Kara-Moon Forum

Haven't really been composing much lately, but this one just kind of popped out in one night...inspired by some recent purchases...

This is part of a new project I'm working on that will probably take forever. This track isn't 100% finished as I'll probably fiddle with the mix. But it reminds me of stuff I used to do back in the mid-1980s (ergo, neo-retro Emdot).

The sequenced part is from AlgoMusic's Atomic using its built-in synth. It's actually one of the factory presets but it sounded so much like one of my old JX-3P sequences that I had to use it. The rest of the music is what I used to have in my mind but didn't have the gear to actually create.

[size=18]RexNem2 (http://www.emdotambient.com/Music/Emdot_Ambient-RexNem2_maxVBR.mp3)5:39, about 6MB (VBR mp3)

[It has a fairly slow fade-in so watch your volume]

The project this is for is actually a podcast of an unfinished sci-fi novel I'm writing called Rex Nemorensis. I want to do a full reading of the novel, but do it as if it were a dramatization. It'll have the full narrative, but all the dialog will be voice acted like a radio show with music and sound FX. I'd really, really like to find someone to do graphic novel style illustrations to run throughout the podcast (still pictures but with camera movement kind of like what they do with old photos in documentaries)...Ambitious? Me? Not sure the project will ever be done, but it's nice to think about.

This is one of 3 songs I've got started for the project. Here's the VSTi list used (which is going to be fairly consistent throughout the project):

AlgoMusic/BK SynthLab's Atomic
GMedia's Virtual String Machine
Rob Papen's Albino3 (x2)
AlgoMusic's M42
GMedia's Oddity
HG Fortune's STS-21 Pro
HG Fortune's ProtoPlasm Pro
HG Fortune's STS-24 Pro

Clearly a lot of work has gone into this, and I think it was well worth it. It very strongly reminds me of Tangerine Dream in the Phaedra / Rubicon days.

That's a mammoth project you set for yourself. I wish you every success ... eventually :)

E.A.,

Wow....ultra-cool replicating sounds...reminiscent of the days of Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century & BattleStar Galactica! ;D

It is a distinct pleasure to bear witness to this tune....great going! 8)

-Thom

Thanks!

And...fooled you, folderol! The whole song from idea to mix was done in one day...less than 6 hours work total. That's very quick by my standards. It all just kind of tumbled out on its own. Working with a predetermined sound pallet helps, too.

I'm only about 56 pages into the novel--though that may be about 1/4 of the novel's total length--so obviously I've got a huge amount of work yet to do. I've written two unpublished SF novels in the past, so the writing part isn't something new to me. And I'll be calling for volunteers later for voice talent and illustration/video production work (I'll be doing the narration and some of the voices). I might actually ask for submissions for soundtrack work here and on KVR and not compose it all myself...we'll see about that.

I'm really excited about the project but time's an issue and I have some unfinished commitments to finish up first.

Ta!

Cool ! this is space music.
It keeps going on and on and it's always interesting, without being repetitive although there aren't many changes.
Good production and good choice of quality sounds
Well done

Cheers

Ta, Laguna! I do consider this space music. Back in the day we called all the 70s electronic stuff that. Now it usually gets split up into ambient, new age, Berlin School, electronica, etc....but it's all space music to me. ;D

This track is also more like my old early-to-mid 1980s work in that it's steady-state music. As you note, there are no chord changes or any other compositional progressions in the track. It simply exists in its own steady-state, coming into existence fully formed and moving on to dissolution without structural changes. This allows an exploration of the sound world and a sense of timelessness prevades.

I used to write that way because I had no way of making quick changes to all my instruments at the same time. To change the sequencer's chord I had to use both hands (press one button and press a key). But I was simultaneously playing chords on my string synth and bass/lead/sound FX on an ARP AXXE and Minimoog. I didn't have multitrack recording, so all of it was recorded live. That made doing chord or key changes tricky, so I generally composed in this steady-state fashion.

Exploring that limitation was actually very rewarding and it's nice to go back to that style of composition sometimes. (And of course it fits with soundtrack work quite nicely.)

I really like this kind of music and you have done it justice.

This is definitely a song for a space movie so be sure to copyright it so you can use it when your book becomes that movie. 

PS – I’m a big fan of Sci-Fi, have been for years.  Be sure to let us know when your novel gets published.

Dfinitely had a Berlin school vibe to this, very early 70's Tangerine Dream which is a plus for me. This track does evolve very nicely and it always stays interesting despite the changes being very gradual. If someone had told me this was from a lost Tangerine Dream album i would have believed them so you can take that as a compliment. Good stuff indeed.  :)