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This is a compilation of all of my personal musical recording efforts, ranging from epic rock sagas to downright ridiculousness.
Generally, I've ordered things here from better to worse. It's not necessarily chronological, however the newer stuff is probably near the top. Albums and compilations are shown with a year so you can get an idea of how old they are.
Songs followed by ' ** ' indiciate personal favorites.
Straight up rock. These tracks are from a mix of different recording locations, sessions, and instruments. Some of it was done in Crystal, and some in Chaska. This CD is arguably my best. The tunes and production sound good. Get your head nod on.
Electronic compositions of the DnB/IDM flavor.
I started listening to a lot of aggressive electronic stuff around 2001. Drum & bass, darkstep, breakcore... Eventually I really became interested in trying to create my own tunes. I started with programs like Acid and the looping capabilities of Sonar. A few years ago (2004) I stumbled across FL Studio and started writing electronic music with that.
I'm still trying to figure out how to create good electronic-based tunes. It's tougher than I thought, but it helps keep mixing and arranging skills sharp.
Recorded at the old house in Crystal. These tunes sound pretty good considering the tools I was using at the time. These are the first songs where I used my Sonar software. Drums were only on one track, and no guitar amps were ever used. Definately some of the more creative songs on this one, and I was finally figuring out how to make tracks sound good.
This compilation contains some really bizarre compositions and sketches. It's what happens when you have extra time on your hands in college. There's also some neat drum machine compositions.
Recorded while working on the soundproof room in the basement. This recording features the POD guitar simulation module for the first time. Mixed/mastered using Sonar 1.1. This one was over produced like Fury Stopper was, but not quite as bad. Unfortunately I don't think the songs are all very interesting... they're kinda boring at times and part of me just wanted to get a CD out fast without putting more effort into the songs. No One Knows, Open I Go, Battle, and Rhino are recommended.
Recorded in the raw confines of the basement of my house in Chaska. The drums were completely surrounded by concrete walls when they were recorded, and it actually doesn't sound that bad! I utilized the bedroom closet for guitar/vocal tracks. Unfortunately the entire CD was 'over produced' in my opinion and could have sounded so much better had I been able to keep my hands off of the knobs. Completely produced using the Yamaha AW16G.
Overall the lyrics of these tracks are kind of dark. They are songs about being pessimistic and trying to have optimism.
Failed experiments and demos from the Sonar sessions. A lot of these are just having fun with a pedal board and samples.
The 2nd Kindohm CD, recorded at the Crystal house. This songwriting era generated a ridiculous number of tunes. My production skills didn't get much better while recording this one. I got a little bit more gear (a mixer and a couple of condenser mics), but didn't know how to use it very well. I was still recording my guitar and bass direct from the amp to the sound card through the amp's headphone jack too.
Tunes like Hey Puppy were instant classics in my opinion. That tune was the first time I tried using samples in my music too. My friend Lee played bass on Terminator.
I think that the demo versions of a lot of these OS tunes sound better than the final versions. You can find those on the OS demos album.
This is a collection of all the stuff that never made it onto a CD during the 'OS' sessions. At the time I had my own house, wasn't engaged or married, and had a bit of time on my hands. I also got laid off from my job at some point while writing these tunes. Anyway, the point is that I had a lot more free time on my hands and I just kept experimenting with songwriting and recording and cranked out as much new stuff as I could.
Tunes like Beast, and Queen actually would have worked great on the CD. At the time I just didn't feel like polishing them up. Lots of demos in here too.
You could call this my first 'real' effort to produce a collection of tunes into an album. I had barely any recording gear when I recorded it: a couple of Shure SM57's and Cakewalk Home Studio 9 software. That was it.
If you've listened to the other albums, then it's pretty obvious that this is the first one. I didn't know how to sing so I just shouted and sounded angry all the time. The music and arranging is so-so. The production amazingly doesn't sound that bad, but it's definitely not polished.
The 'segue' tracks (ANOVA, Bite! Eons+, Red E, and Pete's Sake) were originally recorded as an impromptu jam kind of thing. In the end I just hacked and ripped it up to create some odd audio.
Failed experiments from I Invented Plastic
Muiltiple takes and demos from I Invented Plastic
This is a collection of everything that isn't (or can't be) really categorized. I guess they're mostly one-off experiments gone horribly wrong or the beginnings of tunes that weren't even close to making it anywhere. Not that they're all bad... this is just where they've ended up.
Tunes like 'Pop' and 'Continue' were written shortly after the Sonar sessions and should have made it onto a CD, but Nikki and I began building a new house and had some intermediate living arrangements after recording those tunes and they kinda got lost in the shuffle.
What about the skill druids?