David Baron synthesizer Reworks
Reverie Syrinx Brothers Remix was inspired by the feeling you get from being in an Asian city during a night rain. Simi Stone’s warm voice is set against a dark pulsating synth bass and hip hop vinyl sampled drums. The juxtaposition of is one of humanity meeting mass mechanization.
The main wobbly synthesizer is the Synton Syrinx. A rare analog synth made in the 1980s from Dutch designers. Users of the Syrinx include the French band Air, John McEntire, and Erasure. And David Baron !
Simi’s violin processed through filtering and Roland Space Echo.
The arpeggiation was done on the Arp 2500. A rare - very large scale - six feet long modular synthesizer made in 1970. The Arp 2500 was used in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind to communicate with the aliens. The 2500 uses a slider-matrix to do patching. This was a direct response to Arp’s main competitor Moog.
Where We Are Now (Syrinx Brothers Remix) is a dance remix of Where We Are. Disco drums are punctuated with analog synthesizers (Arp 2500, Serge Modular, Synton Syrinx). Simi Stone’s voice is highly processed through digital transformation - going from natural to inhuman. The transformation can be visualized as a human turning into an android. Disco in the uncanny valley.
The main bass line is the Synton Syrinx.
The analog synth sequence was performed with the Serge Modular synthesizer. A highly experimental patchable synthesizer that uses banana cables - which allow stackable patching. One source can go do many destinations this way. IT’s laid out like a Buchla - sometimes called West Coast style. Used less for Western style tunings and melodies and more for experimental textures.
Absence Remix takes the main 1973 Rhodes electric piano part and frames it around analog synth bass and ambient drum samples. Strings evolve out of the ether growing towards the sky. The vision is one of longing for a lush world when you find yourself in a stark landscape.
The Rhodes is a dreamy bell like electric piano when played softly. This type of Rhodes is the basis of a lot of Vangelis’ Blade Runner soundtrack.
The bass is Arp 2600. A suitcase semi-modular synthesizer that revolutionized the industry by being portable. One of the best sounding analog synthesizers of all times. It has built in speakers and spring reverb!
Under Rain (Alternate Version) frames the piano/strings against a gentle beat. The steady pulse of the piano and drums represents the ticking of time. The swells represent the coming and going of the rain, people, events. The ambient synthesizers represent the fog of the distance. Letting go and enjoying the beauty.
This was the toughest piece to remix because it was not recorded to click. I had to go through the piece and make a tempo map - which varies throughout the song.
One of my favorite compositions from Cycles. The composition was inspired by hanging out in the garden in the rain at the Convent Venue in Stroud, UK. Nothing quite like UK in the rain.