Music News – New Album; Destiny Awaits

April 19, 2024

Music News

19/04/2024 - New Album; Destiny Awaits

I’m back and this time with a short six-track Synthwave album because I felt like doing some as always so sure why not? I used my trusted AKAI MPK Mini and plugins from Arturia the V Collection as I love to use them a lot in all my synth stuff including Synthwave which I make when I’m in the mood like all the genres I make. I called it Destiny Awaits as I feel all our destinies are awaiting and to be fulfilled only we are all stuck in this cycle of self-doubt and unsureness that we can’t rise above the tomb and conquer what our destiny is whatever that is. I have to keep telling myself that I will get there with the right nudge push and fall but now isn’t the time for me with my illness, which I’m recovering from and what I think is a spine injury and some other complications from my mental health which is in the brain. I believe the medicine is doing good and doing what it’s meant to be doing which is stopping the bad side effects of a mental illness. But it’s true all our destiny awaits and not in the fate way cos some people are mixed up in that goth life aka death and corrosion lifestyle and need to see a brighter day but of course be careful of getting destiny mixed up with fate. Fate is death and a negative whilst destiny is a mission to fulfil and for example marry your childhood sweetheart or get that job you so hard practised for or associated with, that’s my definition of fate and destiny but each to their own. There was a post by none other than Jack Jumping Frost a well-known English Producer, DJ and MC who was one of the originals who DJ’d Jungle and Drum and Bass and has been going for quite some time now. Anyway long story short he had this statement where he said you must be willing to fail to win and how it will teach a lesson and it’s true. Your destiny isn’t to say it wasn’t my time or destiny but keep pushing and making baby steps as you go something I think Kelly Rowland and the famous Ciara said if you know you know lol, oh yeah and that lady with the fan action. It’s easy to give up and let the haters eat away at you but what they seem to fail to understand and contemplate is you have good and bad days it is swings and roundabouts so don’t feel like you failed or no one cares it probably was the wrong time or not something they are interested in unless you suck at your craft. The point is a couple of points actually but number one never listen to a naysayer they are diseased and are past their bedtime, number two believe in your craft or know with enough time and effort you will conquer whatever it is you are doing and get better. Number three never chase the dragon yeah you got a few likes and comments on your last whatever it is but it is swings and roundabouts and you are competing with other people but walk away if it’s past your quote of what you find acceptable but only if you have a backup plan or you believe in thirst mites shall we call them, stay hydrated people. I think it’s unfair to sell unsalable dreams but they sell you them anyway all to get your money and basically scam you or get you into debt with the lifestyle you will acquire once those stocks go up which reminds me of how to do those YouTube ads about BitCoin and shares get passed it seems a bit Pyramid Scheme where the little man is sold dreams and gets nothing but pips and ash from the fat cat’s cigars “please sir can I have some more.”  Moving on to the tracks I made the first track Eat This is a synthy Synthwave track and is one of my favourites on the album. I like the synths and I like the nighttime feel to it it feels late night and a bit mysterious and something about it. The bass is nice and chilled and sounds like a Sine to me over the other synths which I think I was using the Prophet stuff from Arturia and there are a couple of them so I’m unsure what model it is but it’s one of them. I liked the feel of those synths quite a lot and were quite popular in the 80s by 80s pop bands. The next track Has The Nightmare Started is a surreal and dark track and again one of my favourites on the album. It has my favourite bass rhythms which resemble the Progressive Rock bass and are quite melodic. I also like the synths to this and add to the dark and surreal feel to it. There is a remix to this song that will be out soon on the 6 Pack remixes where I make six remixes of the old stuff I mostly put out on Spotify etc that will be out in a few weeks. The next track Backstop is another dark and mysterious track I also made a remix to and will be out on my 6 Pack Remixes album in the next couple of weeks. I used to like using the sequencer quite a lot so it was good to use one again after a long break from using them. They all have them on there and good ones so I might actually make a sequencer EP or album sometime. I also like the strings on this one which makes it sound heavenly but dark heavenly with that sequencer in the background and awful bass. The next track Remember You is a melodic happy church vibe song which I like and makes me happy. It has more sequencer vibes on and I like that and the bass which gives it a jolly awake track if you know what I mean. It does have a touch of darkness but is mostly a pleasant happy track. The next track Let Go (Inside Fear) is my overall favourite on the album and I like the bass and the claps over the melodic synths which like all the others on this album I used the Prophet from the V Collection from Arturia. I also like its mysteriousness and the tinge of darkness it has to it and I like to use it quite a lot in my music, especially my synthy stuff. I like to keep clear of generic even though sometimes I make generic tracks but I tend to stay away from those kinds of sounds. The last track Search For Me is another favourite on the album it has a bright synth and dark once again Progressive Rock bass which I love to use a lot and like to play that way as I like the melodic bass feel to it. I also like the strings to it and the bits that are repeated after the first synth pattern. It has that nighttime feel too which I like and also appeals to the daytime too. The bit in the middle that repeats reminds me of the melody to Three Blind Mice which I didn’t do on purpose it just happened so don’t sue me lol.  

Music News – New Album; Rebitten By The Lizard

March 18, 2024

Music News

18/03/2024 - New Album; Rebitten By The Lizard

In June 2017 I went on holiday to Lizard in Cornwall here in the UK. Before that, I had never been on holiday since the early 2000s. I had such a nice time so much so that I felt inspired and made a whole album about my holiday to Cornwall. This is an old album and I made it also in 2017 as soon as I came home I felt like I couldn’t wait and had so many ideas of what to put in the album. It does feature some actual recordings taken from my video camera and I converted them into WAV files and made tracks out of them which I think makes the album more of a holiday album. I say I made the album back in 2017 but there are five remixes which are at the end of the album I made in 2020 to 2021 when I was trying to make a cassette tape version but things didn’t go to plan. I kept running out of tape and the tape recorder was damaged so it didn’t come out that well but it was only for personal use. I won’t go into too much detail in this post as I already made an eBook with all the details and some other things I’ll leave a link below in case you are interested it’s an interactive eBook. I will say this though it was nice to get away for a bit and be by the sea and sand. They had the clearest water and the beaches were okay most of them were stoney and not good for your bare feet but some were over nice and somewhere I wish I lived by or could get away for a bit but I’m a city boy, to be honest. All the songs are inspired by real events or conversations I had with my friend whom I went on holiday with and are mostly real events and memories I had internally also looking back at the video footage we filmed. Looking back makes me sad as it was when I still had my dog Patch and she was still here I had her put down in 2019 due to old age if you haven’t read that already but she had the best last two years and we went on holiday to the Isle Of Wight the following year in 2018 before she started losing her back legs. I knew she wouldn’t last as long as me I just wasn’t ready for the fall out which is why I haven’t got another dog so quickly on top of the other reasons like being woken up in the night and the cold in the winter. The highlights were going to the beach every day to this little cobbly beach which I will explain later on but also I loved going to the Lizard Lighthouse and the surrounding areas it was the most scenic area and as I said before the sea was tropical it looked good enough to drink. The weather was hot all week apart from the last day which was cloudy but still warm my mate got sun burnt on the head mostly on the third or fourth day and he had to buy suncream it was that hot. I love the heat and made the holiday special or more like a holiday we were lucky to have the weather so nice as it could have been raining all the week we were there. The first track and the intro were recorded on Kennack Sands East Beach and were on the first day and the first beach we went on just an hour from landing so to speak. It was quite misty and as you can hear it was quite creepy and like out of a film. I really thought we were to have horrible weather that week with the cloudy skies and the mist surrounding the landscape. Kennack Sands East Beach is a dog-friendly beach and the main beach Kennack Sands isn’t. We spent a lot of time there mainly in the afternoon and the early evening before the tide came in or so we didn’t want to risk it so we retired for the evening. I would say the next track Mist is a Progressive Rock song and has a heavy bass and also heavy synthesizers which is dark and also has sound clips from what I recorded with the video camera in the intro. The next song Pulse (Blouse & Big Girls Mix) is another video sound bite I got from my video camera. First of all, we were on cliffs and there were gaps in the missing pavement one bit you had to jump across. Anyway I have a fear of heights and there was my friend nilly willy dancing in the moonlight and skipping and breakdancing (okay not actually real events) but he was getting close to the edge and I had a funny feeling. Luckily nothing happened but he was asking for it in a sad way. Pulse (Blouse & Big Girls Mix) is an edgy synthy track and a favourite on the album as I like the synth sounds and the arpeggio pattern I played with my MIDI keyboard. I also like the vocals which are me pooping myself and having some sort of light panic attack. So if you like to hear me cry for my supper please check this track out. The next track Working At The Serpentine is another favourite on the album and I like the synthy sharpness to it with the drum pattern I believe I was using the Roland 808 drum machine at the time and used that for a little while before I started doing them the other way by sample base. There was this lovely disused Serpentine factory that was around until the 1900s when it got closed down. It also where the fisherman sorted and brought in the fish so it was good to be by something so old and unique. It was on a cove called Carleon Cove and not so far to walk from the campsite and even if it was it was sure worth it, there wasn’t anyone there one or two people the whole week we were there. The next track Beneath The Surface is an upbeat track that reminds me of dipping in the water and getting a bit wet which is what the track is about and why there are submarine noises in the track. I like the melodic tone to it with the bass which I like that bass and think goes well with the track. The next track Washed Up is another sound bite I got off my video camera and was taken on Cadgwith Cove. There were lots of washed-up fish and it kind of stunk a bit rotten in the air but still a nice place to be and was a little village of fishermen and women. It was rocky terrain and not any sand but it was scenic and something that was nice to see. The next song Max is about a sheep we saw on a lead and I think was a pet for the meantime. I was lucky enough to get a picture his name was Max which is why it’s called Max and has sheep baaing on the track. The next track Flambards (Skit) was recorded at Flambards an old Victorian village which was quite creepy looking back at it. It had shop fronts of shops of the Victorian era and also other things like a World War 1 exhibition and lots of other items it was nice to see all the old stuff and is quite fascinating. The next track Lighthouse (Alternative Version) is about an old lighthouse we visited on the Lizard coast. We didn’t go to the top of the lighthouse as we had my dog but we did take lots of pictures and also saw the exhibition inside one of the buildings. It’s another favourite on the album and I like the synthy sounds I played with the 808 drum machine I used in all of these tracks. The next track Friendly Locals is about how friendly the locals were. There were quite a few nice people actually but there were two I remember one was a taxi driver and ex fisherman and the other one was a nice man also a fisherman who gave us a lift to Cadgwith Cove after we underestimated how long it was going to take to get there. The track is yet another favourite on the album and I like the melodic and the synthy sounds, I do like all the synthesizers I used on this album and I think I used mostly Repro and Diva from Uhe but I’m not sure now. The next track Pandemic (Chernobyl Alternative Version) is my overall favourite on the album. We watched a lot of pandemic movies on the Horror Channel it was pandemic month or something like that and one of them was Chernobyl Diaries I can’t remember all the movies we watched but they were all about getting a virus or contacting something from someone. This was before COVID-19 so it was like they were telling us something but that’s deep dish FM AKA down the rabbit hole AKA too close to the truth so to speak. I like the Repro bass and the other chilled elements which I think go well together it’s a nice relaxing track which isn’t in your face and good for sleep music if you are into your synthesizer sleep music and trust me there is such a thing. The next track Mediterranean Pasty is another overall favourite and is about the beautiful landscape that was all around us especially Lizard Point on the coast. I don’t know what it is about the track but I think there is something about it maybe it’s the way it’s played with the synthesizer sounds who knows but I do love it and this is also my overall, overall favourite track on the album. The next track Fortune (Pound Up Alternative Version) is about me winning a pound on the slot machines and also playing the two-pence slot machines and winning some on that before putting it all back in where it came from. This is another favourite on the album and I like the brightness and also the jolly happy feeling it gives I like the chorus a lot which I think makes the song and also it’s quite catchy and upbeat which is the feeling I get when gambling dangerous patterns lol. The next track Sea Goddess (Alternative Version) is another overall favourite on the album and I like the catchy feel to it and what the synthesizers produce. We found a statue right by the sea cliffs it was on a small plot of grass over a gate. We don’t know what the statue was there for but we guessed it was a sea relative thing which is why I called it Sea Goddess. The next track Sad To Go Outro is another recording from my video camera. I was so excited when I was going and waiting so when the week was up I didn’t want to leave and felt sad but saying that I was looking forward to getting back but I didn’t want to go at the same time. The five remixes are variations of the original tracks I made in 2019 – 2020 and are all upbeat synthy tracks and something different from the original tracks. My favourites are Pandemic (Gore Box Remix) and Pulse (No Dramatics Remix.) The last song was a bit of an experiment and I thought I wonder what it would be like if I reversed the track so I did I liked it so I put it on the album as the last track for something different and weird.

Interactive Cornwall eBook

Lizard Cornwall Interactive eBook – GasNoLight.co.uk

Music News – New Album; Brain Freeze

March 10, 2024

Music News

26/02/2024 - New Album; Brain Freeze

It’s been a while since I made a Synthwave album so I thought I’d make one and this one is a nine-track album with a couple of remixes at the end of the album. I enjoy making Synthwave and have a good collection of synthesizer plugins which I use quite a lot. There’s a lot from the Arturia Collection and a couple from Korg which I heavily use a lot in all my synthesizer stuff and also some of my rave tracks. I got the drum kits from Zenhieser the 80’s Retro Drummer, 80s Drums which is a well-put-together drum kit of one-shots which make it sound so authentic and make it sound like it was from the ’80s, with the patterns I make from the one-shots which again I enjoy doing. If you make Synthwave it’s one for your collection and I use it on all my Synthwave stuff as I love the drums and is what I look for kind of old 80s Hip Hop drums and 80s Pop drum kits so I was happy with my purchase and have made some great tracks with them. I’m happy with how the album turned out and like all the tracks I kind of did them back to back bit over two days as I was keen to finish off the album as that’s the thing there are not a lot of tracks, singles, EPS or albums I haven’t finished there’s a few but most of them I have finished and are out on all major platforms or they are unreleased and are on Soundcloud which is where all my unreleased stuff goes like remixes of other people’s tracks and the stuff I won’t put out for whatever reason.  I called it Brain Freeze as my mind is kind of hazy and I can barely remember what happened last decade and all the good stuff I’ve done which as I said before seems like a distant dream but was all real and a good point in my life but sadly all came crashing down when the world stopped for a moment and also my mental health was getting worse and I couldn’t keep up with the demands of the jobs I was doing. Everything just seems like a blur and a distant memory and some of the things I’ve done sound like I’m running up for clout and are all lies but I know I did all those things it’s hard to believe. As I said a few times now it was a different time and there were fewer laws and more importantly restrictions and the world was a good place to be with things like the invention of House music and all that came after that, which opened many doors for people and new ones it was also a good chance to socialize and do something adventurous and local business was always in on the game. The point is now with all these new laws and the way we are nannied it’s harder to think back on the good times that were had and makes it harder for people especially younger people to understand how the earth should be run and how it was which is a million light years away now and something that will never happen again but we can hope for a comeback of some sort I’ll be there in a flash. Also, Brain Freeze means some people have brain freeze and are dead inside I don’t know what’s gotten into people but for some reason, it’s cool or acceptable to bring down someone cos they are so icy well “You so icy you so icy why don’t you pay me on time” hmmm. It is ridiculous though and I’m tired of it just cos you woke up in a bad mood you spew your mess around and make everyone unhappy or so you think as BITCH you won’t kill my vibe. It’s sad really and something I don’t talk a lot about but one thing for sure I won’t let it bring me down and make me into something I try hard not to be a See you next Tuesday as much as I have vented back at them lol.  The first track Olive In The Glass is a middle BPM Boogie track which I enjoyed playing. It’s quite an upbeat track and reminds me more of older Boogie styles which were in the 1950s with Rockabilly and Rock ‘n’ Roll also emerging around that time. The next track Days & Nights is one of my favourites on the album as I like the drums and the synthy sounds I played over the beat. I also like the bass which is a simple bass just a one-note pattern but it works with the track and gives off that Electro Funk feel to it with the drum kit which as I said before I love that drum kit so handy. I love claps on some of my Synthwave tracks I used to use them a lot in my House tracks but I notice not a lot of people use claps in House no more so I made up for it by putting them on some of my Synthwave tracks like the second track Days & Nights which I think makes the song and makes it sound again more Electro Funk or 80s Hip Hop. The next track Just A Sec is another favourite on the album and again I like the drums, synths and also the bass. I messed around with the filters on the snare to make this cool-sounding 80s pattern which is like something out of Michael Jackson’s Bad album. I played all the melodies using my MIDI keyboard and I like this one quite a lot it’s something you can have on in the background at a nice volume and relax to it or so for me.  The next track Kingdom is a slow-paced track that is nice gentle and soothing. I love the bass on this one and think it goes well with the synth stuff I put on top of that it’s kind of like express music and something I enjoy listening to in my spare time when I have the chance and feel like Synthwave. Again it’s one of my favourites on the album and I like the darkish tone to it but the drum kit especially and I like these drums a lot as there are a lot of variations in drums and sounds in the sample pack. The next track Chambers is another slow-paced track and yet another favourite on the album I think it’s safe to say I like all of them and think they are all good but I like the synths, bass and drums as always and think again makes the track. I love the dark synth bit as the main feature of the track and is part of what I call the chorus which I think makes the track also my overall favourite on the album as I love that synth sound and the melodics. The next track Sound Of The Sirens was inspired by the sound of sirens always going off in the background as I live near an ambulance station not to mention the other services that fly by.  I was making it and came across a synth sound which I thought when I played it sounded like a siren so I thought I made a whole track with it. The next track is Kingdom (80s House Remix) which I like as I like the bass and again something to have in the background while you do your stuff. I like the synths I used the M1 from Korg and some samples I got from Loopmasters a long time ago which was the bongo drum pattern that goes throughout the track. The next track Days & Nights (80s House Remix) is a fast-paced rave track that again I got the drum pattern from an old sample pack and used most of the synths I used in the original track swapping only some of the instruments as I like to make variations of tracks as I mentioned before. It has this Electro Funk feel to it which I like and reminds me of doing the robot on a film or something. The last track Chambers (80s House Remix is another fast-paced song and the last couple are the fastest as they are House songs and around 120 -125 BPM. Since it was my overall favourite I thought I remix it and see what it would sound like as a House track, I like it but not better than the original track but it’s okay I suppose I do like it just not better than the original.

New Album Release; The Gaming Soundtrack I

January 5, 2024

5/01/2024 - New Album; The Gaming Soundtrack I

When I’m not making music I like to make stuff from my computer and put on the internet and making games is one of them. I love to design and is something I specialize in though I used to be better at coding in the 2000s when coding was easier and less things to remember but I lost my way so I look for non coding software and online apps like Construct 3 which is what I build the games with. I say build I also like to get templates of games and do all the designing myself like the sprites which is the main characters, enemies, weapons and devices and contraptions, the buttons, the backgrounds everything you see in the games basically it all gets changed and made by me. I made a few games now around under 20 and vary from space shooters, Pacman, a memory game, a Christmas poker game, Gin Rummy the card game, Solitaire the card game,  Ping Pong the retro version, a zombie shooting game, Tetris which is in weed form, A Halloween version of Candy Crush, a trading card game, and a space invaders game. They all can be found in the Gaming Lounge section on this site in the main menu under Arcade they are all there and ready to play if you want something to do. They are mostly old styled games which I enjoy making more but I did enjoy putting Hallow Crush together which is a Candy Crush alternative game but same rules and principals  and a new style game compared to say Pac Man but I could be wrong.  Now I think about it Candy Crush is similar to the game Bubble where you shoot bubbles in the right space to match the colours and stop the balls from overlapping the top. I used to love that game and is why I was hooked to that witch bubble game on Facebook last decade now when it was very popular, I advanced pretty far with the rebound trick I used to do for those difficult positions. Making games for my website and other platforms meant making music to go with it as games equals music so I made tracks for each game sometime more than one track per game but I didn’t put everything on the album just the ones that were A, long enough and wasn’t just a 30-second loop and B, the actual songs not just background noise to help concertation or get in the game. As the games are diverse and vary, so are the tracks on this album which are both Cinematic and Chiptune tracks combined on one album and are electronic, Hip Hop, and other genres which I made based on the game I was making at the time. I like to make retro games and music and I have a couple of synths that make gaming genres like my 8 Bit synth plugin and another one I can’t remember the names of them but they are good though and tend to make good old-fashioned gaming music. I used it in a few tracks on this album and is on Wolkman (Main Theme), Astro Dog (Main Theme), Inferior, and Robot Invaders. Those are the older retro songs from the retro games I made and the rest is cinematic or upbeat Hip Hop like on Weedtris (Alternative Version) where I used Hip Hop drum kits to make it sound more like Hip Hop. I like all the tracks on this album but my overall favorites are Solitude, Weedtris (Alternative Version), The Christmas Trade, Astro Dog, Inferior, North Pole, Wolkman (Main Theme), North Pole, Pong,  Betting On It, Hallow Crush and the last track Toyz Alive.

New Album Release; Synthscape – It’s Christmas Again

January 5, 2024

5/01/2024 - New Album; Synthscape - It's Christmas Again

The last synthscape for now and it was made near Christmas on the 21st of December 2023 to be exact. It’s been a while since I made a synthscape and I made it the same way I made the others through a mangled mix which was a Christmas mix I made from my own music I made in the past and as always lots of drums and synth sounds in a melodic and space boy fashion lol. It was going to be a Krampus special but I thought I’d make some alternative Christmas music that didn’t scream Christmas even though it does have some dashes of Christmas in but has the mangled effect on it which doesn’t make it seem that Christmasy. As always I used my trusted AKIA keyboard to play the sounds and the same hard-hitting drum kits to make it stand out more so you can hear the drum pattern over the synths and background noise. Also like the other Synthscapes, it has Hip Hop drum patterns over the synths and background noise. I think Hip Hop drum patterns are diverse and can be used for other genres and it would sound new and nothing like Hip Hop at all. I love my Hip Hop and at one point was all that I played from Kriss1, Mos Def, Notorious B.I.G, Tupac, Busta Rhymes, and all the females that passed through and also underground Hip Hop which at one point I was obsessed with. It actually inspired me to up my drum skills by adapting underground Hip Hop drum patterns with mostly synths stuff which I think works well and you get a synthy urban feel to the tracks. Even though there is a lot of synth sounds on the album I would still class it as Experimental music as, as always it was one big experiment to see what I could make out of the mangled mix and all the plugins and drum kits I have which are one shots (one hit sounds) that is now a main feature of the series and enjoy mangling one of my mixes I made from my music and see what I can mold around it. I called it It’s Christmas Again as how quickly time goes probably by the end of me typing this up we will be welcoming the New Year in and it will be 2025. Okay not really but it does fly by and the seasons change quickly I think the earth is spinning faster or something or as an adult it seems like it’s spinning faster. As always I say for the best listening experience please listen to it once through from start to end that way you can get the full view of the album or Synthscape which was an hour-long file and I cut it into sections and gave them names. It would have been an hour-long uninterrupted mix down but you can’t upload large file sizes or have long length mix downs so I cut it up and gave them names to get it out there or it would still be on Bandcamp as an hour-long mix-down which I think isn’t good enough but a start for anyone who is on there and willing to pay for their music and for something different. As always I have no favorite tracks on this Synthscape as I like it as a whole but I will say some bits are more interesting than some other bits and took a lot of work to make but is always fun. This one is a bit longer than the others and has more tracks as most of them are pretty short compared to what length I usually go for maybe 6 to 9 minutes anything after 10 minutes is long to me and not made for everyone’s cup of tea in the length front but I make longer tracks all the same. Some are shorter as I ran out of inspiration quickly for that part so I moved it on to the next bit which brings fresh ideas and new everything some of the drum kits and patterns are reused a few times but not too many times, I have done that on all the Synthscapes so far. It’s so I don’t get confused on new and old drums and to keep the CPU down even though by the end of it it’s through the roof due to too many open synth plugins but you can add enough to make an hour-long Synthscape or Soundscape without it glitching, shutting down or freezing on you and I’m using a Desktop version instead of a laptop which does make it better. There was a slight boo-boo on the album the track Blimey Are You Deaf (Hard Of Hearing) came out too distorted and a bit aggressive and loud and there was no way of removing it but I liked it in a way so I left it on there and let you decide if you liked it or not. 

New Album Release; Synthscape – No Suppression

January 5, 2024

5/01/2024 - New Album; Synthscape - No Suppression

Another synthscape is a combination of background noise from a mix I mangled using Audicity and lots of synthesizer sounds and drums. This is the second synthscape I made and was an hour-long file but I had to cut them down to single tracks and title them all which was the fun but hard bit. It is best if you play this album from the start to end to get the full view of it and is me messing about and experimenting with synth sounds and drums with the mangled mix. I used my trusted AKIA keyboard to play the notes and all the drum kits I could find from genres like Hip Hop and House music for those fat kicks and rattle hi-hats and hats. I did the drums manually as I haven’t got a committed device but I saw the AKIA being used as a drum machine so it is possible. Anyway, it is easier to put them in unless you have something to go by like something in your head you can tap out. Like the last one, I used all the synths under the sun including the same collections the V Collection by Artuia and the Korg Collection by Korg. They are my favourite and I tend to use a lot of the two as there are lots of synths to choose from and also lots of sounds in each synth plugin which is hit and miss but they are real synth sounds and modelled on old original synthesizer hardware. Like, for example, the Arturia stuff is modelled on synths like the Moog, the Prophet, and the DX7 all the old hardware from the 70s and up, and covers all the classic synthesizers and keyboards of the time, mostly the 70s and 80s. The Korg Collection has all the favourite synths and keyboards like the M1 which is the most famous and used in rave categories like House, Jungle/Drum and Bass, Techno, and other rave genres. But also it has some genuine synth sounds made for genres like Synthwave, Vapourwave, and synth music in general but so does the V Collection to be honest which is why I use them both quite a lot and can’t live without them or should I say play without them, at least one of the two. I haven’t got a favourite bit as I like each track as again I think they all sound unique and different from the last one but I do like the darker tracks on this one like the one with the bongos which I do use quite a lot in these synth-scapes as I think it makes it sound even better or at least sounding good even though they are a bit of a trip to put together and take a whole day, a day and a bit with the YouTube video versions which can be found on my other YouTube channel Game For Experimentation. But even though it takes a while I still enjoy making them and also making the visuals to accompany the music. I love to play the keyboard and freestyle which is what I do a lot in all the music I make but playing the keyboard and seeing what you come up with is always fun and stops me from getting bored. The only trouble is you have to be in the mood or you won’t enjoy it and the knock-on effect of that is the music not coming out as hoped or to your listener’s satisfaction or even your own which counts more I think like I put music I like and hope people will like as well.

New Album Release; Synthscape – Melodic Distortion

January 5, 2024

5/01/2024 - New Album; Synthscape - Melodic Distortion

Something a little different and partly why I started another artist name to release this album and also release something different from the normal three genres I tend to make a lot of House, Jungle/Drum and Bass, and synthy stuff under my other artist name Gas No Light. It’s a synthscape basically and crossed between a mix that came out mangled when I first had the idea and lots of drums and synths and is like a soundscape but with synthesizers and noise in the background which is the mangled mix I put in Audacity and mangled it up for this weird sound FX. The album is best played from the beginning to end for a full view of the synthscape and was an hour-long file which I had to cut up and give  titles for as you couldn’t upload an hour-long file and was too big for size so I cut it up to sections and gave them titles which was the hardest bit. There is YouTube video versions too which I made a running theme to the video and made a visual something quick and simple that can be found on my other YouTube channel Game For Experimentation. Also, there is a making of this one Melodic Distortion which is in parts and quite long videos one or two are over two hours long but it does take some time to make an hour-long synthscape as there are lots of songs that go in and out the background noise. I used all the best synth sounds I found in my DAW and made it sound interesting I think and not something that is made a lot though people do make them but all in different ways and hopefully, this is different. I played the keyboard with my trusted AKIA keyboard over the background noise and I did the drums manually using all the drums I could find but I did use all the beefy ones even the ones from the House section which I never use unless it’s House music. The album is one whole experiment with sound and synths with drums and something I will make more of in the future but not too many at the same time as I’m trying not to make too many of them and keep it rare also it does take a lot of time and strength especially the last half hour of the tape, I say tape but I mean I make them an hour long and I only did half hour it does get like when is it the end already. All the synths used are from my collection of synthesizer plugins and are mostly from the Arturia V Collection and The Korg Collection all rent to own on Splice.com my go-to for rent-to-own VST plugins and samples I use them quite a lot and I think they have a good range of plugins and samples. The best thing about the VST plugins is they are rent to own which means you pay anything under £25 depending on the manufacturer and you pay off the VST and own it for life after you pay the installments. You can cancel and resubscribe whenever you like which is good for me as not every month have I got the money and I spare the pennies by unsubscribing for a month or two on a VST plugin that I know I not using or haven’t used for a while. I like all the tracks on this album and think they all sound different and interesting with dark and light songs with Hip Hop-like drum patterns as I felt they worked best also 4/4 kick beat and is a staple in House music but also music in general.  

 

Music News – New EP; Journey Through Life

October 21, 2023

Music News

05/10/2023 - New EP; Journey Through Life

I made another EP this time it’s Synthwave and a bit of a change from what I usually do. The EP is all Electro Funk with some quick-paced tracks and some mellow tracks also. I enjoy making Synthwave and don’t make too much of it but I have done a few now and this has to be my favourite from what I have done already it seems it’s getting better each time. The first track The Pleasure Is All Mine is a melodic medium-pace-track that I like and is one of my favourites from the EP as I like the melodic sound to it which I played on my keyboard. It reminds me of sounds for the king or Queen as it’s a triumph track and as if you are walking in a king’s or queen’s quarters for some reason but that’s the impression I’m getting from the first track. The second track Crunchy is another medium-paced track and more throwback 80s vibes. The title was inspired by my test results when I took a DNA test for a laugh which determined I had a crunchy head and I thought crunchy would be a good title for a track so I did. The track reminds me of the Micheal Jackson video Beat It or Moonwalker the movie also starring Michael Jackson. I think has the same feel to it as I think the drums make the track and make it sound that way, I did it myself using Zenhesier 80s Drumkit. It definitely reminds me of being in an 80’s smoky club or being in some sort of 80’s scenario like in the gym and is also one of my favourites on the EP. The next track on the EP Livid Living is a slow-sounding track. I didn’t plan on making it sad but I was going for slow but after hearing it again I thought how sad it sounded so it’s a sad track. The track or one of the synthesizers is kind of out of tune I think two synths are. I noticed some of the most famous synth bands are making out of tuned tracks so I thought I’d leave it in as that as I liked the sound to it and it made it sound sadder or what I was going for melodic but relaxing. I like to make relaxing tracks as I like to listen to relaxing tracks and also I have a radio station called Ghosting Radio which I put all my music on the station and it has set shows like night time etc. I called it Livd Living as I thought it sounded like a good title and also the state of the world today with all the recessions and illness but I won’t go into that lol. The last track Calling Cards is a fast-paced track and the fastest on the EP it’s a general Synthwave track but from the Electro Boogie genre which was what it was inspired by. It has a dark undertone to it and a melodic feel and is my overall favourite from the EP as I like the chorus bit the most which I played. I play all the key bits and do the basses and the drums the whole thing basically. It reminds me of credit music from the 80s but I’m not sure what genre of movie it is from probably horror I feel but it could be any 80s movie or even TV credits but more movies.

Music News – New EP; Seeing You Tomorrow

October 9, 2023

Music News

04/10/2023 - New EP; Seeing You Tomorrow

I’m back with another House EP I felt like doing some more House so I made some more but I’ve been making House and a bit of Jungle/Drum & Bass throughout the summer which summer is over now so I’ll be making more synthy stuff but still make House and Jungle/Drum & Bass throughout the Autumn and Winter. I still haven’t made my winter or Christmas album yet which as always I’m not sure what to do but there will be one or maybe a couple of EPS or a Christmas album and a winter album who knows? I didn’t really have a reason why I called it seeing you tomorrow and thought it just sounded like a good title for an EP. The EP is all vocal House and more club vibes for your bedroom or wherever you are and doesn’t have any synth sounds it’s pure bass, drums and vocals which I feel makes the tracks sound better and more clubby. I like my music dark and dingy but I also like my uplifting tracks too so I put one on this EP or I liked the vocals and what it said it’s on the second track You Better (Keep Going) and reminds me of 2000’s late 90s House or what we tend to hear nowadays particularly in the 2010s also when there was a lot of good House music floating around and reviving of old House tracks like Jack Your Body, The House Music Anthem so many actually and all the best ones. The third track is a Tech House track called Darkness Follows Me which is my favourite track on the EP and a song for the dancefloor I like the vocals and the bass on the track but is what I would or should I say partly would listen to on a night out I say that as I like a lot of different music but I don’t really care for Dubstep or anything similar or though I do like aggressive sounds and growler basses just stuff with a bit of rhythm to. The last track is more Deep House but more club tracks I say Deep House as it has that slow but quick pace beat to it with the deep bass but it’s not the deepest bass. I would like to make some Deep House some proper Deep House with lushness and big basses I’ve never made a full song from scratch without loops before but that will be something for the future since I just thought of it lol.  I’ve made a few that did resemble Deep House before but I haven’t really got the right synths and basses but I will be doing some research on that probably as soon as I finish typing this up, so if you like Deep House please stay tuned for some. 

Music News – New Album; Free Range Love

September 15, 2023

Music News

12/09/2023 - New Album; Free Range Love

In nine days’ time, summer will be officially over and Autumn will begin so I made a Synthwave album something a bit longer than an EP and also something old school lol. I love making this type of music and don’t really make much of it every now and then when I’m in the mood to do something old school and from the 80s as I was born in 1985. I made a mixed bag of Electro beats and some good old Dream Pop or some slower stuff and I’m pretty happy with the results. I called it Free Range Love as I feel love is free, and should be and also the healthiest love you can get. I don’t eat a lot of meat but when I do it has to be free range whatever it is cos it’s better for nature and also fairer. This sums up the title of the eight-track album which was inspired by the 80s and Boogaloo.  I do have feelings of regret about what I could have been doing now and who knows also making the wrong decisions but I don’t hate myself for it I just know now not to make that mistake again and also be vocal with what I disagree with where it counts. I will say though it’s good to have regrets cos it makes you appreciate the things you have depending on what type of person you are but I feel a bit of regret never hurt anybody. One of my biggest regrets was not having believed in myself or listened to what people said I do listen though but sometimes I think they are just being too nice or avoiding the conversation completely, I’ve been making music for quite a few decades now on and off so I should hope I would be able to make something good out of what I  got but I have many and different tastes that scale from Rock to Hip Hop and everything in-between as I would say. I’m really happy with the song Force To Break on this album the synths which I used the Mini and the Prophet from Artuia really bring out the old school flavour and the drum kit which I used Zenhieser 80s drum kit which is one shots (one hit sounds) which I put together inside FL Studio 20.  I used to listen to a lot of old-school Nu Groove and Electro beats on online radio from 2008 onwards so I hope I caught some of that lock, pop and drop and no you ain’t on fire…well sort of. I also was brought up with music like Force To Break and music simlair which is why I’m so obsessed with it and love it so much. To mark Aaliyah’s passing on the 25th of August I thought I do a song for her which is called Till We Meet Again. I met her when she came to my school in Bristol, UK in 1997 it was. I was so devastated when the news broke being a fan of her from the first album and that was how I was introduced to rapper and singer Missy Elliott one of my favourite female rappers and singers. But yeah I was heartbroken and went into shock I never got over it not fully but she will always be in our hearts for the saint she was.  I called one of the tracks Big Butts and Ifs and is the thing called your backside I called it that as I thought it was a quirky title and needed something a bit different from the other titles, I thought I would have run out of titles by now but it turns out I can go for miles with no batteries. I will be making more Synthwave stuff when I’m in the mood it’s the end of summer by the next release so it will be something synthy but I will be making some more House and Jungle/Drum & Bass which I haven’t made for a while now.