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Can't Help What I Am (LIOLI)
by michael2

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Submitted on: May 23, 2007 - 09:36:30 PM
Last Updated: May 23 2007 - 09:36:30 PM
Keywords poor little guy (1)LIOLI (47)melancholy (57)
Description Looks like the LIOLI entries are coming in, so here's mine (leaving town for memorial day and don't want to forget).

I slowed down the piano and the train until they got to the point where I hope they are unrecognizable. The train loop comes courtesy of Freesound Project, and here is the original file:
http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=25068

let's see if anyone can tell what sound is the train.

This is supposed to be the theme for a monster who is totally sympathetic (like Godzilla. Who doesn't love him? He's a dad.) I had a lot of fun doing this, hope it's okay as I never work with loops really.
Hardware mini mac intel, m-audio 49 e keyboard
Software: GB 3
Fan List

Vic Holman

bud

deputydoofy

Kren

Dj French Toast

dajama

VicDiesel

alfalpha

chikoppi
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Vic Holman said 596 days ago
lonely big lug
Really unrecognizable. like how you effected the train.

What brings me to mind is Godzilla heading out in the ocean to lick his wounds at his fotress of solitude. All the while Raymond Burr looks on smoking a cigarette, unfiltered of course, from the docks. Muttering to himself "Cursed be the animal kingdom. Damn us all to hell".

michael2 said 596 days ago
oh man
you totally got it. poor little guy, he can't help that he was mutated by radiation poisoning.

bud said 596 days ago
Michael this is beautiful
slowing this down so far is great - the ho tevering organ sound and slow lead are really mesmerizing. I'm guessing I hear some bit crushed train scratchin at my cranium. Oddly enough - I made a second piece for the challenge that's titled "What the new King Kong might have sounded like if it weren't such a terrible movie".
Papa Godzilla - too much.

bud said 596 days ago
That word is
hovering

---
<a href="http://www.loopitorloseit.com/current.html"><img src="http://www.macjams.com/images/banners/474-chikoppi_banner.gif"/></a>

michael2 said 596 days ago
hey bud
the hovering organ sound is the house piano, after i slowed it down and ran it through some soft synth i downloaded. and you're right, the scratching sound is the train bit crushed and run through an EQ (good ear). i'm so glad you liked it.

Axgrinder said 595 days ago
Hey, thats all I ever wanted to do!
Well....Throw in some cars, girls and motorcycles! Music always first and foremost, of course. This one is kinda sad and dreary but in a cool sort of way. I dig the keyboard and effects. I would like to throw some screaming solos on top of it. I think I shall down load it and try some out! I'll put it back when I'm done, promise! Nice work.

michael2 said 595 days ago
you
can wail away my friend. that might be cool. i was actually picturing a wailing sax (like Bowie might play)freaking out over the top of this. their both single note instruments.

said 595 days ago
Cool Theme
I like what you've done with the train and loop very much. I enjoy the slow tempo too. I'm also left with the feeling I am experiencing in slow motion my surroundings at a Parisian cafe .

michael2 said 595 days ago
i like
the parisian cafe reference. i thought that as well. the melody is being played on the pop flute sound, but it's pitch is so low it ended up sounding like an accordion. it was supposed to have a mono moog sound playing that melody as well, but for some reason my computer kept playing it back in the wrong key so I abandoned the whole moog idea.

deputydoofy said 595 days ago
Tragedy
Did those evil humans hurt the nice, friendly monster again?
"And crawling on the planet's face, some insects called the human race. Lost in time. Lost in space... and meaning."

michael2 said 595 days ago
i
just saw something on the news the other day where these people were all crazed because some bears came into their backyard.don't build a house there (or a city in Tokyo's case). Thanks for listening.

Warren Smith said 595 days ago
Death train
Well - my listening-brain took my train of thought in a different direction ... from the power of suggestion ... as you mentioned "Memorial Day" and "don't want to forget" in the description ... for me it became a funeral piece ... a lament for those that have gone before us. Those gritty sounds become the claws of death scratching at our psyches ... or even crows or ravens crawing among the graves. No matter the literal interpretation ... it comes across as a very somber production.

michael2 said 595 days ago
wow
that's pretty heavy. got me thinking that I would do it over with horn sounds and percussion like a New Orleans funeral dirge. Thanks for the idea, and for listening.

said 595 days ago
I'm Seeing In Black And White
...in 1950's TV... or maybe a movie. I was imagining something more like War Of The Worlds, with those strange, radio-sine-wave sounds drifting along in the background, and the scratchy noises that might be alien communications from saucers hanging in the shadows of Dark Unknown Outer Space.

Of course, then Godzilla would fight the aliens and save us all - then be attacked by paranoid humans who wouldn't differentiate between the Monsters From Space and the Monster From The Ocean. Then... well, Vic Holman's earlier comment sums it up quite well, I think.

michael2 said 595 days ago
i bet
that Godzilla would kick the aliens butts all over the place. It's so uncool that the humans mess with poor Godzilla and make him look like a stooge in front of his kid. he's just trying to find his place in the world.

The Infinites said 595 days ago
I'm thinking
Schindler's List.

Not depressing - ultra-thought provoking.

Good work.

Jim

michael2 said 595 days ago
thanks
for the compliment. I actually really like the Schindlers List soundtrack. I wish that it was a little less syrupy sounding, but it's very haunting. Thanks for listening.

SmokeyVW said 595 days ago
and now for something completely different
awww... poor beast.

this is a job for the audio speeder upper - i'm intrigued just what that sound back there actually is...

very somber mood

thanks

what *is* that sound?

michael2 said 595 days ago
that
scratching sound is the train. i slowed down the tempo (that's speed and pitch right?), and reversed it in audacity. then i EQed it so all of the bottom end was gone. thanks for listening man.

Kren said 595 days ago
where's the Popcorn?
This is a movie theme for sure!!

good job

michael2 said 595 days ago
the
popcorn is stuck in my teeth. Thanks for listening and commenting.

Dj French Toast said 595 days ago
I see
a french guy slowly walking through the woods eating an apple and laughing out loud at the sillyness of life ! I love this alot great song !

michael2 said 595 days ago
ooh
i like that take on it. not an existentialist Sartre wanna-be, but some sleazy, chain smoking, hottie on his arm guy like Serge Gainsbourg. thanks man.

michael2 said 595 days ago
in
case anyone is wondering what I did on this one:

the horrible house piano loop is now that slow organ-ish sound in the background. I reassigned it to an organ sound in the Eve soft-synth that is available free online. the train sound I reversed, slowed down the speed and pitch and then EQ'ed all the bass out of it. the sine wave sounds are all the Eve synth, the Cello is the Fitch cello sound (also free online), and the main melody is played on the pop flute at the bottom end of the keyboard. thanks for all of your comments and for listening to my first ever Loop It or Lose It attempt.

dajama said 595 days ago
Nice
This is totally out of left field. It's fascinating for its origins, but also very cool in and of itself. Talk about moody. The war is over - survey the smoking battlefield...Nice work. Peace.

michael2 said 594 days ago
thanks
dajama, i'm glad you liked it. kind of inspired me, like i want to use inappropriate things for all my next bunch of songs. it was a challenge to make that piano loop something i could stand hearing. thanks for listening.

VicDiesel said 594 days ago
Cool
This track is so cool, it's almost frozen. You get a very chilly atmosphere by slowing everything down this far. That organ gives a nice spooky touch, and the occasional rattles (is that the train?) add a degree of random perturbations.

Good stuff.

Victor.

michael2 said 590 days ago
thanks
i'm stoked that people gave this a listen, and i appreciate you taking the time to comment. the creaking and crackling are all the train. it's wierd, when I was a kid I sped everything up as fast as humanly possible, now I slow everything down.maybe I should write some fast songs just for old times sake. thanks for stopping by.

said 593 days ago
speechless!!!
Ya know I have been listening to all the songs in this lioli and each one shows the talent here at Mjs. You have turned it all your own .... Bravo my man and a few bows!!!!!!!!

michael2 said 590 days ago
thanks
Ego Bandit. I really tried to get away from something that sounded like a loop (plus i wanted to write a melody). Thanks for listening and commenting.

Monkaton said 592 days ago
Bittersweet Beast
Well there goes old Godzillar into the pond. He can't catch a break, much less a fish.

Very nice mood and use of instruments on this one. I liked it.

michael2 said 590 days ago
thanks
for listening. i'm glad you could appreciate it.

damiengh said 590 days ago
Oh no, Look! Gawdzihilla!
NIce sounds. Capturing that sad feel of both the human fatalities and the torment of the monster's animal psyche. Why is everyone picking on me???

You really got this mood thing down. I'm going to feed my monster, you made me feel I was neglecting him.


Thanks for the soundz.

michael2 said 590 days ago
thanks
for listening. very nice of you to mention "mood." I have been trying to get better at moody and ambient pieces after spending so many years writing more traditional songs. appreciate the vote of confidence.

said 590 days ago
Moving piece!
JHC! This song has a lot of sinister melancholy. Oeps, just read the keywords...Hmmm, still. Words aren't sometimes spot on. Now they are(without the arrogance). I like the classical feel and the bitcrushed sweeping air or somefin. It feels like a poor soul walking through a dessert of past experiences and emotions pouring out when reflecting upon them. The way you carefully play the keyz is a plus, not too much, just right. The train whistle at the end is dope. Bravo! 2 thumbs up( and one middle finger to all that don't want to understand)!

Jb

michael2 said 588 days ago
hey
thanks for listening to this one. it's nice when people get what you're trying to do. sometimes it's difficult to play this stuff on keys as opposed to something that has actual moving parts, but that fitch cello is pretty cool. i think i like it better than the cellos that came with JP4. thank you for the kind words.

alfalpha said 590 days ago
a nice job...
...of loop manipulation. It's wonderful how you transformed the piano into a harmonium-like sound, very appropriate for this 'Monster Dirge'. The train sounds as though through poor Godzilla's ears- an insignificant little mass of metal! ;)

Poor little fella!

...and an excellent job btw, Michael!
Cheers,
Alf

michael2 said 588 days ago
thank you
i love you're description of how Godzilla would hear a train. i had a lot of fun trying to turn this into something other than a daft punk song. thanks for the listen and comment.

chikoppi said 588 days ago
Mellow/Dramatic
The high-pitched, quavering chords really invoke a often used B-movie sound effect. The melody is so sombre. This seems like the scene wherein the scientists gather around the monster's fallen hulk, the little boy runs up to sob uncontrollably, and all humanity regrets their collective innability to live in peace with that which they do not understand. "In destroying this great beast we failed to kill the monster, General Cho. For the real monster is within us all."

michael2 said 587 days ago
thanks
whats been best about the comments people leave is their mental imagery. loving that, thanks so muc for listening (and getting it).

said 392 days ago
Awesome!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Unique!!!!!!!!!!!

(Get it?) By the way, I made a remix sorta, kinda thing of this.

Awesome job man love it; evokes so many emotions/thoughts if you allow it.

Tinfoil

Heightened said 377 days ago
Really like that organ
playing. Wish I could do something with an organ.

Artist Profile
michael2 photo
michael2

Artist Bio I'm a guy who never wanted to do anything but play music. I grew up with classic rock and prog rock before discovering punk and the new york dolls once I got to high school. As i got a little older (and less angry), I developed a love of all thi...[more]
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