Daniel Wuck
School of music application
mini-website with three demo songs
About me
Daniel Wuck
Utrecht, The Netherlands
Age: 24 (born 1986)
Contact: daniel.wuck@gmail.com
When I was 15 years old, my friends and I started a rock band called
Denial of Service located in Utrecht, The Netherlands. We played
various gigs, highlight of which was the TV appearance on Dutch
national television with a Christian children's program called "Prinsen
& Prinsessen" (perhaps best translated as 'little children of
the
King'). We had two guitarists, a drummer and a bass player (me). Vocals
would be delivered by either the solo guitar player, Jonathan, me, or
both.
After the band broke up I moved to a small village called Barneveld
where I lived for 8 years, finished high school and started on my
Bachelor of ICT. After the 8 years in Barneveld I moved back to
Utrecht where I would finish my bachelor at the Utrecht University of
Applied Sciences and continue with a Master in Business Informatics
at
Utrecht University.
Currently I am
still enrolled in my master's
program.
The drummer, Colin
Vermeulen, has already finished his bachelor at
Amsterdam
school of music
and has made numerous other TV and radio
appearances with renowned Dutch artists such as Kane, Jenny Lane and
Symon. The lead guitarist, Jonathan Blok, has moved in with his new
girlfriend in Berlin and still produces music with his act twenty
thousand
leagues under the radar. Thomas van der
Vlis, the rhythm guitarist, is currently enrolled in a bachelor's
program at the Utrecht school of
the Arts as
a graphic
designer.
This application to your school of music (conservatory) is a big step
for me in picking up again the dream that started when four guys
started playing their instruments in Jonathan's parent's attic.
The demo
I've selected three songs for you that were all written, arranged and recorded by me. Drums and bass are created with a computer program, whilst instruments such as piano and guitar have been recorded without overdubs. Genres are rock, funk and soft rock.(song) For all the times
Genre: ROCK (lyrics)For all the times by dannyjwalker
Part of a ROCK (capital R) demo of a total of 3 videos, this is the one that lends itself best for me to also perform vocals on. I never considered myself to have a real ROCK voice but thoroughly enjoy playing this style on a tuned-down (C#) guitar in accompany with the drum & bass tracks. My guitar hero is Wes Borland from Limp Bizkit from whom I stole the guitar tuning to C#. I've sometimes imagined to form a new rock group with a singer, (with a true ROCK voice!) bassist and drummer and expand this style with the 4 of us. Nevertheless, putting down vocal tracks for this song was heaps of fun.
For the drum tracks, I've used a program called Schism Tracker which is a modern-day remake of a very old (1993) program called Impulse Tracker, which, at its heiday, was the premiere program used for computer-aided music composition of all genres, but especially game music. Impulse Tracker has been at the start of the career of some modern day electronic music artists [link] and was also used to create the soundtrack for The Sims 2. The kit is a sampled drum set by Natural Studio and fortunately I was smart enough to get it from the Internet while it was still completely free! The bass tracks are very basic, being just a simple modulated sine wave that is only really audible when played through a subwoofer.
For the vocal tracks I've used my Samson USB condenser microphone. The lyrics are inspired by my own quest for the dream that has been there ever since I was 15 to play music all around the world. The song is about the forcefield that can occur when you feel separated from that dream for a time longer than you would've wanted, particularly because of decisions you made yourself. I really enjoy singing this song, I'm glad it's not too high for me anymore. The song being right at the top of my vocal range allows me to sing the chorus at the top of my voice and give some notes (particulatly in the end) a sharp edge. My favorite part is the bridge in the middle of the song that drops all of this ruckus to a simple: "come, come home (where you belong)" where you can feel the music build to the part where it all rocks out again.
The different tracks were recorded using Cool Edit Pro on a computer with no enhanced sound drivers, having an average delay of some 200ms! This can clearly be distinguished in the guitar tracks sometimes sounding 'off time' whilst, during recording, I was positively sure of playing right on the spot. I've already installed the ASIO4ALL drivers which reduce the delay on my Windows computer to some 20ms, which is a factor 10 decrease!
If you are interested in the three rock videos I created, here are the Youtube links. The videos contain footage of me playing the song in front of a camera. No vocals are included in any song.
(song) The Majesty of Love
Genre: Funk (lyrics)The Majesty of Love by dannyjwalker
The most recently recorded song of the three, this song was created using Ableton Live 8 instead of Schism Tracker. Ableton is an awesome program that includes many crisp sounds and lends itself to many possibilities. This song was inspired by my favorite funk band Chic (known for the hits Le Freak and Good Times) and is about a struggle between a mother and her son for the care that the mother has always had for her child, but which now has to be transferred to the son since he has reached a mature age already. Unsurprisingly, it is heavily inspired by my own experiences.
The drum tracks are a sampled kit provided by Ableton. The bass tracks also use an instrument provided by Ableton.
The guitar track was recorded again using my Ibanez guitar, this time tuned in normal E setting. I would've preferred to use a Fender Stratocaster for its characteristic funky sound (Niles from Chic used a transparant Stratocaster on his music videos) but the Ib will do for now.
(song) Song of Encouragement
Genre: Soft rock (lyrics)Song of encouragement by dannyjwalker
This song didn't make it in an earlier poprock demo that was planned to have 4 songs on it, but instead now has 3. It's about having feelings in a time of distress, as with everybody, doesn't have to make the distress situation any easier. I wrote this song when I was cooling down from an intense relationship and tried to focus more on what I wanted to achieve in life as to still have something to fall back on. It says that your feelings will "only be your feelings", and that you "don't have to understand" why you feel that way; it just is the way it is. This is I believe a powerful message that has encouraged me many times already, and I hope it will inspire others as well.
This song, like For All The Times, was created using Schism Tracker and the Natural Studio drumkit. Keyboards were recorded using Cool Edit Pro and my more-than-10-year-old Yamaha PSR 125.
That's all I have for now, no more than three demo songs. If you have any questions you can contact me (see top for my email address). I wish you all the best, and I hope this site was very informative to you.
All the best,
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