Fish Du Classique

Good evening! I come to you with news of a new project, one which, believe it or not, I have actually finished. Well, not fully finished, but it's at a stage where I can start waving it around and going "Look wot I've done". This is the story so far...

I wanted to experiment with orchestral instruments and sounds. The chance to initially fiddle with flutes and tinker with trumpets was when I was doing the Sound Design project on my Music Production course last term. I instead opted to create a more Electronic soundtrack rather than a traditional Classical sounding one, and so the opportunity passed me by. Though I am very proud of what I produced for that module (I rank it as one of the best pieces of work I've ever done), I was disappointed that I didn't take the plunge into the symphonic realm.

So, I decided to dedicate one of my Summer projects to experimenting with these sounds. It would also help prepare me for the third year (starting in September) and it would keep my creativity ticking over. But where to start? How could I really make an effective piece of work?

This is where Tinyfish come in. Those who know me will know that Tinyfish are one of my favourite bands. Billing themselves as "the world's smallest Prog Rock band", they are certainly not typical in their Progressive stylings, creating more song-based music and lacking a keyboard player (which many would consider blasphemy to the genre), but this all enhances their craft. And they are all really lovely people, too.

Their self-titled debut album contained a track called Nine Months On Fire (click on the link to listen). I often describe the song as a whole feature film in five and a half minutes, telling a story about what could've happened if the "go-ahead, entrepreneurial Thatcherite spirit was applied to the discovery of the occult". As the original is incredibly cinematic, I thought this would transpose well to the orchestral style I was gunning for.

And so, after about a week of figuring out various sections of the song, constantly resetting the sounds in Edirol Orchestral to match up with what I'd done the night before, and signing up to the brilliant Bandcamp, I can now present Part 1 of my orchestral version of Nine Months On Fire. I hope you enjoy what I've done. Oh, and you can even download it if you want it to plague your computer for a while.

I must say, it's not finished yet. Apart from lacking Part 2, there are still a few sounds that I want to try and find to include, and there are still a few adjustments to be made to the mix, but that's essentially the gist of it. The structure's pretty much done, I think. And I'm rather proud of it.

Finally, I'd like to say a big thank you to Jim Sanders, who has provided me with a logo to adorn the artwork that is intended to mirror his own fine work. Thanks, Jimbo!

In other news, I think I've got the whole of Amazon checking their stock of the limited edition version of Season 10 of The Simpsons, as the one they sent me didn't have the outer see-through slipcase with it. I like my packaging to be complete, and it just won't fit in the others on my shelf.

Take care, peeps!