Techno-Geek

It would be very easy for me to get into the thoroughly fascinating (to me) details of electronic musical instruments and the recording process.  In reality, most people don’t know or care about the difference between a patch and a scratch.  I could go into loving description of the different synthesizers and all manner of electronic musical toys I have and the ones that I covet, but I think most people would find that Zzzzzz…

So let me keep my inner techno-geek at bay for now and talk about music.  Ah, music… psychological studies (I didn’t say I was putting away the science geek, did I…) have shown that music is the most pleasurable human experience – over sex.  That may be hard to believe, but most of us spend more time listening to music than having sex.  Most of us.  Some of you out there – and you know who you are – even listen to music while having sex.  ‘Nuff said…

Imagine a world without music.  I can’t.  What would movies be like?  Do you only want to hear people talking on the radio?  Dancing would be weird.  No opera or ballet.  There would have been no Bach, no Mozart, no Beethoven, no Beatles, no (place your favorite music here).  Unthinkable.

Fortunately, that is not the world we live in.  Aside from a world where you can end a sentence in a preposition and get away with it, we are surrounded by the wonderful, moving, compelling, happy, sad, and the full range of emotion that is induced by a good listen to your favorite tunes.  It is a universal language that has transcended geo/political boundaries before diplomacy gets its foot in the door.  Let’s not forget that it has provided a place for we minstrels in the gallery to entertain you.  Often, we entertain ourselves to an equal or greater degree.

This week, I will post my latest track without the technical details.  It is a song called Memory.

This is a song about a lost love.  Hey, they can’t all be happy songs.  In its original incarnation, this was a song with lyrics played on traditional instruments (acoustic guitar, electric lead, bass, and drums).  It was given an electronic makeover and I think it captures the emotion of the original idea even better.

I make no promises, especially when some new music comes along, that I will not get back into techy geeky details.  For now, sit back, relax, and be glad for a world filled with wonderful music.

~eNjoy

Moving Along

Just like this picture of my home studio, I am a work in progress.

Things have progressed nicely this week.  I posted a second song (City Trance) to the eSyrup Facebook page, begged for more friends to “like” the page and at this writing, picked up another six members this week!  Yay!

I now have five tracks posted on SoundCloud with a total of 69 combined plays of all five tracks.  Since my music has been spent most of its life locked up in a vault, this is the most people who have heard my music.  Ever.  I don’t have any comments on SoundCloud yet, but I hope that will come in time.

The most exciting event of the week was sitting down with a graphic designer to help create a logo.  I say “help” in the sense that I had some crazy ideas and he went right to something smart and very cool.  So instead of the photo of me in my little home studio or that less than appealing graphic of a chemical compound that you now see on my Facebook and SoundCloud pages, I will have consistent branding to attach to all that I do.  When it is complete, you will see it here, there, and everywhere and the designer’s name will be up in lights – as he deserves to be.

Next is the world of domain names, copyrighting, trademarking, etc… but let’s talk music.

I promised some explanation last time around, to the following questions:

What is eSyrup?  eSyrup is me, I am eSyrup.  Just like Nine Inch Nails is Trent Reznor and Trent Reznor is Nine Inch Nails… I am just less scary.   A tad less popular too, but look out!

What is up with that name?  The name actually came to me in 2009.  At the time I thought it a good name for a song or album, but I decided to use it to name the “band.”  I honestly can’t remember if the “e” is for electronic or ear.  Both apply… think of it as electronic ear candy.

Who are you, anyway?  Who, me?  I am just another (hobbyist) musician who wants to share his music.  I play – in the order I learned them - acoustic guitar, flute, mandolin, violin, dulcimers, saxophone, piano, synthesizers, electric lead guitar, drums, bass guitar… I think that is it.  I played in bands in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s and started recording original music and covers in the mid 80’s.  I have been composing music, even if it was just in my head, since I was 10 years old.  I picked up my first guitar at the age of 11 from the profits of a paper route and the rest is, as they say, history.

How the hell did Jean Michel Jarre record Oxygene and Equinoxe with no sequencers?  With his immense talent… expect to hear his name again.

That last question had some words I recognize, but what are you talking about?  I will get into the world of electronic music, synthesizers, sequencers, recording software, and my desire to have the second largest collection of vintage synths at another time.

City Trance by eSyrup

This week’s song is “City Trance”:

An original piece using: Proteus 1: piano, strings, marimba, drums, percussion, synth leads and odd noises.

Korg Poly 800 as a controller keyboard

ART FXR digital delay (echo sounds)

Cakewalk software

Yes, as promised, I will explain what that means, too

~eNjoy

Welcome!

Welcome to eSyrup.  This site will be devoted to all things music (mostly mine).  Let’s get this thing rolling and see where it is headed.

It all started two days ago… well, actually it all started when I was five and shocked my relatives by playing my cousin’s piano by ear (which is much more difficult than using fingers), but I digress.  In the years that followed, I have played, performed, composed, recorded… and then it suddenly stopped.  Life changes, blah, blah, blah... I am now rebuilding a home studio and attempting to make up for too much lost time. 

Recently, I started taking old original recordings in ancient formats and converting them to mp3 files.  On Friday, I decided to post a piece of original music from the archives on Facebook.  I couldn’t see an easy way to link an mp3 and fussed about that for a while.  Then I saw something Fred Schneider did (yes, THAT Fred Schneider) via a site called SoundCloud.  In short order, I was posting my songs on SoundCloud, people actually started listening to them, and my pulse started racing.  I was able to post a link to Facebook and then I waited.  My pulse slowed.  Then I waited some more.  I took a nap.  “Oh, well,” I thought… that’s that.

The next day, I looked at my stats on SoundCloud (it does that) and was surprised at how many listens I had.  I also had some very nice comments on Facebook about the one song I posted… and that’s where things seemed to take on a life of their own.  I needed a neat little place to put my music, so I started a Musician’s page.  Facebook made none of this easy, of course.  They wouldn’t even let me start the name with a lowercase “e,” so it had to be “ESyrup” to match their rules for names.  Hmmm… I notice that iPhone, iPod, iPad, and all things “i” can do it.  Buggers…

The next logical step was to set up a website… and here we are.  In blogs to follow, I will answer the burning questions:

What is eSyrup?

What is up with that name?

Who are you, anyway?

How the hell did Jean Michel Jarre record Oxygene and Equinoxe with no sequencers?

That last question had some words I recognize, but what are you talking about?

All this and more will be answered (except the JMJ question – I have no idea how he did that).

Warm by eSyrup

For now, let's start with the song "Warm."  An original piece using: Proteus 1: piano, organ, Balinese drums, synth lead

Proteus 2: strings, miscellaneous percussive noises

Fatar controller keyboard

Cakewalk software

I will even explain what all of that nonsense means.

~eNjoy