Interest for instrumental music

I realy like "The Tornados"

Hi, my name is Danny but I have chosen "Guy-Lian" (like the famous Belgian chocolates) as my nickname. Born in Belgium (may 1967) my life has  always been dominated by music. My father, being a hifi enthousiast, owned more than a thousand LP albums and an extensive collection of tape reels. Besides rock & roll, disco and country, instrumental music was part of this library. Especially the music of "The Spotnicks" and "The Shadows" drew my attention.  A special place was reserved for the organ based music of "The Tornados".

In the second half of the seventies, new artists entered the pop charts with musical styles never heard before. "Jean-Michel Jarre" with “Oxygene”, some years later followed up by “Equinox”. "Vangelis" became popular with “Pulstar” and “To The Unknow Man”. These tracks impressed me more. than the guitar based music. Much had to do with those exotic timbres which were totally different form those organs and electric guitars. 

From "just listening" to actually "playing"

About the beginning of a home studio

In the early eighties I got to know a client from my fathers work, a guy who had tons of synth based albums.  He introduced me to the music of artists that were totally new to me.  Amongst them Kitaro, Klaus Shulze, Tangerine Dream, Tomita and Michael Garisson. Apparantly Jarre and Vangelis had much more in their sleeves than Oxygenes, Equinoxes, ans Pulstars ... too. But the most important fact was that he owned a rather comprehensive synth studio of his own. Those "organs" impressed me beyond compare. The looks of an ACE TONE SY5 Multistrings, Yamaha CS30 or Roland System 100 model 101 and 102 really made me drule.

A year after our first meeting he sold his Roland System 100 Model 101 to me and this became my very first acquisition, the first step of what would become a home studio of my own. After exploring various synthesis parameters (what happens if I turn that "resonance" up to 10??? .... auch, my ears, my ears!!!), notes  (is it an A, is it a B, is it a C? ... nope you stupid ... it's a D ... and a flat one, by the way!!!), rhythms, melodies and the like, my parents approved on making further investments. Over a period of four years I was given the opportunity to expand the 101 with an ARP AXXE mono synth, a Roland CSQ600 sequencer, a TR808 drum computer, Evans Echopet EP-100 and Crumar Trilogy poly synth. all second hand. Thanks mum and dad for making this possible!!! For two years the "System 100"-man even borrowed me his ACE TONE SY5 Multistrings so I was able to put some nice songs together, mostly inspired by Michael Garisson.

In 1984 a milestone was set with the acquisition of a brand new DX7 (a synth I owned until 2023). For more than a year I plunged into studying and experimenting with FM synthesis, creating a sound library of about 100 personal patches. At that time I recorded my songs by bouncing between two Revox A77 tape recorders.

By the end of the eighties the first multitimbral workstations saw the market. Having to make a choice between the Korg M1 and a Roland D20 I chose the latter. Now my songs began to evolve rapidly. In this developing style there was less room for the older synths so I sold some of them (the TR808, ARP AXXE and Evans Echopet).

In my hunger for more polyphony and sequencing power (demanded by the new style), a Roland W30 sampling workstation and Yamaha SY99 synthesizer joined the studio.

My playing technique, composing and mixing skills grew steadily with the years. I temporarily joined a guitar band "The Guitar Syndicate" who covered "The Shadows". I had to play all the non guitar parts, forcing me to search for (what were to me) unusual chords and notes. I also started making music for a couple of student performances of the skool of arts (NARAFI in Brussels and Sint Lucas in Antwerp) and of course I explored my own boundaries with compositions just for fun, trying to push my limits.

Between 1999 and 2003 I didn't use my gear much. Those years I spend a lot of time with my family, they deserved all the attention they needed. So the synths were retired temporarily. But by the end of 2003 I felt the need to start composing again. Besides, by 2005 my equipment list had gained reasonable size with several synths, samplers, hardware sequencers, FX units and an analog Soundtracs Topaz 48 mixing console. Some of the eldest instruments were sold too.  Anyhow, the fact of giving my family lots of attention didn't interfere with my modest lust for gear. The expanded setup found its place in an attic above the garage of our new home, perfect for inspiration.

At that time I made my first CD album: “Musical Impressions”. The album was published indepentantly and contained 12 tracks covering different kinds of music: from italo over disco to more melodic songs, sometimes with an obvious link to Vangelis.  In 2008 my concept “Jewel” was largely developed but not finished yet (see later).  It musically described types of landscapes like the savannah, the forest or even the city.  Because of my growing experience the songs got more and more mature. In 2006 one of the first composed tracks of the Jewel concept, "Jewel of the Arctic" won the synth contest on the Dutch synthforum, which was quite a personal achievement. 

A new chapter:

"Solar System" and

"Song of Souls"

Between 2010 and 2015, due to personal issues, I stopped making music. Until april 2019 I rarely fired up the rig.

But in januari 2019, after investing in additional hardware, I was caught by the music virus once again and started two new concepts.

The first was given the name "Solar System". This project existing of two albums became my musical journey through our solar system, starting with the sun and ending with the (ex-)planet Pluto.  Every planet was given its own song with its own ambiance.

An overview of the Solar System tracks and when they were finished:

May 2019: "Saturn - VI" 

December 2019: "Uranus - VII" 

Januari 2020: "Earth - III"'. a collaboration Hermax. 

April 2020: "Mars - IV"'. 

May 2020: "Asteroid Belt". a reworked track composed originally in 1989.

June 2020: "Mercury - I"

September 2020: "Jupiter - V".

November 2020: "Venus - II"

November 2020: "Sun - Ouverture". 

March 2021: "Neptune - VIII" 

May 2021: "Pluto - IX"

February 2021: my first pro CD "Solar System Part 1: The Terrestrial Planets" is published by Groove Unlimited. The CD comprises the tracks Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Asteroid Belt. 

July 2021: The succesor to Solar System Part I is published by Groove Unlimited: "Solar System Part II: The Jovian Planets & Beyond".

They are both available on industrial pressed CD as well as downloads on Bandcamp in various digital formats.

If you want to listen to the teasers of both albums, buy the CD or the tracks on Bandcamp go to the <Songs section>.

A second project called "Lost Souls" started more or less at the same time as Solar System. It was based on phantasy figurines and characters as a source of inspiration for two graphical artists/storytellers. Because of the peculiar characters of their imaginary world I made some rather different sounding tracks..

An overview of the "Lost Souls" tracks and some explanation:

July 2020: "Remuz Amy":  Describes the symbiotic bond between the demon Amy and a sacrificial child, it represents the build up to the tragedy of how they met and the deal they made.

September 2020: "The Mandarin Dragon":  Tells the tale of the yellow dragon and the travels it makes through the world and the people it sees, making choices of where to impart knowledge and wisdom and where to keep to themselves.

October 2020: "Lost Elves": This track describes elves caring about lost people in the dark woods.

November 2020: "Pledged Souls": It describes the whole of the characters of the wonder world.

May 2022: The first track in my new studio was sadly enough inspired by the passing of Vangelis. The track was titled "Remnants of a Star". The Star being Vangelis and Remants his work that will be audible memories forever. It will be part of the "Lost Souls" project too.

September 2022: "Chased by the Wendigo": a song about the native american creature/ghost, called the wendigo. A bit Jan Hammer like.

Januari 2023: "Caedis" (Why did you do this):   Caedis is a medicine woman who got betrayed by her tribe, decided to take revenge in death and therefore  becoming a vengeful mythological creature that lives for destruction. Sometimes contemplating how she became a herald of death, something she never wished to be but accidentally became.

These contradictions reflect in the song. It consists of two rock-like parts seperated by a melancholic en symphonic part. Special thanks to voice actress Leoni for providing the sample "Why did you do this".

March 2023: "The Unseen God 'Time'": Time conceived as a God, everywhere present though not visible.  It was the first track with a new synth in the studio: a second hand Yamaha Montage 6, sequenced by one of the old MC500 MkII sequencers. A little bit of Jean-Michel Jarre with a flavour of Vangelis and of course my own feel.

By the way, I sold my old DX7 MkI after 39 years of faithful duty.

Februari 2024: After some very serious medical issues that continue even today I managed to finish "Obsidian Butterlfy". It's a musical tribute to the Aztec queen of star  warriors 'Ītzpāpālōtl'. 

And also this month I finaly started my own Youtube channel.  You can use this link or start Youtube and search for "Guy-Lian Music".  There is another artist with the same name but you'll easy distinguish my space.  Every begin of the month I'll be posting an animation of a track.  For the moment only the teaser of Solar System Part 1 and "Sun - Ouverture" is published but more will come. So you if you like to take a peak, feel free to do so and maybe you would like to subscribe to my channel.  I would be very grateful. 

March 2024: After more than 20 years of sequencing with the Roland W30 and two MC500 Mk II's I switched to two AKAI MPC Live II's.  The first song made with these new machines is "A Foreign Tongue" which will be on the Lost Souls album too.

I still have to compose some tracks for the "Lost Souls" album.

And also the concept Jewel of 2008 has to be completed yet so it can be converted to a finished album.

Stay tuned for new work ...

February began with the conclusion of twenty years of composing with the MC500 sequencers.  They were replaced with an AKAI MPC Live II controlling the Montage and Emulator.  A month later I ordered a second AKAI to control the Virus C, a Yamaha SY99 and Roland D20.

How do I look at making music?

Often people say that they can recognize my songs immediatly.  This may be because of the way I look at composing.

I prefer to make rather simple arrangements with lush melodies backed by silk chords.  This simplicity is partly due to my rather restricted playing skills, which can be addressed by technology, but I really do prefer simple sounding melodies. 

At the same time, things may not become dull or childish so I have to keep it interesting.  This I try to accomplish by bringing a certain amount of “emotionality” to my creations.  Every time it’s an interesting challenge to use cold and static instrument samples to bring up tracks that moves the audience.  This is what has always interested me in the work of Vangelis and Kitaro.  Their songs repeatedly brought me to tears and goosebumps.  The last years I seem to get a similar result rather well myself (this being said I do not pretend to be of the same high quality level as these two exceptional pioneers of electronic music).  

In order to get emotionality in my work I make extensive use of MIDI controller codes 7 (volume) and 10 (stereo panning) to bring static sounds to life.  For instance, the solo violin sample I use in quite a lot of my work is very suitable for this technique. Other sounds I use this way are the oboe and flute samples, both of the EMU/AKAI S1000 libraries but also choir and string arrangements are recorded this way.  The controller codes CC7 and CC10 are often assigned to a modulation wheel or data slider.  Especially when patches are played in a layered fashion these modulations result in a quite expressive experience.

Another way I achieve this peculiar sound and arrangement is to start from pictures that I try to describe musically.  The Solar System Project is the perfect example of this.  Whenever I feel ready to start a new composition, for instance Mars, I first look up several photographs of NASA, ESA or antoher official site on the planet and used them as background of my laptop.  Just staring at those photographs and admiring their beauty, ideas tend to come up very spontaneously, always giving that special feeling to the overall arrangement.  Therefor I dream to write a score for a documentary or film.  Perhaps this dream can come true one day … who knows.

Another typical way of writing music is that I record  without the use of a DAW.  It's true that I do have a laptop installed in the studio but its only purpose is to visualize the pictures of the planets (or whatever theme I’m working on). Besides that and even more importantly I use it to look up the extensive PDF manuals of the instruments. 

The recording process is completely done in the internal sequencers of the synths that have one. For those who don’t have one built in I use two very stable old-school Roland MC500MkII external sequencers.  This way of working has served me very well for decades and I never felt the urge to convert to some kind of DAW.

The mixing task, normally taken care by a DAW also, is done on an analog/digital Yamaha MGP32X mixing desk and a small Soundcraft EPM12.  All the instruments are hooked up with four or more outputs to the desks.  As for effects, I use the internal generators of the synths if they are of good quality.  The section of the Kronos, SY99’s or Access Virus C are perfectly suited for this matter.  If effect quality is poor or totally absent -for instance the Roland D20 (poor), W30, Yamaha DX7 and both EMU E-series samplers (absent) I rely on three outboard processors being a TC Electronic M-One, Alesis QuadraVerb Plus and Lexicon MX400.  They are fed to the desks by 6 send/returns. On some occasions, the two internal effects of the Yamaha mixing desk are dialed in too. 

All this together makes the need for a DAW for me obsolete.  The only danger that may become lurking behind the corner someday are data storage issues.  All instrument patches and songs are stored on old floppies or hard disks.  For the moment I ‘ve seldom experienced issues with it but one day it will happen.  Anyway, as for now, I’m perfectly happy with my way of working, giving me the opportunity to move the listener with my songs, take them to an imaginary voyage through for instance the solar system.