FAWM : Chris Harris (@headfirstonly)

Chris Harris

@headfirstonlyMod

Songs

Joined

2009

Charfield, UK
headfirst.www.idnet.com/blog.htm

Since the beginning of last year's FAWM I've written and recorded nearly 175 pieces of music, released eight full length albums on Bandcamp, and upgraded my studio monitors. I'm hoping that means you'll hear an improvement in what I'm doing this year. I won't get to a treble FAWM this time. Too much else happening, including my father's funeral. But I'll be listening and commenting as best I can.

I'm an old dude who is absolutely obsessed with music and trying to create tracks that teenage me would have loved. That's it, pretty much. Anything else that happens is a bonus.

I've been playing synths and electric guitar for forty years or so and I've been an Ableton user since version 8. If you want to see photos of my setup, find out what gear I use, or (god forbid) read a lengthy account of why it is that I've ended up making the sort of music I make and how I do so, it's all here:
http://headfirst.www.idnet.com/about_music.htm

My influences are many and varied, and are listed here:
http://headfirst.www.idnet.com/about_groups.htm

I'm also on Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/headfirstonly

"Leonard Cohen meets prog" - PROG Magazine

"The Bob Ross of prog metal" - ductapeguy

Chris Harris
(he/him/HFO)

Songs

+16

Soundboard

@medievil 1w

Thanks once again for your comment and suffering through my "not a DnB"-Track. ;) Ye, I love DnB, but when it comes to actually making it I get shy really quick. I think of all these guys that tweak a snare for 48 hours and I am not into that. :D The genre and the crowd frighten me to be honest. And you are right, I should have gone a bit more over board with the energy in the end, but that was me being shy again. Thank you. :)

@itswayzatababy 1w

Thanks for your comments on 'Adelaide'. I think the only thing that unites all Australians is a dislike of Canberra! Having said that, from the little I've experienced of it I think it seems like a nice place. I don't know much about Bristol - probably because they don't have a test cricket venue or a premier league football team. I think what little I know about it comes from watching Shoestring many years ago.

@fuzzy 1w

Hey, Chris!
I was listening to some of my long-neglected vinyl today and heard something that I thought may appeal to you; have you ever heard of Canadian Experimental musician Nash the Slash??
His instruments are electric violin and electric mandolin, plus loopers, effects, etc.
Some of his stuff is sort of "Another green World"-y, but with a harder edge.
I would suggest "Dreams and Nightmares" or "Decomposing" from 1979 and (I think) 1981. ("Decomposing" is meant to be played at "any speed"; at 33 1/3 it sounds a bit Eno-ish and at 78 rpm it turns into sweaty dance music, and "Dreams and Nightmares" has his soundtrack for "Un Chien Andalou")
Nash used to perform (he passed away some time ago) in the Claude Rains "Invisible Man" getup with the bandages and sunglasses.
I once had the great privilege of watching him perform a live version of his "Nosferatu" soundtrack as the film was playing.
Anyway, just something that you may like and that may be under your radar!

@robertmyers 3w

Thanks for giving "far airplane" a spin!

That one voice does sound hot, doesn't it? It's a combination of the crackle of the original vinyl damage artifacts from the sample recording process, to which I added sample stretching, bit crushing and filter cutoff oscillation in the Tracker. It reminded me of the ripping sound of every large rocket launch I've heard on TV and I think that's partly why I love the sound, but I feel like I now have a simulation of a hot signal I can use in future projects. Maybe not featured as prominently as it is in this though! :-D

@silvermachine 3w

Chris, many thanks for the compliments and curiosity regarding my unusual approach to music. What you may not realise is I am similarly in awe of some of things you do.
I got like this because I wouldn't read the instructions on how to use anything; consequently some of the more orthodox techniques which you are so masterful at are totally beyond me.
If we all gave our secrets away we'd all sound the same, and that would be a disaster for music here, and everywhere else :)
I need to catch up on your songs, will be back tomorrow.

@janeg 3w

Thanks for your comment on Pali! I have a bad back so I doubt archeology would have been a good choice for me. But I do love seeing smug scientists get their comeuppance, especially when their errors happen because they ignored the oral histories of the land and water keepers. I’ve seen several stories recently about how much we much more advanced Neanderthals were (are?) than we had thought; might have included that French site.

@eighteenisnine 5w

Thank you for the kind words. Regarding Wavestate, it truly is amazing synth. It has huge collection of samples, and you can also import them by yourself, so there certainly is no lack of raw material to start from. Plus four layers, wave sequencing and good effects with nice user interface. The possibilities are really vast, there is "waveformer" person who has made Wavestate patches that are like full 20 minute Tangerine Dream songs just to be played live. Check them out in youtube. Unbelievable stuff.

I have also looked Opsix, having an easy to use FM (and beyond) synth looks really like a tempting deal.

@doggolito 6w

Thank you for listening to my first two songs :)

For the low end, I think it's a mix between cello and the bass. I cut a bit of the low to let the bass there ^^ I'm no expert in mixing but I'm starting to understand some stuffs the more I play with my DAW

As for my voice, I'm trying my best to emulate the sound I like, it's not easy but practice pays off a little bit :) But Mike Patton is light years ahead of me 😆

@sapient 6w

Ta so much for the nod to the mix on my first song. I've spent the off season rebuilding my Cubase template, tweaking guitar tones, and learning some new tricks.
The rhythm parts were all recorded on my Cort 8string, through a mix of Peavey 5150 and 6505 Kemper patches. The bass is my new Dingwall Combustion 5string, through the Darkglass ADAM bass amp. That is absolutely killer box of tricks. I highly recommend Darkglass if you're not already familiar with them!
I'm also learning how to create more space for my yelling using ducked delays to catch just the end of phrases and putting dynamic EQ on the guitars.
Learning stuff is fun 😁

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