Pilipino Ka!! (2018 PTV4 Staton ID )

 

Exactly 8 years ago, this jingle aired on the state national TV station, Peoples TV4. And it aired every morning in full and every hour in part for over a year. It was nominated for best station ID in 2019 by the Catholic Mass Media Awards .  

Pilipino ka is my first composition to have an extensive nationwide airplay. This song was a commissioned project which started in the early months of 2018. It took around 3 months to finish the project. I did the composition, lyrics, arrangement, recorded all the instruments and mixed the song to its finish product.

The composition and lyrics came almost simultaneously. PTV already has this "Para Sa Bayan" tagline which they wanted to make in a "wish ko lang" style.  I didn't take a listen to old jingles of the station as I don't want to be influenced by them. Instead I look up to some music influences which bit by bit I incorporated in the song. The introduction was influenced by the Cars' Hello Again. In the stanza you can hear a little bit of Ligaya of Eraserheads in the background. While the chorus part was heavily influenced by Buklod songs. The kulintang part with ati-atihan style drum pattern is just a generic ethnic beat that I need to incorporate to make the song very "Filipino".   

The drum was programmed on the computer, all the rest was played live; bass, guitar, and synths. The original demo was sang by DJ Angela, but the project coordinator wanted a younger sounding female voice so I called in Miyaka from the band Luckyzums to do the vocals, Back up vocals are done by Architect Willy Enriquez and DJ Angela.  

Though this is not the first time I got involved in commissioned work for TV shows, this was the biggest project for me so far. I did some theme songs for several TV shows, some of which I was able to capture and post on my Youtube channel. Others I lost track of.   

The jingle was played extensively and was used for several years. It later evolved into an instrumental piece yet the tagline part was still being used. I think they still use it until now.

It is flattering though that a band called MusiKbeats Coonection band actually covered the station ID and played it live on stage at some event. It was introduced with the title Para Sa Bayan.  The video is in the playlist section of my youtube channel. 

•  Pilipino Ka (PTV4 Station ID 2018)
•  Interpreted by Miyaka featuring DJ Angela and Arch Willy Enriquez 
• Composed by Nolit Abanilla 
• Arranged by Nolit Abanilla 
• Recorded at Indiepinoy Studios 
• Nominated to 2019 41st CMMA Awards for Television (Best TV Station ID) 

NICS - my instrumental electronic album

 An instrumental album of electronic music hence the title NICS which is actually short for electronics. Most of the songs here are taken from the Demotep series. They were recorded with newer instruments and modern recording technologies but maintaining the arrangement and melodies of the original. A lot of these songs are really experiments on gadgets that I have my hand on. Influenced by such artists as Kraftwerk, Herbie Hancock, Harold Faltermeyer, Giorgio Moroder, Jan Hammer and the breakdance music of the 80s. 

 

• A Divine Traveler (Hmmm) (1991) - A favorite tune of mine, this one was first created on a yamaha SHS-10 keytar which I borrowed from my uncle. It's accompaniment is obvious as a preset track. The theme kept ringing on my head that I made several versions of this song. This version is more laid back with a female voice seemingly trying to get you to sleep.
• Spring Disco (1992) -This song was created while playing around with a Yamaha PSR keyboard I borrowed from Pet. The jumpy theme of the song following the disco beat is an ingredient for a dance step that can be used for a craze on social media. Of course I wasn't thinking about that when I made the song. I was just playing around the theme.
• Playful Sea (1992) - Originally titled Playful C because the song works around the key of C. This one is another song playing with the Yamaha PSR keyboard from Pet.
• Don't Gamble Me (1994) - This song was composed to be included in a compilation project about AIDS Awareness. It had a long narration on the first part with a voice of a child talking about the AIDS. Unfortunately the project was shelved and this song was left in limbo. I then rerecorded it and removed a few elements of the song. This was done on a Roland D-10 keyboard and a Boss DR-550 Dr Rhythm drum machine.
• Bell Disco (1992) - Playing again with the Yamaha PSR keyboard, this one follows the same formula of the Spring Disco but using a different tone patch. Obviously the accompaniment is in the disco beat.
• Tip Toes (1992) - This song is very 80s in form and arrangement. Even on the mix with its wide sounding. Upgrading from playing with the Yamaha PSR keyboard, I tried to do a more full band arrangement. This song is very much influenced with the TV theme songs of the 80s.
• Bullets On The Ground (1993) - The original idea of the song is to emulate the dropping of several bullet shells from machine gun firing, thus the beat is very fast. With that in mind I try to make a harmony out of it that does not sound irritating. This was done on a Roland D-10 keyboard and Roland DR-550 Dr Rhythm drum machine.
• Get Busy (1992) - Influenced by hip hop and breakdance music this was created. It has several vocal injections typical of a hip hop dance track but I excluded "get busy" and reserved it as the title of the song.
• Short Wave (1995) - This is obviously an experiment using recorded sounds taken from shot wave radio. They are sampled and played on a keyboard Emulator. I was very much influenced by Jan Michel Jarre with this composition.
• A Divine Trance (2025) - This is a newer version of the original Theme "Divine Traveller' but instead done in trance. This song was added to have a modern sounding song in the collection.

The cover art is a newer digitalized version of a painting in acrylic on canvas I did in 1993. You can listen to these songs on all digital streaming platforms. Just search my name.

guitarista - my guitar instrumental album

 This is an instrumental album that features the guitar. We introduced four instrumental songs in the Early Reflections album (also Other Reflections on streaming platforms). But those songs are just the tip of all the instrumental songs I composed. Most of which are experimental as I am not a prolific instrumentalist. The songs are result of trying out different gadgets. The melodies just came naturally. And the arrangements came with constant experimentation. My demotep series include a lot of these experiments and I have sorted them out into two types: the guitar based songs and the electronic based songs. This one is the guitar based songs. All the song here are rerecorded versions of the original ones from the demotep series.

• A Divine Traveler (1991) - This is probably the melody that stuck on my head too long, as I have several versions of this song on the demotep series. The very first version was done on the keytar- a yamaha SHS-10 which I borrowed from my uncle. The accompaniment is obviously a preset rhythm from the keyboard. This version is done in a classical guitar.
• Just Cruising (1993) - I was able to borrow a Kawaii GB-2 session trainer from miyo and this is one of the results from experimenting with the gadget. Among the three songs I made from the session trainer, this is the one I am most happy with. Its beat makes you want to go. The guitar was done on a zoom 3030 effects.
• Morning Sway (1993) - Another song created using the Kawaii GB-2 session trainer. This one is more of a swing. I am heavily influenced by a lot of Tony Mottolla LPs which my dad used to put on our record player when I was young. The influence is obvious with this song.
• Don't Dance With The Record (1994) - This song is not an experiment on gadget but an experiment on chord progressions. This was composed later on when I was trying out not so ordinary chord patterns. I felt the urge to create something that sounds odd but not too dark.
• Guns and Guitars (Instrumental) (1991) - Guns & Guitars is not really an instrumental song. It is a glam rock song I composed about guerillas. I felt this one would sound great as an instrumental piece hence I recorded it.
• Dry (1993) - The third song in this album that I made using the Kawaii GB-2 seesion trainer. The original accompaniment was done on a drums with brushes. The original version is much much longer that this. I felt dusty and dry with the mood of the song, hence the title.
• Beat The Mood (1991) - This one was made using the Yamaha SHS-10 keytar. It is an upbeat song that has a very 80s vibe. This one is not really a guitar song. But I feel the strumming makes up most of the song so I included it with this album. I was fascinated with the preset rhythms and fills from the SHS-10 which is obvious played too much on this song.
• The Love We Forget (1991) - When I was young, I was taught how to play the song romance d'amour on the classical guitar. It became the inspiration of this song. I took a few lessons on classical guitar in yamaha school of music and later on a couple of semester in college of music major in guitar. All I learned during those times were guitar exercises.
• Bright Red Theme (1995) - The purpose of creating this song was to make a short theme song for the website of the BRMP (Bright Red Music Productions) which I handled. This song was originally created using Soundforge Acid layered with guitar adlibs. Eventually I made it into a full song.
• Boiling Flowers In The Dirt (1995) - This song was created along with the other instrumental songs which came out on the Early Reflection album (Other Reflection in streaming platforms). It is heavy and have faster guitar licks which what I was up to at that time. This song lies between VBBF and Oxygen, done in a more commercially acceptable arrangement. The mood of this one is something on fire. Not typical for a last song in an album, but this one says there is more to come.

The album is now available on all streaming platforms. Just search for my name and you will find it. The album cover is a school project, a rubber cut artist print I did when I was third year in college of fine arts.

 

Other Reflections

This album contains the remaining eight song of the full CD of Early Reflections, Late Night Decisions, plus two songs which are my version of songs I made and was jammed and recorded by the band LVNA for which I was part of during that 90s. The instruments in this album are rerecorded and remixed, maintaining the original arrangement of the songs. The original release of the CD was in  2011, and it was rerecorded in 2025. See other post for the technical notes on how these songs were done.

• Hintay (1992) – The original demo of this song has no ending. It just stops with the drum machines playing a few extra beats. It was intended to create a feeling of uncertainty since the theme is about waiting. It is a pop rock song with upbeat tempo.  It was about waiting for the love that has left him behind without a clue.
• Nasaan Na (1991) – This song was first recorded on acoustic guitar and some ethnic instruments. It is not originallu included in the Early Reflections CD.  In 1992, this became a regular line up on the songs of LVNA, my band in the 90s arranged with rock feel. It was recorded and included in the album of LVNA – Instant Myural. The version in this album is back to its original form which is chill in acoustic style. It is an environmental song which laments on losing all the birds, trees and rivers after the wildlife has been raped by corrupt businesses who doesn’t have any regard to taking care of mother nature.
• My Angel (1991) – This is another song we jammed with my band in the 90s,  LVNA. It was never released and was supposed to be included in the band’s 2nd album.  My solo version has almost the same arrangement of that of the band version. I added some lyrics  in tagalog in the 2nd part of the song. It is a love song about longing for a love. It also shows how he is willing to live with the angels and discover how it is in their world.
• F U Want Me (1992) – The song is a showcase of slap bass playing along a jungle beat almost similar to ati-atihan. It then transitions to a pop rhythm where lyrics enters. Then goes back to slap bass and jungle beats towards the end. The song is about encountering a girl from the street and gets the shock of his life when the girl turns out to be a sex worker.
• Three Movements (1992) – One of the first intrumental songs I created with the guitars. It is called Three Movements as it is actually a three part song with different styles. Though almost related in style, they are in ska, reggae and swing. The bass is a noticable instrument that plays an important role in this song. The guitar riffs are mainly rock.
• Take Me To A New Age (1996) –   The song is heavily influenced by heavy rock with pumping drum beats. It is also the time when I am experimenting with vocal effects, trying to create ambient feel of psychedelia. The song talks about longing for something new as he is bored with the usually stuff he is experiencing in his life.
• Oxygen (1997) – This short instrumental piece is originally a school project. It was a radio ad for a line of printed shirts that cater to heavy metal fans. The guitar shreding and tapping is really me playing on my zoom 3030. I did a lot of practice to achieve this recording. It actually ends with a door slam with a narration of the shirt’s slogan.
• Lying In Her Bed (1991) – This is a pop rock song about laziness. Even thouhgh it has an upbeatt rhythm that makes you want to move, the lyrics is the opposite. It is about waking up in the morning and gettting lazy to go to work. To add love song touch in the song it narrates that he wants to stay home because it is where her lover is. The guitar solo is also made in a lazy manner utilizing lesser notes in its start but exelerates to a rocking riff.
• Leave Me For Tomorrow (1995) – Starting with a blend of acoustic guitar and a melodic electric guitar riff. The song is about a broken family, where the father is leaving home and the child is numb and emotionless from the the turn of events. Although the child still hope he will be understood but really doesn’t care.
• VBBF (1997) – One of dark metal instrumentals I composed, this one runs on heavy drum beats. It follows one theme and maintains the that pumping rhythm. The title is an acronym of something I would rather not say.
• Waiting 4 U (1996) – Influenced by solo guitar songs of the 90s from the likes of Satriani and Vai, this one is a song putting the guitar on the front stage. Using a lot of sustains which is common in this era of solo guitar pieces. The prolonged sustains aptly represents longingness and wait.

This album concludes the 18 track CD plus two.  It became the ‘reflection’ series’ – (Early Reflections, Late Reflections and Other Reflecttions).  There are more than 50 ‘old’ songs with demos from my Demotep series. Others are simply written in cattleya notebooks (chords and lyrics). Hopefully I still remember the melodies of these. I will be sorting all these songs and release them soon. Up coming are two instrumental albums, one featuring the guitar and the other electronic music. These are also from the demotep series I created in the 90s. I will be posting them next.

Other Reflections will be available for listening starting July 5, 2026 in all music streaming platforms.  Go ahead, you know how to search them.

Early Reflections (notes)

 

First released in 2011, the album contains 10 selected tracks from the original 18-track cd. The songs in this album was recorded around 1996-1998 on an analog Fostex 380s 4-track cassette recorder. At this point I already have a home studio on my living room with no acoustic treatment. I had a premier drums set with sabian cymbals. I also had a good selection of mics which I experimented to get the best results. For drums I used a Fostex dynamic mic on the snare, (this came free with my purchase of the Fostex 380s Mulitracker. I used a stereo electret condenser pencil mic for the overheads which I bought cheap in raon since the store says nobody wants to buy it as it has 2 tr plugs which karaoke users are not familiar with. I used a “fifty-peso’ mic for the kick which gave me good results. The thud I achieved was probably because of the hard diaphragm of the cheap mic. You cannot get this results on expensive mics having more sensitive diaphragm.

The Fostex 380s Multitracker was the heart of the recording. It featured a responsive 3 band equalizer and two effects sends on each channel strip. I did a lot of bouncing to make all my instruments fit on the mix. Drums and bass is usually bounced into one track, then guitars on another, keyboards or backing vocals on the third track and the main vocals on track 4.

There was no compression done on the drums. With the bass I used a sansamp bass DI. I made it a point that all the signals were good when recorded so that I would not do any more processing while mixing. Guitars was feed using a zoom 3030 effects pedal. The main vocal mic is an electret condenser pencil mic which I found responsive to my vocal range. As early as this time, I already knew I should be avoiding low frequencies for the vocals. The pencil mic just did that without the need for an effects. I had a half-rack Boss SE-50 which I used for hall reverbs on the vocals. In some tracks, I used a Boss DR 550mkII Drum Machine.

In 2023, I remixed all the songs as everything can now be done on a PC. I didn’t like the drum machine in the original recording so I did some redrumming using addictive trigger to make it sound more realistic. I was able to get the raw 4-tracks and split them using stem separation software RipX. So now I have the unbounced bass track separated from the drum. The new mix is now what you hear on streaming platforms. Here is the story for each song:

• Jam Groove – This instrumental piece was composed when I was playing with the drum machine. It started with a groove and a bass line which made it obviously funky having nothing else on and no vocals to reserve space for. The guitars came later and accented with some synth stabs and melodies. The song was a good introduction for the album. This was intentionally composed as a first song for the album.
• Sa ‘Yong Karanasan – This is probably one of my first attempts to tackle the subject matter of a violence victim in a song. More like an observation of a tormented soul. Trying to push for more positivity yet not forgetting the lessons you learned from experience. I was experimenting on tremolo effects on guitars with this song.
• Innosence – The intro of this song was inspired from Ella’s “Permata Pemotong Permata” (a malaysian singer) where the bass did a melodic part over accented down beats. There are three guitar solo portions in the song, each with different effects. The song is about a young innocent crush.
• Hope You Do – Composed in Tacloban city while I was on vacation. The groove of this song was created with the help of my uncle who is also a musician in a band. He actually created that bass line. I just added bass solo towards the end to make it different from the usual guitar ad libs. This started as a jam with a drum machine where I do the guitar strumming and vocals while my uncle did the bass. The song is more about realizing mistakes in a relationship and hoping they could make up.
• Tatakasan – This song is about leaving a relationship which may or may not work. I was heavily influenced by synth pads on this song.
• Give – A “We are the world” type of song. This was composed when Live Aid and all those feed-the-world thing was popular. Although it became a melancholic song, this was never my intention. Wanted it to be more of a song inciting people to help out.
• Atup – A crazy song on experimental music techniques. In a multitrack cassette player you can reverse the play of a song from end to start. Thus this song was created. This was recorded on an acoustic drums (Premier ATK). I do not intend to insult or hurt anybody with this song. It was just a play of how a song can be delivered.
• Tabi Po – A ska rhythm song that will really make you jumping and dancing. I really missed putting a horn section on this (this was fixed in the Late Reflections – Nolit covers Nolit album). The song is actually more about conceit where the singer feels more self important. He thinks a girl is running after him and he just pushes her away.
• Echoing Cries of the Silent Children – The introduction of this song is supposed to sound like teardrops rather than raindrops. Still experimenting on bass as a melodic instrument in lieu of the guitar, the bass line is more riff laden. The song is all about unborn children.
• Di Minsan Lang – Another experimental song, this time playing with tape speed. The guitar solos were actually recorded in slower speed and was speed up to create the impression of fast guitar picking. The song is about being played on by his partner in a relationship.

If you have noticed the heavier songs were not included in this album. A lot of the instrumental pieces including the filler “Oxygen” taken out to make the album more pop and appealing. Those songs are included in the “Other Reflections” which we will review next.

The Journey of My Solo Album: Early Reflections, Late Night Decisions

Since I have released on streaming platforms all my songs from my first solo album I will need to tell its story and this post will be the perfect place to understand everything about the album. 

 

In 2011, as music streaming via the internet became the in thing, I got the courage to released the album to the public for everyone to hear. Only 10 tracks were included in the release and it was titled “Early Reflections, Late Night Decisions”. The songs were made available on spotify, deezer, Tidal, Youtube music, amazon music, applemusic and a lot more digital music platforms using the original cover art. This was released under the Indiepinoy label. 

In 2023, I rerecorded some instruments yet retained the vocals and the arrangement of the songs. This was made because digital redrumming was invented and I didn’t like the obvious sound of the drum machine used in the original recordings. Stem separation was also invented and now I can split all tracks and mix them properly. The original recordings were done on 4 track, thus I had to do a lot of track bouncing to bypass that limitation. The tracks were remastered and this is what you hear now on the streaming platforms.

Then came 2025 and new technology in digital music arrived. I then decided to rerecord and release the 8 remaining song which was not included in the first release. I included 2 more songs which were originally recorded by LVNA in the 80s for which I was the bassist at that time. I then called it “Other Reflections”. This will be available on all streaming platforms starting July 2026. 

Artificial Intelligence became controversially popular in music in 2026, and I tried my hand on it. I made AI covered the 10 songs in the first release trying to maintain the arrangement as much as possible. At first I had it for my own listening, but I was really amused by the results and so I released them on streaming platforms as well. This was now called “Late Reflections (Nolit Covers Nolit)” with an album cover which is also an AI version of the original art.

 There are more songs from my “demotep” collection, 40 in total. Plus there is more in my “cattleya” notebooks, some melodies are still in my head. I will then make other posts about each album and every song in it, including the “demotep” collection. This post is just the introduction. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing about it. Please do listen to the songs here in these albums. They are on all music streaming platforms. Just search for my name and it will all pop out.

Getting Back On Track

 

It has been a while since I last posted on this blog. I am coming back on since its a new year and I think I need to channel some of my ideas off my head. This post will be a trial post to see if the plugins work. If they don't then I may have to decide to fix the site, remove wordpress and instead use the blogger service as my blog. That we will have to see.

A lot has happened during the past few years while I refrained from posting. After posting a political topic, I received a message from someone I do not know but seems legit. I perceived it as a threat to my life so I distanced myself online and became more private and security conscious. Then I just let all things pass. In the last year, I was faced with several challenges. The studio couldn't recover after the pandemic as a lot of equipment had to be fixed or updated. My gigs became less common, which means I had to tighten the belt as finances became scarce. My dad died mid year of last year. And so I had to go to our home province every month to look after my mom. My wife had 2 operations. LapChole and Lazer to remove kidney stones in the ureter. And another procedure to remove the stent after 2 months. I too had 3 eye operations in the later part of the pandemic.

What is in store for us now? I plan to do a lot of reviews of old albums especially those independent releases of indiepinoy. Most of them are still available on web stores and hopefully with a proper review we can promote them. I also plan to showcase what is happening around me. As well as new techie discoveries especially on the sound recording field. I also have to post some activities I missed to post like a couple of trips to Dubai for the Dubai Expo 2020. And also the visual arts exhibit which I participated.

For all music lovers, I will also be writing about some music discoveries, especially 80s stuff for which I will be sharing as a continuation of my Search me series.

All of these your have to watch out. So, stay tuned.