An unfinished attempt. Two bass takes, LABS drums and a minilogue xd synth to fill the void.

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-493253580/hear-me-out

Epic practice as I fool around with some new Kontakt instruments (Damage 2; Symphonic Destruction). I didn't really spend that much time writing this (maybe an hour or so), I spent a bunch of time exploring the sound design aspects of the plugin but didn't really incorporate them into the song.

This is some loops and sounds I noodled around with on the Yamaha QY100 and then later finished up on the computer and used all of my other regular gear.

I kind of wish it had more structure somewhat.

(edit) Uploaded in high quality here: https://soundcloud.com/trent-hawkins/20211120-feat-yamaha-qy100

Another one that I kinda rushed. With Thanksgiving coming up next week, I'm hoping to have a bit more time to dedicate to the next one.

(Edit: added a v2 to slightly improve the mixing in the verse section).

So for this (early) Black Friday I managed to get a good price on a Korg Wavestate. This is the first experiment done with it, along with some bass guitar playing. Being my first dabble with it, there are some weird timings here and there and the bass is a bit low in the mix but I can see some great time up ahead with this machine! It does have a bit of a learning curve, but oddly enough it's one of the most insta-gratifying instruments I had. I used pad, strings, flute and taiko samples and the way you can sequence them so quickly and musically is bound to give some awesome inspiration.

I had in mind a maze like multi-dimensional library when starting this track. This was like the conflagration of a gigantic steampunk clockwork like building, with staircases that loop unto themselves like in an Escher painting, with rooms full of bookshelves that cross dimensions (a la Interestellar), and the occasional orangutan that goes "ook". Maybe it rearranges itself, like in the movie Dark City, or curves into itself a la Inception. Anything that speaks of structures that bend and suggest that there is something going on that we don't really get.

For that, I mixed traditional elements to give that mechanical vibe, between pianos, brass, stand up bass, and some arps that give a good structure. I also went for these strange sineous chromatic piano lines that don't seem to go anywhere. I did not have good "ook" samples but elephants can do surprising good job!

I wanted to try the Vital synth plugin and I built this track around a couple of stock presets with very few tweaks. I also used the Helm plugin by the same developer (Matt Tytel), as well as the Phrasebox plugin acting as an arpeggiator. So much goodness in all those plugins, both fascinating and overwhelming ! For the drums I used the Fabla sampler plugin by OpenAV. I don't often use automation in my DAW so that was a good opportunity to learn how to do that too. The sound samples are taken from a 1968 movie called the The Laser Beam, that Fran Blanche transferred from 16mm to YouTube (check out her amazing YT channel!).
I'd like to add a visual aspect to the track, I might add a video if I get anything good tomorrow.

Another very loose all-guitar piece, tracked quickly, but it took fiddling to get it into a structure. Guitar: Univox Effie hollow body in Fahey-C-like tuning (B here). Inline effects: high-pass Auto-Filter with drive. Sends: two convolution reverbs and one echo. Wide&Warm effect rack on the output.

Title comes from a proposed highway 98 in upstate NY.