'Fall and Response' Bandcamp (purchase) CD Purchase Individual Song Breakdowns --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About the EP: Composition for this EP started inadvertently during a plane ride to Jakarta, Indonesia in April 2016. It was then that I began work on “The Mercurial”. “A Mind Groomed Callously” was written in the same year. “Catch a Ride” was initiated during an airport layover that saw me staying the night in the terminal, just before I flew out to mix ‘Silly String II’ with Patrick Campbell in November 2017. The remaining three were composed before the end of said year, and “Rewilded” was ‘constructed’ during mixing in 2021. Unlike ‘Midnight Acolyte’, whose lyrics are a blend of personal/introspective and roleplaying, the lyrics for this one were all derived from personal experience: mostly a turbulent second half of 2017. This EP was my second attempt at writing vocal arrangements, the self-titled record (which isn’t out, presently) being my first. They were not tracked until August 2021. What an undertaking! I am glad that I waited so long and took the ‘detours’ that I made (‘Ditties 1’, ‘Midnight’, the “Misinterpreting Movies” single), for they prepared me all the more. I would’ve fallen on my face even harder had I not. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Credits 1. The Mercurial 2. Catch a Ride 3. A Mind Groomed Callously 4. Now My Woes End 5. Rewilded 6. L.A. Stranger 7. Flophouse  · Travis Orbin - Drum set, Percussion, Synthesizer, Programming, Vocals  · Adam Edgemont - Guitar on 1, 2, 6  · Paul Loew - Bass on 1, 3  · Cameron McLellan - Bass on 2, 6  · Jay Bratten - Bass on 4  · John Sims - Upright Bass on 7  · Sophia Uddin - Violin on 2, 7  · Ben Rachbach - Piano on 4, 7  · Jeff Siegfried - Saxophone on 1  · Thymme Jones - Trumpet on 7  · Music Composed by Travis Orbin  · Sound Design by Travis Orbin  · Lyrics by Travis Orbin  · Additional Bass arrangements on 4 by Jay Bratten  · Additional Piano arrangements on 4, 7 by Ben Rachbach  · Drums, percussion, and additional vocals engineered by Travis Orbin of Woodshed Studios  · Vocals engineered, co-produced, and edited by Gabriel Riccio at his home studio  · Additional vocal co-production and coaching by Sacha Mullin  · Piano engineered by Jeremy Goody of Megasonic Sound  · Violin, Upright Bass, and Saxophone engineered by Gabriel Riccio at his home studio  · Everyone else engineered themselves at their respective home studios  · Guitar on 1, 2, 6 Re-amped by Gabriel Riccio  · Bass on 1, 2, 3, 6 Re-amped by Anthony DiGiacomo of Deep Resonance Studio  · Synth Production by Travis Orbin  · Produced by Travis Orbin  · Mixed by Travis Orbin  · Mastered by Taylor Larson at MixWave Studios  · Cover Art by Travis Orbin and Kimberly Oxford Thank you to my fans, friends, associates, and family; especially my mother for her perpetual support and my neighbors for putting up with all of the racket. Also, thank you to my endorsements: Pearl Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Remo drumheads, Vic Firth drumsticks, RTOM drum accessories, Vratim drum shoes, the Hi-Hat Razer, and E-Pad! Practice Pads. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cover Art Construction Kimberly was an acquaintance from my local music scene from the early/mid naughts. However, we never formally met until she attended a gig that my band played in September 2021. We had a chat and I followed her on Instagram. She showed me some of her work; specifically, these ‘acrylic pour’ paintings that she does, and it was impressive. I had the initial idea for the cover art—a photographed image conveying a sense of vulnerability—but thought it might be interesting to have it supplemented with one of her ‘pours’. I commissioned her and sent her some early mixes to work off of, along with the lyrics - that’s it. Within a few weeks she turned around the base layer that forms the composite image of the cover. She also helped sell me on the main image (photograph), as I was torn between that one and one other. Once I had chosen that image, I printed it out and then photographed the printing, a process I favor for the texture that it furnishes. I collected the pour from Kim, photographed it, and combined the images, slightly lowering the opacity of the main photo (another suggestion from her). From there came the meticulous decision of bordering it and picking a font. Depending on the font, sometimes it looked like an image from a video game and at other times a playbill from a high school theater production. I have embraced that the image still looks like a playbill; I kinda like that aspect. At least I mitigated the ‘high school’ element, hah. The font was layered four times and then separately processed, along with the whole image being further processed/distorted/etc. The back cover image is the other aforementioned photo I was feeling indecisive about, captured with a phone camera off of a laptop screen. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Fall and Response' Gear List: “The Mercurial” · 13”/16” Reference Pure tom-toms with Remo Vintage Emperor coated batters/Emperor clear resonants · 6.5”x14” Reference brass snare drum with Controlled Sound X/Ambassador Hazy snare side · 20” Reference Pure bass drum with Powerstroke III coated batter/Ebony Powerstroke III ported resonant Cymbals (from left to right, player’s perspective): 20" K Heavy Ride, 19" K Dark Thin Crash, custom hats (14" K Constantinople bottom (top) / 14" K Custom High Definition bottom (bottom)), 8” A Custom Splash, 6” A Custom Splash, 13" A New Beat Hi-hats, 19" K Custom Hybrid Crash, 18" K Custom Special Dry China, 19” K China “Catch a Ride” · same setup as “The Mercurial”, except with an 11” FX Oriental “Trash” Splash in place of the 8” A Custom Splash, a 6” A Custom Splash in place of the 8”, and the 19” K China in place of the 18” K Custom Special Dry China “A Mind Groomed Callously” · same setup as “The Mercurial”, except with the 19” K China in place of the 18” K Custom Special Dry China “Now My Woes End” · same setup as “The Mercurial”, except with a 12” Reference Pure tom-tom in place of the 13”, a 4”x14” maple piccolo snare in place of the Reference brass, and a 20” K Custom Flat Top Ride in place of the 18” K Custom Special Dry China · song outro setup: 3”x13” brass piccolo snare in place of the 12” tom-tom, and 12” A Special Recording Hi-hats in place of the ‘custom’ hats “L.A. Stranger” · same setup as “The Mercurial”, except with a 12” Reference Pure tom-tom in place of the 13”, an 11” FX Oriental “Trash” Splash inverted atop the 19” K Thin Crash, a regular ‘stack’ (14” A Custom EFX / 16” FX Oriental China “Trash”) in place of the 8” splash, and a small ‘stack’ (8” FX Trashformer / 10” A Custom EFX) in place of the 6” splash “Flophouse” · same drum setup as “Now My Woes End”, with a towel draped over the batter snare head for the first section of the song, and a piece of a towel gaff-taped to the kick batter Cymbals (from left to right, player’s perspective): 20" K Heavy Ride, 19" K Dark Thin Crash, 15” K Light Hi-hats with an LP Cyclops brass tambourine atop, 11” FX Oriental “Trash” Splash, custom hats (14" K Constantinople bottom (top) / 14" K Custom High Definition bottom (bottom)), 18” K Thin Dark Crash, Pearl low clave block

Back to Solo Music