KVR Audio

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Sun May 03, 2015 9:32 pm

Here is a track recorded by Hobgoblin in 1980, when Chicken and Mushroom Pot Noodle was essential rehearsal studio nourishment. I salvaged this from a 35 year-old stereo transcription of the original multi-track tape. I'm not sure whether that still exists. I transferred this from my Yamaha KX 580 SE with Goldwave and its hiss-removal facility. I then loaded the audio into EnergyXT to adjust the panning and removed some low-end with T-Racks EQ-PG.

There is one other track from the same session, which I prefer. I might post that later.

https://soundcloud.com/whatsisname/hobgoblin-novoid

Edit:20150518 - replaced with quad-band compressed re-master. It's a little louder and I think the mids sound better. Particularly the instruments.

DR - 13

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Sat May 09, 2015 2:17 am

There are tons of good ideas jammed into this tune. Proudly prog defying all the fashions of 1980.

I think the vocalist is good if perhaps a bit polite sounding. Our very own Seismic handles the bass duties in a solid, convincing way. Those synths sound thin which is unfortunate considering the keyboard parts are otherwise good.

I can imagine how difficult it was trying to get something this ambitious recorded on a limited budget in a studio. A very good effort that holds up well.

Aleatoriac · Post by **Aleatoriac** » Sat May 09, 2015 2:38 am

Wow, from 1980... Excellent classic prog rock, I miss that stuff. thanks for sharing your music

layzer · Post by **layzer** » Sat May 09, 2015 2:13 pm

very moody bluesy. def has that early 80's vibe. maybe even mid 70's.
i liked the vocals it fit the music imo, that is to say screamo would not
do well in this song.

if anything, it would be interesting to modernize it with a more spatial and powerful mix.
in LAYZERSOUND perhaps?

D.H. Miltz · Post by **D.H. Miltz** » Sat May 09, 2015 11:59 pm

I enjoyed this on at least a few levels: in and of itself, as a glimpse of the past of seismic1, and as possible inspiration for this month's cafe contest. Not to mention that seeing the word "Hobgoblin" helped me decide what to watch last night (was torn between Suspiria and Burnt Offerings).

Allomerus · Post by **Allomerus** » Sun May 10, 2015 11:28 am

Hi Tim this is a fabulous trip back to 1980 and it's great you were able to recover it! It would seem that you played experimental music then as now... I have wondered what your preferred instrument is and it would seem that back then bass was it. Excellent stuff! Imagine the polishing you could give it now if you had individual tracks! Still,very much enjoyed it!
Well done!

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Sun May 10, 2015 6:42 pm

Frantz wrote:There are tons of good ideas jammed into this tune. Proudly prog defying all the fashions of 1980.

I think the vocalist is good if perhaps a bit polite sounding. Our very own Seismic handles the bass duties in a solid, convincing way. Those synths sound thin which is unfortunate considering the keyboard parts are otherwise good.

I can imagine how difficult it was trying to get something this ambitious recorded on a limited budget in a studio. A very good effort that holds up well.

Thanks very much for taking a listen and commenting, Frantz. It's much appreciated

Prog was effectively dying on its knees in 1980 (with a couple of exceptions). Punk had arrived 4 years earlier, and by 1980, the "New Romantic" era was upon us. The market for this stuff was becoming rarefied. We didn't care. We were the new dinosaurs

We were polite young men, four of us having attended the same school, continuing a tradition established by Genesis

The synth was a Korg Micro-Preset M500 which didn't have a particularly fat sound. We also had a Crumar DS-2, but only used it sparingly, 'cos I was still trying to figure out how to make patches for it.

My over-riding memory of these sessions was one of panic.

TrekStar · Post by **TrekStar** » Tue May 12, 2015 12:08 pm

seismic, that was a joy to listen.

Sound/mix: for the Age of the tape you have optimized that very well, it sounded good for my ears. only the vocals are much too prominent...but I guess it's futile to discuss that Point

.
style: timeless! sounded not old fashioned to me.
composition: excellent.

what Instrument(s) did you Play?

kryptonaut · Post by **kryptonaut** » Tue May 12, 2015 4:10 pm

seismic1 wrote:... when Chicken and Mushroom Pot Noodle was essential rehearsal studio nourishment.

Good choice, it's the best!

The track sounds great, must have been really challenging to record, and to salvage years later. I love listening to old non-sequenced stuff like this, it has such a different feel to it.

What's the synth? Its ever-so-slightly-off-tune charm reminds me of the PE Minisonic I built around that time, although that used to drift terribly and could only really be used for noodling and sound effects.

Fun times! Thanks for sharing this!

sbj · Post by **sbj** » Tue May 12, 2015 5:02 pm

I can see from the other comments that this genre has its own devoted
audience and I think it has to do with the musicianship it takes
to pull something like this of.
Even though the mix could be a little more balanced (especially the vocals) it was
10 minutes good spent.
Thanks for giving us an insight to your past and reminding me of how important
it is to PLAY and be musical before we even think about mixing and producing.

Cheers

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Wed May 13, 2015 1:00 am

Codestation wrote:Wow, from 1980... Excellent classic prog rock, I miss that stuff. thanks for sharing your music

Hopefully, there will be another of these coming later, and, in my opinion, a better song/performance than this one.

Thanks very much for the compliment, and for listening. Glad you liked it

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Thu May 14, 2015 12:02 am

layzer wrote:very moody bluesy. def has that early 80's vibe. maybe even mid 70's.
i liked the vocals it fit the music imo, that is to say screamo would not
do well in this song.

if anything, it would be interesting to modernize it with a more spatial and powerful mix.
in LAYZERSOUND perhaps?

Thanks very much for checking this out, layzer. It probably does sound more '70s than '80s. I was listening to a lot of mid '70s music at the time this was made, and so were most of the rest of the band. I still listen to a lot of it even now.

As Frantz said, the vocals do have quite a "polite" sound, but I think that's a necessary thing for this style.

I'll try to get hold of the other guys about LAYZERSOUND and pm you later.

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Sat May 16, 2015 11:30 pm

D.H. Miltz wrote:I enjoyed this on at least a few levels: in and of itself, as a glimpse of the past of seismic1, and as possible inspiration for this month's cafe contest. Not to mention that seeing the word "Hobgoblin" helped me decide what to watch last night (was torn between Suspiria and Burnt Offerings).

Thanks very much for listening and commenting, DHM. Glad you enjoyed it

Multi-functional post FTW.

I hope you liked the film

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Sun May 17, 2015 6:31 am

Lots of classic sounds in this track. It kind of reminds me of pink floyd in a way.

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Mon May 18, 2015 12:33 am

Allomerus wrote:Hi Tim this is a fabulous trip back to 1980 and it's great you were able to recover it! It would seem that you played experimental music then as now... I have wondered what your preferred instrument is and it would seem that back then bass was it. Excellent stuff! Imagine the polishing you could give it now if you had individual tracks! Still,very much enjoyed it!
Well done!

Thanks very much for checking this out, John. Glad you enjoyed it

It was good to go back and revisit this piece of my musical past. In truth the audio was in much better condition than I had any right to expect, so the restoration was quite minimal. I am toying with the idea of replacing the track on Soundcloud with a fairly gentle quad-comp processed version which I think has a slightly livelier mid-range, and which is also a little "louder".

Bass is probably my favourite instrument even now. I have a Squier Active Jazz bass which I still like to slap around from time to time.

Hopefully one more of these Hobgoblin tracks will see the light of day in the not too distant future.

Hobgoblin - Novoid (Prog-Rock from the Seismic archive)