February Album Writing Month - FAWM.ORG

Benjamin Nolan

progress: 54

winner!
joined: January 2008
location: Surrey, UK
website: www.benjamin-nolan.co.uk
influences: Classical, Trance, J-Pop, Enya, Dusty Springfield, Regina Spektor, Delerium, little by little, angela, Chopin, Rachmanninow, Tchaikovski, Skryabin, Rogers and Hammerstein, Gilbert and Sullivan, Fascinating Aïda, Saosin, Disturbed, Mayday Parade, My Chemical Romance

Bio

Things to write during 50/90:
* Yodelrock
* 5/4 piano ballad
* Orchestral soundtrack theme
* Something in the style of Laurie Anderson

Lalala... I'm now on Last.FM Working on Spotify! http://www.last.fm/music/Benjamin+Nolan

2010-03-02 T 23:22 UTC: So, I am still anxiously awaiting the arrival of my 88-key MIDI controller. Once it's here, I'll be able to properly start recording and mastering some of these tracks.

Tracks marked with a * are my personal favourites.

EDIT: I WON!!! :D:D:D:D:D I was apparently the fifth person to win, after jelehfish, nightengale, Billy Sea, and Sean T. Wright. Not that anyone's counting, of course...

FAWM #3 for me!

I'm a crazy bloke who lives in Croydon, England, and writes odd music featuring computerised anime babes and a piano. I'm currently evangelising Logic Studio to anyone who has a spare ~£300, as it's so easy to use it's almost criminal. It also comes with EIGHT DVDs of instruments and samples!!

Also, I like music. Music are good. That it are.

Ook ook, ik leren Nederlands, dus is een liedje in Nederlands erg waarschijnlijk.

Also also also, if you see tracks on here which are locked, that's because they're not yet finished and shouldn't really count towards my final score. I write my lyrics on FAWM itself so that I can access them from anywhere. Means I can still work on my tracks when I don't have my laptop to hand.

EDIT: Hehe, you can hear the quality of my mixing increase with the song numbers. xD

EDIT EDIT: You can find me on YewChoob at http://www.youtube.com/user/BenjaminNolanMusic

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Heh. I've just royally shagged our connection by downloading about 20% of Zero-G's sample libraries (<3 Zero-G) as part of their 20th anniversary deal. This should be fun; I've now got loads of really nifty vocal and instrument samples to play with.

2010 Songs

1	* 'Til the End of Time	16 comments // 1 month ago
2	Really Short Harp Thing	13 comments // 1 month ago
3	* I Miss You	22 comments // 1 month ago
4	Love on the Dancefloor	11 comments // 1 month ago
5	Murray is your Man (Unfinished, not really serious - he just annoyed me a lot :p)	2 comments // 1 month ago
6	* Emo (with Karan)	23 comments // 1 month ago
7	Weathervane	14 comments // 1 month ago
8	F---in' Wi-Fi (NSFW)	12 comments // 1 month ago
9	Sonic reversal	5 comments // 1 month ago
10	(She's a) Spy for the Wrong Side	5 comments // 1 month ago
11	Lady of Mystery (repetitive, no vocals yet, you should skip on!)	4 comments // 1 month ago
12	Sun's Set	12 comments // 1 month ago
13	The Ballad of Captain Cook (NSFW)	13 comments // 1 month ago
14	Walk to the Stars	5 comments // 1 month ago
15	Confessions	7 comments // 1 month ago
16	Perfect Harmony	8 comments // 1 month ago
17	* わからない - Wakaranai (J-Pop \o/)	20 comments // 1 month ago
18	I'm Just Arrogant	zong // 1 month ago
19	Tango di Django	4 comments // 1 month ago
20	* (Fly on the) Wings of a Memory	7 comments // 1 month ago
21	* Terpsichorina Part 1	12 comments // 1 month ago
22	Forest of Dean	zong // 1 month ago
23	La vie, c'est si passé	5 comments // 1 month ago
24	* Black Month Where (v1) (with Nancy Rost)	23 comments // 1 month ago
25	Black Month Where (v2) (with Tim Wille)	zong // 1 month ago
26	Liedje vanuit de anderekant	zong // 1 month ago
27	De hottentottensoldatententententoonstellingen-bewakersgedachtengangen	2 comments // 1 month ago
28	FOSSer Nova	zong // 1 month ago
29	We are All Made of Stars	8 comments // 1 month ago
30	* Terpsichorina Part 2	5 comments // 1 month ago
31	* Terpsichorina Part 3	3 comments // 1 month ago
32	What is the Plural of Walrus?	3 comments // 4 weeks ago
33	Thung Touisteurghs	1 comment // 3 weeks ago
34	Bugger the French with a Pike	zong // 3 weeks ago
35	Second Hand	14 comments // 3 weeks ago
36	We'll Go and Find Another Way [00:05]	4 comments // 3 weeks ago
37	Es Schneit	5 comments // 3 weeks ago
38	And She Ran	3 comments // 3 weeks ago
39	It's All About the Bouys (with Bizarro Errol)	2 comments // 3 weeks ago
40	* The Day I Lost My Heart to You	11 comments // 2 weeks ago
41	* (On the Day That You Said) Yes	11 comments // 2 weeks ago
42	There's a Space Under the Patio for you, Dad	1 comment // 2 weeks ago
43	Ya wouldn' putchyer fishinnit!	1 comment // 2 weeks ago
44	La demande en mariage (with caterwauler)	zong // 2 weeks ago
45	Man Who Lost Game in 5/4 (with Matt Westcott)	10 comments // 2 weeks ago
46	Arguing on the Internets	zong // 2 weeks ago
47	You Waited There for Me	8 comments // 2 weeks ago
48	Sugar Plum Fairy	5 comments // 2 weeks ago
49	Beneath the Falling Rain	2 comments // 1 week ago
50	To Be Continued	6 comments // 1 week ago
51	Weird Spacey-Fusiony-Loopy Thing	2 comments // 1 week ago
52	Lament	2 comments // 1 week ago
53	Negasi Smells of Pooh! D:	6 comments // 1 week ago
54	The Falcon (with Maeflower)	zong // 1 week ago

Soundboard

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Vom Vorton 3 days ago

Re: Interview - something like Blue Jam maybe? I was pretty much going for 'odd' there!
Karan 6 days ago

Yes, I'll bring her.
sapient network 6 days ago

RE: Icelandic pronunciation

Thanks to Mrs Network, who likes languages, there is a beginners Icelandic course in the house, with CDs and everything. But I doubt that I get very close to sounding anything like an Icelander... thankfully there doesn't seem to be anyone from there around here...
heavyhedonist 6 days ago

serious cat link = serious laugh.
Casee Wilson 6 days ago

of course you can rope me in dear heart I shall download and learn
Karan 6 days ago

I am very happy to be roped in.
Billy Sea 1 week ago

LOL, thanks for the laugh. Hope he didn't spill any of his beer. That comment made me smile.
Ben Carroll 1 week ago

i've never heard of them, but that doesn't necessarily mean i'm not in them. i've been in bands before and only found out afterwards...
Calum Carlyle 1 week ago

hi again, i know how you feel. words aren't worth the paper they're printed on (unless they're a song), and life's too short to make enemies!

Take care, and hopefully no hard feelings.
Calum Carlyle 1 week ago

i really didn't think your comments were appropriate, but i guess all of us have our off days. Hope you get over yours.
Fine Excuses 1 week ago

Holy Flip! Maybe there are more profilic people on FAWM than you, but I don't know where they're hiding! Cheers for the mighty nice comment on 'To Be Continued', by the way
Tobermory 1 week ago

Yes I will be. Obviously I'll never hit the 50, it's just way too hard for me to give up on the 'whole band song' ethos I have. But that doesn't mean I won't get a good dozen or so.
Tobermory 1 week ago

Vocal booth: stick your head and the mike under the duvet...

Soo, telemegacollab next time round? I think you could possibly manage the 50/90, especially cos you just rocked a 54/28!
Tobermory 1 week ago

>LAURIE ANDERSON!!!

WOO!!! Thanks for helping me find a long lost song! I knew I'd ripped it from somewhere but long forgotten where. Of course you're welcome to hit up my "fully equipped studio". That'll be a spare bedroom with loads of instruments, and a mixing desk then... I'm kinda wondering what a real studio has that costs so much - they must make a packet!
Billy Sea 1 week ago

LOL, I'm inclined to toally agree with you this year. I kinda took to such an extreme that it lost a bit of the "fun factor"
quote 1 week ago

Just picking at random, every song of yours has so much genius and impeccable talent behind it. On harp, vocal, synths, non-Western instruments, and even vocal synthesizer. You're nearly a medical marvel, like some kind of super-evolved musical human.
Morti 1 week ago

Ben has secretly inspired every song I've ever written.
Roel van Veldt 1 week ago

Congrats with 51 songs, with even some Dutch songs!

Roel
sentense 1 week ago

If you don't mind that i can only offer some e-drum tracks as to record the natural set meant to drive some 180km to the rehearsal room at Duke's and to have Duke on the recording device, feel free to send me anything you want to be drummed. Oh, and i like irish ale, too. And Anbetung sowieso
Karan 1 week ago

Just contact Sven via his FAWM profile http://fawm.org/fawmers/sentense/ - he doesn't drink beer, though, only whisky!
Tobermory 1 week ago

Yeah you definitely joined the ultra-prolific FAWMers. Quick search by progress says you're 4th most prolific, and Nightengale only records 10% of her output. That's some progress. Well done!
MAX VANREMMERDEN 2 weeks ago

When are you going to finish the hottentottensoldatenvrachtwagenreservewielventieldopjestentententoonst ellingsterreinentoezichthoudersverenigingsgebouwenliftenonderhoudsmont eursgebruikershandleidingindexpaginanummertjes song ?
artpaul 2 weeks ago

I see your from the UK so I am not sure how you pronounce dew but here in the midwest it sounds like do.

But if you can write a better homophone I'll be glad to check it out.
Dominic Johnson 2 weeks ago

It's not fair! You have too many songs!
Don't forget to archive - especially the following part of this soundboard comment...
The Game
Morti 2 weeks ago

I reckon he's lying too, we have the right to remain silent in this country, they can't lock him up for not talking (unless suspected of terrorism, of course, in which case all human rights are null and void).

Thanks for the update though, liner notes to the song have been updated.
Morti 2 weeks ago

Yes, because they threatened to lock him up if he didn't. Doesn't make him a saint now, does it?
Tobermory 2 weeks ago

Thought you might like to know I fixed the mix on Occupado! Recorded and mixed early early morning and the middle of the night following, headphone mixes always sound dodgy, it needed the polish...
Karan 2 weeks ago

Have a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yj55iaAF8o
Jocelyn 2 weeks ago

I'm going to ping you now! I think I've found that one FAWM song that I really quite love and am looking forward to adding to it!
Jinx 2 weeks ago

Hey Ben, I tried to email you and beg for hosting space, but I think maybe I forgot to actually hit "send" or something... anyway, will you consider this my official plea? I know it's a bit late in the game, but people keep reporting problems with my hosted demos...
Lara 2 weeks ago

Thank you!!!
I just spent the last half hour trying to decide which version to use.
I may need outside help (no, not THAT kind of help!)
I'm waiting to see if Joel can help with some pseudo ancient middle eastern instrumentation, I'll let you know how things progress.
Tobermory 3 weeks ago

Codcast? What's that then? Sure you can play our funness!
nightengale 3 weeks ago

Congrats on that number of great songs!
Karan 3 weeks ago

I do own a nose flute. Have I now convinced you that I am weird?
Matt Westcott 3 weeks ago

Hi Ben - yep, definitely up for a collab! I'm free pretty much any evening...

(Album cover generator now fixed too. Wikipedia suddenly decided not to let me in because I wasn't passing it a User-Agent header...)
quote 3 weeks ago

I tried to send an email to benjamin.nolan@benjamin-nolan.co.uk with the link to a Google Doc, but it bounced back.
caterwauler 3 weeks ago

Ben, what do you want the lyrics to be about?
Captain Vulpine! 3 weeks ago

Ah, why thank you so very much! You are too kind, and you can absolutely play it on the show!

And I'm amazed you've got so many songs done here, you've definitely got some solid titles. I shall have to come back and spend a day listening

-Captain Vulpine!
quote 4 weeks ago

To answer your question on Dresden Codak, the guitar is going through a Zoom G1 pedal with arena reverb and some chorus applied on three tracks, and wah is applied to two of those tracks, recorded separately for the bridge pickup and the neck/mid pickups. Then they all go through the same Classic Reverb and endorphin compressor.

I have not been invited to Google Wave, and have only just heard of it, but I think I've got another few collab places bookmarked, if you're up for that. They're more for writing than audio, too, I think.

Google Docs or Writeboard?
quote 1 month ago

Wow, you won more than twice over! Anyway, we got paired in Random Collaboration, so let me know about what you'd like to do.
Billy Sea 1 month ago

LOL, I just heard you on Charlie's show and had to laugh about you saying you can't catch up with me....my friend, it is I that will never be able to catch up to you. I mostly do skimpy demos with an old guitar and a couple takes and done. You probably have put more production into just one of your songs than I have in all of mine combined. And you've done 30 of them....all wonderful!

I know you don't need people to tell you how totally awesome you are, or how much they are inspired and jealous of your music but.....you are totally awesome and I'm both jealous of your musical abilities and inspired by them
Halfpenny Orchestra 1 month ago

BNolan, thanks for signing up for Halfpenny Orchestra’s Loteria Challenge. You have been dealt: El Violincello (The Cello, No. 18). Badoing, indeed. In the description of your song, please include the subject of the card and its number. Also, please include loteria as a tag. Have fun!
mike skliar 1 month ago

hey there, congrats on finishing-- and I just did a version of black month where-- can't wait to hear your two versions!
Cody Statz 1 month ago

Thanks for the comment! Looks like I may have to delve into your extensive song library and take a listen!
j$ 1 month ago

BENJAMIN! Thanks for the direction towards Logic Pro - i know where to look when I stumble over that big bag of cash

What are you going to do with your FAWM now you've finished? Collab *hint hint*?
dreamscuba 1 month ago

Congrats!!
I have Logic Express 9 and when I have the reddies I'm upgrading to Studio. Simply put, I love it!! As you said...easy to use - even an idiot like me can use it!!

Take it easy!
Casee Wilson 1 month ago

Already????!!! Blimey! Grats you!
expendablefriend 1 month ago

Heh, thanks for your comment, actually it was inspired by an article in the Economist, presumably related to that series!

Congrats on the win, I'm about to dive in....
Julie 1 month ago

Congratulations!!!
(from one who lives in Croydon Australia to one who lives in the original Croydon)
roddy 1 month ago

Hi Benjamin. I'm still trying to get a song (my first!) into an MP3 format and hosted on a site somewhere. Might you be able to help? I'm rather a tecky-phobe. So far, I've been able to convert my song to .AUP (Audacity project file) but not the MP3. Will this work? Cheers and contrats on the 16 tunes. Rod (user name: roddy)
nightengale 1 month ago

Congrats! and thank you for your nice comments.
Billy Sea 1 month ago

Congratulations on winning It kinda takes the edge off and allows you to have fun now
opabobby 1 month ago

Congratulations on being a Winner! Some nice songs in there
caterwauler 1 month ago

Hehe sure
And huh?? You already made 15? I'm so late ^^
Karan 1 month ago

Oh yes! Just give me some time, I'm rather busy now.
isaac quatorze 1 month ago

WINNER!
Tobermory 1 month ago

I am hurrying! This is as fast as I go! But I am collaborating for the first time ever, though, so I'm expecting to be a bit slow for the start. Collabs are good, how do you work? You're almost finished, and in only 4 days! Someone's taken some time off work.
Karan 1 month ago

Looooove it!
Morti 1 month ago

Damn it man, stop writing songs! I can barely keep up with commenting on all your stuff, let alone keeping up the numbers of my own songs! I'm just going to hope you burn out and I can overtake you later.
Karan 1 month ago

You asked for it: http://fawm.org/songs/874/
Maeflower 1 month ago

Fully ten minutes of giggling later....I had to stop by and thank you (!!!!) for that link....absolutely brilliant.
Tobermory 1 month ago

Man, you're flying along! Got to catch up somehow.
Karan 1 month ago

Sure I can! (What do you want?)
Sean_T_Wright 1 month ago

Thanks for the kind words, Benjamin.
John Crossman 1 month ago

More Bored Broadcasting?
Karan 1 month ago

Oh YES!
Sean Brown 1 month ago

Hello, good sir. You doing your show again this year?
Billy Sea 1 month ago

Hi Ben Looking forward to hearing your new sound (though I liked your old sound too) I keep trying to get a Mac just haven't got the budget yet. Now I'll have to add Logic Studio Pro to the list, lol.
caterwauler 1 month ago

Hello Ben!
I'm very sorry for the 50-90 collab... I hope I can make up for it this Feb
Potato 1 month ago

yo ! s'up.... music are nice in my ear holes too
Karan 1 month ago

Can'twaitcan'twaitcan'twait.....
Maeflower 1 month ago

Hey, congrats on the hardware updates....hard to imagine your tunes sounding that much better, but I'm looking forward to some great music this year!
VikkiFlawith 1 month ago

Look forward to hearing what you come up with! (I just got Cubase myself... it's like flying a plane, lol.)
Tobermory 1 month ago

Hooray! Yes back again for another crack at it. Good to see you back, got any rhyming couplets about the recent political developments? My gf has just contracted a Norovirus if that helps...