Intergalactic Road Trip

 First a little update on how it is going.  I have not really made much progress.  I have picked out some synths and made some sounds, but unfortunately, when I put them together, they would be better for another song.  I have some ideas, but that is where I am now (so still moving slow, really want to pick it up).

Now back to Intergalactic Road Trip.  The way this album fits in is sorta strange.  We knew we eventually wanted to get to Planet AI but did not want to just jump into that (in space, they did not head there first).  So, we wanted to show a period of growth for the whole band.  It was decided to almost go the route of our internally contentious first album (Making Music Now – See that post a few back).  We would try to build some musical skills and put them into songs.  This would end up being better as we would be planning on songs from the beginning (to work out some skills etc), so it would be more focused. 

So only 2 of the songs were planned to fit into the story.  Everything else was added for other reasons.  I will include this in the discussion below.  As part of that growth, it is this album that debuted the voices for each of the spacecraft.  This is also the first album that we added to all our music videos using the Eyesys to provide the background.

Additionally, I made to Omni (my French Horn that I played way back in High School – called Omni now as I would play any other parts with him (trombone, saxes etc).  I was having some weird dreams and other just bad vibes which included Omni.  It became evident that Omni being so much a beginning of my musical growth in my younger years,  he was feeling discarded now that we were publishing music and he was left out.  I promised him that I would include him on the next album, and that ended the bad dreams and feelings.

I would like to note, I think that Omni felt bad sort of forcing me to use him.  I did struggle with the playing of the song (if you heard it you would know).  He has not pushed to be in any songs since, but was part of a Fencing Marlins song, and I have sampled him into the OP-1 for future use.  Using him again in the future is still a possibility.

Third First Sunrise

This song was one of the original ideas, and something we thought we needed to do before we got into Planet AI.  The events to this point have made big steps for the spacecraft getting ready to grow.  This was like a new beginning for them, a third new beginning (or in this case a third sunrise).  Note, due to the earths tilt, most spacecraft see the sun all day, and only go dark during two seasons of the year, so a sunrise is a special event for them.

Their first sunrises were coming off the rocket as they came around and the sun came into view.  This began their communications life.  The next phase (first sunrise) came after they were “awake” and together (and starting the band).  The third phase began after their experience with the Aliens in the last album with their upgrades.   We decided to use this song to include Omni.  That is because it really is a new sunrise for me as well, as I go back into music after a career in technology. 

Over the course of the song, the volume, synthesis and drum beat grow.  This is done to show how everything around the sunrise grows as it comes up.  The voices are actually purposely low (we want the story of the sunrises there, but not overbearing on the feeling).

This song does appear twice on the album, however the version with Omni is considered the main (and first song on the album).  We did a version with just the spacecraft as an add on, the last song.

Cosmic Billboards

Though this is not the first song with the different voices, we wanted something that they could go back and forth and ensure that they were all able to be understood/identified properly.  What does everyone do on a road trip (beyond looking for the furthest license plate, which does not work here) but enjoy the crazy road signs.  Anyone from the east coast of the US would notice this on a pilgrimage to Disney, seeing all the South of The Border signs (and yes, they put one in space).  Not just could they take turns calling out the signs they see, but also respond in a conversational manner.

Galactic Accelerator

This one should be obvious.  We wondered how a change in tempo could be accomplished.  This is not something the OP-1 does spectacularly.  The tempo must be modified on each of the four tapes during recording (which means I must crank the little knob the exact same way each time or they will get offset).  Still a hard thing to do, but at least we took a crack, and it was not too far off.

As the motivation, we used a Galactic Accelerator.  That is sort of like a superhighway in space.  If your ship is not capable of faster than light travel you can use one of these.  When you enter, you will be accelerated to the first level.  You can move over lanes to increase speed (so each lane change includes an increase in speed).   This helps people who cannot afford high speed ships still be able to travel long distances.  There is a charge for these (and the faster the lane you are in the more the charge) but is not considered too high or prohibitive.

Recap Part 1

We thought it would be good to catch everyone up on everything that happened so far (seems to be moving pretty fast to us).  This was called Part 1 as it was expected we would do a Part 2 after Planet AI.  I am not sure that is the case anymore. 

Passing The Light Years

This was supposed to be the last song on the album, but it did not work out.  While we were putting it together, the sound was just wrong for what we wanted.  Instead, we tried to do two things with this.  First was to make the counter melody more the prime (maybe that does not work, does that just make them swap positions).  The second was a different way to apply a filter (this worked out pretty well and something we will do more in the future?. 

A Small Parade Goes By

I actually really like this one.  This was our second cut at the last song on the album (and also just not right).  We were going for a precession, party type song (which we did hit, but not what we wanted).  We decided to make it sound like a party going by (a small parade).   So, a parade grows as it approaches, and fades as it leaves (in this case we repeated the music as the next area had not heard it yet, like many bands do). 

We tried a different method where the volumes were not adjusted together.  You normally hear the drums first as the music approaches (so that comes up a bit first).  As it is leaving you can still hear the some of the melody that the band you grooving too as well as the drums fading.  Note the concept of a parade comes back in the next album (as we get one when we arrive at Planet AI, but not one really going by, more of a party). 

Astro Rest Stop

Looks like the third time is a charm.  The sound finally matched what we were trying to do.  The point of the song was basically to tell how it happened in space.  The spacecraft stopped at a rest stop.  The rest stop was full of wonderful stories which we only get a snippet of some of them here (we have conserved an album – “Stories from a Rest Stop” might happen someday).  The goal was to end with Flash picking out a brochure (like they have at the rest stops on earth).  This would be their next destination.  Note, Planet AI opens with the brochure itself before they travel there.