SUBWAY TO SATURN - Album of original tracks created as a personal tribute to the music of Vangelis.

[ecamburn]

@ChameleonMusic.
I listened to a couple of the pieces. These are really nicely structured and produced. Kudos. I take it you're a keyboard player.
- Late night memories of blue. Dig the keyboard sound. It sounds like you layered a couple of sounds together. Nice peaceful, mystical vibe in a blues context.
- Images of a childhood that never was. What an evocative title. Love the LFO driven sounds. I really like the warbly sounds. Interesting move to go from the dark spacey vibe to the kidlike piano motif. Really clever.
- Tanzen in der kathederale. I could picture this as a soundtrack to something. The organ was great on this. Again the warbly sounds. Love it.

[ChameleonMusic]

correct capitalization it would say: Tanzen in der Kathedrale.

Done! Absolutely no idea why I did that...my wife speaks pretty decent German as well...thankfully you spotted it first!

To be honest, the piece left me a bit perplexed.

Good! that was sort of the intention with this one...to make people think 'what the hell'!

The organ sounds really good (although I find the mixed vocals and strings underneath to be superfluous)

I have a version with just the organ - I'll revisit it. I have been in two minds about pure organ or not...can't actually remember why I added the extra layers!

It's not voice / strings by the way...just a few layers of pure analogue synthesis.

Organ is the main one (they have a 'choir' organ as well) in St. Nicholas’ Church, Tallin, Estonia.

The part with the jumping basses and the synths doesn't really blend with the rest for me.

Fair enough - it is quite a switch in style, mood and instrumentation...it's meant to be the ''Tanzen'' part with the Organ bit being the ''Kathedrale''! There are deliberate musical links between the different sections but they are a bit tenuous to be honest!

For me it would probably work better as a pure organ work.

That's how it all began about 4 years ago and then I just left it in a folder! Now you've reminded me, I think I will try and finish off the pure organ version...it's about 4 mins long, but still needs a few extra drafts to sort out some issues with flow!

Thanks for the detailed, honest feedback, Thomas...always useful and appreciated.

[Bansaw]

I was actually wondering a couple of weeks ago "whats happened to Mark?", as I've not seen you here in a while.
Anyway, all very high quality tracks. Loved the simple haunting beauty of Seahorse.
Liked also, Edge of Universe and Blue. Looks like I am into more minimalistic stuff as I go on.
The sound palette for Azimuth (my favourite track) was amazing. Is the synth lead a hardware synth?
And those bell-like sounds were great too, did you use the Chromaphone synth plugin, or something else?

[eassae]

I'm going through these now. The intro to The Elevator Paradox is really cool. Will write more, when I've listened to everything.

''when I've listened to everything.'' Very brave!

But seriously - your feedback will be gratefully received!

So I started off listening critically, and nothing was off putting to my ear—no surprises there of course—so then I switched over to listening for enjoyment. Sometimes the forum situation sets up for the former, but the latter is probably more important.

I did the first 10 tracks one day and then the following 10 tracks the next day. All I really have to say is great work! Each track tells a story and though some have similarities all are unique. Your analog synths or emulations really sound great, especially some of the sustained, pitch bendy, horn adjacent ones.

I still really dig the intro to The Elevator Paradox. I think that's my favorite.

Any chance at a bandcamp release? It would be nice to listen at a better bit rate that 128k. I think that's what SC is currently at?

Anyway, congratulations, and let me know if there will be a download available at some point.

[ChameleonMusic]

"Seahorse Serenade" is understated, gentle, and haunting. It shares the timeless quality of the master's 'La Petite Fille de la Mer' while still being an original piece of work. An exquisite gem.

I think you are going for the retro, tape saturated, lo-fi sound of L'Apocalypse des Animaux and you captured it very well here.

Thanks very much for having a 2nd listen Frantz!

I think I may print your words off, frame them and hang them on my studio wall!

Very kind words!

That track in particular seems to have been received very well so far.

Glad that you spotted the link to the Vangelis piece / album - yes, I did tweak the production a little on this one to give it a slightly more retro / lo-fi sound.

[ChameleonMusic]

I take it you're a keyboard player

I am, though mainly self-taught with awful technique (my main instrument for decades - don't really play any more - was the trumpet).

''Late night memories of blue. Dig the keyboard sound. It sounds like you layered a couple of sounds together''

Keyboard alone was 3 layers - glad you liked it! Then there were 6 more layers behind it to create the ebb and flow of the background atmosphere! Spent way more time trying to produce this one as it was a rare example of a little improvised doodle that just worked first time!

Thank you for taking the time to a listen through some of them - much appreciated.

[ChameleonMusic]

I was actually wondering a couple of weeks ago "whats happened to Mark?", as I've not seen you here in a while.
Anyway, all very high quality tracks. Loved the simple haunting beauty of Seahorse.
Liked also, Edge of Universe and Blue. Looks like I am into more minimalistic stuff as I go on.
The sound palette for Azimuth (my favourite track) was amazing. Is the synth lead a hardware synth?
And those bell-like sounds were great too, did you use the Chromaphone synth plugin, or something else?

Hi Ian,
Thanks for having a listen through a few of them! Much appreciated!

Yep - been away from pretty much all social media for a couple of years...various reasons!

''Seahorses'' does seem to be the most liked track so far across all listeners. ''simple haunting beauty'' - I'll take that...thank you very much!

''The sound palette for Azimuth (my favourite track) was amazing. Is the synth lead a hardware synth? ''

I have to admit that I really like the textures in this one (but not every one does) Bit too minimalist for some without a doubt, but this sort of electronica is probably my personal comfort zone when composing!

If you mean the rich lead in the 2nd half of the piece - that was created in Arturia's PIGMENTS.

The bell-like sounds were done using a synth called PRISM (inside Reaktor 6)

[ChameleonMusic]

I'm going through these now. The intro to The Elevator Paradox is really cool. Will write more, when I've listened to everything.

So I started off listening critically, and nothing was off putting to my ear

Yay! That genuinely means a lot coming from someone with mixes as consistently as good as yours!

so then I switched over to listening for enjoyment. Sometimes the forum situation sets up for the former, but the latter is probably more important.

100% agree - we do all tend to go down the analytical path too much sometimes...certainly, I do.
Good to hear that you enjoyed the experience overall!

Each track tells a story

That is always my intention with every single track I write, so I'm glad that aspect worked!

Your analog synths or emulations really sound great, especially some of the sustained, pitch bendy, horn adjacent ones.

''bendy, horn adjacent ones'' = Pigments / Omnisphere / couple of Kontakt libraries from https://www.cl-projects-sound-design.com/ Libraries from Dan Wilson at https://hideawaystudio.net/

The Elevator Paradox. I think that's my favorite.

That one was a 'last minute' addition to the album - wrote it VERY quickly when I got bored with mixing and mastering for a couple of days...I think it's fair to say that so far listeners have a LOVE / HATE relationship with that one (ditto one or two other ''minimal progressive electronica'' style pieces)!

Any chance at a bandcamp release? It would be nice to listen at a better bit rate that 128k. I think that's what SC is currently at?

It was released this morning across 150 streaming services (not all are live quite yet). I'll post a link again when it's all in place, but here's the ALBUM HUB as it stands now:

https://chameleonmusic.hearnow.com/

Band Camp / Soundcloud - that comparison is interesting as my professional SC account streams tracks at the equivalent of 320kbps (You're right that standard SC is just 128kbps).

Band camp is actually something I've avoided using so far for the very reason that it only streams across the web at 128kbps (250kbps in the actual BC app).

Of course they do both use different streaming codecs! SC - they advise never uploading mp3s of any sort as their codecs don't work well with them. They prefer 16bit / 48kHz uploads, but after A/B comparisons I decided that 16bit 44.1kHz sounded slightly 'better' for my music...

Who knows...they all sound pretty damn good nowadays and so many people just listen on phones / little Bluetooth speakers maybe it's all in vain!?

Thank you so much for wading through the whole album - way more than I expected from anyone!

[eassae]

''bendy, horn adjacent ones''

I think I was thinking specifically in Song of the Celestial Whale?(Wasn't noting track names and time stamps while listening) I guess they are more string adjacent:)

It was released this morning across 150 streaming services

Picked up a copy on iTunes.

[eassae]

Really digging Beneath the Waves as well.

[seismic1]

I just took "Echoes of Neon" for a spin, and it's definitely got Vangelis vibes a-plenty, particularly those piano melodies. It's has a light touch, but still manages to carry plenty of dynamic variation throughout.

Good work

[seismicfm]

A lot of great tracks. Aeolin ridge and three sad cellos stand out for me. Unique and less vangelis than the others.

[ChameleonMusic]

''bendy, horn adjacent ones''

I think I was thinking specifically in Song of the Celestial Whale?(Wasn't noting track names and time stamps while listening) I guess they are more string adjacent:)

It was released this morning across 150 streaming services

Picked up a copy on iTunes.

Celestial Whale Sounds:

Dominated by my newest sound design ''playground'': CUBE vst by Lunacy Audio!
Loads of Pigments sounds in there as well.
MAIN lead melody is 3 layers of organ samples within Omnisphere.

Yay! I think you might've been the first ever download anywhere in the world! Thank you!

It all actually went very well for the first few days - 3000+ streams and more downloads than I expected.

Today my own microscopic corner of the music multiverse...tomorrow, my own microscopic corner of the music multiverse!

[ChameleonMusic]

I just took "Echoes of Neon" for a spin, and it's definitely got Vangelis vibes a-plenty, particularly those piano melodies. It's has a light touch, but still manages to carry plenty of dynamic variation throughout.

Good work

Thank you!

Yes, it's quite a low key one in some ways, but I'm glad you think it has enough rise and fall to be effective.

VANGELIS VIBES - that's good, obviously! But, that has been one of my main concerns with this project - the % of me the composer versus the % of Vangelis the composer...

My intention was very much that each track was VERY clearly ''me'', but with significant hints towards Vangelis in some way, shape or form...bloody tricky!

[ChameleonMusic]

A lot of great tracks. Aeolin ridge and three sad cellos stand out for me. Unique and less vangelis than the others.

''A lot of great tracks.'' - Thank you very much! Appreciated.

''Aeolin ridge and three sad cellos stand out for me.'' - those 2 aren't ones that I'd got in my head as tracks that would go down particularly well, but they do seem to have been mentioned a fair few times now on various forums etc.

I think 3 sad cellos maybe particularly appeals to those into ambient music and ambient / post classical styles by composers such as Max Richter etc? Dunno?

''Less Vangelis than the others'' - Yes, I agree, definitely less than the works he is most well-known for such as Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire... but he wrote in a wide range of styles over the decades and there are certainly tracks in his huge portfolio that are similar in some ways to both of these.