Song 2 - Progress

Still working on this track. Managed to find a bass sound, but not using a bass. Instead, I patched two different pianos into a mixer, panning them right and left, and then the put the result through a bass amplifer. The clanging piano bass strings fit the song perfectly.

Following discovery of this new bass sound, I completed the bass track. I'm almost finished laying down the mini orchestra that I've devised. Primary its four violins and a chello, sourced from a multitude of samples, with a bit of orchestral percussion. I love the violins, they are so 'me'. Classical music is in my blood, and it comes out in the complexity of my songs.

I was hoping to finish this track by the end of this week, but that's looking highly unlikely.

That's all I got for now.

Dueling pianos

Song 2

Worked on Track number 2 this week. I wrote it on guitar many years ago and its been haunting my brain ever since. It will be great to get it out of there. The Fall was similar in that way.

This song is very different to The Fall in sound. My early workings are ebbing toward orchestral sounds. A bit like Sigur Ros stuff. I like it a lot. Unlike The Fall, its aspirational and uplifting. I'm even going to attempt putting in some horns and stuff.

My software got an upgrade recently. The new drum machine (Kong) is a winner. So easy to make amazing drums now. So I whipped up the drums for this song in only 2 days. Then added a guitar track (another day gone). Then violins and some orchestral percussion (another day)... and that makes for a good song skeleton. I toyed with bass sounds this morning, but nothing I liked. I'll try some chello bowing sounds and see if that works as a bass substitute. Might have to get creative to make it all work.

I'm really hoping that I can have most of the song completed by the end of next week. It will be a challenge. Sigh. I need a mental lift...

On a very positive note, I've figured out how to work on my laptop now. So I can work out in the sun with the cat. Here's a pic of me working outside. And one of the cat.

Meow meow...

Meow!

Post release thoughts, and starting work on Track 2

The major lesson I've learnt from releasing The Fall, is that 1 track is not a lot of content. And I think that's what people want... content. Something they can really sink their teeth into. But hopefully The Fall has left people curious and wanting more. I think it has. It had the iTunes popularity bar maxed out, but that could mean anything. I'll find out in two months when I get a sales report.

I haven't promoted the release heavily, so it will have limited success out there in the real world. That's the way I like it, for now. I will probably alter the song slightly for the EP or album release. That's because I've had a little feedback, and also have had a chance to experience it after a bit of a break. It sounds different after not listening to it for a while.

But The Fall served its purpose of drumming up some interest. A few people used Ergo Alt as a substitute for my real name the other day, which was pretty funny (weird). The name seems to have stuck already. 

I've already begun work on my second track. Progress has been blistering, compared to before, now that I've learnt key skills from producing my first track out. I can re-use a lot of the drum sounds and samples etc too.  I already have all the core elements for the drums in Track 2 laid down. I'm stoked about that, and how fast I can do it all now. 

I'm really excited about this second track, I think it will grab the attention of more people than The Fall did. I think it will be one of my favourites on the album/EP (whatever it is that I'm doing). 

On the radio today, I heard lots of good unsigned acts are giving out their music free through the JJJ website. I'm going to have to go down the same path if I'm going to compete for people's ears. That means I need, at the least, 4 or 5 tracks to get anywhere meaningful. Two tracks to promote myself with, by basically giving them away, and then a few more so that people can see there more content available to get into. I might even go so far as to have all my tracks available to stream online for free (but not download obviously).

That's ok though, coz I feel really confident about my skills using the software and stuff now. I feel like I know exactly what I'm doing and where my music is going. Awesome   :)

There's a producers conference in the city this week. I'll go and check it out, see who else is out there doing this stuff. 

(Post) Release Day

'The Fall' went on sale on iTunes on Saturday night (11 Sept). I can still hardly believe it. A huge milestone. We had a mini party to celebrate.

My friends and family have been ultra supportive of its release, helping to spread the word. I'm truly a lucky man to have such amazing people supporting me. 

I've made a myspace page to help promote what I'm doing. I'll post photos and stuff as I go. I'll make a facebook page and others soon.

I think my head is in a bit of a spin. I'll refocus tomorrow and begin planning for the next major milestone. A 4 track EP.

Distribution!

This is it!! 'The Fall' will be available worldwide on iTunes and most other digital distribution services in the next two to four weeks. Probably faster because its a single. Unbelievable!! I don't know if I'm able to learn about the actual date of availability. All the distribution services operate independently on releases. More to come on that...

I've been listening to the song on my iPhone, it sounds great. Some of my most trusted friends (i.e. the ones who don't bullshit me..) have given the song thumbs up for quality last night. That's great. Especially given that music is such a personal thing. It even sounds good coming out of the iPhone speaker, which is possibly the worst speaker in the world. So that's really cool, lol.  

Now its just a matter of spreading the word. I'll start with social networking sites...  So much work to do! I need a bunch of ompa loompas to help me!

My biggest problem now is that I'm running low on cash, but one of my best mates is working on getting me some shift work in a factory. Just running production lines and stuff. If I can get some work for a few days a week, then I can work on the album for the other days. Hopefully it will work out ok. It will take a year or more to produce a full album to pro level quality... sigh!  :)

More news on distribution to come.

The Fall (Single) - Finished

This is a pretty exciting day. The Fall is finished. I'm listening to it on my iPhone now, product testing I suppose you could call it. I'm gunna mix it in with some other tracks and stuff, see how it sounds amongst other music.

At the moment, very stoked about it.

Also, I decided on an artist name. It will be Ergo Alt. It took days to come up with that, which is seriously sad. But there are so many bands out there, there's hardly any names left. I googled and myspaced Ergo Alt which came up with nothing, so the name is free. I like it too. It carries a bit of futurism philosophy and is also a bit dark and mysterious, like my music. 

HUGE thanks to Berlintapes (http://www.flickr.com/photos/berlintapes/) for supplying the cover art photo!!!! It looks great. I added my logo and the single name. The cover art looks cool on an iPhone. I noticed that the text 'The Fall' reflects on the bottom of the screen under the play controls, a totally unintended cool thing done by the phone.

I've kept the text really large, given that I'm breaking into music, so I need people to see the name. The cover is basically advertising. I'm no Radiohead yet, can't just do random cool art, coz people won't know what it is. So, huge font, Ergo Alt - The Fall.

Now I'll listen to the song a few times and decide if it needs tweaking. Then I'll work on getting it distributed.