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Chill but weird downtempo album — made in Gadget; mixed in Cubasis
Hello, forum! I am very happy to show you my new relaxation album. You can tell it's a relaxation album from the title.
https://patrickalexander.bandcamp.com/album/relax-will-ya
Other apps make an appearance, of course, but this was very much a Gadget project, with HEAVY use of Vancouver and Bilbao. I'm not a 'synth guy' (yet), but I love to create new sounds, so sampling is v. much the rind in my marmalade lately.
This album evolved from becoming obsessed with 'Moments in Love' by the Art of Noise, trying to create something like it, and failing, but finding a new style and voice for myself in the process. Lots of old-school sampling nonsense in here: mouth noises, household objects, pretend meows, etc. etc. — very Art of Noise- and Yello-inspired.
Back in the '80s when low-fi melodic sampling first appeared (with the Fairlight CMI et al), it made people go "Wow! What! Ha ha, fun!" and I still feel exactly that way about it. I'm not bored of it yet. It's so cool and so much fun.
Anyway, enough rambling. I will be very grateful for your listenings and commentifyin'.
Comments
Listening now and really loving it already just a few minutes in!!!
Very meditative and trippy.
I was an Art of Noise fan back in the 80s.
I’m also thinking there might be some likeness to Enigma in there too.
Lovely use of Gadget! This is really cool, man, top job! Very imaginative. Abstract but organised at the same time.
I’m also well pleased to see here that somebody else is also making tracks longer than 3-4 minutes! I’ve got plenty of attention span for music.
My own stuff is often deemed too long, but I just cannot make shorter tracks under the 5-6 minute length, and I don’t really want to anyway. I prefer music to be a bit of an imaginative journey rather than a quick pop fix type thing.
Congrats on your awesome work, mate!
This is all so good!!! It’s ear candy AND brain candy! Totally atmospheric and descriptive. Really cool sound palettes.
This is taking me on a trip to another world, fascinating and unpredictable. I’ll wager you’re a Sigur Ros fan too?
Lots of lovely melodic stuff here too set against the unusual percussive and organic samples. Brilliant!
Dude... really awesome and weird
Love it! :Love:
Have you ever been tempted by the "abandonware" CMI app for IOS?
Ha ha, @Spidericemidas, thanks for your stream of comments and effervescence! I really, really appreciate anyone taking the time to listen, let alone comment. This project ate... probably most of a year's worth of free time, and burnt me out a bit, so any time anyone gives a shit, it's like this huge feeling of relief. And to see someone enjoying it SO MUCH is a real pleasure!
"Ear candy AND brain candy" is particularly gratifying compliment; thank you. Thank you!
I don't think I know Enigma, and I'm aware of Sigur Ros only as a name. I see them mentioned a lot by people with taste! So I'll take both of those as recommendations.
(Actually were they on Game of Thrones that one time, or was that someone else?)
I actually really, really like pop songs (see my previous album) and my natural tendency has been towards the short and sweet, so this project was a challenge for me, but a really pleasant and rewarding one. At first, when building a song, I had to dismiss all of my first ideas, and second and third ideas, and keep fishing around inside myself until I found the right thing. And I didn't know I had all of this cool stuff in there! I had no idea! So I learned something about myself; I developed my potential, I guess.
All I really wanted to do was make 'café music', but it turned into something better and weirder than that. You could still play this album in a café though! I reckon!
Anyway, the point is: I do understand what you mean about longer songs. Now more than previously! Particularly instrumental stuff. Good downtempo/chillout stuff is not as easy as it sounds! You've really gotta keep adding twists to keep it interesting. A pop song, you know, you can just repeat the same thing but keep it interesting by changing the words. That's a challenge too but a very different one.
And yet...! I also had to stop myself from putting in TOO MANY changes. I kept playing 'Moments in Love' to remind myself: "Listen — it's really quite repetitive. And that's good. It's nice when the good bit repeats and repeats. The listener doesn't get bored as quickly as the composer does. Take it easy. Draw it out. Milk the melody." Ah yeah man, and then you do draw it out, and that gives you lots of room to be playful in more subtle ways. Ahhh yeah, this was a fun project.
I am carrying right the fuck on, aren't I. Whew!
Thank you so much! Thank you for listening!
I own that app! It was already pretty out-of-date when I got it, but it does the job I guess. Anyway, yeah, I'm sure you can hear SARARR on the album, and the famous orchestra hit — those were sampled from the CMI app. There are some other CMI sounds in there too, though probably harder to recognise under all the layers. For example, I'm pretty sure I used Vancouver to layer my much-used bassy 'Bowp' vocal with a low-fi CMI cello stroke, to give it some texture.
Anyway, after a few tracks I created my own breathy vocal sound, which usurped SARARR totally. I used that sound a lot as well.
Awesome!
So good to get to know your workflow
BTW, love your album covers too...
I listened to the album while doing the dishes, very inspiring!
I totally understand what you’re saying and agree with you on every point, except the very last one. You weren’t carrying the f... on at all. Haha. A great reply and an interesting intelligent read from a fellow music producer.
Good point about the listener doesn’t get bored as quickly as the composer. That’s always an interesting problem, isn’t it? As the composer, it’s impossible to ever listen to your own stuff with fresh ears. You know it too well. You hear it over and over again as you develop it and mix it. By the end of it, you can’t actually hear it properly anymore as a whole fresh piece. As a creator of any type of art, it is difficult to know when something is finally finished. There always seems to be something that needs tweaking, adding or taking away. That’s why collecting feedback from fresh ears is always useful. A difficult balance. I always judge it by this...if I’ve made something I can actually still listen to myself comfortably afterwards for pleasure or leisure, then it must be pretty ok!
Yeah, time! My nemesis! Never enough time to spend on my music making. A long process sometimes to complete a single track to a self satisfactory standard. But I guess there’s no need to rush, after all we’re not tied or pressured to come up with stuff for contracts and deadlines. It’s never going to put the food on my table! Lol. But it does get frustrating sometimes.
I think you’ve found yourself a really unique style and sound here. It’s actually very bold and brave because it’s so distinct, unusual and away from the ‘norm’. I respect that a lot, and I hope you continue to produce more stuff like this!
Ha, thanks! I had to stop myself from going on about it too much. I do love talking shop.
Thank you! I'm a cartoonist, really — music is supposed to be just a hobby, but it's really taken over lately. Actually the previous album is a 'companion album' to a comic; all the songs connect to the comic in some way.
Holy shit! Fan art for music! Awesome! I'm smiling so much!
Is it OK for me to share this? And if so, how can I credit you? Do you have a twitter account or website or anything?
Thank you so much for this! I like your cartooning style, too. Would love to see more of it.
Yeah, the "It holds up!" test is the best test. Unfortunately it's only helpful after you've already made the damn thing.
I've always been very critical and analytical about art, and that includes my own, so over the years I think I've gotten good at editing and overhauling my own work during the process of making it. It's a skill you can develop, I think, and for solo projects you kind of need to. But yes, on the other hand, if you have ready access to other ears (or eyes, depending on the artform), it's great to use them! Especially for the sake of time, sometimes: sometimes another person will immediately spot the problem that you've been trying to identify for hours or days. "Something's not working here... What's wrong... What is it..." — and your friend picks it in the first thirty seconds.
When I started it late last year, I planned for this album to be longer! But then I started a new full-time job and my free time vanished. That made it difficult to create and complete these longer, slower pieces, because I found that I really needed BIG blocks of free time to like, get in the mood, get in the right frame of mind for this music, and I just haven't had those big blocks very often. So the last third-ish of the album took months and months.
This may be another reason so many hobbyists favour short, poppy stuff, like you were saying before!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate you saying so. Yeah, I realised this would be tough to get people to listen to since I can't put any genre tags on it. And imagine having to invent a new genre, just for marketing purposes! Coming up with a good genre name is hard enough... and then you've got to write the angry manifesto... ugh, too much work.
I just made the music that was in my head and my heart.
Inevitably, future projects will continue the 'sound' of this one to some degree... but as you might have guessed, I've already decided that I'm gonna make shorter, more limited pieces for a while. This project really drained me and I want to dial things back a bit. But anyway, thank you for your encouragement!
I’ve only been able to give a focused listen to “The World for Breakfast”. Absolutely brilliant! Unique, clever and some other third adjective! The only only only thing that bothered me was the bell sound in the beginning seems to overpower the rest of the mix. Otherwise it’s great and I look forward to some quiet time this evening to give the rest a good listen. Thanks for posting this!
And it's really awesome! If I would give a try at fan art, it would be something hideous
BTW, just noticed the link to Tobias & Jube's comic
Gonna take a dive at it later tonight 
This is refreshing man, not at all what I was expecting or hoping for when I reached for the play button....i was thinking it would be synth soaked chill wave.... Totally happy that it's not what I expected, cuz it's totally different than anything I could ever imagine or create myself, and that makes this so refreshing!
Plus it sounds great! Totally just letting it play and being surprised by what comes next! It's a journey and mind drifter.
Very fresh man very fresh! I love gadget and just picked up Vancouver yesterday and feel very inspired
You're very welcome and thanks for your feedback! That bell sound does come in quite loud, you're right. I think that ended up in the "Oh well" bucket.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the album, and thank you in advance for taking the time to listen.
I should mention that 'Tobias and Jube and the Something Hat Mystery', in digital form, is exclusive to the Stela app for the next five years, which requires a subscription. I won't be offended if you don't feel like ponying up! (If you really do want to read it, you could always subscribe for just one month and then cancel. The comic is complete, so you can read it from start to finish in an afternoon.)
In any case, you can also read some much, much older Tobias and Jube comics on this rickety old website here:
http://tnj.chickennation.com/
Thanks for your interest, anyway!
Thank you so much! People seem to be getting out of this album what I actually hoped people would get out of it, which is... gratifying, obviously, but also kind of amazing? You took the time to listen, and you listened with an open mind, and I really, really appreciate it.
Yeah, I've been following your Gadget/Vancouver posts all over, ha ha! Have fun with it. Abu Dhabi and Bilbao can be fun too, but I've spent the most time in Vancouver. It's just so inviting, somehow.
By the way, folks, the album is 'Name your price' on bandcamp, so don't feel shy about sharing it with your friends if you're into it. Small mentions make a big difference! If your friends are itunes/spotify people, it'll appear on those platforms on Sunday 21st.
Hustle over! That's it! Thanks; thank you.
Okay, this is seriously brilliant. Relaxing but hilarious at the same time! How'd you pull that off?!
Thank you very much! In my experience, being very silly is the best way to come up with things that are fresh and unique. You can then funnel that silliness into something deadly serious, if you like, but personally I'm happy to have the flavour of silliness present in the end product too.
Lovely stuff @zpxlng!
I can clearly hear how much fun you must have had composing these songs
They're not only reminding me of Art Of Noise but also Jean Michel Jarre's Zoolook album, the one that documents his trip out into sampling.
I wonder what you've been cooking in your Space House around 5:00, sounds a lot like a wok dish
I think it's safe to say that you can relax now with the knowledge and pride behind you of your wonderful creation and achievement. It may have taken a long time for you to make and complete, but it was well worth it in the end.
You've established a good sound and formula now as a reference point for future work. It's like, the hard work is now done.
I think these pieces would still work nicely even if you shaved a few minutes or more off them. It's good to dial things back again sometimes. No need to put pressure on yourself for something you should just be relaxing and enjoying doing for yourself. "I just made the music that was in my head and my heart." - This should be everyone's mantra for their music making!! And this attitude and approach is the reason why this particular work is so refreshing, enjoyable and fun for the rest of us as listeners. It's really got it's own personality and character from you!
Good luck with the future projects. I will definitely be watching out for them.
Thank you! Thanks for joining the fun.
I haven't heard that album so thanks for the recommendation.
Onions in a frypan, as I recall. I recorded the frying, the water boiling, and the chopping/scraping/clattering noises separately. But I think I was genuinely making pasta, too.
Thank you again for all the encouraging words!
Ha! Knowing details like this, makes the whole production even more admirable, brilliant and enjoyable. Making music out of cooking pasta! Now THAT'S sound design!! Genius. It doesn't get much better than that!
That kind of machine-sounding short rhythm that starts appearing at 1:06 in 'The World for Breakfast' is the lid being screwed onto an empty pasta jar, but slowed way down.
I'm happy if this sort of thing is interesting for you! If I had time I'd make a youtube video breaking down one of the songs bit by bit like this.
I'm really getting into sound design which especially incorporates field recordings and such from all manner of domestic or industrial items. The results produce a fascinating mix of synthetic and organic sounds. Vancouver is allowing me to get these hybrid sounds into my Gadget productions.
I'm usually a traditional synth programmer for using my own patches, but with Vancouver, I'm experimenting more and more with blending my own patches that I've made in various other synths along with chopped/edited samples of field recordings and other audio recordings I've made of random physical objects, and layering them together in Vancouver for some pleasing and playable atmos and pads (which of course appear in my Spindrift track).
I'm currently working on a more simple melodic downtempo track with more of a traditional sound and style (although there will probably be some new sound designs with Vancouver popping up here and there in it again). I've just started it, it's going in the right direction for me quite nicely, so I want to get it done and out of the way first. THEN my plan is to really get down and focus on some serious sound design the way you have done in your project.
I'll be building a proper library of trimmed and tidied samples of recorded audio from all manner of odds and ends around the house and workplace and anything/anywhere else that comes to mind! I will then start loading/tuning them up to make customised kits, and mixing them with my synth patches to continue expanding on my collection of playable atmos and pads and such.
I anticipate it will involve only instances of Bilbao and Vancouver for making a track out of them in Gadget!
I know a few great people in the community who would also love this work of yours. I will be drawing their attention to it and pointing them towards it. I think it really deserves attention.
Yeah, video tutorials, quite time consuming. Would be wonderful to see a breakdown of one of your tracks, but only in your own time, if you ever have time.
Incredible work! Listening to this made my day!!!
Thank you! @zpxlng