Tuesday, February 23, 2010

One last listening check in the car and now it's in the hands of the USPS. Not my most pro packaging, but it had to fit two CDs and a DVD...

Saturday, February 20, 2010

MELLOTRON MAN... Ok, so I finished mixing all 14 of the original songs... but I just couldn't let go of a nagging doubt about having used synth choir and chimes on a couple songs... so I just finished replacing synth choir with me and synth chimes with demented backwards guitar... aaaahhhh... I feel much better...

Listening to last test playback of "He's Coming"...

The elusive guitar fish caught on film...

Thursday, February 18, 2010

David just left after cutting wordless vocals on three Nosferatu tracks. It's all pure Steadman but in context it's somewhere between "Great Gig in the Sky" and the Middle Eastern wordless ululations on Gabriel's Passion album...

From Here On Out

It looks like I'm in the home stretch for The Cry of a Bird of Prey, my Nosferatu soundtrack. Home stretch means: get David's vocal tracks tonight (he has no idea what he's in for.... well, he does, actually...), then clean up all of the tracks, fix the odd part here or there, and mix, mix, mix...

As much as I love tracking (I you will be able to tell with the countless washes of feedback that adorn the soundtrack--whee! Frank Zappa once said, "The disgusting stink of a too loud electric guitar; now that's my idea of a good time."), mixing has become an incredible, edible obsession for me. I'm not saying I'm any good at it, just that I'm obsessed with it. There's a whole other level of artistry going on with mixing; it's like painting with sound.

On a final note (for now), three (well, four, as one of the "three" is/are a set) kind benefactors are assisting my future musical endeavors. First up, one kind benefactor has adopted the role of Executive Producer for The Cry of a Bird of Prey by offering to have it duplicated. The pair one (yup) have gifted me the funds to get a newer computer (soon), as the ones I have been tracking on are 5-8 years old. And, finally, a kind benefactor from the dark depths of my past (well, high school...) is gifting me some high-end digital recording gear as an upgrade from my humble Lexicon Omega interface. I aim to honor them all by cranking out oodles of music...

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Finished ALL my tracking... with the exception of David's vocals, it's all mixing from here... whew...
Saved the best for last... Layin' down the mighty bass...
First take on my last minute additional song ('cause 14 wasn't enough)...

Five minute lyrics... not bad...

Monday, February 15, 2010

Installing new snare heads for Ike's song. Been a while since I've done this...

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Round one with synth tracks... trying hard to channel Lamb-era Tony Banks... possibly a little Emerson, Lord, or Wakeman on organ... we'll see after some sleep.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Ok... NOW the guitars are done. Come bat out of Hell or high water. Strange washes of feedback...

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Might have finished guitars about an hour ago... I don't know. There might be room for more here and there but the cranked amp stuff should be all set. I might do some more with David's Pocket POD. I had fun with my delay... ay... ay... ay...

Drums tracked. Just need to retrack the edrums from the MIDI outputs and do some cleanup. On to guitar?

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Hack of all trades... Boy are my arco skills rusty...

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Each of the 14 pieces now has a title, each based on a text slide from the section of film it accompanies. This clip is from the final piece, "Vanished With The Morning Sun".

Tonight's major task: dividing the one hour and twenty-four minute piano "spine" into logical/musical pieces. There ended up being fourteen.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Finished the piano spine. It's not perfect but I'm committed to writing around it. Junior seems to approve...

"Let the madness... begin..." As soon as my laptop finishes rebooting, I'll be laying down the piano spine while watching the film... so it begins...

Monday, February 1, 2010

RPM DAY 1: My daughter is in the other room writing music on the piano for her RPM project. Here I sit in the dining room writing a hit list for Nosferatu. I figure it will help me to lock the plot and sequencing in my head before I improvise the piano parts, which will form the backbone of the score.