Imagine Snake Plissken walking through an apocalyptic NYC street scene while listening to this.
This Any Questions? archival song idea titled Escape NY 2 is from the year 1996. This is the second of 2 song ideas created while Escape from New York was playing in the background on the studio TV monitor.
The rhythmic pulse of this idea comes from a sequenced synth bass line on a Yamaha TG33. It's accompanied by a sample played backwards on an Ensoniq EPS and a synth FX sound from the Yamaha TG33.
Escape from New York is a 1981 science fiction action film directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Isaac Hayes, Adrienne Barbeau, and Harry Dean Stanton. I (Ttam Troll) have loved this film since I first saw it back in the early '80s. I first saw it when my Dad, brother, and I rented it from a not so local video store. Back then, our hometown didn't have a video rental store so we had to drive to distant towns to rent videos. I have since seen it many times and own it on VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD 4K formats. For the few that may not know about this film, I highly recommend it. Check it out!
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. Synth pads and soft bells sounds were also added from the Korg Wavestation. Most of our arpeggios from this time period were played on a Yamaha DX21 but the arpeggio in this song idea sounds too nuanced for the Yamaha DX21 so it was probably played on the Korg Wavestation.
This track was used as incidental music in the 2006 horror film, Frightworld.
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...
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.
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!
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.
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”.
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!
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.
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.
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”.
This track from 1996 is titled Almost Dead. Almost Dead is a 1994 horror movie starring Shannen Doherty (Beverly Hills. 90210 fame). She plays a psychologist that is haunted by her dead mother's ghost. Instrumentally, we used some of our favorite instruments of the day. The E-MU Pro/Cussion drum module for the drum beat and a lot of Korg Wavestation for the rest of the synth sounds. The soloing guitar sound is even pulled out of the Korg Wavestation.
1996 is a Ttam Troll exclusive track. I started working on this New Year's Eve 1995 and finished it early the following day, New Year's Day 1996. Using sounds from the E-MU Pro/Cussion drum module, I created a simple yet powerful sounding drum groove. The synth sounds (synth bass, synth pads, bells, and airy organ) all came from the Korg Wavestation. Lastly, it features a vocal sample of myself saying "Control" which was sampled on our Ensoniq EPS, a Performance Sampler.
I hope you enjoy this piece of New Year's past!
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Release Notes:
Before the Industrial music of Any Questions? and the Electronic music of Imbued Vagary, Ttam Troll (Matthew R Norcross) and mC2p4 (M Scott McConnell) were part of a Fusion Rock band called Vizator (later to be renamed Vyzator). Joining Vizator's founding band members David S Irish and Carlton Holt, this lineup's sole performance was at the prestigious CitiParks Showcase Mondays concert at Oliver Plaza in Pittsburgh, PA on August 07, 1989.
After the August 1989 Vizator performance, Ttam Troll and mC2p4 left the band and relocated to Philadelphia, PA to form Any Questions? and Imbued Vagary. David S Irish and Carlton Holt carried on as Vizator's sole members and began working on demos for a CD release.
In early 1990, David and Carlton reached out to Matt to see if he'd be interested in laying down electric bass parts for the forthcoming Vizator CD. Matt had not yet been involved with any CD projects and jumped at the chance to get back together with his former bandmates and do some recording. The music contained on Vizator - Land of Glass Towers (Demos 1990) are from those recording sessions which took place on March 10-11, 1990. These instrumental demos were eventually scrapped and the band re-recorded the songs using synth bass for the final Vyzator - Land of Glass Towers CD which was released in 1991. However, these early demos show what could have been if the band followed their instrumental power trio Fusion Rock leanings. That was not meant to be and this became the final artifact of Vizator. Enjoy!
Track Listing:
01 Ready to Deal (Irish) 4:02
02 Trapped Inside This Maniac (Irish) 5:48
03 The Chase (Irish/Holt) 3:56
04 Club 54 (Irish/Hutter) 4:52
05 Land of Glass Towers (Irish) 5:00
Vizator members:
David S Irish - Guitars and Synthesizers
Matt Norcross - Bass
Carlton Holt - Drums
Recorded March 10-11, 1990 in Pittsburgh PA
Mastered by Tommy T Rapisardi at DSBP Records
Cover Photo, CD Design, and Layout by Matthew R Norcross
Copyright ©2023 Floating Fish Music
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