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Topic: Double album to be released around September 2005< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
hiawatha Offline




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Posted: May 13 2005, 17:59

Quote (Sir Mustapha @ May 13 2005, 12:10)
Wah. Man, this is either going to be the best thing ever or the worst thing ever. :)

Hey, it's Mike Oldfield. It can't be the worst anything, coming from him!

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Craig Evans Offline




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Posted: May 13 2005, 18:01

Quote (Olivier @ May 13 2005, 08:28)
From mikeoldfield.com:

I am very pleased to announce that I have recently signed a three album deal with Mercury records, part of  Universal Music Group.

The first Album which I am just putting the final touches to is a double Album for release around September 2005. The first Disk is made up of atmospheric "Ambient" or "Chillout" pieces. The second Disk is of more up-tempo tracks some of which are in the darker moodier vein. There are 18 tracks in all and they were created using my new virtual software studio mostly with lead melodies using all the different Guitars and "Grand Piano" The vocals were made using a new generation of software virtual vocalists.

Untitled as yet but maybe called "Quicksilver"       Whadayathink

Mike

I wonder if the "different guitars" bit implies that Mike Oldfield might be using his old guitars again from the 1970s such as his Fender Telecaster and his Gibson SG Junior?

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Ratty Offline




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Posted: May 13 2005, 18:02

Quote (hiawatha @ May 13 2005, 22:59)
Hey, it's Mike Oldfield. It can't be the worst anything, coming from him!

Apart from the worst album title. "Quicksilver"!! No no no. (See my previous post)

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Jammer Offline




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Posted: May 13 2005, 18:36

Wasn't Mercury Records the American company that originally turned Mike down because his demo of Tubular Bells had no lyrics?

Well the virtual vocalists will no doubt be interesting. I'm hoping not inexcusably naff like sax guitar, but an interesting sound in their own right. On Mike's word I can't imagine it too similar to Incantations as the two CDs aren't part of the same instrumental, but I hope the 'conceptual' principle is strong
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Jammer Offline




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Posted: May 13 2005, 18:42

Quote (Ratty @ May 13 2005, 23:02)
Quote (hiawatha @ May 13 2005, 22:59)
Hey, it's Mike Oldfield. It can't be the worst anything, coming from him!

Apart from the worst album title. "Quicksilver"!! No no no

I thought "Maestro" was bad and it sparked off similar reactions, but I guess that's not strictly an album. Perhaps Mike's entered a crappy album title phase? :) Will the next album be called 'Hg'?
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Tati The Sentinel Offline




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Posted: May 13 2005, 19:14

Quote (moonchildhippy @ May 13 2005, 18:18)
[quote=T4,May 13 2005, 19:03]
What exactly is "software vocalist technology"?  I'm assuming it's using computer generated voices, rather than human beings.

More info on Vocaloid's webpage with samples of it.

Quote (Jammer @ May 13 2005)

I thought "Maestro" was bad and it sparked off similar reactions, but I guess that's not strictly an album. Perhaps Mike's entered a crappy album title phase? :) Will the next album be called 'Hg'?


Maybe any name which starts with M and finishes with O.
Or even Mo.


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Ratty Offline




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Posted: May 13 2005, 19:17

Its strange that Mike wants the fans opinion on the album title. While he is here, why not listen to the recordings in the Fan Tracks section and for his next album use these guys!!! Just my opinion of course BUT THEY ARE GOOD!!!!  :)

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EeToN Offline




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Posted: May 13 2005, 19:22

Great news! :) I have no problems with the title either.

I can imagine Mike while posting it on his website:
"...Mercury Records... Hmm... Mercury, what a great title! But it's not too original, let it rather be Quicksilver!" ;)


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olracUK Offline




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Posted: May 13 2005, 19:38

Friday the 13th, unlucky day by British superstition, but great news for fans. Finnally, the great man speaks.

we've all been guessing, and now we know. Just can't wait until September, going to be worse that waiting for Star Wars or the next Harry Potter book.

We knew about the virtual software, so no surprises there. just the 2 albums joined together bit. So much stuff laid down and not knowing what to do with it all. Mike's got the muse strong again.

I think i will turn my brain of for a few months, no point in over analyisng


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Ratty Offline




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Posted: May 13 2005, 19:51

why not call it "Friday 13th"

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raven4x4x Offline




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Posted: May 13 2005, 20:18

Great to hear some news at last. A double album too, that's more than I was hoping for. The 'dark and moody' bit sounds interesting. I wait in anticipation.

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Blue Dolphin Offline




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Posted: May 13 2005, 21:18

Yeah, it suprises me Mike lets us hear something from him. I was aching to write on his birthday: "please lets us hear something from you!!" So, how are you looking these days Mike? Maybe a photo? ;)

Well, it good to hear that he has signed at a new record company (frankly, I didn't like him being at Warner "Spain"! Why just not Warner? That was good enough, great releases like TB2). I wonder if Mercury Records does some nice promotional things, we'll see.

The bad is his production way and equipment: I don't believe in making a whole album just with software (ok, there's also a bit of guitar). He's an instrumentalist, isn't he? So why the hell doesn't he get of his lazy bum and use all sorts of equipment? Tom Newman critized him on that long time ago. It's more fun and more creative. It's a sort of trend nowadays, seeing all these artists going "soft". Kraftwerk is doing it, Jean Michel Jarre is also doing it, Prodigy, Daft Punk, etc. etc. It's easy to work with and saves a lot of time, but people tend to get lazy and less creative. Thank god Vangelis isn't doing it (let's hope he won't).

This also takes me to this virtual vocalist software: where is the human aspect???? Letting a program sing for you instead of using real artists. If this is the way music is going to be made in the future a lot of singers will be out of a job.

I believe an instrument has to be used as it was originally made. A voice has to be sung by a human. A piano sound has to be played by a real piano. A flute has to be played by a real flute. And with synthesizers: well, it's like how Bob Moog said it. A synthesizer is made to create sounds that you can't produce with acoustic equipment, and not made to emulate flutes, pianos, brass etc. So I'm disgussed of this virtual vocalist program.

Frankly, I still have to see if this album is going to be something. The last of Kraftwerk, "Tour de France Soundtracks", was also completely "soft", and it was quite boring. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to use software synths (I'm guilty of using it too) from time to time, but just use a little and don't make a complete album of it. There has to be something human in it too.

Also, isn't he finishing his Music VR? I thought he said there will be three parts? Doesn't matter to me though, I like him more doing music than making VR games.

I was listening to Tubular Bells 2 recently and it's such a masterpiece, played hand by hand and with some nice synths. Where's your magic Mike? By the way, didn't you promise a completely instrumental album on a Spanish radio?


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Tubularman Offline




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Posted: May 13 2005, 22:20

:)  at last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

VERY GOOOOOOOD NEWS!

I cant wait for the fall/ september ha ha
Good to see that he lives and is exiting. I hope this is a good new way to join the world with tour. He muuuust!! I must see him play live and i must hear him live.
Cool, that he will do a dobbel album... I hope its a lot of new good position and realxed guitars. This superb news, "vocals were made using a new generation of software virtual vocalists", is "something" i think. I cant wait to hear what he gonna do with this technique. I hope this will be a new (kind of tsode) album  :)

these up-tempo tracks sounds interesting.. How will he do these tracks?? I cant remember last time he did that.. From now i only remember tres lunas and thats not a up tempo album.. the last album "tubular 2003" is not a new album (in that way) either....

in fact i have no ideas about these up tempo songs will be.. (and i like that....,,, it gives me expectations)

VERY GOOD ,MIKE!!!!  :)


very very very thank you for this news...
Im glad!!!! And now i can see light in my music tunnel!!
Its good to have a little break from tubular things... he he



so then............. when will he tour  :cool:


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Korgscrew Offline




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Posted: May 14 2005, 00:02

Quote (Blue Dolphin @ May 14 2005, 02:18)
Well, it good to hear that he has signed at a new record company (frankly, I didn't like him being at Warner "Spain"! Why just not Warner? That was good enough, great releases like TB2). I wonder if Mercury Records does some nice promotional things, we'll see.

It was Warner UK he was at before. I think the reason for the switch was probably to do with sales. Let's hope Mercury prove to be a good choice.

Quote
So why the hell doesn't he get of his lazy bum and use all sorts of equipment? Tom Newman critized him on that long time ago. It's more fun and more creative.

I don't think everyone finds it more fun - some people just find hardware annoying (I don't, by the way), which is why they're getting rid of it and replacing it with software. I don't think it's more creative either way - creativity is the way you use things, not what you use.

Quote
I believe an instrument has to be used as it was originally made. A voice has to be sung by a human. A piano sound has to be played by a real piano. A flute has to be played by a real flute. And with synthesizers: well, it's like how Bob Moog said it. A synthesizer is made to create sounds that you can't produce with acoustic equipment, and not made to emulate flutes, pianos, brass etc. So I'm disgussed of this virtual vocalist program.

And a recorder has to be played by a real recorder and not using a bad analogue clarinet emulation? ;)
I really agree though, I don't find it generally works when people try and use multisamples to emulate instruments. But...if you say an instrument has to be used as it was originally made...what about sampling it and doing something with the sound which wouldn't be possible acoustically?

I don't necessarily see anything wrong with the virtual vocalist idea, but it comes down to how it's used, and I do fear that it will end up being used in the wrong way (just judging from the uses I've heard of vocaloid so far). I don't see any difference in principle between virtual vocalist software and tools like formant filters and vocoders, though (though technically speaking, there is a big difference, as Vocaloid is sample based. VirSyn Cantor isn't, though) - you're basically just allowing a synthesiser to make vocal-like sounds. Is there any reason why we shouldn't have a tool which will allow us to create singing voices which could never exist in the real world? Should we be forbidding people from using these as yet unheard, sounds?

How Mike has used the technology remains to be seen (or heard), and I have to say that I haven't yet heard anything from Vocaloid that doesn't sound rather cheesy (people do tend to go down the route of using it in place of a human singer), but I'm sure it's possible to do something extremely interesting with it if it's approached in the right way.

Quote
Don't get me wrong, it's nice to use software synths (I'm guilty of using it too) from time to time, but just use a little and don't make a complete album of it. There has to be something human in it too.

Depends what we're talking about here. If you mean to say that using hardware synthesisers makes it more human, I disagree. I have digital synthesisers which can also now be bought as a software version. There's next to no difference in sound, if any at all, and certainly the hardware one isn't any more human sounding than the software one. I also doubt that anyone could tell the difference between parts I've recorded straight to audio and those which have been recorded to a high resolution sequencer first. I therefore contend that there's no difference between playing a digital hardware synthesiser straight to tape/disk and playing a software synthesiser via a part sequenced from the same MIDI controller (apart, perhaps, from latency issues). Analogue synthesisers are something else, of course...

I agree on the basic concept that the human aspect is vital (usually - sometimes there may be an artistic reason for removing that, but I think it has to be immediately recognisable as having been done for effect), but I don't feel that using software necessarily removes that aspect any more than any other electronic music device does. I don't think it can be boiled down to any hard and fast rules either - there are many ways of getting an organic result, and I think the important thing is always the creator. Certainly some tools seem more predisposed to certain ways of working (the software tools do often seem to be created for instant gratification, for example, and so probably do have a fair number of preset-cruisers amongst their users), but there's nothing stopping anyone from misusing those and getting something more interesting out of them.

Quote
I was listening to Tubular Bells 2 recently and it's such a masterpiece, played hand by hand and with some nice synths.

Played by hand, then chopped up into little pieces and quantised, with some heavily sequenced synths! It's not the album I'd list as being his most organic, though it does feel like it spent less time in the pressure cooker than his more recent albums have done.

Just how long Mike has left the upcoming album in the pressure cooker, and how much he'll have allowed his new tools to shape his work is something which we can really only speculate on, though I think it was fairly clear from the start that he wasn't buying "all the latest software" in order to make an acoustic folk album.
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timshen Offline




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Posted: May 14 2005, 00:40

Great news :-) And a double album too :-) I'd like to know more on what Mike means by "with lead melodies using all the different Guitars and "Grand Piano"" - are these samples of real instruments that Mike actually plays? At the end of the day, if Mike is doing the actually playing of real instruments which are processed through "Fruity Loops" or whatever, then it's still Mike playing and using his creative juices to arrange and change those "samples", which can't be a bad thing IMHO.

As for the title, "Quicksilver", it seems overused and old to me - in the eary nineties there were so many people here wearing T-Shirts with "Quicksilver" on them (although I don't even know what it was all about!;). This title does not seem to sum up an album of ambient, more upbeat and some moodier tracks. Maybe something like "Ambiupmood" would suit it more  :cool:


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Chicular Offline




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Posted: May 14 2005, 04:27

Don't mean to be paranoid but i can't find the news on Mike Oldfield.com!  Has it been removed?
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raven4x4x Offline




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Posted: May 14 2005, 04:29

Quote (Chicular @ May 14 2005, 17:27)
Don't mean to be paranoid but i can't find the news on Mike Oldfield.com!  Has it been removed?


It doesn't appear on the main page, you have to click on 'news'. It isn't exactly in a prominent place.


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Chicular Offline




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Posted: May 14 2005, 04:44

Either i'm completely blind or it's not there anymore, the only bit on news section is the bit about the Maestro poster.  Is it in a wee corner in the smallest writing?
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raven4x4x Offline




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Posted: May 14 2005, 04:49

It's right here

Perhaps clicking refresh would help, you might be looking at a previous version of the page.


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Chicular Offline




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Posted: May 14 2005, 04:55

Yeah i've tried refreshing with no success.  I notice when i enter the page it says last update 20th Sept 04.  Strange!! I guess with everyone else it says last update 13/05/05?
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