Mon 17th Dec 07
Last evening before Christmas break. Still got some decent work done though, as we re-visited the idea of key changes in the Bridge. Crudely pitch-shifted the entire track on the laptop to see what could possibly work.

NOVEMBER 07
The Diary has got a bit left behind recently due to having to type the same old ‘tried this but it didn’t work’ entries.  But things are moving along lately….

A couple of additions have kind of glued the song together.  Firstly we’ve copied the CS50 string type of sound that plays mid-verse to play in more parts of the song, but routing it through a high pass filter.  Sounds good – need to get it to follow more of a melody, but it keeps the momentum of the music going.

We also sampled part of the original demo to see if it’d work under the kick at times.  We don’t usually like doing stuff like this, but it’s a basic effect and the part doesn’t need anything more than what it’s doing.

The track has finally got to a stage where we can work on the vocals in detail.  Took a recording of what all the synths are doing into the Mac, and sat down for an entire weekend working hard on what and how it should be sung, small but important changes to the vocal melody…everything about it.  Lack of practice meant that it was a nightmare at times and real knocks to confidence, but it’s just to get a guide vocal down for now, then to learn every nuance about it.  The whole process might sound a bit anal, but it requires it.

We’ve been making alterations to the whole arrangement during this process also – chopping bits of audio up and moving it around to see what can be improved, particularly trying things out with the end of the song, as there’s nothing more boring than a straight fade out of a chorus repeated, so we always try to get something interesting going on.

The biggest nightmare has been two lines in a verse which just weren’t up to scratch.  The problem wasn’t completely evident until working on it highlighted just how bad they were.  It’s not easy fitting in two brand new lines into a song that was written months ago either…they either sound shoe-horned in, or just a cop-out.  So we’ve been sweating over those couple of lines for a while.

Sat 20th - Sun 21st October 07
‘To The Lions’ is now officially the song that never wants to be finished.

OCTOBER 07
Only slow progress is being made to the arrangement and music of ‘To The Lions’ now, which means that it must almost be done!

Constantly evaluating what really needs to be in each part of the song, getting rid of anything that just distracts from what really contributes to the track.

Worked on the break before the second verse.  Made a sound on the Andromeda to add to the main ES1 rising sound.  Really cool frequencies to it that give it a real unstable feel….just the way we like it!

None of the ES1 sounds we passed through the SK1 seem to fit.  They’re good sounds, but nothing seems to benefit the song.

Also been re-demoing ‘Adore’ and trying to give it the strong direction it needs, as it just wasn’t good enough a few months ago….too poppy and throwaway sounding.  Needs to be grittier and more grungey.

Still trying to get the lyrics to ‘Big Mistake’ finished – the style of the verse gets a bit samey and monotonous, so the main idea needed to be expanding upon.

Sat 22nd - Sun 23rd Sept 07
Added a slow attack synth sound to layer with the kick (another element the original demo had), only seems to need it up until the first verse kicks in though.

Plenty of work on the pre-chorus section…some really deep percussive sounds off the Andromeda and Pro-cussion are finally distinguishing the part from the main verse section, and sounding like a real progression.

Turned the treble on the amp up a little to sweeten the flat  EQ we’d been listening to for weeks, and the music suddenly sounded full and somewhere close to being finished.

Mon 20th Aug 07
More work on the rides and hi hats.  Working well at the moment, adding a layer of ‘air’ to work quietly under the main upfront hats.  They’ll definitely add a lot to the track, even though they’re subtle.

Ran the kick+reverb from the MPC into the SK1 to see if anything would be usable to play under the main kick occasionally – to add some kind of grit to it.  Got some interesting, mega lo-fi results recorded into the sampler.  Not sure if they’ll fit yet though.

Tues 14th & Thurs 16th Aug 07
Auditioned loads more hi-hat sounds to see what fits with the main ones, but barely anything does fit.  There are some that will work well, but mainly to add ‘air’ to the song, as most of the other hi hats were too distracting.

We also worked on the main chorus ‘rising’ sound, sampled what we already have and fed it through the Kaoss Pad, a circuit bent Casio SK1 for some unpredictable results and through the Pro One.  The idea is to hard-step through various stages of some of these samples later in the chorus.

Sat 11th & Sun 12th Aug 07
Time to really concentrate on the hi hats, which gave the original demo so much of its character.

Hooked up the EMU Procussion to find the sounds we may have edited and used.  Part of the difficulty in finding them is because they were going through a bright reverb and delays with an odd timing.  So we tried to recreate the effect as close as possible to hear if the sounds we were going through were correct.

Anyway….we eventually found the sound on a drum machine we used years ago, quickly followed by a huge sigh of relief.

Finally we were able to move onto percussion sounds that would progress the track.  Spent the afternoon programming the newly acquired Alesis Andromeda, got some really good results from it for percussive sounds.  Good stuff indeed.

Thurs 2nd Aug 07
Yet again we returned to trying to get the exact pad sound that backed the original demo of ‘To The Lions’, as it was so important to the original ‘sound’ of the demo. 

Dan demoed the music for earliest version of it quite a few years ago, and was mostly done on a Casio CZ-1.  Very nearly got there with the sound too - without the original sequence it was hard to hear how it was done.  We could tell it was two sounds making the part, but each sound playing different notes of the combined chord.

Then we loaded a sound we recently made on the DX-200.  After a little extra tweaking and side by side comparisons with the original demo, we decided that the DX-200 sounded richer and fuller.  So…finally…we’re 100% happy with this sound, and there’s no need to try and find the sound we had years ago.  Phew.

Mon 30th, Tues 31st July & Weds 1st Aug 07
Recorded a remix for our mate Roi from Mechanical Cabaret, which made a welcome break from hearing ‘To The Lions’ every night for weeks.

We didn’t have a lot of time to do a great deal with it as it was a tight deadline.  We’d have preferred to have completely reworked the song, but time didn’t allow.  Basically we put selected audio parts of the song through the various outboard effects, including an old, cheap, bad quality Realistic delay unit - recorded several passes of each part through various effects straight into Nuendo, cut it up and built the mix up from those parts.

Hopefully the mix will be on the single when it's released. It’s for a song called ‘Disbehave’, and we’ve called it the ‘Yellow Mama Mix’.

Sat 14th & Sun 15th July 07
More work on the pre-chorus section of ‘To The Lions’.  Two sounds off the XTk and a sound off the Synthex has finally got us somewhere!   

We toyed for a while with transposing the part to different keys, with some really interesting results, we liked it a lot - but it might not be workable with the rest of the song….so left it in its original key for now.

Also worked on the CS50 melody line used in the verses, writing slightly different progressions for each time the part is played. 

June 07
Been buying a couple of old classic synths over the last few weeks – a Casio CZ5000 and an Oberheim Matrix 1000.  Disappointing…selling them again straight away - life’s too short to struggle getting a synth to respond properly, using an unreliable editor or attempting to program a sound with only the smallest of LCD displays on the CZ5000, only to get typical, uninspiring  sounds out of them.  Oh well.

Back to the music…and ‘To The Lions’, specifically the cursed end of verse section.  We’ve made a really interesting, organic sounding lead sound for the part on the Microwave XT, and we’ve got about 3 completely different versions of it saved, which will probably get used in other parts of the song somewhere. 

We keep on going back to the chord structure of this part of the song, trying to introduce more progression for it, but It’s proving really difficult to get something that feels right for it.  After hours of struggling to find a bass line which is interesting and works and introduces more melody it appears that the restricted chord structure of the rest of the song won’t allow any real big change in this section without it sounding out of place.  So (we think) the chords for the part are going to stay quite simple, as we’ve thrown everything we can at it, and nothing fits apart from the original idea.

Fri 18th - Sun 20th May 07
‘To The Lions’

Finally moved on to other parts of the song…we must have heard the verse part looped a thousand times.  How many times can you listen to something without going insane?!

Spent a while adjusting the EQ on the low frequencies.  The whole sound was getting swamped by all the bass and effect on the kick. 

Each part of the song is kind of slotting into place – with small changes to the arrangement here and there.  Still haven’t tackled the pre-chorus section yet though.

Added a couple of sounds to the chorus…we want the track to sort of open up with frequencies when the chorus starts, as the intro and verse are all intentionally subtle.

Fri 11th - Sun 13th May 07
‘To The Lions’ - Continued to work on the verse section.

We worked seperately on the CS50 and Pro One to get an idea for a short, powerful sound working for the mid-verse instrumental section, ended up layering both sounds to get something approaching what we wanted..

Also got a brilliant, detailed electronic sound going on the CS50 for the same part – this time a string styled sound.  Sounds really good coming in from a sparse opening verse and fills the track.

We spent quite a while sorting through all the parts and ideas for what we’ve got for the verse sections.  Trying out things coming in, then stopping as something else comes in.  Loads of  elements to it, but it needs to still sound strong, and have a clear idea behind it all, rather than everything playing at once and sounding cluttered.

Thurs 3rd May 07
‘To The Lions’

Used two identical sounds going through different filters for the main resonant chord…needs at least one more layer to it, possibly off the DX7.

We’ve got an idea for an additional melody element for the verse…fed ourselves through the Pro One to modulate our voices, then sampled the results.  Tried it out It quickly  towards the end of the evening, the results weren’t exactly what we’re looking for, but it sounded really good over parts of the chorus, may end up using.  

Watched some Garth Marenghi.  “Here, let me cut your pork pie”

Sat - Sun 28th & 29th April 07
‘To The Lions’ – Started by editing the Modular bass sound until it worked with every chord of the song.  Needed to capture all the movement and detail as a collection of separate samples for every note that’s played.  A painstaking process, and probably the most complicated bit of sampling we’ve had to do - as numerous samples are layered on each key and triggered depending on how hard the key is pressed.  Longwinded, but necessary.

Moved onto honing the vocal melody for the verse.  Recorded some rough takes.  Some subtle changes, but the vocal line is less repetitive now.  A couple of tweaks to the lyrics too.

Worked hard on developing melody into the bassline - it’s finally moved away from the rough demo singular, basic chord root notes.

After Re-EQing the bassline in the MPC1000 we reduced some reverb from the kick and hi-hats.  It’s starting to sound tighter and more direct.  We’re having to forget about the ‘feel’ of the original demo mentioned previously, as it’s moved away from that original idea, and the sounds we have for it now don’t lend themselves to getting that feel back.

It’ll be better in the end!

Thurs 12th April 07
More work on the troublesome part from Monday, and plenty more frustration.

Feels like we’ve hit a brick wall with ‘To The Lions’.  The feel of the original demo was really good, but to just recreate that for the final version wouldn’t be interesting enough, but it still needs elements of it.

We’ve put the bass sound through a delay which goes some way towards capturing the original feel, but the sound doesn’t pitch correctly for all the chord changes in the song, so we need to find a way of fixing that problem.  Hopefully once that’s fixed the part we’re having trouble with should start working better.

Mon 10th April 07
Everything is set up and ready to be used.

Loaded ‘To The Lions’ and for some reason we decided to work on the section that stumps us everytime.  Tonight was no exception.  Shit.

 

Mon - Tues 2nd & 3rd April 07
Studio rethink.

Synths all around the floor and ad hoc set ups through Kaoss Pads and foot pedals etc is one thing, but when we need to get our teeth stuck into programming and time consuming editing, this is where a messy floor based working environment doesn’t work so well.

We’ve retireved a couple of big ‘A frame’ stands from storage and are looking for the most productive set up we can get. 

The EMU sampler has become the centre of everything since we got it.  So much stuff gets put into it and comes out with the goods.

So…the EMU, master keyboard, Atari (running Notator) and Mac (running Logic Pro) all on one stand…where all the ‘nuts and bolts’ of programming and honing everything can happen.  The Synthex is going on the other stand as it’s a main provider of sounds, as well as the Modular and Pro One.  All other synths up against walls etc to just get out onto the floor when we need them.

Got the battered Yamaha SY77 out from storage too.  It’s a powerful FM synth, but need to play around on it to see if it’s more trouble than it’s worth to program it.

Possibly the most riveting diary entry ever!

Sat 17th March 07
‘To The Lions’ - We loaded a long recording into the EMU of an old heavy wrought iron gate slamming, shaking and creaking that we recorded years ago.

Spent a long time splicing the recording up in the sampler and choosing sections of interest - there’s some brilliant timbres to it, all metallic and gritty, full of nuanses you could never get from a synthetic source.

Fri - Sun 9th - 11th March 07
Started working on ‘To The Lions’ again. 

Concentrated for a while on the hi hats…the demo ones were perfect, with just the right ‘feel’ to them, and it’s hard to get that feel back.  Eventually got something approaching how they originally sounded, but we didn’t want to get too bogged down, so it’ll do for now.

Spent a few minutes programming an intro, using the original intro arrangement from the demo, and after making the simplest of alterations to the arrangement - by muting a sound as the first verse kicks in - the tracksuddenly started to sound really good, and almost song like! 

We added some mega low frequency thick bass rumble to the verse to replace the sound we muted – with what must be the quickest sound we’ve ever made and used!  It sounds really good– more weighty and authoritive.

> See picture for healthy studio eating.

Tues 27th February 07
After an unforseen forced break from working on stuff for almost a month it’s back to it.

A change of Mac and a Logic update meant a lot of time-consuming setting up before we could get on with anything – good old modern technology getting in the way of progress!   So after a month it's a case of “where the hell were we with stuff”.

Spent some time going through all the sounds we’ve built up for ‘Big Mistake’ to try and progress the intro riff for the verse.  Various stuff tried out, eventually ending the evening with a really simple two note melody introducing the riff that was already in place.

Things are moving too slow at the moment for our liking.  The  equipment just isn't setup as well as it could be and it's frustrating trying to work on certain bits of kit.  We can never seem to find that ‘perfect’ set up, goddamit.

Mon 29th January 07
‘Big Mistake’  We’re constantly trying to find the best ways of working, and at this stage avoid getting bogged down in detail, so tonight we worked seperately, almost treating the track like a demo again in order to get some momentum going. 

Went pretty well, and we got a few interesting sounds out of it. So hopefully, fingers crossed, we should now have enough sounds to get the majority of the verse programmed.

Thurs 25th January 07
‘Big Mistake’  Further work on the riff intro for the verses, at first trying out a quick sequence using various sounds, but sounded to amateur and unfocused. 

Towards the end of the evening we recorded in a basic two note idea off the Synthex, quite a cutting sound which introduces the vocal line well.  It needs other things happening around it yet, but it’s a good starting point.

Tues 23rd January 07
ROB – I’m still not totally happy with the lyrics to ‘Big Mistake’, there’s something about them that doesn’t gel together.  As we’re building up the track it’s becoming clear that the lyrics and their structure work best when they’re kept as simple as possible.  I think I’m almost  there (maybe).

DAN - Spent the evening finding my way round a new acquisition.....an old(ish) Emu E4 Platinum - the last (and supposedly best) hardware sampler Emu made.  I wanna get up to speed with using it as soon as possible as it's hugely flexible and extremely powerful. I intend to get to know it as well as I knew the old Emax II, which I knew inside out.  One thing that occurred to me at the end of the evening though.....do I really still need the MPC4000?.....it just doesn't sound anywhere near as warm and musical as the E4.

 

Sat 20th - Sun 21st January 07
Staying with ‘Big Mistake’ until we really make some progress on it. Eventually nailed the Synthex part for the verse – was difficult finding the right balance for the melody between originality and something that still sounded like it progressed coherently throughout the verse.

Moved onto a part that’ll come in before the vocals start for each verse, a sort of short introduction or riff. Not 100% sure of how it should be, so both played on various machines, recording sounds to try out for it later.

Mon 15th - Tues 16th January 07
Started working out what to do with the verse lead sound for ‘Big Mistake’ from last week.  At first trying out various melodies, it sounds like it needs some kind of flowing melody line throughout the verse. 

Nothing was really sounding like it belonged until we added some portomento to the sound, where it started to really fit in, giving the verse a broken, unstable feeling set against the vocals.

Worked for a longtime programming a sequence for the first verse with it.  Took quite a while to decide exactly what we liked and what really suited the track, melody needed to be minimal but interesting.  Eventually got there, with extensive editing in Logic afterwards – shifting the position of notes until we finally had something that compliments everything else. 

This track feels more precious at the moment than some others, as we’re wary about putting anything in it that will take anything away from the original solid idea.

Thurs 11th January 07
‘Big Mistake’ - Worked on a lead sound for the verse on the Synthex.  Recorded the sound dry, and through a couple of processed recordings, all sound good, and we’ll probably use all of them during the track at some point. 

New room is proving more productive already, plenty of space to just sit on the floor at different synths and try things out.

Tues 9th January 07
Now that we’ve moved location we have room again for some bigger synths.  After months of non-use we’ve got the Synthex up and running again.  Spent the evening giving it a quick service, and then a bit of experimenting by feeding the signal of the Synthex through the XTk.

 

Fri 5th - Sun 7th January 07
After the long Christmas and New Year break it was time to get back to it, batteries freshly recharged…

Before Christmas we recorded a rough idea for a new demo with a sound Dan made up on the Microwave XTk – a huge grunty bass sound with loads of controllable movement, huge amount of potential, can’t wait to work on it.

We’ve moved our equipment to a bigger room so we have room to breathe, the previous room had got too cramped, and had started to slow our ability to work.

Loaded ‘Big Mistake’.  The version that we had been working on was using temporary, rough samples of the original demo, so we needed to get the song working properly, and find the sounds we originally used.  Firstly the main sound which gives the whole song its idenity, originally on the Emax II.  We loaded the sound into the new EMU sampler, and spent a couple of hours trying to get it sounding the exactly the same, but the filters sound completely different from the Emax II, and it’s impossible to get the sound behaving exactly the same way.  It’s near enough for now, but we may end up using the Emax II for it still.

Onto the remaining sounds, mostly percussive and weren’t saved when the original demo was recorded, as when you first lay tracks down for a demo you generally hold no value to certain elements as they are more often than not quickly fitted into it as you go along, and seem disposable.  But with hindsight you realise that they were an essential part of its overall identity. The difficulty is in identifying what sounds they might be, and what piece of equipment they were from as they were usually layered in the demo, so it’s hard to hear exactly what each seperate component is, as when they’re layered they tend to sound as one sound and not individual.

Eventually got to the stage where it’s sounding rock solid, and pretty close to how it should.  Talked about the song and arrangement a little and some key sounds / parts it should have, then worked individually creating sounds for a while, sampling everything that fitted.