Inspired by last week’s Cosmic Baby track, I’ve created something new, along the same lines.

The other inspiration comes from the Apollo 11 journey to the moon. There’s a specific manoeuvre called a slingshot, which accelerates the shuttle by circling round the earth, using its orbit to build up the speed needed to travel to the moon. It was first used in Apollo 8 a mission that circled the moon but did not land on it.

You can find out more in this video.

The audio dialog I used in the track are real recordings from the Apollo 11 mission; all 17000 hours of the missions audio is preserved by NASA here.

I found myself comparing the track to last week’s from time to time – it was the inspiration. Whenever I did, I was struck by the simplicity of its production. I had more elements this week and this definitely made it harder to mix. It’s a good lesson to remember as much as possible.

I have been wanting to make this track for the last 20 years.

Ever since I heard the original it has captivated me on every listen. Simply imagining the melody – even when I’m not listening to it – does something not far short. To me, and I think many others, it has the unrivalled ability to transport me back in time; the pin-pricks of the arpeggio pierce the mind with a blissful feeling, and it’s delicate traces of reverb and delay leave a feeling of Ecstasy.

The original was created by Cosmic Baby in 1992. He was a German producer, and it you have a look at some of his writing, you won’t fail to spot the philosophical underpinnings his creativity.

Germany, like Britain,  is renowned for its affinity to Electronic music, and has unblemished claim to the origins of several of its genres.

In Cosmic Baby’s work you can hear the intersection of science and programming with art and delight. This is may in part be due to this geographical provinence, but it is also a consequence of the sheer newness – and purity – of using computer hardware to make music. (These days we try and put a little of the analog sound back in.

For my part, Space Track, my favourite of all his work, was fascinating to make for so many reasons. 

*The lead arpeggio is built on a single sine wave: the simplest, purist sound possible. 

*On the other hand, I found the bass sound extremely difficult to re-create at first. After trying countless oscillator combinations, and emulations of early hardware, I ultimately had to ask for help from one of the world experts in early synth sounds (who also happens to be a friend). His overnight advice gave me the clue I needed, and a couple of hours later I had some of the essence. 

*Mostly though, after listening to that lead line well over 100 times more than I had a week ago, and examining its components in quite some detail, its effect remains as strong – if not stronger – than ever. 

Sonically, I hope my re-creation sounds at least as good, and pays tribute to such a pioneering piece of music. (I skipped panning the bass to the left speaker; this isn’t The Beatles.)

Here’s the original: 

Next week I’ll do a follow up to this: similar vibe but something brand new.

P.S. Cosmic Baby, aka Harald Blüchel, is alive and well. Here he is playing an hour-long recital on solo grand piano in 2018. 

His blog is also fascinating. 

If you have a few seconds, study the picture. Which element sticks out? How much of the insect’s beauty has been lost?

When I was about 15, and already falling for dance music, my family went round for Christmas drinks with another family we knew nearby. I recall them having 4 kids. At least 2 of the 3 boys were prodigious: one could climb up nearly flat walls and went on to set extraordinarily difficult climbing routes at the indoor wall in Gloucester; the other was precocious and played the cello. (The other was into sports too.)

Although I had anticipated a nice conversation about the shared love of music with the latter, that’s not how it turned out. He had a dim view of electronically made music, and imagined that its production was about as creative as completing a jigsaw. Sure, he thought, there were skills to learn, but once a basic knowledge was acquired, you just line up a few different parts and you’re done.

This week’s track is my testament to him, a couple of decades later. I do not view it as complete, and although I like the hooks and arpeggios, there are little things I’m not happy with.

It’s true that sometimes parts seem to work together right away, things feel effortless. Mostly, though, they don’t. I shall not list all the particulars that I wish were different, but I count over 20. That’s well over a dozen elements that deserve more polish, more time, and a gentle caress. I’ll leave you to find them!

Each of these stick out a little to me. And while the track is feels more rough around the edges to me – each of them decisively rule in favour of my childhood friend’s ignorance.

Having said all this, although aiming for perfection is foolish, and although 95% is fantastic, 85% can still move the heart.

I love and care for all the work I do here, but perhaps for this one especially.

Drum & Bass: one of the first genres of dance music I learnt to really love and appreciate. Actually, I was in to it before it even was drum and bass; before rave music split down the middle, forking into jungle on the one hand, and happy hardcore on the other.

Musically, I have retained many things from those early days – perhaps most of all the love of the harmonic structures that defined hardcore. They’re still there in lots of my work.

I’ve really enjoyed paying homage to the club nights in the Sanctuary, Milton Keynes, and have this week is influenced more than a little by the work of LTJ Bukem.

I’ll also tell you a story. Last year when I went to Drumcode Halloween in London (the music that inspired week 5 and week 6), some guy from Japan shouted loudly in my ear – for there was no other way – that he didn’t think people my age like this sort of music.

In the UK for University, perhaps his eastern upbringing lent him a deference to people older than him; he asked pleasantly enough, and perhaps clubbing in Japan is more geared towards those in their 20’s. I’ve no idea.

In turn, I asked him how old he was. When he told me, I was pleased to let him know that I’d been into this sort of music since before he was born.

And back to the present, it’s taken me nearly as long to get good enough to do justice to the early jungle pioneers.

I’m a little nervous about this one: I’ve finished it whilst away from home, with my folks for Christmas. This makes it the first track I’ve done for the site that’s not mastered on my studio monitors. It sounds ok on the systems I’m using, but as Pooh Bear once said, one never can tell [with bees, in his case].

Still: I love the track. Often by the time I’ve finished writing, I’ve listened to the piece so many times that it’s lost its edge – my brain has adjusted to where the notes go. But for this one, I still can’t get enough of the main hook that, like the rays of the sun soars over the top and makes everything better.

For those who don’t know the ins and outs of what every dance music genre is, this is uplifting trance, and I hope that if uplifts you day as much as it did mine when creating it.

Have a wonderful Christmas – lots more music and fun planned for the site in 2020.

Darjeeling is a wonderful place, but the drive to get to it forms my most abiding memory. There may be other, easier ways, but I did it by jeep. There’s no public transport as such, but the Mahindra Jeeps come close. They’re very distinctive, with their headlights very close together. I did the 4 hour journey very early, and it looked like a long line of ants snaking up the ever-bending hill.

Not mine, but here’s a youtube video of the type of thing.

It was an evocative journey and I can still remember the Deep House music I was listening to. This week’s track is inspired by that journey.

A little something from the 80s this week. Something joyful before I take us in to darker, harder territory next week.

You very, very rarely catch me writing in the major key, and this is no exception. I love the soulful minor keys, and they can still bring joy to the heart. Please enjoy this one!

A huge and warm shout out to the mighty Patrick Fridth from Bitley sounds. He works tirelessly to sample the very best sounds from so many early synthesisers so that producers who don’t have all the fancy hardware can experience just a little of their magic. The sound banks he produces are a source of endless treasure and inspiration. They’re also immaculately produced and my pleasure to work with.

“Melody and harmony to me is a musical language. The more vocabulary you learn the more you can express it.” – Jaytech. 

To celebrate week 10 here’s something special. Last year I made a track called the Jig. At the time it was one of my better productions and I thought it sounded decent. I didn’t know whether it had reached its full potential though. Here’s my original version:

To answer that mystery I asked someone far more accomplished than me to do a second mix and master – to polish it, correct any issues, and bring out the best sound possible. 

I asked Jaytech to work his magic on the Jig. Jaytech is one of the most respected producers in dance music today (and he’s also a really fun and inspiring guy). 

Any secret hopes I had that his version wouldn’t sound too much better than mine were dispelled – decisively – the moment I heard the first cut of his version. After a little back and forth to get everything just right, we ended up with a finished version that sounds quite superb. It’s absolutely crystal clear and sounds both more massive and refined than my version. 

You can see in this picture that he has a few more pieces of gear than I do, but this is utterly beside the point: it was the way he listened; the cumulative small changes he made, and his careful use of a small set of tools that made the difference. 

The experience reminded me how much I have to learn (although I rarely forget…), but it also inspired me greatly. After all, you can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear. 

The Maypole. If you can figure out why I called the track this you win bonus points. The feel of the track called to mind Celtic; ritualistic. 

Constructing this was an interesting process. I had the beats and basic rhythm working early on. Then I found that magical, dancing, skipping idea that floats in during the middle breakdown. The challenge was how to harmonise the two: in its raw form it felt like it came out of nowhere. Much of the time this week was spent working out how to gently introduce it so that you feel like it’s been there all along, but still quite work out what it is until it really hits you. 

For the critical or inquisitive listener, I ended up achieving this by:

• Bouncing a short loop of the line to audio and re-importing it;
• Passing it through a heavy reverb, 100% wet – i.e. all reverb, no original sound, so it’s more of a wash;
• Gently turning up the dry signal so that the articulation starts to progressively poke through. 
• Fading the articulation back out again as the ‘real’, live version of the part comes through.

This week’s track is ‘late’ (but uploaded nearly on time – I had emotionally-sapping, and so-far-not-completely-resolved) computer issues over the weekend) for a couple of reasons:

1. It’s well past Ibiza season, with it’s summer sun and stylish pool-side music.
2. Although it feels like I was there only yesterday, I haven’t been for over 6 years. (The photo was taken in 2012 but I returned the following year.)

It’s a wonderful place.

I don’t normally try too hard to produce music to a particular style, but I do hope this one brightens up a cloudy (and here in the UK, a very damp) time, and encourages you to yearn for the next time you’re able to don the Ray-Bans®.