These are
the translated liner notes from the SDF Macross Digital Trip - Synthesizer
Fantasy album, written by the arranger Osamu Shoji. The obi strip is also translated.
Many of the Digital Trip albums have liner
notes from the arrangers describing the process behind certain songs and
explain some of the technical aspects more directly. This has lots of
interesting details, especially with how Shoji used the Fairlight CMI sampler
to make many distinct sounds for the album.
Apologies
that I don't have proper scans. I hope to figure out a way to scan some of my
LPs in the short and long term soon enough. If you're interested in the Digital
Trip albums more generally, I wrote a longer overview post on the series.
As before,
the English translation is by Windii (Twitter, Ko-fi). Thanks for her help with
this, and consider commissioning her for JPN-ENG translations.
All the
punctuation is in the original text.
[Obi
Strip]
Synthesizer
revolution! I can hear the future...
A huge
Macross sound universe that produces overwhelming emotions!
[Liner
Notes]
Side 1
1. Space
Launch Ceremony
I
orchestrated it to create an album sound that captures a completely different
angle from the previous album. The original piece was about 40 seconds long,
but I changed the pattern drastically and made it into a march, adding my own
originality.
In fact,
if I had written such a brass piece in the studio, I would have received a
flood of complaints from the players and it would not have worked as a session
at all. Working alone with a computer has this kind of fun.
For the
ending brass phrase, I tried several patterns that are impossible for humans to
write, but the unnaturalness stood out more, so I settled on this form in the
end.
2. Macross
I started
with the idea of making the prelude monaural, with the center phrase in the
middle, like the sound of a telephone call, etc., but when the second half of
the piece was completed, it was not coherent enough, so I decided to use the
current form.
I used the
computer's ability to play eight channels simultaneously to give each of the
six strings of the guitar one channel, creating a more natural sound.
It is also
heard in the finale, which reminds me of the great difficulty I used to have
with synthesizers.
The
acoustic guitar in the main theme has a little harmonica sound added to make it
more familiar.
The
flutes? that appear at the beginning and end of the piece have been done to
avoid a digital feel as much as possible.
3. Shao
Pai Long
The piece
is very colorful from the title alone, so it was fun to create.
The first
phrase has four different notes layered on top of each other.
The bass
pattern is set to slur after a certain range of notes to improve the robotic?
style.
A 5/4 beat
was added below the drum solo, and I tried to avoid boredom here as well.
If it
sounds like the reds and yellows of Chinese, thank you very much! Many thanks!
4. The End
of Childhood
One
channel was given to each finger playing the organ to create a
three-dimensional effect.
It could
be said to be a play on chords, but I respected the mood because it is very
prestigious.
The sitar
was added to make it somewhat exotic.
5. Love
Flows
I added
some flavor to the original song, but I think it's within the bounds of what
can be forgiven.
It is a
very gentle mood that is appropriate for the end of the A-side.
The main
acoustic guitar is a sampling of the original, and I decided that it was the
only instrument that would suit the six-degree, harmonized mood of this scene.
The six-string and four-part notes in the prelude are the result of my desire to create an idyllic mood.
Side 2
1. Dog
Fighter
The
original tempo was considered to be a bit too fast, so I set the tempo at 150.
The entire
piece is a series of ad-libs, and the original theme is only 8 bars long
following the introduction, so most of the music is my own creation.
The fast
ad-lib phrases are the computer's strongest point, but it is only natural that
the phrases should be able to pass through the filter of human sensitivity, so
I had a lot of trouble in this area, and I had to improvise several times on
this song.
The theme
is simply a repetition of the pattern A, B, C, and so on, plus an intermediate
theme, and it would be easy to use ABC=A'B'C', but this data will remain
forever, so I dared to create changes.
The last
part is a depiction of guitar trick playing.
2. Silver
Moon, Red Moon
I have
already experienced many times that when you layer sounds, the masking effect
gradually increases, resulting in an opaque sound with no power, so I decided
to go all out and keep it simple, and it worked out to be one of the best on
the album.
The
pizzicato sounds were added to the original source, starting 3/100, 6/100, and
8/100 of a second behind each other. This was done to increase the number of
instruments.
The voices
in the middle part of the song are the people from the moon world. There are
two types, "STOP! STOP! STOP!" and "WOULD YOU MIND..."
3. 0-G
Love
I tried to
make it the realm of Grease from way back when.
I sampled
the sound of water being received from a tap into a glass, which I enjoyed as a
sound effect, but what do you think?
Five
saxophones and a harmonica gave it a youthful sound.
The
harmonica sound was created by dividing one cycle of the waveform into 128
equal parts and having the computer calculate that 64 segments (that is, 1/2)
are short waves and 1 and 128 (that is, the beginning and the end) are
triangular waves.
4. Setting
Off
The
original is a truly outstanding work, in the style of Michel Legrand, but here
I have changed the world a little.
The main
melody is a pipe-organ flute.
I used
timpani as a hidden element and drums only in the middle of the melody.
5. Runner
As I
mentioned at the beginning, here I created a single pattern with six guitar
arpeggios, wood block, bass guitar, and succeeded in saving labor on the
multitrack channels. The harmonica is the same technique as described above.
The flute
is a simple melody, so I actually played it by hand in an analog style.
The result
is a pleasant sound befitting the finale.
Afterword
I am very
happy to see that the content of each work changes and progresses, albeit
slightly, thanks to the advice I receive from various people.
As I
mentioned the other day when I appeared on an FM broadcast, all artists,
including painters, work alone, so it is only natural that I also suffer, but I
am sorry to say the hardships involved are beyond description.
But I am
in pursuit of a better sound, and there is no such thing as a finish line.
Please
look forward to the next work.
[1983
Spring, Shoji Osamu]
Notes
[Recording
Data]
February ~
March 1983
At Shouji
Studio Tokyo
[Synthesizer
and Computers]
Fairlight
CMI
Linn Drum
II
Rolland
MC-4
(Note, the
Linn Drum II is the "classic" LinnDrum that was the most successful
and famous of the line. Also, there is a slight misspelling of the Roland MC-4
sequencer.)
Some of my
own thoughts:
- Shoji emphasizes that many parts of the tracks are his own additions as opposed to simply rearranging the existing songs. Even though the original composers are always credited separately from the arrangers on the DT albums, the latter still played a huge role in shaping the compositions beyond the original songs.
- He touches on how some of the playing programmed for the songs would be difficult or almost impossible to be performed live, which is a great example of how synthesizers and sequencers could make new and unique kinds of performances.
- There's a lot more involvement in using the sound channels to create a fuller sound for some instruments than I had realized, but the fact that it doesn't stick out while listening speaks to how well it works at making the songs feel fuller and more natural.
- I would have never guessed some of the samples used, especially the watery sound on "O-G Love."
- The comment about playing the lead melody of "Runner" in a more "analog style" captures how even though many of the tracks are sequenced and programmed to sound active enough, capturing a more "live" performance through manual playing still has a charm of its own in synthesizer music.
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