The musical sound of Chillack 1 & 2 was inspired by Paul Hardcastle’s Hardcastle series, Konstantin Klashtorni’s Kool & Klean series, and other contemporary jazz artists like Dave Grusin, Bob James, Larry Carlton, Jeff Lorber, and more plus the Windham Hill Stars such as George Winston, the Narada roster of David Lanz, and various inner harmony titans like Steven Halpern, Bruce Becvar, Robert Slap, and of course his mentor, David Blonski alongside the mentor’s own idol, Ed Van Fleet.
What instruments were used?
Chillack 1: In all of the selections, I used a lot of retro keyboards, a drum machine, and virtual synths. On some songs, I also played acoustic and electric guitars. A friend of mine, Jerad played electric guitar on “Garden Cross”. The silver flute was added by guest artist, David Blonski. Myx Behavin provided the vocals on “Eternity’s Long”.What instruments were used?
For those who are interested in the sound sources of Chillack 1: I used the Roland R-8 for the primary drum programming. In some tracks such as Swirling Dice and Bossa Flame, I used Logic drum samples. The basslines were largely synthesized via the Yamaha TX81Z except for in Bossa Flame which used a sampled standup bass sound that came with Logic’s sample library. Nearly all of the rhodes electric piano sounds came from the Roland XV-88 MK-80. For acoustic piano sounds, I alternated between the Roland XV-88 XV Grand and MKSensation Xtreme’s C5 Grand piano samples. Many of the pads used throughout the album were created using the Roland JD-Xi Jupiter 8 and the Yamaha DX7 was used for a number of sounds like bells, xylophone and synthesized flute. The Roland D-50 was used for Moog leads (custom patch made by my Uncle Ric) and violin sounds. A wide variety of virtual synths like Logic’s Alchemy, Sculpture, ES1, ES2 (especially for the strings of this album), and Kontakt’s Hybrid Keys, or Native Insturments 25 were additionally used for both leads and orchestration purposes. Guitars were performed on a Fender acoustic guitar and a Fender Stratocaster and silver flute was added by guest artist, David Blonski.
Chillack 2: In addition to the massive electronics across all the selections, I even laid down hand percussion on a few tracks. I even twiddled on acoustic guitar. Local Sacramento jazz guitarist, DL Edwards, played electric guitar on “Target”. David Blonski handled the silver flute on “Speed of Light” and alto saxophone on “Royal Dolphins”. Myx Behavin provided the vocals on “Drive to the City”, and “Ready or Not”. Local musician David Martin, a friend of David Blonski handled the lead vocals for “What Goes Around”.
For those who are interested in the sound sources of Chillack 2: I used the Roland R-8 for the majority of snares with Logic sampler’s acoustic and 808 kits surrounding them. The basslines were all from the TX81Z, except on Drive to the City with analog bass and Royal Dolphins with the XV88 PCM fretless bass. Nearly all of the Rhodes electric piano sounds came from the Roland XV-88 MK-80. For acoustic piano sounds, I used Roland Cloud XV5080 XV Grand. Many of the pads used throughout the album were created using the Roland D50 on roughly half the songs, Roland Cloud XV5080 Jupiter 8 on Drive to the City, the Cloud XV5080 Jupiter 8 square pad for What Goes Around, Native INstruments Analog dreams on Speed of Light, the Land is in Our Hands, and Royal Dolphins, and Alchemy voice pads on Kalimba Maze. The Yamaha DX7 was used for several sounds like bells and xylophones. The Roland D-50 was also used for brassy flute leads and all sorts of glass textures. A wide variety of virtual synths like Logic’s Alchemy, Nils K1V for the 2nd pad in some songs, Fracture sounds Gentle Strings for strings, and Kontakt’s Hybrid Keys, or Native Instruments 25 were additionally used for both leads and orchestration purposes. Electric grand pianos were sourced from MKSensation MKS patches.
To learn more about Chillack, read the bio here.
The music is Chillack 1 is available here.
The music of Chillack 2 is available here.
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