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Hammering Past The Stop - Omnivocal, SWAM, StaffPad, Cubasis, Cubase
https://on.soundcloud.com/Pvb3Drb54iwowFjA1P
A list song initially scored in StaffPad on iPad for big band. Exported to Cubasis on iPad and rendered with SWAM saxes and brass. The stems were then exported to Cubase on Mac to add the Omnivocals and track the (real) drums and guitars. Bass is IK Mondo Bass, Pianoteq keyboards and vibes also feature. The lyrics are just words I chose for their shape influenced by the poems of Edith Sitwell used in William Walton’s ‘Façade’.
Lyrics
Hammering past the stop
Clock hands clap inside the shop,
Sliding along the ledge,
Springboards sprout near water’s edge.
Dream, it seems that Teens in Jeans
Have all the fun.
Wake to break the cake or rake the ashes through.
Chattering all the way,
Type write, tight as if to say.
Motoring to the spot,
Light weight like a spinning top.
Fear appears to leer and jeer
At everyone.
Change the range, it’s strange
An Angel leads the way.
Let all races search your cases,
They’ll not find a thing,
Hear the bells ring.
Go to places, look for traces
Of things as they were,
Bone and seal fur.
Sail, blaze a trail to China
Eastern beauties dance.
Sleep on a paper floor
Gazing at the stars.
Nothing left to chance,
The crew deserts your boat,
For sweethearts not afloat.
Teetering on the brink,
Rocks fall, blocks your cables kink.
Buckling at the seams
So real, see the laser beams.
Seeds of weeds all plead their need
For warmth and light.
Clear the pier so near to tears
You cannot see.
Smile, make your pile from hot dogs.
Take a well earned break.
Soon you’ll be back at work
Serving very late.
Folding serviettes,
The menu doesn’t change
The order’s rearranged.
I married a girl
Who used to jump out of cakes,
‘Till I put on the brakes
Now in Market Research,
She left me for a confectioner.
I’m tempted to write
A book, so people would say,
Is it based on a play,
Or a script of a film
That you copied from Gestetner.i
I thought of a scheme
Where if I had a pen friend
I could stay in Ostend
For a week on the cheap
But I never heard another word.
I saw in a film
How to build a steel wall.
As wide as it was tall.
How to keep it from rust.
I can’t remember what it was for.
Sensible shoes in rows
Vetoed by those in the know.
Uniform heights and weights,
Face front, bait piled on your plate.
Test the nest, the best will rest
On promised land.
Teach or preach the beach will reach
Down to the sea.
Omega comes at half
Past nine, fine alright by me.
Semaphore Snoopies wave
On watch faces second hand
Wined and dined, so kind yet blind
To trouble signs.
End, suspend, pretend or send
Us both away….
Comments
This is fantastic! If I didn’t know, I would swear this is a Frank Zappa composition and recording. Lots of unexpected changes in style, key, and tempo. Everything flows seamlessly. Production is flawless. It just works! Very, very good.
Great work Andy… 🙏
What Paul said but I’d compare it to a more English band… Quantum Jump if you remember them 🤔
I get many resonances of Prog Rock bands that liked complex arrangements that took melodic ideas from renaissance madigals: I’m thinking of Gentle Giant but they did tend to use a lot of rapidly changing time signatures to drive the complexity even deeper.
I went to check out Quantum Jump and that fits.
There are definite sections that conjure up the humorous pop stylings of Frank Zappa, for sure.
Nice job pushing the project through multiple creative tools to get here!
Such generous comments @paulieworld. I’ll take Frank Zappa! ‘One Size Fits All’ was probably way more influential than I realised at the time. ‘Hammering’ is a song I wrote in my twenties and I have revisited it before trying to use Siri and a pitch shifter for the vocals. It didn’t work. When Omnivocal came bundled with my DAW recently I had to give it a go. I particularly appreciate your words on the production because mixing vocals is a whole new bag of tricks. Thank you for taking the time to say.
Well, I admit that I still have a rack of Gentle Giant vinyl from the Seventies. I guess that’s why I thought developing as a multi-instrumentalist was quite normal and that being recklessly uncommercial was a perfectly sensible option.
I also particularly liked the Zappa period with George Duke. It intrigues me that others are able to hear these influences. At the time, I thought these bands’ music too complex for me to play but enough must have been sub-consciously absorbed to shape my early compositions.
I wouldn’t recommend the workflow I used here - it was driven by necessity!
Thanks for listening and your comments as always.
That's brilliant, Andy! Agree with others about the influences and very witty, will have to check out Edith Sitwell. Glad you've been busy, looking forward to hearing more. Thanks for sharing.
Can’t say I have any memory of that band but ‘Lone Ranger’ does ring a faint bell. On SoundCloud you said you thought the vocals reminded you of something - was it Quantum Jump? I think the Omnivocal synth is pretty clear given the verbal obstacle course I threw at it but it isn’t exactly emotional - a bit Canterbury-esque (whimsical, self-deprecating English humour, conversational delivery …). I can see a further parallel to QJ maybe with my use of a clean guitar counterpoint to the vocal line but overall, I think ‘Hammering’ owes as much to Brubeck’s ‘Take Five’ as anything else. Thanks for the like, the listen and the comment Tony. You are definitely a Faithful.