[Music] From The Lake - AVAILABLE NOW

https://bobbyricheson.bandcamp.com/album/from-the-lake

As some of you already know, I've been working on a project that I'm going to have performed and recorded. If you didn't, then now you do. This is an independent project, funded entirely by myself, but will be performed entirely by actual musicians. It's entirely instrumental, though it started out as a sort of rock opera a few years ago, consisting of rock band and expanded chamber orchestra. The style is widely varied, but is modern orchestral music in an accessible form.

Spoiler for Tracklist:

1. Pinkerton Overture: A Presentiment
2. Dearly Beloved
3. Graveyard
4. A Deal With Mephistopheles
5. Arise in Bended Light
6. Where There's Tigers
7. Last House On Peachtree Street
8. Persephone At The Pier
9. Defiance's Dance, "Pleated Lux"
10. Sun Reverie
11. The Fat Man's Dance, "Subversion"
12. Coventry
13. Catastrophe's Dance, "Desperation"
14. Under the Red Moonlight
15. As the Cacophony Grows
16. The Color of Space, the Color of Dread
17. I've Missed You
18. Finale and Reprise

Spoiler for Musicians:

A bunch of people you don't know, plus me and Irock! However, they should be mentioned because they are talented individuals, and as I said:

• Ròs Clark - Sound Design, Bass, Additional Instruments
• Daryl Faulkner - Electric Bass
• Ed Hauser - Alto Saxophone, Tuba
• Katie Hauser - Trombone
• Zach Henry - French Horn
• Nathan Howard - Piano, Electric Organ, Synthesizer
• Kyle Landry - Piano
• Ryan Leber - Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar
• Kent McCarthy - Drums
• Kimberly O'Brien - Celesta
• Ashley Richeson - Flute, Alto Flute
• Bobby Richeson - Percussion, Piano, Electric Organ, Synthesizer
• Andrew Shoemaker - Violin, Viola

Story

Because this started out as a rock opera, much of the music written up to the point where it was decided to go all instrumental told a story in a musical sense. I decided to keep the story and to try and express it through the music and track titles, but of course there's only so much you can do with that and it leaves a rather large amount to the imagination. Deciphering what the story actually is would be impossible unless it were told to you, so here it is (written almost entirely by a friend of mine):

Spoiler for A presentiment:

Years and years ago, there was a man. We don’t know his name because he doesn’t have a name anymore. The Devil owns it. See, when you make a deal with Lucifer he not only takes claim to your soul, but also your name. So we call this man The Fat Man. The Fat Man was clever, quick and convincing. Before he met Lucifer, he could talk his way into — and out of — anything. He could convince a poor man to give him money, a hungry man to give him food. He could convince any woman to adore and any man to serve him. But he was hungry for more and more and more. He ate to his content and became extremely wealthy.

He decided one day that was not enough. He wanted more. He wanted power, eternally. Who has such power? The Devil. So, he conjured The Devil and said, “Let’s make a deal. You give me a plot of land in Hell to use as I please, and in exchange I’ll gather souls for you.” What he planned to do was use that land to get into Hell and convince its tenants to mutiny and overthrow Lucifer, naming the Fat Man king of the damned. Well, Lucifer is The Devil for several reasons, one of which is that he cannot be outwitted. So Lucifer agreed to the Fat Man’s deal and granted him a patch of land. That land is actually a tiny lake located in a tiny town on Earth called Pinkerton. This lake is special because it is basically Satan’s septic tank, where all the garbage, sludge and sewage of Hell flow. The Devil had the last laugh, and The Fat Man had a debt to pay. In order to gather souls, he had to make "deals" with people, all of which he kept because he knew if he didn't keep his word, then people would know better than to make any sort of deal with him. He gave them whatever they wanted, usually in an ironic manner, and in exchange all they had to do was drink some water from The Lake. Someone drinking from The Lake after coming to The Fat Man was the same as signing a contract - their soul now belonged to him. The catch was he could not kill that person. He had to wait to collect their soul after they died naturally or at the hands of someone other than him.

So The Fat Man took his land and did his job of making deals and gathering souls for years and years on end. Until one day, he met Persephone, the image purity — a beautiful, young thing. But the problem was her sister, Defiance, who raised her and kept her safe. While Defiance was an honest and kind woman, she hoarded greedy genes inside, festering in discontent, waiting for a break. The Fat Man could smell her greed and convinced her he could giver her endless power and money. And she agreed. He handed her a cup of water from The Lake and bade her drink. She drank it eagerly and that was that - until 6 days later when she was found dead, body floating in The Lake.

Spoiler for And so it begins:

Defiance had a lover. His name was Catastrophe. He found her face down in The Lake and was stricken with grief. He had heard rumors about what The Fat Man was capable of, just like everyone else in Pinkerton. He had always thought they were just urban legends, but he was desperate. He went to The Fat Man to ask him if he could bring Defiance back to him. This was something no one had ever asked The Fat Man before. Of course, he knew he was capable - with some help from Lucifer - but this would mean giving up a valuable soul. He decided to revive her but to leave out her soul, thus bringing back a woman who was only a shell of her former self. So he gave Catastrophe a sip of water from The Lake, and it cost Catastrophe his soul as well as his name.

After being reunited, Persephone knew immediately that something was wrong with Defiance (aside from the fact that she was previously dead and buried). Deep down, Catastrophe knew as well but remained willfully in denial, just happy to have his love returned. This wasn't something he could keep up long, however. See, Defiance's body returned, but it brought something else within it, something evil. Persephone pleaded with Catastrophe to do something about Defiance, to try and make him understand that this thing wasn't really the woman he had loved. Eventually, he knew what he must do.

Catastrophe confronted The Fat Man, and, in their fight, suffered a mortal wound and then died. The Fat Man panicked, as he knew that he was forbidden to kill anyone who had made a deal with him, but regained his composure, knowing he could work his way out of this, just like anything else. He knew of Persephone, though, that she was the only one who knew where Catastrophe had been when he ultimately died, and he knew that he needed her soul as it was stronger and more pure than anyone else's in the town.

So The Fat Man went after Persephone. But what he didn’t know is true love is a seven-headed beast. When Defiance met Catastrophe at the gates of Hell, his sacrifice for love woke The Angel who burst from heaven’s mist. He reigned down fiery death, destroying the corrupt town of Pinkerton. The Fat Man turned to ash and burned eternally. Defiance and Catastrophe became one in eternity, leaving sweet Persephone to dance on the ashes of The Fat Man’s greedy gluttony.

Thanks

There are a lot of people without whom this project would not have come to fruition or who have helped to varying degrees. This is especially true of RMRK members who have been quite generous!

Dertt
LadyJ
arlen
Acolyte
Lord Stark
Irock
yuyubabe
Malson
PhoenixFire

Your support is appreciated more than I can express.

It looks like you're going for all "real" instruments, which is awesome, but I noticed "purchase sound libraries" is on that list of your. If you're looking for a way around buying sound libraries I'd be happy to bounce a few tracks (not songs, like, instrument-tracks) for you from my computer.

Either way, good luck! Can't wait to hear the finished product.

There are a few instruments I just won't be able to record analog, mostly percussion (taiko drum, anvil), so I'd just run some simple stuff through it. Also there are a few particular synths I want to use. I used to have several libraries, but my hard drive died and I figured I might as well legitimately purchase some. But I had actually considered asking you to bounce a few tracks for me in the case I don't have what I need in time lol. We'll just have to see what I need when the time comes. Thanks!

Finally confirmed my violinist. Still several musicians I need to get a hold of, but that was the big one. The rest are unnecessary at the moment anyway.

Money is a little tighter than I had expected at the moment, so things probably won't start until next month. But I'm talking to a guy about handling the recording and then we'll begin!

After a bit of negotiation, the very talented Kyle Landry is now on board for a couple of songs! I couldn't afford to book him for all the piano parts, unfortunately, but he'll be performing on 2 of the songs as of now, with potentially more later. Which is fine for me because those are the 2 most difficult and I'm already covering like 9 other instruments lol.

And now news on the recording process front! Tentatively starting next month we'll begin recording sessions, I'll edit the first post with the very loose schedule as of now.

Nifty. I somehow missed this untuill now, so thanx for the bump!

anvil

anvil is an instrument?

anvil

anvil is an instrument?

Yep! Although I've decided to just use the common substitute, a brake drum (yes, the part of a car)

I love metal sounds in orchestral music.

And this will have lots of it, though most of it is pitched percussion: glock, chimes, wind chimes, patio chimes, vibes, celesta - but there are a lot of unpitched metallic effects (brake drum, bowed gong, waterphone. I was going to do this cool thing where you put a triangle in water but I ended up cutting the song it was in.

Stress level rising - recording has officially begun! Some synth and electric bass tracks are done and we'll be starting flute very soon. There's been a last minute change with who will be handling the recording process which was slightly horrifying, but everything ended up working out even better than before.

Also I've decided to do a kickstarter donation sorta thingy. I've been very apprehensive about it because I don't feel like I'm anyone to be doing that kind of thing, and honestly it feels a lot like begging and I still feel weird about it, but several people have told me they would like to donate at least a little and finances have been a bit... lower than expected so I'm going to be launching that very soon. There will be incentives for people that donate certain amounts, and everything raised will be put towards speeding up the production process and improving the quality however there are no expectations from me of any of you to donate and this project will get done whether any money is raised or not. I'll have more details about this probably later this week.

Just dropping by to say that I'm really impressed with those demo tracks (I have Dearly Beloved in particular stuck in my head, it's awesome). You're really putting a very respectable amount of effort into this!

I wish you the best of luck, Mr. Halo.

so excited for this  

Among people who have heard the whole thing, Dearly Beloved tends to be one of the most liked. I almost didn't include it among the demo tracks - there's just so many to choose from and they all tend to be a lot different from one to the next, it's hard to choose just a couple of songs to reflect what the overall "album" is like - but I thought maybe it would be popular among new listeners as well and draw in some interest. So yay

And thanks

I really need to stop giving out dates for things because something always comes up that makes me push it back. I haven't started the donations yet because I'm working some stuff out for people in the hopes of being able to offer some pretty cool things for people that do donate. There's also been a slight hiccup in the recording process. So while I was going to post here saying the kickstarter will start next week, I'm instead going to just say it will start "soon".

Hey, it's alright. Take your time with this; delays aren't a bad thing as long as what you're working on comes out how ya want it to, y'know?

I don't really mind the delays because for the past two years and however many months I've been working on this, it's been like 80% delays. I just need to stop telling people "[x] will be done by [y]" because it almost never is. LadyJ can attest to this.

It's ok though, because what you do is so awesome.  It's worth the wait

I totally have faith that the project will be worth any wait.

After several days, we'll finally resume recording tomorrow. The first of two flute sessions, yay. Also, we'll be starting our kickstarter donation thingy tomorrow. Or Sunday. It probably won't actually be Kickstarter, but you know, the crowdfunding thing - with several goodies for people who are feeling generous.

For now, since there hasn't been much of anything happening, I thought it would be neat to share some lyrics. This started out as a rock opera and then was switched to all instrumental, so these lyrics are no longer necessary and never got polished into anything decent. I'm by no means a wordsmith, but I thought it may be entertaining to see the embarrassing scraps of ineligibility rather than just tossing them into the garbage. These are in no particular order:

Spoiler for:

I have not made friends with death
I have not made death my friend
Better to make friends with my enemy
Better to make friends with this knife


The quay fades as the fog rolls in
At least it will hide our grief
Putting on a brave face
Is much easier when no one can see it


Steps turn to walking
Words into meaning
Ingredients for dinner
All the things we're learning


I look about
The man by the lake
Stranger than strange
How is it he resists you?
Where does he find the strength to?


There are times I won't let the tears out
But this time I couldn't hold them back
They flowed all the way from Pinkerton
Back to this spot
Her grave


You link your fingers to make a step
Then we cross over the fence
Approaching uneasily
I stumbled, stumbled on a stone
Dusting off memories, memories of ghosts
Better days gone bye
When you told us we're moving I didn't believe it
Cause I was born in this house, and I thought I'd die
In it too


And I told you that I missed you
But it came out something cosmic
Inauthentic
Pruning, preening
Maybe it's because
Your melody lacks coloratura


A man never knows he's guilty
Until he's forgiven
Familiar guilt, you will be my only child
My only child


I have a strange sense of subversion
I leave my guitar unattended in bars
Only to retrieve it later
Disappointed in my relief


Bullet in the side, what's a girl to do?
Hear the anguished cry
Drink of Earth's softest skin
What's a girl to do?


Flickering like an oil lamp, a figure at the foot of the bed
The color of space, the color of dread, ohh


Sat in the boat
Starting to shiver
We keep rowing
While muscles burn
Beneath my bandage
The tendons tender
But I will manage
Across the lake
Beyond the trees
He's expecting me
The daughter of a piano
Sister to late celesta

That should totally be copied into the Librarium.

That should totally be copied into the Librarium.

Thirded.

That's some very impressive stuff right there.

We began recording flute today, and everything is sounding way better than I'd hoped. Some minor difficulties occurred meaning we'll probably end up doing 3 flute sessions instead of 2, but we're still off to a good start on that front. Electric bass recording should start Monday.

Also, donations are now accepted! Rewards are being offered for those who donate certain amounts, including an early access copy of the album, scorebook (physical and digital versions), and an artbook of concept art done by a talented artist. If you cannot donate, that is not a problem at all and I will not be disappointed in you (probably), but sharing this with others will help. http://www.gofundme.com/7e9tkg

(I'm trying to act comfortable about accepting donations but this still feels weird)

I gave   I'm so excited for this project! 


I don't blame you for being uncomfortable mister, asking for help is hard!  But just remember.. (don't sing this) We all need somebody to leaaaaaaaan on  xD 

I hope I'm not the only one who sang that line ;_;

Thanks!

Also there's a Facebook page if you want to Like it so you can heckle me publicly or keep up with updates or something.

I donated.

I didn't even realize that was animated until you made it big.

I'm not going to keep posting about donating, especially not here on RMRK, but $80 raised so far - it may not seem like a lot but it was much more than I was expecting. And almost all of it has come from RMRK members. I'm already working on scheduling some additional recording sessions with the money (I'm able to access the donated money any time, one of the reasons I chose GoFundMe), so your donations will be put to good use hopefully soon!

Shared it on my Facebook, and, tweeted it from business twitter account... hope that draws some attention your way. I have a few friends who are musicians themselves, so I hope they'll sympathize with the cause and donate a little..


EDIT: I looked at my bank account, and saw I had some funds to donate, and when I went to do so, it required me to pay with credit card =p any way you could set up a PayPal account? I don't do card payments....

Ah, with all the things going on the past few days I knew I would end up forgetting something. Yes, I meant to also post a link for PayPal donations too. Anyone who donates through PayPal will also receive the corresponding applicable reward level from the GoFundMe page. I'll add this tomorrow night.

Much appreciated!

Hang in there! ;_; I'm awaitin' my next paycheck for this (that last one went a little too quickly lol). B) This time, I've got a bit more work hours!~

I know how that is. I pay my credit card, rent, and then wonder why I have no money left! Don't give anything if you can't spare it, it's really okay. Just knowing you guys would is awesome enough!

Okay, I think I've set this up correctly. You should be able to donate via PayPal if you prefer.

Sent a little funds your way   

Much appreciated!

No problem I wish I could donate more, but I quite literally JUST got a better job...


But as one donator already said, keep your head up, and stay strong. Dreams DO come true

I will get to listing to this. I swear. Life is so busy and filled with things I wish didn't matter. What matters to me most is music, really, and that includes music written by absolutely anyone, and I want to be there to be supportive of that, but sometimes life is annoying and gets in the way. I'll get to this, I swear.


edit: a *bit* drunk. you get me, i know you do, and i love you

lol no worries, man.

And while I'm posting here I'd like to thank everyone here for there support! You've all been great in one way or another, whether it's been through donations, encouragement, assisting, or some combination of that. I can seriously say that without RMRK, this project would never have happened, and that has nothing to do with money or anything.

Speaking of donations, I meant to say before that I'll be giving away any one of my Pokemon of your choice to all of you who have donated (or may end up doing so) once Roph gets that all worked out. Yes, even my Celebi. Though who knows, at the rate some people here are going, you may not need anything I have by then!

Actually, that's not necessary, Halo!

With Roph's permission, I will gift a shiny or non-shiny pokemon of their choosing to each person that donated. ;o Just send a PM my way, letting me know what Pokemon you'd like~

Actually, that's not necessary, Halo!

With Roph's permission, I will gift a shiny or non-shiny pokemon of their choosing to each person that donated. ;o Just send a PM my way, letting me know what Pokemon you'd like~

so you mean to tell me I could have a shiny Mew???     -does happy dance if this is true-

so you mean to tell me I could have a shiny Mew???     -does happy dance if this is true-

If that is your wish, mademoiselle. ;o

But that's why I was hoarding! Well whatever, makes no difference to me

EDIT: Caught a Fearow on this post lol

EDIT 2: Then there was a Houndour on the post below but I just caught that Fearow ._.

-commences happy dance-

 

HALOOFTHESUN, I, Baroness Jules, JUST CANNOT HIDE MY LOVE FOR YOU FOR A SECOND LONGER ;___; OH MY GOD

KAPEW, KAPEW!

Enjoy your new mew!

KAPEW, KAPEW!

Enjoy your new mew!

define $happy_level=( :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D )*infinite

thank yooou

So, someone outside of the USA want to tell me if my ad  has been placed up...?

what

Are you sure you posted that in the right thread

Yep, I'm sure.. take a look at the top of this page...

Should see a banner with From The Lake on it? Also, I'm the high bidder on ALL channels right now

It is in Canada at least.

cool, and I have it up on mine here in the US

I saw it for a bit. Now it's the "Worst Things For Sale" one. ;_;

RMRK has ads? I am ~~sooooo~~ confused right now !!!

Spoiler for:

okay, I know RMRK has ads but I've never seen one because of adblock please forgive me Roph ._.

Now it's something about bridges. Wrrrrooooar! Bring back the "From The Lake" ad, Project Wonderful! ._.

Now it's something about bridges. Wrrrrooooar! Bring back the "From The Lake" ad, Project Wonderful! ._.

Back now :3

Lord Stark has also donated - thanks very much!

I promise that very soon we'll be getting back to non-donation-related updates. You probably won't see me around Saturday and Sunday and then after that I'm going to try and get the next recording session scheduled for that Saturday the 22nd.

EDIT: Just realized that I don't think I mentioned Acolyte's donation yesterday! Very sorry about that - but thank you so much! You are all too kind.

I almost entered in a bidding war with you for the leaderboard ad.

But then I didn't.

Keep up the good work Halo!

Lord Stark has also donated - thanks very much!

I promise that very soon we'll be getting back to non-donation-related updates. You probably won't see me around Saturday and Sunday and then after that I'm going to try and get the next recording session scheduled for that Saturday the 22nd.

EDIT: Just realized that I don't think I mentioned Acolyte's donation yesterday! Very sorry about that - but thank you so much! You are all too kind.

No problem bro. 

Nice ad. It took me a second to realise what i was looking at!

For the record, the ad is not my doing.

I know who dun it

I do too I just don't want to take credit for something I didn't do

Hey yeah, I know who she was too...

I'm pretty sure it was some generous feeling member that just wanted to help out, and she decided that PW might just be a good way to do so =p honestly, no big deal guys...

And I'll send the PW income from here or elsewhere to Halo

Tomorrow we resume recording sessions for flute! It's very likely we'll need one more after this, though hopefully there will be such little left to do that I can double it up with another instrument's session.

In any case, tomorrow I will probably post a little clip of some of the flute music, just to give people an idea of the quality of recording this will be.

I didn't forget about this! ;o;

I only wish I could have helped out a little more!

Don't be silly. Giving anything is loads of help! <3

Just got back from recording! We got a lot done today.

But uh... I forgot to get the clip I was going to show people. I'm gonna see if I can get it sent to me tonight.

GOSH, halo.

(No, seriously, we can be patient ;_; )

Heck no we cain't (cause that's how I say it )

He said he'll send it to me tomorrow morning

OK

It's tomorrow morning

It's tomorrow morning

This 

Yeah, I've texted him but he still hasn't responded to my message. He's a pretty busy guy. I definitely don't want to annoy him by constantly messaging him about it, so we'll just have to wait and see. If he still hasn't sent it by tomorrow I'll post another MIDI demo or something.

ok

He just responded and said he'll get it to me soon. So, fingers crossed I guess.

Not that he's unreliable or anything. Like I said, he's very busy. And when I say very busy I mean I can't even comprehend the amount of stuff he has going on, so sending me a flute track I forgot to ask for in the first place is probably lower on his list of priorities than a lot of things. So it's no big deal. He's great and very professional and I'm really excited to be working with him.

Oh, and he'll probably be filling in the acoustic guitar part for me - and potentially some electric guitar.

Nothin' wrong with being busy.

Just keep on trucking, my friend. Can't wait to here those guitars, btw; I love me some acoustic. <3

Here we go:

Remember that this is raw audio so we haven't done anything to it yet, plus it's a low bitrate mp3, but good enough for what this is. We actually need to do another take on this because the end is a little sloppy, but you get the idea.

That is lovely

;_; why can't I play the flute like that?

*cries in a corner*

(I guess I can't play the flute at all. D:)

Here's the section that flute solo occurs in as heard in the MIDI version, for comparison or something:
So definitely a lot of improvement having a real person actually play it (plus MIDI flute just sucks anyway and is way quiet). And as you can see, or hear rather, a lot of instruments left to record in just this passage alone.

O.O Whoa. That really is a big difference.

Definitely like the human version better.

I like it, very calming on the nerves

We actually need to do another take on this because the end is a little sloppy, but you get the idea.

dem semiquavers amirite

i reckon i could do that on a flute probably much worse tone quality though

Wow, that MIDI version is wonderful.

Great job all around!

We actually need to do another take on this because the end is a little sloppy, but you get the idea.

dem semiquavers amirite

i reckon i could do that on a flute probably much worse tone quality though

Yeah. If it weren't a solo it wouldn't be a big deal because you wouldn't notice some of the notes being glossed over or whatever if it were being played by other instruments.

She has really good tone quality - dat vibrato. I've heard her play it right a dozen times before, mistakes happen, and for some reason I just didn't catch it in the studio. Well, none of us did. It's an easy fix though.

I think she's wishing I hadn't posted it because it she thinks it makes her look bad lol. It isn't a big deal though, because we'll just get a better take next time. And really I wouldn't have posted it at all if I hadn't already said I was going to. Oh well.

Tell her to stop it! Heck I thought it was pretty good, you music people have to catch the mistakes. We music lovers just enjoy it ;P   

Just when things seemed like they were picking up steam, we've reached a bit of a lull. The only downside with working with so many people and musicians is that you're working with a lot of people. That means lots of schedules to synchronize, and, because of how life goes, that means lots of rescheduling and changing plans and moving things around etc.

That's okay, though, because while for the most part April probably won't have much activity, May and June will for sure. I'm hoping this weekend to start recording tuba, but that's seeming unlikely so that might have to wait a bit. Trombone and saxophone to come after. I imagine acoustic guitar recording will be done sometime soonish, since the guy handling most of the recording is playing that, so he doesn't need me there for it to be done. Synths and piano are getting recorded a little bit here and there. Bass is still being worked on as I type this, and then June will yield some awesome drum recordings. Somewhere in here I hope we can begin violin recording - this month ideally but most probably not until May at least.

I was going to start recording cello this coming Saturday, but the cellist quit on me suddenly , so that probably won't be done until late this year since I have to find someone new now and I don't know anymore cellists. But that's okay, one thing at a time.

In trying to get everything coordinated I made up a chart for me to keep track of what has been recorded, what hasn't, and who plays in which song. It's certainly helping to let me know at a glance what needs to be done but a side-effect of it making up the chart this early on is that it all seems quite overwhelming (there's lots of songs and a ton of instruments, though many of them will be virtual).

Spoiler for:

While it looks as though we're only halfway through recording flute even though we've been working on that for like a month now, there's actually not a lot left to record for that.

That spreadsheet shows a woeful lacking of bass clarinet

Yeah, I've been debating adding more or just cutting it entirely, which is why it's just stuck at one song at the moment. I could even just give bassoon parts to bass clarinet or something, but I'd rather not.

I suppose this makes a good opportunity to talk about the somewhat strange choices in instrumentation going on sometimes. The thing to remember most is that this is being done on a budget. That doesn't mean I'm going to sacrifice the quality of music by leaving things out that I feel need to be there, but it does mean that I just can't afford to use every instrument I want on every single song which is a major reason when looking at the spreadsheet that the brass and woodwinds' appearances are kind of spotty. This isn't such a bad thing, though. In actuality I ended up liking this more because it subtly gives each song a different characteristic. But it does mean I have situations where I have to think "does this really need a bass clarinet part or can I just use the bassoon which I'm already going to pay for anyway?".

The other thing that is a more specific reason that there is a lack of bass clarinet is that there are already a lot of bass instruments: bassoon, trombone, tuba, guitars (which I generally have in the tenor range most often, but still has a lot of bass notes), bass guitar, cello (and french horn can get a bit low sometimes too). That isn't even counting piano, marimba, timpani, etc. This is also the reason there is no contrabass in the strings. It would be nice to have, but it's just not practical (plus I don't even know anyone that plays the bass because no one does - it's boring).

So I don't know. I was just thinking about this last night actually. I think what will happen is I'm going to save recording bass clarinet for last and just wait to hear how the tracks develop until then. If there's enough room to squeeze another instrument into the bass range then I probably will.

Such a long reply to such a short post

Hey, when you're on a budget, the best course of action is to the make the most of what you have. I can tell you're doing just that.

Do whatever else you can as well, of course.

The budget has actually been beneficial, I think. As I said it's made me limit instrumentation but I do think that's been a good thing. If money weren't an issue, I would probably have put every instrument in every song (minus "Graveyard" and not counting percussion and "specialty" instruments). It's made the writing better, really, because I've had to think a lot more about balance than I normally would and whether certain things are actually necessary.

Also it keeps things fresh for the listener's ear, mostly subconsciously. For example, there's a period of 5 consecutive songs without the acoustic guitar. It's an important instrument, and it isn't left out of those songs to save money, but just because the budget made me consider whether it was actually needed to have it in those songs, which it turns out the songs are better without it. And while you might not notice consciously the absence of an acoustic guitar, your ear will. The aural color the instrument brings will be noticed and welcomed after a 5-song absence. Things like that are important when you consider there's 19 songs - almost 80 minutes of music - which can be very tiring to a listener sitting through it all at once. Changing things up like that keeps it from getting too tiring too quickly.

I guess today is HaloOfTheSun Gives Lectures On Musical Mechanics Nobody Asked About Day.

The aural color the instrument brings will be noticed and welcomed ...

I love it when you talk dirty. 

o.o

o.o

a really long post

If you ever really want to use bass clarinet but it doesn't seem practical due to budget or whatever, please let me know. It's such a beautiful instrument and it would be a shame if you couldn't use it just because of some silly moneys.

Bassoon clearly supreme instrument tho

Are you offering to play bass clarinet for me or something

Bassoon > Bass Clarinet

I'm saying if you want a bass clarinet and you don't have a bass clarinet, I am a bass clarinet. Dush.

I always thought you were a didgeridoo.

AND WHO PUT THAT TINY FACE IN MY SIGNATURE

The bass gods

better run man OH SHIT

I always thought you were a didgeridoo.

AND WHO PUT THAT TINY FACE IN MY SIGNATURE

i am a lot of things.

I just wanted to let everyone know that there probably won't be any updates here for a while. There's been lots of changes and rescheduling, resulting in analog recording being held off until June - but boy, is June going to be very busy: drums, saxophone, trombone, tuba, and possibly some violin and piano. Other things will probably be worked on in the meantime, but I'm not going to discuss that right now since it's a bit up in the air, but hopefully the people I've talked to will be able to get some recording done soon (it's okay if you don't, for those of you who are actually members here and may read this - whenever you have the time, no rush... for now anyway lol).

For the time being, I'll probably put up another MIDI version of one of these songs.

I've also been going through all the unused music I've written for this of which there is quite a lot. Almost as much as the music that made the cut, I'd wager. The program I write in, Sibelius, also has a feature called "Versions" which lets you save a version of the score within the score for instances where you make changes but you aren't entirely sure you'll want to keep it or if you're like me and you just like to look back at how a piece of music may have changed over time. It's actually pretty interesting how drastically some of these songs have changed. Back when I first started this and it was a rock opera, I also wanted to include a lot of shifts in genre and for each song to be stylistically different one to the next. That's not something that stayed as changes were made, although it's still there to a degree. But it's really weird hearing some of these songs done in a flamenco style which then transitions into a surf rock style. Maybe that's something I should have left in. Oh well, there's always future projects

I may put together a post that showcases one of these evolutions later on with clips comparing the changes, etc. but I don't think that will actually be as interesting as it may sound to many people (and I imagine it probably doesn't sound that interesting anyway).

tl;dr TO BE CONTINUED (in June or maybe late May)

Dayum. That's a lot of instruments. o.o

Good luck to you guys! B) May June be an ever-promising month!

Take your time, by all means. You've definitely got a productive month coming, and we're all excited to see what you have.

Okay screw it, I'm gonna start tracking the loads of percussion for this thing. That was something I was going to do towards the end of production because I had to buy the library, but I went ahead and did it now because the idea of sitting and waiting until June to get anything done makes me fidgety. You might say I'm a bit of a workaholic. That's okay though, because, as you may see from the chart, there is a quite large amount of percussion. In fact it turns out that chart is missing a few entries on the percussion side and I'm sure I'll have some ideas for new parts as I'm getting it all ready, so this is good I have a month just to concentrate on this alone.

In other news, I decided to upload another MIDI demo track, Sun Reverie:

I was iffy, then it hit 1 min in, and I was sold    

I'm your number one fan

Spoiler for:

lol

Well the beginning is one of those bits that in particular does not benefit well from being a synthetic performance. Although even after it's recorded, that whole intro section will still be harder to digest for some than others because there are some strong dissonances and the home key is not established very well etc. There is actually a lot of strong dissonance and general "unpleasantness" throughout a lot of the songs, but up until now the demos haven't shown that much. That is not to say it isn't enjoyable, just that there are many parts that are intended to be difficult on your ear so that when moments like the one at 1 minute into Sun Reverie show up, they are much more welcomed and have a stronger impact. And then there are other musical reasons and stuff that I won't bother getting into right now because no one actually cares lol.

Glad you liked it!

So I gave Sun Reverie a listen, since it's been a while since I gave a track of yours a listen.

I have to say, the tone shifts around 1:00 and 3:00 are excellent and really helped me enjoy the song. I WAS rather neutral on the intro, to be honest, though considering how well done the rest of the track is, I think it's a great set-up, if just for the sheer contrast.

Exceptional effort, my king.

The intro will make more sense within the context of the entire project as a whole. Plus being unMIDIfied will help too. Even still, the intro along with a lot of other parts will be a bit harder to digest. This is intentional and I think/hope people will understand why and will still enjoy it. Not that anything is straight up atonal or anything.

Thanks!

Ohhhh I get it now. I uploaded an older version of Sun Reverie. I was wondering why the intro seemed to be a problem for people. The current version is not as dissonant and harsh as the one you've heard, though it still is to a degree.

So it turns out the studio I was going to use to record drums no longer exists. After a minor panic attack I managed to find another one that should do just fine. Drum tracking will officially begin June 11th! Exciting. Less exciting: Tuba will be recorded on June 7th, with trombone and saxophone to follow each Saturday after that. I was hoping to start recording violin at the end of this month, but for various reasons that will be pushed back. Perhaps the end of June, but will definitely start by July.

Also I've decided to cut another song, "Burdened Clouds of Mournful Gray". I'll probably work up a version of it to be included with the demos and alt tracks for those who donated, though it won't be a recording of live musicians.

Always sucks when a convenient option (the studio in this case, of course) just up and disappears. :/

Glad you found a replacement, though! Violin it up, too, my brotha.

Starbucks seemed overrated so I donated to your project.  Happy Birthday music man!  <3 

Recording drums tomorrow and Thursday! Hopefully we'll get it all done in these two days (a huge undertaking). I just wanted to let y'all that donated know that I've taken all of your money and am using it for these two days.

Beyond that there isn't much else to say that I haven't been saying already: going to start recording tuba, trombone, saxophone on the 21st. We were supposed to start on the 7th but a lot of stuff kept coming up. The 21st is definite now. And I'm also trying to schedule some time to record violin around the 27th. I wanted to start on that a month ago, but stuff kept coming up. Frustrating, but understandable.

I have all but one percussion track done which is one of the ones I'm going to actually have to perform myself, and I've done a lot of synth stuff. I'm actually really excited about that because I made a bunch of my own patches and they sound really cool. I put a little demo together and showed a couple of people and they said it's the coolest thing they've heard in a long time, so there's that. I think mostly they were unaware that there was going to be so much electronic stuff in these songs since you don't really get that in the MIDI versions.

Anyway, super excited/nervous about tomorrow. Still have tons of click tracks to get ready before then, so back to work!

Recording drums tomorrow and Thursday! Hopefully we'll get it all done in these two days (a huge undertaking). I just wanted to let y'all that donated know that I've taken all of your money and am using it for these two days.

Beyond that there isn't much else to say that I haven't been saying already: going to start recording tuba, trombone, saxophone on the 21st. We were supposed to start on the 7th but a lot of stuff kept coming up. The 21st is definite now. And I'm also trying to schedule some time to record violin around the 27th. I wanted to start on that a month ago, but stuff kept coming up. Frustrating, but understandable.

I have all but one percussion track done which is one of the ones I'm going to actually have to perform myself, and I've done a lot of synth stuff. I'm actually really excited about that because I made a bunch of my own patches and they sound really cool. I put a little demo together and showed a couple of people and they said it's the coolest thing they've heard in a long time, so there's that. I think mostly they were unaware that there was going to be so much electronic stuff in these songs since you don't really get that in the MIDI versions.

Anyway, super excited/nervous about tomorrow. Still have tons of click tracks to get ready before then, so back to work!

yes that is what he said good job

I'd assume he's still busy with it or something's just fucking with his attention and keeping him from getting it done. People tend to be like that with projects.

I actually made another post after that one. I don't know why it's missing. I guess someone didn't like it. Here's the tl;dr version, from what I remember:

Recording progress chart updated! Looks like a lot is done but the chart is a liar, very long way to go.

Drums sound great! He had about two weeks to learn some very difficult and demanding music, and knocked out 17 songs in 2 days. Amazing work, but understandably there are a lot of mistakes I need to try and fix (unintentional rim hits, missed/hesitant notes, etc.). There's a couple of songs where I can tell he's just exhausted, so hopefully we can hide that fact a bit lol.

What we've pieced together so far sounds awesome. Excited to show people... but it'll be a long time before I have anything to show. I might put together some demos later on of what we've recorded so far for the people who donated, just as a little preview, but even that would be at least a couple of months away, so we'll see.

I actually made another post after that one. I don't know why it's missing. I guess someone didn't like it.

Nothing that I could see in the log. ;_;

Maybe it was Ghost Dog

Maybe I hit "Preview" instead of "Post" and then closed the tab or something.

Probably Ghost Dog tho

We are still progressing, inching forward ever slowly week by week. We're getting close to a time, though, that things are going to slow down drastically. This is not entirely a bad thing. All the musicians I've worked with so far have been kind enough to do so for free, but with the exception of two or three of them, their work is now done. But I still have many instruments left to record, meaning it's going to be time to start looking for musicians to hire. I knew this was coming, but I honestly didn't think we'd get to that point so fast! This is largely due to all the donations, which put our schedule literally a month ahead of what was planned. Once all the announced musicians get their work done, that will leave recording only 5 more people! For us that's a small number, but make no mistake, that's still going to take several months to get done.

At the same time, we've hit a bit of a bump in the road. I'm not going to discuss the reasons openly (they aren't really all that interesting or dramatic like you may think anyway), but I've had to replace the violinist. I'm still on good terms with the former violinist and it isn't anything personal or anything like that.  I've luckily already found a new one but recording him is going to take a long time due to how far away he lives.

As for what else I should post, I've been debating on what to include. I like to keep a bit of mystery, in a sense, as to what's going on and how the songs are turning out. But on the other hand, if I keep making boring long-winded posts then I'm probably going to start annoying people (if I haven't already), so here's a very rough, very early demo of one of the songs, "The Color of Space, The Color of Dread". PLEASE KEEP IN MIND that there are a lot of mistakes that need to be fixed, especially with instruments not lining up very well with each other. We haven't done any quantizing or anything to these tracks yet. There's not even any reverb. This is all raw audio and a lot of it hasn't even been mixed properly, except to avoid clipping and bringing parts done so as to not be obnoxious.  There are also many instruments missing! So if you have a comment such as "[x] is boring because nothing is happening" or "your drummer sucks" or "I can't hear the melody very well at [x]" or "your keyboardist sucks", save those comments until the finished version and see if you still feel that way. Any other criticism is welcomed though!

So uh, yeah! It's been a while. Things are still going, albeit slowly. There's not much to update on, and there probably won't be for a while. But all of the synth/digital instruments are done, unless you count electric guitar. Everyone pester Malson to get him going on that We'll be recording more in early January and then probably not much of anything until later next year, unfortunately. It's gotten down to the point where the only instruments I have left to record are those where I'll need to hire a musician and probably pay for studio time, and financially I'm not in a place to do that right now. So it's going to be a bit longer before this project gets finished, but it will happen!

EDIT: Oh yeah, donators will get a piano version of "Graveyard" soon, performed by Kyle Landry!

Small update + venting:

Dang, this whole project has been way more than I thought it would be. It's like a stream of one unfortunate event after another, most of it delays. All the delays the past few months have been due to weather (preventing travel between cities) so thankfully that won't be an issue anymore. There also seems to be a problem with some lost audio but nothing too major. It's still a setback and an annoyance, though. It's not really anyone's fault and I know why it happened. But it still annoys me So just a bunch of stuff like that since basically, gosh, July? Unforeseen money issues slowed things down too, but that's not as much of a problem anymore.

In fact, in order to speed up this process I'm going to get recording equipment myself. It's the same equipment we've been using, so the quality will remain the same. But now I'm able to use it anytime instead of only Saturdays from 3 to 6pm. This also means I can actually travel to musicians and record in their home instead of trying to work travel into their schedule - and I won't have to rent a studio if I do that because, well, I am the studio. So while it costs a lot upfront it will save money and a LOT of time in the long run. No more working around 3 or 4 schedules for a little 2 hour session!

So before that I was thinking I wouldn't be able to make my goal of finishing recording this year, but now that's a very strong possibility *fingers crossed*

I know you guys understand/don't really care, but thanks for your patience.

I was wondering how things were going with FTL, so it's good to see an update! I'm sorry to hear that the past couple months sucked, but it's great to see you bounce back from those setbacks! I'm very much excited to see the finished product, and shall be keeping my fingers crossed for you. B)


B
)

What kind of equipment are you getting? :o

I was wondering how things were going with FTL, so it's good to see an update! I'm sorry to hear that the past couple months sucked, but it's great to see you bounce back from those setbacks! I'm very much excited to see the finished product, and shall be keeping my fingers crossed for you. B)


B
)

Well I take it as a learning experience. There's a lot more that goes into this than I expected, and some of it I should have expected. For future projects I'll know better and hopefully things will go smoothly. I don't really mind too much. What bothers me the most is that From The Lake is officially almost 3 and a half years old. I'm very anxious to let everyone hear it - and honestly quite ready to move on to other things lol. But I don't want to rush it and end up compromising the quality, either.

What kind of equipment are you getting?

The microphone is an MXL 880 condenser. It's used more for vocals, but it works pretty well for instruments too. Well enough for a large-scale low budget project like this, anyway. I think there's a USB version, but I'm not very satisfied with the quality of USB microphones that we tried out, and everyone that knows about recording that I've talked to recommends against them if possible, as well. So that means I'm also getting a Presonus firestudio project interface for the mic.

One day when we have our own house we want to set up a recording studio anyway, so this is a good start.

Arrived today. I need a new mic cable so I'll have to borrow one in the meantime. But I think by the time June rolls around, I'll be ready to do lots of recording.

Woooott!!!

Looks good. I'm always glad to see a new post in this thread TBH hahah

Well hopefully before long the posts will be more interesting lol

QUICK - post nudes

99% of the internet loves nudes

Okay!

By the end of July some serious progress will have been made. Many dates for recording are scheduled. After that I'll only have:

Acoustic guitar
Electric guitar
Alto flute
Trumpet
French horn
Viola
Cello

left to record. That seems like a lot but it really isn't, all things considered. You shouldn't expect to be listening to the finished project anytime soon. So what's the big deal then? Well this means there is finally a light at the end of this tunnel.

why don't you just have the eagles take you over the tunnel?

Okay!

By the end of July some serious progress will have been made. Many dates for recording are scheduled. After that I'll only have:

Acoustic guitar
Electric guitar
Alto flute
Trumpet
French horn
Viola
Cello

left to record. That seems like a lot but it really isn't, all things considered. You shouldn't expect to be listening to the finished project anytime soon. So what's the big deal then? Well this means there is finally a light at the end of this tunnel.

That is great news!

why don't you just have the eagles take you over the tunnel?

Because the eagles will get shot.

oh ok sorry

 

Omg I'm so glad I didn't miss the release!

I played french horn in middle school before I quit because I wasn't good at it so if you need a french horn player you know who to call (not me)

ok thanks I'll be sure to do that

Okay!

By the end of July some serious progress will have been made. Many dates for recording are scheduled. After that I'll only have:

Acoustic guitar
Electric guitar
Alto flute
Trumpet
French horn
Viola
Cello

left to record. That seems like a lot but it really isn't, all things considered. You shouldn't expect to be listening to the finished project anytime soon. So what's the big deal then? Well this means there is finally a light at the end of this tunnel.

How did I miss this? That's awesome!! ;_;

Omg I'm so glad I didn't miss the release!

Don't worry. Once it's done I'll make a big to-do and make sure all you RMRK peoples know in some way or another.

Okay!

By the end of July some serious progress will have been made. Many dates for recording are scheduled. After that I'll only have:

Acoustic guitar
Electric guitar
Alto flute
Trumpet
French horn
Viola
Cello

left to record. That seems like a lot but it really isn't, all things considered. You shouldn't expect to be listening to the finished project anytime soon. So what's the big deal then? Well this means there is finally a light at the end of this tunnel.

How did I miss this? That's awesome!! ;_;

It is awesome, yes. If everything goes well this month then a huge chucnk will get done. Some of it I've been super worried about. The fact that we're about to move forward on it is exciting, a huge relief, and terrifying all at the same time.

How big is a huge chucnk? Is that like pretty close to all or 


 

Yes and no.

I've already done some recording and we didn't get as much done as I'd hoped. It's no one's fault, it's just sometimes no matter how much you practice something when it comes time to actually perform it you may make a mistake. (we were also working with a "damaged" instrument, so getting it to produce certain pitches has been difficult). So in addition to the instruments listed above, I'll probably have to add tuba to the list and very likely just a little more violin. They won't take much time to do, it's just a matter of finding the time to do them.

And finding the time to do the rest of them. That's the big thing. That and money. French horn, trumpet, viola, and most likely cello are going to cost me. I should be able to afford it all around September.

Of all the instruments that are left:

Acoustic guitar: should not actually take too long once we get started. Planning on that maybe this month but possibly not until August.
Electric guitar: That's up to Malson. He's a pretty busy guy these days, so I don't know. Once he gets going I don't think it should take more than a month.
Alto flute: we can get this all recorded in a day. I just have to make a trip to Louisville first and also find a place to sit down for a few hours and record it.
Trumpet: will probably only take 2 sessions. Depends on who I hire
French horn: will probably take 3 sessions. Depends on who I hire
Viola: will probably take 3 sessions. Depends on who I hire. This is also going to be a tricky one, because finding someone who actually plays viola is not easy.
Cello: will probably take 3 sessions. I have someone in mind for this and she's really good. But again, she's a very busy person, so it largely depends on her schedule.

tl;dr

Once I have the money (in September most likely) I will hire everyone else I need to. If I can find people to do it and they all can work immediately, I could finish recording probably by October or November and then move on to the hair-pulling process of mixing. If people are not like me and they actually have lives outside of this project, I suspect it wouldn't be until about February or so until recording is done.

Being able to actually estimate when recording will be done is huge though. A few months ago I had no idea. It could have lasted until December of 2016 for all I knew.

If you're asking when you'll be able to listen to the finished product, I can't say. My hope is spring 2016 but I'm not going to say anything official yet. Still too early.

I may be able to start putting together some early demos for donators though in the next couple of months.

Things are happening! (Ignore the part at the top with the bpm, key, and meter since they're all a lie)



Still missing a lot of stuff. The intro and outro are basically nothing at the moment as you may be able to tell but that will change soon.

Things are happening! (Ignore the part at the top with the bpm, key, and meter since they're all a lie)

I'm going to ignore all of it, because I don't understand any of this.

Good!

*fingers screen*

Shoot, I can't read braille.

Whoa, did you put all that together without setting the tempo or time signature?

I had a metronome click track that I used for reference but it's not in the picture.

There's too many meter and tempo changes to bother doing it in Logic.

That's pretty impressive still. I'd be kinda nervous ignoring the guides.

I'm really looking forward to this

I don't know, it doesn't seem very hard to me. That's how I've always done my mixing though.

I guess I should explain the image a little to those of you non-musicians. What you're looking at is a very zoomed out view of all the tracks I have so far of the first song. Actually there are a few more bits not in that image, but anyway. I decided to go ahead and start doing as much preliminary mixing as I can to save time. And also because I hadn't heard everything all together yet.

It sounds awesome.

So maybe it's time for another preview?  xD lol

There's some things I still need to do first, but yes that is coming. Probably the first week of August.

I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but what inspired the name?

Oddly enough it was Resident Evil 4. When I found out del lago translates to from the lake, I thought that was a really evocative phrase and I wanted to use it for a piece of music. That didn't happen for like 6 years until I started this.

When this was still a rock opera, even though we didn't have a story yet I knew I wanted that to be the title because it brings about a lot of vivid images, to my mind at least. We worked around the lake being a centerpiece and that influenced the music which influenced the story which influenced the music etc.

SOON

oh my
I don't know if I'm prepared for this.

SOON

!

I'm reeaaaadddaaayyyy

Your body is not ready

You just had to go there.