I guess I never really came up with a name for this tune. Sometimes I will write lyrics and give it a working title. I do the same thing with musical pieces I am working on before there are dedicated lyrics assigned to the tune. As I continue to work on a piece, the name often changes when chords are matched with a set of lyrics. On rare occasion it happens at the same time, and that process is a little different – and easier! This is one of those weird situations where I never got to either, and this has always been referred to by the date….. March of 1990.
March in this case also has a double meaning. It is the pull away from the Winter season where I live. The steady movement of new life. The pace of growth that cannot be stopped. The instrumental tries to match that drive and frantic pace of the season. Driving rhythms, collage of melodies, bouncing themes – and then to dynamics and a reflection of what is now past. Then back to driving growth. That is what I think about as I listen to this tune. Even now, heading to Winter, I feel that March pushing forward.
Back to the Atari 1040 ST, I am sequencing all parts for this tune. I believe I added a new tone module from EMU called the Proteus 1. This was an amazing machine and I have not found anything as good and simple to use as the Proteus series. It was really cool for two major reasons in my opinion. 1) the sounds were just awesome for the time and there were lots of sounds on board. 2) the operating software used was just made for MIDI geeks like me. It was very simple and allowed the Proteus 1 to create splits, layers and zones, but it easily allowed you to access all 16 MIDI channels at the same time. I could write a few articles on this alone, but for now it meant you could assign a different sound to any or all of the 16 channels independently. As described in the MIDI series, this was great because you could use channel 1 for piano, channel 2 for organ sounds, channel 3 for strings, channel 4 for brass or orchestra sounds, 5 for flutes, 6 for sound effects, 7 for guitar sounds, 8 for solo instruments, 9 for the bass guitar sound, 10 for the standard drum channel and still have channels left over. Playing out in bands and in the studio with this was just a dream.
Sounds awesome. Love the spooky keyboards and the somewhat frenetic feel.
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Thank you, that is what I was going for!
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Nailed it!
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Where was I in March of 1990? I never heard this, and that was before I lost my mental word-wheel!
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This was Yamaha TX802 and EMU Proteus 1 days. I was still working in the music stores at that time. Still had the Atari computer…… I got a million of ’em!
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I love the energy in this piece, didn’t want it to end.
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You are just always so cool! I used to play with those little grooves for hours. Thank you so much.
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You’re welcome. I actually had to listen to it a few times. When I find music I like I can listen to it over and over.
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This is great, Mike. I definitely hear the Late 80’s in there. And then, along came Grunge! Mike, I nominated you for the Sunshine Blogger Award. If the award acceptance terms are not for you that’s ok. I nominated you for your selfless postings to share music and to teach it. Check out my post on the subject and follow the terms if you choose. It does take time. Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you! I do not pretend to be Retro – I am. I appreciate the thought and nomination, so let me check into it. That is very cool and thanks again for considering me in that way. Very generous and you are quite welcome!
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Good. Interesting!
What’s good about music, recording, and getting a good sound is the number of tracks you have available. Space to my little understanding = quality!
Hope you’re fine Mike, and have a good weekend!
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Using MIDI tracks there is almost no limit to the number of sounds or elements we can assemble. Having individual control over each gives the engineer a lot of flexibility. With today’s systems, we do not have to copy sound with other sounds theus lowering the quality each time we re-record the sound. MIDI allows each part or element to play live, as if for the first time! Thank you!
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Well it’s been a long time since I’ve been out of the “studio”, business.
Anyway keep the writing going because you live you learn!
Good stuff!
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You are still on top of it! Because we keep learning! Thank you.
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The pleasure’s mine!
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The ear virus is certainly given with enough repetition to create a good infection!
Now, how to get rid of those ten notes?
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