Capturing Music in the

Moment
By

Paddy Mulcahy

Music Production BSc (Honours)

Dept. of Electrical & Electronic Engineering

Limerick Institute of Technology

Submitted: April 2016

Supervisor: Flaithri Neff, PhD

Capturing  Music  In  The  Moment     K00178816  
 

Declaration

I hereby declare that this assignment is my work based on my personal study and /or
research and that I have acknowledged all material and sources used in its
preparation. I also declare that this assignment has not been previously submitted
for assessment.

I understand that plagiarism is a serious offence and I have read and understood the
college policy on plagiarism. I also understand that I may receive a mark of zero if I
have not identified and properly attributed sources that have been used, referred to,
or have in any way influenced the preparation of this assignment. Furthermore, I
understand that I may receive a mark of zero if I have knowingly allowed others to
plagiarise my work in any way.

____________________
(Student Signature above)

____________________
Student Print Name

____________________
Date

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Dedication

This thesis and musical body of work is dedicated to my parents, Brian and Finola Mulcahy.

An incredibly noble pair of humans, who are responsible for introducing me to the world of
music.
Without them I would not be able to put these words to paper, not to mention have the ability
to create music.

All of my love to you both, Paddy.

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Contents
Declaration .............................................................................................................................. 2
Dedication ............................................................................................................................... 3
Contents .................................................................................................................................. 4
Abstract ................................................................................................................................... 5
1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 6
1.1 Background ................................................................................................................. 6
1.2 Planning Stage............................................................................................................ 7
2. Luke’s Tree ....................................................................................................................... 8
2.1 Story............................................................................................................................ 8
2.2 Recording Process...................................................................................................... 9
2.3 Mixing Process.......................................................................................................... 10
3. Rifo’s Dance ................................................................................................................... 12
3.1 Story.......................................................................................................................... 12
3.2 Instrumentation ......................................................................................................... 12
3.3 Recording Process.................................................................................................... 14
4. Clicktracks On Mars ....................................................................................................... 16
4.1 Story.......................................................................................................................... 16
5. Fire ................................................................................................................................. 17
5.1 Story.......................................................................................................................... 17
5.2 Instrumentation ......................................................................................................... 17
5.3 Recording Process.................................................................................................... 18
6. Storm Song..................................................................................................................... 19
6.1 Story.......................................................................................................................... 19
6.2 Instrumentation ......................................................................................................... 19
6.3 Recording Process.................................................................................................... 20
7. Trepanning (ft. Shane Vaughan) .................................................................................... 21
7.1 Story.......................................................................................................................... 21
7.2 Instrumentation ......................................................................................................... 21
7.3 Recording Process.................................................................................................... 22
8. Conclusions, Recommendations & Further Work........................................................... 24
8.1 Reflection .................................................................................................................. 24
8.2 Recommendations .................................................................................................... 25
8.3 Further Work ............................................................................................................. 25
9. Discography.................................................................................................................... 26  

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Abstract

The essence of this Final Year Project is to observe and acknowledge the creation,
performance and recording of music at any given moment in any enviornment. This
phenomena will be explored through the description of the authors understanding and
approach towards recording music, the mixing process and the encapsulation of emotion in
music. This thesis tracks the preperation, creation and finalization stages of the album. Here
you will read about the story, recording and mixing process, as well as a description of the
instruments used in each track.

The album contains six tracks that explore the realm of Modern Classical Contemporary
music with improvisation at the forefront of its creation. Taking the environment and
instrumentation into account, the composer discusses his approach to the importance of
capturing music in the moment.

Track one explores the nature of solo piano improvisation. Here we are subjected to a one-
take piano recording, alongside a field recording from a garden. The author discusses his
approach to piano improvisation, and pays homage to his environment and the impact it has
on him and his music.

Track two discusses the experimentation of the mixing of acoustic and electronic
instruments while painting a picture of a dancing cat, Rifo. The author explains the story
behind the track from beginning to end, while discussing the recording and mixing stages of
various instruments in his home studio.

Track three is a simple chord progression played on solo synthesizer. This track pays
homage to the authors instrument, where he discusses his relationship with the synthesizer
and the significance it plays in his approach to electronic music.

Tracks four and five are intended to be heard as a two-chapter story. These tracks allow the
author to further discuss his understanding of the playing and recording of piano music.
Accompanying the piano, we hear various iterations of synthesizer and glockenspiel, which
are intended to compliment the sound of the piano in the mix.

Track six finishes the album with a spoken word and solo piano improvised collaboration.
Here the author discusses his approach to improvising music in the moment, while
accounting for the element of live collaboration and its importance to the expression of
emotion in music.

Throughout this album the author explored various aspects of modern contemporary classic
music, by going into detail about his approach, activities and completion of each track on the
album. The album in its entirety acts as a continuation of the authors exploration of this
genre of music.

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1. Introduction
 

1.1 Background
Since a young age, music has been a focal part of my life. I began taking lessons at the age
of five and continued to play various instruments for the following 10 years. All of this took
place in the Limerick School Of Music, where I also first started playing the piano.
My lessons would comprise technical learning developed through scales as well as the
playing of classical, pop and some jazz pieces. Aside to the academic aspect of learning the
piano, there were also yearly competitions, "Feile Luimni", in which I would participate as
well as concerts in the school every few months.

The mindset required to perform at such events was instilled from an early age, and has
never really left me. I believe that this is where my attitude toward capturing music in the
moment and environment stems from. Spending so many weeks of preparation and practise
amounting to one performance in which my ability to play piano was judged had always
frustrated me when growing up. This determination is ultimately what turned me off the idea
of pursuing piano lessons, as well as my heightened interest in electronic music and its
production.
I stopped playing the piano and it seemed like I had taken those lessons for nothing.
At this point I began to experiment with music software such as Reason and Cubase, later
followed by Fruity Loops and eventually Ableton Live. I found that becoming so immersed in
the creation of music via the interface of a computer quenched my thirst for musical output,
however I noticed that my music seemed to lack the essence of myself musically, as well as
a major lack of true emotion in the music.

In 2013, I rediscovered my love for the piano having discovered artists like Nils Frahm and
Olafur Arnalds on the ‘Erased Tapes’1 record label. This imprint was quite refreshing to me
after having spent so many years immersed in the underground electronic music scene, all
the while not having spent too much time at the piano. I was immediately reminded of my
past and all of the time, effort and emotional energy that I had poured into the playing and
learning of this instrument. This discovery was my first introduction to the musical scene that
is currently referred to as the “Modern Classical” genre.

One year later, after refamiliarising myself with the piano and old pieces I used to play, an
opportunity arose for me to travel to London to play at the launch of a book of sheet music
by Nils Frahm. This event was to take place in an art gallery in Camden, where a number of
people would perform pieces from the book of sheet music.

I felt like this invitation to perform on such an occasion was a good omen given my recent
return to the piano; I accepted the invitation and arranged my travel.

In hindsight, that one performance of Nils’ piece “Said and Done” had immediately motivated
me to continue exploring the world of modern contemporary classical music. I feel that all of
the practise and mental preparation I had done in earlier years had lead to this moment
where I felt very comfortable in capturing and remembering this moment, through music.

                                                                                                                       
1
 www.erasedtapes.com  
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In recent years a significant change to my musical workflow took place.

In contrast to the less-intimate nature of composing MIDI tracks for use with VST plug-ins, I
find myself enjoying the real-time interaction and recording of instruments much more.

In this instance, music is created and captured in the moment, as opposed to the typical
nature of making edits to the quantization of a MIDI track, for example.
Considering this change in workflow, I began to question the emotional input to the music
somebody could have when working with VST plug-ins, or on the other hand,
acoustic/electronic instruments being played and recorded live. I firmly believe that should a
musician experiment with both methods of composing, that they would find that they could
convey more emotion in the music through their live interaction with a real instrument.

For this album, I draw my influences from the everyday life and my natural surroundings. I
am captivated by the interactivity between humans, particularly our creative output and how
we inspire each other. As well as this, I continue to be inspired by a number of artists and
their use of instrumentation; all the while acknowledging the contribution that texture,
structure, arrangement and final presentation has towards the emotional value of each track.

1.2 Planning Stage

In the Summer of 2015, I began to plan the album that I would record for this final year
project. Upon organizing a piano recording “mini-tour” around Germany and London, I felt
very inspired to begin writing new piano-based pieces. Not only would this album be heavily
based on piano, but accompanied by different iterations of synthesizer music, that had yet to
be developed. I expected that while playing these different pianos on the continent, a range
of different ideas would present themselves depending on each piano and enviornment.

While the majority of this music was finalised in Limerick mostly during the autumn and
winter months, a loose structure was certainly considered beforehand. Throughout the
writing, recording and mixing of this album I strove to acknowledge and observe the personal
progresses I have made as a composer, arranger & mixing engineer. The nature of the
music is vastly improvised and immediate, however the technical aspects such as mixing are
viewed as a culmination of all the skills that I have acquired in the past number of years.
Both of these are taken into account with the choice of instrumentation I went with while
recording the album. A somewhat unique sound and emotional theme can be established
throughout the six tracks on the album, due to the relatively limited range of instrumentation.
I think of this album as a slight continuation of my previous album ‘ Tape Sketches’, where a
noticeable difference can be identified in the composed nature of the music, as well as the
presence of further instrumentation, such as glockenspiel, synthesizer and percussion.
Further from this, the mixes sound cleaner; as I wanted to treat ‘Tape Sketches’ as a
learning curve in relation to tape machines and the recording of piano to magnetic tape.

Throughout the six tracks on the album I will discuss all aspects of the album, going into
detail about the story and mentality behind each track, my use of instrumentation and the
final mixing stages to produce the album you are reading about.

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2. Luke’s Tree
 

2.1 Story
Luke’s Tree is a solo improvisation featuring a field recording. This track was recorded in
London in August 2015.
While travelling between Germany and London during the summer, I felt very inspired by
new surroundings and people I had met. I had been considering the creation of this Final
Year Project and thesis while recording new sketches and musical ideas I had been working
on in the months leading up to this “mini recording tour”.

I feel that as an opening track to the album, Luke’s Tree perfectly captures the inspiration I
felt while travelling. The loose structure and varying dynamics are an accurate
representation of the style of piano playing I have been experimenting with for the last few
years.
This track in particular acts as a perfect follow-up to the previous solo piano album I
released, "Tape Sketches". [See Discography - i].

This piano improvisation was captured on tape, which I strongly believe amplifies the
aesthetic of the music presented to the listener. The texture of this music is immediately
more appealing due to the presence of analogue artefacts, and the audible hiss of the Nagra
IV-s tape machine. Because of the improvised nature of the track, one must remember that
the notes that feel out of place, are just as essential as the “correct notes”.
This inclusion of “wrong notes” or “clashing tones” perfectly captures my approach to life,
and various experiments in music. I find that “accidental” music, is as interesting as pre-
composed and technically correct music.
As well as the piano, we hear a field recording from my friend Luke’s garden. I felt that
including organic recordings was essential to the track, due to the meaning and story behind
the music. The inclusion of these organic sounds also enforces the aesthetic I am trying to
achieve throughout the album, by appealing to the audience’s senses. A natural feeling of
nostalgia is induced once we hear the piano, following the organic introduction.
The presence of the wind chimes in the tree serves as a perfect response to the bird song
that accompanies it, heightening the real-world artefacts that can appeal to the listener.

A lot of my understanding and appreciation for the piano, and the playing of it, comes from
Luke Gajdus. I met him in 2014, at the launch party for Nils Frahm’s book of sheet music,
“Sheets Eins” – published by Manners McDade2, London. Luke and I had kept in contact on
the internet since then, often spending hours conversing about piano, new music, and
different ideologies that can contribute to achieving different sounds from the piano.
Not only do Luke’s insights regarding the piano and music in general play a huge role in the
inspiration behind this track; but his approach to life, outside of music is quite fresh and
inspiring. This is due to his “go with the flow” characteristic, which I seem to lack.

Separate to this is my understanding of capturing music in the moment, and allowing your
surroundings and mindset to narrate the music being played.

                                                                                                                       
2
 www.mannersmcdade.co.uk  
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This track is inspired by humans, nature and my understanding and interpretation of piano
music in a contemporary setting.

The initial step I took into this scene of contemporary classical music would have been Nils’
launch party in 2014. Having discovered a plethora of artists in the same field and beyond
and creating the same expressive style of music, I find that my recordings and style of music
is a healthy contributor to the genre in question. I believe that such expression and emotion
cannot be translated through the style of digital electronic music I was experimenting with
before. Creating music through a computer in a digital environment immediately strips you of
having a 100% human interaction with the music. This does not aid the composer in applying
their character and true “sound” to the music in question.

Throughout this piano recording session, I often took breaks where I would sit in Luke’s
garden drinking coffee and contemplating my time travelling between London and Germany,
conducting these demo recordings. It was quite a reflective time in which I would consider
and solidify my views on music, and life in general; all the while contemplating the creation of
this album.

2.2 Recording Process

Microphones: Stereo Pair of Oktava MK012 Microphones
Rode NT5
t.bone RM-700.

Interface: Focusrite Saffire Pro 14

Mytek Digital Audio USA Stereo 96 analog converter

Recording Device: Nagra IV-s tape machine.

Ableton Live at 48khz/24-bit wav.

The Oktava MK012 condenser microphones were set up with cardioid pattern capsules in an
A|B pattern in front of the exposed hammers of the Blüthner piano, with the felt damper
engaged. This allowed me to capture the soft percussive elements of the piano that satisfy
me most.

The Rode NT5 condenser microphone was used to capture atmospheric room sounds, set
up on a bookshelf behind me as I played. The acoustic property of Luke’s living room was
very nice and suited the sound of piano perfectly. Further from the close mic’ing of the piano,
I always strive to capture the ambient room sound too as I believe it is vital to have as much
content to work with during the mixing stage.

The t.bone RM-700 ribbon microphone was set up in front of the soundboard of the piano to
capture warmer sounding frequencies further to those recorded by the three aforementioned
condenser microphones.
The warm character produced by the moving coil of a ribbon microphone is matched
perfectly to the sound of a piano, as the frequency response rolls off at approximately 15khz.

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The Oktava and ribbon microphones were tested and re-adjusted to address and overcome
any phase issues. I wanted to ensure that there would be no problems with the recording, as
I would be capturing this music directly to tape. Such phase issues are not as easily dealt
with as they would be should I have recorded digitally into a digital audio workstation, such
as Ableton Live.
All live microphones were recorded at a maximum level of -12db to allow plenty of
headroom. The incoming signal was monitored on Sennheiser HD-205 headphones, giving
me a high-quality representation of what was being recorded.

The specific recording of “Luke’s Tree” was extracted from a four hour recording session,
only some of which was captured to tape.
Employing Ableton Live and the Nagra tape machine as separate recording devices was
essential for such a lengthy session, as reels of tape are relatively expensive.
To record four hours of tape could cost upto €200, so it is quite useful having a digital audio
workstation to capture any unsuccessful or unfinished demo audio recordings.

While taking various coffee breaks in the garden, I noticed the tree decorated with wind
chimes. The sound produced by these chimes provided a wonderful soundtrack to the
garden, in contrast to the airplanes often heard above the London skyline.
I immediately wanted to capture the sound of this garden to aurally capture such an exciting
time in my career. At the time, I did not consider its use alongside the piano I was recording.
I feel everything can be used for music, and everybody perceives it differently, so including
the recordings of this tree seemed natural to me when contemplating the organic aesthetic I
was trying to achieve in the track.

To capture the sound of the wind chimes in the tree, I set up a stereo pair of Rode NT5
microphones employing the X|Y technique.
This recording was captured through the Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 audio interface, to my
laptop running Ableton Live.
Waiting for the planes to pass was quite a time consuming process, as London’s airspace is
quite heavily occupied.
Once the planes had left the skies for a while, I allowed the microphones to capture and
record the ambient sounds of the garden for approximately 5 minutes. This ensured that I
had plenty of sounds from the tree, wind chimes and birds around the garden recorded.
The ambient garden sound was recorded at a maximum level of -6db to capture a healthy
sounding wild-track, but also leaving enough headroom to work with in the mix.

2.3 Mixing Process

Software used: Ableton Live 9

Effects used: Boss RE-20 Space Echo

Voxengo Oldskool Verb Plugin
Cytomic Glue Compressor

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Once I arrived back in Ireland, I backed up all of my recordings conducted on the 3 week
recording tour from my laptop to the computer in my home studio. The 45gb of data I had
collected would then go on to be reviewed and considered for use in this Final Year Project.
Luke’s Tree comprises of 2 audio tracks, “lukes_garden.wav” and a selected portion of
“bluthner_improv2.wav”.
I created a new Ableton Live session on my studio computer, using the same sample and bit
rates as the initial recording session and imported the aforementioned audio tracks.

Drawing on various sources of inspiration, I began to mix the track.

In the simplistic piano-based music of Moon Ate The Dark and Otto Totland, a heavy focus is
placed on how the piano sounds in the mix. This acknowledgement has shaped the sound
that I am striving to achieve throughout my music, with this album in particular.
In tracks such as “Explosions In A Four Chambered Heart” or “Ventricles” from Moon Ate
The Dark, we hear both ambient mechanical sounds of the piano and what could be
considered as “mistake notes”; in a similar fashion to my own music.
These are the exact elements that I believe contribute to the human feel heard in analog
music as opposed to digitally composed MIDI music. [See Discography – ii & iii].

I believe it is as important to capture the mechanical sounds heard from a piano, as well as
the notes themselves. All of these different sounds contribute to the real-life feel that is heard
in the recordings.

Further from this, these sounds make the overall track more interesting to the listener as
maybe they would not be expecting such external sounds.

I sent both the piano recording and field recording to the same send channels containing,
the Oldskool Verb plug-in, and the Boss RE-20 Space Echo. These effects provided me with
both reverb and delay, which I employ in most of my recordings to give the music more
character.

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3. Rifo’s Dance
3.1 Story
Rifo is my cat, about whom I’ve written many songs before. He is one of my few continuous
sources of inspiration. However, the title came about after I had recorded the piano piece,
which captures a number of emotions.

The song starts off instilling a sense of mystery using textures from synthesizers and
glockenspiel, followed by various percussion samples and an analog drum machine
recording. This style of instrumentation is something that I have been experimenting with in
recent years.

The first half of the song acts as a ‘prelude’ to the introduction of the piano, which represents
Rifo’s theme.

Along with these instruments, one can also hear the room noise from the recordings, such
as the banging of the glockenspiel mallets, or the hammers and keys of the piano.

I strive to capture such ‘noise’ in my recordings to remind the listener of the importance of
the presence in music and the activities of the composer during recording. Such a mindset
reflects that of the acknowledgement of imperfections in life, relationships and everything in
between. Beyond this, there is also my aim to avoid the creation of flat-sounding, or digital
music. It is a firm belief of mine that in this digital age, with such easy access to musical
instruments and software, that it is important to create music with a unique character and a
recognizable sound.

Following the introduction of Rifo’s theme on the piano, we hear the synthesizers come back
in along with a heavy-hitting kick drum, which brings the song to a strong finish. To truly
capture the image of my cat dancing in this song, I felt that applying a ‘techno-esque’
crescendo would be quite appropriate due to personal interests and modern instrumentation
heard in electronic music.

This track is a personal favourite of mine from this album, due to the sentimental nature of it.
I also enjoyed the process of developing the piano piece while considering the different
approaches that could be taken in trying to capture the personality of my cat. I achieved this
through the use of experimental instrumentation as well as dynamics and structure.

3.2 Instrumentation
This track utilizes the following instrumentation :

• Roland Juno 60 Analog Synthesizer

• Yamaha DS55 Digital Synthesizer
• Boss DR-110 Analog Drum Machine
• Boss RE20 Space Echo
• Glockenspiel
• Piano
• Percussion Samples

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As previously mentioned, the above instrumentation is an example of the instruments that I

have been recording with and using to explore the realm of analog/digital and
acoustic/electronic music.

A typical example of such a mixture of instruments and influence would be Nils Frahm’s
‘Tristana’ from the 2009 album Wintermusik. On this track we hear piano, celeste and
harmonium. [See Discography - iv].

To capture the bell-like sound of a celeste, I thought the glockenspiel would be quite a
healthy alternative. A harmonium-like sound can be achieved on a synthesizer, with a
different aesthetic as the synthesizer is electronic, as opposed to the acoustic nature of a
harmonium.

Having acquired the Boss DR-110 analog drum machine in London in the summer of 2015, I
have been using that for all analog drum sounds, with further EQ and compression being
done in Ableton Live.

The DR-110 is often compared to the notable Roland TR-606 drum machine, which is also
comprised of true analog circuitry. With said post-production done to the DR-110’s kick
drum, a perfect sound reminiscent of that in typical techno music can be achieved.

Particularly on this track I wanted to explore the use of both analog and digital synthesizers,
to acknowledge and somewhat comment on the current ongoing debate amongst electronic
music purists. I feel that having been engaged with both for approximately 2 years now, that
I could often identify differences in their sounds.

A major inspiration for me is Jean Michel-Jarre. His album Oxygene is an example of his
work that plays a huge influence in my interaction with synthesizers and electronic music.
“Oxygene Part 2” from this album is a particular favourite of mine, where various rhythms
across a wide range of vintage analog synthesizers can be identified and followed entirely
through the track. Here we pay attention to their unique characteristics of sound and
rhythmical participation in the mix. [See Discography - v].

The introductory synthesizer parts heard in this track were all recorded and multi-tracked
using the Juno 60, the analog synthesizer in question.

The Juno is one of my favourite sounding synthesizers that has a quite a recognizable
character; as heard on the 'Bladerunner' soundtrack, for example. [See Discography - vi].

Following the first section of the song and bleeding into the piano part, we hear a simple
chord breakdown on the Yamaha DS55 digital synthesizer. This recording was captured
using the first preset found on the menu. To my ear, this synthesizer recording could be
mistaken for that of an analog synthesizer, and I am intrigued to potentially hear feedback
from synthesizer purists and avid listeners of electronic music.

The glockenspiel was the final recording I captured for use in this track. I feel that utilizing
this instrument both extends the overall frequency spectrum of the song and adds depth to
the piece, in contrast to the low-midrange frequencies heard in the synthesizers and drum
machine. Here is a perfect example of my style of experimentation between
acoustic/electronic recordings, and the contrast that such a workflow instils.

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3.3 Recording Process

Microphones: Rode NT5 (piano)
AKG C3000 (glockenspiel).

Interface: Focusrite Saffire Pro 14

Recording Device: Ableton Live at 48khz/24-bit wav.

Early versions of the piano were recorded on my recording trip in Germany during the
summer of 2015, however later developments in the piece rendered these recordings
unusable.

The final recording of this song was conducted in stages, between the months of September
and December 2015. In a separate nature to the previous track, Luke’s Tree, Rifo's Dance is
more composed than improvised. Having written the piano part over the course of the
previous summer months, the electronics and glockenspiel parts came later. At 92bpm, I
recorded the piano part using the Rode NT5 stereo pair, in A|B, in front of the hammers of
the dampened piano. Four takes were conducted and arranged in Ableton.

Following the processing and placement of the piano recordings on the timeline, I began to
play and record various synthesizer ideas. Contrary to the piano part, these synthesizer
parts were somewhat improvised but I had plenty of material to arrange and piece together
in Ableton Live.

A total of nine channels were used for synthesizer recordings, utilizing panning and post-
effects such as reverb and delay from plug-ins and the Boss RE20 Space Echo.

Having the piano and synthesizer tracks arranged, I then recorded a number of iterations
from the Boss DR-110 drum machine, using different variations of the onboard 'accent' and
'balance' functions, which allowed me to record a different sound of the kick drum every
time.
These recordings were placed in four-four fashion on the timeline, at 92bpm, then arranged
and manipulated accordingly.

Having the song further developed on the timeline, I went on to record the glockenspiel parts
along with the piano recordings ‘solo-ed’ on my headphones. This recording was captured
using the AKG C3000 microphone standing parallel approximately a foot above the keys.

The delay and reverb heard on the glockenspiel track was created using the Boss RE20
Space Echo and Voxengo’s OldSkool Verb VST plug-in.

This glockenspiel track was chopped up and panned a certain amount, to contribute to the
instrument’s space in the mix and to create a dialog with the spatial character of the
synthesizer parts.

Here I kept the room sound of leaving the mallets back down after recording to carry though
my philosophy of the importance capturing elements of the presence of the composer in the
room.

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Finally, once the track was close to finished, I felt that further percussion samples would be a
welcome addition to the song. This was decided upon to give the song’s story more
movement and energy. I believe that the addition of such percussion contributes perfectly to
Rifo's Dance and carries a story though to the listener.

Any interpretation can be made by the listener as to who Rifo is, or what the dance is about;
however I think following the establishment of his theme on the piano and the kick drum in
particular, a certain narrative can be followed.

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4. Clicktracks On Mars

4.1 Story
This track is a solo synthesizer composition.

It is based on a simple chord progression I originally wrote on piano, however after making
the secret ‘Patch 62’ on the Juno 60 synthesizer I felt that this pairing was much better
suited.
This track is simply a homage to the sound of the synthesizer and my relationship with it.

I began writing early stages of the chord progression while composing some music for a
dance performance with the Dance Limerick company sometime during Spring 2015,
however it was never fully developed, due to a change of musical direction.
The idea was later revisited in winter of 2015 and early 2016 for completion and addition to
this album.

Personally, the sound of this particular patch on the synthesizer appeals to me very much.
In addition to this sonic presentation, the chord progression we hear throughout this track
appeals to me emotionally.

In the beginning we are exposed to long winded chords that fully display the quality of this
synthesizer patch. Approximately a minute into the track, we can hear the introduction of the
Juno 60's 'Sub-Osc', which fills out the frequency spectrum due to the addition of more bass.
The nature of this sub-oscillator is quite straight forward, in that it plays the lowest note you
hit on the keyboard an octave lower. The introduction of this bass is essential to the
character of this track, as it captures even more of the essence of the synthesizer and its
unique sound, while contributing to the emotional quality of the piece of music.
The breakdown heard at the two and a half minute mark, is an example of the patch’s nature
when the keys are held down. Here an easy contrast can be identified compared to the
introduction of the track, in that the frequencies cannot be heard 'opening up'

The Boss RE20 Space Echo pedal is heavily utilized throughout the recording of this track,
and absolutely contributes to the sonic qualities of the programmed patch heard on the
synthesizer. I believe that this patch on the synthesizer absolutely requires the presence of
such Space Echo, as it would certainly not sound the same otherwise.The RE20 Space
Echo is a COSM modelling pedal designed by Boss, to faithfully recreate the characteristic
of the original Roland RE201 Space Echo analog tape delay unit.
I feel that this is an essential pairing of gear and this recording is as much of a homage to
the Space Echo as it is the Juno Synthesizer.

The final version of this piece is the product of various revisions of chord progressions and
editions of recordings. It is not an improvisation by any means.

The synthesizer was plugged in mono to the RE20, which was then sending a stereo signal
to Ableton.

The synthesizer would only be used in stereo to fully emphasise the presence of chorus;
whereas the RE20’s stereo signal emphasises the reverb, without so much stereo emphasis
on the delay.

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5. Fire

5.1 Story
Fire is an improvised piano track. In this piece we hear a sequence of notes repeated on the
baby grand piano, to later be accompanied by synthesizer.

I was originally intending to record additional piano tracks for the following track ‘Storm
Song’, however I felt that this particular recording was more powerful should it be heard on
its own with minimal accompaniment, to act more-so as an introduction.
In the early stages of developing this piece, I had considered the fact that a cello track might
have well suited the solo piano that we hear, but I soon decided to experiment with the
possiblity of additional synthesizer elements. Following this experimental stage, I decided to
elimate the prospect of recording any cello.

There is a unique sound from the piano, due to the microphone used and the ‘prepared
piano’ technique I utilized for this recording session.

Prepared Piano is a technique that was first experimented with by composers such as
Maurice Delage, Henry Cowell and Heitor Villa-Lobos in the early 1900’s, however John
Cage is most noted for his use of this technique in the 1930’s.

I first began to experiment with Prepared Piano in the last 2 years, having first heard the
technique through German composer, Hauschka. My interest in this technique was
particularly peaked after seeing him in concert in the National Concert Hall, Dublin, where
the sounds of the piano travelled very well through the Kevin Barry room. This experience
had me absolutely captivated by the sounds that can be achieved by experimenting with
piano.
This technique is at the forefront of the piano recordings in his album ‘Ferndorf’.
[See Discography - vii].

For the recording of ‘Fire’, I placed marbles and screws between and on the desired strings
of the baby grand piano at home, and started playing around with how different each object
sounded. This process was extremely enjoyable, and allowed me to consider how each
piano sounds different given its environment and interaction with the player.The RM700
ribbon microphone was used to capture this recording. I had considered using the stereo
pair of Rode NT5’s for added clarity, resolution and stereo image, however I was quite
interested to hear the sound of the prepared piano through this particular ribbon microphone.

5.2 Instrumentation
This piece utilizes the following instrumentation :

• Baby Grand Piano

• Yamaha DS55
• Boss RV1000 Reverb Unit

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Capturing  Music  In  The  Moment     K00178816  
 

5.3 Recording Process

Microphones: t.bone RM700 Ribbon (Baby Grand Piano).

Interface: Focusrite Saffire Pro 14

Recording Device: Ableton Live at 48khz/24-bit wav.

The piano track heard here was extracted from a 3 hour recording session I conducted in my
living room at home. I had set up the microphone and my laptop to began recording
improvised thoughts, while revisiting some more developed ideas.

I began to experiment with microphone placement in the room, trying to achieve the best
sound possible from the piano. I started this microphone placement by standing the t.bone
ribbon microphone close to the sound-hole inside the body of the piano, but I felt that more
room ambience would have lent itself more appropriately to the particular recording in
question.
I began to bring the microphone further and further away from the piano to capture more
mechanical sounds, as well as the presence of the objects inside.

The final recording heard here, was captured with the ribbon microphone standing about four
to five feet away from the piano, at a 45 degree angle to the lid of the piano. This gave me a
perfect balance of piano vs. external objects, such as the marbles and screws.

Further processing was done to this piano recording, such as EQ’ing, and the slight addition
of reverb.

Later that day while considering further possible developments that could be made to the
song, I brought the recording into my studio and began to experiment with different
synthesizer sounds with the pre-recorded piano part.

In ‘Fire’ we hear the same synthesizer patch as in 'Rifo’s Dance', taken from the Yamaha
DS55 digital synthesizer. I recorded a simple chord progression that moves around the piano
notes, with a heavy addition of reverb coming from the Boss RV1000 Reverb Unit.
Little processing was done here, such as EQ’ing and slight compression.

In its simplicity, 'Fire' acts as the perfect prelude to the following track ‘Storm Song’.

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Capturing  Music  In  The  Moment     K00178816  
 

6. Storm Song
6.1 Story
Storm Song is a piece I wrote for piano sometime in mid-2014, around the time that I was
recording my previous album ‘Tape Sketches’. As the title would suggest, I first began to
write and develop this on quite a rainy day, while stuck indoors with no other plans. As the
rainfall grew heavier and heavier I felt the piano piece almost writing itself, which was quite
an unnatural feeling at the time.

This moment alone captures my essence as a musical artist, where I rely heavily on nature,
my surroundings and the people in it to influence my approach to specific musical ideas.
I feel deeply attached to this piece and felt it would be a perfect addition to this album as
quite an amount of emotion is embodied within the recording given the structure, texture,
instrumentation and overall movement of the track.

The above is coupled with the fact that its placement in the album follows directly from ‘Fire’,
which puts the song in an interesting context while considering the overall structure of the
album.
The minute long jazz-style breakdown that can be heard from approximately the two and a
half minute mark, was an improvisation that took place during the same take while recording
this version of the song. This improvisation can be acknowledged as a homage to my recent
increased interest in jazz piano music as well as notable artists such as Miles Davis,
Thelonious Monk and Art Tatum.

6.2 Instrumentation
This piece utilizes the following instrumentation :

• Upright felt-dampened Piano

• Baby Grand Piano
• Korg MS20 Analog Synthesizer
• Glockenspiel

In the beginning of the piece we hear the final synthesizer remnants of the previous track
‘Fire’, accompanied by the soft, yet powerful piano introduction of ‘Storm Song’.
The body of this song was captured on the upright piano in my home studio, in identical
fashion to the other piano tracks heard on this album.

Recorded in one take, Storm Song is a piece that exists totally on the piano, however
additional accompaniment from other instruments is something that always interested me
while developing the piece.

Here, we hear a single glockenspiel track that compliments the tone of the piano quite
appropriately. While the glockenspiel contains sonic manipulation such as heavy reverb and
delay, this piano tells the story with a minimal addition of reverb. In addition to this
glockenspiel track, a slight trace of the Korg MS20 synthesizer can also be heard providing
low-end bass tones.

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Later in the piece, at approximately three and a half minutes, we hear the introduction of a
repeated five-note sequence played on the baby grand piano, a variation of the notes heard
in the previous track ‘Fire’. I felt that the addition of this piano part was essential, as it carries
on the presence of the baby grand from the previously heard track, and brings the duology
of Fire/Storm Song to beautiful closure.

I feel that the sudden contrast heard in the segway between the grand piano in ‘Fire’, and
dampened piano in ‘Storm Song’ aids the listener, as well as the track titles in detecting a
story being told.

6.3 Recording Process

Microphones: Rode NT5 Stereo Pair (Upright Piano)
t.bone RM700 Ribbon (Baby Grand Piano)
AKG C3000 Condenser (Glockenspiel).

Interface: Focusrite Saffire Pro 14

Recording Device: Ableton Live at 48khz/24-bit wav.

This song was recorded and arranged over the course of a week in late 2015. Carrying on
the tempo from the previous track ‘Fire’, I began to record the felt-dampened piano part. The
microphones set up in the same way, A|B spaces pair staring into the exposed piano, I
began to play Storm Song, all the while recording.

After maybe 45 minutes of recording, I sat down to review the recordings in Ableton Live and
chose my favourite takes. It took a few days to decide on my favourite and when I did I
began to mix the piano track by EQ’ing and compressing as well as adding in slight reverb
and delay. The following day, I unintentionally began to play Storm Song on the glockenspiel
and had immediately decided to record some for the song. This was done my monitoring the
piano track on headphones and setting up the AKG condenser microphone, similarly to the
recording of all other glockenspiel parts on this album.

In a few takes, I had captured the perfect amount of material to begin working with alongside
the piano part. The glockenspiel part is quite simplistic, however relies heavily on the sonic
manipulation heard in the song. Such manipulation exists at the three-minute mark, where
one instance of the recording was reversed. As well as reversing, I also utilized different
variations of time-stretching, for the notes to work alongside the reverb and delay.

The final addition of the five-note sequence heard on the baby grand piano was an incidental
one discovered through experimentation. The sonic manipulation heard here lends itself very
nicely to the texture and instrumentation of the song, where extreme panning can be heard
toward the end. This panning can be compared heavily to the nature of Irish storms and bad
weather, where one can feel like they are surrounded by wind and rain “coming from all
angles”. This panning was introduction by automating the piano’s channel in Ableton to give
a sense of movement, alongside the reverb that can be heard.

Storm Song was developed over the course of approximately a year and a half, to a point
where I am absolutely delighted with the final product.

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Capturing  Music  In  The  Moment     K00178816  
 

7. Trepanning (ft. Shane Vaughan)

 

7.1 Story
One night during the Summer of 2015, an impromptu studio session took place between
myself and a close friend, Shane Vaughan, where we worked together on this piece,
Trepanning.
Shane is a Limerick-born, Cork-based writer, and the co-founder of the local poetry group,
Stanzas.3
Throughout the evening, we had played around with different instruments and word-based
pieces written by Shane all to be sonically manipulated by myself. Later into the night as we
grew more tired, our ideas became more farfetched.

The whole evening was recorded to hours worth of tape on my Grundig TK121 tape
machine.

At one point, while still recording I sat down to the piano and began playing a quite simple
chord progression. Shane began to recite his poem, Trepanning; and without any
interruption, we had a very beautiful sounding improvised music and spoken word
collaboration, about which we were both very excited.

Weeks passed without either of us giving much serious thought to the recording, however
often reflecting on the fun we had that night. Later, as I began to consider the creation of this
Final Year project toward the end of the Summer, I revisited the recording and approached
Shane about re-recording the piece for this album.

He jumped at the oppurtunity to come back to the studio and spend time rerecording a
wonderful piece of music that was originally captured in the moment.

Certain changes were made to the original piece such as the recording format, and
additional instruments were recorded for the album version of this song.

At the end of this recording you hear us both chat briefly, quite apparently satisfied with this
recording, being the second and final take of ‘Trepanning’.

7.2 Instrumentation
This piece utilizes the following instrumentation :

• Piano
• Korg MS20 Analog Synthesizer
• Boss DR-110 Analog Drum Machine
• Glockenspiel
• Piano
• Percussion Samples

                                                                                                                       
3
 www.stanzas.ie  
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This version of ‘Trepanning’ is musically identical to the original improvisation we created,

however developments were made to the instrumentation.

The track opens with solo dampened piano, and spoken word.

The piano piece is identical to the simple chord progression from Shane and I’s improvised
studio session during the summer, as are the words.

Two minutes into the piece we hear the introduction of a low-end bassline. This synth line
came from the newly acquired Korg MS20 monophonic synthesizer of mine.

Following this bassline we hear a glockenspiel playing a simple and repetitive motif. The
same glockenspiel heard on other tracks from this album. The addition of this instrument
was intended to compliment the vocals and almost act as a second voice.

Finally, I felt that the addition of percussion at the end would be a perfect way of bringing this
song to an end. The kick drum was provided to me by the Boss DR-110 analog drum
machine, to be further manipulated in Ableton Live.

The two other percussion samples came from a library of field recordings I had conducted
around the house, with this song in mind.

The short length of the percussion section is intended to represent and reflect the short-lived
nature of a relationship, quite similar to that of the poet’s story here.

7.3 Recording Process

Microphones: Rode NT5 (piano)
AKG C3000 (glockenspiel)
T.bone RM700 Ribbon (vocals).

Interface: Focusrite Saffire Pro 14

Recording Device: Ableton Live at 48khz/24-bit wav.

The improvised version of this piece was originally recorded to tape, however due to my
decision to include this track on my album, I wanted to re-record a cleaner, and slightly more
polished version. This was achieved by using Ableton Live as my DAW, utilizing the
Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 interface.

The piano was mic’ed in similar fashion to other pieces from this album; A|B spaced pair, in
front of the exposed dampened piano hammers.

This microphone technique allowed me to capture all percussive sounds from the piano that
may be referred to as a typical characteristic identified in my music.

Shane’s vocal was recorded using the Thomann brand microphone, t.bone RM700 Ribbon
microphone. I have been utilizing this microphone in as many recordings as possible,
particularly piano, guitar and vocals.This ribbon microphone offers quite an easily identifiable
warm and unique sound with not too many high frequencies coming through due to the
15khz roll-off.

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Capturing  Music  In  The  Moment     K00178816  
 

Here I utilized a pop-shield, to avoid any unwanted sibilance or plosives. The piano and
vocal tracks were recorded live at the same time, as we grew comfortable performing it with
each other. To achieve as clean as possible a recording for all three channels, I placed the
ribbon microphone parallel to the piano in my studio. This was done with the final mixing
stage in mind, due to the figure-of-8 polar pattern of the ribbon microphone which would
have picked up much unwanted piano signal.

The standard cardioid capsules on the piano’s pair of Rode NT5’s meant I would possibly
pick up some of Shane’s vocal however, personally I would prefer to have vocal bleed in my
piano track, rather than vice-versa.

Following the recording of the main piano and vocal for Trepanning, I began to play around
with the Ableton timeline. Here I experimented with different reverb and delay types on the
piano. I decided to stick with Voxengo’s OldSkool Verb plug-in, and heavily adjusting the
‘Wide Plate’ preset.

Delay can also be heard in the piano track, which was provided by the native delay found in
Ableton, ‘Ping Pong Delay’.

Shane’s vocal required very little sonic manipulation, to maintain clarity in his spoken words.
However in similar fashion to the piano track, minimal reverb and delay from the same
sources were added accordingly.

I used the AKG C300 condenser microphone to capture the sound of the glockenspiel, in an
identical manner to that of track two, Rifo’s Dance. A foot or two above the keys, I
improvised some simple notes on top of the piano track which was being monitored in my
headphones.
Beyond the piano and vocal I decided to add synth bass and various percussion tracks to
this piece. This decision was made to open up the frequency spectrum of the overall song,
while helping develop the story being told. The synth track was recorded in a number of
takes on the Korg MS20. I feel that the presence of the bass synth compliments the dark
turn in the story perfectly, as well as contrasting the high frequencies heard in the
glockenspiel.
The MS20 was plugged directly into the Focusrite Saffire Pro 14, and further EQ’d and
processed following the addition of the glockenspiel track. The fact that I had wanted to do
further work to this track beyond our improvised version gave me the idea to perform it to a
click track, provided by Ableton Live. This came in very useful when addressing the addition
of the final percussion samples, as I could perform quantization in my Digital Audio
Workstation.

The kick drum was recorded in from the Boss DR-110 drum machine direct to Ableton for
EQ’ing and manipulation. The other percussion samples were placed on the timeline
accordingly and manipulated to suit the context of the track.

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8. Conclusions, Recommendations & Further Work

8.1 Reflection
In reflection, I am most happy with how this album came to be. During early planning stages,
I had no real idea as to what to expect, due to the immediate nature of my character as a
composer. In the summer of 2015, I had expected a lot of my ideas to come to fruition over
the course of the coming months, where I could develop them further through
experimentation in the studio. Variations of each track were arranged differently, and mixed
in a number of ways, but in conclusion I could not imagine hearing this album any differently.
Upon listening to the final mixes I am confident in the presentation of each track on the
album and the story that each of them tells. The sound of each track compliments the
instruments being heard, while contributing to the structure and texture accordingly.

I believe that Luke’s Tree is a very accurate representation of how I approach the
improvisation of piano music. Alongside this, is the presence of organic field recordings,
which appropriately represents my acknowledgment of nature and its impact on my music.
I feel that a number of emotions such as nostalgia, regret and inspiration can be found in this
particular recording, due to its presentation and style.

Following this is the contrasting electronic landscape of Rifo’s Dance, which addresses my
approach to a more composed and arranged musical piece. I think that this track is well
structured and mixed. Here, we are given a perfect demonstration of my use of synthesizers
as well as piano and my ability to mix these together to tell a story.

The third track, Clicktracks On Mars, serves its purpose as a simple yet powerful halfway
point of the album. As a solo synthesizer composition, I believe that it carries as much
emotion and power as that of a more composed and textured track, such as Rifo’s Dance.
I believe that my love for electronic music and my use of such instrumentation is heavily
inspired by the sound of this synthesizer. This track is a perfect embodiment of this love and
is very well presented and placed in this album.

Fire and Storm Song became a wonderful two-chapter piece that stemmed from the simple
idea of mixing piano tracks and pieces together. Here, I feel that I have perfectly captured
my nature as a pianist and composer. A certain sense of mystery or wonder can be felt in
the beginning and throughout ‘Fire’, and suddenly we are exposed to the nostalgia inducing
sounds of the dampened upright piano. This difference and change alone speaks volumes in
emotion – exactly what I am exploring and trying to get across.

Finishing the album off with Trepanning is the perfect way of encouraging the feeling of
different emotions in the listener. In contrast to the typical instrumental nature of my music,
having lyrics present allows a story to be more easily identified and followed. This narrative
is a wonderful way of exploring such a phenomena and I believe it worked.

In conclusion, I firmly believe that I have successfully achieved my goal in furthering my

exploration of the instrumental modern classical music genre, by conducting several
experiments throughout the six tracks.

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Capturing  Music  In  The  Moment     K00178816  
 

By being influenced by my surroundings and people in my life, I have successfully carried

this inspiration through to my improvised style of making music, and I continue to capture
music in the moment.

Reflecting on such inspiration and experiences allows me to feel a certain way during the
music-writing process, and considering this as well as my approach to improvising music, I
believe that this serves a perfect recipe for creating quite unique sounding, emotive and
cinematic-sounding music.

The creation of this album has allowed me to fully analyse myself as a musician, composer,
mixing engineer and human being. My interaction with people and nature in the past nine
months has proven to be the perfect pallet for inspiration and ideas for my music; as well as
this, having the captivating scene of Modern Classical music as a motivating factor has lead
me to creating this unique sounding album which I will develop and continue to work on.

8.2 Recommendations
Should I have carried out the creation and completion of this album in any other way, I would
have experimented more with different microphones and synthesizers. Had I done this, I feel
that I might have discovered more avenues in which I could have taken each track, due to
the difference in sound. While acknowledging this, I feel that the instrumentation of this
album and its contribution to each track is quite impressive. I believe that my
experimentation with each instrument lends itself very nicely to the genre of modern
contemporary electronic music; in that my background, interests and style of playing music
all pay an appropriate homage to the current developments being made in said genre. While
planning this album, I had intended to conduct further experiments with live collaboration,
however due to reasons outside of my control, this could not have happened. Taking
influence from aforementioned artists may be quite identifiable throughout the album;
however, I believe that through experimenting in recent years that I am developing my own
unique sound as a composer of acoustic and electronic music. This album has been
extremely successful in that I have created a body of work, which will be shared with the
public in the future, as well as brought to international record labels for potential release.

8.3 Further Work

Upon completing this album, I feel inspired and motivated to continue my exploration and
activity within the realm of modern contemporary classical music. Having completed the
production and writing aspect of this thesis, I will continue to work on more tracks in a similar
nature to this. I am quite interested in the prospect of further collaboration, such as with
vocalists, pianists and other synthesizer enthusiasts. My intention is to do further recordings
to fit in with this album, to give it more length and meaning. I believe that currently at
approximately 30 minutes that I could capture even more examples of my somewhat unique
approach to recording music, and give the album more of a story from beginning to end.
Further work will be done on track listing, following the creation and addition of more tracks.

In addition to the creation of more music, I also hope to develop artwork for the album, as
well as deciding on a final title under which I will hopefully release the album.

I foresee that the final additions to this album will be synthesizer heavy, and I am incredibly
confident in thinking that the members of the music community, and the public will receive it
very well in general.

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Capturing  Music  In  The  Moment     K00178816  
 

9. Discography
 

i  -­‐  Paddy  Mulcahy  –  Tape  Sketches  [1631  Recordings4,  2016]  

ii  -­‐  Moon  Ate  The  Dark  –  Moon  Ate  The  Dark  I  [Sonic  Pieces5,  2012]  

iii  -­‐  Moon  Ate  The  Dark  –  Moon  Ate  The  Dark  II  [Sonic  Pieces,  2015]  

iv  -­‐  Nils  Frahm  –  Wintermusik  [Erased  Tapes  Records,  2009]  

v  -­‐  Jean  Michel  Jarre  –  Oxygene  [Disques  Motors6,  1976]  

vi  –  Vangelis  -­‐  Bladerunner  Sountrack7  [Dir:  Ridley  Scott,  1982]  

vii  -­‐  Hauschka  –  Ferndorf  [Fat  Cat  Records/1307018,  2008]  

                                                                                                                       
4
 www.1631recordings.com  
5
 www.sonicpieces.com  
6
 www.discogs.com/label/4189-­‐Les-­‐Disques-­‐Motors  
7
 www.discogs.com/Vangelis-­‐Blade-­‐Runner/master/12717  
8
 www.fat-­‐cat.co.uk/press/label/130701l

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