Here's the Keys - Here's the Keys Pt 2
My track Here's the Keys has always represented a milestone for me. There was a sound I was going after as I learned to compose and produce music on the computer. I had a good stereo in the car that I had back then and I was constantly training my ear to be sharply tuned to the nuances that make music come to life. The goal with Here's the Keys was to produce as professional-sounding track as possible with the equipment and software I had, complete with traditional instrument sounds and a strong emotional ebb and flow throughout the song.
Piano was a natural choice.and I was still madly in love with the trance genre. To tie the whole thing together I used a lot of electronic sounds from the new Sytrus software synthesizer I had just bought. The first thing I wrote was the main piano melody and the rest of the song took shape around that. Over the years as I experimented with different genres and approaches to writing a track, I would always reference Here's the Keys as far as depth of melody. I sort-of cosider it my masterpiece to date.
I always thought about writing a refrain to Here's the Keys, perhaps using the same melody but with breakbeat syncopation or an additional melody. I even began playing around and creating a file for Here's the Keys Pt 2 in my project library. But a part 2 never did take shape until I finally grasped how live pa works in Ableton Live. It was like the day I finally learned to ride a bike. Mind you that I'd purchased Ableton years prior and strictly used it for DJ mixing and digitizing my vinyl collection. So on the day when I figured out live pa, the first loops I went to were the piano loops from Here's the Keys and then I started to play around with swapping out beats from 4-on-the-floor to breakbeat and back again. Then for fun I plugged in the melody loop from another unfinished project that never went far enough to get named, so I just stuck with the number 14 for it since I number my projects sequentially and this one just happen to be the fourteenth one. Holy cow! That sounds beautiful overlaying Here's the Keys! Who knew??
So I practiced live pa at home quietly without making any big announcements as I got comfortable enough with how it works. Meanwhile I get the message that timeslots were open for The Sound of Now on WRPI for summer of last year, and I was warming up to the idea of playing a track of mine on the air at the behest of Felix. So I decided I'd slip one track in. Then I got to thinking about it and I mustered enough courage to perhaps play an entire set of nothing but my own music. Then I had a flash and I thought, why don't I throw some live pa in there?? And so it was...
On July 15, 2011 at approximately 9:20pm I made my world debut in live pa as I performed Here's the Keys Pt 2 for the first time before a live radio and internet audience. I was nervous as hell but once I got going I put myself back into the headspace I was in at home when I finally got it right. And so it happened.
Anyone who is familiar with the Grateful Dead knows about their song "Space" which is basically just a big live jam session in the middle of the concert that never comes out quite the same way twice. Here's the Keys Pt 2 is my answer to that; I will only perform the song live and chances are it will never sound the same way twice. I consider all of my songs to be my babies as I put a lot of time and effort into each and every one and each one, like Here's the Keys, represents a new milestone in my musical development. Now Here's the Keys Pt 2 is my special favorite since, as a live-only song, it needs me in order to be, just like any special live performance. Long live live music!!
