september theme ... GOSSIP

[mystahr]

I went through many a thoughts to come up with a fitting tribute and in the end went for which I thought most apt; purity of sound

Rest in peace

[mystahr]

And now I can finally listen to all these allready posted possible beauties

[emdot_ambient]

Phew! Another entry complete. Not 100% happy with the mix . . . but after realizing I missed out on a whole extra minute of song, and having no will whatsoever to extend my already abbreviated song--"What?! 4:00 minute maximum!? Why did I think it was 3:00 minutes?! No way I'm going to program another minute for 13 tracks!"--I just kind of gave in

I chose to focus my tribute on the explosion of creativity that came in the wake of Moog's introduction of commercially available synths. I could have done some prog rock, but that genre was already underway and would have existed without Moog's work. Yeah, the Minimoog was THE signature lead synth sound in prog, but if synths weren't available, something else--like the already ubiquitous B3--would have taken its place. I could have done--and thought about doing it--the Switched On thing, but in the end that was simply a first, and most obvious, way of using synths. It was a very short-lived fad, if a delightful one.

No, I wanted something that displayed the wild chances that some musicians were inspired to take simply because a new musical technology was available. I needed something electronic, original and totally new (at the time).

Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and their like came to mind--and they're a much deeper influence on my work--but they came a little later and are fairly well known/represented. I needed something rare and unique, something that showed the blossom of creativity but something that existed only briefly and on the fringe . . .

Tonto's Expanding Head Band.

Perfect. They built and used the most unique and excessive modular system ever. They went on to engineer and program for the likse of Stevie Wonder, even taking a Grammy for their engineering. But their own music is almost completely unknown to anyone other than serious music geeks. And yet it was so good.

I hope I did Tonto justice, as I hope my tribute to Dr. Moog is a worthy one. We will certainly miss him.

[emdot_ambient]

emdot_ambient – don’t know the original of this…not that keen on the composition…a sort of 12 bar blues for synths I guess, but it sounds great.

Never thought of it that way, 'cause to my ears it doesn't sound too blusy, but I suppose structurally you're right. This is precisely the way the song was written, though I abbreviated the ending.

Thanks for the review

[emdot_ambient]

Cybernaut - Emdot_Ambient:
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Oh yes, vintage synth music! Very enjoyable, nice use of the legato effect. Great sounds... Pity about the fade out.

Thanks! I wondered how long it would take for someone to mention the fade out. That's actually the way the original ended . . . on that same note of resolution during the fade out. Of course that moment came 2+ minutes later but I wanted to preserve it, as I always kind of enjoyed the way the song slipped away from under you at the very same time it was coming to a natural ending.

So, yeah, that was intentional not becuase I had to trim a longer song. I don't have the song completed any farther than what you hear. And if/when I extend it to its full and original length . . . it'll end pretty much the same as this

But I agree . . . a lovely bit o'classic synth music.

Note that every synth used, with the exception of the Triangle I, is a Moog emulation. But DAMN! I simply adore the old Triangle I for doing leads. I think it sounds very Moogesque. The MinimougeVA is also incredibly nice. And Benedict's Molder does some lovely stuff as well . . . though I think it looks pretty ugly. Sorry, Benedict!

[mystahr]

wheeeps; only posted this morning and three reviews allready

Mystahr – now the opening drone note of this really does sound like the start of a BoC track. Nice if you like a bit of minimilist ambient

I could well have been influenced by them as I listened a lot of BoC the past few days. True; it is quite minimalistic (which I personally prefer) and perhaps I should have mentioned that

I really like the sounds and the patterns you use, my only problem with this track is that there just isn't happening enough in it for me.

Difficult to talk about this. To me it takes too long to come to some development, sorry. Not my sort of coffee.

Actually the odd thing in my mind was that when working on last months contest track I felt as if it was way longer then 2 mins, where I felt that with this track it was over before I knew it

My aim was to go for purity of sounddevelopement where the minimalistic approach for me was only natural, especially given that we had 4 instead of 2 minutes.

Now this month should be a perfect opportunity for myself to pick up the reviewing again; I hope I can dedicate enough time to it

[emdot_ambient]

14. Emdot Ambient - Cybernaut (3:00)
A bluesy night in Cybernesia. A little bit too static for me though. Ok I hear at 1:56 you transposed it, but from there I would have wished there would something more happen to the whole arrangement.

Guess you're not downloading these from the Submission's page or else you'd know that the composition ain't my fault Maybe that's why some people like to do covers, they can opt out of defending the composition itself.

Yeah, this is a cover. And it's a pretty straight-ahead cover. I didn't muck around with the overall composition except to have shortened it by 2 minutes. The original may have had another key change later in the composition but it was a pretty steady-state affair.

So I guess the questions, then, would be did I do the instrumentation/mix and all that well . . . and did I sucessfully capture the Moogish spirit?

Thanks for the listen!

[AndreasE]

Thanks very much for your comments, Diek and thomekk.

[thomekk]

Guess you're not downloading these from the Submission's page or else you'd know that the composition ain't my fault Maybe that's why some people like to do covers, they can opt out of defending the composition itself.

Hi Emdot,
I did not read your post carefully enough, sorry for that! Wow, never heard of Tonto, what became of the members?
You're absolutely right, the author of the song is to blame in any case
But I didn't knew the original I just wrote my small impressions down. Maybe another thing is the arrangement, to cover can also mean to change significant things, anyways I want to do a Bill Haley-Cover ("Alligator") in minor sometimes (don't know if I'll manage it)..

[emdot_ambient]

Guess you're not downloading these from the Submission's page or else you'd know that the composition ain't my fault Maybe that's why some people like to do covers, they can opt out of defending the composition itself.

Hi Emdot,
I did not read your post carefully enough, sorry for that! Wow, never heard of Tonto, what became of the members?
You're absolutely right, the author of the song is to blame in any case

Not to worry. It's my fault for choosing the song I cover

Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff went on to have successful careers in audio engineering/synth programming and performing for a lot of important R&B artists. Stevie Wonder heard the album this song came from and was significantly impressed, so he hooked up with the members of the band and had them work on most of his important early synth driven stuff. They even won a Grammy for their engineering on one of Stevie's songs.

Just look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonto%27s_ ... _Head_Band and you'll see they've had a pretty good career, if not one in the lime light.

[Sepheritoh]

Thanks for all these new reviews. Much appreciate3d guys

Sepheritoh Shadows In Our Minds
For me this song is divided into two pieces; the guitar and the rest. I like the instrumentation and ideas, specially when it comes more epic, but I don´t like the guitar parts. I'm sorry, surely question of likings.

I understand your point and appreciate and I understand why you say that about the guitars. Thanks for the possitive comments about the rest.

9. Sepheritoh - Shadows in our minds (3:37)
Think that the guitar(s) are out of timing only needs a little time to get used to it. Sounds like an outro of an epic story! Probably Moog's
.

Yeas, an outro to Moog's epic it is. A goodbye to someone who changed the world and will be remembered for it for the good.

sepheritoh carved from mortality, a procession winds through the hills enraptured, opening souls to outer fascinations, beating rhythms of spiritual measure - a passing marked by forlorn carnival, yet one that will stir hope.

I love your reviews thanks. Cinimatic, they way I love my music.

Sepheritoh -- Shadows in our minds: I always find your works to have a certain uniqueness that isn't always present in orchestral works found here. Despite what's been said about the guitars I like this. I think you've hit a valid sentiment, and after all you did add some Moog sounds!

Thanks. You say something here that realy made me feel good. Not the fact that you liked it - which I appreciate too - but that you find some uniquness in my work. That is something I strive for and do not really know if I have achieved that fully yet in everything I do. It really feels great if something is starting to work. Think I'll go fill my glass of wine on that.That Moogy sounds yes. Good old GTG synths they are. Think I noticed a thread about them being updated lately. Maybe I should do some surfing and downloads the updates.

[emdot_ambient]

...you find some uniquness in my work.

It's true and I've noted it before. Pretty much anything you do I can tell it's your work without even looking at the mp3 player. That's not something I can say about most people primarily using symphonic instrument sample libraries. I own GPO but really haven't taken the time to get to know it. I find the idea of even starting rather daunting. So hats off to you that you've dove in, and even more so for finding your own voice in it.

[nuisance sonore]

And then there was Moog - Ezy Ryder:
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I don't really like the lead sounds; perhaps they could have used some doubling or so to sound fatter. For the rest, I love it. It's cool to hear a different rhythm and it has a very mysterious athmosphere. Very nice!

Well, the first lead is exactly what I had in mind, but I understand peoples liking it or not is a matter of taste and it's good to read how other feel about it. The second lead sound is there by default because I was not able to make the sound I had in my head for it, so I chose that out of desperation. Thank you for the reviews.

Ezy Rider - And Then There Was Moog

The rhythm the really makes this track stand out and be noticed giving it an interesting feel.

"interesting feel" is what I tried to make with this, so if I achieved that I'm happy. Thank you.

Ezy Ryder And Then There Was Moog
Sad feel intro. I like the strings in 2nd block. The structure becomes a little obvious past the half song.

Well, I'm a simple guy, I can't make complicated music, and probably my music will always be obvious so in my case not a bad thing. Hope you enjoyed nevertheless, and thank you for all the reviews, I really enjoyed reading them.

15. Ezy Ryder - And then there was Moog (2:19)
This has a song structure. Could imagine some small choir-voices here and there to spice it up!

Really? I'm surprised, the idea I started with was to include few but well defined instruments for the feel I was going for. Maybe I will try it sometime and maybe learn something new. Thank you.

ezy ryder edged with many crystals, an undulation serenades a splendor of contrasts, rhythm transfixes and near citrus flavours exude, whetting the appetite...for its own gradual majesty.

I'm not too sure what it all means, but I quite enjoyed reading that about something I made, also enjoyed reading your other reviews. Thank you.

Ezy Ryder -- And Then There Was Moog: No, you didn't quite make the prog sound of the 70's, but you made something pretty unique. Love the intro. Sounds like this song would have needed another 4 minutes to really "happen." Never really quite gels into a real resolution . . . but I think you're onto something here.

You've read this like an open book. I will confess that this piece was supposed to be a lot longer as it was originally planned, maybe not 4 minutes longer but close to 2 minutes; but I wasted so much time, hours really, trying to make the second lead sound without behing able to that I got totally fed up with it, chose a preset, wrote a very quick ending, posted it and that was that. Listening to it now after a week or so, I'm not totally dipleased with it so it's not a total loss. Thank you for the reviews.



A special thank you to herodotus who helped me identify the time signature for this thing, man you really saved me from bad headache.

[emdot_ambient]

You've read this like an open book.

I have certain powers. I use them for good.

...Listening to it now after a week or so, I'm not totally dipleased with it so it's not a total loss.

I completely agree. Not a loss by a long shot.

[Scoops]

Scoops -- The Telephone Call: How did you come up with this? It's really clever. Not so terribly overtly funny . . . well, yeah, it's funny, but more fascinating than anything. Kudos. Really nice, ingenious bit o' work!

Why thank you very much

Putting this all together was all by mistake, random chance, and mathematical formula.

When I first read what the topic was going to be this month I thought this would be cool. So I sat down and created a rather eloborate ensemblem in reaktor. I use it as my "rhythm" instrument. The harmonice structure that this instrument plays is actually a tone row. Its hard to tell, but it is there. At this point i didnt have a clue as to where it was going. I put in a High Hat and a snare to give it the sense of a clock ticking. I added some absynth rhythms to soften the drum track. Some ideas were starting to formulate. While I was looking for a synth to play a melody, I came across a patch that sounded like a phone ringing. From there I went to a musical Colaboration board I frequent, and asked people to submit vocal takes on them answering the phone. I didnt know what I was going to get. The takes I used were from a guy (Jeff Smith) that admittedly did this to clown around with the idea. This is where the funny element come in. I just enhanced it. From there, everthing just seemed to fall together.

Once again thanks for your nice review.

Scoops