Soyuz 2

More homemade music, and another tribute to Soyuz - the Soviet veteran which is still the only way to get people into space. Inspired by the Soyuz exhibited at the wonderful National Space Centre in Leicester.

Composed in Caustic 3, with vocals, samples and editing in Audacity. I also used Audacity to render a final mix, amplified at -11 Db. I hope it sounds less 'hot' and clipped than my earlier efforts.

The twiddling and droning are all my own work. The sampled Russian radio chatter came from here and the Red Army Choir sample from here. The video samples came from here, here and here.

Soyuz - Homemade music by A Real Patrick Martin

Knob twiddling on Caustic 3, using its modular softsynth and padsynth, edited in Audacity with samples of Soyuz missions from www.svengrahn.pp.se plus some droning from me. At least I'm not pretending to sing.

I was inspired by my favourite object at the National Space Centre in Leicester, a Soyuz capsule which really is hanging from the ceiling between the cafe and the gift shop:

Liberty (remix of XTC song)

'Statue Of Liberty' is a 1977 single by the wonderful XTC. I've had it in my head as an earworm for a month or so, and decided to exorcise it with a crude Audacity remix, plus some added audio clips. It was only when I finished it that I made the connection to Trump's state visit to the UK this month. Weird things, brains.

My Hero (for Shane Rimmer)

I grew up with Thunderbirds, and Scott Tracy (voiced by Shane Rimmer) was my first role model and male hero. With the sad death of Shane on 29 March 2019, I have uploaded my first ever bit of shabby digital music, which samples the voices of Shane and Peter Dyneley (Jeff Tracy), and tramples all over the majestic music of the criminally underrated Barry Gray. RIP Shane.

I Like Trains

This was composed on my train to work, using Caustic 3. Vocals and melodica (thanks Santa!) added in Audacity. I boosted the vocal levels, after being told that the lyrics were too mumbly.

My back catalogue

For the sake of completeness, here are some links to Soundcloud, which has all of my recordings, as well as two recent playlists:

Profile with all songs
Demonstrations - My First EP
Air Pressure EP

Pipes

If anyone were actually reading this, I would offer a prize for the first person to identify the source of the samples on this one. I quite like the video, which is about a steam engine at the Science Museum.

Night

I seem to veer between naive pop songs and weird twiddlings. This is definitely on the twiddling side.

Afraid

This got me my first 'Don't Like' vote on YouTube, which made me very proud. The vocal samples are from old episodes of Dr Who and UFO, and the video is from a John Mills movie.

Automation

This is my first experiment with using Text To Speech software, instead of my own flat monotone. I think I just made myself redundant as a singer. It was also the first track I made using the automation controls on Caustic 3 - hence the title.

Interference - When does 4 = 3

I have been working very slowly through some books on digital music composition while making these pieces - can't you tell? One suggested an apparently common trick of overlaying tracks with three beats and four beats to the bar. I quite like the effect.

The tune was written using Caustic 3, mostly on my phone. This has been the best few quid I have ever spent on my phone, and has revolutionised my journeys into work. I am not sure that my fellow travellers agree.

Another Day On Mars

My first YouTube posting was intended as a tribute to the incredible achievement of the NASA InSight team, who, while landing a drilling rig on Mars, inadvertently gave us our first ever recording of the sound of another planet. I sampled their telecon about this, which is at https://youtu.be/2otHin-DESg.

I sent a message to the InSight PR team at NASA, inviting them to listen to my homage. Strangely they haven't replied, but then they haven't sent me a 'cease and desist' letter either.

Vanity publishing will eat itself

So, here's the thing. I am a grown-up bloke who has been playing about with homemade digital music for a few years now. But I have written more tunes than I have followers. I can't even force my own children to listen to my stuff.

Having been on Soundcloud for a while now, I have recently found Facebook groups of people who share some of my enthusiasms, and I have started making YouTube videos to accompany my songs; and quite enjoying that too, even if I still have more limbs than subscribers. I can also count my followers on my own fingers and toes (and that's including the Soundcloud bots), so why launch myself onto yet another platform, to yet more resounding silence?

I have seen other homemade music enthusiasts make good use of blog pages to put their music into context, saying more than you can on a YouTube listing. I also enjoy writing, so I though I'd add some dodgy text to go with my dodgy music.I guess that's why they call it vanity publishing. I may be the last person on Earth to start a blog.

For the record, here are my existing musical conversations with an overwhelmingly disinterested world:

Soundcloud: Old Enough To Know Better (surprisingly enough, not the only one)

Youtube Channel: Patrick Martin's Music

I plan to embed YouTube links to my most recent tunes, mixed with unwanted drivel on tech and other guff, until I get bored, or somebody notices. Woohoo.