The Containment Project

[wez]

Hi all

I wanted to share with you a project that I've finally embarked on, having had it sitting on the shelf for a while now.

Over the years I've been lucky enough to curate a relatively humble but passionately loved collection of vintage and classic keyboards and synths. As much as I like to think of myself as a player rather than a collector, sadly I do spend more time admiring their visual aesthetics than actually creating music with them.

The brief for The Containment Project is pretty simple - to set myself the challenge of writing and recording pieces entirely using a single instrument. It's a great way to explore each keyboard's personality and abilities, and also to force myself into a bit of creativity at a time when it's all too tempting to stay in bed re-watching Breaking Bad and drinking whiskey (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Anyway, here's the project - http://www.composuremusic.com.au/the-co ... oject.html

You'll find the Soundcloud link down the bottom of the page. I've kicked off the project with some Giorgio Moroder-inspired synth-pop featuring the humble Korg Poly 800 (created in part to thank Atom Smasher for his infamous "Moog-Slayer" mod!)

Enjoy

PS the 128k mp3 stream sounds a bit shite - happy to make the high-res file available, it sounds pretty good!

[a.d.a.m. baby]

Wez that's fabulous.
The only thing that lets it down for me are the drums! They sound a bit dated. And they are apparently the only thing NOT from the Korg?
I reckon you should pursue this a bit more and work on getting drum sounds from the Moog-slayer - it could easily make it much more contemporary - sounding, given the predilection for fairly muted short gated drum sounds on a lot of electronica. It might require a little editing help in the DAW of course... don't tell anyone.
And then you can truly claim it fills the containment brief!

[wez]

But dated is what I do!

But seriously, thanks Adam - great feedback, much appreciated. Tweaking drum and percussion sounds from something like the Poly 800 would certainly make things a bit more challenging. But the purist in me loves that idea - I'll certainly give it some thought for the next one. I'm just so conditioned to producing usable 'content' that it's hard to resist underpinning everything with (admittedly somewhat generic) phat beats. As an opening gambit I just went to some of my safe places - I reckon you make a good point though.

Thanks heaps for listening!

[wez]

Instalment #2 is now online - in which I get intimate with the Yamaha DX7.

http://www.composuremusic.com.au/the-co ... oject.html

This time I've gone 'full containment' and used the DX7 for ALL the sounds, including drums - thanks Adam for pushing me in that direction, it was a very good call!

[a.d.a.m. baby]

Such a jaw-droppingly good sounding synth. I just recently installed an OLED display in mine, stunning!
I'm getting a hint of TD "Love on a Real Train" vibe on this latest track - I see what you did there! ;-)

[wez]

Hey Adam... umm ok believe it or not I'm not familiar with that track. I just had a listen and geez, even I'm not convinced that I didn't rip it off! But I've definitely never heard it before... perhaps we were both inspired by "Different Trains"?!

I bet they used more than a dirty old DX7 though ;-)

[Chris H]

You see, that's the problem with playing synths!
You never get that when you write a "new tune" on guitar using C-Am-F and G!!