On a more serious note though. We’re still staying the course as layed out last november: Prepare all songs without (real) guitars and vocals first, then record them all in one go. This is song #11, we’ve got five more to go, plus possibly an additional one. Stay tuned; we’re getting there.

So have a listen to “Conference of Disbelievers”, composed by Sven, deciphered, programmed and implemented, as usually, by yours truly, the BOFH of the starship USC Voxager.

Don’t sweat it, dear girls and other alien lifeforms of planet Summer!
Helge of voXager

It’s that time of month again. Here’s another rough version! It’s song #10, “Seventeen Lightyears”. So there are six more songs to go until preproduction is done. We’re getting there, so hang in. In the end it all will have been worthwile.

Here ya go:

Have fun!

Helge of voXager

Helge of voXager

It recently dawned on me that we’re now well into the fourth year of our journey to the stars. Our Good Lady, the starship USC Voxager, took off in september 2006, and since then, the ETA has been pushed back a little… too often. But we’re getting there, I promise.

So, where are we standing today? The post below this one still holds true. I’ve just finished song #5 “Ship of The Moon” with real synths, and will proceed to song #6 “Greed and Gold” soon. If all goes well (which is unlikely to tell you the truth… it pretty much never does! ) I should be through the lot sometime in april.

While working on song #5, I had two epiphanies regarding mixing. The first one about a concept that I had never fully mastered, albeit I knew about it for years: depth offset using reverb. This never worked for me… until recently. Here’s how it’s done: pull down the fader on the desired channel strip while simultaneously dialing in lots of reverb using the channel’s send pot. That’s all, folks. Easy, right? Okay, the second thing I figured out is the proper usage of stereo width limiting. I’ve been fooling around with this for a while now, but it hit me only recently how it should be used: Mainly (and manly ) on subgroups. Give the atmo subgroup all the available stereo width, also the rhythm guitars, limit the keys subgroup stereo width a little, and the drums subgroup even a little more. Also the fx return subgroup. This, and the depth offset trick, make it much easier to differentiate between instruments in the mix. Took me five fuckin’ years to figure that super easy shit out, can you believe it? Anyways…

tl;dr: All well. Carry on.

Signing off,
Helge of voXager

Many things have happened during the last few months, neither of which, unfortunately, had much to do with voXager. To get the shit moving once again I’ve made a few decisions, some of them pretty tough ones:

1. Drums: We’re going to ditch the “real” drums. They’re just too problematic, timing-, mixing- and otherwise. That was quite a costly error.
2. Guitars: We’ll have to carefully review what of the stuff already recorded can actually be used, and re-record if neccessary.
3. Synth: All software synth are off the table, except, of course, samples, which goes without saying, right?
4. Most importantly: I’m going to finish all 16 songs in a row now without guitars and vocals — just drums, bass, keys & fx. Only after I’m through with that we’re going to review guitars and re-record vocals, or start thinking about additional guest musicians.
5. Reviewing, fixing, mixing, mastering only after everything else has been said and done.
6. Mixing and mastering must be done here at the voXager study. There’s just no budget left to have it done elsewhere.
7. That’s it.

And lo and behold, dear brain eating space monsters, here’s the first thing coming out of the new strategy. It’s the well known Song No. 1, “Unto the Stars”, with only drums, bass, real synth, fx and no guitars yet. It is, in effect, Space Metal without Metal. Have fun.

Unto The Stars:

And lookie what we got here, more songs, same procedure applied as above!

Lizards:

Wheel in Space:

Split Seconds:

Ship Of The Moon:

Greed & Gold:

Octahedron:

Warrior

Helge of voXager

Helge of voXager

But, dear brain-sucking alien monsters (especially those always complaining blonde teacher-monsters from the Ruhrgebiet — you know who you are ), these days have finally come to an end. In january and february I shelled out some cash on eBay to buy two real analog synthesizers, a 25 year old Roland JX-8P, and a not quite that old DSI Mono Evolver. I would also like to add a Moog Little Phatty to the machinery one time or another, but presently, that would be too expensive for a cheap hack like yours truly

That’s what voXager’s new vintage gear looks like:

Nice, huh? I’d also fancy a Solina String Ensemble, but I suppose Elton John had bought them all by 1977, so the chances of me getting one are not all that great. Same with the Mellotron, although those were probably out-bought by Genesis before Peter Gabriel left, and albeit they sound just too cool, I’d rather not own one for the sheer insanity of their weight, handling, and maintenance (tape frames, for fork’s sake?!) So, these synth will suffice for the time being… and right thereafter.

Well then. Knowing that you can’t escape those robotic contraptions anyway, why don’t you just join me in welcoming our new synthetic Overlords? That’s not a plea. It’s mandatory. You’ll hear from them shortly. Promise!

Helge of voXager,
kissing some shiny metal ass

For reasons unexplained, yesterday a song jumped me in the face boots first. At first, I didn’t want to keep it and considered song abortion. It was unplanned after all, and there’s not really space for it on the album, right? But then it somehow grew on me. It’s a short one, instrumental at that. It might just be the interlude between disc #1 and disc #2 of the album. I’ve not made up my mind completely yet, but listen for yourself:

And for the keyboard haters among you: This is the song with the all-time-low amount of keys in it. Go for it and be quiet for evermore!

Don’t zoo me,
Helge of voXager

I have been notified by Uli that he can no longer continue his part as Kyle Brennan’s voice on the voXager project because of time restraints and other purely personal reasons. I regret this very much, but of course, respect his decision. Good bye, Uli, and thanks for everything. See you in another live, brother!

So voXager is looking for a good rock/metal vocalist anyhwere on the planet, who is capable of the following:

• clean rock and metal vocals. I’m not so much looking for a perfect or plain voice, but for something a little rough and exciting.
• some death metal growling in the vein of Six Feet Under would be in order, but it’s not mandatory.
• either drop by here and record vocals at the voXager study OR
• record his own vocals at home in a GOOD quality and upload the tracks

Please have a listen at the songs “Unto The Stars” and “Lizards” in the downloads section.

Since the project is privately funded out of my own not very deep pocket, I can’t pay any kind of deep money upfront. If and when the project should generate some money in the future, it will be evenly split between project members.

Please, do not bother if you don’t know if you’ll have the time, or the energy to see this baby through to the end. It’ll be late in 2009 until we’re finished here.

Still interested? Drop me a note at helge@voxager.de

Helge of voXager

Helge