If anyone reads this blog at all...i'm in the process of trying to move it to somewhere else
i still write songs though and since classicalgasgas i have up 5 new ones...so this blog will be kinda dead till i find some place to move it to..
Ben
This song is interesting.
2 semesters ago, i was taking a module in school called 'creative thinking'. So there was an individual assignment that went something like "Come up with something that re-invents an existing concept and talk about its use". I am not entirely sure of the exact requirements so if any professor is reading this, sorry. Buy anyway, i had a stunning idea...record a song. But it had to be something that reinvents an existing concept. So i picked up the guitar and played classical gas. Thought i'd 're-invent' this one. So i whipped out a straight techo-beat which turned out sounding more rock. Used an analogue sythn to cover the bass lines and funny background atmosphere sounds and added a nice 80's rock guitar solo to it.
Of course, i am a failure of a classical guitarist, so i only could play parts of the song! Actually only the main the theme on the A minor chord that everyone knows. So i listened to the original song and transcribed what i could in 15 mins.
You must understand, i meant it to be a techo-sounding, electronica type of thing. However the result sounded like some soundtrack to the next Nintendo Hit (owing to lousy syth sounds), hahahahaha
Oh well, the drill to put on your gas masks when in contact with poisonous agents in the military was performed when your instructor shouted "Gas Gas Gas". So when i heard this, i thought it was a poison agent GAS GAS GAS!
On the flip-side, i thought it was quite novel (besides being cheesy). Check it out...this is classical gas if it was written as a computer game soundtrack for an old Atari games!
...Just for the record i scored an A- for this assignment!
Http://www.leftovermusic.com/Ben/ClassicalGasGasGas.zip
From time to time, i i doodle on the guitar. i.e. i just "anyhow" play so one day i decided to record my doodling...and boy am i surprised at what i sound like nowadays. I can actually not sound like a heavy metal guitar player, haha i'm really amazed at myself. I think one yr ago, i would have never dreamt of playing like this but oh well...did i mention that i think jazz standards are boring?
Check it out...
http://www.leftovermusic.com/Ben/guitardoodle.zip
Anyway, i was talking to a few of my friends lately. Seems lots of them have emotional sob stories, I like you, you don't like me, you like me, i don't know, i don't like you, why like me...and the list goes on. I think this is perfectly normal to encounter such problems, it sucks but they are good learning experiences.
Many of my friends become a bit cynical after having gone through these emotional roller-coasters. They become very down to earth, which is good, but they start to view relationships with a pessimistic edge. My question was always, why go through all that trouble of trying to be pessimistic, sad and cynical.
Can't these guys just have some hope?
Great idea for song i thought, and i wrote it! It's a very angsty sounding song, i was abit angsty when i wrote it. It's emo-kind song for the emo-kind people out there (i'm emo too, though very rarely.)
Musically, i love the layering...(although go a few mistakes)
So have some hope will you?
http://www.leftovermusic.com/Ben/Hope.zip
Alright, let me post something which was written,recorded and mix-ed entirely by me
What would make a good birthday present?
Well for starters, it has to be within reach. By that i mean it can't cost the world. But, it still has to have the desired impact. You don't want your birthday boy or girl smiling and saying a big thank you while at the corner of your eye you see he/she tossing your gift into the trash. Can't be too common, or else it won't have the impact. It could be something bought of the shelf, but for extra mileage, it should be personalized. For even for more extra mileage, it should be crafted by your very own hands. It should be a song! Yes thats right, yours truly wrote the next one as a birthday gift.
To add that sentimental tinge, i decided to make it a little sappy. A I-V-VI- progression in G major, which is my key of choice suits this feel perfectly. Espeacially with the V chord is played with an F#(VII) in the bass. Fanstically cliche progression used over and over again. But it works! Just base the melody on chord tones, and you've got winner.
Of course the toughest part is coming up with the words! That is what 'personalizes' this gift. So while the music took about 2 hours to compose the works took like 2 weeks of thinking. In the end, my best bet was the try remember conversations and pick on something that this person said that was not cheesy, corny or provocative. I finally i recalled just one line, it was not a particularly moving statement, it was just an observation about whats going on that night. But, it did the trick hahaha. So just intertwine that one line with a bunch of sappy words and viola! you get a song. Recorded this is pretty quickly too approx. 3hrs.
Thats how this song came about!
anyone care to guess what is the one liner, that the song is written from?
oh and sorry for the mistakes in all my recordings sometimes i do these in a hurry!
http://www.leftovermusic.com/Ben/Empty Night Star.zip
Here's more stuff from the 'old' days (old being about 1.5 years ago). This one is epiphany, written by jon lau, recorded and arranged by me. I liked this one, its got a nice dreamy melody to it. Tried my hand and harmonies on this one, turned out ok! to my surprise. It's not as high quality as the album version but it sounds ok!
well fyi, i'm no sound engineer, so i just learn as i go. If anyone of you reading this blog is a sound engineer or knows something about recording, mixing and the likes, and you think "Damn i could do a better job" please go ahead and help me do a better job! All my mixing and production skills are really learned from playing with the software that i use (SONAR 4 producer edition) and reading a few books. Bear in mind though, i don't have very much equipment, i curently record through a laptop and a line6 podxt live.
Anyway if anyone would like to hear this song as we(leftover) now play it, i suggest you hop on over to the website, leftovermusic.com (which is linked to this blog) email us and buy a cd! it's well worth it! hahaha
Oh and to get the files, you should copy and paste the address in the address bar of your browser, i don't know how to make a 'clickable' link just yet!
http://www.leftovermusic.com/Ben/Epiphany(1st mix).zip
To start things off, i dug long and hard into my hard drive and came up with this recording of "better off". This recording is kinda old, almost 2 years old now (back when i was using the terrible ovation guitar..eekks). Although there are older recordings of my musical musings, this is the first decent recording with me on vocals and guitar. Well decent to me at least.
This one is not actually written by me, it was written by Jon lau. However, i did the arrangement, the guitar solos and the rythm too. Basically he came up with the melody and words. Eventually, me and Jon would move on to form the local band 'Leftover' and this song was one of the 'stamples' from our playlist, a live version is on our E.P.
Of course with 'Leftover' i didn't sing the song, our vocalist did it, i just played guitar. Also, Leftover went with a full band ballad version which, was cool, but i was always imagined this to be an acoustic song. Acoustic just sounds more...sincere?
thought the songs message was better put across this way. So here it is...."better off"
http://www.leftovermusic.com/Ben/bettermix1.zip
Labels:
the old stuff
