When I was a small boy, there was a house at the end of the street, nestled in a wooded ravine. It was the only house in the ravine, which was often wet and swampy. In the house lived an man, a man who never seemed to age, he was ancient already. His eyes were white with cataracts, his shoulders slumped with time.

Around that time children had gone missing in our neighborhood. Oddly it was all the boys from the local church choir. A few hours after my friend Billy, the soprano in ther choir went missing, Mark, Stuart, Jeff and myself were sure it was the old man in the house kidnapping them, and took it upon ourselves to investigate.

We snuck up to the house through the swamp and entered through a broken basement window. We quietly climbed the steps that led to the main floor, listening for sounds of the old man. We left the basement and started down a hall where the sound of tinkering could be heard. We peaked into the room at the end of the hall and could not believe our eyes.

There hovering in some sort of greenish liquid above the floor were the missing members of the boys choir. Attached to their heads was some sort of contraption that plugged into a huge pipe organ. We entered just as the old man finished making some adjustments and played his first notes. We were frozen in place, as if paralyzed by the ghastly music. This is what we heard.

The Old Man's Machine

This song is called "A Dumb War"

Tall ships evoke many feelings from those who sail on them. It is an object of serenity but also loneliness and desperation. It comforts. It frightens. A ship is a reflection of nature's power and our own frailty.

This is my favorite piece of the all pieces I have produced so far.

This was played all in one take by me. All 7 instruments are live with the exception of the drums (some were previously laid down to follow while playing, others recorded later to fill in the rest).

3 instruments are played simultaneously with my right hand one one keyboard, and 3 others are played simultaneously with my left hand on another keyboard. This is the first time I have played two keyboards at once.

Do listen to the whole thing. It is very progressive and builds to some nice surprises.

Tall Ships

I am not happy with this song. I will revisit it at a later date, when I figure out how to make the guitar sound better.

But for now, its good enough that I do not fear posting it (not all my songs have made it to this page).

Cheers
Shad

The Wave

A new song by Alan K.

Messin Around

This song was made as part three of the "Surfing in Sinbad's Wake" themed series of songs (part two "Sinbad's Theme" is in the gallery as well, but it needs to be redone).

This song is unique in that it uses only a series of 4 notes repeated as an arpeggio throughout the duration of the song and it never changes. The rest of the music is made by adjusting the Synthesizers parameters, bringing in effects and changing the effects types.

The drums were played on the keyboard as well, using the drum pads that are part of the keyboard.

The drums and synth (the only two instruments) are both played and recorded live, hence the slight imperfection of it. There is no editing or correction of the song at all.

This is the result.

Slaying the Medusa

I grew up around boats. There was one boat in particular that stood out. That boat had the ominous name of Blackjack. She is a twin masted square rigger outfitted to look like a pirate ship.

It sparked all kinds of fantasies in a young boy of 8 or 9. I could see myself swinging from mast to mast like Barrymore, and sailing off to bury my misbegotten treasure.

The boat still floats today in the same spot she did all those years ago. She still sparks the same imagination. I guess some parts of the boy never do grow up.

You can stream or download the file here:

Surfing In Sinbad's Wake

Back when I was a kid, my folks took us to Disneyland in Florida. I am not much of a theme park person and little about the park interested me. But there was one memorable occasion during lunch in one of the cafeterias. Nestled in the back corner was a musician called Mr. Electronic. He sat in front of a whole slew of synthesizers, which in those times were analog behemoths. He did demonstrations with the synths and I was completely blown away. I fell in love with the sound. I have wanted to play them ever since.

This song is my tribute to him. This is a mellow, ambient piece that starts of easy and progresses to a warm voluminous sound that washes over you like a summer breeze.

This was composed on my M-Audio PK88. All but the drums were performed and recorded live on the Korg K25 M1 and the Cakewalk Dimension LE Soft Synth. The drums are sample loops. The new Dimension Synth is awesome. Has an incredibly full sound and long wave PCM. Recorded in Cakewalk Sonar 6, mixed, and drum looped in Steinberg Sequel.

This is a remix of Dreaming of Flight. This song incorporates changes suggested by some other musicians over at the Cakewalk forums.

1. I added a new melodic verse in two places to break up the song a bit as it was a slightly repetitive.

2. I fixed the timings in two places near the beginning that cause things to go a bit out of synch.

3. I toned down some of the secondary distortions in a few synth effects that were a bit distracting and depending on the listening media (such as head phones) were a bit painful.

Overall I think this is a much improved version.
http://www.ascendant-online.net/v/Music/03_Shad_Young-Una_Musica-Dreaming_Of_Flight-remix.mp3.html

Groove Thang - Final Mix

After some feed back from a few people, I took out some of the bright "rings", and added a drum track (three of them actually).

To "Darken" it a bit I added a flanger to the clavier, chopped it up a bit and then rearranged the sequence of the organ a tad. Lastly I added a scratch rhythm guitar riff and a nice melodic electric.

Enjoy.

http://www.ascendant-online.net/v/Music/01_Shad_Young-Una_Musica-Groove_Thang.mp3.html