[Music] Tapewolf: J.P's music (16/Apr/2017 - 'Numerology')

[Tapewolf]

This time it's Turnsky's comic The Foxfire Chronicles which has given me the emotional kick to write a new song, and so without further ado, I give you "Operation Wendigo" (a.k.a. "Foxified"):

http://www.dougtheeagle.com/stuff/wendigo2.mp3
http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/wendigo3.mp3

I gave Turnsky a sneak preview of this, but that version was recorded 24 hours ago and this one contains numerous changes including a better ending and drums (I suck at drums)
I may rerecord the vocals at some stage, and I flubbed the mix at the end again.

Lyrics follow:

Once I was just a normal man
'till I was spirited away
But now I'm not sure what I am
Or if I'll see the light of day
I didn't ask to be a freak
I didn't ask to have a tail
They changed me into what you see
And locked me in their private jail
THEY FOXIFIED ME

Five canids once were humankind
We never really found out why
We never really had a choice
Obey our masters or we die
As months of training took their toll
Just as our hopes began to fade
We're given plans for our escape
Or have we all just been betrayed?
THEY FOXIFIED ME

We learned of others such as us
Disguised as humans such as you
Our allies sent us off to meet
The council of the Manitou
The council told me many things
Of distant pasts and foreign lands
They said that we are wendigo
And I hold the future in my hands
THEY FOXIFIED ME

May the Wendigo decide just from unjust
May the Wendigo realise their light
And endure the coming darkness
For the End Times are near!

[Turnsky]

this has the turnsky seal of approval.. 

[Tapewolf]

this has the turnsky seal of approval.. 

[Does a passable impression of Fa'Lina-thinking-about-Pyroduck's-babies]

I've fixed the popping problem on the 'prophecy' bit, but I'm not going to mix it all again until I get some more 1/4" tapestock, although I can make a clip of the fixed part available if anyone is curious.

Those of you with varispeed MP3 players may also want to try running that section about 12% fast to hear the voice in its original form...


**EDIT**
http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/wendigo3.mp3
I did a new mix last night, since the v2 mix was lacking in bass and had problems with the 'prophecy' section at the end.

[Tapewolf]

"The musings of Jakob Pettersohn upon the time when he was once known as Johan Cross (initial draft)" - but that wouldn't fit in the thread title very well.

This is a very rough draft.  There's a rather grating chord change around 2:00 to be fixed, the cello at the start sounds too artificial and I'll probably try to make it longer.  There aren't any vocals yet either.

The reason I'm uploading this in its unfinished state is because I'm dismantling my studio.  With luck it should be operating again sometime after the 16th, but we'll have to see how the move goes.
As a matter of fact I should really have been packing things up and not doing this at all, but you know how it is.. the best ideas come when you should be doing something else 

http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/jakobcross1.mp3
http://dougtheeagle.com/ferret/ferret5.mp3

[Gabi]

the best ideas come when you should be doing something else 

Too true. Good luck with the move!

[Tapewolf]

This is the second take of 'The musings of Jakob Pettersohn upon the time when he was once known as Johan Cross', now with vocals - the first recording I've made in my new house.

http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/jakobcross2a.mp3
http://dougtheeagle.com/ferret/ferret5.mp3

...and if anyone can peg that to a particular genre, I'd like to know what style it is myself. 

[Tapewolf]

This is actually the score from the current Radio Project episode:
http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/abel_organ.mp3

It kind of loops after that, since I don't know how long it's going to have to last yet.  I can probably fill in some more noodling to keep it going, if need be.

And damn, that machine is the single most expensive piece of kit I've bought but it's worth every penny...

[Zedd]

The sound of Organs gives chills down my red back

[GabrielsThoughts]

hmm...maybe if the pipe organ was playing Jerry Lee Lewis "Great balls of fire" the theme would be more appropriate.

[Nimrods Son]

http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/flanging.wav.mp3

..it's not quite up-to-scratch but hopefully you can hear the effect.  It is achieved by running two tape recorders with the same recording, and by varying the speed on one machine, bringing them in and out of sync (which results in signal cancellation).
One of the most famous songs to do this is 'Itchycoo Park' by the Small Faces.

I usually produce a flanging-like effect doubling my vocals. Sometimes I sing very precise and therefore the two vocal tracks sound like one - a flanged one.
(check out "Hamster" on my myspace www.myspace.com/mardukh)
Of course, mostly I flange guitars with the Boss Gf-2.
I consider the flanger the sound effect that fits my soul the most, whatever that means.

[Nimrods Son]

http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/jakobcross2a.mp3

...and if anyone can peg that to a particular genre, I'd like to know what style it is myself. 

Pretty much in the vain of Arcade Fire's new album "Neon Bible", which is hyped very heftily over here. Their songs, however, are not soooo well-arranged. Perhabs one could name the genre "Ecclectic Prog" or someting like that.

-soorry for double-posting-

[Tapewolf]

I usually produce a flanging-like effect doubling my vocals. Sometimes I sing very precise and therefore the two vocal tracks sound like one - a flanged one.
Of course, mostly I flange guitars with the Boss Gf-2.
I consider the flanger the sound effect that fits my soul the most, whatever that means.

I don't usually have enough tracks to double-track, although hopefully the new synchroniser should solve that problem.  And yes, I have a Danelectro phaser myself which works nicely on the Oberheim strings (e.g. 'Journey To The Kingdom Of Hollyann' and 'My Wicked Life With The Hattifatteners').  The Zoom can do this as well, but the main point of that particular recording was to see if I could do it the 1960s way

[Nimrods Son]

two thumbs up.
I gave some of your recordings to "my" synthi architect player/violinist, he pretty much liked the synth sounds; but for the recording/mixing effects and skills, I guess he has no ear for that.

[Tapewolf]

http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/mrapoc2.mp3

I did not take drugs to make this song.

[Zedd]

http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/mrapoc2.mp3

I did not take drugs to make this song.

Does caffine count? *hides in broom closet*

[Tapewolf]

I did not take drugs to make this song.

Does caffine count? *hides in broom closet*

I didn't take any of that either.
I've tried to restrict this one to sounds that would have been available in the 60s.  The organ twirl at the start is inspired by the opening lines from "My Mirage" by Iron Butterfly which used a Vox Continental. The voicing Korg provide isn't the same as the one they used, so although it is allegedly sampled from the same model it's evidently done with different drawbar settings.
The echo unit is actually from the 60s.
The only thing standing out is the synthesizer bassline (not impossible in the late 60s anyway) which isn't even very prominent in the mix.

[Zedd]

I like it though..Has a wonderful class to it

[Tapewolf]

Forty years ago next month, Sergeant Pepper was released.  On For the benefit of Mr. Kite, John Lennon supposedly decided that he wanted to be able to hear "the sound of sawdust" but left before explaining what he meant.  In response, engineer Geoff Emerick took about eight bars of steam-organ tape, cut it into little bits with scissors, threw them in the air and spliced them back together randomly.
I have always wanted to do this, and now I have.  Only it wasn't steam-organ tapes.  I hope James likes it.

This song is titled "The death of a thousand splices, or 'The Authentic Sound of Sawdust'".  The tape loop at around 3:00 is edited from the words 'monopoly' and 'bugger'.  And yes, I do like Bach.  And Keith Emerson.

http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/1000splices.mp3

[James StarRunner]

Oh yeah, I guess you got the PM already. I'm having a great time listening to this song! What are you saying at the end though in the evil slowed down voice?

[Tapewolf]

Oh yeah, I guess you got the PM already. I'm having a great time listening to this song! What are you saying at the end though in the evil slowed down voice?

The evil voice says "There is no valid reason these people should be alive", a horrible comment I read on Slashdot about the same time the idea for the song was forming in my head.  And yes, the start was inspired by me loading up the DMFA 392 episode and then quickly switching to another song instead...

[Tapewolf]

This was originally written for the scene in DMFA #501, where Dan has been kidnapped and Aary is surveying the room, but I've adapted it to cover the later parts of 'Recipe for Disasters'.
The woodwinds at the end are coming in a little too loud, I think.  Any other comments are welcome.

http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/kidnap3.mp3

[Tapewolf]

I started writing this a few days before the big discussion on soul-eating, but I wasn't happy with it until last night.  I'm still not entirely happy with the vocals and the drums could be better, but drum tracks are such a fiddle to write.  I hate them.  The first version had none, but it really needs them as a guidepost for the time signature (which changes frequently).

http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/darkprice.mp3

[Tapewolf]

I am currently working on a series of songs based on a reinterpretation of the tale of the three little pigs and the big, bad wolf.

This is what will probably be the second track (after the intro):
http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/pigs2.mp3

I'll probably regret this in the morning, the mixing at the end was a bit shoddy, but hey, this is basically a draft version anyway.

[Tapewolf]

Here's the latest in my 'Three Little Pigs' series.  This extremely vicious song is about the fiery death of the second pig.

http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/2ndpig.wav.mp3

This is the first complete mix and is a bit slipshod.  The sample will have to be replaced, and I'm open to offers if anyone wants to guest on the song.

P.S. Karma for the first person to identify who the sample is of  - offer not valid for people I've already told 

There is also an outtake where the sequencer controlling the sampler crashed in mid-session:
http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/pigs4_crash.wav.mp3

**EDIT**

And a short video of the tape loops I used.  I'll probably replace the full "I'm going to sacrifice you" loops with digital samples as it's very difficult to keep them aligned.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bBr0SzLYZN0

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Mildly repetitive, but not bad, TW. I suspect it'd sound better as part of the full set, though.

[Tapewolf]

Mildly repetitive, but not bad, TW. I suspect it'd sound better as part of the full set, though.

Yeah.  I'll probably fade it earlier in the final mix - it runs to 8 minutes to ensure there's enough to fade with.  I'm thinking it might be an idea to lose one of the intro sections, but barring some very tricky editing, or simply cutting into one of the later bars, it would require a re-recording to achieve.

[Tapewolf]

After some rerecording and various problems involving recorders, tapes and computers, here is the watery fate of the third little pig:
http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/test/3rdpig2.wav.mp3

This is the first song I've done which uses the cello tapes from the mellotron.
I still need to write some decent lyrics for the first pig, although I've got the basic song down.

[GabrielsThoughts]

hey, if there was a way to mash that with the Mighty Max Intro, it would sound incredible.

[Tapewolf]

Here at last is the first little pig.  I have spent a lot of time engineering the vocals and applying a boatload of effects, including double-tracking, chorus, distortion and way too much tape echo.
I also applied true reverse reverb, which I hadn't done for a while - this is the trick where you take the tape off the machine, put it back on upside-down and bounce from one track to another through a reverberation unit.  The short burst of reverb on the last lap was actually an accident, but I kept it because it sounded good.

The guitar effect is an overdriven clavinet, the same kind of trick was done throughout Nursery Cryme by Genesis, and I'm 99% sure that's what Cockney Rebel did for the solo on Mr. Soft.

http://www.jpmorris.force9.co.uk/music/1stpig.wav.mp3

[GabrielsThoughts]

I liked the second piggy song, better than the others, your voice kinda reminds me of that guy from the dead man on campus movie, you know the cheerleader/goth prince.