The official "Neurosis Psychosis" video from Steven Conklin's "Auditory Hallucinations" album.
This track started with that annoying intro lead line and gradually built up to the final form that it is now. As Steven
explains: “Neurosis Psychosis didn't even have the title until well after I finished it. It kinda all came to me at once
after hearing the intro melody part for the millionth time. I just kept seeing this vision of a nurse jabbing people with a
giant needle in a nuthouse and that was that.”
“The main intro and chorus line follows the rhythm guitar part but it's a third apart. And that (rhythm) part has a forward – down
- forward – down motion to it. It almost goes nowhere because every time it goes up it comes back down again. The “verse” breaks
that somewhat as the rhythm guitar section moves forward while the main lead sways back and forth a bit.”
All the effects on the main lead lines during the “chorus” sections were a combination of digital delay and a flanger.
Both were added during mixdown and panned around the stereo field to create a very uneasy sound. None of the main “verse” lead lines
were doubled – it's just one guitar and some delay brought in and out of the mix.
Creating videos for Steven's instrumental music is almost like making a silent film. While the music does provide for a limited
(dark/light) visual, the actual video steers those elements to the desired outcome.
As an example, the opening lead lines by themselves may be crazy sounding however, the video content places them in some type of context
- as in a rainy night in the dark. With a mixture of animation and live video "Neurosis Psychosis" places Steven back in time to the 1930's
in search of missing hospital staff. After finding the Doctors report it's unclear who, or what is still in the hospital.
For the videos theme Steven decided to set it back in time to some unknown asylum and have various paranormal events added throughout.
He then went about sketching out time correct room designs which were not used for the most part. Instead, well placed text/title screens
were created to bridge all the elements together and move the story along. Out of all the scenes that he had created only a couple were
actually used – and used for the animation parts.
The hardest part was getting everything to flow together along with the flow of the main melody of the song. The track is structured in a
rather standard intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo etc. form however, keeping things moving in the right direction on screen was problematic.
So, the overall story was separated into two parts: the looking for and searching elements and the paranormal element. Musically the chorus
sections lent themselves to the paranormal and hospital parts fine. It was the verse sections that were tricky.
The somewhat unusual phrasing of the main lead line as it sort of sways ahead and back then ahead again was difficult to place with a
“forward moving” video. One of the early cuts had Steven playing in the various hospital rooms for all the verses. That only made for a very
confusing clip. After several do-overs it was decided that the text bits really tied everything together and told the viewer what was occurring,
rather than leaving it open for interpretation.
In order to make it as authentic as possible all the on camera visuals had to be as close to era correct as they could be. That also meant no
modern devices like computers or cellphones could be in any of the shots. Even the modern LED lights were out – thus the candles. Nothing like an
old rotary dial phone and a number two pencil. The only thing missing would have been a typewriter.
A complete transcription to Neurosis Psychosis can be purchased at
www.sheetmusicplus.com (or by going to our merch section.)
Track: Neurosis Psychosis Album: Auditory Hallucinations Run Time: 4:06 Producer/Director: Steven Conklin
Keys: E Minor Copyright 2016 Steven Conklin (BMI)