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Attribution-NoDerivs
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Description:
album: Beyond One's Control
track 1: 3:57 How And Why
track 2: 2:40 That's Progress
track 3: 6:56 Unwinding Time
track 4: 8:21 Quant
track 5: 3:37 Five on Seven
track 6: 2:46 New Amsterdam
track 7: 4:12 Vicki Kierkegaard
track 8: 6:56 Remember Petr Dumfrey
track 9: 9:01 Another DDT
track 10: 2:19 In The Mess
track 11: 5:21 Tempus
...more albums...
Song Description
Last night I woke up. I couldn't get back to sleep. My mind was filled with thoughts that just circled around and around and wouldn't go away. So, I snuck out of bed and fired up GarageBand.
I had financial engineering on my mind, how it's clear that the rich continue to get richer (and since the stock markets are zero-sum games, by screwing all the rest of us), and whether I'll ever be able to retire, so the idea of quants was there from the start.
About an hour later, I had the chord progression, piano and vocal settings worked out. I had the major drum loops put together, and a bass line. It was all in a repeat region, and I was just turning tracks on and off to get a feel whether they would play nice. Then I went back to sleep.
The next morning, I spent an hour spreading out the loops into an arrangement, added the modulations, and the arpeggiating tracks. Burned it to a CD and previewed it in my car. I noticed a divot in the chord progression, and realized I was not satisfied with how soon it ended. There needed to be more.
Later that afternoon, I fixed up the chords, extended the song by turning the original ending into a false ending. That did the trick.
I added another drum track that is essentially snare drums being beaten mercilessly. A few tweaks to smooth out some rough edges, and that was it. I have never completed a song that fast before.
I sought a graphic of a generic equation, and lo and behold found two adjacent things: Someone commenting on how the f-hole on a violin looks like an integral sign, and a joke tee-shirt with a fake equation on it. I blended the two ideas into the song pic you see here. It fits like a glove.
~~~~~~~~
Quant eyes this:
SPY QQQQ IWM MSFT TYC F INTC GE LVLT PFE BRCD SIRI SLB CSCO SUNW MRVL ORCL XOM XLF PMCS T BAC EMC SBOX SMVW YHOO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpe_ratio
http://bearmarketcentral.com/mutualfunds.htm
and we flounder.
~~~~~~~~
sound effects used in this song:
large crowd auditorium.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=36060)
By cognito perceptu (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/usersViewSingle.php?id=57789)
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This is so beautiful! &mdash 06/24/07 - 06:06:33 PM
Finally! Percussion!!!! You so know me! Sorry you couldn't sleep, but I'm glad you didn't for a little while. Love the intro! Loved the taking me by surprise! I'll be good from now on. I promise. [ Reply to This ]
. &mdash 06/24/07 - 06:42:20 PM
:-) &mdash 06/25/07 - 08:54:40 PM
I'm a little slow on the uptake, but... :-)
---
Learning To Fly - Tom Petty
Love My New Wings! [ Reply to This ]
. &mdash 06/30/07 - 04:34:38 PM
you are exactly spot on about this song.
it's all raw human energy.
thanks CJ
[ Reply to This ]
marvy &mdash 06/25/07 - 10:04:03 AM
i was beginning to think carole june was hearing things not there, when BOI-E-OING - percussion! quite a marvelous mixture of different moods. my hat is off to your creativity! anne [ Reply to This ]
. &mdash 06/30/07 - 03:53:16 PM
i've been feeling very stressed lately, and all that came out in this track. the over the top percussion was the release i needed...
thanks!
[ Reply to This ]
Wonderful themes &mdash 06/25/07 - 10:19:19 AM
. &mdash 06/30/07 - 03:56:43 PM
you might like to know this time i didn't use the multiband compressor here at all...
it's all raw energy turned up as far as the little red lights let me go... that allows for more dynamic range, although the overall track volume is not as loud as it might have been.
thanks for listening.
[ Reply to This ]
Mix &mdash 06/25/07 - 12:00:34 PM
Good Mix. I like the intro the best, but it works well as a whole. Thanks for sharing. [ Reply to This ]
. &mdash 06/30/07 - 04:01:33 PM
i guess my techno/rave prefs showed up here... so i could see why you'd like the intro best - assuming you're not into whacked percussion.
i suppose this is a study in contrast, yet, it seemed to be just what i needed to do at the time.
thanks for listening and commenting [ Reply to This ]
Spectacular! &mdash 06/25/07 - 04:32:01 PM
Beautiful beginning...When the percussionist finally arrives the listener is more-or-less ready but hardly prepared for what comes next! This is aces Bill. (I always knew you were a raver by heart! Ha ha...) Some will whine about the length...Not THIS little grey duck! I enjoyed every second of this. LOVE when the percussion fades and the quite piano part brfiefly makes it's appearance only to be suddenly pummelled back into submission by the driving beat. Great fun from start to finish sir!
Be well! [ Reply to This ]
. &mdash 06/30/07 - 04:06:49 PM
i'm glad to see you liked this one. it came from the heart, not sure from where exactly.
raver: well, earlier i thought you knew my number. yup. you got it. never been to one, sadly. but i can imagine. music and dancing and sex. the 3.
thank you Amagi [ Reply to This ]
slow fast slow fast &mdash 06/25/07 - 08:44:54 PM
This is pure genious Bill. Obviously a a lot of though went into this. Not mention the hours. I was quite stunned through the whole composition! [ Reply to This ]
. &mdash 06/30/07 - 04:10:33 PM
hi
well, the hours didn't go directly into this one in a measurable way, but the hours did go in, indirectly, from all the experience i've gained here at MacJams, and simply from breathing in and out for a good number of years.
this was a result of a visit from the Muses, no doubt.
writing in the dead of night has some sort of magic to it
thanks Vic [ Reply to This ]
Not so same old &mdash 06/26/07 - 03:56:10 AM
You managed to bring back some of that "wow effect" that overtook me the first time I came across this kind of music being played in clubs all those years ago, but which dissolved pretty fast after that, with so much of the "same old, same old" being churned out since.
Nice to know there are some who can yet tease plenty of doggedness out of the old dog.
[ Reply to This ]
. &mdash 06/30/07 - 04:15:02 PM
i still feel that WOW from early techno.
it's fun to try to recapture that. i guess i did it for you. very cool.
this is an artform that has not been fully explored yet - it's a mix of ancient human music plus the latest sonic creations via computed algorithmic sound generators. there is much more to be discovered in this space.
thanks!
[ Reply to This ]
nice &mdash 06/26/07 - 08:59:53 PM
i like the switches between major chords, minor chords, and dominant sevenths in the begininng. And then the arpeggiated part fits right in. Sounds like a classical chamber piece and leads into more of a dance genre, which is very exciting from a listeners standpoint. Cool chords towads the middle and end. Nice job overall. [ Reply to This ]
. &mdash 06/30/07 - 04:18:48 PM
thanks for describing the chordal form here. it just emerged late one night - except for one little goof i fixed the next day.
the vocals follow the same settings, just inverting the chords a little.
thank you for listening and commenting [ Reply to This ]
Ya know &mdash 06/26/07 - 09:10:03 PM
Some parts in there almost sound like passengers by Eno and U2 its the synth behind the drums. Nice playing and the steady chord in the back perfect! The voices on this filled it out nice... great build in this!!! [ Reply to This ]
. &mdash 06/30/07 - 04:23:48 PM
hi
since you started naming names
i must say that after a few days i started thinking this is somehow like "Hergest Ridge" by MO.
can't explain that, but there it is.
thanks [ Reply to This ]
--- &mdash 06/27/07 - 05:16:24 PM
diggin the piano playing. very intense... the drums kick hard... Very well done and produced [ Reply to This ]
. &mdash 06/30/07 - 04:25:29 PM
VEry cool track Bill. &mdash 06/27/07 - 09:19:51 PM
Great start fuelled up when the percs hit. Some interesting sounds and a top bit of drumming. Just when you think "time for something different", something different happens. Classy post indeed - fast turnarounds are often the best because there's no time to get stale on the song.
Neil [ Reply to This ]
. &mdash 06/30/07 - 04:30:38 PM
early Sunday morning seems to be a good time to do arranging for me.
i let that exact "it's gotta change now" feeling drive the arrangement. thank you for noticing that. some of the changes are rather subtle though.
the pacing was also driven by the stressed out feeling i had from the previous night's creating.
thank you Jiguma [ Reply to This ]
What!... Eh eh eh... &mdash 06/28/07 - 09:54:57 PM
Well just blow me away. You always come outta somewhere, w/ something that I would have never expected that you might do. And on top of that, it's of a highest caliber.
That was good!
Well done, mister B. Dion [ Reply to This ]
. &mdash 06/30/07 - 04:39:22 PM
this seems to be a phase transition for me
thanks for noticing, Macca!
[ Reply to This ]
luv &mdash 07/08/07 - 03:42:18 PM
the way you wrap the tracks around a single element and expand from there. When those drums kick in its like a blast off the shuttle pad. Realyl cool distorted synth thingy threading its way into the mix. an excellent sleep deprived jam [ Reply to This ]
. &mdash 07/08/07 - 04:10:20 PM
Great &mdash 07/21/07 - 08:58:58 PM
This got by me in my run-up to our &mdash 08/02/07 - 08:05:15 AM
Italy trip. Glad I stopped ny - this is a pretty amazing little composition you have here. The intro is seductive and beautiful - then the percussion comes in brutal and slowly it too becomes seductive and beautiful. I'd like to think that all things tend towards beauty - but I do know that for me there is beauty in repetition as there is also in symmetry. Cool track. [ Reply to This ]
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