Commercial Breakup

Tried using the 7 string for something other than metal.

From Scratch

Just wanted to see if I could replicate this and how long it would take. Not to bad, about 8 hours in total, definitely missed the mark on some of the stuff and it was fun.

Otherside(Silent Hill Cover)

I was really inspired by covering the Silent Hill song and tried using some of the production that I learned on an original. I was going for a Lo-Fi hip hop vibe and I think it ended up sounding like the closing credits from a 1970's Western.

Those Who Seek Fortification

 A little too long and I'm still learning how to work all the electronic tech into my style.  Still sounds like the soundtrack from a 90's syfy epic.

My Armour Is Clear

This is the last of an experiment with an older style of music that I tried to play around with. It was fun, and really I am stuck in the 90's so this suited me just fine. I'll be going back to experimenting with styles that I'm not familiar with and with different recording techniques, it was a fun little four'ai into an old familiar territory and I might try again in a few weeks.

Recovery of The Lost

I don't exactly know what this style of music is classified as and it seems to be my default sound.  Anyway, fun song to play/write and I'm always learning something new.

You Fished in My Pond

I just randomly put a guitar in open E major and started experimenting. This is really fun to play; I hope it's fun to listen too as well!

You're Standing On My Foot

New virtual instrument software, I don't think that there are many spookier sounds than a dulcimer and a mellotron; maybe an oboe. This is apologetically inspired by  Akira Yamaoka.

Horror Is What You Make It

Sort of a weird experiment. I had one guitar in D Standard and another in E Standard with a capo on the 10th fret and I was kind of going for a 12 string sound on the sympathetic strings. I think the effects made the guitars sound to different for it to work out and it sounds pretty trippy in spite of the intended effect not happening.

I Shouldn't Be This High

This is one my favorite songs that I have ever written.  It is really fun to play and I just hit the zone when I was recording/mixing this one. 

Nothing particularly different about what I did on this one, it's just standard tuning and a chill vibe. One thing that I did on this track that I had never done  before is double up the solos and panned it left & right; that was a pain in the arse but I really dig the effect and have used it several times since then.

Hopefully somebody else enjoys it as much as I do. Thanks for listening!

PixieStix & Nitrous

I originally wrote this when I was down on my luck about 16 years ago; I had an acoustic guitar and Fruity Loops 3 and that was it. As my fortunes have improved I tend to retry this song every few years to gauge my  progress as a musician and use the new tools at my disposal.

This is the first time that I have tried writing lyrics/singing in at least 25 years. Half my vocal cords were paralyzed during a surgery and I have a hard time controlling what's left of my voice...please be gentle!

The song is about the frustration of being treated for chronic medical conditions.

Great Sunshine(2025)

Wimped out and took the vocal version down; I didn't enjoy listening to it and I can't imagine anyone else did. Hopefully the instrumental version sits a little better.

Brisk

I tried to use the 2nd guitar for ambience instead of a pad effect on the keys; limited success.  Overall not a bad song, the synth was fun.

Kidney Shot

I love the original version of this song. I had every intention of trying to sing it and it was hopelessly out of my range. This is a transfer from my previous account, it was my first song to ever break 1K streams and that was before I had a pro account. Somebody reached out to me and let me know that they had been using the song for Karaoke; I think that's about as good a compliment as you can receive on a cover song.

Thank You My Twilight(The Pillows)

It's actually really hard to record slap and tapping with the bass, it's usually is so overdriven and clipping to the point that I just give up. This time I just commit to putting it in and making it sound good. I definitely like how it turned out.

Passing Fancy

I haven't written any new metal in a while. I like adding in Orchestra pieces behind metal tunes; it really sounds epic.

Don't Get Any On You

I tend to gravitate to this style of trippy acoustic with funky bass and ambient keys. It's not a downer and it's not too in your face so I enjoy just chilling with the music. Hopefully it's good background music to just hang out with.

Done With It

It does the "wheedely-wheedely" thing on the guitar. 

Decide

This started out as a creepy sounding song and I wanted to experiment with the drum track a bit so I swapped in a hip hop beat. After that the bass line didn't fit anymore so I changed it to more of a walking/swing and it again sounds like an old western film score.  I need to diversify!

Indivisible Invincible

I'm enjoying working with Hip Hop beats lately, it's fun to layer sounds over them.  This one ended up a lot creepier sounding than I had originally intended and I think it works.

Ghost Faced Carnival

I recorded the vocals for this one after the 3rd or 4th surgery trying to repair a broken neck that I suffered in a car accident. They damaged my vocal cords and weren’t sure if my voice was going to go back to normal; it didn’t but at least it didn’t stay this raspy. Overall I like the cover, sounds kind of creepy like this!

Mothers Little Helper(Rolling Stones Cover)

Another in the "Those Who Seek..." series. Angrier emotions are easier; for confrontation I just imagined music playing during a video game boss fight.

Those Who Seek Confrontation

I'm really digging working with these elctro drum beats right now; I'm probably going to try to force myself to do something different sounding just so that I don't get stuck in a rut. I really enjoyed this song, it has a kind of "comforting" sound to it.  I also go my dream guitar recently and wanted to put it through it's paces; that's why this track is so solo heavy. Thanks for listening!

Conjoined

Kind of theatrical power metal type stuff. I'm feeling stuck in a rut again so I'm going to start writing some weird stuff to get me out of my comfort zone again; hopefully it bears some fruit.

Peru

I couldn't find my groove on this song, I had all sorts of ideas and every time I tried something it just didn't seem to fit right. I think the bones of the song were good enough and I might go back at some point and try some better solos and the ambient pads in the background.

The Crushing Gear

Yep...still stuck on this style. I've started several cover tunes to try and get me out of my comfort zone and hopefully I'll have one of those completed by the end of the week. I did try dropping the guitars in this song down to D Standard for a deeper tone and then let the synths carry the higher register. 

Another Creep

I'm just going to be hanging with this style a little longer; I think I found a niche that I wasn't even looking for and I'm enjoying this. I will absolutely still be putting up the random stuff that I always play and I don't want to miss out on trying to refine this style a little bit more before I step away.

All Ships Are Ghost Ships(If You Wait Long Enough)

Just trying something different. It's inspired by the music that I heard growing up and my own weird little electronic style. I enjoyed this one.

Dubh

Another electronic/ethnic sounding song. I'm trying to flush out a new style and I think I'm finding a bit of a niche that I'm enjoying. This one is in open C tuning, I like open tunings on the acoustic because you can really pound away on the strings and it's hard to make it sound bad.

Liath

I recorded this about 10 years ago as a gag for Christmas, I just remembered about it and figured that I would post it in the interest of being festive. This is the music that I grew up with and it was one of the first covers that I ever attempted entirely solo.  Merry Christmas!

Oi To The World(The Vandals Cover)

I'm probably going to delete this one, it ended up way too long. It was definitely fun to write, it's in double drop D and it's like a minor diatonic scale(I think) so it wasn't as easy as just going on auto-pilot with the major pentatonic. Anyway I guess I'll see if anyone is brave enough to sit through a 5 minute song to see if I should pull it down or not. Thanks for listening!

Always A Nightmare

This one was really fun to write and really hard to mix. The different instruments were really fighting each other in the mix and it took me 2 days to get them to sit properly. Anyway I like the energy of this track and I hope someone out there enjoys it!

Hunting Dragonflies

I’ve been writing, playing and performing music for over 30 years. I retired from performing music when the quarantine hit because of multiple disabilities and nobody wants to see a crippled old guy trying to hop around on stage. 

I have had several songs featured on soundtracks for independent movies and thats what inspired the name of this project. I will work with other musicians remotely anytime the opportunity presents itself, so never hesitate to ask(that’s where the syndicate part of the name comes from). I’m open to any style of music, any contribution to the music that you want to try and if you hear something you like it should be free to download; I just ask that if you’re considering using anything for a soundtrack that you contact me first.

Thanks for stopping by the page, listening and participating in independent music.

The Soundtrack Syndicate

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