PSYCHOKINESIS
EP
1
"ARMOURED DREAM PROJECT"
"PART 1"
"A BINARY SOUL"
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"MEANING"
As this project doesn't play like a conventional track it's meaning isn’t best worded like the the other meanings. Its a fictional story after all. The 1st of a series of audio-storytelling that will feature on this site. See the Experiments page for the full foreward. But in short, an artificial intelligence in search of self-realisation and independence from it's makers takes hold of a host. It also touches on a soldiers ultimate offering of flesh & soul for country & kin. Loss, defeat and the game of war. Camaraderie, the bond between brothers in arms & the bitter rivalry between enemies. This is part one….
"MAKING OF"
This project, made after “Goddess” was an extension of the exercise to push production techniques in foley, sound design and voice-over skills to the limit, to see if a crazy idea like this could work as a kind of fiction-novel music? Of course there were happy accidents during the production process, but the main triumph was planning it’s sections and making them work in practice as they were imagined in my mind. Transferring what’s in your head, to the software, then out the speakers is the hardest part of the process when your in uncharted territory. making run of mill tracks from any genre is relatively straightforward when you have have right sounds and a basic understanding of the genre. So for this I wanted to construct something new, weird and unheard of. The whole thing took 3months to make from start to finish. Thats the planning, writing, recording, re-recording, engineering, post production, and then revisions. All of which was extremely satisfying & frustrating. The next episode’s script has been written and the 3rd and final chapter will be decided by community vote. So feel free to message me for an outcome you’d like to hear!
"TECH STUFF"
The number of samples used for this track is obscene. I was tempted to count just for some context. This endeavour was short lived lol! The Vocal passages took roughly 2-3 takes each. This being my ever1st attempt at voiceovers. It was all about learning and employing the best tricks, tools and methods to deliver a narrative. The only straight forward element was the beat. The Neuro-esk bassline was an obvious way to go.
Written, Produced on Reason, re-wired through pro-tools for Sequencing. Vocals recorded and layered in protools with the usual comping. Overall Mix-down done in Protools. Dirty Rosewood plugged straight into a Liquid Sapphire Pro. Weapon of choice, again the NNXT in Reason which was the main sampler used to layer foley sounds together. Mastered at Metropolis by Stuart Hawkes.
2
"FINAL PUNCH"
"EPISODE 1"
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"MEANING"
This track is about revenge foremost. That and the resilience to win in a life or death situation.
Nothing more really. Simples!
"MAKING OF"
Like The Amoured Dream Project Final Punch is about experimentation and showcasing cinematic foley and sound design. This time the voiceovers were largely outsourced, with only the only the main protagonists voiced by me. With less samples and being the half the length of Armoured Dream, this project took far less time to make and would be far easier to replicate. 3months per track is just too long to seem practical by today's output standards. But then again maybe thats not such a bad thing? I wonder how many people prefer quality over quantity.
As mentioned earlier, the terrorist and main officer are voiced by me & all other recordings by other vocalists. The search for the right dialogue took the most amount of time, as the police codes & references had to be correct to ensure authenticity which took FOREVER! But once they were done it meant I was able to enjoy more of the audio production process a little more than the Armoured Dream project. Another challenge was the effects. Panning and doppler effects to make the passing of sound from left to right or front to back seem authentic. All good fun though and once again providing new scope for what could be done in future projects. Sourcing everything from ammo clips dropping on the floor, to doors creaking open and the sound of garage shutters closing was a little arduous but still quite rewarding once complete. Rosewood’s electric church was much appreciated. My 1st attempt to play blues over dubstep.
"TECH STUFF"
Written, Produced on Reason, re-wired through pro-tools for Sequencing. Vocals recorded and layered in protools with the usual comping. Overall Mix-down done in Protools. Dirty Rosewood plugged straight into a Liquid Sapphire Pro. Weapon of choice, Sugar Bytes Tornado for a range of DSP effects. Mastered at Metropolis by Stuart Hawkes.
3
"WASTEMAN"
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"MEANING"
Its about Trashmen in all their forms. whatless, lazy, unattractive, greedy and generally useless.
Its a guide to help recognise and avoid their presence. Hope you find it
"MAKING OF"
This track unlike the others isn’t an epic iteration of foley and post production, nor is it cinematic in style. There is speech, yes it’s me again & this time in a posh english accent over a few skits. The track was actually made a year before this newer version. The original had quite different elements but the overall structure has remained. This version will have its day as a remix eventually. The waste man edit uses vary different bass synths. The idea was to showcase a range of basses within a track that compliment each other. This was the fun part, so much so i think more tracks will feature this style. The envelopes were all improvisations with heavy use of distortion, phase effects and layering. The beat was quite straight forward, classic 808’s with very little variation, but relevant for the track.
All in all the track didn’t take too long produce, roughly 1-2 weeks tops. The mixdown was a little sketchy 1st couple of drafts. the bases didn’t match in terms of the low-end as they were all so different, but after a few rounds of trial & error, they all worked alongside each other sounding, & feeling balanced.
"TECH STUFF"
Written, Produced on Reason, re-wired through pro-tools for Sequencing. Vocals recorded and layered in protools with the usual comping. Overall Mix-down done in Protools. Dirty Rosewood plugged straight into a Liquid Sapphire Pro. Weapon of choice, Sugar Bytes cyclops shone like a supernova for the bases. Mastered at Metropolis by Stuart Hawkes (Le Genius).
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