A new life awaits you in the off-world colonies!
Note: This post was written in 2025 and backdated to appear on the day I wrote and published the track. This is actually my second time writing this post. The first ended up being a 2,000 word rant examination of the problems I had with the massive legal overreach exhibited by XLN when they released “Life” – the plugin that I used for the main rhythmic pattern in this track. XLN also makes … Continue reading
Note: This post was written in 2025 and backdated to appear on the day I wrote and published the track. I’m not sure what this style / genre would have been called back in the 80s, but these days it’s called Synthwave. This is as “stereotypical” a synthwave track as I can think of, yet it’s absolutely true to an actual 80s track by Jan Hammer or Giorgio Moroder. The arrangement is simple, as is the instrumentation: drums, bass, guitar, electric piano, and two synths. The guitar is a real one (as opposed to a sampled or modeled one). I’m … Continue reading
Note: This post was written in 2025 and backdated to appear on the day I wrote and published the track. I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I’d started a track but knew it would be too involved to complete with the time available. But today is a new day, and I’m starting early. Part of what I knew would make it time consuming is it’s based around an old spoken word recording. And when I say old, I mean very old. Over 100 years old, in fact. It is a travesty of intellectual property law that you have to look … Continue reading
Note: This post was written in 2025 and backdated to appear on the day I wrote and published the track. Last year (2023) I named most of my ambient pieces after lunar seas. It wasn’t really a planned thing – just an easy naming convention – and the definition of “ambient” certainly shifts across the six pieces, ranging from a melodic piano piece with electronic spices to full-on drones. I was initially hesitant to explore those spaces, but positive feedback from other Song-A-Day participants encouraged … Continue reading
Note: This post was written in 2025 and backdated to appear on the day I wrote and published the track. As with the last couple of years, I came into 2024 with no real ideas, no backlog of things to talk about or things I wanted to try. The only challenge thrown to me by friends was a nebulous “do a dubstep track.” In past years, being completely blank in the first week would have sent me into a panic. At this point, though, it’s kind of normal. The first three tracks this year ended up being electronic and using … Continue reading