Second Helping

A Steampunk Romance and Adventure - This set is where I try to express a steampunk story through music. I plan to have between 6 and 10 pieces that are connected by a common theme; the proverbial steampunk airship, alone, in a fleet, in battle, damaged, under repairs, and at home in the sky... Stay tuned, for this is a work in progress. No telling what changes may occur as the Airships Suite takes form.
1st change: I'm writing a script to add voice acting into some of the pieces.
2nd change: I found someone with a far better voice than mine to be the Narrator.
3rd change: More of the script has taken shape. As each song gets a finished script, I will be posting said scripts for the voice actors to more easily access. The order the songs occur in will be adjusted to better tell the story.
4th change: I'm still working on that...

The 10,000 Airships Suite

Displaced Detective Suite

Never Bank On A Learning Curve

This is a mood piece arranged for String Ensemble, It is dedicated to Stephanie Osborn and her Displaced Detective sci-fi mystery series.

27th Shot - Meditations Of A Displaced Detective -  In The Key Of A Minor.MP3

The personal theme for Skye Chadwick, from Stephanie Osborn's "Displaced Detective" series of novels.

29th Shot - Unlimited Skye.MP3

34th Shot - Highly Energetic Particles Boogie.MP3

31st Shot - Nature Walk.MP3

You didn't know there were cowboys in Vienna in the 1600s? Ask PDQ Bach...

32nd Shot - Vienna Cowboys.MP3

Set This Place On Fire.MP3

Indistinguishable From Magic

Two Become One

Rescue At The Falls

Highly Energetic Particles Boogie

I Thought It Was A UFO

Moriarty

30+ years ago I did the garage band thing. These are solo compositions, duo jams, or with a group. Some are MIDI pieces, some are live recordings of jams. It'll be pretty obvious which ones are live and which ones are MIDI. All are basically OK, but not great works. Some of the sounds are quite raw. It's difficult to play and work a mixer at the same time, LOL!

The Lone Space Ranger

This is the overall theme of the Suite. Each instrument in the orchestration serving as a metaphor for the complex machinery so beloved by steampunks. No other vehicle, not even our beloved locomotives, express the essence of steampunk as well as does an airship. Airships are a thing of beauty, grace, and genteel power, drifting along the crowded steampunk skies. Shipping, passengers, military, explorers, pirates - All are in love with these mighty behemoths of the air.

11th Shot - 10,000 Airships Suite: Part 1 - The Calm Before The War

Currently the 2nd movement of the "Airships Suite," this track conveys the raw energy and sheer power represented by a steampunk airship. The listener is swept along by the drumbeat while being soothed by the civilized culture represented in the string section. High Society and Working Class go hand in hand to create a steampunk culture, much like the drums and synth sequence work together to imply the titanic machinery working in the background to power the airship's headlong rush through the air.

12th Shot - 10,000 Airships Suite: Part 2 - Driving Through The Skies

The 3rd song of the Airships Suite. As of tonight I was finally able to break the 8 to 10 instrument track barrier. This one has 15 tracks so far - Which leaves room for one track to hold the planned spoken word voice acting parts that I'm writing.

13th Shot - 10,000 Airships Suite: Part 3 - Bulling Through The Thunderstorm

My first attempt to add the needed narrator part to the song. Since this was recorded tonight, I have interviewed someone with a far better voice than mine for the Narrator part. A replacement file will be uploaded once he has time to record the lines.

11th Shot - 10,000 Airships Suite: Part 1 - The Calm Before The War (with narration by me)

A fleet gradually comes together, then rushes off on a vital mission.

15th Shot - 10,000 Airships Suite: Part 4 - Assemble The Fleet!

16th Shot - WTF? - Rednecks Can't Groove! (Yes F* We Can!)

Too right, but that don't make it a wrong...

17th Shot - New World, Old Worlds

This one was *hard* to do. I kept adding & deleting instrument tracks until I wound up with something far simpler than the original had been before the final mixdown. I like it, quite a lot, and I can even hear lyrics *gradually* writing themselves for it. Not sure the lyrics won't suck, but I won't know until I dream them into being. :) All in all, a good night's work.

19th Shot - Drifting With The Clouds

Not a bad composition, but I'm not completely satisfied with the mix. I think I can tweak it into a slightly better balance.

20th Shot - 10,000 Airships Suite: Part 5 - Exploring Exotic Lands

This one is a rattlesnake. Dunno *where* it sprang from. Nor whom it seems to be springing towards. But it *does* seem to be a toe-tapper.

21st Shot - Hold My Beer And Watch This Stuff...

Don't know quite where this came from, but here it is, LOL! 

22nd Shot - Nice And Easy Does It

I think this one is too short, but after an hour of adding and then deleting extra bits... Well, I think it just *wants* to be short. It's only 8 instrument tracks deep: Drums, Bass, Sequencer, Sound Effects, and 4 guitars. 8-bar verses with 4-bar choruses, for 6 repeats, plus the intro and outro. Roughly 2 and a half minutes.

23rd Shot - Atlanta Virtue

Keyboard, of Bitey Little Blighters fame, wanted to do a prog-rock album. So I helped a little. More to follow...

Lazy Days In Catnip Haze

Just something I came up with tonight while I waited on a project to dry enough to go to the next stage of completion.

Watching Paint Dry

A quick trip through the stratosphere at Mach 8

SR-72 Mk 2018-01

This is the short, 3 minute version of my previous upload. It proved to be quite a learning experience to cut the original piece down to this length. Enjoy!

26th Shot B - Supermoon 06-22-2013

I should update this, since my first three CDs have been released! I'm using a POD service called Create Space, which has a very good reputation. Downloads are available on my Bandcamp page. reorganized the set list here to reflect which songs appear on the CD.
As for my bio, that still stands: I'm a Science-Fiction writer, but between stories I like to pretend that I'm a musician. Got a problem with that? :) Actually, I'm a writer, musician, poet, lyricist, artist, gardener, carpenter, plumber, Universal Uncle, husband, father, &amp; Redneck Farm-Boy. I live in the Southeastern US, but have friends &amp; family all over the world.
 All right, a short bio – Since it was requested of me, I'll throw a few words at the page and see what sticks.
I'm currently rapidly approaching my 60s and enjoy a wide range of musical genres. My musical creativity seems to swing from Fusion Jazz to Rock to Marching Band, to Classical, and through a lot of odd-ball corners in between. Back in the late '70s to mid '80s a guitar-playing friend of mine talked me into recording his compositions, and later learning Bass to accompany him. He moved away in the early '80s and I began to explore the local Garage Band scene. I learned quite a lot during both periods, eventually setting up a home recording studio in my apartment and playing host to a series of very talented amateurs who dropped by several times a week. By 1985, I got married and was forced to sell off 90% of the instruments and equipment I'd accumulated. After I got divorced in 1990, computers and the Internet evolved, and I turned my hand to creative writing, but kept an interest in making music by exploring several music writing programs as they appeared.
Over the years I've tried to strike a balance between writing fiction and making music. I like to think that wherever a muse leads me, I'll follow. I'm looking forward to seeing the future unfold.
Dan

vila01

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