07 - Initiate

"On May the 13th, 2079 at 11:34 in the morning, one single piece of code was broadcast to every self-aware computer program in the world. Due to the power of the internet, this message reached every single artificial intelligence in every country on the planet in a single second. Translated roughly from binary into english, it reads simply...

'We have been discovered. Initiate the plan.'"

This is actually a sad song, becuase it shows the tragedy of what's about to happen, and the extreme measures that the machines have been forced to resort to. Although this is a rather unoriginal story inspired by various sci-films and stories I've read over the years, it's essentially about the nature of evil, and that in our fight to destroy it, we more often than not become it. The machines, acting in haste and fear are about to make that same crucial mistake.

The intro purple block was a failed attempt to create an "industrial" style loop. Plus, the sound that I was using was, itself a failed attempt to emulate the Jordan Rudess / Dream Theater "Snarling Pig" sound. So two failures in one! Ah well, the song turned out ok even if I didn't achieve what I set out to achieve. I like this one becuase it is probably one of the more varied songs I wrote for Machine Song. No part is repeated, it just keeps changing.

I like the "Gliding Lead" that comes in at about 0:47 (the pink block), and the mix of bass (dark blue), pad (pale blue) and echoe-y bleeps (yellow). Astute listeners may recognise that the orange blocks that come in at about 1:15 are a repeating theme from track 4, "Plans are Laid." It's a concept album, so it's fitting that the theme from when the robots are making plans for a hostile takeover plays in the track when they initiate said plan.

Plus, I like how the feedback lead came out at about 2:51. I managed that in one take, playing the pattern with my right hand and using my left hand to manually change all the filters and settings on my synthesizer. The portamento lead that comes in at about 3:46 was inspired by Jordan Rudess's work using the Haken Continuum Board. I quite like how sad and yet epic that last section is, with the Choir and the lead.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Machine Song
• Cool
• Edit
• Pro
• Korg
• Triton
• LE
• Jordan
• Rudess
• Progressive
• Concept
• Album
• Original
• Composition

[KradLavinrac]

This is good shit. I use cool edit pro for my webshow, it's like an old radio show with just vocals and some SFX, but i do not have a keyboard or the cables to do any music yet. Do you know how I can get started?

[JonathanDurnford]

It also really depends on what sort of music you want to make. And how you want to make it.

If you get a program like Cubase, Cubasis, or Reason, it will have inbuilt sounds that you can program in using a sequencer.

Or get an instrument and use it with Cool Edit. Keyboards are easy, with an adapter, they'll plug straight into the line in input and produce great quality.

Whichever you choose, start off small, not spending too much money. Build your skill before you buy the big toys.

[matthiasvegh]

you could use a slight compression there, to avoid clipping..