Month: August 2020

August 2020: Mid-Month

Mid-Month Audio Uploads:

Something a little different this time. Five versions of the same track, giving you the opportunity to trace this song from its humble origins and through its many incarnations.

Never Knew Love was a song that started life as one of Peter Godfrey’s short instrumentals. I always liked this one of his for its relaxed country feel fused with what I’ve always thought was a touch of that old magical Mike Post theme, “Hill Street Blues”. A great combination.

It gave me an idea for a country-style song which I had initially intended to offer to the excellent Benn Sisters. For the demo recording, Rebecca Saxton once again did a wonderful job for me on lead vocals, whilst Jim Thomas somehow defied all of the odds to record the guitar parts in one of the most ridiculous recording sessions I’ve ever been involved in.

Never Knew Love - SONG - Lyrics

  • NEVER KNEW LOVE (LATE STAGE VERSION) – FULL VERSION – DEMO – 2012:

Carson/Godfrey

©HughCarsonMusic

This late stage version is probably as close to how I had originally envisioned this song to be. It’s only a temporary mix, so forgive the occasional issues with that.

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  • NEVER KNEW LOVE (REIMAGINED) – FULL VERSION – DEMO – 2014:

Carson/Godfrey

©HughCarsonMusic

A departure from the song’s original country feel with this altogether more mellow version, complete with occasional bird song.

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  • NEVER KNEW LOVE (RAW VERSION) – SONG SAMPLE – DEMO – 2013:

Carson/Godfrey

©HughCarsonMusic

In an attempt to try and ‘beef up’ the mix a bit, I opted for less harmonic movement, dirtier percussive samples and feeding the guitar parts through a touch of distortion. It was an interesting idea, but one which I ultimately aborted. If you’re going to go with something a little edgier, it’s always far more effective to record a track with that in mind rather than trying to achieve such a sound purely through the mixdown process.

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  • NEVER KNEW LOVE (ORIGINAL INSTRUMENTAL) – FULL VERSION – 2012:

Godfrey

©PeterGodfrey

I’ve called this instrumental ‘Never Knew Love‘ for the sake of continuity here, but Peter Godfrey’s instrumental was actually known as ‘Country & Western Track’ or something along those lines. Whether it was intended or not, listen out for the “Hill Street Blues’ gliding synth influence that really gives this track its old-school charm.

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  • NEVER KNEW LOVE (ORIGINAL ROUGH DEMO) – FULL VERSION – 2012:

Carson/Godfrey

©HughCarsonMusic

A very rough skeletal demo version, and the basis for all further work that was to be done on this song. It’s also the only version that was ever recorded incorporating the extended coda section towards the end.

 

August 2020:

THIS MONTH’S AUDIO UPLOADS:

 

  • DANCING TO THE TUNE – FULL VERSION – 2012:

©CGNSongs

Dancing To The Tune began life as an obscure demo sent to my CGN Songs partner, Peter Godfrey, by Nat Nollid. Peter extracted what he could from Nat’s fusion of free-style spoken lyrics and steam locomotive whistles (among other things), and brought the backing track firmly into the mainstream turning it into a pop-style dance track. I then fleshed out the lyrics, and set to work on the melodies and harmonies, bringing in Rebecca Saxton to join me on vocals. Tony As added an excellent rap – recorded remotely – and after much wrestling with the mix-down process, we finally got it where we wanted it. Cheesy dance music. A bit of fun.

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  • NOW I KNOW MY ABB – FULL VERSION – 2010:

©HughCarsonMusic

This was a fast turn-around commission whilst I was based out in Sweden, to write a piece to be used in conjunction with an ABB promotional video for a compact indoor substation with disconnecting circuit breakers! The video version was, through necessity, far more sparse in its arrangement than the final stand-alone audio version, below.

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  • HYPNOTIC – SKETCH – 2011:

©HughCarsonMusic

A brief snippet from an idea that I had for a track depicting the fuzzy dream-like state of consciousness of a man, spaced-out on narcotics of some description.

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  • RAIN DANCE – SECTIONS – 1995:

©HughCarsonMusic

Whilst going through a ‘long and epic instrumentals’ phase during the mid-90s, I conjured up Rain Dance, a sort of plea to the Gods above to bring rains to the failing crops of some Native people in some fictional land. Or something. In fairness, I’ve just significantly embellished the track’s back story there for the benefit of this little write-up. Rain Dance is a bit of high-energy fun, and full of unashamed wildly inaccurate sonic Native American cultural appropriation – so stick that up your pipes, Progressives!

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  • WAYWARD WOLF THEME (THIRD VERSION) – FULL VERSION – 2014:

©HughCarsonMusic

A shorter, alternative podcast version of this track was devised for my Wayward Wolf Film Review project, but this is the extended third version which ultimately came to be the principal version. A reggae-infused track intended for use as a stand alone theme, or to be used in parts for library music purposes.

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  • BLIZZARD – SECTION – DEMO – 2010:

©HughCarsonMusic

Written whilst walking in the snow during a Dalarna Swedish winter, this track is intended to conjure up images of great icy hardship as intrepid Arctic explorers battle their way through a Blizzard on the frozen tundra. My own journey was more about walking a poodle through a pine forest in January, so you’ll probably want to allow for a little artistic licence there.

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  • NOW THE SUMMER’S GONE – SECTION – ROUGH DEMO – 2013:

©HughCarsonMusic

2011 and 2012 were pretty rough years for me on a personal level, and partially inspired by the events of those years I wrote this song as a part of the cathartic process of coming to terms with things. It wasn’t until a couple of years later that I finally had the chance to record it (albeit only in a rough demo form), at Specific Media‘s swanky studios in central London, where Rebecca Saxton once again joined me on vocals. I plan to flesh this demo out some day into something a bit more polished and complete, if the opportunity ever arises.

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  • FLEXIBLE FILMS PROJECT 4 – SAMPLE – 2010:

©HughCarsonMusic

A slow, atmospheric theme intended primarily for library use.

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  • SY85 THEME (THEN & NOW) – SECTIONS – 1990/2011:

©HughCarsonMusic

A little number from way back “when I were just a lad,” fused together with a more recent take on the same theme. A minute or so of the former and the entirety of the latter. Nothing spectacular but just one of those little tunes that has somehow stayed with me over time.

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  • PAINCOTT – SECTIONS – 2004:

©HughCarsonMusic

One of the first tracks that I wrote using an Apple Mac G4 + Logic Pro Silver combination. It’s incredible to think that you get change out of £200.00 these days for the latest top-of the-range incarnation of Apple’s Logic production software, whereas the crusty bug-ridden lowly ‘Silver’ version that I bought, back in 2004, set me back something eye-watering in the region of £800.00!

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