Music Samples
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On the Edge of an Eclipse
Don Tillman: 6- and 12-string guitars, bass, Mellotron, synths
Nicolai Gvatua: Drums and percussion
Written and Produced by Don Tillman, Copyright 2001
Recorded October 2001 at Studio 11, Mountain View, California.
MP3: eclipse.mp3 (6.7 MBytes)
Our contribution to the BayProg compilation CD, a collection of music from twelve San Francisco Bay Area progressive rock bands included with each copy of the first 2002 issue of Exposé Magazine.
Don's notes:
This piece based on a melancholy theme I came up with a few years ago but was never sure what to do with... and the BayProg compilation album provided a perfect opportunity. The first part is a quiet, contemplative version of the theme, the second part is an old school synthesizer solo, and the third part is redemption, an uplifting rendition of the theme.
The band is currently just myself and Nick, so some overdubbing was involved. In the first part the 12-string is my trusty Rickenbacker 370, recorded in stereo, the mellow 6-string is my other Ricky 370 and the cello / arco bass is the Mellotron. In the second part the solo is an ARP Odyssey, the chords are a Rhodes Chroma, the rhythm guitar is the Ricky again, and the bass is a Rickenbacker 4001. For the third part the guitar solo is an Ovation Deacon cranked through a workbench amplifier experiment that used to be a Fender Twin.
Vantage Point Instrumental
Don Tillman: 12-string guitar, synthesizer swooshes
Karen Bentley: violin
Julius Smith: physical modeling synthesizer, acoustic guitar
Dave Berners: bass
Josh Schroeter: drums
Written and Produced by Don Tillman, Copyright 1997
Recorded in 1997 at Studio 11, Mountain View, California
MP3: vantagepoint.mp3 (10 MBytes)
Don's notes:
This is the finale from the 1997 Tesseract album; it was a blast to write and play. Like the rest of the 1997 Tesseract album, this piece was arranged and recorded "as if live" — nobody is playing a combination of instruments they couldn't play in a live situation. And most of the tracks were recorded in a very small number of takes, so there's a lot of energy here.
Julius does some amazing stuff on the Yamaha VL1 on this piece. The VL1 was the first commercial physical modeling synthesizer, based on some work Julius did at Stanford's CCRMA. As far as I know the Tesseract album was the first album to feature the VL-1 or any physical modelling synthesizer. The modeled flute, the distorto noise and the modeled trumpet solo at the end are all Julius playing the VL1. Check out that trumpet manuever where he starts with the one note, adds some vibrato, adds more vibrato, makes it a trill, and then swoops it down. You can almost feel the spit flying.