Mark Griffiths Music

K2 (2011)

2012-01-28T19:01:00.005Z

Nearly 30 years ago I wrote piece called "K2" after the mountain. It became the central track of a cassette release of the same name which included a number of "scenic" works. In 2010 I started thinking about reviving the track, half remembered from decades previously. I got stuck in the track's foothills and had to reluctantly turn back.

Then in 2011 the conditions felt right and I made a final assault on the music, pushing on to the summit.

Listen at http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=11398903&q=hi

Sunburst (In the lair of the Purple Ultra Kitten)

2011-10-03T18:02:00.001Z

Somehow I forgot to release this one. I think I finished it in April...anyway I decided to redo "Sunburst" and make it something that was more for a better expression, "me".

It's mostly Virus plus Camel Alchemy - and the Roland SVC 350 vocoder.

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=11103704&q=hi

Oxford Dawns (May day mix)

2011-05-22T11:43:00.002Z

I've been working on this one for a while, actually I started it last year but didn't finish it for my deadline, went off and did some other things and then returned to it. It's a sort of aural picture of May day in Oxford, with the chimes from Old Tom, the choirs tio greet the dawn and the follow up revelry of people attempting to jump into the river.

Everything note and sound in the track has a specific meaning and everything was entirely planned.

Instrument wise it's mainly Virus and Alchemy, with a prominant Wiard Waveform City lead in the middle. Other bits of hardware (Blacet, Roland) also make an appearence.

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=10647848&q=hi

Reunion

2010-05-30T20:32:00.000Z

I've just got some of my equipment back from the tech and added in a few other bits to recreate my old set up that I had starting in 1980 with the Roland SH2 and adding the CSQ100 sequencer, DR55 drum machine and Roland Cube a bit later.

The SH2 now manages to play from the keyboard at a reliable pitch, the drum machine, a (battery) acid casualty is now working and the CSQ100 appears to be still fine. The Roland Cube's reverb is a bit dodgy but that seems to be ok too.

The Revox is still in rehab.

Clockwork UFO

2010-02-21T12:22:00.001Z

“Clockwork UFO” is short sound picture, a heavily re-worked splinter from the longer piece “Through the Gates”.

Created and performed on Mr Richter's most excellent electrosonical puzzle box, the Wiard 300 series, in particular using the Envelator to create the ticking of the clocks. The Wogglebug was used to create the wind up space mice. I used a Warp Factory vocoder with the Wiard to create the alien voice.

Download “Clockwork UFO”
http://www.soundclick.com/util/downloadsong.cfm?id=8789118

Stream “Clockwork UFO”
http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamm3u.m3u?id=8789118&q=hi

Download “Through the Gates”
http://www.soundclick.com/util/downloadsong.cfm?id=8666852

Stream “Through the Gates”
http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamm3u.m3u?id=8666852&q=hi

Sunburst

2010-02-17T21:34:00.000Z

Something a bit different, this is the first time I've used drums in nearly 30 yrs so it's a bit of a departure, it's a dance track to boot. I managed to get it done just in time for Valentines Day.

Almost entirely VirusB, with G-Forces VSM providing two different string patches. A little bit of Waldorf Microwave 1 and a dash of Roland SVC-350 vocoder. Basically all my new toys I got in November.

The track is here
http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamm3u.m3u?id=8762743&q=hi

Through the Gates - Wiard 300 series

2010-01-29T22:50:00.001Z

Through the Gates is a spooky Sci Fi/Horror romp through the Lovecraftian abyss. Almost entirely realised on the Wiard 300 series modular, the only other sound sources were choir samples. Enjoy, but be careful what you dream of tonight.

Download http://www.soundclick.com/util/downloadsong.cfm?id=8666852

Stream http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamm3u.m3u?id=8666852&q=hi

Studio Sept 2009

2009-10-15T20:32:00.003Z

Just to prove I'm still doing stuff, here's a picture of the home studio. The Blacet/ Wiard/ Bananalogue/Oakley modular is now the size of a small fridge, dwarfing the Wiard 300 series beside it. I get a feeling the Wiard will get it's revenge one of these days though.

Other than the fairly major studio, then room, then house rearrangement required to get "just a few modules" housed there has been a fair amount of musical work going on. Apart from the usual pieces I am working on another outlet for the music which I'll blog at a more appropriate moment.

Do you remember the day?

2009-04-19T15:52:00.006Z

Very different from "This House is like a ship", "Do you remember that day (in 1969 when you asked what I was going to do with the rest of my life?) is a melodic New Age style piece. But then "Janus" is an autobiographical work so that is probably to be expected.
The idea came from a barely remembered conversation at the age of 10 when I was asked by my friends what I was going to do with my life. I had grand dreams of living in California.
Nursery rhyme motifs repeat through the music, starting with a musical box. The music, as life, is through of some twists and turns, but overall this is a hopeful and happy track, the childish skipping rhythm continues to the final heartbeat. Dedicated to Martha.

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=7531641&q=hi

This House is like a Ship

2009-04-11T16:46:00.007Z

"This House is like a ship" is an experimental/ambient piece using the Wiard 300 series modular plus a Warp Factory Vocoder. Other spoken word parts were processed via Spektral Delay. Apart from reverb and delay plus MXR Pitch transposer on one track the accompaniment is pure Wiard with no midi or keyboards used.
The track is an every day tale of a man that retreats to his house, loses touch with reality and becomes convinced his house is a ship, to the extent he won't even look out of the window to see that it is not the case. The text is vaguely like:
"Sometimes this house is like a ship, and this room seems like a ship's cabin, with the creaking of the timbers and the ebb and flow of light it seems as if I am on some kind of immense sea. I travel forever. I hardly ever look out of the window these days, I know the sea is there...it's just waiting there, immense, impassive and primal. Windblown or becalmed, I travel forever".
http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=7509400&q=hi

Sounds from the Blue Tower

2009-01-11T21:10:00.005Z

Well sounds from one part. This is the Wiard 300 series with the "new controller", with a Micowave 1 underneath and finally a Kenton pro 2 at the bottom.
I've been adding the the samples/ demos of the Wiard 300 series, I've just added a number of linear FM sounds plus one of the Sequantizer having both the sequence length and steps controlled by other modules. As far as I can remember all of these sounds are self generated, ie no keyboard or midi data.
http://share.ovi.com/channel/ChamomileShark.public

Lonely People (Shedding Oxide)

2009-01-04T20:41:00.003Z

Back in 2006 I transfered some old music from tapes from the 80s. I planned to release these under the general heading of "Shedding Oxide". A mere 3 years later, here is the first track "Lonely People" recorded entirely using a Yamaha DX9 synth, using a bit of spring reverb and ReVox echo onto a Tascam 4 track.

The track appeared on "Like the passing of summer rain" released 1989(?) on the Electronical Dreams label. (If anyone knows what happened to that label I'd be interested to hear).

This was the track that got picked up by a few radio stations in Canada, US and apparently Russia. Links below for stream or download.

Stream: http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=7207296&q=hi

Download: http://www.soundclick.com/util/downloadsong.cfm?id=7207296

Korg DVP-1

2008-12-20T14:40:00.005Z

My "new" Korg Digital Voice Processor, released into the UK market in 1986. Combined Vocoder, Harmonizer, Pitch Shift and "internal waves". It doesn't as far as I can see have a carrier input. It has 8 "internal waves" that can be played via midi. To me they sound a little like the choir sounds from the Roland VP-330. I replaced pad section using VP-330 samples within a track I've been working on with the DVP-1 waves, and it's hard to tell the difference. I did think the vocoder would use the internal waves as the carrier but the manual says not, which is a bit confusing. I have flipped through some presets following a request on VSE. There are two files, "Play-DVP-1" plays an MP3, "Download-DVP-1" yields a higher quality .wav file download.
http://share.ovi.com/channel/ChamomileShark.public

Experimental Track released

2008-08-17T14:02:00.004Z

I have now completed a short experimental piece “I had lost my friend (No way out)”. I was trying out Native Instrument’s Vokator vocoder and the Wiard modular. I decided to combine the exploration by switching the vocoder into classic mode and using the Wiard as the carrier. So everything here is either Wiard or voice, with minimum additional processing other than a little convolution reverb and a vintage Korg analogue delay (SD 400). The patching of the Wiard is basic, I didn’t worry about ensuring all the tunings were even remotely similar, just turned the knobs until the tone was right. I also dispensed with a keyboard, using the Wiard sequantizer to generate pitch information.

The text came from a dream recorded 30/6/2007. It is only a part that appears to deal with the fragmentation of the self into a number of personas, hero, scientist, servant and victim. It’s no co-incidence that the personas are within a graphic novel, they are literally “paper thin”. The significance of the conclusion which adds (No way out) to the title, still eludes me. But I won’t lose any sleep over it.

I had lost my friend.
I was afraid I had lost him.
And then I found him, finally, trapped in a black and white graphic novel.

He was a between the wars butler, but he cannot remember who he used to be before.

He was part of an expedition to Africa with an aristocratic group, but the expedition had gone wrong .

His face appears in one panel. Another scene shows other members of the expedition staked out by the natives.

Yet another scene panel shows one of them, Werner von Braun, dead in the plane crash,

Now my friend appears as superman, but he is only in the garden we started from.

Everywhere else he sees himself dead.

Now he can only exist as a fantasy figure, in this one place.

(Coda, not part of the dream)
I can only exist here as a fantasy figure.
I can only exist here as a fantasy figure
I can only exist here as a fantasy figure

Listen (will open the Soundclick player)
http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=6814438&q=hi

Brought to you under the Freedom of Too Much Information Act.

A time for quiet reflection.

2008-08-06T19:29:00.004Z

Typically I take the summer "off" from recording. I think it came from a time when I would generally spend the summers outdoors on other pursuits. Also in the old days I seemed to only have a limited creation capacity.

Now summers when I am in have been spent largely getting in new equipment, I think the previous two summers it was the Blacet modular, this summer it's been the Wiard modular. I have also been getting to know some of the software better, in particular Kontakt2, Camelion 500 and Vokator.

I'm hoping to be releasing a new track that accidently got recorded while using Vokator and the Wiard modular.

Wiard 300 Samples

2008-06-17T19:38:00.004Z

Having got the Wiard 300 series up and running, I decided to take a quick canter through some simple patches and a few of the patch ideas on the Wiard site. There are no additional processing of the sounds and other than power in and audio out (into the computer sound card) no other equipment was used. I used the sequantiser to create the melodic lines and triggered via the Borg LFOs or Wogglebug.
The full line up was a Classic VCO, Sequantizer, Dual Envelator, Waveform City, Borg Filter, Mixolator and Wogglebug.
Hopefully available from the URL below are samples of; linear FM, dynamic depth linear FM, PWM on Pulse from the Classic VCO, a sawtooth and sine wave with the Borg filter, Wogglebug with Borg in low pass gate (VCA) mode, Waveform City wavetable 8 (Vortrax chip samples).
Samples are at http://share.ovi.com/channel/ChamomileShark.public
With thanks, as always, to Grant Richter for conceiving, designing and building the Wiard modules.

Deep Blue Arrives

2008-06-07T20:30:00.003Z

Somewhere in the fartherest reaches of the galaxy one alien is telling another "I only touched down for a few minute on that planet Earth and even so some blighter nicked the radio"

And here it is. Six Wiard 300 series modules (Classic VCO, Waveform City, Sequantizer, Dual Borg, Envelator and Mixolator). Not shown is the 7th module, the Wogglebug.

Appearing slightly dim here to show off the light show. I've only had it for a few days, it sounds gorgeous!

Titus Alone

2008-04-08T15:38:00.001Z

In addition to working on the “Strange Stars” theme/ album I’ve also been working on ideas for a largely autobiographical set, “Janus”. “Adieu” released a while back was the first, today I released the second element “Titus Alone”.

It’s at http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=6441216&q=hi

Catch Up - April 2008

2008-04-02T19:09:00.002Z

I've released three tracks as part of the "Strange Stars" theme. All are available on Soundclick.

The most recent is "Point with no no reference". It’s actually an old track. In the early 80s I created a short piece of cosmic/ space synth work called “Depayse”, it was probably on my first cassette release.. Later in the 80s it was reworked for a compilation promo for the Electronical Dreams label “The Dream is just beginning” and re-titled “Point with no reference”. It’s now reworked yet again. By accident when messing around with one of the keyboards I used in the second version I quoted from one of my other pieces of the time and left it in. My first synth was used to take the bass part it had taken about 25 years ago.
After all those years the structure remains very simple and close in feeling to the original. The text that accompanies this version is

“Somewhere in the far reaches, a place with no name, something sings a song of eternal solitude.”

It’s at http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=6423309&q=hi

Adieu

2007-12-30T15:38:00.001Z

A very short piece, written very quickly in late July 2007. As usual it can be heard at

http://www.soundclick.com/markgriffiths

Four Reveries

2007-11-22T22:15:00.001Z

I created the Four Reveries for F4b.com last year. They offer music to therapists and others interested in music and textures to accompany healing, relaxation and meditation. The music I produced for them is slightly different to the tightly packed material I usually create.

I put an excerpt up on Soundclick and like another track I put up there it played too fast (it's been an issue there for years but it's the first time I experienced it). I got it re-encoded on the site but though the tempo is right it still seems rather toppy.

So to listen to the Reveries best go to www.F4b.com, the link for my page is http://www.f4b.com/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=20

Over the summer I had been looking at algorithmic/ aleatoric music tools in the software domain. I was auditioning a couple that looked promising and will be looking at them again as a tool for creating the basic material for long tracks for F4b.com. I also have started investigating the possiblities in hardware using some of Grant Richter's designs, and the immediate results are more compelling and musical.

In the Shadow of Narcopolis

2007-11-11T15:57:00.000Z

I've managed to get this track off the computer and released. There was a lot less that needed to be done, actually it was complete and waiting for about 6 months.

I'm hoping now to start getting back into the swing of recording, seeing as my creative year usually starts in October and goes through to May (ish).

The whole “Dreamers” series is about, sleep, dreams, and those things that lie just beyond our perception. This track takes a gothic lens, borrowing heavily from HP Lovecraft. The story behind “In the Shadow of Narcopolis” involves a Victorian explorer who is plagued by outlandish nightmares. To satisfy his curiosity and perhaps find some relief he travels to a strange city in the middle of a desert. There he discovers that his nightmares are generated by some ancient race that sleep within the walls and the city breathes out these malign thoughts to the world of men. Unfortunately, although the grotesque dreamers are asleep the city itself is not. It captures and entombs the explorer so that he now dreams forever within the city of Narcopolis.

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=5963317&q=hi

First element of Deep Blue

2007-10-21T15:06:00.000Z

Deep Blue being a Wiard Series 300 modular. The first module to arrive is the Wogglebug that takes us away from the standard Sample and Hold modules to something more exotic as featured on Buchla (Source of Uncertainty) and Serge modulars. As with all the 300 series it's pretty functionally intense and I look forward to surprising myself (but hopefully not the monitors too much) in the coming months. The picture is obviously just a face plate mock up, the actual module is sitting safely in it's plastic wrapping here. Likewise a Blacet Klangwerks ring mod that will go into rack three of Dirty Knobby, the Frac Rack system.

And, lest I forget, this is all about music. I am late back from my summer recess. There some tracks at mixing stage from last year, plus part completed material to end "Dreamers" cycle and the space cycle (working title only). I also need to look at the Music for Therapy material and have been toying with using Algorithmic Music generators (as a starting point only) to handle the creation. I have an experiement/ dark ambient idea that might go out under the name of "QuarkStar".

Finally, "Honey, I broke my Soundclick site". God knows what it looks like but something went wrong and I lost my original format and it's possible that it's unreadable. I gave up trying to put it right yesterday. I think Soundclick are too busy trying to make the site like a social network site so it's now getting much more complex. If I need a social network site I'll go to MySpace, so just keep to the knitting guys, eh?

May Night (Experimental)

2007-07-13T13:20:00.000Z

I decided to try and create something a bit more experimental and abstract using the small modular here. Problem was I don't really know the context or "rules of the game" for experiemental stuff so I decided to be guided by a couple of ideas themed around a Russian May Night. May Night itself refers to the Rimsky-Korsakov opera and here I used the image of the stage setting of dark blue when I went to a dress rehearsal for the opera. I then started thinking about Nabakov's description of his childhood in Russia and his delight in seeing the sphinx moths appear. Finally I added in a bit of Stanilav Lem's playful idea of the stars being originally arranged in rows and lines in the sky. So with the pseud police hammering on my door as I write, this ended up with a piece where first the stars come out one by one, then get bored and appear in a rush, frogs croak, a nightbird calls and the sphinx moths arrive. Out hero starts to nod off and starts to fantasise about stars clumsily dancing with comets rushing in and out. Technically there are low pass gate pulses courtesy of the Wiard Borg 2 filter (in lpg mode), semi random sounds from the Wiard Noise Ring. A vintage MXR pitch transposer was used to help create the microtonal sequences and is at least partially responsible for the comet zaps.

http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamm3u.m3u?id=5544505&q=hi

Wonderful PPG emulation

2007-04-21T16:44:00.001Z

I really love the sound of the PPG when I first heard one back in the 80s and that love has never really diminished. When I restarted my music one of the first software emulations I got was the Steinberg/Waldorf one that I still use for tinkling sequencer runs. I was very surprised when I downloaded this version, it immediately sounded even better and general opinion was that the Waldorf one was pretty good. This one also has some interesting quirks, it's an exact emulation, so sound creation and saving, boot up etc are just as awkward. But the sound! Hermann is working on a EVU/ Wave2.2/ Wave2.3 system, but he's doing it in his spare time. In the meantime a Wave 2.2 emulation is available for free though a donation, or just a thank you might not go amiss ! http://www.hermannseib.com/english/synths/ppg/wavesim.htm

Bananalogue

2007-04-06T13:31:00.000Z

Seth's comment inspired me to do a quick post on the Bananalogue modules ,http://www.bananalogue.com/ a combination of Serge, Ken Stone and Seth Nemec. It is even apparently named after something in one of my favourite books, "The Futurological Congress" a hilarious SF satire by Lem. I guess "Bananalogue" is one of the Professor's anlysis of word combinations to devine the future?

Anyway the modules are great. The VCS is multifunctional so ideal with a small system as it can use to fill gaps in functionality. The mixers are neat too. The only thing fake about the pic is that the modules are not obscured by patch cords. Looking forward to more modules, Seth!

Double blogging

2007-03-17T17:31:00.000Z

What's new? Well lots. Behind the scenes I have big backlog of partly completed tracks that I'm working on. I'm continuing to wrestle with both the technical issues of the modular ("now why did it do that?") and it's simplicity ("now if only I had another X I could do that") but I think I might be close to completing one track entirely done on the modular.

More significantly I've started a new venture via F4b.com http://www.f4b.com/help.php?section=about who distribute music for healing and therapy, mainly aimed at the professionals that work in that area..but others might like to buy it. For me it's slightly different from previous releases in that the tracks are longer (e.g 15 mins) but are less "ear catching" so they can be used in the background..ambient music in the truest sense.

It just keeps growing!

2007-01-13T12:31:00.000Z

Archive picture for the end of December. The modular (known hereabouts as "Dirty Knobby") now has the Wiard Noise Ring (and so the two multiples hang in mid air), and is racked. At the top providing a roof is a Boss Super Chorus and underneath my Christmas present from the wife, a MXR Pitch transposer. More on the latter, hopefully with clips, soonish.

This now should mark the end of a period of technoglut that took up the autumn with additions to the modular and several hardware effects. Since end of December the effort has now gone back to actually making music!

Farewell to Dreams

2006-12-13T20:34:00.000Z

The next in the "Dreamers" series, this one took me a long time to complete and has been driving me crazy! That's where the reference to an exit strategy for a dreamer comes from..it sounds much more (my)s(t)erious but I'm just glad I was able to find a way through this piece. I have another, "In the Shadow of Narcopolis" that's giving me a spot of bother, hopefully that will be complete soon or it goes into the musical deep freeze for a while. Oh and the link to it is here; http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamm3u.m3u?id=4771973&q=hi

The knobb'd one grows...

2006-11-23T17:40:00.000Z

And is now standing on his own two (very elegant polystyrene) feet... with a Blacet LFO, VCO, Miniwave, Envelope Generator, Dual Linear VCA, 2 x Multiple/Attenuators and Quad VCA/Mixer. In addition a Wiard Borg and Boogie filter, Bananalogue/Serge VCS (based on the Dual Slope Generator) and 2 x 3P Mixers. There's a blue Wiard Noise Ring on the way. It has to be said that possibly the most important new items were the cheapest and simplest, the multiple/attenuators! I'm already planning the next rack, I need another VCO, LFO and Envelope Generator, and I want......

Native Instruments - a catalogue of mistakes

2006-11-18T13:23:00.000Z

This is an odd and happy tale, rather than the usual "we hate NI" rant. I bought NI's Pro53 Prophet 5 emulation when I first started buying softsynths, largely on the basis of the first killer preset (why is it most other companies have some dreary bass synth sound in that first slot?). Soon, however I came to the conclusion that it really wasn't cutting it, I wasn't using it and it was basically taking up space. Then the Komplete2 offer came along and pro53 was my golden key to get Komplete2 at a knock down price, which gave me the sampler, Reaktor and FM7, all things on my "to buy" list. So mistake one, but with a happy ending.

Then I got Komplete Care 2005 and got all my updates free for 2005. I decided to get Komplete Care 2006 even though I didn't expect the same level of upgrades. Towards the middle of the year, nothing and I started to think I'd made a mistake. Then I got a free gift from NI. Basically they said they were late with the upgrades, don't worry and here are a couple of instruction DVDs. Nice! Never really got far with manuals.

Then the really good news..because they were so late they were giving us Komplete4 for free (makes sense, means everyone is now on the same upgrade path), so I get Guitar Rig, Acoustik and Electrik Piano, as well as the Absynth and FM upgrades. great! And also because you have been so patient, here's a voucher for $180.

I've taken a while to sort out my upgrade as I've needed to get a new external drive to host the additional 12Gb of samples associated with the pianos. In the meantime NI made a mess of their registration programme. So..they given us a copy of their new "Massive" synth for free!

So many blunders..so many gains!

Beyond the Walls of Sleep

2006-10-18T19:47:00.000Z

Where is it we go when we sleep? This track attempts to answer that question! It's actually based on one of my earlier tracks, "Fugue for an ever darkening land" but there is not much left of the original, only some of the chords and a lead line are retained. The title comes from a short story by HP Lovecraft. Track is at http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamm3u.m3u?id=4564579&q=hi

Retro'd version (Berlin Nights)

2006-10-05T18:24:00.000Z

Some time ago I was listening to alot of music from the early 70s and it got me thinking what I would have sounded like in those days, a decade before I actually started making music. So I tried a little experiment, I took an existing track, "The Lost Harvest" and re-recorded exactly the same track with old style equipment. Now here comes the twist, I don't actually have any synths from the early 70s, so I used software copies. The original track used cutting edge tools such as Reaktor, Spektral Delay and modern processing. I replaced that with emulations of Mellotron, EMS and ARP synths. The reverb was spring or plate reverb, the delay an emulation of tape delay. And what came out was kind of interesting! Have a listen at http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamm3u.m3u?id=4514579&q=hi

Creation resumes

2006-09-21T19:35:00.000Z

With a track, working title "Deep Star Song" which puts me firmly back in ethereal cosmic music using both the new hardware and more familiar musical colours. The picture seems appropriate, Crab Nebula, courtesy of Nordic Optical Telescope taken by Walter Nowotny, for anyone interested go to http://www.not.iac.es/general/photos/astronomical/milkyway/

More glorification of technology

2006-09-02T11:46:00.000Z

The Bananalogue VCS in place, next to a Wiard Boogie filter and a Blacet EG (no, I don't really know what this all means either), but it all looks very nice. Now all I have to do is to make music with all this that proves it was a great investment!

Constellation Blacet-Wiard

2006-08-31T19:04:00.000Z

More modules have been arriving and with the Wiard filters make an interesting night display. I'm doing a demo piece with what I have but with a few modules it's a bit limited. It feels like my very early days with music! Since this pic was taken a very nice Bananalogue module has added a yellow LED.
As the weather cools I'm starting to prepare for the new musical year..unusually I have some material almost complete from last year so hopefully the tracks will come flying out!

Friends come in little boxes

2006-08-01T19:31:00.000Z

..was the title of a Scinece Fiction novel I saw in the library but never actually read. But I liked the title. So the first few modules of the modular have arrived and even though there is only an LFO, an EG and VCA I'm amazed that I'm getting some interesting noises (the LFO goes up into audio). Hopefully when more of the modules arrive it will progress from just noises to something vaguely musical!

Whatever happened to Chamomile Shark?

2006-07-15T15:35:00.000Z

Hi, long time no post. Pressure of time and summer is usually my time off from music projects. Lots of tracks ready for completion in Autumn and hopefully there will be some interesting hardware arriving soon!

Sao Paulo Nights

2006-04-27T21:24:00.000Z

Tonight I've uploaded the first track from the song cycle, "Dreamers" to soundclick. It's "Sao Paulo Nights" and is dedicated to my wife. As such it's a sort of sonic impression of the nights in that Brasilian city, some of the excitment but also some of the quiet times. "Dreamers" as a whole is loosely themed on sleeping, dreaming, memories and thoughts that are just out of reach. http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=3854126&q=hi

Shedding Oxide

2006-03-24T20:51:00.000Z

Finally taken the plunge and tried to transfer my old tapes (some go back to 1982) onto the computer. I'm amazed, they play fine...but...my lovely Revox (beautifully styled in 70s teak) is having a probably with the weight of the tapes. result? The test tape worked fine but the first master tape broke and because I was short of money at the time, I recorded on both sides of the quarter track..so I have two breaks.

Quite an interesting exercise I found a copy of "Transmixxion" which was supposed to be my next release after "PaperWorlds" and "Crystallography". It was the first release to start using polyphonic synths (I couldn't afford one in those days, I spent several years using just one simple mono synth..now you can download 20 polyphonic softsynths in a night for free!). It was much more varied than previous releases there are even fast fairly aggressive tracks, but I sort of shelved it because the pre-release tape didn't a good reaction from a couple of people. What I did was to keep what I thought were the best tracks, added more material and came up with a more consistent album "K2". I'll probably offer the really old material for free but re-release the last two albums re-mastered...if the tapes don't break.

Dreaming....

2006-02-17T17:36:00.000Z

Now that the "Lost harvest" cycle of music is complete (although not all released just yet) I'm now working on a new set. Currently under the title of "Dreamers" it's a collection of pieces loosely around sleeping, dreaming and waking dreams of certain locations, some close to home (Port meadow) some much further away (Sao Paulo). So far it's more synthetic than "Lost Harvest" and feels a little less contained than the recent stuff..but then, everything goes in cycles!

Going (slightly) commercial....

2006-02-03T20:08:00.000Z

Made the move to selling mp3s via Soundclick. The cash will be used for hosting costs and for maintaining and adding to the equipment here. Made some cosmetic changes to the website..took me hours to decide on the new background!

New track - Spirited away into a clear blue sky

2006-01-22T15:57:00.000Z

As previously trailed, this track is now out, can be played by going here http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=3345217&q=hi
Alternatively go to the main page http://www.soundclick.com/markgriffiths

New track - Isle of Exiles

2006-01-19T19:33:00.000Z

I did this following a dream, one part was about a government infecting political agitators so that they could be exiled to some leper colony island. So there is a line of grey shivering people being injected and then sent to a queue for the boat.
Enjoy and no cutting in on the queue. http://www.soundclick.com/util/streamm3u.m3u?id=3370291&q=hi

Mark

Catch up (part 2)

2005-12-17T16:24:00.000Z

Also in November and continuing through December I've been working on a short track. "The Lost Harvest". The main parts were created very quickly, it's mainly the children's choir but heavily treated. A few other instruments come in and out. It sounds a little spooky and ends the cycle started with "Ophelia Dreaming", "Hireath", "First Signs of Autumn" and "Spirited away".
In November I was listening to a lot of early Berlin School electronic music and was thinking about what I would sound like using the same equipment. Rather than set out to do a pastiche I took "The lost harvest" and used software emulations of a few bits of equipment used at the time, mainly Mellotron and Arp Odyssey. I kept the reverb to spring or plate reverbs and the delay to emulations of tape delay. Everything was played by hand on the original and there are only a few tracks. I may add some sound effects from an EMS emulation, but then again, might not. Overall this version sounds a lot chunkier than the original..partly because the Mellotron doesn't have the slow attack of the choir sounds I used for the first version.

Catch up (part 1)

2005-12-17T16:10:00.000Z

In November I completed "Spirited away into a clear blue sky", just waiting for a suitable moment to release it. It's about a feeling akin to agrophobia. Steve Wright had a joke about it, "I'm not afraid of heights, I'm afraid of widths". So for me being on a cliff or high building is not about the ground, it's about the open space in front and above me. I feel like I'll be pulled up into the void. So that's what it's about.

First Signs of Autumn

2005-11-19T12:17:00.000Z

Just released over on Soundclick http://www.soundclick.com/markgriffiths and on MySpace, First Signs of Autumn, part of the "Lost Harvest" series. Music is based on BelD Media's Childrens choir samples, plus cello plus a few other sound sources. Autumn is a special time of year for me, like New Year for other people I guess, a time the old year ends and a new year commences. A time of nostalgia and hope for the future.

Nostalgia, new music and congrats to Bela D media

2005-10-22T16:49:00.000Z

Not quite into the swing of this blogging lark yet. Hopefully it will come in time.
I've been caught up in a bit of a nostalgia binge after connecting up some old analogue monosynths. I'm toying withb the idea of buying new hardware. I've decided not to remaster the old material just yet as all this history can get a bit suffacating. I am sort of getting back on track. My ears have attuned to the old hardware synths and then retuned back to include the software, it sounds bizarre but I've found that can really stop me, anything I create just doesn't blend together, it needs a while to adjust. I really didn't know I'd be so sensitive!

"Spirited Away" is now largely complete, it needs to be mixed and mastered but I think all the music is there. Last night I started something new and it seems that it's almost there already. Sort of eerie, very organic and short, it will probably be called "The Lost harvest" which is the working title I've been using for the recent series of celtic/ new age/ ambient type music I've been producing. Like the soon to be released "First Signs of Autumn" it's built upon Bela D Media's excellent childrens choir samples (Congrats to Francis for the great review in Sound on Sound http://www.beladmedia.com/ ).
Ok I can smell the food burning, time to go!

Getting all the ducks in a row....

2005-09-24T19:53:00.000Z

That's what has been the focus recently. Getting all the ducks in a row. Setting up the new blog, setting it as the new link from the website.

And it's not just in cyberspace. I've been trying to "keep it real" (yeah right) by getting more hardwire linked into the computer. One of my old synths and the old Revox tape machine. The latter means that possibly, just possibly, I can transfer some of my master tapes from my "commercial" releases from the 80s to digital. From there they can be cleaned up (I hope) and possibly reissue on the net. But I have no idea what state they are in. I'm afraid to look. I heard that the master tape from REMs "Automatic for the People" (released Oct 92) has already disintegrated. My tapes go back to 1982. Yikes! Apparently one method is to put the tapes in the oven (yes really) and then you can play them again..once. But with my cooking skills I dread to think. And I don't think the microwave is a great idea either.

Music iself is having to take a back seat. I have one track "First signs of Autumn" ready and I'm working on another "Spirited away into a clear blue sky". Yesterday I started one called "monologues", all done on a Roland SH101 synth, just to get all the cliched sounds and moves out of the way. Doubt if it will see the light of day but it was a fun exercise.

ok, enough already!

It starts here....

2005-09-24T16:30:00.000Z

This is just a post to break the ice. To be clear, and to remind myself this blog is supposed to be about my music and thoughts around it. If anyone is interested in it, that's great, if not, that's ok too.