Some early (12th Century) Trance Music.

+++++++++

Photo:
Whirling dervishes perform during a ceremony in Konya, Turkey. 
(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Here is a presentation of the Sufi Whirling ritual dance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h1wayIgn8o

+++++++

I would like to thank Sander Heerings: 
https://soundcloud.com/wane-of-summer 
for his advice and assistance during the remixing 
of one of my previous songs, "Whirlpool".

His recommendation for the use 
of the WAVES S1 Imager was most helpful. 
I feel the S1 is more effective than LOGIC's Binaural Panning,
and seems to have less CPU overhead.
Also, there was an elegant approach to his mastering phase,
atteneding to a huge hole I was in need of filling...
and giving a mix just the right finishing touch.

Also to Peter Heckman:
https://soundcloud.com/peterheckmann
in the importance of paying particular attention 
to track separation in the mix.

...Again, here is where the S1 excels.

So, Thank you, Sander and Peter.

Dervish

The autonomous subway in Suwon South Korea opened and it has a front glass window. This is a long exposure going through the tunnel.

Photo by Mathew Schwartz
unsplash.com/photos/sb7RUrRMaC4

The stopwatch was captured from the 60 minutes intro:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb6UgPSdp0o
and compressed to match the BPM of the song.

We are continually late and trying to beat the clock 
while trying to get from one place to the next.
Technology has done a pretty good job of reducing our transit time.
In imagining how to musically depict the sensation of getting up to speed,
I wondered at what techniques might be possible...
AND
...How might it be done without changing the tempo in the least?
It eventually dawned on me that nothing new had to be invented,
because we have all experienced this...maybe without even noticing it.
Going from Legato to Stacatto, 
and to packing more and shorter duration notes into each measure,
then cranking up the pitch into a higher key...to add just a dash of tension.

Accelerate

Image by: K. Mitch Hodge
https://unsplash.com/@kmitchhodge

The concept for this SoundTrack originated with having recalled my initial fascination for the tune accompanying 
the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" television show, 
"Funeral March of a Marionette" by Charles Gounod:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_March_of_a_Marionette
AND...for those interested in the full score:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_egPlYIXKYQ

Gounod's score was written in 6/8 time,
so I followed that recipe throughout 
when piecing this tune together as well.
And as I am prone to do,
I have included in the opening bars
an homage to Gounod's haunting piece of mastery.

Marionette

Some of you will be familiar with this tune, and indeed it has been modified to include a bit of audio which was the basis of the theme. This bit of audio is the original recording of Stephen around 1982. I had looked for that recording for decades to be included just before the start off this song. Also, most recently I had redoubled my effort to find it to play for my beautiful wife as  she lay on her death bed. But, alas, I was only to find it the very day after her passing.

As you might imagine, the old cassette tape was full of hiss. So, my good friend and mentor, Sander (https://soundcloud.com/wane-of-summer), volunteered to help subtract that flaw and render Stephen's little voice to crystal clarity. Well, that is very much part of Sander's trademark. Thank you, Sander.

And below follows the original description of the song:


This is a song from a child which has no voice of his own. Having succumbed to the side effects of a childhood vaccination, he was never able to learn the spoken word...though through some miracle he seems to have developed perfect pitch. 

How would I know? Well, if I pick up various objects which can make a tone if they are blown into, though he may have heard it only once before, he will sometimes sing the note as it is being picked up. Blow into that object and, sure enough, he is in tune with it.

He was only about 3 years old when we were trying in vain to get him to speak into a tape recorder. Instead, he came up with this tune, which I decided to just add accompaniment. The original recording actually had his voice on it, but it has been lost over the years.

Stephen's Song (REMIX)

Image by Alex Andrews:
https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-supernova-in-galaxy-3805983/

In attempting to create a little more Celestial Harmonics,
I came up with something that seemed as if 
it must have been evoked from a tune far back in my past.
After about a week or so, it dawned on me that it felt a lot like:

Jaques Offenbach's
Barcarolle: Les contes d'Hoffman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7czptgEvvU

So, I began the track with my version on a short homage to his work.
However,  his work was in 6/8,
while mine was hanging out in 4/4.

But then...So What...Right?

Barcarolle Céleste

In the end, as I held my dear wife,
I lay my head down upon her chest,
so as not to miss the last breath of her precious life...
I heard the steady beat of her heart continue for 6 more beats,
as each beat sailed ever more quietly over the horizon.


Who is to say...
might we actually step into the next life
even as we leave this one?

The final mystery...

Photo by: Ashish R. Mishra
https://unsplash.com/@shotoftheday?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText

Hereafter

To my  SoundCloud friends and visitors who have checked in on me
over the past months
...   Thank You very much.
and for and having received no replies from me
... I sincerely apologize.

I have some serious catching up to do.

Photo:
Ephemeral Sunset by Abenteuer Albanien
https://unsplash.com/@abenteueralbanien

SO...It has been almost a year since I have thought about playing any music,
and have barely even visited SoundCloud in the interim.

Indeed, it has been that long since entertaining any diversions at all,
as I have been engaged with serious health issues concerning my son.
After a lengthy hospital stay with an aggressive infection,
resulting in pneumonia and requiring surgery,
he is finally to the point to where he is strong enough to stand
and take a few brief steps.

So, I have only recently allowed myself enough space to contemplate music
...at least for a brief spell, or so long as it can last.


Here are simply a random collection of instruments
and the suggestions they evoked for me upon hearing them.

Evening Meditation

This is my whimsical impression of moving through dream states.

At some point during our REM state,
we may move from free floating imagery
to suddenly crystalizing within a lucid state...while it lasts.

Upon this startling realization,
that nothing could seem so real,
it also begins to appear
that this new reality soon slips back 
into the mundane fare of dreamscapes...

and suddenly we arrive in Alpha,
when we are realigning with consensus reality,
where we believe everyone is sharing the same dream.


Image by:
https://unsplash.com/@mo_design_3d

From REM To Alpha

I was imagining what all might be happening in a living neural network.
Is it merely a summing of various electrical potentiation
which results in the synapse firing, or is there possibly
some ephemeral packet of information along for the ride?

It seemed if there were something like that,
and there were some direction to it,
it might be like a passenger moving along a railway,
with multiple rails running in parallel.
Are they totally insulated from sharing this imagined information,
coming to some almost alien and rudimentary realizations...
based on who knows what?

But certainly, it would all be far to fast to keep track of in any instance.

Though, it could be further imagined that it might be possible
to slow this train to the point that we could crawl into this movement
to experience it at a much more leisurely pace.

It was these kinds of thoughts that I was meddling with
when I became curious for what might represent the firing of the synapse.
I decided upon the sound of an electric arc zapping,
only stretching that audio out in time,
sending it into a much more powerful bass experience.

After each discharge, 
we would once again be accelerated down a new set of tracks.

Of course any such discharge would fry a living network...
but again it is all only a musing.

Synapse

Photo by: Stablecog.com
(AI Generated)

Suleiman the Magnificent was the ruler of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. He was a conqueror, artist, poet, and lawgiver. 

This piece wanders back and forth between 4/4 and 6/8 a few times.

Suleiman The Magnificent

Photo by Stablecog AI

Puts me in mind of when I bought my first reflector telescope.
I actually watched some kind of craft take off and head into the sky
as it slowed to a stop against the star field and faded to deep red...
then vanished.

Don't look too close...
The AI thinks you need to merge your head into the optical tube
to get the best view,
and don't be shocked that our young astronomer
only has 3 legs.

Stargazing

Image by Stablecog AI:

When I came up with my stage name for SoundCloud,
I imagined an old organ grinder with his monkey and money cup,
cranking away on a street corner of an old cobblestone village.
But these days, the street corner was even older, as was the man himself,
along with his old synthesizer. The monkey is long gone, in case you were wondering.

Actually, I was quite surprised when the image that appeared got my glasses and my beard right, and even my blue shirt along with a pocket (where I keep my pocket protecter full of pens and pencils). Heck, it could almost have been my photo.

Ye Olde Synthgrinder

I only ever wrote down a few songs. But when you are beginning to learn counterpoint, you just about can't get by without it. This was my first attempt about 1984.

Moonlight Rondo

To Everyone...Thank you in advance.
Almost all of the replies I have made to all of your gracious comments,
have rapidly begun to disappear from each site.
I am disappointed that, unless the situation changes,
replies will become a thing of the past.

Alas, trying to contact SoundCloud Support seems an impossible task.

Photo by:
Ines Álvarez Fdez
unsplash.com/@powwpic

Trying to go from 4/4 to 6/8.
Sometimes it just clicks.
Don't know why, but this one caused me to wrestle to no end...

So, with enough encouragement to stuff some more content
into this song...here are the latest results.

Hope it works for most of you.
And Thank you.

Alpine

Photo Artwork:
Sayan Nath
https://unsplash.com/photos/l3NHCLojHds

Many thanks to a most helpful artist,
https://soundcloud.com/wane-of-summer
in listening and helping me with improving my EQ technique.
I still have a long way to go, but I think I am getting there.

ALSO:
A very talented member of the SoundCloud Community:
https://soundcloud.com/arcaans
has done me the honor of producing a fine video for the occasion:
youtu.be/ecNxHF4g68Q

In working with this song,
I checked out some of the instruments that are used throughout India:
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/indi/hd_indi.htm
Some of which are included (or close approximations)
in Logic Pro X.

If the song comes out a bit westernized,
please understand, I am only a distant witness
many times removed from the culture.

Dream Of India

This was an attempt to utilize only the sounds from ALCHEMY in Logic Pro X. It was more challenging than I thought it might be. Almost all of the elements come with so many effects, that blending them just to obtain a simple harmony usually results in a clash of unintended consequences.

Lydian Mermaids

Humankind has imposed its presence upon The Great Precession.
I had this concept in mind as I began working on this project.
While it seems as though its cause has been fairly well understood,
I was amazed that there is still a good deal of conjecture surrounding it.

See the YouTube:  "The Great Year"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3ZDcj0kF_0

In creating this soundtrack,
I used only the instruments in Logic Pro X's ALCHEMY
and its native presets.
No additional effects, other than automation and EQ were used.

ADDENDUM: Since the time I first encountered Camille Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3 In C Minor, Op. 78, "Organ"
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDaZfSHDpa0
in a symphonic composition,
I had wondered at the paucity of the use of the organ in larger arrangement.
Of course, with something of that size, you can't just go on a road show.

The Great Precession

Pan was a lascivious Satyr of the mountains and the God of the Shepherds and the Flocks. His main task was to render the flocks fertile.
Of course, this mythical character relates to a fragment of the human psyche, which if given free rein...often shepherds those under "his" spell through the garden of delights, leaving them to repent at their leisure.

Here is also an attempt a composition in the Dorian Mode.
I don't really know if I even got close.
It was my best guess.

You may notice that the underlying rhythm is 8/8,
while the overlaid melodies are 3/4.

Image by: Majid Esmaeili
http://www.majidsmiley.com/portfolio

Pan Dorian

I created this little ditty back in the early 1980's back when our son was born.

Mike Kenneally
https://unsplash.com/@asthetik

Irish Spring Morn

Since lately I have not been able to settle into a creative frame of mind,
I felt that in order not to lose what little comprehension I have managed 
achieve in working this music software, I might stay in practice by taking a detour.

From early on in life I have greatly admired the compositions
of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Since I had the scores of his Brandenburg Concertos
[...... The Six Brandenburg Concertos
[...... and the Four Orchestral Suites
[...... in Full Score
[...... Published by Dover, 1976
[...... ISBN 0-486-23376-6
[...... Library of Congress Catalog Number 76-12016

I thought I would try to blend a little Electronix 
along with the Period Instruments to see how that might play out.

Before letting this piece loose on everyone, I had the privilege of being able to receive some much needed criticism on my technique from a wonderful performer and SC supporter:

Mr. Bouzouki: https://soundcloud.com/mrbouzouki

He was able to help demystify the application of side-chaining for me.
On a physical mixing board, I had done a lot of it, though I didn’t know to call it that, 
yet how it was accomplished on the DAW kept eluding me.

The problem that needed addressing was the excessive amount
of REVERB that inevitably accompanies my tracks.
Often the native effects for a selected instrument
had its own effects bus, which I was never able to see (until recently).
So if it didn’t have enough of or the kind of REVERB I was looking for,
I added it in-line, which ended up supplying too much of an overly complicated (and somewhat unmanageable) EFFECT.

Hopefully, I have trimmed enough of it off at this point
that you will be able to hear all of the notes from all of the instruments
without having to imagine that they must be there somewhere in the mix.

One final admission:
The only thing possibly worse than my sense of pitch is my sense of tempo.
I have never been able to sight read music,
so to play a piece, it is always necessary to just memorize it.
Even then, having a metronome means nothing.
So, for all of you that are in a similar situation,
thank heavens for DAW technology.
It has made the joy of music a possibility for the masses
of us who have the tenacity to claim it for a hobby.

Brandenburg 4 Movement 3

The following is once again the source for this concerto:

[...... The Six Brandenburg Concertos
[...... and the Four Orchestral Suites
[...... in Full Score
[...... Published by Dover, 1976
[...... ISBN 0-486-23376-6
[...... Library of Congress Catalog Number 76-12016

Although this was written as a Violin Concerto,
I thought I would try to blend some other instruments together
to make it sound a little bit like a music box, or an old timey Polyphon:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphon


So the substitutions ran like this:

-----ORIGINAL: = LOGIC:

-----Violino    I = Accoustic Guitaro
-----Violino   II = Roundback Accoustic
-----Violino  III = Bluegrass Banjo

-------Viola    I = String Decay
-------Viola   II = String Tub
-------Viola  III = 80s Wave Synth

-Violincello    I = Fast Pad
-Violincello   II = Droplet Harp
-Violincello  III = Alien Lead

Violine e Cembalo = Basses


In the process as I neared completion, 
I occasionally found that, after I had done a SAVE
I then realized that I had DELETED a whole track.
So, by the time I had finished making this,
I had wished I had selected something else besides the mallets.
They were beginning to take their toll on my eardrums.

ALSO: When I was in high school, I bought a little book of Bach's 2 Part Inventions that also included the Brandenburg Concertos. I transcribed this particular tune as a piano piece. This one I played well over a thousand times and probably only got through it twice without making a mistake. As such, my mom estimates that number to be much more...poor thing.

Addendum:
I had just posted this on SC when I played it for my mom.
She passed away within a couple of weeks after that,
but she was never one to go on about these soundtracks I would make.
On this particular one though, for the first time ever,
she said, "Turn it up a little bit."

Now coming from her, that was high praise.

Brandenburg 3 Movement 1

The following is once again the source for this concerto:
[...... The Six Brandenburg Concertos
[...... and the Four Orchestral Suites
[...... in Full Score
[...... Published by Dover, 1976
[...... ISBN 0-486-23376-6
[...... Library of Congress Catalog Number 76-12016

To finish up on Concerto 3 
(except for the 2nd Movement...
..It is only 2 half notes sitting in a single measure...
...what’s that all about???)

I recorded this Concerto once upon a time on a minidisk back in 2000.
However, it was lost. So I tried to reproduce it once more.
I think I got pretty close.

Brandenburg 3 Movement 3

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
That I should say Goodnight
A Thousand Times Goodnight
Until it be the Morrow.

Remembrance

One topic of interest I am perennially attracted to 
is the study of consciousness.
I imagine that we all become aware of our universe 
on many planes of existence,
such that our individual physical bodies 
are but a momentary fluctuation of that awareness.

A recurring concept is one of always being 
on the threshold of a waking dream.
In building this composition, 
I was also reminded of the title of a song
written by one of my favorite masters, Johann Sebastian Bach:
“Wachet Auf”, or in English, “Wake Up”.
Alternatively, we have also called it “Sleepers Awaken”.

I wanted to create some new (to my ears) instruments,
that would seem to evoke a sense 
of just coming into that wakeful state,
and picking up on the theme of Bach’s melody, 
just as the song is ending.

I also wanted to try to alter the chords somewhat
to generate a set of harmonics,
which might correspond to that same mood of wakefulness.

In searching for an image for this composition,
this photograph, which seems so like a painting,
left me feeling unsure whether I was seeing reality or illusion.

Photo by: Kamala R Chakravarthy
https://www.photo.net/8445037#//Sort-Newest/All-Categories/All-Time/Page-2

Sleepers Awaken

Photography by:
Myles Tan
https://unsplash.com/@mylestan

When you were just kids,
and swung ever so high,
did you sometimes imagine
you could almost Kick the Sky?

Kick The Sky

Image Photo by:
Casey Horner
https://unsplash.com/photos/dWDjJ6AYMJ0

I had enjoyed hearing some of the great reverb used by
one of our excellent SoundCloud composers, 
Ricardo Da Silva:  https://soundcloud.com/hobbits-odyssey
he advised me on the Spaces 2 reverb from EastWest.

So, I took it for a test ride on this composition.

I started off with what I thought was an original idea,
but it occurred to me how much it kept feeling 
like it could be built on top of Vangelis's score, Alpha.

So, I decided to wander off into an homage of a scant segment of Alpha.

As I was finishing it off, the final chords sounded a lot like
Bach's Toccata in D minor,
...so what the heck...
Since the instrument I had built for this song 
sounded almost good enough to substitute for a baroque organ, 
I just went with it.

Maybe a dash of Ave Maria in a slightly different light, as well.

Signal To Alpha

Jesus Song

I actually had the opportunity to visit the tomb of Lazarus when I was 10 years old. I was spellbound. The tour exited the tomb and left me down there by myself. Then the guide shut the lights out...left me alone in the dark...and loudly commanded "LAZARUS...COME FORTH ! "... Oh, Come get me, Lord.

Lazarus Come Forth

Norse Mythology:

As the Greatest Warriors are slain, they step from this life to the next,
Where beyond the farthest horizon to the North lies Asgard.
In the midst of this Heroic abode stands the Great Hall of Valhalla.
As the Warriors enter through the multitude of Grand Gateways into Valhalla
they are heralded to join the Mightiest of their ancestors.


Photo by: Alexander Zelinskiy
https://www.photo.net/10988493#//Sort-Newest/All-Categories/All-Time/Page-1

Valhalla

A great big THANK YOU to https://soundcloud.com/wane-of-summer
for giving this SoundTrack a fantastic Tune Up.
Much appreciated, Sander.

++++++

Prepare to exit HyperDrive and drop to Warp
as we are now approaching M51...

We will shortly be passing through the Halo
and arcing past the core of the Parent Galaxy
for a brief viewing from the observation lounge.

While there, we will be recharging our energy matrix
and upgrading the spatial grid
for future core transports.

Please stay secured as we will resume HyperDrive
within moments of transit.
Enjoy the view.

Photo NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/messier-51-the-whirlpool-galaxy

This song begins and ends with a sampling 
of the radio frequencies emanating from the planet, Saturn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XktDGaQcpo

Whirlpool (REMASTERED by "Wane of Summer")

( REPOSTS  are  routed to Synthgrinder [REPOSTS] )
( https://soundcloud.com/user-813544615 )


++++. PROFILE NOTES ++++

Once a wannabe, not yet a has been.

It had been over a decade since I put together a song,
and for that matter basically walked away from music altogether.
Losing hope that I would ever have the time to put into music again,
I finally gave away my 3rd music studio.
I ran across SoundCloud around 2013,
and thought I might take what few songs I had recorded, 
and lay them to rest there.
And there they languished.

HOWEVER, around 2017 I went back to SoundCloud
and began listening a little more and a little more,
and actively taking a part in visiting the sites
of so many wonderful musicians and beautiful songs.
Also, more and more often I would discover that these artists
were blossoming everywhere around the world,
and most definitely worthy of high praise and compliments.

Then suddenly, these old dead soundtracks right here
began to have a bit of life breathed back into them.
From the kind words that began to come trickling in,
I thought, maybe, someday I might give this music thing a try again.

The thing that finally pushed me into action
was a particular SoundCloud artist…Sander Heerings,
AKA https://soundcloud.com/wane-of-summer
 

Not only was he encouraging,
but he began faithfully responding to a few questions,
then a barrage of them.

The final result seemed to be that after a couple of months,
the Old Grinder now has a 4th studio and, finally, a new song.
I hope there may be many more to come.

Thank you Sander, and to the multitude that have dropped in
to listen to these old songs, 
and most of all, for perking up my spirits.

Synthgrinder

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