Tag: Specific Media

April 2021

This Month’s Audio Uploads:

Double Piano & Glock Study – 2012:

Double Piano & Glock Study actually started life as “G.C.S.E’d“, a piece that I was commissioned to write as a soundtrack for a charity marketing campaign. Ultimately that project never reached fruition, but the process of creation was a particularly enjoyable one as it introduced me to larger-than-life character, Donald Banks – a true entrepreneur if ever there was one.

Wayward Wolf Media Showreel – 2012:

I slaved away on this showreel video for absolutely hours during my time working at Specific Media in 2012. That’s the same Specific Media, in conjunction with Justin Timberlake, of the ill-fated $35 million attempt to revitalise the ailing social media platform, MySpace. I barely left the premises to be honest. By professional standards the video’s not really up to scratch, but as a relative editing amateur at the time, I was quite pleased with the simple but effective results that it yielded. Voice-over was courtesy of the lovely Lauren Wentzel.

Price Of Life – 1992:

The opening slice of nonsense from the Just Enough album. Here it is, folks, in all of its 29 year-old crusty glory. Price of Life, was written, along with many other tracks, during my six-month travels around the good ol’ U.S of A, back in 1991. Subsequently, it was recorded at Dartington College Studios by way of a mash-up of an old Yamaha QY10 dry backing track that had been captured on C90 cassette, some 16-Track recording through a desk, and some Korg M1 synth overdubs. Despite nearly deafening the odd session musician here and there due to my studio ignorance at the time, somehow I wasn’t lynched, and a final mix was ultimately achieved, and this is it. Thanks to Jim ‘Pasty’ Thomas for the axe contributions, and more recently to Graham Joiner for rescuing the audio from an old Sony DAT master tape that I wasn’t even aware existed until relatively recently.

Flexible Films – Restraint – End Titles – 2013:

This is the rather sinister-sounding closing theme for Flexible Films‘ powerful Restraint film which I was involved in some years back.

Right From Wrong (Anlg – 2021 Edit) – DEMO – 1995:

Another rough-cut demo from the mid 90s. The one-shot vocal was intended for guide purposes only, so excuse the plethora of issues with that. It’s another song with a sound which very much anchors it in the 1980s / early 1990s, but it’s a pretty momentum-filled memorable little number. Go on, admit it!

The Chase – Section – SKETCH – 2014:

A lively little sketch intended to be used as upbeat energetic library music for any particular project that might require such a thing.

Wrong (Delpy Song) – Section – SKETCH – 2006:

Was it Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise or Before Sunset in which the film’s chief protagonists ultimately find themselves in Julie Delpy‘s apartment and at which point she proceeds to play Ethan Hawke a little whimsical musical ditty that she’d written? Well, anyway, it was that film which inspired this little idea for a song – “Wrong“. I’ve no idea why, but no sooner had the DVD concluded, I was plugged into the studio once again, playing around with my own equally whimsical flights of musical fancy. It’s a song that never got beyond the quick sketch stage, and is, as you will hear, largely lyric-less. See what you think.

80s Style Slap Bass Song Backing Track (Anlg – 2021 Edit) – 1994:

Catchy little track name, don’t you think? Spot the early Mark King / Level 42 influence, as well as my mild obsession with throwing in 70’s-esque sort of Charlie’s Angels French Horn lines! Magic. Lord alone knows what this song was actually called, or how the vocal melody was meant to go, but fortunately it’s a backing track that stands up pretty well on its own as an instrumental.

Intergalactic – SKETCH – 1996:

One of the numerous Yamaha SY85 Workstation instrumentals that I threw together in the mid 1990s. It was intended to conjure an atmosphere of vast infinite intergalactic nothingness. Or something.

Walkabout – Section – 1996:

Nik Kershaw‘s “Walkabout” is one of the two or three stand-out tracks from his oft-overlooked 1987 album, The Works. Tasked with doing a cover version that stayed faithful to the track’s original format and instrumentation as a part of my university degree, I ventured forth bravely into Studio A in Salford. This track was an absolute pain in the arse to put together from start to finish as there were some severe restrictions imposed upon me, and there really are so many things that I’d have done differently had I been given the scope to flesh the production out and go with my own ‘vision’ of things, but it is was it is, and indeed was what it was. A particular highlight was having to punch-in one or two bar segments of bass line at a time for the track’s entire duration, as that particular instrumental part was a little beyond our bassist at the time. I forget the bass player’s name, but fair play to him, he hung in there and we kind of got the job done in the end! I forget the vocalist’s name too (decent effort by him), but it was definitely Jimmy Drew on drums (summoning the spirit of the late, great Jeff Porcaro – the original drummer involved on this track), and probably Nick Rundall on guitar, but I couldn’t swear by that. At the end of the day, it’s a passable impression of what is actually a really great song, even if Nik Kershaw, himself, had some serious reservations about that album, in general.

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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