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 Our music is entirely synthesized. We use a variety of electronic instruments (mostly analog synthesizers), but we also make use of the conveniences of digital technology when appropriate. A track listing of our album is given below, along with some production notes and downloads (click on the songs shown in orange text). The track listing and album cover will likely be as follows:
1 SWITCH
2 CANDY HEARTS
3 PAWN
4 TEACH ME MACHINE
5 SO MANY WAYS
6 RESTORATION
7 GREY DAY
8 MOTH TO FLAME
9 WITH YOU
0 YELLOW AND BLUE MAKE GREEN
(Instrumental)
Please note that due to upload file size restrictions, these songs were imported to the site at a bitrate of 64. This means that they are not CD-quality (128 bitrate) downloads.
When recording this album, we tried very, very hard to make it sound like a low-fi production. Ideally, the recording quality should be similar to that of the 70s and early 80s. With a few exceptions, the synthesizers were generally recorded with insert effects on a monophonic track, and with digital loop effects applied during the stereo mixing process. As a point of interest, below is a list of some (but not all) of the synthesizers used on this album:
Roland Jupiter 8 (JP8)
Sequential Circuits Multi-Trak
Crumar Bit One
Yamaha PSR-31
Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer Drum Machine
Roland TR-606 Drumatix Drum Machine
There were also a number of other production machines used, such as digital sequencers, effects, and recorders, and the occasional bit of digital synthesizer. We did our best not to let the sound of any one synthesizer dominate the album, so we tried to use each one effectively but not overly (not an easy task!). Similarly, while the sound of a particular synthesizer may be recognizable, we tried not to rely too heavily on the especially familiar sounds generated by those machines. In fact, on occasion, a "lesser synthesizer" or drum tone would be chosen over a "heavyweight" simply because these famous synths and sounds are so commonly heard.
One of the major problems we experienced during the recording of this album was in getting the synths to "meld". Sometimes, the sound of one synth (ex: the JP8) was too powerful to mix smoothly with the other, less powerful synths in the song. This was corrected by mixing out some of the more bombastic qualities of the JP8 and leaving in only the harmonics that complimented the overall tone of the song. We know that to many analog synthophiles, this is considered a major sin. But after much mixing, re-mixing, soul-searching, and painful re-evaluations, this was the solution we came up with. And it worked.
Another difficulty we had was balancing the signal-to-noise ratio. I believe we have done a pretty good job of eliminating the background "hiss and hum" that comes with the use of analog synthesizers, but there may be songs or parts of songs where a slight hiss is audible. This is a natural characteristic, and should not be considered a flaw.
All music Copyright 2005-2008 David Maltese and Multimode Music.
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