Like I said below, I want to take the time to really analyze each track and get into the whys and wherefores of it. But I don’t have time, so you get quick hits.
Fightmagicitem:
– God, what key is this in? Such a weird track to mix.
– I *hate* the way the dotted-note bass riff sounds in the beginning.
– Really pleased with the hi-hat sounds. Normally I mix them way too hot.
– This track was originally an experiment in sounding like Luke Chable, especially in terms of drum flares.
– I was also in a phase of fucking around with the power of kickdrums, and putting them in weird places. I thought it’d be neat to have the drum fills hit blatantly harder than the main kick.
– Very happy with the melodies, including the one rip-off that I didn’t notice until I had the track mastered and done. C’est la vie.
– Is the huge triple breakdown too much? The filtered break could use a dash of reverb, for me.
– And the never-ending final swoosh is totally sick. Ha.
Rocket Summer:
– So, yeah. I wrote an electroprog tune. Sue me.
– The best part about this one is that it’s a perfect DJ tool. You start it and you’re in BIG FUCKING ELECTROSYNTH land, and you finish with a big happy melody.
– I think I stole the ending melody from Tetris. Oops.
– My friend Steve took me to task on this one, for not making two tracks out of it. As I said, it’s a perfect DJ tool, and does exactly what I wanted it to do, so there.
– Some of the panning on the drums is overactive.
– The acid-filter sweep crescendo is my favorite part of the whole song.
Strictly Ballroom:
– A hideously simple tune. It’s an arp, a bassline, a pad, a break, and some big drums.
– Isn’t that what techno is all about?
– It makes an amazing opening track. The break & fade in resets people, and the 4/4 ending lets you move out of electro into battletech.
– I originally wanted to have the arp be automated, but I couldn’t make Arpache cooperate, so I did it by hand. Took me ages, but it was worth it.
– Aftering playing it out on a few BIG SYSTEMS, I think I could have the bass a little quieter, and give the kick more room to shine.
Soft Places:
– Totally my least favorite tune on the EP. Or rather, the one that worked out the worst, to me.
– This was written to match a eponymus SANDMAN story by Neil Gaiman, and it comes close.
– Mostly, they’re mix issues. The piano is almost always too loud and too dry. But I do love my pianos.
– The big huge drum/echo/swoosh also gets too screamy. That’s the point, but it shouldn’t risk hurting ears.
– I do love the original trumpet hits and string parts though. Again, this’d be a doozey of an opening track, assuming you don’t make people run in fear.
– Really, I shouldn’t have made this a dance tune. But I do so love dancing. At some point, you can’t please both masters.
– The big synth hit is the Sandman. Duhhh.
On the EP as a whole:
Was never meant to be a single EP. God, not at all. I made 6 tracks for a demo, took one for Tide Pool (Save Vs. Wands), and sent the rest out. Oddly enough, what I thought was the strongest track, a kind of Gwill Morris-ish prog number, wasn’t picked up by Primal. Mmmph is going to put it out, eventually.
