1997.
New year
New Style
New Outlook
New level of tracking.
This one took me forever folks. I put easily thirty hours just into the
base creation of this song. Tack on another five or so hours working to
make sure every effect fit, every pattern was unique in some way, every
transition as smooth as I could possibly make it. This has a been a labor
of complete and utter love, and I am more happy with this song than anyone
listening to it will be able to imagine (or probably understand. I'm still
no necros by any means).
This is my second true "Jump" in tracking proficiency. "Aequor" was the
first, and looking back on it now it startles me how much I still had to
learn. Looking forward, it startles me how much is still left. This is
the second song in my life that, upon it's basic completion, I have sat
back and grinned like a complete idiot while listening to it.
I have always tried to describe my writing to my friends (many of whom
have tried their hands at it but none of whom equal the 1000+ pages that
I've written). I've tried to describe how sitting back and reading over
something you've written, you realize most of it is sub par. Most of it
could use reworking, or at very least could have been pulled off better by
someone with more talent or experience. But there are those few parts.
Half a chapter, a couple of paragraphs, maybe just a single sentence, that
when you re-read them make you want to dance around the room, cackling
like a madman. You said what you wanted to say, how you wanted to say it.
You didn't just get the general idea across, no. You hit that fucker
right on the head, and like that Karate Kid movie, all it took was one
perfectly aimed strike with your "hammer" to drive it in deep and make it
stay.
Most of this song is like most of my writing. It's good enough to keep
your interest, but nothing truly spectacular. But unlike any of my other
songs, there are a few sections where I slammed that son of a bitch deep
into that two by four. The part in the middle where I slow it down and
then bring it back up to the original "verse" (altho kicked up a couple of
steps) by using the echo-y lead thing...the part at the end where the
melody comes in, you think there's another part, and it fades off,
hopefully leaving the listener with the sense of continued adventure.
Man that shit is great. Maybe not for you, but for me it rules because I
COULDN'T DO IT BEFORE.
I couldn't do it before, and now I'm starting to be able to. Tracking has
gone from being a neat little thing that Rhythm Greene did, to something
which has gradually taken over my life and now is probably the thing that
I do that I enjoy the most. It's the most pure. Each song that I produce
is like a child. Some of them are slow, some dull, some even outright
boring, but I love every one of them with my entire soul. I love the
scratchy, hissy sound of my SBpro doing a global volume fade over my 15
dollar speakers. I love the fact that it's become a ritual for my Father
and my 8 and 6 year old sisters to listen to a tape of my tunes every day
while he drives them to daycare before school starts.
And this song...god I only hope all the rest I do are at least as fun and
wholly satisfying as this one was. To finally produce something I'm not
only not ashamed of, but damn proud of...that's the best shit ever. This
song is going to ftp.hornet.org, and it'll probably score 2.5 stars, as my
songs seem to have a habit of doing (although now, a month after writing
this note, Hornet has stopped rating incoming songs, so I suppose this
point in particular is moot. :). I don't care. There are more talented
musicians than me, and there always will be. Hell, one of my best friends
in the world will probably always be a better tracker than me.
I don't care. I just hope that all you people out there who track never
give it up. Never lose the joy that comes with finishing a song that,
even if no one else likes it, you love listening to. All you trackers out
there who have been tracking three months and are beginning to realize you
may not be the next necros or basehead, don't give up. In fact, don't
even bother yourself with comparisons. It's a self defeatist attitude.
Track because you love the art, or don't track at all. If you're tracking
for any other reason, you're tracking for the wrong reasons.
Sure it's cool to distribute your songs, get feedback, find out how Hornet
rates you. I won't deny that. But the basic fact is, I would track even
if there was no demoscene, no cdrom.com, no reviews, and no IRC. I would
track because it brings me more joy than anything else I've yet to
discover (those of you reading this and thinking `what about sex, eh?' can
keep grinning, but you know what I mean. ;)
In fact, when faced with the choice of a life without sex, or a life
without tracking, I'd take a damn long time deliberating. I'm not certain
what my conclusion would be.
Is that wierd?
I love this art.
incidentally, much thanks to Necros. I shamelessly borrowed his
"Mechanism8" distortion samples. I like to think that I've used them in a
manner different enough to warrant its own judegement. I'd also like to
think that I've done them justice.
God I have so much to learn.
Shaithis - /Immortal Coil/
shaithis@buffnet.net (semesters)
shaithis@dreamscape.com (breaks)
irc: neato.org #immortal, #trax, #pixel
--Notice-Of-Copyright------------------------------------------------------
This song is copyright 1996 Christopher Buecheler. Under current US
copyright law, because I have recieved no monetary compensation for this
song, it is considered "unpublished" and as such is legally copyrighted to
the author. The samples used within this song were freely distributed by
their author's and thus are considered "in the public domain". I do not
take creation or copyright credit for these samples, only for the
construction of the song that uses them.
This song may be freely distributed through the following means:
1) Personal Transfer via disk, phone line, cable, internet, bulletin
boards, or any other method, so long as no fee is charged.
2) Impersonal Transfer via FTP, Bulletin Board, or any other method so
long as no fee is charged.
3) Any cdrom produced by Walnut Creek or Hornet, whether or not a fee is
charged.
If you would like to you this song or other music written by myself in a
commercial or shareware production, compilation cd-rom, or any other
method not stated above, please contact me before doing so. It is likely
that things can be worked out.
--End-Of-Notice------------------------------------------------------------
