11.15 | COMMUSIC IX Philips Box Liner | RGB::ROST | Hand out the arms and ammo | Wed Nov 06 1991 08:59 | 185 |
|
Here's a postscript file which will print out a liner for COMMUSIC IX.
Edit the file where it says to cut, then run to a postscript printer.
Brian
----------cut here---------------------------------------------------------
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| 11.16 | COMMUSIC IX Liner Notes | RGB::ROST | Hand out the arms and ammo | Thu Nov 07 1991 08:52 | 374 |
| Welcome to COMMUSIC IX, The Great White Wonder. Thanks to all the submittors
for sending in their tapes and their patience in waiting for this thing to get
finished. Now on to the liner notes:
SIDE ONE
Errol Phillips
O'SAMBA
Instruments:
-Ibanez Bass
-Yamaha Nylon String Guitar
-Korg M1 (Flute, Elect. Piano and synth)
-Roland U220 (Congas and percussion)
-Alesis HR16 (Drums)
I wrote this especially for COMMUSIC VIII, the previous tape but withdrew my
submission at last minute. Anyway, I wanted to do something that allowed
me to play my bass and guitar and of course use my PPS-1 to do tape sync. I
listened to a lot of Brazilian music growing up and I enjoy playing and writing
with that feel so I wanted to put a piece on the tape that reflected that.
I created the melody for the head (verse) then I used my guitar for
arranging the chords and added chord for the other sections for which
I had no melody at the time. I created four bars of the basic rythmn on the
HR16 got a tempo I liked and recorded the sync tone to tape.
I then recorded the guitar and bass parts. While they were no more than
a couple takes each, that process took about ten hours. I had problems
recording the signal however once I figured out that I should not put bass
next to the sync tone, I was in good shape.
The solos are all first takes and rest of the melody just sort of fell
in place. The only change I have made to the original is change part
of the melody to the bridge.
While this song was done simply to try out my PPS-1, it has turned out to
be the favourite of everyone who have listened to my tape.
ISLAND PEARL
Instruments:
-Korg M1 (Guitar, Flute, Pads, Drums)
-Roland U220 (Bass, Organ, Steel Pan, Congas and percussion)
-Alesis HR16 (Hi-Hats)
This song was one those things that just popped out of my first session
with the M1. The intention was to ease into a calypso and then ease back
out. The calypso section is reminiscent of the calypsoes of the 50's.
BTW: Pearl is my mother who encouraged me to play music and helped support
my early music habit. She also helped me hide my quatro from my father.
CYRIL'S CASTIAN
Instruments:
-Venezuelan Cuatro
-Korg M1 (Lead bass, Guitar, Elect. Piano, flugel horn, saxes)
-Roland U220 (Bass, castinets, pads)
-Alesis HR16 (Hi-hats)
This song like the name suggest is a castian or based on that form
anyways. This music was played quite a bit in Trinidad when I was growing
up and came from the spanish influence in the island. This music is still
played a lot of course in Venezuela and other South American countries.
The cuatro is four-stringed instrument about twice the size of a ukelele.
After my initial success with tape syncing I figured I go for it again with
the cuatro.
Incidently this song was composed in a music store, I was trying out
a U20 and the Fretless Bass patch just did it to me.
BTW: Cyril is my father, whom when I asked him to buy me a cuatro, demanded
that I was not to waste my time playing any musical intruments. Needless to
say I went out and bought a Mickey Mouse ukelele which I tuned like a cuatro
(the first four string of a guitar with a low E instead). He did buy first
electic guitar though, but that's another story.
CARIBE JUMP
Instruments:
-Korg M1 (Brass, Solo sax, Flute, Elect. Piano, Drums)
-Roland U220 (Bass, Organ, Congas and percussion, Sax (layered with brass))
-Alesis HR16 (Hi-Hats)
This is an experiment with the soca beat (soca is the new form calypso has
taken). Actually I sort of mixed things up a bit. The bass at times is
playing what could be a brass line, the bass drum and snare combined are
doing a guitar strum.
This acutally is one of the many dance type songs that I have done. I like
doing dance music as well as.......
Solo are as played no editing or punch-ins, cause I love to play. If I had
a decent guitar and mic and knew the first thing about recording I would do
the guitar leads but I could not come close to the M1's fidelity same for bass.
Tape syncing was done with a Porta 1. (To my chagrin)
Diclaimer: This music was done for my enjoyment, others who have heard it
throught no fault of mine have convinced me that I should even let others
hear it.
This is my first attempt at finishing some off the many ideas that I have
laying around in my head and my Voyetra sequencer.
Tom Benson
All of my contributions were recorded on a Tascam 246 4-track, and
sequenced using Dr T's KCS on an Atari ST.
Polka Divine
An 'audio Christmas card' I did a couple of years ago. It explains
how the angels brought Polka to the world to share their joy at
Christmas. Roland D110 and Korg DSS1 sampler.
Relics of a Future Civilization
This was done for a friend of mine to accompany a piece of artwork
she did, of the same name. It probably helps to see the art.
Kawai K1m, D110, DSS1.
Curious Goods
I had been doing a lot of midi-only stuff when I remembered that
the reason I got into it to begin with was as accompaniment for
guitar and violin. So Curious Goods was an attempt to get back to
that. Much more time was spent on the sequencing than the guitar
playing, though... This got 'honorable mention' in Guitar Player
magazine's last reader's tape contest. Proteus 1 and Roland D110,
with Gibson L6-S guitar and T.F.Barrett electric violin.
Steve Sherman
1. "How It Goes" - 4:07
2. "Ones and Zeros" - 5:50
"Copyright 1991 by Steve Sherman", blah, blah, blah.
Equipment: MC50, D70, a spectrum analyzer, eyes, fingers, mind and ears.
Comments: No comments. I like my stuff, so there. Hope I get rich ... ;^)
Thomas E. Janzen
Selections from "Kunst der Fuge" ("The Art of Fugue")
all selections
copyright (c) 1750 Johann Sebastian Bach All Rights Reserved
All selections were played one part at a time at low tempo
into a sequencer and edited for clean up.
All selections (P) 1991 Thomas E. Janzen All Rights Reserved.
1. "Day Book" for orchestra (excerpt) 2:30
copyright (c) 1979 Thomas E. Janzen
Arrangement and Sequencing: T. Janzen
Production, recording, and synth programming: Len Fehskens.
(Thanks Len!)
This is the Contrapunctus (or Fuga) I for four voices. It was
transcribed about 15 years ago from the Kalmus pocket score,
which used C clefs for the top soprano, alto and tenor. This
work does not appear on my albums "The Nearly Complete Works"
because I do not have the resources to record it. I played
each of 13 parts from a keyboard controller. Some reverb is
used. The orchestration is motivic. Every motif in the fugue
was classified as a member of one of about 6 motivic families.
The orchestra was likewise divided into about 6 families of
sounds. The two families were aligned; every time a motif
is heard, it is heard in the same family of instrumental
sounds. I recall that percussion is used to accentuate subject
entrances. This approach is somewhat different from Webern's
in the Ricercata from Bach's Musical Offering; Webern
partitioned that fugue's subject into three groups. Within
each of many statements of the subject, he assigned the same
instrument to each group. Different statements used the same
groupings, but different instruments. Most other counterpoint
went to the string section, until the end when Webern caved in
and made a traditional heavily-weighted finish. In this Fugue,
I have assigned motifs by color throughout subject statements
and answers, as well as counterpoint.
My score from 1979 is on vellum (for ozalid ammonia-based
printing on heavy stock paper) and was my last score drawn in
permanent ink using templates and straight edges. Except for
lettering, it looks better than most computer-printed scores.
I had to stop doing that; it took forever to copy a score.
2. Fuga a 2 Clav 1:55
From the Carl Czerny's reduction for piano of Art of Fugue.
The polyrhythms resemble those that open Act II Scene 2 of
Porgy and Bess, so I used hand drums to highlight the
rhythms. There are no effects, and the two claviers
are separated by channel (left/right).
3. Fugue 3 for 4 voices 2:22
I used an automatic round-robin voice assignment to
complicate the rhythms. This fugue was #2 in the
Berlin autograph.
SIDE TWO
Rick Ryen
INCOGNITO
This is one of my favorite Spyra Gyra tunes.
I step-time sequenced the song from a score.
I was not pleased with the sound of the alto-sax
part in the early part of the song, and found it
difficult to get the feel of a real alto sax. So,
I used a preset called "RB's Wine", which sounds like
somone running a wet finger on the top of a wine glass.
This put the sax part in more the background, but the
melody can still be heard. I suspect that my choice
of preset will be disturbing to some, but it works for me.
ZOOP
This is one of my first attempts at an original
composition for keyboard. I acquired the basic drum
patterns from a Roland drum pattern library. I selected
different patterns, and then modified the selection of
percussion instruments. I also created a number of custom
percussion sounds, primarily by reversing the samples. My
Proteus was new to me, and I enjoyed playing with these
"new" sound modification gadgets. The song is called ZOOP,
because that is what some of the reversed drum timbres sound
like to me. I'm not a keyboard player, and this song is an
example of my novice (real-time) keyboard chops. The chord
pattern is similar to a run from the Ventures song,
"Walk Don't Run". I purposely kept the structure of the
song simple, because I didn't want to create any contrast
with my obviously weak chops.
John Arnold
Industrial/Polyphony
Copyright 1991 John E. Arnold and Gordon B. Arnold
part 1 by John E. Arnold
part 2 by Gordon B. Arnold
produced by the Arnold Brothers, August/September 1991
Industrial/Polyphony was written, performed, and produced from August ??
to September 1, 1991. Track 1 (the opening percussion part) was entered in
step time and `humanized.' Track 3 was entered via a Roland Pad-80
(Octapad II) in real time. All other parts were entered via a Roland A-80
controller in real time. Volume settings for the tracks were entered
using the continuous controller editing tools provided by the sequencer
(Master Tracks Pro v4.5.3 for the Macintosh).
This piece is the first time that my brother and I worked strictly with a
sequencer as our `recorder.' The first time these sounds hit tape was when
I dubbed a copy to give to Brian Rost for the COMMUSIC IX master tape.
The primary sound source used is a Kurzweil 1000PX with the optional
soundblock A. The background bagpipe snippet was generated using an
Ensoniq EPS-M sampler (sample purchased from greytsounds) providing the
only part NOT produced by the Kurzweil in real-time. The reverb is a
Lexicon LXP-1. Part 2 of this piece really highlights the 24-note
polyphony of the Kurzweil. I honestly have no idea if there is any
note-stealing going on but, if there is, I certainly can't hear it.
For those interested in such things, the following is the track sheet from
the sequencer when the track was completed:
Track/Chan Patch Name (most are presets, some customized)
1 Out To Lunch
2 Pirates Strings
3 Cymbals
4 Organ
5 Bridge piano (this track was not used)
6 Horns
7 Piano 1
8 Piano 2
9 Acoustic Bass
10 Flute
11 Clarinet
12 Piano and Slow Strings
13 Strings
14 Argyle Bagpipe
Brian Rost
These pieces are typical of the sort of thing I muck about with for fun. I
usually noodle on the keys for awhile, come up with a line I like, load it into
the sequencer and then try adding other parts, etc. Basically it's just an
improvisation that I have the ability to go back and edit; I don't think of it
as composition, as it's too scattered. I keep working on pieces until they
sound either finished or too mangled to warrant further effort (I've got plenty
of the latter).
"Scriabin"
Alexander Scriabin was a Russian composer who died just before the First World
War. He is considered one of the central links in the chain that led from
tonal music to atonal music, not to mention that he was a real weird character
who was into music as a way of elevating consciousness. Too bad he died long
before the Summer of Love. In his last composition, "Prometheus", he invented
his "mystic chord", a stack of fourths, which looks like this with a C root: C,
F#, Bb, E, A, D. I used this chord as the basis for this piece. I guess I've
been listening to "Music From the Hearts of Space" too much.
"Get A Whiff Of This"
On his last tour stop in Boston, Kitaro dropped over my house to quaff a few
brews and talk about the influence of Okinawan rap music on the compositions of
Glenn Branca. We got a bit carried away, pretty soon we ran out of beer and
went on to harder stuff. Shortly before he glued his mustache to the table
while sniffing Crazy Glue, Kit banged this out on my synth. Luckily, I still
had enough brain cells left to think of turning on the sequencer to record
this. It needed a bit of quantizing, but otherwise, it's what he played before
vomiting all over the keyboard (which is audible at the end of the piece).
Bill Grundmann
program name song title playing time
Astral Fountain Ocean Once a Canoe 4:55
Jazz Fountain jetway 7 9:28
Astral Fountain is a program I wrote, which accepts any
title and uses it to generate sequences of numbers which
select the voices, notes, fade rates, etc. Several voices
can be active at once. They each go through a sequence: they
are born, live a while, and die. Then new ones take their
places. Everything is predetermined at birth. Voices are in
two basic classes: legato and stacatto.
Legato voices swell up, hold, then fade out. They play two
notes throughout. Sometimes the swell control also controls
pitch bend.
Stacatto voices continuously play a melody which fades in,
holds, and fades out. The melody is generated by a state
machine that steps through a sequence of intervals. If the
sequence ends up on the same note as it started, the melody
simply repeats throughout the voice's life. If not, the
melody walks up or down the scale. When it hits an extreme
high or low pitch, all the intervals are reversed, and it
walks back the other way.
Jazz Fountain is an earlier attempt at writing a program
that writes music. It is more strongly forced into a form.
The chords are generated by stacking thirds. The bass line
is a sampling of the chord roots with scale steps inserted
in between. The bass rhythm is a combination of fixed
patterns (plus a few random ones) which are randomly cut and
pasted together. The melody is generated similarly, just a
little looser. The drums are selected from a small list of
patterns. There are a few fills that get used when the song
moves into a new section.
Sections are randomly constructed from single measure pieces
that are chained together. Chunks of previously played
chains are randomly replayed. This generates an interesting
mixture of repetition and novelty. There is a "stuck"
detector that notices things have gotten stuck in a loop,
and it kicks into a new section by changing a bunch of
things all at once, most importantly, the chord progression.
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