It’s been a while since I posted about tracks, but I’ve been more active uploading actual songs. Sorry! So, let us begin
This piece started out as a finger exercise for this non-pianist. I felt I’d come up with something nice, and also something with nice dynamics – my keyboard playing tends to be a bit ham fisted.
I started to look at adding counter melodies, different voicings etc., and the rest is Soundtrack
If I recall correctly, this started with a keyboard loop, which was about 30% of the ascending electric piano part that starts the song. I felt it should go somewhere else, so I figured out how to play the part I liked, and took it the rest of the way. The disco beat was obvious right?
The Rhodes chords I just worked out. Then I added funky bass, and started on some nice guitar licks – the chord stabs, the chorus riffs with a slight jazz feel.
I started playing about with strings, which provided a nice lush feel. That led into the middle eight part.
I was pleased with the slight Beck “Sea Change” feel, and now I feel comfortable with French Horns, that added another voice.
The slightly “glam” feel of the guitar lead in the playout was quite playing. I don’t have any guitars with P90s, but I got a satisfactory “scooped out” sound out of my Tele Custom
What was I thinking with the godawful pun in the title???
This track evolved from a very clean, sine-wavey organ sound and some chords I found. A little playing with my Tele on the neck pickup brought out the riff. I added a more ambitious Rhodes part than I’d normally go for, and it worked out well.
The chorus is a fairly logical development, but brought in the arpeggio feel that I developed in the “Philip Glass” middle eight. Another new instrument for me in the form of the celeste.
I’m very happy with the bass parts, and the slightly oblique strings arrangement.
Everything was written pretty much linearly – verse, chorus, break.
This song also started on guitar, with a riff over a synth loop. When I started tracking properly, the really greasy Stones chords came in, changing the feel from indie to “coked out 70s Keith”, but I liked it, so that’s where it went from there.
The bridge felt like a nice break before the build up in the chorus. I had the guitar part with nothing else for a day or so. Then I had the idea of using the piano ping through rotary speaker thing, a la “Echoes” by Pink Floyd. That inspired the Mellotron parts, initially with the flutes, which ended up all over the shop, then the Chamberlin strings. Actually, the pings also ended up everywhere!
The last bit was the brass stabs, which I think worked very well with the 70s feel.
This is probably the best production/arrangement/master I’ve done to date.
Some songs have an odd genesis. This is such a song.
The original song was kicked off by the organ sound, which was originally part of a Reason Combinator patch called “Progressive House ARP Combo” (what a fantastic name!) I ended up keeping both parts – the organ and the Boards of Canada sounding arpeggio on top, but while the organ stayed the basis of the song, the arp ended up being used sporadically.
After “The Rest is History”, I was on a bit of a Mellotron jab, so the flutes came back. I’ve not really managed to get the verse to a happy place. I like it, but I couldn’t really develop it as I wanted. Maybe a vocal would crack it.
The real drive to keep going was the chorus, which I’m really please with, especially the guitar over the top. The middle eight/break came after, and I like the feel of that a lot – more Chamberlin strings – especially as it slides nicely back into the chorus to play out.
Sometimes you win. Other times you mostly win!
I cried when I wrote this song 