Sounds To Confuse Your Dog #2 by Victor Lams

As threatened, here is my latest track. The theme was provided by a friend as the track was commissioned to be a site theme song (more on that later).

Dead Trek Relatives by Victor Lams

Just learning my way around a new library (Garritan's World Instruments), I did this in half an hour this morning. Because, you never know when you'll need a full recorder ensemble!

http://www.victorlams.com/audio/Victor_Lams_-_Ye_Olde_Faire_Knights.mp3

I'm still on my archive.org old 1950s educational film short kick. Here's a new song inspired by one of the films, along with the film re-edited as a music video. The original film meant to teach kids not to be afraid, but seriously -- what kind of lesson is that to be teaching our kids nowadays?



And here is just the music:

Victor Lams - "Don't Be Afraid"

This isn't a real song, just me messing around for an hour or so with some synths and a new channelstrip plugin (TeamDNR's Mixcontrol). If you like repetitive robot music, then you might enjoy this.



http://www.victorlams.com/audio/Victor_Lams_-_Repetitive_Robot_Music.mp3

There's never been an easier way to learn the "Pater Noster"!



I'm not sure what I was thinking when I had this idea, because shoehorning plainsong into one of the most rigid forms of music around was probably not the best idea in the world, but I thought it'd be fun to hear once I'd made it. And I'm pleased with the results.

Also -- here is the audio file so you can download it for your iPods:

http://www.victorlams.com/audio/Victor_Lams_-_Pater_Noster.mp3

Here is a delightful instrumental / percussion amuse-bouche to whet your palate. Nothing too profound here, just playing around with various percussional timbres, whence the title.

http://www.victorlams.com/audio/Victor_Lams_-_Id_Hit_That.mp3

No synths this time (a first for me)! Used only the instruments pictured above (plus my voice and our kitchen wok-lid as a gong, not pictured): ashiko hand-drum (djembe like), kosika shaker, tambourine, box drum, mbira/kalimba, bamboo saxophone, and some weird bamboo/reed whistle. I used ample instances of Celemony Melodine to keep everything in tune (and repitch a few notes), and looped some of the parts a bit (and the 4-on-the-floor "kick" is the ashiko pitched down roughly 5 semitones). Most were recorded with an SM58, my voice with my CAD-M177. The reverb is a cave impulse in Cakewalk Perfect Space.



http://www.victorlams.com/audio/Victor_Lams_-_Off_the_Grid.mp3

If you're offended by this, you're not wrong.

http://www.victorlams.com/audio/Victor_Lams_-_Popcicle_Man.mp3

I realized this past weekend that I hadn't done a two-minute rock opera yet about a mechanical engineer who steals a tank. So I fixed that (there's a General Dynamcs tank plant near Detroit that we used to drive past whenever we'd visit our grandparents, so that's the Michigan connection).

This features Alchemy, Minimonsta, Jamcussion, SonikSynth 2, and a backwards guitar chord (that I played all by myself!).

http://www.victorlams.com/audio/Victor_Lams_-_General_Dynamics.mp3

Lyric:
He's thinking about getting the band back together
But he knows there never really was a band
He found a funny video he'd like to show his son
But he won't see him until next weekend.
And it's too early to get excited about going home
According to the 20-year clock up on the shelf
Not that there's anything to get excited about
And these brackets won't design themeselves.

General Dynamics
You can't be quiet, you can't be loud
General Dynamics
Don't deny it, stand out from the crowd
Because when you look back at all your time
and find that from it all you shrank
That's the time to break out of line
And steal yourself a tank.

Maybe it was a problem with AutoCAD
Maybe just missing the life he'd never had,
After years of being nothing he just wanted to be bad,
And that night he was working late.
He had a friend in the guard at the shack
They'd gone to school together many years back
And so just by faking a heart attack
He subdued him and made it through the factory gate.

Fire that bad boy up
M-1-A
Slam that hatch door shut
They'll finally listen, today.

General Dynamics
Quiet time is over now
General Dynamics
Never liked this fac'try anyhow
Like Hell! the Earth belongs to the weak
Or to those whom it destroys
Maybe they'll listen when you speak
If your tank backs it up with noise.

None of this was really necessary
Could have avoided the run-in with the military
And the Page One obituary
With a little general dynamics.