**uploads song** **listens to song** "WHOA! It's freaking quiet!" **rapidly increases volume of the track in audio editor** "For once, I hope no one actually listened to that...yet.."
Em | Em | Bm | Bm |
There is a city at
The bottom of the hill
At one point there worked a
Great old mill
But it's been abandoned
Save three souls
The girl, a man, and an
Ancient ghost
He starts a fire so
They can keep warm
She laughed as kept a
Whispered storm
Cause she is a city
At the bottom of the hill
At one point there worked a
Great old mill
Em | G | C | Bm
You don't know me
You don't know my name
You don't know me
But look here, it's my face
Would you show me
How to start a flame?
Would you should me?
I need to play this game
Need to play this...
Em | Em | Bm | Bm
There is a city and
There is a mill
There is a man there who
Sleeps on pills
But he's been abandoned
Save three souls
She gave a blanket he
Looked so cold
She still held a letter
So he lent his pen
But to no avail there was no
Ink in it
(chorus)
Bb | Em | F
You don't want me
Not this city
I am heading east
Till I fall
I carved my name
Into the tree
But I'm forgetting how to read
Since I fell down
She fell down, and she ran and ran for miles and miles, searching for some kind of peace of mind.
http://thepensaga.bandcamp.com/track/slept-in-a-mill-2
note...I like the industrial version a lot, and I'm not so sure about the harmonized one. Probably gonna upload that to. Wait. You know what. The full version kind of pales in comparision to the industrial. Plus, I only want that song on there once. Okay. Let me just wait...5 more years before I press publish I guess. You can hear the other one on soundcloud, I guess. I think my other mix is, "Too Hot For SoundCloud". Hej soundcloud, I know what you mean, but I'll just assume you mean what I want you to mean. If you know what I mean. http://soundcloud.com/user6074513/slept-in-a-mill-full-mix-with
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Slept In A Mill
Here it is, the moment that you all (maybe 10 people at least) have been waiting for! The moment when I release the second song in the Pen Saga. It's really exciting, I know. I totally gave away the title just now, which does tell you some things about the story. From the previous song, I'm sure you have gathered that there is a girl, there is a fire, and that there is a voice that makes a phone call who sends his regards to Caller Number Nine (because he lost, (HINT: HE WAS DISTRACTED) some kind of contest) but ultimately decides he cares about something else. From this songs title, you can gather that someone definitely sleeps in a mill.
I have been doing a lot of work on this. I took out some of the drum samples, and then exported everything track by track into MultiTrack DAW by Harmonic Dog, which is what I produced two other albums on. It's no longer the best available recording platform for me (it's an iphone app, and I own ProTools, the aptly named tool of pros) but it is actually really nice for mixing, and overdubbing. I also prefer it's interface to protools for the act of stitching field recordings into songs. After I mixed the basic tracks, I exported those into another file where I did that sort of thing. I took a couple noises I'd collected (a dumpster, a car passing by, some birds, the rain machine at UCCS, my garage door, a 55 gallon barrel of wheat, myself walking down the stairs, a sewer pipe, and a saw at Lowe's), then used that to put an extra beat behind the existing song. It was sort of industrial sounding, actually, which fit the setting of the song. After that was done, I did overdubbing in a separate file, where I learned roughly the highest note I can hit. And the lowest probably. Overdubs, in my experience, my very short experience, only seem to sound good when I record them through my iphone mic. I don't know what it is. When I do the exact same thing in ProTools, it sounds sketch. Anyway. Yeah.
There are improvements that could be made to this mix. I could spend about 3 hours making sure each individual syllable in the backing vocals lines up perfectly. I could actually take this one really high, tremoloed mandola part and replicate it in the second chorus, as well as the first. In the end, I could nitpick this song for another two months, but I have decided it's time to put it out there. About 85% of this song was improvised, as far as the instrumentals go, and there is a certain character that comes with that. I can only save the best parts, but I am just going to keep as much of it as it came out. HOWEVER! I am also going to release each file, as it was bounced out of the iphone; the basic mix, the industrial mix, and the overdub mix.
I wasn't planning on this, there was actually a concert that I wanted to go to, which I would end up going to, because one of my new friends from college is there. It sounds like a legit show, with a bunch of really awesome bands. I don't have a license though, for one, and everyone at my house has been out and about, and probably won't be in the mood to drive down there. Also, the Vilgiate family's archnemesis is the pollinating plant family (it's a large family, but we have thumbs, so we usually win), and the pollinating plants have been out to get us. I've also been doing lawn work all day, and I think I've inhaled more plant dust than any normal person should in one day. It's just not a good day, to go anywhere. This is a blog, so I figure I can ramble about that if I am so persuaded, because why not! I'm sick, tired, but I've been putting off THIS SONG for way to long.
So, yeah. Song. Coming up.
I have been doing a lot of work on this. I took out some of the drum samples, and then exported everything track by track into MultiTrack DAW by Harmonic Dog, which is what I produced two other albums on. It's no longer the best available recording platform for me (it's an iphone app, and I own ProTools, the aptly named tool of pros) but it is actually really nice for mixing, and overdubbing. I also prefer it's interface to protools for the act of stitching field recordings into songs. After I mixed the basic tracks, I exported those into another file where I did that sort of thing. I took a couple noises I'd collected (a dumpster, a car passing by, some birds, the rain machine at UCCS, my garage door, a 55 gallon barrel of wheat, myself walking down the stairs, a sewer pipe, and a saw at Lowe's), then used that to put an extra beat behind the existing song. It was sort of industrial sounding, actually, which fit the setting of the song. After that was done, I did overdubbing in a separate file, where I learned roughly the highest note I can hit. And the lowest probably. Overdubs, in my experience, my very short experience, only seem to sound good when I record them through my iphone mic. I don't know what it is. When I do the exact same thing in ProTools, it sounds sketch. Anyway. Yeah.
There are improvements that could be made to this mix. I could spend about 3 hours making sure each individual syllable in the backing vocals lines up perfectly. I could actually take this one really high, tremoloed mandola part and replicate it in the second chorus, as well as the first. In the end, I could nitpick this song for another two months, but I have decided it's time to put it out there. About 85% of this song was improvised, as far as the instrumentals go, and there is a certain character that comes with that. I can only save the best parts, but I am just going to keep as much of it as it came out. HOWEVER! I am also going to release each file, as it was bounced out of the iphone; the basic mix, the industrial mix, and the overdub mix.
I wasn't planning on this, there was actually a concert that I wanted to go to, which I would end up going to, because one of my new friends from college is there. It sounds like a legit show, with a bunch of really awesome bands. I don't have a license though, for one, and everyone at my house has been out and about, and probably won't be in the mood to drive down there. Also, the Vilgiate family's archnemesis is the pollinating plant family (it's a large family, but we have thumbs, so we usually win), and the pollinating plants have been out to get us. I've also been doing lawn work all day, and I think I've inhaled more plant dust than any normal person should in one day. It's just not a good day, to go anywhere. This is a blog, so I figure I can ramble about that if I am so persuaded, because why not! I'm sick, tired, but I've been putting off THIS SONG for way to long.
So, yeah. Song. Coming up.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Stuff has been getting done.
I did a lot of mixing today, and I think the second song is almost finally ready to go. The third song is actually, still, a lot closer. I think all of that like, "YEAH. This song is COMING" is old news though, but I did want to tell you about the ultimate plan for the album release. The 5 tracks that you can see on bandcamp will be filled up in addition to **drum roll** 6 additional tracks! Those tracks have nothing to do with the story, but they're just going to be in there for transition sake. I've created a fake radio show for all of that. Here is the transcript to one of the commercials:
Julio Ramon Ricardo Banderas: Why hello there. My name is Julio Ramon Ricardo Banderas. I’m here to tell you about my new cologne, Red Dragon Tropical Chocolate Sunset Breeze. It’s the kind of scent that makes the ladies go, “AHHHHHHHHH”. That’s right, “AHHHHHHHHH”. It’s been made with science, and approved by doctors at Mancense Manly Man Cologne For Manly Men Incorporated. For serious. Like, just imagine this. Your hair is flowing in a cool, crisp breeze as you gallivant across a halcyon prairie, on the back of a majestic dragon. You come across an emerald valley, beset against a tropical sunset, and see a herd of llamas cavort alongside the river below. You close your eyes. You open your eyes. Behold, the band Journey is descending from the heavens, playing, “Don’t stop beliiievin! Hold onto that feeeeelin!”. And what is that feeling ? It’s the exact feeling infused in Red Dragon Tropical Chocolate Sunset Breeze. This cologne will make you feel that way all day. So if you want to make the ladies go, “AHHHHHHHH”, then you need this cologne. Call 1-800-MANCENSE. That’s spelt MANCENSE. 1-800-MANCENSE. Do it right now, and I’ll throw in this free banana, and a picture of a famous Nigerian soccer player.
And if you thought that was great, I have something INFINITELY MORE EXCITING PLANNED! There's a...**bigger drum roll**...duet between two pianos! *wopwopWAHHH*. What do you mean anti-climactic? Piano duets are the new black, shut your face and go eat some pie. And by eat, I mean inhale, cause I just told you to shut your face. The piano duet is spread between the 5-6 albums, and if you collect all 5-6, you can actually hear the whole thing in its entirety. I like the idea of making everything coherent, even if coherent turns into the albums actually bleeding into each other. The idea is that you could hypothetically just play from album to album and not even notice that you are listening to something else.
Also! If anyone (In Woodland Park) is interested, I also will probably need voice actors for the radio show. Male voice actors, female voice actors, android voice actors, mute voice actors. Wait that was ridiculous. Why would I use an android for a voice actor? It's going to be a whole lot of fun. Without the radio show, there is already a whole lot of dancing and partying while these are being recorded. If we throw in quasi-improvised comedy, imagine how crazy fun that will be. If you don't want to act ridiculous, but you're kinda like, "Oh, hey, I wanna contribute.", I am still wanting to feature someone in every single song to come. I will accept anything from bassoons to banjos, from violins to voices, from congas to jews harps.
Julio Ramon Ricardo Banderas: Why hello there. My name is Julio Ramon Ricardo Banderas. I’m here to tell you about my new cologne, Red Dragon Tropical Chocolate Sunset Breeze. It’s the kind of scent that makes the ladies go, “AHHHHHHHHH”. That’s right, “AHHHHHHHHH”. It’s been made with science, and approved by doctors at Mancense Manly Man Cologne For Manly Men Incorporated. For serious. Like, just imagine this. Your hair is flowing in a cool, crisp breeze as you gallivant across a halcyon prairie, on the back of a majestic dragon. You come across an emerald valley, beset against a tropical sunset, and see a herd of llamas cavort alongside the river below. You close your eyes. You open your eyes. Behold, the band Journey is descending from the heavens, playing, “Don’t stop beliiievin! Hold onto that feeeeelin!”. And what is that feeling ? It’s the exact feeling infused in Red Dragon Tropical Chocolate Sunset Breeze. This cologne will make you feel that way all day. So if you want to make the ladies go, “AHHHHHHHH”, then you need this cologne. Call 1-800-MANCENSE. That’s spelt MANCENSE. 1-800-MANCENSE. Do it right now, and I’ll throw in this free banana, and a picture of a famous Nigerian soccer player.
And if you thought that was great, I have something INFINITELY MORE EXCITING PLANNED! There's a...**bigger drum roll**...duet between two pianos! *wopwopWAHHH*. What do you mean anti-climactic? Piano duets are the new black, shut your face and go eat some pie. And by eat, I mean inhale, cause I just told you to shut your face. The piano duet is spread between the 5-6 albums, and if you collect all 5-6, you can actually hear the whole thing in its entirety. I like the idea of making everything coherent, even if coherent turns into the albums actually bleeding into each other. The idea is that you could hypothetically just play from album to album and not even notice that you are listening to something else.
Also! If anyone (In Woodland Park) is interested, I also will probably need voice actors for the radio show. Male voice actors, female voice actors, android voice actors, mute voice actors. Wait that was ridiculous. Why would I use an android for a voice actor? It's going to be a whole lot of fun. Without the radio show, there is already a whole lot of dancing and partying while these are being recorded. If we throw in quasi-improvised comedy, imagine how crazy fun that will be. If you don't want to act ridiculous, but you're kinda like, "Oh, hey, I wanna contribute.", I am still wanting to feature someone in every single song to come. I will accept anything from bassoons to banjos, from violins to voices, from congas to jews harps.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
I went to Texas...
...and now it feels weird to be at 8500 ft above sea level again. But, there's something nice about coming home, I love the way it feels, and I missed Woodland Park an awful lot. Still, reuniting with old friends was well worthwhile. In spite of my vague inclination to spend time getting the Pen Saga ready to release by the end of this week, ultimately, I realize if I had gotten it ready by now, it would be rushed, and I would have had to sacrifice some really great times hanging out with people in Texas. The song is definitely coming along. To make it, I've used three different drum loops ("unique" right? haha) four different mandola parts, and an upright bass. Well and my voice but that's a given. It's one of the longer Pen Saga songs, about 5 minutes, and I'm bringing in Hannah Lara, a talented musician who played with me at WaterAid and Acoustic Idol, in to sing lead vocals in the chorus, and to double the vocals in the verses. Stylistically, the song veers towards hard rock/grunge/punk, which is totally not what Hannah usually plays, but I'm trying to subtly push her towards starting a heavy metal ukulele band (not really Hannah, not really). Meanwhile, the song that is supposed to be finished after this one is suprisingly almost totally done. After that one, I'm just going to release the next two as "Album Number One", and start working on Album Number Two. I want to create a fake, utterly absurd radio show to transition between the songs, and if you would like to be a part of that, you should tell me.
Cliff Letters is still working on our current album. I recorded a really fun track with Russell Patterson when I went out to visit, a take of our song Hide the Lions. I might share it, I just need to think about that a little bit. There are an awful lot of songs that I really love, that I really want to record, but there is not an infinite amount of space on a CD. We've recorded two songs so far, and our strategy at the moment is to record as many of our songs as possible so we can make the best possible arrangement for the final product. Everything that has happened in the community has strongly influenced both my writing and the direction of this project. Tyler and I do still want to include different people in this album. If you want your voice to be mixed into the song When You Talk (A song that is on the album for sure), I can send you a preview mp3 and the lyrics! Or if you just come to any of the show's we're having in the future, I will probably mic people humming the main part and work it into the song.
As far as music outside of the Cliff Letters/Pen Saga sphere goes, I would like to post about this new online radio station called, "Local FM". It's been picking up a lot of local artists from all sorts of different genres, and it's a great way to hear all the awesome stuff going on in the Colorado Springs area right now.
Here it is: http://www.live365.com/stations/localfmradio?site=pro
Here is their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/localfmorg
Cliff Letters is still working on our current album. I recorded a really fun track with Russell Patterson when I went out to visit, a take of our song Hide the Lions. I might share it, I just need to think about that a little bit. There are an awful lot of songs that I really love, that I really want to record, but there is not an infinite amount of space on a CD. We've recorded two songs so far, and our strategy at the moment is to record as many of our songs as possible so we can make the best possible arrangement for the final product. Everything that has happened in the community has strongly influenced both my writing and the direction of this project. Tyler and I do still want to include different people in this album. If you want your voice to be mixed into the song When You Talk (A song that is on the album for sure), I can send you a preview mp3 and the lyrics! Or if you just come to any of the show's we're having in the future, I will probably mic people humming the main part and work it into the song.
As far as music outside of the Cliff Letters/Pen Saga sphere goes, I would like to post about this new online radio station called, "Local FM". It's been picking up a lot of local artists from all sorts of different genres, and it's a great way to hear all the awesome stuff going on in the Colorado Springs area right now.
Here it is: http://www.live365.com/stations/localfmradio?site=pro
Here is their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/localfmorg
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Next song, and so on
I am happy with the response I had to Caller Number Ten. Well, as a song. No one has really guessed, so I suppose I'll just drop that side of the idea and keep making music. Life has been pretty crazy lately. And by crazy I mean swaying between somewhat cataclysmic to, ya know, alright. During times like that, I try to minimize my time around the internet. I don't want to write pity-party blog posts any more than you want to read them, and so, I avoid being online too often. I have been working on the next song, which is coming along pretty well. It's around 5 minutes long, and stylistically, I would call it more rock than...whatever Caller Number Ten was. I'd really like to feature a girl in the chorus, because I write from the Girl's perspective, and I don't want to sing that part. I featured Kyla Valenti and Corban Roberts in the third song, which I started before the other because it was a little bit complicated, and I didn't even really have a melody for it yet.
Also, today is the day my band Cliff Letters officially started our first album, which I'm both excited and nervous for. Both of those words are understatements. What I've written is something that I believe in, but fear that I can't do justice to. While we don't have a set list of songs, we have a body of about 20+ songs we could use. I want to make those into an album that can mean something to someone, that can have an impact on them; like the first time I listened to Funeral by Arcade Fire or Floating World by Anathallo. Not to say I want our album to sound either of those, I don't, but I do want to create something meaningful.
With all of that said, hopefully I'll have time to keep blogging, which I greatly prefer to vlogging, which is probably one of my least favorite things to do. Please recommend the Pen Saga to your friends, and email me if you have any questions/guesses.
tvilgiate@hotmail.com
http://thepensaga.bandcamp.com
Also, today is the day my band Cliff Letters officially started our first album, which I'm both excited and nervous for. Both of those words are understatements. What I've written is something that I believe in, but fear that I can't do justice to. While we don't have a set list of songs, we have a body of about 20+ songs we could use. I want to make those into an album that can mean something to someone, that can have an impact on them; like the first time I listened to Funeral by Arcade Fire or Floating World by Anathallo. Not to say I want our album to sound either of those, I don't, but I do want to create something meaningful.
With all of that said, hopefully I'll have time to keep blogging, which I greatly prefer to vlogging, which is probably one of my least favorite things to do. Please recommend the Pen Saga to your friends, and email me if you have any questions/guesses.
tvilgiate@hotmail.com
http://thepensaga.bandcamp.com
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Caller Number Ten
That virtual wolf thing sucks. Anyway, here are the lyrics to the first song, Caller Number Ten. Even if you hate concept albums and everything about them, maybe you'll find this groovalicious enough to get.
Free download: http://thepensaga.bandcamp.com/track/caller-number-ten
There is a girl
Who walked down the hall
She left the world
She held a letter
But she doesn't own a pen
There is a girl
There is a mask on the wall
In the room that she went in
The room that she saw
And she would be that animal
But she just wants a pen
There is a girl
And then there's the world
It's so gray, it's so gray, it's so gray
She wanted some color
But she didn't own a prayer
So, there was a fire
But no one knows why
I heard on the radio
Yeah, I'm glad no one really died
But please send my regards to caller number nine
This is the first installment in a story I have been working on for this whole year; I tried to tell it as ambiguously as possible for people to guess. The concept behind it is creating negative psychological space, which often leads to you creating more ideas about what it is you are thinking about than the truth can actually contain. I got the idea from Jandek. You will probably write better stories than me just guessing, but thats the idea. Also, this is one of those places where I'd say you can feel free to be as weird with your guesses as you want. Email them to: tvilgiate@hotmail.com
Free download: http://thepensaga.bandcamp.com/track/caller-number-ten
There is a girl
Who walked down the hall
She left the world
She held a letter
But she doesn't own a pen
There is a girl
There is a mask on the wall
In the room that she went in
The room that she saw
And she would be that animal
But she just wants a pen
There is a girl
And then there's the world
It's so gray, it's so gray, it's so gray
She wanted some color
But she didn't own a prayer
So, there was a fire
But no one knows why
I heard on the radio
Yeah, I'm glad no one really died
But please send my regards to caller number nine
This is the first installment in a story I have been working on for this whole year; I tried to tell it as ambiguously as possible for people to guess. The concept behind it is creating negative psychological space, which often leads to you creating more ideas about what it is you are thinking about than the truth can actually contain. I got the idea from Jandek. You will probably write better stories than me just guessing, but thats the idea. Also, this is one of those places where I'd say you can feel free to be as weird with your guesses as you want. Email them to: tvilgiate@hotmail.com
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
One more day
I'm releasing the first song tomorrow, which is really exciting. I hope you all like it. So, while, when the Pen Saga is going, this post would normally consist of the winning guess, I just thought I'd share some of the music that I really like right now. So, here are my five favorite songs at the moment:
1. The Beach Boys released their 50th anniversary career retrospective, and I got it at Walmart. It's one of the only CD's I think that we've bought lately, other than The Suburbs. Everything else has been on MP3. Anyway, I love the Beach Boys and I have this on loop right now, and I'm slowly learning how to play it. Emphasis on slowly. This song is brilliant, albeit never meant to be played on mandola. Love it.
2. Arcade Fire is my favorite band, and one of their songs will always be in my top five. Lately I've been listening to their earliest demos from 2001. I tried to find them online, and it was practically impossible outside of youtube. I think my favorite thing about them is the ambience, not too mention how the soul inherent in their music is preserved from album to album. This song might not be the best thing they've ever written, but there's something about it right now that I just find totally addictive right now:
2.5. Another song, that is tied with the other one...
3. Tyler Schad, from our band Cliff Letters, introduced me to this. They opened up for his favorite band in Denver. I am yet to actually pony up and buy the song, but I'm going to. I just don't have, "money", so that's forestalled. Anyway, Yellow Ostrich=great band.
4. Alameda is a band I have been addicted to since I found them in the Colorado Springs Independent, and I listen to them whenever I need to write. They use some truly gorgeous arrangements and instruments in some great ways. Check them out, and get their album: http://alamedaportland.bandcamp.com
5. Emery, The Movie Song. I don't think this is Emery's best song. But I do think Emery is yet another great band, with some great music, and since I'm drawing from music I've listened to this week, rather than in my life, I am sharing this one.
So, there you have it; the five songs that I am digging right now. First song is out tomorrow! I hope you're excited, because I am!
1. The Beach Boys released their 50th anniversary career retrospective, and I got it at Walmart. It's one of the only CD's I think that we've bought lately, other than The Suburbs. Everything else has been on MP3. Anyway, I love the Beach Boys and I have this on loop right now, and I'm slowly learning how to play it. Emphasis on slowly. This song is brilliant, albeit never meant to be played on mandola. Love it.
2. Arcade Fire is my favorite band, and one of their songs will always be in my top five. Lately I've been listening to their earliest demos from 2001. I tried to find them online, and it was practically impossible outside of youtube. I think my favorite thing about them is the ambience, not too mention how the soul inherent in their music is preserved from album to album. This song might not be the best thing they've ever written, but there's something about it right now that I just find totally addictive right now:
2.5. Another song, that is tied with the other one...
3. Tyler Schad, from our band Cliff Letters, introduced me to this. They opened up for his favorite band in Denver. I am yet to actually pony up and buy the song, but I'm going to. I just don't have, "money", so that's forestalled. Anyway, Yellow Ostrich=great band.
4. Alameda is a band I have been addicted to since I found them in the Colorado Springs Independent, and I listen to them whenever I need to write. They use some truly gorgeous arrangements and instruments in some great ways. Check them out, and get their album: http://alamedaportland.bandcamp.com
5. Emery, The Movie Song. I don't think this is Emery's best song. But I do think Emery is yet another great band, with some great music, and since I'm drawing from music I've listened to this week, rather than in my life, I am sharing this one.
So, there you have it; the five songs that I am digging right now. First song is out tomorrow! I hope you're excited, because I am!
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