'Love' the making of...

 

'Love' a fairly bold title, however, I didn't write the lyrics. they were written between 1000 and 2000 years back, so it stands the test of time :-)

 

Music: the tune started off with chords. The last tune I wrote was fairly dark and so I wanted to swing back to the better things. 

I was interested in the IV-V-III-VI pattern that is sometimes used in Japan. So I started with that and just took it to what sounded good to me, so chords came first. (I think it was F-G-Em-Am, that I tried first)

After that, I wrote a melody based on the C. Once again, just listening to it to see where it goes.

I checked my written notes and at some stage I was listening to this song - possibly trying to find a 'feel'  - not that my end product sounds anything like it, or anything as good as it. However, it shows the weird journey of the creative process:

Anyway, I decided to start with chords and melody on 2007 Tunafish software, as it is very simple and I can concentrated on writing. 

From there, I went to LMMS through a few versions and then to SONAR to clean it up. I also finally went through Audacity to add Ozone 8 mastering, normalizing and compression. 

The voice over is from the WEB Bible, 1 Corinthians 13 - the Love chapter. It is public domain. I only altered it slightly. The words are like a constitution or a strategic plan, something to keep coming back to daily: https://worldenglish.bible/

This is a short vid of the process between the end of 2022 and beginning of 2023

 

Making of Welcome to Reality

 The final video:

 

Yes, this is directly against the current moronic offensive war. There are always leaders in every country who are happy to sacrifice innocent people for their own ends to 'control' or 'regain power'. 

This is for those of us who just want to live simple lives.

Jesus speaking:

The Beatitudes

He said:

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
⁵ Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
⁷ Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

Thanks to Ghosthack for the vocals. Looperman for the drums and loops. I wrote and played the rest:

 

Making of Lightning Sky

 

This song started with the vocals from Ghosthack. Next I built a chord progression. In fact, I over built it and lost my way for a while. I eventually came back. i Added live instruments (bass, acoustic and electric guitars) and also used some samples from looperman for effect. 

I wanted to use the vocals and the lyrics to build the song from the singers point of view, while using the tools at my disposal.

 It took me a few months on and off to complete it. The most difficult task was to simplify it after over-orchestrating the chords.

 Video of some of the progression:

 Making electronic based music is no easier than any other writing. You still need to go through a process of shaping, chipping away and re-shaping.

 

For the music nerds, some of the VSTi's i used:

 

 

 

Thanks for having a look. Hope you got something out of it.

 

 

 

'Somehow' the making of

I follow a number of production posts, as I always like to keep learning. Ghosthack gave out a few acapellas recently and so, with gratitude, I was able to start with a few vocals this time (as I mostly do instrumentals). I always think in 'song' as I cut my teeth playing in dance bands. The end result is this: 

 

 

I wrote the chords and the hook using the 2007 Bram Bos Tunafish DAW (he still has a great output of Mac OS software if you want to look him up), however, I often find this a good starting point for writing a song, as it is very simple and I want to concentrate on what I am hearing and not get distracted by the DAW itself.

 

I was going to move it over to LMMS but skipped straight to Sonar Lite where I worked with it. 

 

The melody and the words really shaped the song for me. I hope you can listen through to the end as it rises and falls.

 

Here are some of the VSTi's I used to make it:

 

 

 

and of course the vocals:

The drum loops 140 Bpm and some of the background 'risers' and sounds all came from the kind people at looperman 

and a quick vid of these VSTis and then some of the sounds on Tunafish and Sonar after about 20 seconds

 

 

 

 

 

'Keep Walking' the making of

 Keep Walking

Though there is very little guitar in the end tune (above), it really started out as a loud guitar jam over a loop of E minor-D- C- D. I put the bass line together very quickly over the 'Amen Break' drum loop, as I was just hanging out for a guitar blast. I recorded it live and put it on my music FB page. I left it at that until a few months later when I re-found the bass line looking for other stuff. 

I set myself the goal to write a tune over a simple bass line, as I have a natural tenancy to overthink writing.

I actually enjoyed the parameters I put on myself and it led itself into a more electronic based tune. After I had written the electronics and the piano (and removed the 'Amen Break' and replaced it with a a different public domain beat), it become a different beast.

Finally, I could 'hear' a bass guitar playing the melody (probably from my 80's influences such as Joy Division, early The Cure and the song Blue Monday). I tried a number of different sounds, until I settled on a - highly compressed - and equalized bass line. Behind it, I also have a doubled it up in octaves to lift it our a bit more, though the octave line is a lot softer.

Compressor and Equalizer 

Same Bass Guitar I've been playing since the 1980's. Still booming.

Here are some of the background instruments (choir, onboard FX, organ Vstis) 

This video shows the progression (in short) of how the tune came together.

It rarely ends the way I start it, which is part of why I like making music. There are always a lot of unknown influences and paths that make the end tune.

Here is the 'making of' Keep Walking:

    

Here is the direct link to the making of video: https://youtu.be/D5DeqGT5YYY

Here is the link to my somewhat 'official' page, which I don't take too seriously, though you do get the end products of my work: https://www.youtube.com/c/TimOestmann/videos

Also

If you are interested:

I rarely collaborate (nowadays) but worked with UR Udoy on a tune he wrote in 2021: https://youtu.be/8psjaUPv5O

'Rivers', the making of

 

'Rivers'. 

I had been playing with electronic and overdriven guitar just previous to making this one but I wanted to go back to an acoustic tune again for a break.

I had been listening to different styles of acoustic guitar but my favourite is often the old medieval/renaissance 'feel' when I get on the acoustic strings. I don't really know what you call this style. 

I had been experimenting with a few chords and so on but on this particular evening, after a long day at work and also within a week of the first anniversary of my fathers passing; I locked myself away in one evening and finished the tune. After a few run throughs I recorded it live on my phone and directly from a microphone my son gave me into my DAW on the computer in one take.

It is surely technically very imperfect, I'm missing notes and hitting the strings dead at times. However, I felt that I captured the essence. That was enough, so I didn't lose the spirit of the tune.

So, here is the live recording before I added any other instruments, just me and the guitar: 

I'm a big fan of free VSTi's (virtual instruments). So I used a midi keyboard to play these once I started to multitrack it. In my head I was trying my best to play as if they were the real instruments.

So the tracks added after the live recording were:

2nd acoustic guitar - to add a bit more emphasis to the first guitar

Cello

Soprano recorder

Gentle percussion - you can barely hear it but it is there

Chinese style flute

I tried to keep it simple as though it was a small group of people playing in a hall.

Mutant Orchestra - cello

Soprano renaissance recorder

Percussion

Mini DiZi flute

I put together a breakdown of each track so you can hear the instruments separately.

If you have any comments, let me know. 

Probably the best way is through my music page on FB:     Tim Oestmann Music

Thanks for having a look and all the best with your own music making. We all draw from a great river of music and creativity that goes beyond time and boundaries.

 

 

'Fizzer' the making of

 

'Fizzer' started out as an idea of an all electronic tune. I deliberately chose not to use any guitar in the recording. Though I did write the chord progression on my trusty acoustic guitar first; as if it sounds good on a simple instrument, it should, in theory sound good in most arrangements. So here are the chords as I wrote them down. You can see I dated it at 22 August 2021. So, I wrote it in a night basically.

I also was already experimenting with VSTis to pick sounds I was after, and taking notes with every sound that seemed to hit the mark I was after:

I often still use a basic piano roll (by Bram Bos) to get the chords down, as I have been using it for years and it doesn't 'get in the way' of quickly writing down ideas:

I also got the structure of the song down fairly quickly:

The main ideas were to move from minor keys to major keys and move up in sound.

After using Tunafish to get the basics down, I moved over to LMMS, which has become a favourite of mine ot write keyboard based songs. And I wrote the melody using the midi keyboard attached to LMMS. Extra sounds came from the good people at Looperman who donate free loops. Most of the song, as usual is made via my own gear but some of the extra sounds add spice and lift the production a little higher.

Sonar lite 6 is my go-to DAW, as I know my way around it and can refine the sounds. It still took a number of nights and trial and error until I got the final tune. It's made to be partly melodic, partly art noise to be played loud. I used to play in bands for dancing and that has never left me. 

 

I did the final mix in Audacity and used Ozone 8 for the first time to give it more 'wideness'.

Here is a short video of the progression. I always like to push my boundaries. Hope you liked it.

I called the song 'Fizzer', as in Australia the term means 'it fizzles out', as in I didn't expect many to like it. I've been pleasantly surprised so far. Thanks and blessings.  Tim Oestmann  :-)