Episode One : Into The light

A Journey Into the Depths of your mind. Bringing together Ambient, Electronic, sub bass and Rolling Breakbeats. A collection of music created over a three year time period.

The Beginning

I started planning the concept for Episode One : Into The Light in the year 2003. I wanted to create an Album with various Genre`s of music combined together. Each track would take you on a sonical journey. The feel of the album was important and I needed to get the balance of songs right.

The Combining of different Musical Styles

The Album covers many different genre`s of music, including : Ambient, Dub, Electronic, Breakbeat, Techno, Drum and Bass. I wanted to start with some ambient pieces of music and then bring the tempo of the album up a notch. This would mean gradually drifting from ambient music into dub. From Dub, comes a bit of Techno, and then some faster Breakbeat tracks. The last track on the album could be classed as Drum and Bass.

I will now give you an overview of each song on the album with some information about the process of creating the listening experience.

1. Journey Into The Unknown

They say the first song on any album is the most important to get right. This song just seemed to come together all at once. I started with a simple 4 chord structure and then layered more pad sounds over the top. Panning of instruments was used to give the track more space. I managed to find some nice drum sounds and played the kit in live using my midi keyboard. A sample of a weather report from Chicago was found and some waterfall sounds. A horse sample was used with a bit of reverb and delay to give the piece some edge.

2. The Walk

I was feeling in an electronic mood for this one. I gathered some electronic sounds like an artist would use a palette of colours. I continued to layer more and more sounds with a deep bass line and a lovely sounding choir patch. A simple structure was used and later on I added some more percussion and drums. The sounds were panned to create more space and a few effects were added.

3. Silent Shores

A mellow pad sound is used for the short intro. Coming in with a helicopter sweep and then going into the main song. The drums were programmed and then a bit of reverb was added. You might notice that the drum timing is not quite right in parts. This slight lag is intentionally done to catch your attention. The background high string sound was taken from the soft synth Absynth 2. A deep bass was also used throughout the track.

4. Pearl River Waters

The bongo`s were taken from my Korg X5D, I played them in live And looped them. Next up I used some Angelic choir sounds with a simple chord structure. An electric guitar sound was used from the Roland JV-1010 Synth. The background strings were later added to give the song more feeling. The bass was booming through my floorboards and i liked it that way. A very deep sine wave bass. The drums were created with my Boss DR-202 or Doctor Groove as i call it, Hardware Box. A sweeping pad finishes the track of nicely. This track took me about one month to complete.

5. Let Loose ( Live Mix )

This track starts with a reverbed hard as heck synth sound. I remember being in a experimental mood and i recorded everything live. That is probably why it sounds so out of time. I just did not quantise it. It does sound very unusual and different. The Novation Super Bass Station was used for the background acid line. I tweeked the filter in real time. The drums were also played in live all the way through the track. Using my fingers on the midi Keyboard. Altogether a unique and unusual Track.

6. The Acid Line

We take a trip back to the early 90`s with some beefy acid lines and phat drums. It was a sunday morning and there was nothing on the television. So I decided to get out the Acid box, The soft synth named Triangle. The Triangle has the phatest most versatile acid sound. The filters are a joy to thrash. Some more big drum sounds and another deep bass line are also present. A little lead sound is also used to drive the track.

7. Bongo Attack

I awoke with a little tune in my head and wondered if anyone had recorded the melody before. I then sat down at the keyboard and tried for hours to get it sounding like it did in my dream. Eventually, I cracked it. This track was structured around the main synth line. The bass line and the rest of the sounds are there to accommodate the main hook.

8. Funky Flow

For this track i was looking for a back to the Old Skool Vibe. With Roland 808 drum sounds and a funky little synth line. Lots of little percussion sounds were used throughout the piece. A twangy lead line was used to liven the main part up. The middle section drops down to a mellow pad with a sweeping synth sound. The track then takes of again with some more drums and percussion.

9. Fade Bouncing

A phaser was used on a drum loop taken from Spectrasonics Stylus Drum module. I managed to find a booming kick drum sound and added it with a 4/4 beat. The Roland Guitar sound made a comeback with some pitch shifting added. A spacey acid line was also thrown in for good measure. I used a technique i like to call groove manipulation in the middle section. This is where the drum loop is pitched down but the timing stays the same.

10. Bass Lick

4 hours only. That was the time it took me to create this little track. I used everything but the kitchen sink. In fact, i used a saw in their somewhere. Three different drum loops were used, a whining cat sound, a funky bass line and a crow. The organ sound comes from Logic Audio`s built in Organ emulator. I used just a few chords to keep it simple.

11. Cypress Brazil Flavour

You might think there is a typo in the Title. The reason I spelt Cypress like that is because this song is dedicated to Cypress Hill, the most excellent rap group. I changed it to Cypress Brazil Though. Again I have used everything but the Kitchen sink in this crazy track. A couple of rap samples were also used. 3 Drum loops were layered on top of each other. The bass line and chords are kept simple too.

12. The Woo Wah Scratch

If you think the last track was crazy then you better listen to this nutty thing. I gathered together 10 scratch samples and scratched out a pattern on my midi keyboard. Later on I added a simple bass line with some tight drum sounds. The chorus comes in with a bit of acid synth before building up with some percussion. Then all you have to do is tune in, turn up, drop out.

13. Ambreak

I was watching the telly one day and the Rugby World cup song "World In Union" Came on. I thought to myself, that sounds good. Then I came up with this track. Even though It does not sound like "World In Union". It just shows, ideas can come from anywhere. The idea was to have a fast Breakbeat type track with rolling drums and a pulsating bass line. The drums are very compressed on purpose and the spacey synth ads to the tension. The main chorus consists of a delay type arpeggiated sound with a high string over the top. The track then drops out into the original drum loop.

14. Journey Into The Unknown - Rolling mix

With this remix i wanted to create a breakbeat rolling mix. The drums are played live by a guy called Martin Ford. Or Ginger as i like to call him. Fordy is an exceptional drummer.Who is still based in Newport, South Wales. I also added some live acid line over the top using the Super Bass Station.

15. The Real Vision ( Live mix )

I wanted to produce a drum and bass track to finish of the album. The bass was recorded live by myself and sounds a bit strange. The drums were taken from a sample cd and chopped up using Recycle 2. A Piano was later added to give a jazz sort of feel.