Best of Prague Spring

Ed McNamee wants me to make a Prague Spring "best of" album. It would go like this:

Retrograde

the best of

Prague Spring

1. Hold You Forever d
2. What Will Be  y
3. A Few Delicious Kisses  f
4. Dona Nobis Pacem  y
5. Real World  y
6. A Fountain of Tears  d
7. Give Me a Sign  y
8. October River  f
9. Another Wasted Afternoon  d
10. Kyrie Eleison  d
11. One Last Drink  f
12. World Without End  y

All Songs by

Andrew Bellware

y   A Handful of Quietness - 1992

d   A Garden of Kisses - 1993

f   October River - 1995

I think I have to make a Bandcamp.com account for Prague Spring and put that music up first. "Retrograde" is, of course, my name for the record as Ed had suggested "Perennials" which to me doesn't exactly sound like Prague Spring. But who am I to say what Prague Spring sounds like? Oh. Right. Exactly.

Poof

So a thing I like about Pamplamoose is how the kick drum sounds like a real kick. Or at least on this song it does. I kind of appreciate that orchestral/band bass drum sound. The trick is of course to get that sort of sound to work without the entire mix sounding like mud.

Flutes, Switches, Rock Quartets

Do you like to get into fights with flute players? Flute players are a surly, mean, vicious bunch who will straight up knock you out for lookin' at them funny. But if you want to get into a bar brawl with them, tell 'em that it doesn't matter whether they have a full silver, 24-carat gold, or even just a silver-coated flute.
Wipe the blood off your bar stool and come on down for the fun.
I've found exactly one sound library in the world which purports to having a bowed tailpiece sound. One. It's the Symphonic Strings library by Sonivox. It's a thousand bucks. I'm not going to pay a thousand bucks.
What I want is a good violinist to come in and record some sound effects for thirty minutes. Sigh.
Railhammer guitar pickups. I'm perfectly happy with my pickups as they are, I just thought these were interesting.

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At the rehearsal studio the other night I played a Mesa-Boogie head with a whole bunch of channels. The channels couldn't switch though because there wasn't a footswitch. So for most of the night I just  used the "hot" setting but with the gain turned down.
And then I discovered that if I set my bridge pickup to be louder than the neck pickup I could switch between a more overdriven sound and a cleaner sound just by switching the pickup switch on my Les Paul.
Now. I realize that most guitar players would have figured that one out about 25 years earlier than I did. But I'm not like most guitar players. I'm much, much worse.
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Noteflight is the program I use most of the time I write something out for Tyrannosaurus Mouse. Although I've mostly given up on writing stuff out for TMouse because nobody really wants to read it. Writing out music for a rock band might have its merits but the problem is that our notation system just isn't that great for a rock quartet (and even worse for a rock trio). So I mostly use the program to make "notes" for myself so I remember what I wrote.
Steering away from getting a high-end notation program like Sibelius or suchly, there's MuseScore -- open-source and free. I don't really know that I need something more sophisticated than Noteflight though as I'm primarily just making what we used to call "lead-sheets" (are they still called that? Were they ever called that?)
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Bowed Tailpiece

Of the many things I have to do this month, feel free to include scoring our new movie Prometheus Trap. Basically the sound we're going for here is Penderecki c.1962.
One of the sounds I'm looking for is the sound of a violin's tailpiece being bowed.

As far as I can tell, exactly one sound library has any "bowed tailpiece" sounds and that's the Sonivox String Collection. But that's a thousand dollars. And actually it just has cello and bass bowed tailpiece sounds although that's probably OK.
The other option I thought of was to get a cheap student violin and bow the bridge myself. Problem is I'm not a violin player and I bet the resonance on a student violin actually does suck to a degree which makes every sound (including "effects" sounds) from the violin just sorta stink.
There's another library called "Violence" (get it?) which has a bunch of violin effects but I don't know if that will do for me what I desire.

The Riches

I licensed some of my Prague Spring records to Getty Images. I just got a big ol' check for the last two years for $44.23.
See? Because the money is in publishing.
Which I suppose is true because the only money I've ever made in music was the occasional small check from BMI and Getty.
Thing about Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon is that you'd think it would be an "easy listening" MOR record -- you know, just from most of the vocals on it and the sort of "laid back" feel of the bulk of the record. But the fact is that the band just cooks. 
This is a down-tempo tune yet listen to the rhythm section when they kick in. The are rocking out.

Things We Learned

So. Things we learned.
Andrew: "I can persuade you guys to do things but I can't convince you."
Ethan: "That's very astute, actually."
  I've been listening to rock versions of Also Sprach Zarathustra to the point where I forgot whether those opening fifths were each one measure or two. Answer: one.

A Letter to Tyrannosaurus Mouse

So this dude  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iykuBrUosOw

puts an Am7 chord in there. To me it sounds more like we're just walking up from the G to a Dm but I dunno. I figured somebody else would have a better notion of how that works.

The other things which will come up are: In Also Sprach Zarathustra do we want to do the arrangement everybody (including Phish) does? Or will we by necessity just come up with our own rhythm part?

Lastwise: that extra measure at the end of the phrase in the Game of Thrones theme (everybody know what I'm talking about?) Keep it? 

Strangely the opening of the GOT theme goes from major to minor. Are we looking at a dual-attack bass and guitar to play that ostinato line? Do we feel like the drums will all be on toms? 

Does anybody actually get these emails or do they just automatically go into spam folders?

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Looming Productions has rehearsal studios in Greenpoint for $15/hour.

Them Things What Is

Hank's Saloon in Brooklyn.
Hooktheory is a... thing. Actually I don't understand it at all.

Also Sprach Zarathustra. This is a piano reduction of the theme everybody knows.
Do you like totally random things? Because I have a Tumblr now.

Imaginary Opera Framework

So there are 16 distinct pieces of music in The Imaginary Opera. The latest version of the script (with all the lyrics) is here.

1. Overture
2. Fiery the Angels Fell
3. Tattoo
4. Gold Grass
5. America's Shore
6. The Hollow Men
7. Death's Dream Kingdom
8. Late Summer-Autumn '68 (percussion ensemble)
9. Salome (dream ballet)
10. Fiery Waltz
11. The Dead Land
12. The Valley of the Dying Stars
13. The Vorga (Tattoo reprise)
14. Funeral Dirge
15. Falls the Shadow
16. Curtain

The band will be a four-piece (guitar, bass, drums, keys). 

I figure the overture and the curtain pieces would be written last. I already have some ideas for a couple of the pieces. I'm sure the lyrics will change as the music changes.

There are five actor parts. We could make Day Tripper/Holden a female role which would give us a 2/3 women-to-men ratio. 

1. Plissken
2. Chorus/Rachel/Priss/Zhora/Bryant
3. Gaff/Batty
4. Day Tripper/Holden
5. Leon/Bunny

Being able to look at this framework gives me an idea of the scale of the work to be done. The songs aren't necessarily "songs" in the popular-song sense in that they won't always have verses and choruses. But who knows, by the time we're done they might. Or at least some might. Most will be more like arias though. I mean, with a rock band.

Via.

Col Legno Day

Today was col legno day in the Pandora Machine. I can't find my violin bow. I had a very cheap bow, so I might have thrown it away when we moved from Theatresource. I don't know.
I figured the bow would be perfect for col legno because, well, who cares about it? Instead I used a pencil -- which is apparently a very legitimate way to do col legno. At least both the piano player and the cellist in the Hunchback Variations used pencils. Actually, I think everyone in that opera used a pencil at some point.
I wrote a little thing called "Sucre". It's not named that for any reason other than I needed a name when I started.

My intent is that this play as the opening of Prometheus Trap. But we'll have it playing under the music which Finn is listening to: which is Beethoven's "moonlight" sonata. This amuses me.

Phones, Footsteps, Felines

Do you think that five thousand dollar headphones are funny? I do.
Using a software sampler to randomize playable footsteps instead of Foley. It's actually a totally decent trick.
The dude who wrote the score to Sherlock has a studio cat in his writing room.

These are the English lyrics to the Procol Harem song "Conquistador". I want to get them translated into Spanish.

Conquistador your stallion stands
In need of company
And like some angel's haloed brow
You reek of purity
I see your armour-plated breast
Has long since lost it's sheen
And in your death mask face
There are no signs which can be seen

And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind

Conquistador a vulture sits
Upon your silver shield
And in your rusty scabbard now
The sand has taken seed
And though your jewel-encrusted blade
Has not been plundered still
The sea has washed across your face
And taken of it's fill

And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind

Conquistador there is no time
I must pay my respect
And though I came to jeer at you
I leave now with regret

And as the gloom begins to fall
I see there is no, only all

And though you came with sword held high
You did not conquer, only die

And though I hoped for something to find
I could see no maze to unwind