B'ak'tun 13 - The Year after the End of the World

One minute songs released every week, based on London news. Starting on the first day of the new mayan cycle.

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A new video for the new recording of the song Ripper that was created for this blog.

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A new video for the new recording of the song Galaxy that was created for this blog

[theyearaftertheendoftheworld]

Whisky

This week sees the first whisky distillery in London in 100 years start its production. It will take three years and a day before it is ready to drink. 

It is also the last week of this blog's music. The blog has been running for a whole year now and has amassed 52 songs (one for each week). So it seems appropriate to end on the subject of whisky to round off the year in style. The track starts with some sound effects of pouring and bubbling liquid. A sound effect of a drop was edited and then fed into a synth to create a descending run of notes. Next a cello sound was added using synth. Finally over the top is some slide guitar with some delay, before a final sound effect of liquid poured into a glass. 

[theyearaftertheendoftheworld]

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Mayan Date: 13.0.0.17.17

Song Name: Whiskey

[theyearaftertheendoftheworld]

Porpoise

The storm surge caused a pod of porpoises to come into the middle of London today. They were spotted in the Lambeth area of the river Thames. 

This weeks track therefore has a porpoise theme. It was completely recorded using a normal electric guitar with a little phaser effect and a lot of reverb. Additional effects were created using a wah pedal (with the input and output reversed) and a bottleneck. 

[theyearaftertheendoftheworld]

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Mayan Date: 13.0.0.17.10

Song Name: Porpoise

[theyearaftertheendoftheworld]

Church Bells

The oldest manufacturing firm in Britain has started selling its products online. That firm is the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and has been running since 1570. 

It is therefore a church bell theme to this weeks music. Sounds effects of church bells were put together. They were then pitch shifted so that they roughly fit the right key. After that I added a soundfont of more church bells with a simple tune over the top. The whole thing was put through a reverb effect of a church. Which created a long reverb tail, particularly on the sound effects which already had the natural reverb from the recordings.

[theyearaftertheendoftheworld]

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Mayan Date: 13.0.0.17.3

Song Name: Church Bells

[theyearaftertheendoftheworld]

Books

It was announced this week that there will be book themed benches in London in the summer. Each bench will be designed to look like an open book. In other literacy news a wake was held this week in London for Seamus Heaney. Heaney passed away earlier in the year, on the 30th of august. 

This weeks music is based on the theme of books. It was created with a backdrop of the sound of books being flicked through, which I just recorded myself with a microphone. Then over the top is two different cello sounds, using the guitar synth. Some string quartet sound was then added to create a bit more depth.

[theyearaftertheendoftheworld]

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Mayan Date: 13.0.0.16.16

Song Name: Books

[thelondonguitarist]

Would you Like a Jelly Baby song, arranged and recorded by TheLondonGuitarist for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary. Based on the british science fiction tv show Doctor Who. This rock song uses the often repeated phrase by Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor, “Would you like a jelly baby?”. The show is in its 50th Anniversary and will soon be airing an episode entitled “The Day of the Doctor”. This song celebrates that by using the phrases used by all eleven doctors and the “Doctor” between the eighth and the ninth, played by John Hurt. The episode will feature the current Doctor Matt Smith and the tenth doctor played by David Tennant. It could also feature several doctors which have been played by: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker. Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith and now John Hurt. #SaveTheDay The song was recorded completely by the London Guitarist at home. As was the video unfortunately. Should anyone wish to make a better video or use the music in something else, feel free to send a message and I would be happy to provide the audio. For more information on the London Guitarist please subscribe here and follow @LondonGuitarist on Twitter.

[theyearaftertheendoftheworld]

Spy Jet

It was announced this week that there is a new jet in development that could fly from London to New York in an hour. The plane would use a hybrid engine to achieve its phenomenal speeds.

This weeks track is on that subject. It starts with an espionage type of tune, using some clean guitar and some reverb. Then there is a band to represent the sonic boom, made using a soundfont and a distorted guitar sound while I used the tremolo arm to create a rumble. After that is distorted guitar playing the main melody but faster. All the guitar was recorded using my amp going through an attenuator and a virtual cab. 

[theyearaftertheendoftheworld]

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Mayan Date: 13.0.0.16.9

Song Name: Spy Jet

[theyearaftertheendoftheworld]

Bang

This week has gone off with a bang. It was bonfire night on Tuesday and fireworks were heard going off all over London.  So this weeks track is on those bangs. I used several firework sound samples and created a virtual firework drum kit. The track starts with one of the samples unmodified before the drums come in. 

[theyearaftertheendoftheworld]

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Mayan Date:13.0.0.16.2

Song Name: Bang

[theyearaftertheendoftheworld]

Scary Storm

The big news this week was one of the largest storms in recent years hit Britain, before going on to hit northern Europe. It caused a lot of disruption to transport links and tragically also a few fatalities. At the end of this week was Halloween, with scary events going on all over the capital. 

For this weeks song I thought I would combine the two themes in one to the theme of a scary storm. It uses three different organ sounds at the beginning made using guitar synth. On top is a distorted guitar followed by some creepy effects layered over the top, including a ghostly synth effect playing a lead line.

[theyearaftertheendoftheworld]

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Mayan Date: 13.0.0.15.15

Song Name: Scary Storm