Tuesday, October 25, 2016

"Somebody Out There"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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I meant to record this yester-day, but I was too busy.  After I listened to Vulture Culture a few days ago, I figured out some of the synth parts during the chorus of "Somebody Out There."  There are two phrases after the chorus, and they're the same after the second iteration (just in different octaves), but they're different after the first occurrence.  I'm not sure I have that second phrase right.  On the whole, my recording doesn't sound that great because I still know virtually nothing about synths.

Sunday, October 23, 2016

"Separate Lives"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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I listened to Vulture Culture yester-day, and I learned a couple parts.  First, I have what I guess is a synth part from "Separate Lives."  The closest match on my keyboard is actually calliope.  I'd thought that this is just the same phrase repeated (so it's played four times), but the third iteration has a different rhythm, and the fourth iteration (which I don't have yet) has different notes.

I also figured out that the synth part that begins the song is just A notes an octave apart.  I'm not sure how long that lasts though or if the notes change later on.

Sunday, October 2, 2016

"The Fall of the House of Usher: IV. Pavane"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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I listened to Tales of Mystery and Imagination yester-day.  When I listened to it a while ago, I thought the bass part in "The Fall of the House of Usher: Pavane" sounded like it would be pretty easy to figure out.  I also discovered that there's mandolin in this, and since I have a mandolin, I wanted to figure out that part.  I also got some of the keyboard parts.  Based on the credits on the APP website, I think there's harpsichord and (in the 1987 version) a synth that plays almost the same part; it's just the final note in the phrase that's different.

I don't have an upright bass, so I just played the bass part on electric bass, and I'm still not very good at mandolin tremolos, so those aren't that great.

Also, this is only one section of the song.  However, I did learn a couple guitar chords for a later iteration of the other section.