Description : This is my entry to the November competition on the Audio Sparks for Art site. The song represents an enhanced workflow for me, considering the changes in my studio which had barely been accessed until now. No software instruments or loops/samples were used in composing this piece. On the contrary, each instrument represents an individual piece of hardware gear, including my DIY modular synth, my latest circuit bent drum module (the 2XKawa), Yamaha YS200, Microkorg, Casio CZ-101, Dual Zoom drum machines, and the Gibson organ played through my Kustom amp. This is also the first time I've used Expert Sleepers Silent Way in a completed track... this allowed me to clock the 2xKawa from my DAW using the DC coupled outputs of my audio interface. Almost every track contained here had live manipulation of some sort while recording, including amplitude modulation, filter modulation, control of delay parameters, spontaneous drum rolls, trumpet wow accents, as well as volume and sustain pedal work. It was a rewarding musical endeavor. If you enjoy this song, please go view the art piece which inspired it, and show your support with a fav on the audiosparksforart.com page!
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Comments (18)
If you have time take a listen and give Spivkurl some feedback.
First of all the intro is beautiful and the transition into the rest of the track. It's great, I very much enjoyed listening to it. I'm mostly listening to rap, but when I come across a track like this that makes me bump haha, I automatically like it. Great job man. I took a listen at your other tracks, they're great as well. Don't stop!!
Your words mean a lot to me! This song was pretty important, and thoroughly enjoyable to create, so it makes me happy that some others like it as well. Songs like this seem to be shaping the way I work lately. Got to love those real recordings! Thanks for your support!
Hey Pat, not sure how I missed this one (looks like someone decided to stir up some stuff using this as an example, haha. Glad I missed that drama as well and feel bad he decided to target you in the process).
Anyway, I always enjoy music that is recorded live, in all of its unadulterated glory. I think its the small nuances that live performance allows that gives this one a special feel. As Alex said so astutely, the organ plays against the happy feeling of the track, yet gives it such a great foundation to play off of....kind of a yin and yang type of approach that really works well.
I put you in the same category as a Steve Winwood, not that your music is like his, but you are a performer and it is difficult to play everything and do it as well as you do. Winwood didn't tour for many years because he was literally a one man band. I think you are not only a talented one man band, but also one guy who really knows what he is doing around a mixing console. Impressive work my friend, and definitely adding this to my favorites. By the way, the song went really well with the artwork over at Dan's place. Congrats. I hope all is well.
Hey Bear, thank you for taking a listen to this one! I am honored by your compliments and way of thinking of the way I make music. It's also good to hear that you felt that the song worked well to support the artwork. In all honesty, I don't think of this as a truly "live" track. The liveness of it comes in each instrument part being played or manipulated live. So it's similar, but to do it truly live would either be impossible, or require recorded/sampled backing. I found the organ part to be very influenced by the field recordings I took of the crows, and I wonder if this is part of why it feels more minor or morose than the rest... many seem to have those sort of feelings when it comes to crows or ravens. My feelings about them are very different, and I am thankful that they use our home and neighborhood as a landmark. I am working and gathering equipment to be prepared to perform live at some point again. Grabbed a pretty complex stereo loop/sampling pedal recently which I am learning how to use. Also a some good portable synth and sampling stuff. Unfortunately there are many hurdles to doing art in public in this city, but a pedestrian is a semi-permanent local. I really appreciate your words and the favorite! Thanks!
Has a very happy/bouncy vibe which I like, would be perfect retro game music! You should check out newgrounds and maybe upload some tunes there, I'm sure people would be more than willing to use your stuff in games, animations etc! Would be a good way to get a bit more exposure too! Sounds like you ahd a lot of fun making this again! Nice one!
Hey there, thank you for your kind feedback! I have heard of Newgrounds before, but never visited the site. I have it bookmarked now, so I can look deeper into it, thanks for the tip! There have been a few games released which used some of my audio, thanks to looperman. Really games were part of how Spivkurl began. My buddy at the time was a programmer, and had a game all planned out. I spent quite a while developing my skills, leading to giving him a demo of songs for the game. Unfortunately, both the game and the future of our friendship dissolved. Still, it helped me learn a lot. You're right, this was a lot of fun to make, and I hope to develop this way of working much further. Thanks again!
Ha ha, yes, that is no problem! I don't charge for any of my solo releases at wearerecords.com of course. I would be willing to ship you a CD copy though. I try to make my albums to be heard from beginning to end, uncompressed and on a good stereo system... so the CD would be ideal for that. I wish I could release a double vinyl for this album though! Thanks!
As do I, my friend! Thank you for the inspiration! This song will be on the album I release next week. I hope you don't mind. You will be in the liner notes as ViVaDa, if that is what you prefer. If you'd rather have a different name listed, then please contact me. Thank you for leaving your words!
Likewise, it is nice to see you visiting Looperman! Thanks for your kind words! I thought that the description for this deserved some attention, partly because anymore people will just assume a song is virtual. This one is very much non-virtual, but hands on/DIY. Just made a couple more additions to my modular, and hopefully soon I will be able to leave it in the past and get to hard work on the new case of modules. After all, I have recordings of some of these modules from 2004 still! I appreciate you listening!
I'm jealous, Look at all the attention this got! LOL! Honestly, people say negative crap out of jealousy... I like the intertwining melodies, like the intertwining roots. Can you see that hobbit hiding in there? Love the animal sounds, very fitting for the tree/nature theme here. Just read on the audiosparks site that you recorded them AND performed this live :D awesome! Love the added, hmm not sure the word, dimension, music adds to the art/images. We all have different perceptions/interpretations.
Hey buddy! I wasn't to happy to have this track and myself to be used as examples of why Looperman sucks now, but it did turn out for the best, since this song got far more attention than it probably would have otherwise. It's not performed live in the strictest sense, as I am only one person and could not possible play all of these instruments at once. The organ parts were played live, and basically all of the instrument tracks had various accents done live when bouncing them to the computer. Yep, the crows were recorded out the window of my studio in December 2014, and there are some hobbits... er squirrels barking in the distance. Happy that you enjoyed listening to this, and I hope you have picked up a copy of the album!
Not into the electronic genres, but couldn't help listening to such a controversial track. Quite merry and jovial. The kind of stuff that keeps you in a positive frame of mind while peaking in jail. Aahhhh, good times. Highschool was fun.
Good stuff here. Pay the "Darkside" no mind. The force is strong with you, young Spivkurl.
Thank you Evan for the kind words! I honestly don't know what the big deal was either way regarding the song. None of it was the biggest deal for me, aside from being used as some kind of symbol for the downfall of an online community. I may have been guilty of the same in past times, but I can't disagree more these days. Sounds like your high school experience was far different from mine, but then I didn't finish... positive frame of mind is always a good thing when you're peaking though! I went into making this new album with the intent to make it far more supportive and positive than my last couple, and after hearing it all the way through a few times, I think I mostly succeeded. There is a definite shift onto the B-side any way. Well, I appreciate you stopping by!
I wouldn't expect anything less from you.I don't get the happy comments though, it sounds very dark and broken as if the tree had spouted in a very polluted area or something.
Thank you for your insight into this piece! Yours does seem like a different impression, when compared to the others. Yours makes sense to me, as those dark and broken trees are to be seen most every day around here, and we're no strangers to toxic pollution. In fact I'm starting to feel dark and broken myself. Oh well. Happy you enjoyed the listen!
Hey buddy, thank you for the enthusiastic comment! I always appreciate when you stop by, and I welcome the urge to go and hear some of your music! Hope all is well with you!
Really like the organ sound in the beginning, along with the atmospheric beach-style background ambiance. It's always nice to hear experimental sounds, especially when the composer is always trying new things, such as yourself. Reading the description, it seems like you probably had as much fun hooking up all that equipment as making the sounds sequence out of it. Keep it up!
Hey buddy, thank you for taking a listen and leaving the kind words! You are right, I did have a lot of fun working with the gear... Things have changed drastically in my studio, and I'm just getting settled in... things have even expanded since making this track a couple of weeks ago! I am capable now of 9 different CV/gate/trigger sources for controlling my DIY gear from the DAW, and it's nice. The beach-style ambiance is probably due to the field recordings at the beginning and end... they are actually from a stereo recording taken out my studio window, which contains many crows and a barking squirrel in the distance. Thank you for taking the time to listen!
Yo Spiv, really nice work with your gear. Nice live play and the manipulation is badash! I dig this project. Some parts when most of the sounds come together that organ type patch seems like it would fit better if you could pitch it down some notes. Though some sections when its less crowded it sounds sweet af! Im liking your new toys you got running they all sound good. Interesting idea to make this for the art pictures. Thanks for sharing, was cool for this morning stogie.
Thanks Stohgs for the kind comment on this song! Many people seem to think the organ does not quite fit in... it's odd to me, as I know it is played with the same notes that are present in the rest of the song. I can only think of two things... first the fact that the song is primarily modal and the organ part uses some chords, often not done in classic modal music... second, the organ stops used are less focused on the fundamentals and more on the overtones, so some of that focus may be auditorally confusing. Thank you for your words and listen! My new album is out today!
This is an awesome tune. I love the brightness and the detuning is excellent. The percussion is also perfectly placed. Fav'd fer sure. Keep it up. You know I look at music in colours as well. Sort of a very mild synesthesia.
Any how carry on my good man.
Cru
Your words mean much to me, since I know that you know your way around a synth (or a studio). I'm guessing it's partly the modular brassy tone which gives the impression of brightness and detuning. I would agree. The low note priority based portamento added a good subtle vibrato sort of effect... while the FM (Both F's) and AM added brightness and interest. I can't lay claim to playing all percussion parts myself (some were carefully sequenced with MIDI), but the ride cymbals and tom/kick rolls were spontaneous non midi stuff. I get what you mean about the colors, I think I experience that condition at times. Part of why I like to use certain colors on my DIY gear. Thank you for checking out the track, and leaving your kind words! Have a good day!
Hi, can I use this on a video for my blog? It's an ESL blog and I've made a video to promote it with fast moving text which this music would complement PERFECTLY. I'll link you to anything you want me to from my blog in the acknowledgments section and give you a shout on social media. I'll also put you in the credits at the end of my podcast. Let me know. Thanks.
Normaly i take music just like music. Nothing more nothing less. But in this case i take it a bit more from the making music side. It must been a pleasure to listen to while you make this kind of music. It all sounds very intressting and it is in a way alife. I bet that much of cool stuff just happend and found a way into this little song and i am a real big friend of makeing music in a way where you get/found some pearls where you never believed to find some. And also i love sounds and stuff that is just there after a record and you didn't know where it comes from ....
To be honest, i pressed play while my wife was around in my studio and she fleed away from this little track. She realy cant handle sounds like that :) but she often flees from things i played to hear :). so if she says - thats to hard for me to listen to, then it is often something that i can realy enjoy.
Thank you joe for the friendly expressive comment! You are right, this song did have more of a focus on making the music rather than other things. I think this is partly due to creating it based on inspiration from an image. There were of course other things happening in my life, and they all feel into the piece. I'm used to people running away from my music, or driving off the road, or hell forbid turning it down...! I really enjoyed the process, and into to work a bit more like this. Thank you again!
hi! this is one enjoyable tune with happy vibe and nice melodies. I do not know why but the bassline, trumpet and other leads sound kind of positive while the organ chords have rather 'minor' mood qualities for me. Birds and sea backgrounds were nice too. I liked the tone of the noisy snare drum from the analog drum maschine. The way how you manage all those hardware electronic instruments is always impressive. I enjoyed listening. I liked visual artwork too. Faved! Alex
Hello again! Appreciate you being the first to offer some sort of appraisal here on the loop! Your views on the mood are interesting to me, and also most likely spot on. When I began the composition, I was feeling a glow, like I was in a good dream... then the organ part was the last instrument to be created, at a moment when I began to feel disjointed and frantic. Technically, the only trumpet sort of sound is part of the organ setup, and using that "wow" foot control almost gave me a blister on my toe... need to were socks or shoes next time! I find the modular part to sound rather saxophone-like. There is an unusual feeling throughout partly due to the C# phrygian mode which I chose to represent the color green, with subtle suggestions of A dominant bebop (resulting in a moment of honesty)... The note of A represents green in some other schools of thought, and the scales are enharmonic aside from that G which ties them together in the song. The birds are actually a flock of crows which visits our neighborhood around this time of year, and I captured them out the window of my studio last December... there is also a squirrel barking buried deep in there. The "sea" is actually the sound of the wind from the same recording... our city is one of the windiest areas in the country. The snare drums are not technically analog, though I can't say for sure the source of the sounds on the machine. This was far more involved, hardware/physically, compared to most of my synth stuff. Used foot controllers on four of the instruments to do accents in real time, as well as tweaking the string part in filter and delay domains. The artwork was a big influence on the song, and I can be thankful for that. Wonder why it didn't show me the fave on here? Oh well. Hope you are well! Thank you!
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Anyway, I always enjoy music that is recorded live, in all of its unadulterated glory. I think its the small nuances that live performance allows that gives this one a special feel. As Alex said so astutely, the organ plays against the happy feeling of the track, yet gives it such a great foundation to play off of....kind of a yin and yang type of approach that really works well.
I put you in the same category as a Steve Winwood, not that your music is like his, but you are a performer and it is difficult to play everything and do it as well as you do. Winwood didn't tour for many years because he was literally a one man band. I think you are not only a talented one man band, but also one guy who really knows what he is doing around a mixing console. Impressive work my friend, and definitely adding this to my favorites. By the way, the song went really well with the artwork over at Dan's place. Congrats. I hope all is well.
Bear
Has a very happy/bouncy vibe which I like, would be perfect retro game music! You should check out newgrounds and maybe upload some tunes there, I'm sure people would be more than willing to use your stuff in games, animations etc! Would be a good way to get a bit more exposure too! Sounds like you ahd a lot of fun making this again! Nice one!
Not into the electronic genres, but couldn't help listening to such a controversial track. Quite merry and jovial. The kind of stuff that keeps you in a positive frame of mind while peaking in jail. Aahhhh, good times. Highschool was fun.
Good stuff here. Pay the "Darkside" no mind. The force is strong with you, young Spivkurl.
Evan
Its fun to listen to this piece of artmusic.
All kind of sounds and you don't know where it ends .
A real spivtrack !
greets!
Any how carry on my good man.
Cru
Normaly i take music just like music. Nothing more nothing less. But in this case i take it a bit more from the making music side. It must been a pleasure to listen to while you make this kind of music. It all sounds very intressting and it is in a way alife. I bet that much of cool stuff just happend and found a way into this little song and i am a real big friend of makeing music in a way where you get/found some pearls where you never believed to find some. And also i love sounds and stuff that is just there after a record and you didn't know where it comes from ....
To be honest, i pressed play while my wife was around in my studio and she fleed away from this little track. She realy cant handle sounds like that :) but she often flees from things i played to hear :). so if she says - thats to hard for me to listen to, then it is often something that i can realy enjoy.
Cool one. Great preformance on each instrument.
stay tuned
joe