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[X-Trade]

Okay... So I love prog. But I can't play it on my own, I don't have nearly enough skill with the guitar, drums, etc.

I play bass guitar and synths, and that pretty much sums up all the instruments used here now. up until a week ago all of my synth gear was exclusively KORG (TR61,MicroKorg,Radias,Poly800).

Since the prog band I was in split up, I've decided to take the keyboard element from that and expand upon it. I've already done one album under the name BGM (Bradley Gray Music) - 'A Minor Dischord', but this second work takes on a more directed approach (being a concept album). I've decided to work with the idea of trains, allowing for more rhythmic experimentation, allthough my recent stylings have also taken me to a more chordal approach to composition and playing, as well as much bigger, wet reverb, and dirtier mixes and sounds (which the radias excels at anyway)
I'll also be having another bassist/keyboardist like myself and possibly another keyboardist (lead) onboard soon, and we'll be looking at completing Trains, plus looking at the possibility of live performance. We may also use some kind of vocoder, sample, or live vocal line in the second half of rail pt1 too.

Trains relies almost exclusively on the Radias, along with some occasional strings from the TR. But it has also proved difficult to mix. I'm still working on that, allthough the actual composition is still less than halfway through, The first two tracks are finished as far as the musical ideas and most of the sounds go. I'm aware that the first section may sound a little too busy at the moment, I may take one of the parts out (let me know what you think).

Without blabbering on any more, i'll just give you the track links:
http://www.aofp.co.uk/hostedfiles/Music/Pt1-Rail.wma 14.3mb - 10:24
http://www.aofp.co.uk/hostedfiles/Music/Pt2-Tunnel.wma 4.58mb - 3:18 (interlude)


Be sure to let me know what you think, any comments, suggestions.

oh, and the EP sound comes from the radias, and is available on the downloads section here a lot of the other sounds will be available when I finish my radias patch set.

[Pumpkin King]

Interesting.

The music is repetitive (in a good way) and keeps you waiting for whatever will happen next. It is very comforting. And the idea of trains is displayed very well.

If I were to suggest anything, I would do something to the 3:00-4:45 mark of "Rail". Somehow make the music flow from one chord to the next without losing your original rhythm. That, you must figure out on your own.

Other than that, both pieces were great. Thanks for sharing.
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[sound4sina]

Why is the sound distorted?
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[cowtothesky]

Very ambient. Sounds great!
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[philtipping]

Really liked both of these. Great imagery with the trains concept. Pt1 didn't sound too busy to me; liked the dischords sweeping in and out of the background, really held the interest; loved the contrast as it quietened down, then the arpeg coming in at 5.00. The change of pace reminded me of Tangerine Dream's Ricochet; excellent. To me it was travelling from the busy city lines out into the countryside with sun streaming through the windows
Pt2 was a good soothing contrast - I played them one after the other and it sounds like they were meant to be one long piece. Didn't click with the title until 2.50, then thought wow, but it was just as it was finishing so it may not have been what you intended...but then who cares, I enjoyed it, and that's the weird thing about imagery - each to his own

Agree with sound4sina re. distortion. It was probably meant to be a dirty sound, but it seemed to be all the way through even on the quiet bits, so there was no contrast and it was a bit distracting after a while. I thought it was my crappy PC speakers as it begged to be played loud, so transferred the tracks to the studio PC which runs BM15A's, but the distortion was still there, although it sounded tons better . I think the lush sounds you've got there would stand up without adding distortion.

Anyway, excellent project, thanks for sharing and good luck with finishing it.
Phil.
P.S. Couldn't help noticing a familiar Am pun on your other album

[georgeinar]

I'm not sure how to comment here, as I never just sit a listen to this sort of ambient vibe. For me it doesn't have enough going on, esp in the first 5 mins of the first one, I would have liked something coming in and out and providing more movement and experience, but for this style that might not be appropriate. I guess this sort of thing would be good meditating music or something like that, and then you wouldn't want it busy at all. I do find your sounds very lush and easy on the ears. My latest song, Among My Photographs has a long intro where it just builds and builds, but I kept it moving from part to part cause I was afraid of losing the listener. Maybe I'm too hasty with my stuff sometimes.
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[X-Trade]

Thank you all for your feedback.
I'll be trying to remove the distortion. I think there was some deliberately added in the mixing stage but there may be some on the original sounds..

As for Tunnel, yes.... Problem with that is the distorion was not intentional. It is actually clipping inside the radias as it enters the reverb, which is causing horrible noise on the reverb. it doesn't even normally do that, it was just an acciddental volume change transmitted from my controller making it sllllllightly too loud.

Problem is i didn't record the MIDI and don't have a very good ear for chords, I don't really want to do the whole thing again...
Still no improvement on Part III, just a bit stuck for inspiration. I have a 17 minute long load of rubbish noodeling, which i recorded at the same time as the rest of this, but its been discarded as just that - rubbish.


I think I won't do anything else to Part I except a bit of mixing and i'm glad (and suprised) its actually liked by some. the tangerene reference is intentional, one of my favourite groups (going to see them in november!)

In fact, i may just rip it all out and take it to the university and mix it on the big desk there.
The whole idea was to run and mix the whole album as a single long project, then cut it up afterwards, so yes they do run together quite well. it also makes it easier to have returning themes and sounds.

@phil re. the pun. its one of those things you don't notice untill after you've started printing.. interestingly most of the album is in D as thats kind of my comfort zone. I feel drawn to it, and it feels more natural than C.
Also, i don't like the spelling of 'discord', so I took it upon myself to rewrite the dictionary


Thanks all,
Will have you updated when its finished.