Background
This album came about through The RPM Challenge 2009 - a website project where artists have to create a CD's worth of material, either 10 tracks or 35 minutes, within the month of February 2009.This is my entry.
The title, and the resulting cover art, comes from my school days when, after a school holiday, we'd have to write an essay about what we had done. The idea just seemed appropriate considering the recording had to be done in a set period ( even though it was considerably more hectic than the word "holiday" suggests!!!)
The whole project was recorded on my laptop using a variety of gear.Any sequencing was written in Sibelius 4 and exported as midifile to be played back by VSTi soft synths. I then overdubbed any live instruments that were needed, usually in Tracktion 2. Finally the audio was tidied up using Adobe Audition 1.5 which is still my favourite audio workstation, despite possible being a bit "old school" these days.
The live instruments used included a Cort Curbow 6 string bass guitar, Squier VMJ and Alden violin 4 string bass guitars, an NS WAV electric upright bass and a very old and battered Action electric guitar. All instruments were recorded direct and then any effects were added on the laptop. The guitars were processed using Amplitube Live which produced, in my opinion anyway, some very realistic amplifier tones.
All tracks were written and recorded in February 2009 and are copyright 2009 Alun Vaughan.
sitting comfortably? OK, read on for the full story behind the tracks.....
Sunrise
The opening drum loop is, appropriately enough, the very first thing I wrote for this project. I wanted a big stupid rock beat to kick everything off and am pretty pleased with this one. The main theme comes from my interest in Southern Indian music and how they use rhythm in their melodies.
when I listen to this one now it seems like the only tune that could have opened the album, it reminds me of an "all cast onstage" opener from an obscure musical :-).
Most of this tune is sequenced with the exception of the main bass groove which is the Squier and the solo in the middle which is the Curbow.
Resonance
This is an improvisation recorded on Feb 22 featuring my Cort Curbow 6 string bass. The Curbow is very resonant and I usually spend a lot of time muting ringing strings, but on this piece I wanted to explore the "harmonic reverb" effect of leaving them to ring in reaction to the melody
The melody is mainly based around a D pentatonic scale played up and down the C string, leaving the other 5 strings to sing along in the background. Again, it ended up with a bit of an Eastern vibe although that wasn't really the plan :-)
Frank
This is a tribute to the great Frank Zappa and, in particular, his "Shut Up And Play Your Guitar" albums.The harmonic movement, two major chords a tone apart, were always a favourite platform for Zappa to solo over.Zappa's solos would often involve a lot of interaction with the drums so posed a bit of a challenge for recording on my own
Despite it being multitracked, this song was largely improvised. Once the C to D 7/8 xylophone loop was in place, I wrote a busy drum part one bar at a time, basically imagining what fill I'd like to hear next and typing it in. I then played it back and played the guitar solo. Finally, I recorded the bass track with the Squier trying to react to the existing drum and guitar tracks. I finally put the whole mix through a small reverb to give it a slightly more "live" sound.
Don't Look Down
A bit of a U turn now. This tune is an improvisation performed using Ableton Live. The synths and processing were all performed live using my laptop's QWERTY keyboard which was great fun. The drum loop sounds quite random but, apart from one edit near the start, is a 5 bar 4/4 loop. The 5 bars just help it make weirder than it actually is :-)
The Film Suite
The next four tracks are basically all designed as themes for imaginary films.
Urban Skunk
This tune came from the 3/4 bass groove which turned up one day when I wasn't really looking :-). This is an unashamed tribute to 70s American cop films and was great fun to record. The only live instrument is my Squier VMJ bass.
Theme From Final Days
This orchestral piece was originally meant to be a love theme but ended up quite ominous and dark. No real instruments were harmed in the making of this one!
The Snow Queen
Another piece recorded using just synths and this is (as far as I remember) the first string quartet I've written. This one starts out as a romantic theme but the 16th note section reminded me of someone dashing through a snowy forest on a sleigh ( honestly!) so that's where the title came from.
Final Days(Closing Credits)
This piece takes the theme from "Final Days" and dumps it into a late night club.The organ intro wasn't intended to fade in but the synth I was using glitched and cut the first chord short so, as I was desperately short of time by that point, a fade in was the only solution! The thuddy bass sound is courtesy of my Alden violin bass.For some reason this tune always reminds me of Faith No More's version of the theme from "Midnight Cowboy".
I'm realy pleased with the mood on this one.I wasn't having a good day when I recorded this one and it shows!
Shoulda Stayed In Bed
This tune is considerably more upbeat despite the title! This is the debut recording of my NS Wav electric upright bass which is processed with a little low end boost and a small vosal reverb to make it sound a little more like a "real" upright bass. In addition to the Wax, my Curbow supplied the auto-wahed melodies and solo.
Sunset
This is another Curbow improvisation recorded on Feb 22. Not sure how it turned into ragtime half way through! Quite pleased with the harp harmonics at the end as they're something I've messed about with live but never recorded before.
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