This file is some sections from a few different songs thrown in together, to give you an idea of what my forthcoming EP as 'The Human Instrumentality Project' is going to contain. 

The Human Instrumentality Project is the band I am creating to raise funds for charities through the sale of my music, merch and gig tickets (eventually). Currently MMAD (Musicians Making A Difference - www.mmad.org.au) and ALNF (the Australian Literacy & Numeracy Foundation - www.alnf.org) are the organisations on board to receive these funds!

These are my home made demos - professional recording will take place in May 2014

band facebook is here:
https://www.facebook.com/humaninstrumentalityproject

60 second teaser compilation - The Human Instrumentality Project

I. Finder’s Keeper’s [00:00-02:16]
II. Invertle The Turtle [02:16-05:43]
III. Just A Phase/Reich And Roll [05:43-08:24]
IV. These Are Not The Grooves You Are Looking For [08:24-13:06]

This is what I (reluctantly) handed in for my Composition 5 unit. The length is due to the requirement that we write 12-20 minutes of music. Best heard with some good headphones, since that's what I mixed it on.

If you want some more information to explain what the hell you are listening to, I can send the program notes that explain the processes I used, because the structures are not really easily heard. Otherwise, you can just sit back and enjoy the noise :)

This is made up entirely of sounds we recorded, including:
-wine glasses, both struck and rubbed
-acoustic guitar, played with a cello bow and using the body for percussion samples
-a KitKat wrapper
-a souvenir balloon powered flute/trumpet hybrid from Fiji
-Electric guitar (sent through, at different times, a ProCo Rat distortion, Danelectro Fab Flange, Washburn Wah, 2x BOSS DD-3 Delays, and 3 amps - one amp placed under a grand piano with the sustain pedal down, to cause the strings to vibrate)
- remote controls for a DVD and CD player, aimed at the guitar pickups to create a pulsing static sound
-a Beatles coffee mug

Recorded by Joel Tomkins @ QStudios, AIM 21/07/11 and 27/07/11 and by Peter O'Connor @ home. For a better stereo mix or 5.1 Surround mix of the final section done by Joel, please go here (under "The Tale of Two Meese"): http://www.tomkinsaudio.moonfruit.com/#/audio/4549152839 ; or here: http://soundcloud.com/joeltomkinsaudio/tale-of-two-meese-stereo
Assisted by Carlos Rudzats

Composed, performed, edited, arranged, programmed, mixed, mastered (or apprenticed?), whatevered by Peter O'Connor at home - 'drums' programmed in Reason, all else done in Logic Pro.


Microcosm 0 (Study of Samples)

Hands of the Templar demo from our jam 05/10/11, posting here for the rest of our Recording Ensemble has an idea of what we're writing, and so that the other band members can download and listen so we don't all forget what we did.
Downloads are enabled.

 edited together takes at [2:17] and [4:10]



HotT - Black Dice (early demo jam version)

First jam of this song on 05-10-11, Chris brought in the chords and we made it up as we went.

Inspirational name. :P

HotT - Homelands (first jam)

Hands of the Templar demo from our jam on 05-10-11. 

I cut out the solo too early and threw Ian off [3:57]
I also didn't change to the build up riff and threw Ian off again... my bad [6:08]
Outro was improvised with faster chord changes than we had written.
I need to do less repeats of the final section where there are no drums.

HotT - Surface Tension (early demo jam version)

This is the piece I wrote for my final Composition unit at the Australian Institute of Music. I haven't uploaded it until now because I ruined the mixing/mastering and was going to get it redone, but I don't have time or care enough to do that now. 

Hugest thanks goes to Joel Tomkins for helping me realise this and putting up with me keeping him in the dark about what the final product would eventually be (because I didn't know). Every single sound in this recording was recorded by him, even the sound of Coogee beach at the end - no other samples or synthesised sounds were used.

The piece is based on a theme of water and waves. Instruments that use water (e.g. bottles tuned with water), or sound like water (e.g. rain stick) were used. All instruments except vocals are tuned to a microtonal scale based on the shape of a wave. The vocals were meant to be separated from the rest of the instruments by using normal Western tuning to represent our disconnect from nature, and the effect this has on our psyche. 

If you would like to see the full 3000 word ReadMe (PDF file) explaining what the hell you are listening to and why, you can get it here: http://tinyurl.com/qfsz5gz

Credits (thanks everyone!!):
Recording Engineer - Joel Tomkins (check out http://tomkinsaudio.wordpress.com/)
Vocals - Ross Symington (https://www.facebook.com/RossHenryTunes)
Drums - Ian Cifuentes 
All other sounds - Peter O'Connor

Microcosm 1 - WeAreWaves

I wrote the chord progression for this a few weeks ago on guitar, then today I threw all of this together. This is the first music I've written for a while and the first I've done in a long time just for my own fun.

Excuse the umasterful 'mastering' and mixing, I wasn't too bothered with it. Also I haven't listened to it on anything except a pair of in-ear phones that came with my phone. 

The titled is a nod to the amazing group Seekae, who I ripped off a lot here.

Crystal Kites

Like 1,000,000 other people, I now own a loop pedal and am stuck on writing ideas revolving around single loops rather than actually expanding the material and writing more sections. But whatevs, its relaxing. 
My John Frusciante impression. 

Chilled loop 1 - Fruit Shanty

More loopy fun. I want to expand this and make the drums the central focus, having them build up into some massive chaos. 

Chilled loop 2 - unfinished

Rough fade ins/outs on each loop, but whatever.

Also a disgusting 'guitar multi-fx pedal demo' tone for a solo, just because it's so naff.

One day I hope to write something that consists of more than 1 section. But right now this is fun and relaxing :)


Chilled loop 3 - Rainy Daydream

My never ending learning process. Trying to write stuff that I like to listen to by gradually blending prog rock, fingerstyle/percussive acoustic, electronica, microtonality, experimentalism, noise, pop and ambience. 