This is a song which developed from my pondering about aspects of that fantasy world which as inspired most of my songs.  The 'Cubi race has a variant known as a 'clan leader', typically the clan was originally descended from them.  In becoming a Leader, they become very large and very powerful.  Much like in Dune, this transformation is one that many attempt and precious few survive.   But for clans whose leader successfully ascended, it's like having your own guardian angel in the flesh.  This song tries to put those concepts into music.

The song was written in SONAR as all my songs are, then recorded on a TASCAM MSR-24 multitrack. Bass and vocals were recorded on my TSR-8 and then copied to the multitrack when I was happy with them.

"Happy" being a relative word since some of the bass playing feels a bit shaky and will probably have to be revisited. If my crazy plan bears fruit I will probably revisit the minimoog and mellotron parts anyway since it's possible I'll have a gear overhaul in the coming months.

Equipment used:
Korg Triton EX - Drums
Roland MVS-1 - Synth bass
Roland JV1010 - additional percussion, distorted organ
Hammond XM-1 organ
Creamware Minimax ASB - minimoog leads and additional synth bass
Waldorf MicroWave - additional synth lead at end
Waldorf Pulse - additional synth bass
TornadoTron - for those choirs, flutes and strings
Epiphone Thunderbird Gothic - bass
Apex 460 valve microphone

I'm fairly pleased with the mix (done on a Studer A807 on SM900), I have made some signal chain improvements and lowered the overall levels to try and reduce the clipping problems that have been occurring recently, and I think I've got it.


And now the lyrics:

Come child, you've turned 23
Now you're a part of my dynasty
Come young one, you've grown all your wings
Now we must talk of many things

I'm Daryil - and I have the power
I'll be there for you in your darkest hour
I am so much, much more than a man
The great, immortal head of my clan
Don't be afraid, I'm not some evil madman


My laws are just and ought to make sense
You must not kill unless it's self-defence
And if you ever eat someone's soul
I'll stuff your corpse down a six-foot hole

I'm Daryil - and I have the power
I'll bring you comfort in your darkest hour
I am so much, much more than you know
My giant form is not just for show
But don't be scared, I'm not some evil psycho

Don't you see? Don't you see?
You're the youngest face in my family
Don't you see? Don't you see?
You're the youngest face in my family


And I know everything you've done and I know everywhere you've been
And I know everyone you've met and I know everything you've seen
And I know everything you love and I know everything you hate
And I know when you've played it false and I know when you've played it straight
I've seen your soul


I'm Daryil - and I have the power
I'll be there for you in your darkest hour
I am so much, much more than a man
The great, immortal head of my clan
Don't be afraid, I'm not some evil madman

Come child, hearken to me
I want what's best for my family
Our clan has status, power and such
I do not ask for very much

I'm Daryil - and I have the power
My own ascension was my finest hour
I guess a tri-wing is kind of odd
Fifty foot tall and almost a god
But don't be scared, I'm not some reckless hotrod

Don't you see? Don't you see?
You're the youngest face in my family
Don't you see? Don't you see?
You're the youngest face in my family

A song about Clan Daryil (take 1)

Based on the 'Recipe for Disasters' arc in DMFA ( http://missmab.com ), where Dan suddenly discovers he's not an ordinary mortal, this is a song I wrote in 2007 for my fourth album. I tried very hard to give it a 1970 feel, and then promptly ruined it by adding a wavetable synthesizer at the end.

Since my inspiration has finally run dry for now, and since it will soon be the 10th anniversary of my little one-man band, I decided to do a compilation album by taking some of my favourite songs from the first four albums and redoing them with better technology, hopefully better performance, and definitely NO wavetable synthesizers on tracks which are supposed to be from 1970.

This is one of them, I hope you like it.

Recording was done on a TASCAM MSR-24, 1" 24-track recorder. The song uses 13 tracks. While this is more than the 8 which the original version used it still fits the period (16-track being available as of 1968).
The song was made from the original MIDI file, and the vocals and sound clips were dubbed in from the 2007 master tape since I felt they were good enough not to need redoing. I did however use an alternate take of one line, again taken from the 2007 master tape.

I added bass and drums which were not in the original version. The drums were recorded onto two mono channels, with the crash and snare being fed through a Revox B77 tape deck to give it a 1970-sounding echo. The panning is also a bit 1968 as well - this is deliberate.

Instruments used included:
Korg Triton (piano, drums)
Hammond XM-1 organ
Manikin Memotron (flutes, strings, choir, tape organ at end)
Moog Minimoog (Voyager)
Epiphone Thunderbird Gothic bass

Mixed to a Studer A807 on SM900 tape

Guest vocals from the DMFA Radio Project: James Starrunner as Dan, his sister as... his sister, and Catherine Willington as Mab.

What Did Daniel Think He Was?

About time we had some more music. This is something I started writing some time ago but abandoned, recently unearthed and finished. (Something I do a fair bit if the song I'm working on isn't panning out.)

Finishing the music was only part of the problem, though. I had to try and figure out some lyrics for it, which I did at about 1AM a couple of weeks ago. The first multitracks were laid down on 13th Sept and the demo mix was done today (4th Oct) after I laid down the bass tracks yesterday. It was a total bitch to mix. I've made notes, but even so I suspect this one is going to have to be mixed in segments and spliced together. Which is fun.

Recording was done on tape using an Otari MX80 24-track recorder. The with the vocals and bass being recorded on a TASCAM TSR-8 first and then transferred using a synchronizer. Mixdown was done on a Studer A807 1/4" stereo machine.
The Mellotron chord slide was done by recording part of the chord on the A807 and adjusting the varispeed for the notes which needed to be bent. The intro vocals were completely improvised and slowed down to make them sound trippier.

The picture is of the mixdown tape for the demo.


Other equipment used included:
Sonar and Rosegarden sequencers
Soundcraft MFXi20 mixing desk
Manikin Memotron (M400 choir, chorused cello)
Moog Minimoog Voyager
Hammond XM-1 organ module
Hammond SK-1 (Wurlitzer piano, pipe organ)
Raspberry Pi (Organ bass pedals)
Epiphone Thunderbird Gothic bass
Watkins Copicat tape echo
Strymon Deco flanger
Modified Strymon Blue Sky reverb

========================

This is the tale of the prodigal son
Now let it end as it has begun

Start at the start
Speak
Reach the end and stop

Son - what have you done?
Son - why did you run?

The prodigal son, the prodigal son
We're all waiting for the prodigal son
The prodigal son, the prodigal son
We're all waiting for the prodigal son
The prodigal son, the prodigal son
We're all waiting for the prodigal son

So - where did you go?
Now - roast fatted cow

The prodigal son, the prodigal son
We're all waiting for the prodigal son
The prodigal son, the prodigal son
We're all waiting for the prodigal son
The prodigal son, the prodigal son

Prodigal Son (take 1)

Okay, a few years ago I did a song called 'Born With Wings'. This year I had the idea of taking the same theme of persecution from a different angle, someone who has enough magical creature blood in them to register as 'probably evil' even if they aren't.

I can't say I'm particularly pleased with the lyrics or the vocal performance, but I do like how the melodies came out. This was also the first song to be mixed on the Holy Mixing Desk of St. John the Baptist, an A&H GL2400 which replaced the cheap Soundcraft MFXi-20 desk I was using before. I'm rather impressed with the results - it seems to have a lot more punch and I haven't yet been able to overload the thing into distortion, which the Soundcraft would do if you looked at it wrong.

Instruments used:
Waldorf Streichfett - string synthesizer
Hammond SK-1 - Vox transistor organ, electric piano
Roland M-VS1 - bass synth
Moog Voyager - lead synth
Roland JV1010 - clavinet, hihats
Manikin Memotron - flutes and M400 choir
Alesis DM10 - drums
Hammond XM-1 - Hammond organ
Epiphone Thunderbird Gothic - bass

Recording was done on an Otari MX80 24-track machine with the bass and vocals first recorded on a Tascam TSR-8 for its auto-punch-in capabilities.
Mixdown was done on a Studer A807 1/4" master recorder.



I was born without wings
I was born without wings
I was born without wings, but they still want me dead

What does it mean when your hair is all green
And the wise men say that it's a sign of evil
Where can you roam when you've lost your home
And every friendly face goes dark and draws a crossbow

I was born without wings
I was born without wings
I was born without wings, but they still want my head


I was born without wings
I was born without wings
I was born without wings, but they still want me dead

What can you do when you're coloured blue
Which all the heroes say means you were born a monster
They want your head because your eyes are red
Which all the wise men say means you're the child of demons

I was born without wings
I was born without wings
I was born without wings, but they still want me dead

Born Without Wings (Take1)

This is the title track from my 2017 album, 'Dr Gwendolini's Amazing Medicine Show', describing a conflict between a snake oil salesman and the Mob.

Instruments used included: Steinberg XT2db bass, Minimoog Voyager, Alesis DM10 drum machine, Hammond XM-1 organ with Rotosphere, Waldorf string machine, Hammond SK1 with a Raspberry Pi running the Aeolus pipe organ, Manikin Memotron, Waldorf MicroWave, Nord MicroModular , and some Optigan samples played on a Raspberry Pi.

Recorded on 2" 24-track tape, and 1/2" 8-track tape, mixed to 1/4" stereo.

Dr Gwendolini's Amazing Medicine Show parts 1 & 2

got curious about the Korg M1 late last year, since it was used by a lot of respected artists, including Bal Sagoth, who used it along with the Roland XP50 to produce their orchestration. One of the weirder sounds is 'Pole', which does what it says on the tin - a metal pole being struck.
So for a lark I tried to write a song using the Pole sound, originally on the N1, before I finally broke down an got an actual M1R. Fast forward a bit, and that song is now complete, for your dubious enjoyment. (If Bob Drake can write songs about the slime at the bottom of the sea, then surely I can write one about the Korg M1)

This was recorded on 2" 24-track, and mixed to a Studer A807. There has been some razor editing on the stereo master, and the reverse drums section was done by bouncing to and from the A807 (which has the handy ability to run in reverse).
I also stopped the multitrack during one of the breaks, you can hear the echo trail grind to a halt around 4:08. This was deliberate, but didn't quite have the effect I was aiming for so I might not do that in the final version.

I'm quite pleased with the bass playing on this. It's not perfect, but I managed to get some nice punk-sounding tones out of it. I also feel that the ending worked out well.

The Pole Song (take 1)

A demo mix of a song for my next album, tentatively titled 'Incubi and Succubi'.  It is set in the fantasy world of DMFA like many of my songs.

This song had a difficult birth, chiefly in terms of writing the lyrics. I had everything down pat until after the third verse, then it fell apart. I went through about three different basic plots, vacillated between having Dan, Daryil (*) or someone else as the hero and about six rewrites of the verses before finishing this at about 2:30 in the morning and deciding that it would probably do.  It generated a few offshoot ideas I may use in my comic or the followup story.

The music was less of a problem, though the style wavered somewhat - I was originally aimed at 1969 before I finally broke down and added a minimoog solo.

Recording was done on Sun 26th of August 2012 (during which time my sequencer laptop emitted a shrill wail and went dead) with the vocals added on Mon 27th.

Recording was done to a TASCAM MSR-24 multitrack, vocals were dubbed on a TASCAM TSR-8 and then transferred. Tape delay on the vocals was provided using a Revox B77 for that 1970 sound (the middle section in particular has the slapback effect I was gunning for, a'la 'Simon Zelotes' in original 1969 recording of Jesus Christ Superstar). What is probably a biasing issue added a strange distortion in the high end, but I kept it anyway - you get that on a number of reissued 1960s tracks too.

Mixing was done to a Studer A807 tape deck on SM900, the icon is of the actual tape box, slightly 'shopped' to try and make it more readable when reduced.

A Fae Story (take 1)

This is a demo mix of a song for my next album, tentatively titled 'Incubi and Succubi'.

Like many of my songs, it is set in the universe of DMFA (created by Amber Williams).  During the last few months her comic has shown that life in that universe can be rather shorter and bloodier than most of the readership had thought, and this song (along with 'The New War' and 'Born with Wings') attempt to capture the feelings that the storyline evoked, and look at it from the point of view of one of the characters in the story.

This song is interesting in its own right because I have attempted to play electric bass for the first time. It's still a little shaky because I've only had the bass for one month and perhaps I tried to do this a little too soon. Even so, by virtue of the auto punch-in feature on the TSR-8 I have been able to muddle my way through by sheer brute force.

The mix may be a little iffy since I managed to break the Fostex TP20s I usually use and the other headphones were awful. Still, it sounds okay on speakers.

The icon is a photo of the tape loop used on the second chorus, it literally is "an endless loop of strife" as per the lyrics.

Instruments and recording info:
JV1010 and MVS-1 (bass synthesizers, polysynth)
Creamware ASB Minimax (bass and lead synth)
Mike Pinder mellotron samples (8-voice choir, flute, Chamberlin Female Choir)
MVS-1 'squashed organ' (see also the entire 'Clone' album by Threshold)
Hammond XM-1 organ module with Rotosphere leslie sim
Waldorf MicroWave ('phaseout' solo)
Korg Triton EX (drums, fender piano, gong)
Zoom RFX-2000 vocoder
Diode ring modulator (featuring dad's old function generator)
Encore E4 bass, DI'd into the mixer through a Reotube G2

Song composed on SONAR, then imported into Rosegarden for additional editing and final recording.
Vocals and bass were recorded on a TASCAM TSR-8 for vocals and bass and transferred to a TASCAM MSR-24 which was also used for tracking the computer-controlled instruments. The gong was taped and modulated with the jog shuttle on a Studer A807. The Endless Loop of Strife was played on a Revox B77 as the Studer pitched a fit over playing a tape loop. Again.

The Murder Game (take 1)

This is a medley of songs from different time periods, from 1968 to 2019, covering a variety of styles.  It was a massive project of the kind where you only find out if it worked once the entire thing is completed.  It consists of 8 pieces of interconnected music, which have been razor-edited together on tape.
I've tried to use period-correct production techniques, including 4-track bouncing for the 60s, bucket-brigade delay for the 80s and autotune for 2003.

For 2013, I included an excerpt from "The Murder Game" from my album "Incubi and Succubi", but was forced to cut early before the vocals came in.  I might do an instrumental mix of that track for the finished version.

Time Tunnel (take 1)

Music inspired by the 1994 game, System Shock.  Tracked to 24-track tape, mixed to 1/4" stereo.
Instruments used include: Moog Voyager, DSI OB6, Korg Triton Rack, N1R and M1R, Waldorf Pulse, Alesis DM10 and VC340 with JH Triple Chorus.

Mainframe (music inspired by System Shock)

As with many of my songs this is inspired by a certain webcomic and the persecution of magical creatures in that universe.

Tracking was done to a TASCAM MSR-24 and a TSR-8 for the vocals and bass. Mixing was done on a Soundcraft MFX20 to a Studer A807. The string synth was a Cheetah MS6 fed through an Electroharmonix Small Clone chorus pedal.

I've been learning bass the last few months and so far this is one of the best performances, though there was still a lot of punching-in required and I still have a long way to go.  Prior to this album I have been exclusively using synthesizers.

Born With Wings (take 2)

A concept piece a following the story of an android lizard crash-landing on a strange world.
Synthesizers used include: OB-6, Moog Voyager, VC340, Korg M1,N1 and Triton, Cheetah MS6 and a Waldorf Streichfett put through Jurgen Haible's Solina chorus.
Recording was done on 2" tape and mixed to 1/4", with subsequent razorblade editing.  Guest starring Sofox as one of the mysterious voices.

Xerian: Part 2 (take 1)

After Merlin and I did the Werrew mini-arc in our 'Project Future' comic, and probably because I was also reading the Ice and Fire books at the time, I found myself singing a silly ditty on the way home from work one day.

It wouldn't go away, and gradually evolved into this, a song based around the overthrow of a tyrant. It may or may not be about Werrew's adventures, I'm not wholly sure.

Instruments used:
Roland MVS-1, JV1010
Korg Triton Ex, Hammond XM-1 w/Rotosphere
Creamware Minimax ASB
TornadoTron
Epiphone Thunderbird Gothic

Other stuff: Watkins Copicat Mk4, Small Clone chorus

Synthesizers sequenced in Cakewalk and Rosegarden
Vocals and bass recorded to TASCAM TSR-8, then transferred to an MSR-24 for mixdown using an ATS-500 synchronizer, on SM911 tape.
Mixed to a Studer A807 on SM900 tape.

I got bored and added some production tricks like running some of the vocals through the Leslie simulator, and true flip-the-tape-over reverse reverb.


dougtheeagle

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