College Music
In 1985, at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft NJ, they received a one million dollar grant for their Electronic Music Studio. I took full advantage of it for nearly 4 years - two while I was a student, and another two years as a lab assistant (with the perk of having access to the studio).​
Electronic Music gave me the instant gratification of being able to write, score, arrange, and produce any sound or instrument I wanted, down to realistic guitar riffs and horns, right from the keyboard - and we had the state of the art synthesizer, the Kurzweil K250.
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I loved creating music ever since. Below are some pieces resurrected from my commercial music composition days.
In The Classroom
This is the first multi-timbral (multi-instrument) assignment in my first Electronic Music class. It's a riff on the nursery song, 3 Blind Mice.
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While corny and synthy, this was my first time arranging multiple parts, including drums and bass. I started seeing the possibilities of what electronic music could be capable of.
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(Oberheim Matrix 12 Analog Synth with guitar and bass samples from the EMU Emulator III)
CopY
What I Know
Back in the 80's, the nightly news always started with an electronic loop riff, and I wanted to take those simple loops and see how far I could take it. All instruments are generated by the Kurzweil 250. The recording was done via MIDI on a DOS app called Sequencer+.
Make It Sound Real
Our professor gave me a unique challenge in my last semester at Brookdale. Using the Kurzweil synth, create an orchestral piece. The synth was famous for beautiful orchestral sounds, and this was one of my first arrangements using this many instruments - loosely riffing off of the 12 days of Christmas. Challenge accepted!
1st Song
It was time to create my 1st full song. I've been playing around with this melody for years, but I now had the equipment to produce it. I've since replaced my shaky vocals.
Not My Words
From the popular Christian poem, "Footprints in the Sand," I wanted to put it to music - which proved to be very difficult.
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"The Fury" was written by a classmate, who wrote the lyrics and wrote a piano arrangement. She asked me to produce it for her in the studio with other instruments (via synth). The hook is both haunting and beautiful.