C4MERAS

This is a reworking of 'Couped Up' from the 2000 album "Monte Cristo Gamble' (sic).  I also wanted this one to have vocals but had no idea whaqt i was doing back in 2000.  So instead it was a running cycle of stuff i took in and out of the live recording (Ableton style before Ableton) - using the on board effects of my brand new Roland Mixer that I'd just got.

Hold Tight (Couped Up II)

Another day, another remake! haha.  This one was the first track on the 2004 album 'A Quiet Place'.  That's my first ever recording of me playing the acoustic guitar.  

The OG's nice, but a sprawling, meandering piece with little form.  Thanks to some perfect vox from loopcloud, it's taken proper shape into the third slignhtly folky track published in a row!!

Alone Again (We Rely On Love)

A 2025 remake of an odd little acidy instrumental from 2006's Sonambulism.  I suspect I was listening to hardfloor at the time!  Tidied it up, mixed so it doesn't distort -  and added some vox / vox effects.  but mainly kept it as a groove.  
not sure what i was hoping, planning or actually leaving behind back in 2006.  but it's a fairly common theme.  One of the first tunes I fell in love with was Ride's Leave Them All Behind.  This sounds nothing like that - but would have been influenced in the title!!

Leave It All Behind II

This is a reworking of the track 'Lighter Fluid' from 2006's Sonambuilism.  Th original is pretty much intact - except cut down from the sprawling 9 and half minutes - meandering trip hop with no hook or direction!!  Here we've got some dance vocals meant for about 135 BPM, feeling much more thoughtful and intimate when brought in at 100 bpm. 

echoes of imogen heap's hide and seek in here - not just because those words are in the vocals. though no vocoder has been used.  just waves harmonies, which is damn excellent.

Better Stay Away From Me

icarus

This is a 2025 remake of the track 'Roger Williams' from Sonamnulism in 2006.  The original name came from spending 2 weeks in New York and living in that hotel in Midtown.  I'd been to NYC once before only for a couple of days, so this was awesome.  8-9 years later, I very nearly moved there to live.  Everything was organised, and then I pulled out at the last minute after my salary was being cut to lower than in Singapore - with a massive hike in taxes.
anyhow, back to this track - it was written when i got to London.  A long ambient dub fest, where I even reecording my own singing on it.  which is very rare for that time.  
everything's pretty much kept here.  added some female vocals (giving the new track name).  some synths remapped from Atmosphere that I used back in 2006 to Omnisphere.  a touch of extra percussion and drum fills, a proper mix and master.  and here we go!
Cover art courtesy of AI image reworked in Pixlr app.

Under My Magic Spell

Three demo tracks showcasing the sounds of "Expressions", a new synthesizer patch library by Tim Dale for Omnisphere 2 (bonus content for Unify from PlugInGuru).

"Plucked From The Air" by Tim Dale (Expressions Demo)

"Nearing Absolute Zero" by Tim Dale (Expressions Demo)

"Pressed To Express" by Tim Dale (Expressions Demo)

A relentless bassline blasts through haunting synth melodies and pads, punctuated by thunderous drums.

Trap Demon

A remake of the final track from 'A Quiet Place' from back in 2004.  Another one where I made a mistake on the key signatiure, yet put in vocals that sounded pretty good, especially with waves harmonizer.  which, when it does sound good, sounds very good.  but can be god awful too if things aren't clicking.

originally called upside down because I felt like it started with an end, then went into a main bit.  but most of that start has been trimmed out for this remake.  it was 2 mins of ambient guitar playing.  no doubt I thought I was channel Pink Floyd on the insteller highway to the orb.  but it just sounded like i'd taken a few too many.....!

Upside Down II

Another remake from Sonambulism.  This time, the first track.
and lucky days - 2 songs in one.  possibly 3, if you include the scractchedvinyl interlude.
the original had the islamic call to prayer on it.  the updated version goes all in.   
what starts as a charming song about having no regrets for anything you've done for love.
it decensds into anger about a relationship - boiling over from beruit to bagdhad.  
though Banjul is actually in Africa. 

Banjul

Another remakke in 2025.  This time a track from 'It takes more work...' from 2009. The original had some lovely ice-crush reverb distortion - that I just couldn't recreate.  
But adding the \Korg M1 House Piano to this gives it a cool late 90s vibe (nothing new there then!)
the lyrics (from loopcloud) seem to suggest that the world's a mess.  So seemed kinda appropriate.
the title comes from 185 Park Street in London, where I worked at iris before going off to Asia.  The building had a nonsense floor plan and even a area called 'the suicide room' (no windows).  it's been torn down now for overpriced, under-spaced executive flats. Plus ca change. 

One Hundred and Eighty Five

Remake of the 2006 track "Fck Fashion".  With added vocals, middle 8 and jazzy breakdown!
this is not an anti-fashion song.  its a song about fashion for f**king.  or so i hear.

Fck Fashion

She's Gone

This is another 2025 remake of a track from 2006's Sonambulism.  
In this case, a track that certainly wasn't ever finished.  but one that had some uplifting / mournful strings as it switches from C# Min to E.  
now in this remake, it almost sounds like a mixtape of 4 different tracks put together one after the next... as it's now inherited sections in Amin, A maj and B min.  
somehow, i like it.   there's a driving techno beat, and a remarkable Indie style chorus that comes in about half way and then does it's chorusy repeating thing.
one day i'll write a punk song with 3 chords.  that day is not today.

oh - and possibly the most awesome cover art.  so inspiring from the hallucination of AI -  it influenced me to put in samples of rivers and racing cars into the track.


Long Time To Notice II

The original Homage was a. ... erm.. homage to a certain manchester band who single-handedly turned a load of indie disco kids onto dance.  my sister Caroline, and therefore me, her younger brother sneaking into the Cube or the Agincourt in Camberley.  

when Dave and I did the original back in 2004ish, I also did a remix.  Which Dave claimed was better.  Having done the rework of the original, here's the rework of the remix. Copy of a copy of copy of copy.

and even more, because now it's a homage to more than one song.  another, slightly older manchester band who were also able to shift from indie to dance via Ibiza - taking in the England football team on the way.  You'll recognise the kick drum and the synth bass sound.  

now, i think this remix is better than all the others.  original?  no.  makes you wanna dance?  absolutely.  

Blue Gold (Homage Redubbed)

Check out my gun reviews on YouTube, featuring my beats: https://youtube.com/@hipstertactical?si=vsl2CL9q8oO54x7k


mattdonahue99@Gmail.com

All tracks composed on FLStudio.

30+ years of writing music.  now back to lots of hardware to complement the soft synths.  And of course, the compulsion to add the kitchen sink, fridge and oven is still there!

Kit:
Logic 
Cubase
Ableton Live
Reason
Expose
Loopcloud
Arturia V collection, Pigments
Arturia microfreak, minifreak, matrixbrute, minibrute, Spark 
Roland boutique Juno, Jupiter, JP3, 808 and 909
Arturia Audiofuse
Focusrite Scarlett
Roland Jupiter Xm, JD-Xi, Gaia SH-01 MDC-1 Dance Module
Korg Modwave, microKorg, MicroKorg XL, korg ER-1, korg 05RW, kaoss pad
Novation ultranova, mininova, a-station, Circuit Tracks
Access Virus-b
Beringher Deep Mind 12, UB-Xa, TD-3, Crave, MS-1
Nord Stage EX
Sequential Prophet 2000
Waldorf Pulse
M-audio Venom
Native instruments kontakt, massive, reaktor, FM8, battery, guitar rig, traktor, maschine, absynth, and the rest of the ultimate collection 
Spectrasonics Omnisphere
Spitfire Albion 
Aria orchestra 
Softube Parallels
Waves Gold and a lot of their plug ins. Abbey Road TG, brauer motion, butch vig vocals, ovox, flow motion
Isotope ozone
Sugar Bytes effectrix, looperator, turnado, factory, cyclop, obscurium 
Audio damage dubstation, panstation
AAS lounge lizard, strum, chromophone
UVI relay 
Fender Stratocaster 
Schecfer Diamond Electric 
Line6 Pod Guitar Mukti Effects 
Boss guitar multi effects and various other pedals 
Peavey Bass 
Yamaha DTX electronic drum kit 
Alesia drum pads 
Stanton turntables

Purchase Beats
@mobmeetup | 📷@prodmku
https://www.beatstars.com/projectmku
https://www.youtube.com/@PRODMKU
DMs always open
ALWAYS STRIVE FOR GREATNESS

Amateur songwriter/musician originally from Texas now living in Virginia thru parts of North Carolina. Don't ask.

My story:

I got somewhat into recording in the mid 80's briefly with a Tascam Porta One, but used it mostly as a scratch pad while writing songs. When the 90's hit, life hit, and all this stuff took a back seat for the next 25+ years. 

For therapeutic reasons, and the pandemic as well (having to spend more time at home), I decided it was time (2020) to get back into it, and I absolutely love it!

I like all kinds of music from pop, country, electronic, rock, folk, big band, orchestral, blue-grass, americana, etc. I'm really all over the map. As a kid I religiously watched anything relating to the NFL (yes I was a Cowboys fan) because of the music of NFL Films. I still listen to it today.

Some artists and bands I have liked over the years are Collective Soul, Cheap Trick, The Stones (of course), Waylon Jennings, Travis Tritt, John Mellencamp, and Glen Campbell. I even liked KISS as kid in the 70's. Of course when they got into disco and then hair-metal, that was an ender for me but I still like their stuff in the 70's quite a bit.

I got "more" into music at about 14 (1980). That summer Eddie Rabbit released an album named "Horizon" (which I played endlessly) and about a month later AC/DC released "Back in Black". Now that's a combination for you! While they were miles apart sonically, they had one thing in common: good, catchy songs.

With all that said, the one band that I've always loved, and just struck a chord with me, is The Who. Not sure how to explain it. I "discovered" them well after their heyday of course. Maybe it's the anthemic nature of their songs? Maybe it's the creative genius of their chief songwriter/guitarist (my opinion)? Maybe it's the sound they produced as a 3-piece band, where they didn't really have a "lead" guitarist -- their bassist essentially filled that role (and quite admirably too)? Maybe the drummer, who played everything as one big fill? I don't know but I thought they were fantastic. Still do.

-Frank Wood

New tracks tagged #Omnisphere