I’m a musician. Maybe. I mean, I play some musical instruments and I own some music production gear. None of it’s top-of-the-line, but it’s all good enough to play around with in the attic-slash-studio space I’ve created for myself.
I’m a bass player if you ask me, (I just got an Epiphone Thunderbird) but I also play other stuff. I have a drum machine that I call ‘The Doctor” (it’s a Boss DR-770), a cheap guitar that does me well for some thick, distorted palm-muting, a Hawaiian lapstick and other various and sundry musical items.
And I have an idea. I think, beyond the gear, that’s what you need. An interesting idea.
It’s not a unique idea, I’ve heard it done in a few different ways. Kind of a metal, classical fusion. Apocalyptica did it. Metallica did it by playing with an orchestra. Hanzel und Gretyl did it by using a sampling of Handel’s Messiah.
But I like it, and I want to do it. So for my first experiment, I’ve chosen part 1 of the seven part movement “The Planets” by English composer Gustav Holst. This particular movement is titled “Mars, the Bringer of War” . You can listen to it here on Musopen.
Try and imagine some thick distortion, fast and heavy drums and dark bass lines. That’s what I’m hoping it’ll sound like when I’m finished.