I just released a new remix of “Sepia” from my album Preludes I.
The original track is deeply melodic, with the piano as its beating heart and main identity. For this dub version, I made a bold move: I completely removed the piano and replaced it with a stronger, deeper rhythmic groove.
Interestingly, the very element that defined the song became its absence… and that absence turned into the new soul of the track. What was delicate and intimate now feels more physical, hypnotic, and even danceable.
I am really happy with how it turned out.
Thanks for listening. I would love to know what you think of this new direction.
After six years, “Preludes I” finally sees the light
I started this project back in late 2019. While I was still wrapping up “Petrichor”, songs with a different style and another narrative began to emerge. In fact, I released some of them as singles (three are included in this album: “Prelude Zero”, “Prelude Epsilon”, and “Prelude Iota”).
“Petrichor” was about changes, journeys, memories, events, losses, and new victories; while “Preludes I” and “Preludes II” (which is already in the works) reflect more on the cyclical nature of human experience, passing through “summers”, “autumns”, “winters”, and “springs” over and over again, falling and rising, learning and growing, and probably falling once more to repeat the cycle ad infinitum.
Technically, this project is quite “homemade” and humble:
I used FL Studio for about 80% of the production and Renoise for the rest.
Highlighted virtual instruments I used:
Modartt Pianoteq (my all-time favorite piano)
The Giant and Noire from Native Instruments
BBC Symphony Orchestra and Native Instruments String Ensemble
NI Absynth 6, Reveal Sound Spire, and various built-in FL Studio instruments
Especially these from Ocean Swift Synthesis: Porphyra Hybrid Synth (used in many pads, some leads, and arpeggios), Myth Rhythm, and a touch of Oscillarys (“Preludes II” will feature it quite a bit).
A huge thank you from the heart to my wife Zdenka, my little daughter Ariana; to everyone who keeps accompanying me virtually despite the distance, to my friends here in Berlin, and to you, who take the time to read this message and listen to this project that I have poured so much love into (and so many weekends).
I wrote these songs between 1997 and 2002 using Impulse Tracker and ModPlug Tracker (the actual ancestor of OpenMPT, the tracker I used to release this EP).
Three friends of mine (Miguel Colque, Eloy Espozo and Rubén Bobarín) helped me to mix and record the first version of “Un eco en el silencio” (“Echo in Silence”) using my Yamaha PSR-19 and Miguel’s Casio keyboard. Since we used a 4-track audio recorder, I had to save one sound on top of other and, because of that, the resulting song sound quality was not so nice. I actually made several mistakes playing while recording, so the result was far from a “release to manufacturing” quality.
For the current version of Echo in Silence, I used several sampled sounds of that Yamaha PSR-19 (samples I recorded when I still owned it) and also used several Kontakt and Reaktor instruments. I sequenced all instruments in OpenMPT. So, the version in Dandelions sounds pretty similar (but by far cleaner) to the original one recorded with friends 25 years ago!! :)
Echo in Silence (Z80 mix) is a pop-synthish version of Echo in Silence, with faster tempo and 80’s sounds.
I have just published my latest album called “Brisa Mística”. It is available through several streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, CD Baby, Amazon Music, Deezer, YouTube, etc.
In memoriam of my mom: She already knew this music and she liked “El mensaje del viento”; she would have been happy of this release.
Hace una semana se fue a un mejor lugar, dejó de sufrir esa enfermedad que la estaba consumiendo de a poquito los últimos cuatro meses, dejó de desesperarse por ya no poder ser lo que fue, como fue.
Y sí, sé que está ahora en paz, pero ya no está aquí, ya no la escucharé reir, llorar, sufrir, reñirme o jugar; ya no la escucharé haciendo cariños a mi wawa ni volveré a comer la comidita que siempre hacía para mí, o “para las chicas”, ni volveremos a reunirnos a cenar con ella en familia en fechas importantes.
Sé también que aunque ya no está, sigue aquí recordada, querida.
I have just published my second album: “Stigmata“. It is already available through several streaming services such as Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, etc.
Though I composed this work on 1997; I am publishing it again with a lot of improvements and some changes:
Modernized the sound a little bit.
Removed a lot of noises and effects.
Replaced several sampled instruments by AudioUnits.
Started to use Renoise instead of OpenMPT and Impulse Tracker.
Equalized, mixed and remastered again and again.
This is the hardware I used to “implement” this work:
MacBook Pro (mid 2010, mid 2012 for “update 1”) and MacMini (mid 2011).
Yamaha PSR-18.
Yamaha PSR-213e.
This is the software I used:
Impulse Tracker (the original version was implemented on this amazing piece of work).
OpenMPT.
Renoise 3.1.
nlogPoly Synth.
Korg M1e software emulator.
Imperfect Samples’ Steinway Walnut Concert Grand.
Native Instruments Kontakt 5.
Audacity.
The artwork was created by my wife: Zdenka Johnson-Kirigin Orías.
The C++17 code shown in the first cover is compilable code (if you define everything used before).
This is the song list:
La nada
Theogenesis
Emerger del caos
El espíritu de la verdad
El diseño
Fiat lux
Big-bang
(update 1) Big-bang 12″
El primer segundo
El mal
Expansión
Brillo estelar
Agujero negro
El libro de la vida
Hogar
Sosiego
Update (20161231): I published a remastered version of this album containing a 12″ version of “Big-bang”. The Spotify player URI in this entry was also modified to refer to “Poiesis Update 1” :)
On April 17th, my beloved and closest aunt passed away; she was very sick the last months and the last days were very painful; she is resting right now :(
De C++ et alias OOPscenitates 