Gullfoss

I Don’t Remember

After a bit of faffing about, I wasn’t getting any traction and decided to pull out the “inspiration bag of tricks” box. Modern software like Scaler and other “AI” type tools has provided a lot of ways to avoid needing any sort of formal music training or theory. I have basic to intermediate theory, but most of what I do is instinctual. It’s actually very similar to my command of the English language. I learned the formal rules a long time ago, but wouldn’t be able to diagram a sentence these days. I know when grammar is correct, though, because … Continue reading

Don’t Look (Remain Idle Cover)

Cover day. Sigh. I’ve written about my angst surrounding cover day before, so I won’t repeat myself for once. This year, I had my favorite candidate from the day it first appeared and while several other fantastic possibilities appeared during the month, nothing ever knocked this song out of my top spot. The trouble this time is that not only did I know I’d be doing a more involved production than the original, but I personally know the people who wrote it. They’re family-by-marriage, and that can be a delicate thing. They’re also relatively new to Song-A-Day and I’m the … Continue reading

Infiltration

This piece started off largely as an attempt to come up with a dance, techno, or drum-and-bass type of track, which it still sort of is, but clearly pivoted mid-journey to become another visually-inpired bit of underscore. Instead of the juxtaposition of a slow, forboding piece of music against images of destruction I had in yesterday’s track, Infiltration is pretty on-the-nose, at least when you take the title as a literal description. I started this one with drums. I used a factory preset in XO, but started playing around with replacing the default sounds. In particular, I replaced a jazzy … Continue reading

Demonstration of Will

After the last couple of Lo-Fi days, I had both the energy and desire to go back to something more cinematic and orchestral. After some positive feedback from other participants on similar tracks earlier in the month, I was starting to wonder if maybe I had the beginnings of another thematically linked set of pieces that might be worth putting together as an album, a demo reel, interesting videos, etc. This isn’t a complex piece, but it’s good for underscore. I don’t remember if the drums came first or the opening … Continue reading

Unseen Bagel

A slightly more successful Lo-Fi attempt compared to yesterday, but clearly I was in “it doesn’t have to be good, it only has to be done mode.” I shouldn’t be so down on myself for these types of tracks – there are entire genre stations on the major streaming services dedicated to exactly what you’re hearing in this track, and I’ve listened to more than a few hours of them over the last couple of years. Putting on my snarky Gen-X hat, we used to derisively call this stuff “Muzak” or “elevator music” back in the day because it was … Continue reading