A Blanket Of Stars

Autumn

2010-10-12T12:56:00.002+02:00

Ah... this cold, misty morning of autumnal majesty ! I've been longing for this all through the dreadful Summer...
Took my girlie dog out for a stroll through the only real beauty of these southern parts of this country: the landscape. Some sites almost resemble the most magical country on earth, England.
This serene, total silence for me, is the utmost experience of aural delight... the sweetest music. A soundtrack to Taoist emptiness...
And thus begins my fav time of the year....
Now off to the Piano (or rather the Midi controller & samples :), inspiration has dawned...
The first part of Song #5 is almost done !
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 39)

2010-09-11T21:58:00.002+02:00

Just fired up my old Pentium 4 3Ghz XP PC in order to run the plug-ins that Win 7 64 bit refuses to run: Korg Digital & Analog Legacy Editions, Arturia Jupiter 8.... So now I'm able to record parts on the new machine, then load them (the Cakewalk Project files) into the old hag & export the audio (24 bit) using the desired patches ! A small hassle, but until the plug-ins become available on 64 bit systems.... it works perfectly :)
Started working through zillions of drum sounds for use on the first part of track #5.... think I found some kicking combi's...
Also recorded the chords w/ a fine patch outta the Korg MonoPoly.
I'm taking my time, cuz this 1 really needs to be HUGE !!
Cheerz,
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 38)

2010-08-31T20:43:00.002+02:00

Well, well....
This 5th track is heading in many directions, stylewise :)
Have a lot figured out in my head, but recorded only a small piano section (which I'm including here) to give every1 an impression of some of the melodies.

Piano Parts (preliminary stage)

It's going down a 'Progressive Rock meets House meets Techno meets really anything' street.
It will be divided into about 5 parts & will become lengthy I'm afraid (dunno if there's a market for this kinda thing, but WTF !).
And: there will be some guitar parts, haha !
Talk to ya later,
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 37)

2010-08-17T11:18:00.002+02:00

Well, w/ track #5 I'm taking a different approach. Normally I'd go for lotsa different drum patterns (breaks & stuff) but this time around I'm keeping that quite simple and repetitive.... All focus on the keyz & melodies :) .
Not shure if this 1 needs vocals...
Later...
Gotta do some daily practice to improve my keyboard skills (I can't complain, it's going fab :) ...
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 36)

2010-08-12T20:59:00.002+02:00

Well well, long time no update....
Track #4 has been finished, a sort of Intro or Interlude containing a spoken part from W.B. Yeats' 'The Second Coming' poem. I used my Korg Wavestation SR a lot on this one !
A demo of this one can be found on SoundCloud ("Bethlehem")... it's the first mix, however not yet mastered.
I'm spending lotsa time learning all I can regarding the Mastering process... pretty complicated ;)
Track #5 has already been 'started': an uplifting house tune with a MASSIVE beat !! I used the Reason 4 DAW for the creation of the first part w/ some Triton & Roland samples.... sounds really cool ! Sample to follow later on!
Cya!
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 35)

2010-07-22T14:51:00.003+02:00

Yea, well.... just 2 further changes to 'Wild' befo' mixing'll kick in: Entered a brilliant sample of a thunderstorm @ the start (suits the title & general feel), somewhat reminiscent of The Cure's 'The Same Deep Waters As You' ('Disintegration' holds a zillion memories for me, 1 of the greatest albums EVER, both musically & lyrics wise !!);
Then, I added some ARP sequences to the end chorus part, some squeeky things very much like the last 2 songs by Inna... Fits in beeeeautifully :)
After the 1st rough mix is done, I'll upload a sample.

.::.

P.s. just figured out a very classy way (Piano) to convert the SFAS song 'The Hallway' into House territory... Mmm, might end up doing that 1 giving the vocal thing a shot !

"The Blessed Spirits Must Be Sought Within The Self, Which Is Common To All..."
-W.B. Yeats.

Recording the CD (Part 34)

2010-07-21T18:24:00.000+02:00

Recording wise, track #3 is DONE !! On to the mixing, and mebbe some embelishments here & there.... Definitive title will be 'Wild! (3rd 1's the Charm)'....

Recording the CD (Part 33)

2010-07-14T17:14:00.002+02:00

Well, the 1st 5 minutes of "Wild" are done ! After tweaking the main chords in many different ways and positions it's now time for the real, standard melodic chord end section.... Still deciding on the beat: a dive into Jungle/Drum N Bass, or remain in House territory, or Techno... Mmmm, we'll C !
Sample to follow soon.
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 32)

2010-07-04T14:23:00.003+02:00

Brrr...

Took some time configuring the Battery Drum Sampler from inside Sonar... but, phew, finally got some nice results.
Added some Hi Hatt patterns and some kicks to Track#3, check it out here:
Sample from 'Wild! v3.0'

If you're looking for the best in drum samplers, Native's Battery 3 can't be beat :)

Later...

Recording the CD (Part 31)

2010-06-27T16:18:00.003+02:00

Here's a small snippet 4 y'all from the 1st few measures/beats from 'Wild v3.0':

http://soundcloud.com/matt-yanzen/wild-v3-0

.::.

Recording the CD (Part 30)

2010-06-26T08:25:00.002+02:00

Heya!
After a short time-out I'm back on track #3 (vacation period, so I'm kinda sssslow :) !
Been through all the samples in this HUGE soft synth called 'Massive' & mangled the main theme quite a bit.... beyond the point of recognition haha.
Gonna use that stuff @ the beginning of the tune, gives it a somewhat techno feel. Samples to follow in a week or 2.
Well, I'm off now to check out a Korg Karma Synth which I plan on buying :)
Cheerz and have a great w-kend !

Recording the CD (Part 29)

2010-06-15T10:00:00.000+02:00

Installed the M-Audio 2496 card yesterday and all went x-tremely well :) . Sound is crystal clear and thunderous. Midi tranmission works perfectly both ways, so now on to installing all the software, should be easy I guess as all is compatible w/ 64bit OS... they say ;) .
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 28)

2010-06-11T12:48:00.004+02:00

Brrrr, bizzy installing the new computer.... slurps away huge amounts of time. 1 thing's 4 sure: the onboard Audio Controller doesn't cut it (that's a surprise ;) .
My M-Audio Audiophile 2496 just got in, so I'll be installing that 1 this w-kend (gotta grab some cables & stuff 1st).
In the meantime... I'm composing track #3 which is a reincarnation of the S.F.A.S. song 'Wild!' (which I wrote somewhere in 1984 I guess). This is a different approach as opposed to writing and recording everything on-the-fly, which is pretty relaxing, although the output cannot be sampled and shared with y'all right now :) .
It's getting a wee piano-ish, with a slight trancy/house flava, haha ...
I'm planning on doing some vocoded vox myself (originally intended for Jo S., but alas, all contact has been broken off I guess....).
Cya in a few....

.::.

Now that's what I'd call 'Wild!' :)

Recording the CD (Part 27)

2010-06-03T16:24:00.002+02:00

Well, just finished mixing the drumtrax for ' Starbirth & Death', which was a kinda easy job to do as all the patches/samples were already neatly in-tune sonic wise. Just kept 'em outta the reds, to avoid clipping and stuff....
On with the rest.
I'm considering using Pro Tools 8 for the next track(s), to keep things a tad more interesting.
New PC is on its way (Pentium i7 4x2.8 w/ 6GB RAM) & I'll have to wait & see what Windows 7 Pro will bring (probably some migraine to start with :).
Bought a VERY nice Korg Wavestation SR Rackmount t'other day & my new weapon of choice in Soundcards is the M-Audio Audiophile 2496.
Peace!

.::.

O yea, for those who are wondering WFT, I'm outta the running 4 the S.F.A.S. reunion project... To be the 1 NOT throwing dirt & starting hatemongery (or to put it in a more simple way, calling any1 a faker and/or the most ugly person ever), let's just say there have been some personal differences (ever so popular).

Recording the CD (Part 26)

2010-05-25T17:40:00.002+02:00

YES!!!!

Track #2, 'Star Birth And Death', has been completed recording wise (just a few remaining FX's and stuff @ the end, to round things up...).
Here's a link to a sample of the complete VERY ROUGH mix (320 kbps mp3) of it:

Starbirth And Death (Superwindz Mix) - VERY ROUGH Mix

This is what I call the 'Superwindz Mix', which means it has a rather long, atmospheric mid section.... track clocks in @ about 8 mins !
Well, lemme hear whatcha think :)

Cheerz,
Sp#13
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 25)

2010-05-21T13:22:00.001+02:00

Finally getting towards the finalization of track 2, just have to add a repetition of the main hookline and some freaky stuff here and there...... & done !
I'll keep y'all posted !
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 24)

2010-05-12T20:02:00.003+02:00

Hell yes !
Just sampled a speech (woman's voice) from NASA.com about the birth and death of stars (supernova's and stuff, VERY interesting), took out a small piece where she says 'star birth & death', ran it through the vocoder (wow, I feel like Kayne West :) ) added some notes.... and damn, I got me myself a singer for the chorus of track 2 !!! Also did a robotized rendering of the voice.... Below is a sample, so you might check it out !

http://www.zshare.net/audio/760114797924c284/

Song #2 had a very obvious title change, it'll be called 'Star Birth and Death'.
I'm almost done w/ the mid section, which I call the Out In Space part.... very ambient with a trancy ending to it, before launching once more into the house hookline.... Methinks when finished, it'll cross the 7 minute line.
Wow, I'm totally hyped about this song !
Cheerz y'all !

Recording the CD (Part 23)

2010-05-05T20:52:00.003+02:00

Yea!
Completed the synth (spacy chords) & drum (same bouncy beat but with different snares and hats) parts for the second bridge of track #2. Also recorded some 'Simmons' drum fills which just sound sooo kool !
On to the mid section..... some ideas are bubbling widely :)
Oh, track #2 has gotten it's title: 'S-IVB' (pronounced es-four-bee)... more info = here:

Catch y'all later !

P.s. been bizzy working on the next Sweetz From A Stranger track ('The Hallway'), sounds quite promising !
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 22)

2010-04-30T10:23:00.002+02:00

Hey'all !
Well, just finished programming (and choosing sounds for) the drum patterns for the bridge section of Track #2, turned out pretty splendid !
The track is going along much speedier than its predecessor, well it's a more basic approach to dance music in general, with some tweaky stuff thrown in here and there... (my influences from the likes of Royksopp, Moby, Kraftwerk, and of course Mr. Derakh :) , etc... are clearly more present this time around).
I'll see if I can post a new sample in the next few days, 'kay ?
Tschau !
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 21)

2010-04-30T10:20:00.000+02:00

A sample of the first few minutes of track#2 still can be sampled here:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/7529203361d951c2/
More later, bizzy ri' now....
Cheerz,
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 20)

2010-04-30T10:18:00.001+02:00

19 April 2010

Well, here's a link where U all can check out a snippet from the beginning of TraK2....
Just some mean beats & general synth/bass, but it oughtta show in which direction it's going...
Turn up the bass & let those wikked beats kick it !
--- Sorry, outdated link, not available anymore... a new sample will be UL'ed soon :) ---
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 19)

2010-04-30T10:17:00.000+02:00

12 April 2010

After some bizzinezz finally started writing/recording track #2... Spend hours and hours on creating the right sounds for the massive house beat, and damn it's bouncing all over the place , Deadmau5 provided some samples which I combined with some other treated stuff.... wow, i'm hyped !
Today I recorded one of the hooklines (I already wrote the main part on guitar and finally programmed some chords w/ a crystal clear piano patch, using a Korg synth module, NICE !)... hardly any quantisizing needed .
Furthermore, today, I wrote a trancy sequence using some very nice laidback chord progressions and recorded it.
Soooo, after a few days' hiatus.... today has been a rather productive day .
Samples to follow anytime soon !
Blessed Be.
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 18)

2010-04-30T10:13:00.000+02:00

8 April 2010

Did the final mix for 'Nautilus' yesterday after which my computer got into an argument with the Sound Card's driver !
Damn, took me all morning to fix this (?).... cleaned the registry of any error, installed the bare driver without all the fancy shit & disabled some dubious boot things in msconfig...
Well, back to sound again !
Gotta go for that quad core w/ an M-Audio card later this year...
Onward w/ the new song... sounds VERY house @ this time, droning thumbing kick drums and lashing snares in combination w/ a crystal clear piano, kool !
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 17)

2010-04-29T13:41:00.000+02:00

31 March 2010

Doin' some simple embellishing fills here & there w/ Toxic Biohazard rave Synth, wow pure power this thingie !!

.::.

Recording the CD (Part 16)

2010-04-29T13:40:00.001+02:00

29 March 2010

Yes!
Just recorded the final part of song #1, a clean guitar solo (which will be very much processed later today, you betcha ! ).
So, now all instruments have been recorded & a very rough mix has been made.... it's all down to the bone mixing now I'm afraid (and well, mebbe some embelishments here & there).
Sample later on !

Song #2 is coming into sight !

Oh, song #1 has gotten its definite title: 'Nautilus' (after the famous (?) submarine from Jule Verne's classic novel).

.:0VerNoUtTaHeRe:.

Recording the CD (Part 15)

2010-04-29T13:38:00.000+02:00

26 March 2010

Whoa, (re)recorded 4 guitar tracks today using the Native Instruments's Guitar Rig 4 software for post-processing....
What can I say, I'm impressed !
Song #1 is really coming together now (it took a while longer than expected, due to some changes and re-recordings), it sounds just great.... several really weird sounding sequences, lotsa kick-ass synth sounds...
Dunno really what style this is.... electro, trancy, disco, metal, hard rock, breakcore, techno, dance . But who cares anyway, right ?
Can't wait to finish mixing it and posting an mp3 of it in here....
Song #2 is already forming in my head as we speak, it will be a lot more relaxed (and more simple structure-wise) than #1.
Look out for a sample late next week !!
.:0VeRn0uT:.

Recording the CD (Part 14)

2010-04-29T13:36:00.000+02:00

5 March 2010

Yay! There's more tracks in this mf'er than my screen can handle :-) ...
Proceeding onwards !

Recording the CD (Part 13)

2010-04-25T10:17:00.000+02:00

March 13, 2010.

Wow, things are on a roll (however, progress = slow) !! Recorded some more piano parts (using the same sound (patch) for all the parts in this song, makes it sound a lot more coherent).
Still choosing between sounds for the main bass line (which is almost finished), gotta lot of excellent Korg Triton samples .
Did a rebuild of all the tracks in Sonar (all MIDI was transferred to 24bit Audio), and started the mixing (brrrr, helluva job !). Created a dedicated Compression bus, through which all the drum tracks are being fed.... spares the PC's processor quite a bit !
Well, on w/ the show !
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 12)

2010-04-25T10:15:00.000+02:00

February 19, 2010.

Yes, back to bizniz ! After being put on a short hiatus, due to the SFAS recording/practicing, I finally -truly- finished recording the piano part for the gtr solo (some chords hadda go, new ones where created ). Had to fool around some with velocity and note length (sustain), but I succesfully exported the audio (24bit 48,000Hz) from Reason and pasted it into a new audio track in Sonar.... and damn, it sounds HUGE (even without EQ'ing) !!!!
So let's see..... only the synth bassline (where applicable) and the guitars (piece of cake) have to be done, then the mixing and mastering and yep, track #1 will be finished, cool (yea, I know, I already said that in Blog #11) !
On with the show....

Gotta shave, methinks

Recording the CD (Part 11)

2010-04-25T10:12:00.002+02:00

February 5, 2010

Finished the chords for the main solo this afternoon, sounds pretty sweet , smooth piano sound.
So, only the (synth) bass & guitar need to be recorded & then on w/ the mixing (tough job, I swear !)...
Got a little behind due to working on the Sweetz From A Stranger recording/rehearsal (see separate blog).
Cheerz!

Recording the CD (Part 10)

2010-04-25T10:12:00.001+02:00

January 28, 2010.

A huge bout o' that devil called inspiration this morning... almost finished the backing chords for the main solo part of song #1 (and believe me, the right chords are almost as important as the solo itself !!). Recorded it right away in Reason, just some small parts still left open, but the end is in sight .
I decided on completely finishing (and mixing) the cd track by track, so each song will sound (or 'feel') very much different in the end... takes a tad longer but ah, wtf !
Cheerz,
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 9)

2010-04-25T10:10:00.000+02:00

January 23, 2010.

This is the new shit !!
New Gear Picture !

Just completed the first 5 bars of synth chords to accompany the main guitar solo on track #1, using Reason 4 and a Korg Triton Patch called 90's Piano... sounds preeeeetty sweet ! (Sample follows later...).

.: oVeR+oUt :.

Recording the CD (Part 8)

2010-04-25T10:09:00.000+02:00

January 15, 2010.

Well, here's a medium Qu mp3 sample of the unmixed, unfinalized & very basic idea for song #1 (first part of it, anyway...).
all comments are welcome !
Song #1 Sample
.::.

Recording the CD (Part 7)

2010-04-25T10:08:00.001+02:00

January 11, 2010.

Well, just got my Behringer MS40 studio monitors and they sound pretty cool !
I'm still waiting for my M-Audio Axiom 49 Midi Controller/Keyboard to arrive, can't wait !!

Made some crazy drumloops for song #1 in ACID, one for the guitar solo section and some fills @ the start...

I'll be posting some samples later this week.

Later. .. . ... .. . .... .

Recording the CD (Part 6)

2010-04-25T10:05:00.000+02:00

January 4, 2010.

A Large part of the drum track for song #1 has been completed today... Got my claws into some additional software:
-Sony ACID 7.0
-Sony Soundforge 10a
and lotsa promising new VST synths that make me drool and feel like a kid in a candystore .

I decided on a title for the project: 'A Blanket of Stars' and fooled around some w/ my name (I'll be sending this cd all around the world, and my dutchy name doesn't sound really representative ). Well, I chose my 2nd baptismal name and mangled my last name and the winner is: Matt Yanzen (yea, laugh your asses off y'all ).

There will be a dedicated website promoting this all, over @ http://www.shipwrecks.demon.nl/ablanketofstars.htm that will be up and running later !

Cheerz for now, I'm back to jamming !

Recording the CD (Part 5)

2010-04-25T10:04:00.000+02:00

Yes! Song #1 structure is as good as finished, clocking in @ about 3:50min... some weird spacy DrumNBass section has been added near the end.
On to the drum programming !
C'yall!

Recording the CD (Part 4)

2010-04-25T00:54:00.000+02:00

December 25, 2009

Ran through zillions of drum samples and came up with a nice sounding kit for song #1, here's a sample of the unprocessed first few measures:

Click for Drum Sample

Proceeding onward.hail!.end.

Recording the CD (Part 3)

2010-04-25T00:53:00.001+02:00

19 Dec, 11:08

Wow, lotsa inspiration this morning... wrote 2 new (very melodic) parts for song 1, which is structure-wise nearing its finalization point... just need to figure out the order in which the sub-themes will end the song. Then onto the most work intensive part: programming and tweaking the drums .
Yay!

Recording the CD (Part 2)

2010-04-25T00:51:00.000+02:00

December 14, 2009

Wrote some more music for track #1 (a bridge leading nicely into the solo part ).

Here's a small sample of the main solo:
SqueekyGuitarSolo
and a piece of score for y'all to jam :
Score Snippet

Yay !

Recording the CD (Part 1)

2010-04-25T00:49:00.000+02:00

061209 Day 1: picking up what's been left behind a year ago

071209 Day 2: i've written down notation for the main guitar lines in song #1, titled 'Drokk!'... & recorded them on synthesizer. phew, took some time :9)

101209 Day 3: Checking out some drum software, currently loading iZotope into Sonar... lotsa samples, overall sound's pretty much okay for such a small application/VST. We'll see what It'll bring.... Need some more RAM to run Easy Drummer or DrumCore.

Recording The CD

2010-04-25T00:42:00.000+02:00

Hi, well... I'm bizzy w/ writing and recording my first solo album (5 tracks) & this blog will keep y'all pretty much up-to-date w/ everything that's going on.
I've already did some blogging on Hyves (20+ installments), I will transfer these parts to over here right now.
Cheerz !