Ladies and Gentlemen, I am extremely proud to announce the launch of:
Over the last couple of months I’ve been busy, painstakingly compiling an A-Z guide of the people, the equipment, the music, places and things that have all come to shape my musical journey over the years.
It’s very much a work in progress, and I’ll be adding to it as and when either my failing grey matter, or you the people, choose to remind me of things that I’ve forgotten.
NB: Whilst your inclusion in this A-Z is undoubtedly a sign of my undying appreciation of both you and your contributions, I also fully appreciate that some might prefer to swerve the spotlight of inevitable fame and adulation that comes from featuring on a prestigious and revered website such as this. Do therefore let me know if you’d prefer that I change / remove any content or pictures on the page, and I will be more than happy to do so.
The Contemporary Irish Gig was created, in its earliest form, as a piece to be used in parts for a Flexible Films documentary relating to Irish Travellers. This, however, is a more extended version intended for use as an entire piece in itself, as well as for library music purposes.
Another song from the CGN Songs stable. A thoughtful piece with a similar feel, I’ve always thought, to the Mike and the Mechanics hit, The Living Years.
On the basis of me being the vocalist on this song, I’ve included it on my site, but the ever quirky The Neural Exchange is entirely the work of Jim Mason. Sadly, the restrictions of us recording all vocals on a cassette-based Tascam 644 Midistudio, meant that there was little scope for getting them tweaked, bolstered, polished and essentially how I’d actually have liked them. A shame really as Jim’s excellent Yamaha SY85 programming on this song deserved a better vocal result, I think.
This Zzizzl TV ident was a commission that I competed for via the now defunct Humtoo site. Though ultimately unused by the company, they did at least inform me that they had enjoyed it. Scant consolation of course, but there you go.
My old friend, Rachael Elliott, played some excellent violin parts on this instrumental – some fifteen years ago – which I then layered together with additional sampled violin parts to form a forceful cohesive string sound which very much drives this piece forward. That, and the use of a virtual Celesta instrument, the name of which clearly inspired the track title. Note the use of ‘delayed’ heavy breathing as a sort of percussive device, something that I was quite into doing at the time – using percussive devices that is, not heavy breathing. Besides, those cases were all thrown out of court and my name cleared.
Not sure whether this one was ever used by Flexible Films, though it was written at a time when a few of my tracks had been used as incidental music on Sybil and Russ’s excellent film projects.
SPIRIT WALTZ (Alternative Version) – Full Version – DEMO – 2010:
The ‘official’ version of this track was uploaded as part of the June 2020 Monthly Uploads, and whilst that is my favourite version, there are elements of this slightly less polished, alternative demo version that I really love too. I’ll leave you to make up your own minds.
A snippet taken from the very skeletal rough demo of a song which dates back to 2008. Though I didn’t realise it until later, there’s a bit of a Howard Jones influence in the track’s sound, I’ve always thought.
Hugh Carson Music 