Any Questions? - Demon Knight

This Any Questions? archival song idea titled Demon Knight is from the year 1996.  Like our other song idea titles, it is named after what was playing on the studio TV monitor while it was being created.  

Demon Knight is a 1995 horror comedy starring Billy Zane, William Sadler, and Jada Pinkett.  mC2p4 and I (Ttam Troll) saw the movie in the theater and then later when it was released for the home market, we picked up the LaserDisc to sample from.  However, no samples from the movie made it into this song idea.

As with a lot of our song ideas from this period, we used an E-MU Pro/Cussion drum module to create a basic drum beat and then added a synth bass line with a Korg Wavestation.  mC2p4 added a few live cymbal hits and if you listen closely enough, you can also hear a faint buzzing sound like that which a fly would make.  I don't remember exactly how that was created but I assume it was also the Korg Wavestation.

This track never evolved past this early stage.  There's probably a reason for that...

Ttam Troll · Any Questions? - Demon Knight

Any Questions? - Flintstones

The first sampler used by Any Questions? was a Roland S-220 purchased in 1990 at a Medley Music sales event.  This 12-bit, 30kHz sample-rate sampler was really a pain to use.  With only 256k of internal memory, you would get a maximum sample time of 4.4 seconds.  Samples could be stored and loaded on a built-in 2.8" Quick Disk drive.  This format was certainly not "quick" and even at that time in 1990 was hard to come by.  We quickly abandoned this sampler and moved on to the far superior Ensoniq EPS Performance Sampler.

I mention both of these samplers in this post because "The Flintstones" sample featured in the SoundCloud clip below is one of the very first samples that we ever recorded.  In fact, it might be the first.  

At Der Palest des Goldes in 1990, we sat a microphone on an ottoman in front of our 13" Zenith CRT television and sampled what was coming out of the small TV speaker at the time into our Roland S-220 Sampler.  What was playing on our TV at the time was The Flintstones cartoon from the '60s.

A few months later, we purchased the Ensoniq EPS Performance Sampler and re-sampled The Flintstones sample from the Roland S-220 into it.  After doing so, we recorded the short sound collage that we share with you now.

Ttam Troll · Any Questions? - Flintstones

Any Questions? - Smashing Babies (Remix)

In preparation for our Any Questions? - Don't Ask Tour in 1992, we reprogrammed and resequenced all of the songs from our Ensoniq ESQ-1 hardware based sequencing system to our new Atari 1040STe and Steinberg/Jones Cubase computer based sequencing system.

This process took a lot of time but it had some advantages.  We took the opportunity while revisiting these older songs to replace some of the sounds and samples from our older equipment with some of the newer gear (E-MU Pro/Cussion, Yamaha TG33, and Ensoniq EPS) we had acquired.  It also provided us the flexibility to more easily sync our accompanying multimedia horror show videos to the computer based sequencing system using SMPTE timecode for use in our live performances.

One of the songs that was reprogrammed and resequenced was a track titled Smashing Babies from our Illegitimate Release 1990 release.  This ended up being more of a remix of the original song rather than a straight forward conversion and we decided to record it on our Tascam 308/38 8-Track 1/2" Analog Tape Recording System.  For this remix, we added an extended intro to the song and replaced the Korg DDD-5 drum machine parts with E-MU Pro/Cussion sounds.  We also chose to replace mC2p4's backing vocal "baby screams" from the original 1990 recording with a Baby Herman (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) sample on our Ensoniq EPS sampler.

This remix remained unreleased until now.  I hope you enjoy it!

Ttam Troll · Any Questions? - Smashing Babies (Remix)

Any Questions? - The Outer Limits

New Year, new tunes!  Here's a song idea titled The Outer Limits done "inside the box" using all soft synths.  The real genesis for this came about as a way to test out Steinberg Cubase Pro 14 which I just installed on a "new" Apple MacBook Pro that I configured.

I used Native Instruments Battery 4 to create the drum groove and percussive sound effects, along with Arturia V Collection X for the synth sounds.  SEM V2 is used for the main synth bass with additional synth bass from the Mini V3 during the "chorus" part of the song idea.  DX7 V provides the glacial strings sounds.

Ttam Troll · Any Questions? - The Outer Limits

P.S. For those that don't know, “inside the box” is a term that refers to the process of using only a computer and software (the box) rather than external hardware (synthesizers, mixers, etc). In the past, using external hardware was the only option, but today, it is now possible to create professional music completely “inside the box”.

Any Questions? - Eating Band-Aids With Marmalade (Demo)

While listening to some old cassette recordings from the Floating Fish Studios archive, I came across this early demo of Eating Band-Aids With Marmalade from 1990.  This version of the song has a more ominous tone than the final released version from Any Questions? - Illegitimate Release 1990.

This demo was recorded live in the studio.  The drum beat was programmed on a Korg DDD-5 drum machine.  The main synth bass part was performed by mC2p4 on a Korg DW-6000 and Ttam Troll added sound effects on a Korg DW-8000 while improvising lyrics for the lead vocal.  Listen closely and you can also hear mC2p4 whispering "Marmalade" in the background.

Now get out those Band-Aids and enjoy them with some Marmalade while listening to this track!

Ttam Troll · Any Questions? - Eating Band-Aids With Marmalade (Demo)

Any Questions? - Copycat

This Any Questions? archival song idea titled Copycat is from the year 1996.  Like our other song idea titles, it is named after what was playing on the studio TV monitor while it was being created.  Copycat is a 1995 psychological thriller starring Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter, and Dermot Mulroney.  Coincidentally, this song idea made its way into a movie of its own in 2007 when it was featured in the horror film FrightWorld.  Be sure to check that out!

On this track, our trusty E-MU Pro/Cussion drum module was used to lay down the drum beat and the Korg Wavestation was used for the rest of the parts including the slinky synth bass line that slithers throughout the groove. 

Ttam Troll · Any Questions? - Copycat

Any Questions? - Settlers

New Year, new tunes!  Here's a song idea titled Settlers done "inside the box" using all soft synths.  It seems that no matter how hard I try to use soft synths to work on ideas, they just end up sounding too sterile and cold.  Don't get be wrong, I've composed a lot of sterile and cold sounding music but soft synths just don't have the same warmth that "real" synths have.  Next...

I used Native Instruments Battery 4 to create the drum groove and Arturia V Collection X for the synth sounds.  CMI V for the synth bass, OP-Xa V for the arpeggio, and Synthi V for the weird sound during the bridge.

Ttam Troll · Any Questions? - Settlers

P.S. For those that don't know, “inside the box” is a term that refers to the process of using only a computer and software (the box) rather than external hardware (synthesizers, mixers, etc). In the past, using external hardware was the only option, but today, it is now possible to create professional music completely “inside the box”.