We’re going way back to year 2000 for this one. Its one of the very early Alek Biotic productions, in fact, its number 11. But of well over a hundred tracks this one stands out since its the one and only progressive trance track.
Since this genre wasn’t really my style this track was never shopped and subsequently never released. Until now.
This track also features the awesome Nord Lead keyboard, as well as the Quasimidi Polymorph module, now long discontinued (the company folded around the time this track was made). Drum programming and sequencing on the track was done on the legendary Akai MPC-2000 sampler workstation, and the track was recorded to DAT before mastering on the PC.
August 9, 2009 / admin / Comments Off on Exclusive: Kill By Inches – D.N.A. (Down To 3hree Bonus Track!)
Kill By Inches released Down To 3hree exactly 10 years ago, and while the disc is available on Amazon, iTunes and elsewhere, the song D.N.A. recorded for this release never made it to the disc. I have to admit that listening to it now I’m not exactly sure why we left it off since it was one of my favorite KBI tracks, but we did nonetheless. So, guess what? We’re making it available here so you can listen to and download it right now!
The song, along with the rest of the songs from Down To 3hree was recorded in March and April of 1999 at Multisound Studios and produced/mixed by Dave Weiner. This was a particularly difficult time for me since my hometown Belgrade was being bombed by NATO.
Like most other KBI recordings, the music was recorded live with no overdubs and vocals were recorded separately. So here it is: D.N.A. presented unmastered, unedited, straight-from-the-DAT. Let us know how you like it.
Kevin Oriol – Bass, Vocals (left channel)
Steve Papa – Drums
Alex Kolundzija – Guitars, Vocals (right channel)
This track was my submission for a CLR (Chris Liebing’s awesome label) remix competition. Chris had released his Evolution LP around this time (2004) and the challenge was to remix the track American Madness. My remix didn’t make the cut but since its completely different from the original I dropped the first word from the title and it was officially a track of its own.
Aside from it being produced for a specific (though, unmet) purpose, the track’s beat always stood out from the bunch and it was one of the rare tracks that featured the FM7 synth (the legato stab in the breaks). I meant to use this synth more since I really liked the sound, but it never ended up anywhere else.
Once again, the original, mastered .wav file is available for your listening (and mixing!) pleasure.
Decade Of Dissonance started out as a remix of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. That idea was quickly dropped and the track took a direction of its own. However, things kept getting in the way and it would take more than a year before it was done. Its another relatively long track and it takes a bit of turn around the 5th minute before getting back on, well… track.
The main line is played through Native Instruments’ insane modular software studio (to put it mildly), Reaktor, which allows you to create your own instruments and ensembles by literally drawing out the components (generators, knobs, faders, etc.) and connecting them into the signal flow as you see fit. NI produces some of my favorite software based instruments including Absynth (also used on this track), Battery and the newer Massive. To beef up the tone and give it some air I usually run the digital sounds through an analog device, preferably a preamp and/or a compressor, which was the case here.
(Speaking of preamps and compressors, I’ve gone through a few over the years and some of the highlights were a JoeMeek box, a Focusrite compressor (which I still have), and FMR Audio’s RNC 1773. Nowadays, I find that the Universal Audio’s UAD powered plugins provide accurate emulations of the favorite analog hardware while allowing project-related presets.)
Yet another NI plugin, Guitar Rig was used on the guitar which meanders in the background and is more prominent in the break. Guitar Rig does a decent job of simulating classic guitar amps and sounds, but it also offers some weird effects such as the one used here.
Exclusive: As you’ll see below, this post features the original (wav) format file for download. This the mastered version of the original mixdown available here with no compression. Enjoy.
We’re going back to 2002 for this one. Clusterfuck was (and still is) a personal favorite but it never made it out, until now. The track is very raw and is based on a couple of rusty drum samples and a simple synth riff produced by the amazing Virus B synth. That riff always reminded me of Pink Floyd’s “On The Run” which featured the impossible to find (or afford) EMS VCS 3.
Also heard on the track is the Nord Lead 2 keyboard which supplied the underlying bass sound. The drums and the main line are all sample-based and played through the Akai S5000 sampler. (The photo shows the studio setup from this period. Seen in the upper right of the photo is the tiny 12 channel Mackie analog mixer which is one of the best sounding mixers I’ve ever used.)
Like many other producers, I’ve since moved on to a predominantly software-based setup, but Steinberg’s Nuendo software used to arrange and record the track is still in use, although upgraded to a more recent version.
I’ve never really been a fan of combining electonic sounds with traditional instruments but the blend definitely works in some genres and specific artists do an exceptional job of making it jell. One of such acts is Massive Attack whose sound was an influence on this track.
The guitar played here is a Steinberger GM which I assembled from various parts 10 years ago and sold just yesterday to a guy in Tuscany. I was actually a little sad to see it go but I kept the neck and trem and put those into a new guitar. The strings used on the track are super heavy gauge .13-.68 (baritone gauge, actually) which I had custom made a few years back. To compensate for the tension the guitar is tuned down to C, which gives it a nice deep sound while not interfering with the bass guitar. Aside from the guitar all other instruments were either keyboards or samples played through a (midi) keyboard.
The track is pretty long even when you consider that it was cut down from 14+ minutes. This length works for me, but I will admit that it could probably use some vocals (EJ Sebian, Shane Ali… are you guys reading this? Whassup?)
On to the track… Listen right here or click the link below to download. Enjoy.
