Sample Library Demo Completed For U.K. Company
I was asked by a U.K. company if I’d be interested in writing a demo for an upcoming sample library they have in development. Lucky for me – soundwise, it sounded like it was right up my alley, so I jumped at the opportunity and dove straight into it. Ten blissful hours later, a 4 1/2 minute 128BPM demo was born that traverses dance, cinematic ambiance and movie trailer hyperbole with a dusting of dark horror. Can’t say anything about this impressive library just yet, but once released, expect a full (if not biased) review. What fun this was!
“Death Be Not Obvious” – now available!
My new album, Death Be Not Obvious, is now available! Use the following links to preview/purchase the album:
iTunes – digital download
CDbaby – digital download (mp3) or physical CD (in approximately 7 days)
Amazon – digital download (mp3)
Death Be Not Obvious is the most intelligent and consistent electronic release I’ve ever created. It manages to maintain the lighter, melodic, analog brilliance of synthpop while at the same time introducing horror fantasy in the form of the darker, pounding-fury industrial elements of EBM. This is an eclectic mix of synthesized, mostly up-beat, frequently all-instrumental tracks, but haunting vocals and virtual combat imagery await on the war-themed and inevitably sad “Soul To Keep”.
Presenting: Album artwork for ‘Death Be Not Obvious’
I’m very happy to present the album artwork for my new ninth album, Death Be Not Obvious. This album has been almost a year and a half in the making, and follows 2010′s Sum of Parts. And many of you know, I’ve been writing songs since 1982, and this new album encompasses everything I know about songwriting, mixing and mastering. There are 12 tracks spread over the 65 minute total album length. Some of the songs you may have already heard here, but many have been remixed and all have been remastered.
The album will be available on or about February 4th as a $9.99 digital download on iTunes, Amazon and CDbaby, and a professionally manufactured physical CD with artwork for $14.99 on CDbaby. I’ll provide updates here as we get closer to release date.
Droplets of Water and Air now available via digital download
My 2003 album Droplets of Water and Air is now available for purchase as a digital download (MP3, FLAC, WAV …) at Bandcamp. You may choose the amount you wish to pay, with a minimum of $5. Full song previews are also available using the BUY link below.
Hot Sun Ate The Sky now available via digital download
My 2003 album Hot Sun Ate The Sky is now available for purchase as a digital download (MP3, FLAC, WAV …) at Bandcamp. You may choose the amount you wish to pay, with a minimum of $5. Full song previews are also available using the BUY link below.
Exaggerated Sense of Self now available via digital download
My 2006 album Exaggerated Sense of Self is now available for purchase as a digital download (MP3, FLAC, WAV …) at Bandcamp. You may choose the amount you wish to pay, with a minimum of $5. Full song previews are also available using the BUY link below.
Looking For Myself While Hiding now available via digital download
My 2005 album Looking For Myself While Hiding is now available for purchase as a digital download (MP3, FLAC, WAV …) at Bandcamp. You may choose the amount you wish to pay, with a minimum of $5. Full song previews are also available using the BUY link below.
Impure Ice now available via digital download
My 2006 album Impure Ice is now available for purchase as a digital download (MP3, FLAC, WAV …) at Bandcamp. You may choose the amount you wish to pay, with a minimum of $5. Full song previews are also available using the BUY link below.
Sum of Parts now available via digital download
My 2010 album Sum of Parts is now available for purchase as a digital download (MP3, FLAC, WAV …) at Bandcamp. You may choose the amount you wish to pay, with a minimum of $5. Full song previews are also available using the BUY link below.
Disarticulated now available via digital download
My 2009 album Disarticulated is now available for purchase as a digital download (MP3, FLAC, WAV …) at Bandcamp. You may choose the amount you wish to pay, with a minimum of $5. Full song previews are also available using the BUY link below.
Avionik – Navara
Started this, Navara, the day before Xmas in 2008. With a techno opener, it doesn’t go the way you’d think. Prominent on this one is my new Waves H-Delay for the spoken word ping-pong effect. Strings are compliments of my old Alesis Quadrasynth S4+ Piano. Not at all authentic, I’ve grown fond of them over the years and will use them whenever I’m not looking for something more realistic. Lots of audio manipulation in this track too.
Avionik – Abstraction
A structured but mindless electronic piece I started in November, 2008.
Avionik – Dekonstrukting Addiktion
This track was begun in September, 2008 and keeps an even keel throughout. The listener is only granted short periods of relief before being bomarded again with a heavily distorted rhythm bed. Buried in the track are nightmarish soundbites such as snarls, unintelligible speech, and a requisite scream. Synthesizers featured here hark back to the song’s origins with Camel Audio’s Camelion 5000, Native Instruments Pro-53 and Pentagon.
Avionik – Kaveman
Kaveman was started in August, 2008, and in that sense, perhaps this is now a retro dance classic! This track features a very heavy rhythm bed with multiple layers of percussion underneath multiple layers of syncopated synthesizers. Try and say that with a lisp! This song is equal parts dance and funk – the only thing missing is a brass section. Check it out. PLAY LOUD and dance!
Avionik – Chasing the Bell
I’m going a litte more organic on this one. Exploring the mixture of deep and evolving industry tones with a consistant pulsating electronic rhythm bed. The sometimes near-muddy audio spectrum is obliterated in favour of clarity as the bells command attention. This track uses multiple instances of Native Instruments Reaktor – including their new ensemble, Skanner. Also present are multiple instances of Absynth, Alchemy, Vanguard and a custom rhythm track designed using Fxpansion’s Geist.
Avionik – A Dark Plan
I’ve been wanting to work more with choir libraries and this song, started in January, 2010, provided just the platform I needed. When you think of choirs you might conjure up images of movie trailers or religious iconography, but this audio assault is furthest from those ideals. The rhythm track was composed using 1 Battery kit and 2 other percussion kits in Kontakt – all put together manually using Cakewalk Sonar’s step sequencer. And in addition to the male choir patches found in Native Instruments popular virtual sampler, Kontakt, I’ve also used some from Soundiron’s most excellent Requium Light. Couple those with volume automation and convolution reverbs and you have what I present here today – A Dark Plan.
“This is dark. The production is excellent as far as hearing everything, and the performances are good. It conjures up a strange mood, and though this might not be the song I want to take home and introduce to my mother, I definitely will listen to it another time or two.” – Lynn
Wrecked by Reverbation
And the hits just keep coming! Well not really. It’s kind of alarming how many tracks I have on my hard drive that have been in development for many years. The one below, Wrecked by Reverbation, was started back in the middle of April, 2007. For such a simplistic tune, one might wonder why it is that it took so long to see the light of day. In this case, I wanted to retain the simplicty – so sound selection and manipulation were key here. With the advent of A.A.S.’s Ultra Analog synth, and the brilliance of Chris Lord-Alge’s Waves guitar plugin, I finally had the missing pieces that would put the finishing sheen on this track. It’s a little Jarre-like, but my quirky fingerprints are all over it.
“Nice Track. With the title “Wrecked by Reverb”, I was expecting to here something that wasn’t this well-produced. I like your lead sound especially.” – Steve Conslaw
“This a great track, very well produced.” – Peevy2000
Avionik – Something New
A new song called “Something New”. There’s something terribly unoriginal about that. For a change, this one features my vocals – such as they are. Terrible mix though, and the song is kind of lame too, but I’m not above releasing a stinker for public consumption.
“This is pretty cool. The mix is pretty good and your vox is really good.” – Guitarpima
“Good song. I like your vocal, too. It gives the song an earthy quality which keeps it from becoming sterile. Yet, another good production.” – Lynn
Avionik – Ruckus
My new electronica-style instrumental track with burbling synths, strings and a quirky tribal infused rhythm track.
Pro II Synthesizer demo
I had an opportunity to preview and create a demo for the new Wave Alchemy Pro-II analogue hybrid synthesizer. I previewed the Kontakt version and was quite impressed with the retro feel of this machine, as I was the flexibility and multitude of controls provided by the vendor. Included with this machine:
- 3.9GB core sound library including 6587 multi-sampled 24-bit WAV samples
- Heavily scripted Kontakt 4+ instrument and intuitive graphical interface (requires full version of Kontakt)
- 138 Pro One multi patches including a wide range of huge analogue basses, lush synth leads, quirky tones and twisted SFX
- 38 carefully programmed Pro II presets and starting points
- 19 multi-rack patches featuring analogue hybrid synth sounds, creatively layered pad arrays and enormous bass tones
Avionik – God Particle
A new track in the Kraftwerkian style. Gotta love those Germans …
“As I said in another post of one of your songs, your production is masterful.” – Lynn
“This is a “massive” piece … interesting stuff.” – darylcrowley
“This is really cool. I’m not into this style but it is a good beat with nice ideas.” – Guitarpima
T-shirt WINNING!
Just got notice this morning that I won a T-shirt from UK-based Novation Music. I own a few Novation products – including the excellent Remote Zero SL midi controller and Automap 4.1 controller software. Anyhow, every Monday the company takes music submissions and the most popular ones result in a prize for the entrant. This week, my song “Well I Wonder” was selected. Woot! So if you see me in a Novation T, you’ll know why.
Avionik – Ubiquity
I started this track on September 1, 2002 and just finished. Sometimes I’m so uninspired on a track – for so long – and then, something happens and I get the urge to finish it up. Not the greatest track ever (maybe I shouldn’t even keep these old cobwebs kickin’ around), but it’s kind of relaxing and has my unique sloppy piano skillz all over it. Good listening, I suppose, for a lazy weekend.
Avionik – Das Alter
Here’s yet another new track from the past week – this one featuring the haunting vocals of 8dio’s Forgotten Voices ‘Francesca’, a quirky rhythm bed and some piercing sythesizer overtones. Lots of fun doing this one and my music lately has been leaning in a more ethereal direction for some reason.
Anyway, in other news – going to shoot zombies today so some interesting photos should result. A gruesome gallery awaits! Das Alter by Avionik
“Very original. This really grows on your doesn’t it?” – folderol
“Excellent composition and overall mix.” – layzer
