Month: March 2021

March 2021

This Month’s Audio Uploads:

Vortex of Despair – 2010:

Vortex of Despair was an attempt at something of a ‘Film Noir’ theme. It’s always very tricky to make anything predominantly orchestral sound in any way convincing in a studio, particularly when you’re not in possession of prohibitively expensive orchestral libraries. And even then, it’s very easy to distinguish between the real thing and the synthetically created. That said, I’m fairly pleased with what I’ve achieved here.

Yeah Me, Yeah You – 2009:

Another from the CGN Songs catalogue, Yeah Me, Yeah You, is a commercial teen punk-ish theme written by myself and Peter Godfrey as a commission for some project or other, I forget, but it was most notably used in a scene from a Brit-flick starring a whole host of A-list actors and celebrities (ahem), including: John Altman (Nasty Nick Cotton, son of Dot Cotton in the long-running English soap, East Enders), Kerry Ingram (of Game of Thrones and Matilda fame), and even a cameo from snooker legend, Jimmy White, himself. I’ve never seen the film in full, but I’m reliably informed that it is Oscar-worthy stuff, yet it was somehow overlooked in that year’s awards ceremony. Ain’t that always the way?! NB: The above clip also features Red Hot, another track plucked from the CGN Songs catalogue.

Emergencia – 1996:

In my mid-90s quest to write as many theme tunes in as many TV styles as possible, I wrote ‘Emergencia’. I’m pretty sure that this track was my own version of a ‘Casualty’ or ‘Holby Central’ type of theme. It was all thrown together using a Yamaha SY85 synth and an Atari 1040 STE-powered Cubase sequencer. And I’m fairly certain you’ll sleep better for knowing that.

Night Driving (Anlg) – 1995:

Although I sang on this track and helped out a little with some melody and harmony vocal line writing, Night Driving is in fact a Jim Mason composition. Jim is an old mate from my University days. This track was Jim’s excellent SY85 programming synced to some vocal lines that we recorded on my old cassette-based Tascam 644 Midistudio. Sadly there are some syncing issues here which have thrown my vocals a little out of sync with the backing during the middle phase of this song. Trust me on this one, not even I could sing that far out of time.

Deadly Funk Shade (Anlg) – 1994:

This track was created using literally just one sound source, the ‘tschh’ sound of a can of fizzy drink being opened. This was a University project involving a few of us – Jacqui Attwood (Rose) and Phil Mayers included? – to take the aforementioned can-opening sound and process it through an Akai sampler and come up with an entire composition. And voila, Deadly Funk Shade was created. It’s amazing what you can do with a little technology and a rudimentary understanding of what constitutes sound.

4/4 SY85 Song Backing (Anlg) – SKETCH – 1996:

Normally, even if I’ve forgotten a song that I was working on, when I once again listen to the backing track the vocal melody / lyrics etc. usually all suddenly re-materialise in my head. But no matter how many times I listen to this old mid-90s song backing sketch, I cannot for the life of me fathom what the melody was, nor the lyrics, nor the song’s title. So, for now, it’ll have to remain a mystery. Thankfully, this backing track kind of stands up on its own.

Time To Die (Anlg) – 1993:

Whilst this song wasn’t actually inspired by any personal memories of “attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion,” Time To Die was, however, loosely inspired by Rutger Hauer’s closing lines in Ridley Scott’s brilliant film, Blade Runner. If you can see past the track’s appalling ever present feedback buzz, Time To Die will hopefully come across as being a calm but mournful lament, and an acceptance of death. You know, the sort of thing that most twenty-one year old songwriters tend to have high on their priority lists.

Ramon – SECTION – DEMO – 2012:

I believe that this track began life as an attempt to create a theme tune for a fictional TV detective series. I’ll leave it up to your own ears as to whether it succeed in its intentions.

NHS Seven Role Plays Main Theme (Flexible Films) – 2009:

This very basic theme was the first that I threw together for Sybil and Russ of Flexible Films. It served a purpose, but it’s hard to get enthusiastic about something so elementary.

Where Does My Heart Go Now – SKETCH – 2012:

Without recourse to any suitable female singers at the time, I had to resort to pitch-shifting my own vocals up an octave in order to get a rough idea of how this song would work within the required vocal register. Alvin & the Chipmunks impression-aside, I rather like this very basic sketch of a song idea, and it’s one that I intend to do something with in the hopefully not too distant future. Don’t hold your breath though.