Category Archives: Audio Sketchbook
It has begun!
Wednesday was the first rehearsal for September’s gigs. New drummer, Michael was bloody good, Joe on bass and backing vocals was good, I was mildly dodgy.
I actually haven’t played a lot of my newer songs since recording them, and this time I’m using my new steampunky electric guitar so we can play some of the more energetic twiddly songs. Some of this stuff is a bit difficult!
Nevertheless, lots of fun and it’ll sound bloody good by next month.
Here are the dates and facebook events.
London 5th Sept: https://www.facebook.com/events/156214677900965/
Reading 21st Sept: https://www.facebook.com/events/123942861133075/
And here’s some footage. I filmed this with my new zoom recorder. I got the sound settings right but not the video settings, so have compensated by turning up the brightness. I shall do better next time!
Flutter – A Sunday Soundscape
It’s Sunday, so here’s a Soundscape. It’s called Flutter:
Flutter – a Sunday Soundscape by Tom Slatter
This began life as a layered guitar piece using various minimalist ostinato ideas. I decided to try reversing it and adding a few processes. I prefer it this way round to going forwards.
Something Kinda Midnight Or
Something Kinda Midnight Or is a piece for Bassoon and Piano that I wrote for my bassoon playing younger sister’s final University recital.
It’s the only instrumental piece I’ver composed that has actually been played by other people, and it’s one of my musical accomplishments I’m most proud of.
I’m possibly maybe thinking of arranging a full band version of this: bassoon, piano, guitar, bass, drums, electronic noises. Possibly. Maybe.
Here are the silly things I wrote for the programme:
“Something Kinda Midnight Or was inspired partly by a melody I wrote for a compositional exercise at university, and partly by my lazy decision to steal ideas from all the music I had been listening to.
This included, in no particular order, a piece by Hindemith, the heavy metal band Megadeth, and several progressive rock pieces.
The piece has a vaguely rondoish form that intersperses an accessible, regular melody with episodes of angular silliness. In keeping with the progressive rock songs I ‘borrowed’ from, the episodes include frequent time signature changes, and chromatic ‘power chord’ like basslines, the aim being to create accessible music from unusual rhythmic ingredients.
The title doesn’t mean much, except that it made me laugh.
Tom Slatter, 2007, Madagascar.”
Audio Sketch – Sunday Soundscape
I’ve been playing with my guitar, cubase and my Sonuus G2M midi converter.
Here are the results:
Audio Sketch – The Chord Progression Twitter Made
Matt Stevens instigated a twitter-made chord progression.
Here’s a sketch for the opening of a song I might write based on it:
Maybe we’ll surface soon,
Under a winter moon,
Thaw must have left weakness.
Maybe we’ll freeze again
Awaiting the summer rain,
Ice in our veins.
A ship sails on a solid sea
A perfect place for you and me
A moondial turns until we move again
Last sunlight for six months
Last movement this year.
Audio Sketchbook – Little Acorns
Little Acorns is a piece I’ve been meaning to write for a very long time. The original melody I came up with at college – that’s about 8 years ago – but apart from a solo violin piece I started and never finished, I’ve never really come back to it.
In the last few days it’s been niggling at the back of my mind, even extending itself a little. So this morning I recorded this little semi-improvised sketch to see if I could get some ideas moving.