AKS vs MBO Recording Session Vol. 4

Thursday night, I made the weekly trek out to West Oakland and recorded some bits for a new song: Anjuna.

This is a different type of song for MBO. They call it a bit CSN. For sure, it's got a smooth and folksy little vibe about it. It even has female background vocals.

Basically, the main progression is C Maj7 - D over an A pedal tone. I played rhythmic wurli throughout and then worked on a rhodes part with glock on top for the bridge, which created a nice moment.
There're no vocals yet, so let's see what turns it takes over the next week.

Before we recorded, they also played me the current state of Aphid, which I totally dig. They added lots of weird sounds over the last week: ebows, treated musical boxes, weird samples. Aphids. Sweet.

After the session, I kept them up late again, dissecting Anjuna and re-dissecting Aphid for the new parts.

Craig also included some extremely cool textures he created with an 8 string bass through heavy pedal action. These textures go into Autopilot as is. They're perfect.

The project raw file directory is growing, and now I get to paint some sound and tweak. It's starting to get interesting.

AKS vs MBO Recording Session Vol. 3

True to their word, the good folks at optigan.com indeed sent me a free update to the Optigan sampler disc I purchased several years ago.

And it's a great update.

Now, not only do I have WAVs of each of the original samples (which I had to hand edit once I had extracted them from their crappy Akai-formatting wraper), I also have a bunch of new Chamberlin RhythmMate samples, which are extremely cool.

These samples played on strips of tape that fall against tape play heads, much like a Mellotron.

I loaded up a bunch of these into Acid last night and came up with 2 new rhythm tracks. I tend to let things be straight for a while and then start apply subtle effects with envelopes to add some flavor and change up the pace where needed. Again, AutoPilot will apply its own magic as well.

Another cool thing about the Optigan CD is that it has the original artwork from every disc, as well as several brochures in PDF format which are ripping. The Optigan was a real product with marketing dollars behind it and it was marketed to people who weren't musicians.

Push a button!

AKS vs MBO Recording Session Vol. 2

I hung out with MBO last night and got to listen to the progress made on 2 new songs ("James Pain", "Aphid").

Last week, I had recorded some piano, farfisa, and a crazy sounding solo for "James Pain". Last night I heard the final version of that song, vocals and all. Ripping!

Then, we recorded keyboards for "Aphid", a strange but cool anthem-like song about, uh, Aphids. We layed down harmonium and piano passes and tweaked them through a Boomerang. (Boomerangs rule!) Next, we recorded several different parts using the classic MBO palette of piano, glock, celeste.

Good, clean fun.

Then, I made Adam and Craig stay up and we dissected both of these songs for use with the new AutoPilot project. It was midnight by the time I got home, but I couldn't help myself and took some of the vocal tracks and a Boomerang-warped piano file and started experimenting with TimeFreeze. Wow! The results were almost completely removed from the source and resulted in a huge pulsing soundscape. Weird. Awesome.

I need to read the manual and learn how to work with this app, but I can tell right now we're gonna be friends.

AKS vs MBO Recording Session Vol. 1

I kicked off the AKS vs MBO AutoPilot project on Sunday night messing with beats. I created the makings of 2 tracks, both heavily relying on free samples from Goldbaby Productions:

1) Tape 606 Six pack (TR606 recorded to an Ampex 1/2")
2) The Cassette 808 (TR808 recorded onto a cassette)
3) Vinyl Clicks

I built up basic beats straight into Acid and then applied some Audio Damage tweakage (Replicant and Ricochet). I always have to keep myself from tweaking too much, as morphing will occur within AutoPilot as well.

During the evening, I also purchased TimeFreezer, based on hearing game composer Troels Folmann's recent snippet on the Create Digital Music Blog. Basically, it “freezes” samples of sound as an effect or instrument, seamlessly extending moments to create an ambient wash. I was slightly bummed to not be able to download immediately, but that probably kept me from staying up until 2 in the morning.

On Tuesday this week, I'll be out in West Oakland with MBO and will start grabbing raw files from our recent recording sessions.

29 Days becomes 52 Weeks

They're back. Friends Chris and Derek and others couldn't stop at 29 days and are evolving their song-a-day project to a song-a-week project.

Derek has again beat the others to the punch by writing the theme song. These guys just can't be stopped! Kudos.

Check it out.

Optigan.com is Back!

(Thanks to Adam for this one.) Optigan.com is the defacto place on the Internet for information related to the Optigan. Very, very impressive site. Even though I have an Optigan, I don't have EVERY single disc ever made. These guys do. A few years ago they put together an AKAI formatted sampling disc featuring samples from every Optigan disc. I immediately bought it. It's priceless.

And now they're back. The movie above is an advert for their updated CD-ROM, which contains:

- All the samples from the original CD-Rom in .wav format
- All the original programs re-done in Native Instruments Kontakt format
- Additional sample sets covering all known released revisions of each Optigan disc that had them. Some early discs were released in 2 or 3 different versions over time, featuring different drum loops, etc.
- A bonus handful of sample sets made from prototype Optigan and Talentmaker discs that were never released to the public
- An extra-special bonus sample set of drum loops from my Chamberlin Rhythmate tape-replay drum machine!
- Scans of various catalogs/brochures for all three instruments, and liner notes from the jacket of each Optigan disc

Wow! Everything from the original disc and loads more. And here's the kicker. As I was getting my credit card out to re-purchase the new CD-ROM, I see this:

"As a token of appreciation for all past purchasers of the Akai disc, We are offering the supplemental CD-ROM at NO CHARGE. Since I don't have a definitive list of purchasers, all you need to do is email me a picture of yourself holding your Akai disc, along with your mailing address, and I'll mail you a copy of the CD-R."

Wow. My picture holding the original CD is now in their in-box.

These guys rule.

Mellotron! Mellotron! Mellotron!

The old glory days of the Mellotron. Takes me back.




Full on Demo. She rules.



Mellotron mechanic. Yes!

Air King vs. MBO

Alright, since we completed Won Out Over on 3/1, I've been hanging low, recording a bit with MBO (some very good stuff happening there), listening to some music (thus the recent record reviews), and getting the Kimball pump organ into shape (I had to glue a rectangle of leather over the air holes on the left pedal to get it pumping properly again).

And I've been waiting for an impulse to drive my next steps. Then yesterday, it hit me. The last AutoPilot was a collaboration (with Anu and Geoff). I was super pleased with the whole process, the interaction, and the result. So, the next one will also be a collaboration. And this time, it will be with MBO.

We're on. They've accepted the challenge.

This will be loads of fun. Basically, I will deconstruct everything they've been working on for the past 4 or 5 months, tweak and prep, and use for a new AutoPilot library. I will also record bits as well.

So: AirKing vs. MBO. Look at those guys. They're tough. They're mean. It's gonna be a brawl. Available on pay-for-view on 6/15.

BTW, If you haven't heard Won Out Over yet, it's available in the downloads section to the right. Get it now! (FREE.)

And download MBO's first album while you're at it. (FREE.)

Gulbransen Theater Organ w/ Leslie 102 Speakers

I remember checking out an organ very similar to this one in the Salvation Army on Valencia several years ago. Playing a theatre organ through a Leslie pair is INCREDIBLE. I think I played for over an hour. Unfortunately, it was SO big that it was an immediate no-way decision.

Seeing this organ here on craigslist brings me back. I even forgive them for charging $600. Cause this is theatre quality. And it belonged to the mother-in-law. Makes perfect sense.

I love the flowers on the speaker cabinet.

Unfortunately, I just can’t do it. I’ll just hang out at the West Oakland space playing the newly transplanted Kimball pump organ. One day, though, I’m gonna do it… I'll take my retirement money and open a pizza parlor. Get a toupee, an organ lift, the whole nine yards.

Kimball, Chicago

Today, I was able to drag bandmates Jeff and Adam from MBO out to my parents' East Bay house to help save a beautiful Kimball antique pump organ from the dump heap. This instrument has been in my family for the past 25 years or so and was not really used much by anyone anymore. My dad let me know a few weeks ago that he had a guy coming to haul it away, and that got my immediate attention.

My dad plays jazz and just didn't know what to do with it, and my mom sometimes played classical music on it. Mostly, it sat in their office, looking good. My dream is to create thick, organic ambient music with it.

Fortunately, Jeff knew what he was doing and had dollies ready for the move. We were able to get the 250 lb piece on to Jeff's truck relatively easily and then lugged it back to the West Oakland rehearsal space.

Man, it's a beautiful piece. It's ornate with intricate woodwork throughout, has 17 pull-stops (with names like Violetta, Bourdon, Diapson Bass, etc), and baffle levers for the knees to "open up" the sound. It has a "Sub Bass" pull-stop which has tremendous fundamental and a "Treble Coupler" which doubles notes played by the right hand. And it's fairly in tune. Based on a little research, it dates from 1890-1910. It sounds fantastic and will definitely be used on MBO and Air King recordings.

Teen Dance Music From China and Malaysia

As the story goes, the tracks from this disc were discovered in a brown paper bag in the dusty corner of a thrift store. Maybe this was in Red Bluff? If yes, damn them, they beat me to it.

This is all early sixties/mid-seventies stuff, pure go-go & psychedelic fare. Crazy out of tune guitars and basses clash with organs set on full throttle vibrato overdrive. Surf guitar comes in from left field and slays the field.

This one delivers the goods.

Fortunately, the treasure hunter liked it enough to make a CD. And as far as I can tell, this record label (Thrift Score) has not put out any other records. This is their one hit wonder, their 30 minutes of obscure music fame. God bless them.

The rhythm repeat driven lead organ melody on Track 1 sounds a lot like my Kimball Caravan:

"Indecipherable" by The Love of Apricot Blossom Stream

And there's some crazy, bizarre stuff, such as the disturbing helium vocals on this:

Chella-La by The Stylers

I love this album. As the liner notes say, it's non-stop dancing music.

Netvibes Ginger

I've long been a fan of Netvibes. I realize that any homepage application (igoogle, my yahoo, pageflakes, etc) could fit the bill, but by chance I ended up using Netvibes and it's where I now have all the RSS that matters to me.

Today, I upgraded (for free) to the new Ginger release. Looks like they're entering the social networking space and you can now create public pages. So, I made a page of some cool music feeds to share:

http://www.netvibes.com/airkingsound

Now youcan follow the Craigslist organ RSS feeds, the MusicThing blog, the MBO blog, and much more along with me. I also have the Autopilot podcasts there. Hundreds of Autopilot excerpts available to listen and download (for free).

Check it out now. Let me know what you think.

Giulietta Degli Spiriti

I've literally had this soundtrack as part of the mondo playlist that has streamed through the Squeezebox ad infinitum since the dawn of time. And I never tire of these tracks.

The film is Fellini's "JULIET OF THE SPIRITS" and the score is by Nino Rota, composer for many of Fellini's films (8.5, La Dolce Vita, La Strada, Il Bidone, Satyricon, etc.)

The film deals with a woman's quest for inner peace as she battles inner demons amidst her husband's womanizing. There are many trippy scenes as she delves into the world of spirits, seances, visions, prophets. And guess what? She can speak to spirits. Or maybe it's all in her head... David Lynch has definitely seen this movie a few times.

There's loads of ripping organ on this one. I don't know which organ they used but it sounds like a theater organ to me. Whoever plays it is a master. This, combined with spaghetti western guitar and classical instrumentation, is what makes it for me..

Buy it now. And check out this YouTube clip, too.

Doob Doob O Rama!

These are 2 must have CDs of great Bollywood tunes from the 60's and 70's. Indian rhythms, instrumentation, and vocals mix with western rock stylings to take the tunes to a weird and beautiful space.

Doob Doob, Vol. 1: This disc contains "Jan Pahechan Ho", which is featured at the beginning of "Ghost World". If you haven't seen the video, watch it now. Pure 60s power. This also has my favorite song from the whole collection:

Chanda Hai Tu Meca Suraj Hai Tu.

Doob Doob, Vol. 2: This CD includes a famous Indian film song, "Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu", and is in general just as fantastic as the first one.

done, sent off

This one is in the bag. Won Out Over is complete and has been submitted to the RPM challenge. You can have it, too:

Won Out Over




Put it on your mp3 device. And download the cover while you're at it.

I'm moving on. Look for new daily AutoPilot posts coming up next week.

In the meantime, check out this Kimball Sensation on Craigslist.com. Betcha it's awesome. $125. Buy it, please.