This song has quite a few firsts in it. It is the first finished song using both my SammichSID and Ableton Live. It is also the first song after the birth of my son. I entitled it Hello World for those very reasons. Sort of a triple meaning I suppose. I always like to epic inspiring titles but I think this one fits just as well. Hard to believe I have not released a song since 2007 but I hope this is the start of many more! To that end, I will admit that I was a bit eager to release this one. I could have continued to tinker but I think it is good where it is and I want to see if I can keep my creative juices flowing.

Another exploration into the world of electronica. I think I'm getting a little bit better, but I have a few interesting works in progress as well.

Created entirely within MadTracker 2.

Living, Again and Again (Marcus John Mix) 3:43 el blanco [fulcrum]

Dedicated to the spawn of my pal Bannor and his lady.

This is a complete remake of an old tune of mine, done up with a healthy dose of reFX's Slayer2 for rocking goodness.

Started working with MadTracker 2 lately. Most of the stuff I've produced hasn't amounted to very much, but occasionally something comes out of it. This is exploring my electronica style again. Hope you like it.

Fish Light el blanco [fulcrum] 5:32

After a bit of a lull and constant interruptions by real-life(TM), finally, another tune.

I really focused on VSTi usage in this one. Pretty much all the instruments (except for the drums) are VSTis.

I really enjoy using the Angular Momentum Additive Table Synth by Laif Oddson & Thomas Weber. Just love those delicious sounds it puts out. If only it didn't crash madtracker all the time! I mainly used some presets with a few minor tweaks.

The piano is Steinberg's "The Grand" run through MT2's flanger to make it fit in with the trance sound.

Accidental Ray of Sun (piano mix) el blanco [fulcrum] 5:08

I really liked the full mix of Accidental Ray of Sun. I also really like playing around with Steinberg's The Grand. I realized the song could be adapted to a piano only tune without much complication -- so I arranged it for the VSTi.

Turned out really nice.

Accidental Ray of Sun el blanco [fulcrum] (4:05)

This is my second tune for fulcrum. This started off completely different, and rapidly turned into this as I messed around with the original 4 parts of the phrase/progression. I just kept tossing on and removing layers until I found something I really liked. Structurally it's pretty boring, the same thing over and over with new layers here and there, one key change up 3 half-steps, climax....then work it's way out.

Actually ended up rather nice in the end.

Blue Street el blanco [fulcrum] a hair over 3 minutes (like 3:05)

This song has quite a few firsts for me. It's my first tune since joining [fulcrum], my first Mad Tracker 2 tune, and the first new song I've written in like...5 years.

It's a bit slow, but so am I now that I'm getting older. Enjoy.

It has been a year and a half in the making, this is my first song employing full vocals. That is partly why the song took so long; I had to wait until I had a good enough mic to record with. Honestly, though, I think it was worth the wait. Others have done electronically themed versions of this song, but I tried not to allow them to influence my version. I tried to take the elements I really liked from the original and turn them into my own personal taste.

Really, the meat and potatoes of the song had been finished for a while. I spent much of the other time trying to add detail to it and getting the mix right, as well as playing with the vocals. Part of me wanted to wait until I bought a nice tube-amp for the mic since I think it would have given the vocals even more warmth, but I really felt it was time.