Double blogging

What's new? Well lots. Behind the scenes I have big backlog of partly completed tracks that I'm working on.

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.

Farewell to Dreams

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

Native Instruments - a catalogue of mistakes

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

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)

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

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/

Sao Paulo Nights

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

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....

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!

New track - Spirited away into a clear blue sky

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

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)

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)

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

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

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....

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....

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.