[cork_soaker]

it was called "four voicing" by us at the time…. essentially, and simply, the way it worked was this:

1. Billy would compose the outline to a song chordally. He would then play them to us on acoustic guitar or piano etc.

2. We would then figure out the chords, and map them out and divide them into the bass, tenor, alto and soprano parts of the voicing. Bon Harris was doing some serious study in composition at the time in los angeles, and had gotten quite involved in theory and method on this. He would then translate those parts to us on sheet music, with different sheet pieces for the four delineated parts.
3. so upon separating, or revoicing the chords in separate parts, the process was to then look at each individual voicing as a monophonic melodic element with which to generate ideas and motifs off of. So think of each part as containing a monophonic element that was to be approached as a "baseline" for interpretation.
Bon would print up or write down scores, which were then translated to midi to generate sound.

4.These parts were then modified and realized with their own separate synthesizer voice, usually originating from the doepfer or the roland system 100m…. which were then amplified through amps in the studio and brought back to tape or daw.

5. The combination of these four separate parts would either yield satisfactory or unsatisfactory results harmonically. If it passed muster, we would continue with overdubs in all the means i described earlier. It was at this point usually that drums were introduced. Then the sonic picture of the song would continue to develop, with Billy working either a preexisting vocal melody over it, or creating something new which was a result of what he heard in the result of the four voicing.

6. so after these parts were completed, and the vision of the song was solid, would then the guitar even be approached. Sure, the songs might have originally been composed on the guitar, but the guitar melodic line then applied would exist on the froth of the result, and being a step removed from the original composition, in that billy would compose the new part as a reaction to the interactions attained in the aforementioned process….

I am sure i'm screwing up my explanation of this somewhat, as it has been awhile, but it was pain-pain stakingly worked on and appealed to. there were no shortcuts, and it was a tremendous intellectual and artistic exercise, one which most would give up on half way through, but was seen till the bitter end! . Every day was spent with a different challenge, and it was far from the process involved in most records…..
In addition to that, like i have mentioned before, most, if all sounds were constructed from complete scratch. there were NO presets or samples on this record. Matt and I learned a ****load from Bon Harris during this process, as with every voicing, every patch chord would be yanked from the doepfer etc, and would start anew with an idea intended and we would spend hours to get the right sound. For years afterwards I have taken Bon's approach and try and start with a null state on synths and try and create the sound i hear or intend in my head. Yeah, sometimes people say presets are a starting point, but when you start to understand the electricity like he does, it is far far more rewarding to generate the sounds from nothing.

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