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PRUESTUDIOS The Third
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Orchestral Thing Posifunkometer Quarks Between Us Up On The Hill |
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Perfection. Should I be searching for it? Probably. If I
did that, though, I’d never finish a song. So when I get a piece close
I let it go. I need to
go on to the next song before the last one drives me nuts. I don’t
record anything before 9:00PM, and usually not before 10:00PM. This
doesn’t give me a big window in which to record. As I overdub each
part, little problems that didn’t even show up in the original part suddenly
become magnified. Sometimes I fix them (and usually the 2nd part that now has a problem), and
sometimes I don’t. TIME. Frank Zappa used to record all night
long and live completely on his own schedule. Someday maybe. But
probably not.
Whenever something says MIDI it means that I entered the piece into my
computer and it played the part. Sometimes it’s because the part is
extremely difficult (like the drums on One Odd Duck) or sometimes I
just don’t want to take the extra time (like onWaiting For You). The BASS
is my main instrument but I play all of these instruments. 1.
Imperial
Soldier -- Bass, Electric Guitar, Drumset, Trumpet,
Trombone -- This sounds influenced by Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother album to me. Unfortunately this song
and the next song have no real melody. I still like the tune,
especially the end where all of the instruments switch parts. 2.
Quarks Between Us – MIDI Keyboard Instruments, Electric Guitar, Bass,
Drumset, Trumpets -- Tough one to record, with several different parts. I never really got the synthesizer part to
the correct volume. 3. Up
On The Hill – Electric Guitar, Bass, Drumset, Xylophone -- Nice mellow tune, written simply because I
had a xylophone at the house for a few minutes. 4. The Dodo’s Digestive Tract – MIDI
Instruments 5. Posifunkometer – Bass, Drumset, Electric
Guitars 6. Nowhere
In Particular -- Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Trombone, Alto Sax,
Trumpet, Drumset -- The piece started out nicely enough but
needed something more. I decided to experiment on the middle
section. It almost works, but is it really music? At the end you
can hear the only time I’ve ever improvised on trombone. This song
marked a new development for me; recording on a computer. The sound is
much clearer and more controllable, and I can more easily do more
parts. Nice
Progression, Satisfaction, and
Endurance, were also recorded this way. 7. Orchestral Thing – MIDI Instruments—Written
for full orchestra, definitely the most difficult piece to write. 8. Above the Sounds -- Bass,
Acoustic & Electric Guitar, Drumset, Flute, Trumpet -- I
really like this piece, but I wish the quality of recording was a bit
better. This was originally played without any wind instruments (I felt
like I shouldn’t have them on so much), but I added them because they really
add to the sound. Winds are so difficult to record, but so worth it. 9. Trio -- 10. Testing the Water -- Trumpet,
Trombone, Alto Clarinet -- Probably the toughest thing for me to
play & record, because there are no rhythm instruments to “hide
behind”. I tried adding a reverb effect, but it made it sound fake. 11. Endurance (or Tendonitis Calling)
-- Bass, Dumbek, Tambourine, Shaker, Triangle -- This is
just basically a bass show-off piece, just something to jam on. I used
it at the end of every practice session, to build up my endurance. It
involves a very repetitive motion, so I can’t play the piece many times in a
row. Also, every time it repeats I add a motion or another string. 12. Might As Well Be Mt. Fuji --
Bass, Electric Guitar, Drumset, Trumpet, Trombone -- I never
really know how to title songs, so with this one I thought “Oh well, it might
as well be Mt Fuji”. Of course. This is a good example of how,
playing wind instruments, one has to think of playing each and every note in tune as you play them and make constant
adjustments. You can hear where I didn’t quite get those adjustments in
some spots. 13. Waiting For You -- Bass, MIDI
Piano & Percussion, Drumset, Trumpet, Trombone, Flute, Alto
Clarinet -- This title came about because I wrote it on the
piano, while waiting for a student to come in for her lesson. When she
arrived, she asked what I was playing. “Waiting For You”, of
course. I wish I had more improve on my music – this contains an
example of a bass improvisation. 14. JLW -- Bass, Electric Guitar,
Drumset, Trumpets, Flute, Alto Clarinet, Dumbek, Tambourine --
Written as a gift to a friend (Jesse) who got married (to Liz; hence, the
title). I do much of my writing on the bass and you can hear how I
started out with that initial riff and moved around to other
instruments. The slow part should last a little longer, and I wish I
had a better transition to the faster part. Oh well. 15. Jeslam Part One: The Mothership --
MIDI instruments -- This is inspired by Jesse’s made-up (?)
religion. It’s only the first part. There is more to come. 16. Nice Progression -- Bass,
Acoustic Guitar, Trumpet, Trombone, Drumset, Dumbek, Guiro, Tambourine
-- Improvisations on trumpet and bass, and some really nice brass
harmonies. The chord progression on the guitar is where this song began
for me, and it sounds Beatles-influenced. At the beginning of this
piece, the bass is playing chords while the guitar is playing the melody. 17. Soldier’s End -- Bass, Electric
Guitar, Drumset (Acoustic Guitars) -- Originally I was going to
end Volume Three with the improvised ending of Imperial Soldier, but I
“found” this other piece I’d recorded and completely forgotten about.
It sounded like a nice ending. Tell me
what you think about the music. I welcome and look forward to all of
your comments and suggestions. All music copyright © 2003 Pruestudios. |
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