I have so many instruments and vst's in this that this is what Logic Pro continually kept shouting at me throughout my production. System Overload! Sytem Overload! You should consider yourself lucky that I finished the song before I decided to throw my computer outta of the window! Just saying...

System Overload

I was just exploring the built-in vocoder in Logic, and then this happened.

I'm Not a Monster

Dreamscape is a piece I spent about 120 hours working on. It has two large sections that both span about 11 minutes (A and B). Each macro section is roughly broken up in five smaller components; a, a', b, c, a''.Each of these macro sections represent a specific processes and textural shifts that both of the themes undergo throughout the piece. All of the primary thematic material is made clear by the prescense of text.

Both stanzas of text experience gradual change in this linear fashion: the original theme exposes itself, it then repeats with more emphasis on experimental sound design and drum/bass content. Shortly after the restatement of these themes, they dissolve into an orchestral texture spattered with ambience and accessory melodic instruments. Each of these orchestral textures die out into a period of evolving ambience that leads into a marimba cadenza (c). Each marimba cadenza climaxes into a hyper aggressive restatement of the theme it belongs to.

I tried experimenting with a process like approach to some of the harmony in this piece. The harmony for the primary and secondary themes are derived through formalist like treatment of chromatic mediants. The first theme, I sequence maj9 chords up by a m3, down by a M3. Resulting in a maj9 shape that meanders down by halfsteps. When I finally sequence back to the original root that started the process, the harmony begins to tonicize that region to prepare for a cadence to restart or end the thematic content. The second theme is the complete opposite of the first theme, I sequenced m9 chords up by a M3 and down by a m3. Resulting in a completely different sonority shape climbing in the opposite direction.

To emphasize this difference in thematic ideas, I tried to make each macro section polarizingly opposite. For the A theme's orchestral texture, I explored a lot of altered dominants in minor modes utilizing phyrgian and dorian. The B theme's orchestral texture contrasts this by utilizing the major modes lydian/ionian. Each of the ambient sections are also constructed out of contrasting sonority structures.

In short, the piece is constructed from two primary thematic ideas that undergo the same type of gradual change, just in contrasting colors! And as harmony is viewed as tension and release, I tried to organize my sounds in a way that each constructed sound has it's own dramatic shape based on the sounds that precede and follow each other just like harmony.

"A world by code,
dig for answers of who we are.
life flows by,
stand and watch it pass by you.
hauntingly beautiful patterns and symmetry
provide an illusion of intention
discover your place.

Fading in, fading out,
Dreaming while floating down.
I've found a telescope to gaze away
fleeting images fill my eye piece.
weaved throughout each scene
are these beautiful patterns and symmetries
I came across a ring of keys,
to liberate the these stars and galaxies
gazing away in silent self reflection
fracturing pieces of me."

DREAMSURA [Track 4 from Dreamsura]

thanks to daft punk and miles davis for dem samples.
Produced by Spencer Peterson

Right Time (Featuring Pooh Bear)

Because we love you; this is a free download - hit the arrow above for the mp3!

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/black-magic/id570704966 
Beatport: http://www.beatport.com/release/black-magic/986237

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Last Dance (mastered)

This is a track that I recorded with my friend Todd Martino at the Blue Door Studios of Noah Guttell.

During a break in the recording of the album we were working on, Todd and I recorded this in one brief inspired take with no prior arrangement or planning.

Todd and I met as undergraduates studying music and electrical engineering, respectively at Arizona State University. Inspired by the common musical reasoning that emerged nearly instantaneously upon beginning to play with one another, we collected hours of live improvisations over a period of three weeks and distilled them into our self-titled album "haploid 23": http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/haploid23

A live performance of Clostridium can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O_nJpFIdDM&feature=share&list=UUJKtsfMQdtQmUUIrYBUkwGg

Clostridium

Steve Limpert