Couch Boy Music

An old song updated with beafed up beats in 2007.  This was one of my first ever electronic compositions, if my memory serves me right.  Originally, I used the software Fruityloops (must have been circa 2001) and Ableton Live was used for the update.

Started this track when I was travelling to London a few years ago.  Didn’t really start to make any sense until I added the static sound in the background.  This was produced in Linux using the command cat /dev/mem | oggenc -rq 1 – -o computerthink.ogg

Now you’re thrilled to bits, you can listen to the track, as it were:

http://chrismackie.co.uk/mp3/couch_boy-train_tech.mp3

Time for some more original music.  Been working on this tune for a loooong time. Started this is Reason way back and finally got it together in Ableton recently (i.e. this year). BTW, my work-rate is only going to slow down…

Anyway, this is a scratchy techno track, influenced by the sound of morse code (no, seriously).  And you should download it before I ruin it with this description:

http://chrismackie.co.uk/mp3/couch_boy-message_to_you.mp3

A recent performance of a very old song indeed. I think I have old recordings to go with this song… somewhere.

Back to music production after a break. I’ve been manipulating some of the recordings from the We Dance, Wee Groove performance at the Scottish Youth Theatre in November. At the start of the show – whilst people were arriving, I would improvise on the guitar (with lots of delay) over a reggae drum loop. At the close of the show we’d use of same loop and I would do some scratching over it, using some samples of a certain person (who shall remain nameless – he gets too much publicity)!  I used the Ms Pinky system to make this happen.  Dave Boyd provided some additional live percussion.

Anyway, I pulled some of the highlights together in Ableton with some additional sounds to make a complete track.  Here is the result:

Couch Boy – We Dub, Wee Groove

Hope you like.  If you download the track, please leave a comment.

Thanks.

I’ve just moved my WordPress hosting for this blog over to Dreamhost apps.  Early days so far, but seems to be pretty cool (not to mention FREE)!  I’ve been messing about with some of the other apps (Mediawiki, Zenphoto) but having WordPress is the way forward for me at the moment.  I might even move my work site over as well when the hosting comes up for renewal.

Check it out:

Free Application Web Hosting: DreamHost Apps

I’m getting quite excited about the latest release of Ableton (such is my sad existence).

I use Ableton Live to DJ, play live sets and when I’m writing and producing music.  I decided some time ago to focus on just one package, rather than learning a wee bit about lots of different music production software.  In the past I’ve used Acid, Cubase, Fruityloops and Reason but Live does it all for me (for the moment anyway).

This latest version promises to feature a looper, which is something that looks very useful from a performance point of view.  It also looks like great fun as well – which is always a good thing in music software (what’s the point otherwise?).

Anyway, rather than me describe all the new features, you can check them out on the Ableton website:

Ableton Live 8 announcement

More acoustic stuff. This is a song I wrote last year, inspired by a friend of mine.

This track has components that have been kicking about for a while.  The 12-bar guitar part and the electronic backing have recently been married to the verse and chorus.  I’ve performed the acoustic version out and about for a while now but the version below is definitely my favourite.

Couch Boy – Africasea

I submitted the following mix to BBC Radio Scotland for a competition they ran in April 2001… and won.  The prize was to have it broadcast on one of their shows.  Would you have given me the prize?  Have a listen and decide for yourself…

Couch Boy – Competition Mix

Track listing…

(continue reading…)