The Burnside Files - Jason's Song

After six months of chasing samples and another two months constructing the arrangement, Jason has released the first version of 'Burnside' which he describes as a tribute to DCI Frank Burnside.

Download 'Burnside'.
[09/09/02 - Currently offline. If you would like Jason's Burnside song, please email your request to burnsidefiles@bigpond.com. Thank you.]

Conceived, Written and Produced By Jason Durbin with special thanks to Ian Gibbs.

At 5.25MB this file is large so it will take a wee while to download. You'll need a media player such Windows Media Player or Winamp to listen to the file. Enjoy!

Below Jason gives us an insight into how he produced 'Burnside'.

"The most challenging part with this little project was getting the right balance on the samples. I originally recorded 88 samples over a six month period and selected 52 to be in the final mix. The only problem was no two samples had any consistency in terms of EQ, level and environment. In the episodes they came from they were recorded inside and outside cars and buildings with all manner of ambient noise.

The first step was to build a 'master' sample which allowed me to normalise everything to a consistent level. I did this to -4db to allow some headroom for later processing. The next stage involved cutting the samples from the master track, with noise gates used for further clean-up. Once I had all the samples I then laid them out on the sequencer track to edit the timing. The trick here was not to just put the samples anywhere at random but place them in logical groups and progressions. After that I could work on further balancing. This involved using an EQ plugin to create high and low 'shelves' around our subject. This went a long way to eliminating a lot of the ambient/unwanted noise in the spectrum however I still had a problem with variations in level. I solved this by creating a mixer control track that contained volume control messages ahead of each sample. This allowed me to utilise the mixer automation features of my sequencer.

The arrangement itself was created on Roland D-110, U-220 and Yamaha TX81z and mixed through my trusty four track. I don't have a project studio as such but for demo work its a reasonable setup all the same."

And where would we be without those special people behind the scenes. Jason takes a moment to say his thankyous.

"Some people to thank, definitely. Firstly to my long suffering wife and daughter for enduring many lonely nights while I sat in a dark room with heaphones strapped to my head. Also my uncle Ian, for his advice on treating samples and general support..."

Please do not use Jason's handiwork without asking his permission beforehand 'cause it's very bad manners to do so and we'd rather not have to send thugs with knuckledusters 'round to beat you to a pulp. ;-)