A Busy Theremin Week

Three bits of theremin-related news popped up this week:

Don't Mind Me

My short fictional tale of the effects of excessive theremin-playing is now available at Great Hites for you to read or to listen to as part of the podcast. The advantage of the podcast is that, not only do you get to hear my dulcet tones reading it (oh deep joy), but it is backed by some reasonably subtle theremin effects, hopefully adding to the atmosphere. It's a fair bit less serious than my last GH story, but I'm quite happy with it. Whilst you're there, check out the other stories and vote for your favourite.

The Beat Frequency Theremin Method

Experimental thereminist and Lunacy Board collaborator, Gordon Charlton (a.k.a. Beat Frequency) has released a rather special double package that incorporates both his treatise on experimental theremin playing, "The Beat Frequency Theremin Method", and his debut solo album "The Chordless Chord" for the bargain price of only £8. The book is an interesting read for anyone interested in making electronic music, or in the experimental process, and not just budding theremin players. The order form is available on his blog along with video clips and an online preview of the book.

Hands Off 2009

It really doesn't seem like two years since the last Hands Off event, but here we are. This time round there are no workshops and no concert, with the event being a completely different beast. The aim this time is to use the combined theremin might of those attending (around only 20 in total - a select bunch), along with whatever additional noise-making equipment we can get hold of, to craft an album within two days. I believe the idea will be to split into smaller groups to work on pieces, recording them as we go, before picking the best to go together on an album. Given that the Lunacy Board managed to pull of an album in a single day, I don't think this is an impossible task and wouldn't be surprised if we got a double CD out of it. Time will tell. What will be interesting is the mix of people attending, from instrument builders and experimentalists through to classical theremin players - it is certain to feature lots of strange and unusual stuff. I'm looking forward to this, but it's not until the end of August, so the wait begins here...

Theremania

Happy New Year.

It's been quite a while since I last waved my hands in the air to produce music, but tonight I recorded four theremin parts with varying degrees of success for "The Mandelbrot Set."
We currently have three songs started as works-in-progress, with "Skullcrusher Mountain" being the most advanced in terms of completion. I've done basslines for all three, theremin parts for two of them and even dug out my mandolin for a little section, too.

In other news, the band I do sound for had a bit of a crisis of confidence in December - a somewhat underpopulated audience and a series of fluffed songs all contributed to a general feeling of concern that there were not enough rehearsals or too much emphasis was being placed on learning newer songs. However, we did a gig at Hogmanay which turned out to be a bit of a blinder, so that sorted those worries out. Nothing definite for the coming year, yet.

Masters of Song Fu - Update #8 - The Ballad of Rufus Amos Adams

Your task is to write a country ballad - using a backstory of your own creation – called "The Ballad of Rufus Amos Adams".

Here's the song for Round 3 of the Song Fu challenge (you know, the one I was knocked out of at round 1):-

Click here for the song

For some background to the song and the additional challenge I set myself, see this post. It does include all the items I mentioned, including a wobbly theremin-pretending-to-be-a-pedal-steel-guitar solo. Having now listened to the other challengers I realise that there was no yodelling, but I don't know that would sit very well in a ballad, plus it was not in my original list, so too bad.

Here are the lyrics and chords (non-Scottish readers - minor translations included - move your mouse over a word you don't understand):-

[verse1]
  G        G           C               G
I left the farm in the morning, around 6
G       G             D       D
Fed the cattle on the way
G                G         C          G
Headed South for Dallas to pick up my girl
G                  G         D        D 
And that's when my life went astray.

[verse2 - same chords as v1 except last line]
She was waitressin' in the Korean restaurant
Noodles on poodles she'd serve
When a truck, red 'n' green, with the name of Christine
    G              D          G         G
Too fast round the corner did swerve

[verse3]
Gm                 Gm      Cm        Cm
What happened just then, I fail to recall
       Gm       Gm           Dsus4    D7
But my world it descended to Hell
          Gm         Gm          Cm     Cm
There was kimchi and shitzhu and bodily parts in
    Gm         Gm              Dsus4    D7
The rubble and dust where they fell

[verse4 - same chords as v3 except last line]
I grabbed the truck driver and gave him a kickin'
For killin' my sweetheart so swell
But she wasn't dead - she'd just banged her head
Gm          D7          Gm         G
And I spent time in the Bar-L


[chorus]
G                        C
I'm known around here as Amos Adams
G                     D
Sometimes as Rufus or Hank
       G                   C
I'd consider it lucky if I lived in Kentucky
  G                  D
Instead of a village just West of Buckie
          G                    C
Where the trains are sporadic, money is tight
  G                       D
A bottle of Talisker gets you through the night
  G                   C
I wish to God that my Mama, that sod,
    G        D              G         G
Had named me something like Shug.

[verse5 - same as v2]
Let out of prison this Christmas just past
I hoped for a change in my luck
When I got home she wrote, on a tiny wee note
"I've left with the man and his truck"

[instrumental verse - same as v2]

[verse6 - same as v2]
Now I'm only a jakey from a wee Scottish town
But my life's like a Johnny Cash song
My name isn't Sue, but Rufus will do
I guess Nashville is where I belong

~Chorus~
... Had named me something like Tam.
... or named me something like Doug
... or even something like Shug

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Tags: Song Fu, Country, chords

Show and Tell

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, those of you too tight to buy tickets, those too distant to travel, those too drunk to care and everybody else can now see The Lunacy Board's performance last week from the comfort of home.

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Tags: The Lunacy Board, Video, Glasgow, Classic Grand, Improvisation, Theremin

Lunacy Live

It was a night of mixed emotions, stress, compromises and arguments, but above all a night of music in various guises...

It's been a while since I last drove around Glasgow and numerous new one way streets (as well as unexpected roadworks en route) meant that I didn't arrive as early at the Classic Grand as I had intended. A rant for another day, but it added unnecessary stress before the show was even underway. As it turned out Glass were still setting up, so we had a bit of time to unload and prepare to shift our gear on-stage. With four bands on stage over the course of the night time was tight for soundchecks, and as first-on we drew the shortest straw with a check that everything was making a sound without the luxury of any fine-tuning. Not to worry - the doors were open and people were arriving, so we took to the stage to kick off the evening.

The intention had been to play a new short song, Morning Rolls first, followed by an instrumental improvisation, then finishing off with The Unofficial National Anthem, but the time restrictions meant that we had to drop something, so Morning Rolls got the chop. The improvisation we started off with was based around a delayed loop on guitar which I varied between a gentle acoustic sound and a slow e-bow background pad. I knew we wouldn't have the luxury of time to set up the 'Sooper Looper' system I used at the Theremin Symposium, so the loop came from a standard effects pedal, meaning the sound looped, but gradually degraded in clarity and faded away so that the piece changed texture as the looped sounds piled up. Having rehearsed this method a good few times over the last couple of weeks and come up with some interesting and varied music (different every time), we knew this could work even though the risk of it being a total train-wreck was high. On the night I don't think it worked as well as it had in rehearsals, but these were really just wobbles on the corners rather than full-scale derailment. The fact that we had to keep it fairly short instead of building the piece up gradually meant that there were a few places where we changed directions earlier than we would otherwise have done, so I don't think the piece flows as well as it might have, but neither does it stand still for long.

The Unofficial National Anthem mutated out of the dying echoes of the improvised track, and we kept it simple with no instrumentation apart from guitar, drums and voice. We had tried a number of variations on the song recently, including with a full drum kit, but the little set of digital drum pads just seemed to be the right sound for this song. I built a mount so that it could be attached to a mic stand which meant that Sean could stand at the front of the stage to sing instead of being hidden behind a wall of drums, and was also able to easily switch between drums and bass guitar where necessary. Since there are only two of us, this arrangement means we're both up-front and visible, even if we need to play on a relatively small stage area.

As is usually the case, the venue didn't really start to fill until nearer the time for the headliners to take to the stage, so we weren't playing to a crowd by any means - probably a few more people than were at the Theremin gig, but it was more of a toe-dipping exercise for us. We wanted to see how we'd do on stage, how the songs would hold up to being stripped down from multi-layered arrangements into more direct and raw pieces of music, if we could pull off a totally unstructured improvisation live, and finally if anyone would even listen. As with my previous stage outing, we did get some positive comments. We know we're only likely to appeal to a tiny section of the population, but if just one person enjoyed what we did at a gig, then our mission is worthwhile.

The Survivors' Party (Live Theremin Frenzy)

It's been a long time since I've been on stage, and never as a 'solo' act, so it was with some trepidation that I set off on the road to Bushey (near Watford) for the 'Hands Off 2007' Theremin Symposium. Various people have posted reports of the main event, which was a great success, but of most interest in these pages is the little set I did on the Sunday night for the 'survivors' of the whole weekend. This came after a packed weekend of workshops, demonstrations and a truly wonderful concert by a variety of thereminists from around the World, so it could easily have been a total wash-out with everybody drained. I happen to think it all went rather well.

I rehearsed a batch of new Lunacy Board songs, along with a couple of old Deserters numbers - just me playing guitar and singing, using an old Linux PC running the 'Sooper Looper' software to set up sections of repeating chords to play solos (either guitar or theremin) over the top of. At some point prior to the event it occurred to me that it would make life a bit easier for me and a bit more interesting for the audience if I was to have some collaborators up on stage, so contacted a group of performers with the offer of the post of 'Stunt Thereminist' for The Lunacy Board Subcommittee. I received a couple of positive responses, so re-arranged my setlist to fit around their choices of song, and I was ready to go.

Nerves were absent as the performance drew near - probably just because the day had been so busy and I had barely time to think about the evening show. I got the stage more-or-less set up as soon as the main concert had finished, took half an hour to get refreshed, then returned to the stage to finish off. At which point I discovered that I had not brought a video cable for Sooper Looper. It can run quite happily without one, as I control it from a set of effects pedals, but should anything go amiss I would not be able to reset it or see what was wrong. Live and learn. The audience came into the room and chatted as I prepared for the first song.

To warm up my fingers and voice I kicked off with 'Morning Rolls' - a very short song with no instrumentals or frills. With that complete and with only a small fluffed chord change I invited Wilco Botermans to the stage. Previously in the weekend Wilco had demonstrated his theremin effects set-up which he controls using a specially wired glove to control parameters of a group of Moog 'Mooger Foogers', as well as the visually stunning 'Croix Sonore' - a unique instrument with similar properties to a theremin. For the purposes of his guest appearance he was using his TVox Tour theremin (the Russian-built instrument favoured by Lydia Kavina and Barbara Bucholz), and the Mooger Foogers, though without the glove controller.

We started off with 'The Unofficial National Anthem', followed with a very laid-back version of 'Requiem For A Head In A Field In Butler' - using Doug's original bass part which we improvised along to, and finished off with 'One Night In The Back Of A Fire Engine' complete with audience participation (cheesy, but fun). Wilco played a mix of melodic accompaniment and weird special effects which worked well - 'Requiem...' seemed to really benefit from this approach as far as I can recall. The concert was recorded in full, but I've only had a chance to hear a few snippets back.

Wilco left the stage and I played another short song - 'Jim Crow', then Hypnotique came up onto the stage. We played 'The Man In The Boat' followed by Lee Newe's 'The Woman In Red' - both fairly slow songs, to which Hypnotique added some legato cello-like theremin parts. Her solos on 'The Woman In Red' were particularly effective at bringing the sad nature of the song to the fore.

At some point during the previous song, the looper had stopped responding, so this stopped me doing the new multi-part song we've been working on, which needs several looped layers to work, so I called for another stunt thereminist and Terry Bowler came up to play on 'The Winning Smile' (a rare love song I wrote last year, which now also incorporates the music from 'Goodbye Mr. V.') and 'The Ballad of Serenity' (the only cover version I've tried, with lyrics which fit into the Lunacy Board remit). I finished off with one more guest thereminist, Captain Ants of 'The Jaw-Line of Julianne Moore', playing the somewhat rockier 'Fairytale Propaganda'.

It was good to finally get some of these songs out on stage, and great to be able to play them with a group of musicians from a range of backgrounds. I hope to get some video clips posted in the near-future from this.

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Technorati Tags: theremin, hands off, sooper looper, stunt, lunacy board, wilco botermans, hypnotique, captain ants, julianne moore, live

Going Live

This gig forms the grande finale of the theremin shindig I mentioned a while ago. I'll be part of the 'UK League of Thereminists' playing a few structured improvised pieces as part of a 'theremin orchestra'. There are a number of very good thereminists going to be attending, so well worth the money if you are in that neck of the woods this coming Sunday. Book soon, though, by clicking on the picture here.

More daunting for me will be the post-concert wind-down party, for which I'll be providing some of the music...

This will be the first time that the Lunacy Board material has been played live, albeit in a somewhat more spartan form than usual, as it will just be me playing guitar and singing with a looper and theremin to make things more interesting. The original plan was to use the yobstick as well, but I might limit this to just one or two songs due to the way the looper works, as the rhythm can become a bit too repetitive.

I have also dusted down a couple of old Deserters' numbers to include in the set, which will be fun, and for a few songs I will be joined by special guest stunt thereminists.

The whole event is being recorded and videotaped, so watch this space for more news early next week...

Top 10 - My Synths

Inspired in part by Sonicstate's top 20 greatest synths and Matrixsynth's The Most Underrated Synths, here is my alternative. This is my top ten list of synths. Not the greatest by any margin, though there are some classics in there. Not the most historically interesting, though one or two certainly have their place in history. Just 10 synths that I've enjoyed using over the years, despite or even because of numerous obstacles they've thrown in the way. Most were end-of-line bargains or second-hand gems, but they've all served me well.

10 Yamaha FB01

For such a little unit this comes with one of the most comprehensive and awe-inspiring manuals complete with extensive MIDI implentation charts and sysex data. The sound out of this is not great - 4-operator FM is not going to win many prizes these days, or even in the days it was first launched. However it is 8-part multitimbral, which was pretty impressive at its launch, and it does work will for a filler. I usually use it for background layers of choirs, brass or synth strings.

9 Casio CZ1000

Casio didn't stay in the pro synth market for long, but the CZ series has endured. In theory it is a variant on FM synthesis, but in practice it is much easier to program and tends to sound a bit warmer, with some great synth bass sounds and a nice line in brass blasts. This is the full-sized keyboard version of the very popular CZ101. I don't use mine very often these days as it is a big keyboard to house for the sake of its 4-note polyphony, but it does get dug out every so often to bring its own charm to the occasional piece.

8 Yamaha PSS780

This is a pretty wretched FM workstation with mini-keys, built-in drum pads, sequencer, auto-accompaniment, effects and basic synthesis controls. It is generally pretty weedy sounding, with less oomph than half a FB01 on a bad day, and is really a home keyboard with pretensions of being a synth. However, it is multi-timbral and MIDI-controllable and when the sounds are layered up and a decent drum pattern programmed, it can sound okay. Add some real guitar and vocals and you might just pull it off. This was the first 'synth' I had that I could control via MIDI, and it more than doubled the range of sounds I had available at the time. For that I pay it my respect.

7 Akai S950

Akai were several generations of their legendary samplers on by the time I joined the fray with this 3rd-hand bargain. Only 12-bit sample quality, but with all the bells and whistles of the pro favourite S1000, the S950 was quickly pressed into service as an enhancement to the meagre drum sounds of the PSS780, allowing me to mix professionally recorded samples with yobstick, bucket and kalimba samples amongst others, adding more detail to drum parts. I never did manage to get hold of the SCSI disk interface for it, so to this day I have to load it up with several floppy disks, which puts me off using it as much as I might do.

6 Yamaha DX7

What need I say about the DX7. THE classic late 80's synth. Wonderful electric pianos and bells, wonderful evolving FM washes and great hammered percussion. It is a beast to program, but blessed with a bucketful of computer programs to make it easier, and my first synth was FM-based, so I was in familiar territory. The DX is still my master keyboard for controlling synths, though only occasionally do I use the on-board sounds - usually only for piano or pads. Mine is a mk1, with limited MIDI capabilities, annoyingly curtailed keyboard response and horrible membrane buttons, but it still has a great feel, is built like a tank and is easy to fall back on.

5 Kawai K4R

My first foray into Sample+Synthesis was with the K4r, the rackmount version of the K4. It took the place of the PSS780 as a general dogbody machine with a good collection of drum kits, 16-part multitimbral sound source and a selection of waveforms suitable for everthing from acoustic guitar to analogue lead synths with a filter section good enough to do it justice. I still use this regularly, and probably still could find new things to do with it.

4 Yamaha TX81Z

Another 4-operator Yamaha FM synth, but this one's a little bit special. First of all it has a significantly improved synthesis engine over the old FB01, with a wide range of waveforms to base sounds on. Secondly it has the ability to store micro-tunings for more experimental music. Thirdly it has good support for breath controllers, making it an ideal partner for my Casio digital wind controller (DH100). It also has a range of good software supporting editing, which is just as well since it has a DX7-like unfriendly editing system. Like the DX it is great for metallic sounds and crisp basses.

3 Moog Etherwave Pro

It's a theremin - does that count as a synth? I say yes. It's my list. It is the top of the range Moog theremin and a thing of beauty. Curved walnut surface with gleaming chrome knobs. It is has a nice linear playing range, classic preset tones and enough filter and tone controls to provide a wide range of sounds from pure voices to cutting sawtooth buzzes, as well as CV controls for controlling analogue synths like a theremin. It's my favourite of all the sound creating gadgets I have, but there are two more items that are currently in the lead for historic reasons.

2 Casio CSM10P

This is a tacky little black box with only 5 sounds - electric piano, piano, organ, harpsichord and vibes. I think it uses 12-bit samples - they're certainly not great quality. It is preset-only with no editing, being designed to plug in and expand a home keyboard. I have used it time and time again, especially the piano and vibes, and it always wins me over with its simplicity. Just select the sound and play. Nothing more to it. It does have pretty good polyphony, or at least good enough for my keyboard playing, and I find the sounds sit comfortably in a mix (though the pipe organ can be a bit overwhelming at times). It really shouldn't get used as much as it does, but I just can't help it. Try listening to Yet Another Granfalloon (pt1) for an example of it in action.

1 Yamaha CX5M

WHAT? Surely I'm joking? Well, no. I cut my electronic / MIDI / composing / keyboard teeth on this bizarre creature, and for all of its many, MANY faults, it holds a slightly rose-tinted place in my musical heart. When I had the opportunity to buy my first keyboard, some time after The Deserters were formed, I spent endless hours scrutinising music magazines for the best synth for me. I had a few front-runners, including the DX100 and CZ101 which had just come out, though I wasn't too keen on their small keys. Then the CX5M Music Computer came to the end of its commercial life and dropped significantly in price - I was able to pick up the equivalent in sound quality to a DX9, with in-built computer and sequencer for about the same as a CZ101. I pontificated for a while over this, even passing over the opportunity to pick up a Korg MS10 for 50 quid (ha ha, how very different things could have been had I gone down that route...), but eventually came to the conclusion that it was too good a deal to miss.

I wasn't aware that it couldn't be played from another MIDI keyboard, despite the presence of a MIDI in socket, so that blew the longevity of it out the water. The only useful sequencer for it at the time was the step sequencer which required some very tedious manual progamming. And the included keyboard was pretty pathetic. However, like so many limited things, these drawbacks just focused the use of the thing, and I soon got my head around FM synthesis using the built-in editor, complex harmonies and rhythms with the score composer sequencer, and drum programming by linking it up to a ZX Spectrum with "SpecDrum" fitted. So it was flawed, but it formed the musical base for a large number of Deserters tunes, try Phill Up the Glass to hear it in action, but most notably the 20-minute-plus instrumental extravaganza that was "Mick's Amazing Megamix". Unfortunately the only version of this recorded comes from a badly distorted tape - it has been converted into a more modern sequencer format so may eventually see the light of day using the TX81z to emulate the CX5 tones.

So that's the lot. Not to everyone's taste, and probably more biased in favour of a certain Japanese manufacturer than I would like, but impoverished gear junkies can't be choosers.

A Slight Detour

I'm a great believer in trying something new at least once, especially if it is something that will provide some new insight or approach to life or what we do in it. In a recent search for interesting sounds to use I came across sampleswap.org which is one of a number of websites dedicated to sharing samples - in this case everything from retro synths and orchestral instruments to foreign language dialog and farmyard sounds.

They have been running a competition for new electronic compositions, which is not something I've done for many years, preferring to work with at least some acoustic, hands-on (or off in the case of theremin) instruments. Listening to some of the tracks on the site only confirmed that this was pretty hard-core electronica - mostly not the sort of music I would listen to, let alone attempt (or wish) to play.

Sounds like a challenge.

So here you'll find the latest creation from The Lunacy Board. No lyrics. Lots of effects and electronic twiddles. Buckets of theremin. Not our usual fare, but what is usual for us?

Hands Off!

I don't usually like to plug things around here, but this is an event that I'm really looking forward to - a whole weekend of theremin fun and goodness. There's a great line up of concerts and events planned with big names from the theremin world. Click on the picture for more details.

Xenochrony

One of Zappa's favourite tricks around the "Joe's Garage" era and beyond was the practice he called "xenochrony" or "strange synchronisation". This involved him taking a piece of music (often a studio backing track) and overdubbing it with a totally unrelated (usually a live guitar solo) track from a completely different song. After some fiddling about, the result was a melody that would play what appeared to be insanely complex polyrhythms over the top of the new song. It's something I've always wanted to have a shot at, but lacked the source material to work with.

Then I came across a beautiful bass solo written by Doug Boucher over on his MySpace page. It's called "Requiem For A Head Laying In A Field In Butler" and is dedicated to the very wonderful Mike Keneally. I really enjoyed the piece and tried playing some haunting theremin over the top, some of which came together quite nicely, and other parts of which were less successful. I then tried putting the piece together with some of Sean's drumming for (I think) The Winning Smile - two unrelated bits of music coming together to form something new altogether. To this new hybrid track I set about playing guitar and theremin, with pretty good results. There are places where the bass and drums drift apart to give a very laid back feeling, and others where they synchronise exactly, including some where the drums and bass reach a crescendo at the same time before gently tailing off.

As usual, you can find the track over at The Lunacy Board site.

Moving Along...

We've had two more LB sessions recently; one short acoustic practice throwing ideas for songs around and a long and productive studio-based session. In the first of these we considered some ideas for possible inclusion in any live set we may do in the future. We have a fair bit of work ahead of us to get to the position where we'd feel ready to do a live gig, but it is a possibility that we might consider a short support slot at some point.

Our current feeling is that we would feature our own material, but have a few cover versions on hand to whip out according to the audience - e.g. for a dedicated progressive audience we might include a Jethro Tull or Rush cover, but for a more general audience we'd maybe think about something that has had some more airplay like Gabriel, The Who or Marillion, though still keeping within the progressive genre, more or less. We'll probably try out a range of possible covers over the next few practices we have, but don't want to get too bogged down in them when we have new material to play with.

The studio session was VERY productive, lasting all day and covering a total of 5 new songs, 1 old song, some more soundtrack work and Stockholm dialogue.

We started with The Man in the Boat, which is an old song of mine from years ago that we've stripped down and rebuilt. It deals with the temptation to play it safe and end up missing out on actually living life. It is a bit more downbeat the The Unofficial National Anthem, with an extended instrumental section in the middle which has a bit of a Pink Floyd feel to it. At the moment we've only done drums, guitar and vocals, but the structure is coming together well - we just need to practice it some more before committing it to a proper recording as there are some switches in the dynamics of the song that need to be tightened up.

We then moved onto Fairytale Propaganda which is a brand new song I've been working on over the last couple of months. It asks the question "what would fairytales be about 500 years later, if the characters written about were living now?", casting a critical eye over the less than noble way our 'fairytale' characters of the present day conduct themselves. The song builds slowly from a quiet instrumental introduction into our most outright rock song to date.

After these two fairly long songs we switched over to do some improvisational music with a view to including parts in the Stockholm soundtrack. Starting with a drum and bass backing we layered various solos, textures and effects over the top using guitar, keyboard and samples (including an old sample of the yobstick I came across). The results were much more avant-garde than our previous improvised music, closer to Zappa than anything else we've tried. It will need a fair bit of editing to make some of the layers work together, but there is definitely some unusual and interesting music in there.

After a bite to eat and a blether, it was back to work on some shorter songs, kicking off with Morning Rolls, which is a short song about bereavement (or traditional Scottish fare at the most literal reading of the lyric). It came together quite well with just vocal and guitar, though it is still in its early days and may change a bit in time.

The Parallel Curve was next up. This is a song about careers and insanity that doesn't really have any music yet, so we tried a few things out, mainly around a march-like rhythm and slide ebow guitar - kind of a rising and falling pulse over which the lyrics were half-sung, half-spoken. The idea being to have a number of non-fixed pitch instruments including the theremin and slide guitar and bass all providing a constantly shifting backing. Parts of this worked well, though some verses simply didn't come together properly, so it will need further work. The version we worked on was significantly different from my original demo attempt, and I suspect it will change as much again in future iterations.

A quick run through of Jim Crow was next - we tried this a while ago and it mutated from a choppy, almost Buddy Holly, style into a more laid back doo-wop number. This time around we went straight into the doo-wop and after a couple of false starts it was a nice bit of fun. I have some ideas for additional verses for it (it currently only has two which are repeated), and we need to agree on the backing 'oohs' and 'aahs' to make the vocals rock-solid as they need to be for this style of music.

The final song of the day was one I wrote for my better half earlier this year, called The Winning Smile. It's a happy little number about the power of a smile in a World with too few. I originally recorded it as an acoustic piece with just guitar and vocal, but we tried it as a full-on power ballad and it worked a treat.

To finish the day off we recorded a big chunk of Stockholm dialogue which I'll be working through over the next few weeks. The first part of the film (of the three episodes we have split it into) has been 'filmed' and is ready for dialogue and music to be added, so progress is good and it looks like we could have the first part ready for viewing in a month or two.

So, a good day all round, with plenty of things to take forward. I'll be putting a bit of the soundtrack work up on the website within the week, so keep an ear out for that.

Lunacy Launch

Happy New Year!

The Lunacy Board have now officially launched, with our first track "The Unofficial National Anthem" being available for download from our website at www.lunacyboard.com.

The song is an unusually upbeat number featuring a fairly standard rock base (drums, bass, guitars), layered vocals, a little theremin and a spot of organ. It is probably the most accessible music we've attempted so far, though there are enough weird things going on to appeal to more warped tastes (such as my own).

The new website will be our base of operations for the foreseeable future. As well as musical offerings, we'll be providing various other creative outpourings including poetry, prose and videos. As a small taster I've put on a test demo of a scene from our forthcoming drama "Stockholm" - watch out for more little nuggets in the future.

Wishing you all the best for 2007, with The Lunacy Board providing the soundtrack!

Welcome Mr. Wheezy

Since the days of the Green Shed Studios and the big Farfisa organ we had there, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the sound of the organ. Nothing else sounds like a proper pipe organ being played well in a cathedral and echoing round the space, filling the audio spectrum with trouser-flapping bass and angelic overtones. And the latest addition to my sonic arsenal fits the bill - it sounds nothing like that, but perhaps a bit more like an asthmatic monk playing an accordion in a public toilet.

Introducing the J. Busilacchio electric reed organ - it's a keyboard in a suitcase, includes 4 legs which screw in to the bottom and an on/off switch. Turn it on and a fan starts pumping a cool breeze across your fingers and you're ready to go. It has a great sound - effectively it's a harmonium without the bellows, or a horizonal accordion. The air gets pumped over metal reeds which results in a rich sound a bit like a pipe organ with a bad cold - not as bold or clear, but with a dignified, if slightly dishevelled, air. It's defintely more Ivor Cutler than Van der Graaf Generator, but that's certainly no bad thing. It sits quite well with theremin, so I may create something to feature the two together.

There's really not a lot of information available about these - they do crop up fairly regularly in online auctions, along with similar items by other manufacturers. I've seen them described as dating from the 40's, which I find a little hard to believe, as they have more of a 60's feel to them. They're also known as Chord Organs, due to the panel of accordion-like chord buttons to the left of the keyboard, though this tends to lump them in with some pretty ugly-looking plastic things with plastic reeds which really are not in the same league. If anyone has more information about the history of these critters, let me know.

UPDATE

I've done some more digging around, and discovered various different versions of the organ. I've put details on a new page on the Deserters site, here.

Note to eBay sellers: You are welcome to use the details about Busilacchio/Lorenzo organs from this page on the condition that you include a link to this page (http://www.the-deserters.co.uk/inst_organs.html) on your listing so that your potential buyers have access to all the information.

Playing in the Air

I've been giving some more thought to the whole idea of a public performance on theremin, should I ever be in the position to do so. As I mentioned previously, I don't think a guest spot with the band will work (unless they go somewhere with a big enough stage), which leaves me with 3 options. I could just play solo, with no accompaniment, I could have a pre-recorded accompaniment (or maybe guitar player), or I could use delay loops. I quite like the idea of the last option, having seen how well it can work in practice. I'd probably set up a backing loop on acoustic guitar, then play a theremin bassline over the top, followed by the melody.

So, that's all very well, but what could I play?

Tempting though a freeform improvisation would be, I don't know that it would go down very well with an audience who've paid to see a covers band, so that got me thinking. Our next public gig is December, and there are some festive tunes which should sound pretty good on the theremin. I tried some out today - a mixture of popular Christmas tunes like White Christmas, Rudolph, etc. along with some traditional carols - Silent Night is particularly effective on theremin.

Here's the thing. I tried 'Walking in the Air' - the theme from 'The Snowman' - which is a song that really gets my hackles up. I don't know why, but it always seems to conjure up in my mind the sugary, sickly, commercial worst of what the Christmas season has become. To paraphrase Roy Harper "I've not read the book (or seen the film), so I cannot recite", but it just grates on me for reasons I cannot explain. It may be a lovely, touching story about one boy's love for a talking ice-pop, but that music has put me off it for life. HOWEVER... What a perfect piece of music for theremin. It's in the right register, it's fairly ethereal, it's fun to play, and it's not Aled bloody Jones.

The band do a great version of Squiggle's (or whatever he's calling himself nowadays) 'Kiss'. I have never liked Prince (as was), or any of his musical output - he always seemed like he was trying to be the best bits of Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson and Johnny Guitar Watson and ending up being the worst excesses of all of them. Maybe I'm being unfair, but he had his chance with me and blew it. Maybe I'd like him more if he wasn't so hyped - I do tend to automatically put up barriers to hype, hence my similar dislike of REM, INXS, Simply Red; the list goes on. The point is that despite not liking the song 'Kiss' (including the self-mocking, good-humored Tom Jones version), the first time the band tried it out they completely rocked its socks off. In fact it is one of my favourite songs they do. Somehow or other it just fits, and similarly, somehow or other that awful Snowman tune just comes to life on the theremin.

Or maybe it's just me?

Flux Sake

I've had a fairly hectic few weeks between various gigs, changing jobs and increasing family taxi services.

Another two live sound gigs - one very cool show in a barn as part of a party/barbequeue/dance/shindig event, and another more local gig which was almost a sell-out. We've also almost sold out a gig in December, and may have a slot in a big charity bash in the new year, so keeping busy on that front. Proceeds from a previous gig went to purchase our own PA system which is loud, clear and a significant improvement on the previous system. I've done a couple of multitrack live recordings of the band, with the aim being to put together a demo for future promotion and possibly even a live CD for the punters to buy.

There have been a couple of suggestions that I might join them on-stage for a song, playing theremin, which would be fun. I don't know how practical it would be however, since the venues we've played so far have been too crowded on stage for any sort of theremin playing (which needs a couple of metres space to avoid interference with the antennae). Another problem is monitoring what I'd be playing in the midst of a live-band - unlike any other instrument which can be played to some extent without hearing the outcome, the theremin HAS to be heard by the performer just to keep on pitch. I would need a dedicated monitor for this, preferably at ear-height, so the practicalities may well outweigh the desire to do a guest spot. I've tried to do more practice with a view to maybe doing a piece or two as warm-up for the band, having the stage to myself and possibly using a delay pedal or similar to accompany myself, but I don't think my theremin playing is just quite ready for public performance yet.

I've also been to see Pamelia Kurstin playing live last week, which was inspirational. She is one of the few masters of the theremin, and plays it with a combination of delay pedals and effects to produce densely-layered, almost orchestral sounds. Opening for her were an avant-garde trio of cello, guitar and monosynth which didn't really do much for me, and IME - a solo artist using guitar, location recordings, chimes and various gadgets to build up a very slowly evolving, atmospheric sound on the border between music and sound-sculpture. Not a type of music I normally listen to very often, but it did prompt me to dig out Czukay and Sylvian's 'Flux and Mutability', which is probably the closest thing in my music collection.

Between listening to these ambient pieces and playing around with delay loops on the theremin, I'm feeling the creative juices flowing again, which is good, as we have a Lunacy Board session coming up this weekend. As well as the usual improvised jams we've had in the past, we also have a little project which may or may not bear fruit, but offers us both a specific focus and potential for an instant audience. More details about the success or otherwise of that to follow.

Studio Progress...?

One month later and things are starting to come together. Hopefully.

Studio Bordet (or whatever it will be called) is on the road to construction - it has power, light and walls. The next step is building a frame to hold PC, keyboard, mixing desk and various other bits of musical gear. With the addition of plasterboard, sound insulation and flooring there is just under 2m² of useful floorspace, which is even less than I had hoped for, but should still provide enough space to have a usable setup and be able to play bass or guitar in the room. Playing the theremin in there will definitely not work, though, due to lack of space, so I'll still need to cart it around the house depending on whether I'm practicing or recording.

I did a recording recently for the local band using my new multi-input interface which worked out really well (apart from running out of disk space), but having listened to the mix I initially put together it has become painfully clear that I need a decent set of monitoring speakers. I have a good set of headphones, but mixing on 'phones is never a good idea, so I try to get a reasonable sound using them, then switch to my PC speakers, which are pretty good quality for a PC, but still far from HiFi. The mix I ended up with sounded pretty good on the PC, great on the 'phones, but unfortunately lousy in the car or through the little box we have in the kitchen. I knew the day would come when I'd have to fork out for decent speakers - it's one of the things you really can't skimp on (like microphones) to get a good sound, but it's not as exciting as the wonderful wealth of fancy studio toys available. So... Some research, testing and budget-balancing later, I've finally bought a new set of speakers, and the winners are... Tannoy Reveals.

Revealing

I got a pair at a good price from good old eBay, and they're sitting in their box waiting to become centrepieces of the new studio, such as it is. Apart from the great balance between sound quality, tonal range and price, they have a couple of other 'feelgood' bonuses. The Tannoy factory is about an hour's drive from here, so supporting local business is good. I went on a fantastic guided tour there back in my early days of getting interested in sound engineering and have two lasting memories. Firstly, getting to spend a few minutes in their anechoic chamber - a really weird feeling having NO echoes at all, and particularly disorientating when they shut off the lights (to complete darkness) and you realise how much of your balance is dictated by audio and visual cues. Secondly was getting a demo of their top-of-the-range speaker systems at full tilt - revealing a level of detail in the music that I simply hadn't heard through normal speakers.

Plus, what's good enough for Mr Keneally is good enough for me!

In other news - I have finished my theremin/ebow remix and look forward to hearing the final album - details to follow soon, I hope. I ended up submitting two versions - one with vocals and another without - on subsequent listenings the vocal-free version is more pleasing to the ear!

Bordet the Builder (Can he mix it?)

Recording

I've been doing a remix of a short piece of instrumental music for an on-line acquaintence and kindred spirit (theremin player and electronic gadget abuser) over the last week or two. It's pretty much finished now, but I came up with a set of lyrics to the piece which I've been trying in vain to fit into the music. I've got the rhythm sorted, but can't seem to sing notes which fit in. This may be because the music isn't in a great key for my voice, or it may just be that my voice isn't fitting the music. I suspect the latter. It will be finished this week - one way or another. Not my greatest work, but it does have lots of ebow, some mandolin, and my first recorded theremin, albeit as a part of a wash of sound.

New Toys

I've managed to pick up a decent multi-input audio card for my PC at a good price from eBay. It will let me record up to 8 tracks simultaneously in high quality sound, which will be great for Lunacy board stuff, letting us swap instruments around (as we do) without worrying about changing connections, as well as allowing recording of a whole band at once.

Studio

Since starting this blog, any musical activities, apart from theremin and acoustic guitar, have required some digging around in boxes. I haven't had a dedicated music space to focus my writing, playing or recording, and that hasn't helped get things done as it's a hassle to set things up for the sake of a single song. I'm pleased that due to some changes going on around Chez Bordet, I will be getting a small studio. Whilst this won't be anything to give Abbey Road or Realworld any sleepless nights, and there really won't be room for cat-swinging, it will give me enough space to set up my recording gear and instruments in a more creative environment, ready for me to use whenever the muse starts tweaking those creative juices. It will still be a couple of months away before it is complete, but work has started and I hope it will be ready to go by the end of the summer.

Lunar Sea

A good week for music...

Engineering

The local band I'm doing sound engineer for are gearing up for a couple of gigs in the next month - they've build up a decent setlist now, and feel ready to perform in public. Should all be good fun, I hope. Final practice session next week, then the first gig after that.

Recording

Today also saw another get-together for the progressive project mentioned previously. I think it is safe to reveal we'll be calling ourselves...

The Lunacy Board

Still a two-piece line-up so far, but we're building towards a more cohesive vision of what we're looking to achieve. We recorded a number of pieces this afternoon - some complete improvisations, some based on riffs or chord changes we've been playing around with, and swapping instruments between guitar, bass, drums, keyboard and theremin. This was the first time I've played the theremin within an ensemble environment, as I usually either pratice solo or with a quiet backing track, and it quickly became clear that the monitoring system I had tacked together was not going to be as useful for theremin as it had been for the other instruments. You can afford to not hear the odd note or two when playing most instruments as long as fingers are in the right place, but with the theremin this simply results in out-of-tune notes. I will need to invest in a little monitor amp for the theremin in the future...

The hope is that we can put some of these together to start to form some longer pieces, which can then be further tweaked and potentially lyrics added. We'll be approaching our music from a couple of different angles including improvisation, music for film and music for the spoken word, which covers most of our interests at the moment.

Gear Hassles

I set out a selection of musical gear for us to use, but made the mistaken shortcut of using a previously unused recording package to record the music. For some reason the correct input to the computer was distorting, so I ended up using the microphone input, which is never a great idea. In this case it led to a pretty high level of background noise as well as our inputs being summed to mono. Not a problem for the recording stage, but it will make things awkward for the editing. A little lesson learned for the future, I think. Irrespective of this problem, I think we got some good base material recorded today, which will help to set us on our way.

Watch this space...

Moog Envy

Being a bit of a skinflint, almost all of my musical gear is either second-hand or end-of-line stock, but I've got a deep hunger for the new Moog synth. It's the last project from the legendary Dr Bob, and what a send-off it is. It definitely looks like a Minimoog for the neext century.

Not only does it have all the usual MIDI paraphenalia required of today's digital synths, but it has several CV inputs that are just begging to have my Etherwave Pro plugged into them. I want one of these. Really very much. But I know it will be at least a year away before I can even consider thinking about it.

I haven't forgotten about 'Track of the Week' either, just been incredibly busy this last week or so, and will make it up to you with 2 tracks for this week.