A studio experiment: June 2024, track originally written in 1978.
This experiment included the recording of Fight For Freedom, a progressive rock song originally written in 1978 while I was in the band Skyler.
The goals for this experiment were:
- Testing all of my acoustic instruments as well as the entire studio setup.
- Seeing if I was capable of singing and recording my own lead vocal, which I had never done before.
I played all of the instruments and recorded them, see below for more info.
Lyrics
Rest your weary head
Upon my shoulder
Said the wise man
To the soldier
These castle walls
Grow ever colder
The trumpets sound
Now heed their call
Go young soldier
To fight your battles
A thousand warriors
A thousand saddles
A thousand dreams
Yet nothing matters
Just raise your sword
And carry on…
And now it’s over
I turn around
I look and see now
So many men down
As shining armor
Now turns to brown
With stains of blood
And silenced cries
I see you now
My faithful soldier
You’re looking tired and
You’re looking older
But still these castle walls
Grow ever colder
I ask you now
What price is war?
And carry on…
Structure
——— PRELUDE: 64BPM ———
2 - Count In - (4/4 time)
3 - Intro a - (classical guitar part)
7 - Intro b - (flute enters)
11 - Verse 1a - (arpeg guitar chords)
15 - Verse 1b - (synth enters)
19 - Break 1 - (flute, synth, strings)
23 - Verse 2a (guitar, strings)
27 - Verse 2b - (synth enters)
31 - Buildup - (organ, strings)
—— BATTLE SEQUENCE: 88BPM ——
35 - Bridge Organ Intro - (7/8 time)
39 - Bridge Organ Chords 1 - (4/4 time)
40 - Bridge Organ Arpeg 1
44 - Bridge Organ Arpeg 2 - (6/8 time)
48 - Bridge Organ Arpeg 3
52 - Bridge Organ Arpeg 4 - (4/4 time)
56 - Bridge Organ Chords 2
57 - Bridge Synth Arpeg 1
61 - Bridge Synth Arpeg 2 - (6/8 time)
65 - Bridge Synth Arpeg 3
69 - Bridge Synth Arpeg 4 - (4/4 time)
73 - Bridge Synth Chords 3
——— AFTERMATH: 70 BPM ———
74 - Breakdown - (Fender Rhodes)
76 - Flute Solo - (Rhodes & low synth)
89 - Pre Verse - (flute, synth)
——— EPILOGUE: 70 BPM ———
93 - Verse 3 - (piano, strings)
101 - Choir/Strings 1 - (strings, synth)
——— FINALE: 88 BPM ———
105 - Verse 4 - (organ, strings)
113 - Choir Strings 2 -(strings, synth)
117 - Buildup - (organ, strings)
120 - End - (piano & bass afterthought)
Instrumentation
I attempted to use only instruments which were available in the late 1970’s when the song was written. I avoided using any modern synths or computer software. Two exceptions were:
1. The E-Synth sampling keyboard which I used to reproduce my original Fender Rhodes piano.
2. The M-tron Mellotron plugin running on an ancient version of Logic Audio as a substitute for the real flute which Brian Groover originally played. The plugin also provided the strings and choir sounds.
No MIDI or Auto Tune was used, just an incredible amount of takes. (Like, hundreds!)
Click pics for full gallery view: