New Exotica music!

Aloha all! My name is Bill Ehrsam a.k.a. Tiki Bill and first time poster. My new bride and I recently attended Hukilau 2007 for our honeymoon, where I witnessed a mindblowing performance of "Voodo II" by Bob Drasnin. I make a modest living here in west central Floria writing underscore for TV and film. I've always loved Exotica music, but never tried to compose any. Mr. Drasnin's live performance changed everything. I was so inspired, I went to work as soon as I got home. I am posting an MP3 of my first of three songs so far, called "Island Mist", via a hidden page on my website. Here is the link:

http://www.mindshaftmusic.com/exotica_project.htm

I would like to hear from the Tiki community on what you think, i.e. "that's great" or "don't quit your day job" (oh yeah, my day job is writing music...).

Just for the record, this song is NOT all digital. Only the bass, vibes, congas, and flute are from digital samples. All other percussion and xylophone parts are REAL instruments, played by me. All samples parts are being replaced as soon as I can get bass and woodwind players here to the studio. Go to http://www.mindshaftmusic.com and click on "studio pics", and you will see it's not just cranked out of some "keyboard workstation" device.

Mahalo,

Tiki Bill.

[ Edited by: Tiki Bill 2007-06-29 08:09 ]

I love the song,
but can I make an assumption here?
is it all played on a keyboard?

all the layers of instruments is perfect. and the mix is dead on.
but I would really liek to hear it played with real instruments.
and the melody that the flute plays, wouldbe better suited to a clarinet.

please correct me if I am wrong. But the whole digital versions of Exotica
kind of turn me off, but your does sound really good.

congrats and keep up the great work,
Jeff(bigtikidude)

You are correct , for now.....
Yes it was composed on a DAW, mostly to be able to print out sheet music for the to be players, BUT, all the parts will be replaced with REAL instruments as time and money allow. As of this version, all the percussion is real, except the congas (I just don't have a set in my studio, so I must wait to borrow one). The vibes are a sample, but the xylophone is real. The upright bass parts will be recorded later this week. But yes, I prefer real instrumentation as well, and it will be done, hopefully before Hukilau 2008.

Burn down the synths!

Tiki Bill.

Aloha TikiBill. Welcome and great tune. Now I want a cocktail. It's a pleasure to know that more musicians are writing exotica music. This year is becoming huge for new exotica releases. Hope we can persuade you to publish the other two when they're finished.

On 2007-06-26 11:54, alohacurrent wrote:
Aloha TikiBill. Welcome and great tune. Now I want a cocktail. It's a pleasure to know that more musicians are writing exotica music. This year is becoming huge for new exotica releases. Hope we can persuade you to publish the other two when they're finished.

Actually, I'm planing on at least a ten song CD.

Tiki Bill.

Cool tune..Im trying to find some guys interested in doing some tiki lounge here in So Cal..So far its been non existetent..And that surprises me..Great work..

Wow! Is Exotica ever having a good year. I think this is a fantastic song. Nine more like this and I'll have another favorite CD.

wow great news to hear that you are going to record it with real musicians,
But like I said for it being digital, it still sounded really really good.
and that is a big deal. Great writing helps and your no slouch.
so my hats off to you, and can't wait to hear the real version, and the other songs you come up with.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Tiki Bill:

GREAT song! Thanks for sharing with us. I look forward to hearing more!

Scott

Tiki Bill - am listening to your tune just now and WOW, it's an excellent start. Sounds really good to my ears; that over-synthesized effect you hear sometimes on all-digital stuff doesn't really apply.

It sounds like something from a Martin Denny master tape - without all the scratches and pops! Of course, you could always add those in later if needed. :)

Cheers - keep up the fine work... would love to add another CD to my collection!

~Rupe

Bill....Good stuff. Nice, sparse, spacious feel. Nice chord changes.
Regarding the digital part...what software are you using ?

Yo tikiyaki, your stuff is killer as well! nice work (I could go for a mai ti on the moon!)
The clello and flute ar from the "Synfull Orchestra" plug-in, and the vibes and upright bass are sample banks in the "halion 3" sampler plug-in. All parts were recorded in "Nuendo 3". Percussion and xylophone were recorded using a Neumann U89 mic with RME mic pres. A good friend is going to replace the bass parts on monday, and hopefully, Dave Coesh from the Florida Orchestra will do the real vibe parts when he gets back from their tour next week sometime. I'm going to re do the conga/bongo tracks when I get a good set in the studio here.

Tiki Bill.

[ Edited by: Tiki Bill 2007-06-29 09:19 ]

[ Edited by: Tiki Bill 2007-06-29 09:59 ]

On 2007-06-29 09:04, Tiki Bill wrote:
Yo tikiyaki, your stuff is killer as well! nice work (I could go for a mai ti on the moon!)
The clello and flute ar from the "Synfull Orchestra" plug-in, and the vibes and upright bass are sample banks in the "halion 3" sampler plug-in. All parts were recorded in "Nuendo 3". Percussion and xylophone were recorded using a Neumann U89 mic with RME mic pres. A good friend is going to replace the bass parts on monday, and hopefully, Dave Coesh from the Florida Orchestra will do the real vibe parts when he gets back from their tour next week sometime. I'm going to re do the conga/bongo tracks when I get a good set in the studio here.

Tiki Bill.

[ Edited by: Tiki Bill 2007-06-29 09:19 ]

[ Edited by: Tiki Bill 2007-06-29 09:59 ]

Real Vibes...lucky guy.

Actually, I don't think the SOUNDS on your track sound synth-y at all. I was going to suggest, maybe not quantizing as heavily, so everything doesn't sound so in time with itself....Syncopation beween instruments is fine, but if they all strike at exactly the same time, it sounds mechanical....Like with the vibes, maybe make the notes of the chords not all hit so "together".... y'know, more loose. Working with samples, the trick is making the performance feel more "human"
Velocity settings come into play with this as well.

Also, more reverb helps to add to the the authenticity a bit, and especially helps percussion alot.
Exotica, I find, is all about the reverb....

To me, a little extra time spent "loosening" things up a bit, and you won't even need to hire real players...of course that's always best..... your sounds and writing are great. Just make it more sloppy :)

Look forward to more.

That's funny you say that as I'm a drummer by trade. I guess I need other percussion players in there too, as I just play very acurately with my own overdubed tracks. I actually only quantized the bass track, and gave it a random offset of 10 ticks (computer slop). The real bass track will probably help loosten it up a bit more. I have to agree with you though, the quantize button can ruin an otherwise great tune. I also try to use multi layer sample banks that respond to velocity i.e 3 to 5 samples per key. That helps out alot. I still want to replace those vibes in a bad way. There is nothing like the sound of a good set of vibes with an acomplished player behind them!
The best part about writing those parts on the computer is I can print out sheet music for the other players I get in here. What instrumentation do you use with the Tikiyaki Orchestra project? I love the guitar in there. Not a typical instrument in most Exotica I've heard, but you make it work very well.

Tiki Bill.

On 2007-06-29 11:13, Tiki Bill wrote:
That's funny you say that as I'm a drummer by trade. I guess I need other percussion players in there too, as I just play very acurately with my own overdubed tracks. I actually only quantized the bass track, and gave it a random offset of 10 ticks (computer slop). The real bass track will probably help loosten it up a bit more. I have to agree with you though, the quantize button can ruin an otherwise great tune. I also try to use multi layer sample banks that respond to velocity i.e 3 to 5 samples per key. That helps out alot. I still want to replace those vibes in a bad way. There is nothing like the sound of a good set of vibes with an acomplished player behind them!
The best part about writing those parts on the computer is I can print out sheet music for the other players I get in here. What instrumentation do you use with the Tikiyaki Orchestra project? I love the guitar in there. Not a typical instrument in most Exotica I've heard, but you make it work very well.

Tiki Bill.

For MOST of the tracks I used LOGIC and Reason together, with "Mai Tais" being originally recorded in Pro Tools, way back when....

ALot of my Vibes stuff comes from Reason, but I also use MOTU Symphonic Intrument for alot of stuff, as well as LOGIC's EXS 24 sampler.

I bought a CD of Marimba and Vibes from Christian + Lane which have some nice Rattan mallet Marimba sounds, and some others as well.

I'll stack up a few tracks of Vibes to get the desired effect, if I can't get it with just one sound. Sometimes, one sound will have great body, but not enough attack, so I'll use both sounds.

Sometimes I go overboard, hence my Spector Wall of Sound on some songs.

I'm a guitar player, so I incorporated Surf guitar into some songs....Surf rock is just Exotica's Punk Rock cousin, so some nice reverb and tremelo, and there ya go.

When I play my standup bass stuff on the keys, I'll use the pitch bend wheel alot for the fretless, sliding effect, tho' I don't think my bass tracks sound particularly "real" they get the job done...

http://www.tikiyakiorchestra.com
http://www.tikiyaki.wordpress.com
http://www.cuefactory.com

[ Edited by: tikiyaki 2007-06-29 11:32 ]

A shot of my messy studio, a small room, but it's quiet in there!

And here are some other shots.

Tiki Bill.

Bill...are those marimbas in the photo. You mentioned you had a Xylophone, but that looks like a marimba. Xylophones are small.

No, It's just the biggest xylophone they make. A marimba goes about 3 or 4
octives lower. They both have wooden or those fiberglass blocks. I've been
using it like a marima by playing all the parts as low on the thing as i
can. The real small ones with the metal blocks are glockenshpiels (probably
spelled that wrong), but also used in many Les Baxter tunes. He always had
that BIG orchestra going (like I wish I had access too!).

Tiki Bill..

Bill...Your studio looks NICE...Is it in your house or in a commercial building ?

It's in the house. I just Love that 15 second commute to work!
Here is the equipment list.

Mindshaft Music equipment list 2007

Computer systems:

DAW system:
Custom built dual xeon 3.2 Ghz 800 Mhz FSB with 4 Gigabytes of DDR 400 memory, 160 GB RAID 0,
2 x RME Digiface IO cards, 2 x UAD-1 dsp cards, Matrox Parhelia 3 head video card,
and Gigabit ethernet.

mass storage:
custom built LINUX NAS file server with .5TB RAID 1, and Gigabit ethernet.

Web Server:
custom built LINUX running Apache Web Server

E-mail server:
custom built LINUX running X-Mail server

Switches and hubs:
Nortel Baystack 380-24T 10/100/1000 switch
Kingston KNE12TX/RS hub

Routers:
Bay Networks ASN router
Netgear RP614 router

UPS system:
Emerson accupower gold 10KVA true online ups

Analog IO:
2 x RME ADI-8 DS high precision 24 bit 96K A/D,D/A converters
1 x RME Octamic high precision 24 bit 192K A/D converter W/ 8 class A mic pre amps.

MIDI IO:
Midiman Midisport 8x8

Mixers:
Tascam US-2400 control surface with 25 flying faders
Mackie 2408 8 bus analog mixer

computer monitors:
2 x Samsung syncmaster 712n 17" LCD displays
1 x In Focus DLP projector
Custom 70" microperf projection screen

Monitor speakers:
Blue Sky System 1 THX PM3 approved 5.1 surround monitor system
Yamaha NS-10M studio monitors
Yamaha YST-SW305 subwoofer

Headphones:
1x Stax SR-5 electrostatic earspeakers
Custom headphone distrabution system

Amps:
Crown D-75
AB 900A

Software:
Windows XP Professional
Red Hat LINUX
Apache Web Server
X-Mail Mail Server
Nuendo 3 media production system
Dolby digital AC-3 encoder
Halion 3 sampler
Atmosphere synth
Synfull Orchestra module
UAD 1 studio pack W/ vintage plugins
DB Audio mastering plugins
SIR impule reverb plugin

Hardware synths:
Yamaha TG-77
Roland MKS-50
Yamaha AN1-X
Roland JX3P analog synth
Korg Poly six analog synth
Boss DR-660 drum machine

Hardware signal processors:
Line 6 Pod Pro XT
Orban model 516EC 3 channel de-esser
Orban model 424A 2 channel Compressor/limiter/de-esser/gate
Orban model 464A 2 channel Compressor/limiter/de-esser/gate
Orban model 418A stereo limiter
Boss SE-70 multi effects processor
Alises Midiverb 2 multi effects processor

Microphones:
1 x Neumann U89 condenser
3 x Rhode NT1 A condenser
2 x Rhode NT5 condenser
3 x Sinhiser 604
2 x CAD E-100 condenser

Drums:
1 x Maypex M series 6 piece drum kit
1 x Tama Octobans
1 x sabian AA series 6" splash cym
1 x Zildjan A series 8" splash cym
1 x Zildjan A series 14" thin crash cym
1 x Zildjan A series 16" medium crash cym
1 x Zildjan ZBT 16" crash cym
1 x Zildjan A series 18" medium thin crash cym
1 x Zildjan A series 19" sizzle ride cym
1 x Zildjan ZBT 20" ride cym
1 x Zildjan A series 12" studio custom hi hats
1 x Eastwind 16" china cym.
1 x Groove Percussion double bass pedals

Percussion:
1 x LP tamborine
1 x LP claves
1 x LP guero

DJ gear:
2 x Tecnichs 1200 turntables
1 x Numark DM 1050 DJ mixer
large vinal colection

Tape machines:
Tascam 32 2B 2 track 1/4"
Dennon DTR 2000 DAT machine
Sansui D-550M 3 head casette deck
Sony SLV-N50 VHS deck
Sony 2V-850 8mm deck

Tiki Bill.

[ Edited by: Tiki Bill 2007-06-29 16:35 ]

Hey! Congrats on getting hitched! I 'm pretty sure I sat next to you guys at the wreck bar Friday. I wasn't very social at the moment, I was pretty hung over at the time and concentrating on trying to get some food into my body and keeping the bar from spinning out from underneath me. Anyway, You guys looked like a happy couple. I have been happily married for 15 and I contribute that to me learning to bite my tongue, alot, and never letting the sun set on a...... discus ion. It ain't easy bra, but stick with it! Love your music and look forward to hearing the other nine. Glad to see the ranks of the Florida Ohana growing.

I love the mix of slide steel and surf guitar with Vibrato mixed in with Exotica.

Keep up the Great work both of you.
Jeff(bigtikidude)