Get Flash to see this player.
Description
I posted my first version of Grave Robbing on March 29, 2004. The original version can be found here: Grave Robbing v1
This new version marks my first collab with Steve Stone (tonestones). Steve and I have subsequently formed a project group named Merlyn and are working on a series of songs. Working with Steve is invigorating, since he has not just talented but has a patient ear and is very receptive to changes, even when it requires many drafts. You can check out Steve's solo work here: tonestones.
Since first posting the original Grave Robbing in 2004, I've sought a collaboration with a guitarist and drummer to complete what I thought were shortcomings in the arrangement. Several guitarists looked at it, but its length and complexity was simply too off-putting for everyone I contacted. Drummers found it too dense and unwieldy. Until Steve. His guitar work fit right in, simply complemented the music. His bass work added energy and rhythms without making it sound mushy or dubbed in after the fact. But even more than his inventive guitar/bass work, I was thrilled with his additions to the drumming track; that's will really adds a whole new drive and energy, and since I did not record this track to a set beat (instead relying on the internal Wavestation rhythmic feel, which changes whenever I played a new note on the device, wrecking a sync to any specific BPM) playing drums to this track must've been very difficult. I am very happy with the result.
Steve took the track and added 13 new tracks (see below), sent 6 different mixes (as he progressively added more to each new section). I would answer each draft with my own ideas, note changes, and other thoughts. He then sent me all his new final tracks with his effects recorded on each stereo AIFF track and I did the final mix and mastering. In the final mix, some of what he did was dropped becuz it just became too complex (in my ears). But the mixing process, for me, made me appreciate even more Steve's contributions. The articulations on the bass tracks, for example, are all but lost in the thick/dense mix, but when highlight those tracks displayed his true unadulterated artistry. That was when I really wanted to work with him more. Create some things from scratch.
The entire collaborations process has been a joy.
Grave Robbing is a song first written for my rock opera, CREATURE. It starts out with a secretive vibe, as Victor Frankenstein slips over the fence into the graveyard. The stage version is sung mainly by the spirits of body parts Dr. Frankenstein is harvesting. When the spirits are first freed, there is a period of disorientation, even dismay. The starfield slower section near the end is sung by a psychic young girl who is sensing a change in the graveyard, the show's ingenue who eventually befriends the Creature. (She was played by Emily Rohm, by the way, in a role that earned her an Equity card.) The huge finish is a choral section sung as the spirits finally feel the future promise of freedom this theft presents them: that they may soon live again (within the body of the Creature).
I know its a long song, 8:20 minutes, but the ending as a great pay-off. Try and stay patient so you can get all the way to the end. The juxtaposition of the macabre and the triumphant is explored throughout.
Thanks again to Steve for breathing new life into this track.
Steve's Tracks:
- Bass FX - Sampled Rick. Bleeps, blorps, percussive FX.
- Bass - Sampled Rick
- Bass - Custom 6 string Carvin through Marshall JMP-1 preamp, direct in to my digi O2 firewire sound board.
- Sampled drum loops..
- 5 different guitar tracks, all with PRS custom 24 through Marshall JMP-1, various Logic effects (ringshifter, eq, compressor, chorus, ensemble)
- Glock: exs24 sample.
- Persian Santoor: exs24 sample.
- Oud: exs24 sample
- Mellotron: exs24 sample
I think my original file employed 47 tracks, relying on my Korg Wavestation, Roland JZ-1080, guitar and a variety of synth and bell tracks.
If you like this piece, you might also like:
Escaping The Fray Zone (instrumental) and tracks by Audiocracy.
This new version marks my first collab with Steve Stone (tonestones). Steve and I have subsequently formed a project group named Merlyn and are working on a series of songs. Working with Steve is invigorating, since he has not just talented but has a patient ear and is very receptive to changes, even when it requires many drafts. You can check out Steve's solo work here: tonestones.
Since first posting the original Grave Robbing in 2004, I've sought a collaboration with a guitarist and drummer to complete what I thought were shortcomings in the arrangement. Several guitarists looked at it, but its length and complexity was simply too off-putting for everyone I contacted. Drummers found it too dense and unwieldy. Until Steve. His guitar work fit right in, simply complemented the music. His bass work added energy and rhythms without making it sound mushy or dubbed in after the fact. But even more than his inventive guitar/bass work, I was thrilled with his additions to the drumming track; that's will really adds a whole new drive and energy, and since I did not record this track to a set beat (instead relying on the internal Wavestation rhythmic feel, which changes whenever I played a new note on the device, wrecking a sync to any specific BPM) playing drums to this track must've been very difficult. I am very happy with the result.
Steve took the track and added 13 new tracks (see below), sent 6 different mixes (as he progressively added more to each new section). I would answer each draft with my own ideas, note changes, and other thoughts. He then sent me all his new final tracks with his effects recorded on each stereo AIFF track and I did the final mix and mastering. In the final mix, some of what he did was dropped becuz it just became too complex (in my ears). But the mixing process, for me, made me appreciate even more Steve's contributions. The articulations on the bass tracks, for example, are all but lost in the thick/dense mix, but when highlight those tracks displayed his true unadulterated artistry. That was when I really wanted to work with him more. Create some things from scratch.
The entire collaborations process has been a joy.
Grave Robbing is a song first written for my rock opera, CREATURE. It starts out with a secretive vibe, as Victor Frankenstein slips over the fence into the graveyard. The stage version is sung mainly by the spirits of body parts Dr. Frankenstein is harvesting. When the spirits are first freed, there is a period of disorientation, even dismay. The starfield slower section near the end is sung by a psychic young girl who is sensing a change in the graveyard, the show's ingenue who eventually befriends the Creature. (She was played by Emily Rohm, by the way, in a role that earned her an Equity card.) The huge finish is a choral section sung as the spirits finally feel the future promise of freedom this theft presents them: that they may soon live again (within the body of the Creature).
I know its a long song, 8:20 minutes, but the ending as a great pay-off. Try and stay patient so you can get all the way to the end. The juxtaposition of the macabre and the triumphant is explored throughout.
Thanks again to Steve for breathing new life into this track.
Steve's Tracks:
- Bass FX - Sampled Rick. Bleeps, blorps, percussive FX.
- Bass - Sampled Rick
- Bass - Custom 6 string Carvin through Marshall JMP-1 preamp, direct in to my digi O2 firewire sound board.
- Sampled drum loops..
- 5 different guitar tracks, all with PRS custom 24 through Marshall JMP-1, various Logic effects (ringshifter, eq, compressor, chorus, ensemble)
- Glock: exs24 sample.
- Persian Santoor: exs24 sample.
- Oud: exs24 sample
- Mellotron: exs24 sample
I think my original file employed 47 tracks, relying on my Korg Wavestation, Roland JZ-1080, guitar and a variety of synth and bell tracks.
If you like this piece, you might also like:
Escaping The Fray Zone (instrumental) and tracks by Audiocracy.
Leave a Comment
You must be registered and logged-in to comment.
Ren-Tin-10
I especially like the "big" ending.
Thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
Jim