FOUR, by Kieron James

A little like Alcmene, this track came together pretty quickly and, as I mentioned on Twitter, it’s the first one I’ve composed for a long time which has been built on a completely linear timeline (i.e. no use of the Cubase arranger track). This doesn’t happen very often and when it does, it feels like the track has almost written itself.

The idea kicked off with a couple of bars sequenced up using iPad App from Korg, iElectribe which I’m hugely impressed with. You’ll hear the iElectribe very clearly at around 1:57. I then exported the pattern into Cubase and started to build the rest of the piece around those four bars. Adding sub bass first and then building some of the other synth parts, drums (glitched using Automaton from Audio Damage) and finally adding Marcus Hutton’s fabulous delivery of the Edgard Varèse quote.

I’m handing over to Pure Tone for some quick analysis (to see if he can spot any howlers), stepping away for a couple of days to watch the Spain v Germany World Cup Semi Final tonight and concentrate an Bootslam’s kick drum and I’ll work on the mix at the weekend.

idea by Kieron James

The track was born with one of the (several) bass lines – which, as usual, was created using my favourite bass VST/sequencer, SubBoomBass. It’s the one you hear first at around 0:30 – ba da da dada. As soon as I added that, I started think old skool house and so I wrote the piece with that in mind. It’s pretty vast in terms of instrumentation at 47 separate tracks(!)

Anyway, here you have it: Free Your Mind, with big thanks to BooSen and to @bubblesmusic for hooking us up.

Free Your Mind by kieronjames

FOUR, by Kieron James

OK, this one has turned out completely off whack with the first three tracks of the album, but there’s something I really like about its quirkiness. There are lots of parts – both in terms of its many layers and the way it jumps from section to section.

I still have doubts as to whether it all works as a whole, but I’m not sure I care! Kinda happy to let it exist as a free-spirited piece and bounce wherever it likes.

Four by kieronjames

Update: 7 June 2010

Lovely to see that Matt Pacyga used this track for one of his #DAPTS videos:

Daily Achievements #DAPTS Playing Foursquare from Daily Achievements on Vimeo.

FOUR, by Kieron James

I’ve been working on this one for a while and I’m getting happier with the mix. Need to tweak the arrangement though – not sure about the first appearance of the guitar or its sound. I think that will be removed once I have the vocals. It seems incongruous early in the piece.

You can follow the history of work in progress as Johnny developed and the story of the track’s title on this post.

One thing which Pure Tone suggested, was some “girly vocals”. This set a train of thought in motion and I was looking around some movie sites last night. The track is pretty light and bouncy so I was after something with a touch of humour for some of the quiet sections. I thought these four lines would work well and I’m delighted with the way Salwa Azar has delivered them.

Johnny, is this true? ‘Cause if it is…

Good luck Johnny

Bye bye Johnny

Say kid, what do they call you?

…never should have picked a name like that. A name like that you gotta live up to.

Any last words Johnny?

Johnny by kieronjames

FOUR, by Kieron James

This is the second track I’ve put together for my debut album FOUR, which will be released on 1st July by Clear Notice. (This will leave six months to create the three sibling albums for Somió, Half-BIT and Blue Omen.)

Recap is a remix of Capitulation – the first piece of music I composed, at the time using the Jonathan Scary moniker. It has been mastered by Pure Tone, though we may tweak a little when I have all the other tracks for the album completed.

Recap by kieronjames

I didn’t really know what it was, though I’ve heard @ambienteer and @fjfonseca refer to it a good deal on Twitter. So I thought I’d satisfy my curiosity whilst the price was low.

Much to @dustmotes‘ doubtless incredulity, I have managed to hook it up to Cubase (without any sticky-backed plastic) and here’s my first upload. I’ve been messing around with the drum sequencer “Massive”, using some of the on board samples. To this I’ve added some Audio Damage Automaton FX and a quick and dirty bass line using Rob Papen’s SubBoomBass.

I can see that this is going to be fun

Update 7: 03/01/2010

Here’s one that somehow never really gelled, but I’ve been so backwards and forwards with it that I’ve run out of steam.

[See post to listen to audio]

Update 6: 22/12/2009

I’ve been really on and off with this track for way too long. I’m at the point where I might just ditch it. I’m uploading 48 bars and as you can see, I’ve been pulled in lots of different directions with it. In truth, it’s all over the place. I’m not sure I can salvage anything, so I might bin it (or park it at least) and start with something new.

But I think I’m done for 2009. Time for a break and return in the New Year with a fresh direction.

[See post to listen to audio]

Update 5: 10/12/2009

A glitch too far? Very probably. Still screwing around with this to see what falls out. Creating some wah wah effects from Monday’s brass stabs. Still some bits I like and others which will go. Not the quickest track to come together, but I think it’ll get there in the end. May work on something else for a while and come back to this.

[See post to listen to audio]

Update 4: 07/12/2009

Last night, Doyle suggested some brass stabs – an idea supported by Linda. They both got me thinking and I couldn’t wait to have a play. It takes the track in an entirely different direction from the idea I’d loosely formulated, but hey!

I’ve not got very far – just toying around with some ideas, but is this the kind of sound we were all thinking of?

(Needless to say, there’s very little chance the brass will stay this “straight” throughout the track. It’ll need to be treated, glitched and generally bent out of shape, but I may keep the odd 4 bars here and there quite conventional.)

[See post to listen to audio]

Update 3: 06/12/2009

I’ve been a bit blocked – and I think it’s this track in particular. Really happy with the drum part and some of the other bits. I’ll add lots of incidental percussion – little fills here and there – once it’s complete, but it’s not coming together quickly. Then again, what’s the rush?

[See post to listen to audio]

Update 2: 01/12/2009

Starting to develop some parts, but still no arrangement to speak of. Again, not mixed or anything yet so levels are probably all over the place.

[See post to listen to audio]

Update 1: 29/11/2009

Had a bit of a play with this today. Added some elements which I like and some I’m not so sure about. I’ll leave it for a couple of days and see what stays and what goes. Also need to start thinking about a lead part.

As usual, there’s no arrangement here, not even an introduction – so prepare yourself as you hit play! The drum loop I’ve created is also pretty raw. The bass drum triplets, whilst powerful, are clearly repeating too frequently. I’ll pull these in probably once every 8 or even 16 bars once the piece is further on.

Not sure at all about the funky wah wah guitar type synth sound. I suspect that will die. Only bit I’m really happy with at the moment is the repetitive bass line and the drums (once the BD triplet frequency has been reduced.

[See post to listen to audio]

First upload: 27/11/2009

[See post to listen to audio]