One of the Japan-related websites I read regularly is the blog of Joi Ito, a Japanese entrepreneur and venture capitalist.
Recently he posted a video to Vimeo that he made using the new Canon 5SD MkII camera - a new camera that can shoot high-definition video as well as still photography. Since it was released under a Creative Commons Attribution license, I took the liberty of creating a score for the sequence.
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This is somewhere between a soundtrack and a soundscape, with little percussion / beats, and a sort of wandering structure that unfurls towards the end. I am no Brian Eno (although I am a fan of his), but I do like the ambient genre now and then. There is something psychologically liberating about working on a track once I’ve decided that it is evolving into an ambient thing, like at that point I can basically do anything I can think of.
In this case, that included appropriating a bit of Carl Sagan. The end result is something you might be able to listen to as you fall asleep.
Here is another soundtrack for a corporate-related video. This is a more worldly company, as you can tell from the slightly “world” rhythm track. Again, some breakdowns and build-ups that are based around interview segments and news clips.
This was my first time experimenting with Stylus RMX from Spectrasonics. It was very useful - I was able to quickly establish the basic rhythms I wanted, and get to the arrangements earlier than usual. If I can find a way to smoothly trigger Stylus RMX with my MIDI drums, it would be pretty hawt. But the Stylus RMX interface is not really geared for this, so we will see if I can work it out.
This is a quick test of the iPhone Wordpress app. I hope to be able to post sketches and thoughts from the road very soon, and also to review various iPhone sound apps.
This is an experimental track I made while fooling around with some of the new plugins I was discussing in the previous post. It has an authentic “breakdown” - sort of an experiment in controlled chaos. I also played with some vocal transformations, which was amusing for a while. Now my ears are tired and I need to think about something else.
Please forgive the meandering ending segment, I barely escaped with my sanity. Don’t ask me to go back there again.
Posting soundtracks without the video is a drag, but I’d rather log my work here than wait for the video permission, etc. So here is yet another tune I did for a corporate client who shall not be named. Imagine lots of bright stage lights, some talking heads, footage of live performances, etc. Anytime there is a slow segment, chances are that is a person speaking over the track.
In this mix I am experimenting with some of the PSP Audioware plugins - they make some compressors and EQs that are quite nice, and really bring some excitement into the mix. The audio instrument / plugin field is bursting with options these days, and I am in the process of trying to find out what I need, what is useful, and what sounds like crap.
This is a piece I created for a video that was to be shown at an executive annual meeting for a company who shall remain nameless (but whose products you almost certainly own). I wish I could post the video here - but I think it was for “internal use only”. I will find out for sure and post it if I can.
UPDATE: You might want to turn down your volume down a bit, because this track is a bit louder than the others for various reasons.
So I am excited to announce that I have a new full-time job which allows me to split my time between soundtracks / sound design and graphic / web design. This means I should be posting more updates here on this space, as well as investing in some new gear to take my work in this area to the next level. Please check back over the next few weeks as I post some new tracks and experiments…
Arthur C. Clarke died last month. He was a visionary - and his brilliant mind, with Stanley Kubrick’s genius, is responsible for one of my favorite movies: 2001: A Space Odyssey.
One of the memorable traits of that film is the use of classical music to frame sequences of vehicles delicately dancing through the void. As much as I love these moments in the film, I have always agreed with Sun Ra and his Astro Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra’s contention that “Space is the Place”.
There is something about laser beams, black holes, and big rockets that says “funk” to me. With that in mind, here is a space-funk riff for the next time you venture into the abyss.
I enjoy experimenting with the NNXT sampler in Reason. Multi-sampling instruments are lots of fun, especially now that websites like the Freesound Project make locating new sounds so easy. This short sequence was an excuse to test out one of the instruments I created, and also an attempt at creating an arpeggiator in Reason 3.0. Apparently Reason 4.0 has one built in, but I haven’t upgraded yet, so I have to fudge it using the Matrix pattern sequencer. If you are still using Reason 3.0 - here is how to do it:
If you want to see an online video of this method, check out this YouTube clip (thx TJfromLP!)
Here is a track for a non-existent video game. I’ve been doing some experiments with the Pipmak engine, and this music works well for a game in the Point-and-Click Myst-style genre.
Imagine yourself on a lonely desert planet that contains the ruins of an ancient civilization. You must solve puzzles and mysteries in order to unlock their secrets, and learn what wiped them out. Yes, its a cliche- but it works well in this genre.
0:00-0:54 - Intro sequence with Title screen menu loop
0:55-1:01 - Outro from menu into game
1:02-1:14 - Puzzle solved
1:15-3:05 - Ambient FX and music
Before I moved to Japan I used to watch a lot of anime. In particular I liked most of the Studio Ghibli and Production I.G stuff (Spirited Away, Ghost in the Shell, etc). There are a lot of musical themes that both studios return to again and again, and it really creates a vivid world for the viewer.
Anyway, this is a track that is sort of tribal and mystical. Something about this track reminds me of the forest spirits in Princess Mononoke, but there are touches of the Ghost in the Shell soundtrack, too. It is a very dramatic and open track - I tried to keep the “curve” of the arrangement relatively flat - no sudden changes or jumps - like a river flowing along.
Reading the entry for Joe Hisashi, who composes the music for many Studio Ghibli films, I was surprised to learn he was a typesetter! I think many people who are interested in graphic design are also interested in music composition - after all, arranging a layout and arranging music share many things in common. I would love to ask Mr. Hisashi what he thinks about this idea.
This is music designed to fit with a questing / fantasy game. Something along the lines of the Zelda series: cute, fun, magical. Elves, mazes, tunnels, goblins, swords and armor, magic items…that sort of thing.
As you listen, you will hear the following segments:
INTRO (0:00): The music you hear during the main menu, before you start the game
EXPLORING (0:24): The general theme of the tune…traveling, questing
PUZZLE SOLVING (0:55): Presented with some sort of test / trial / puzzle
EXPLORING REVISITED (1:12): Back to the wandering theme, but fuller, more triumphant.
BATTLE (1:51): Attacked! Imagine the clashing of swords over this segment
DEAD (2:10): You sustained one blow too many, and keeled over. Hope you saved!
All of these instruments are MIDI instruments, tweaked and played in Logic Pro 8. I am a big fan of the toy piano sounds, I think they hold the whole piece together, and give it a fun feeling.
I think this funky / rockin track would go well with a movie or video game about bank robbery, or a casino heist (a la Ocean’s 11/12/13). I think it could also work with a sports game. I can visualize it to the intro cut sequence of the players walking onto the field, and then clashing together in the game as the music starts rocking.
I organized it into the following sections: Intro: Men in Suits Walking in Step / Big Time Player Theme / Neon Breakdown / Big Time Player Theme End.
With the exception of one drum loop in the background, all of these tracks were played by me, mostly using MIDI devices, but the guitars and bass are “real”. The drums aren’t programmed, I played them on my Roland MIDI kit. I mastered and re-mastered this track quite a lot, trying to make it “hot”, and the end result turned out pretty well I think.
This was an exercise in re-sequencing a song I really like. Do you recognize the song? Hint: the actual song title is a synonym for “Woe”. This version is truncated, since the point wasn’t to fully recreate the original, just to learn from the arrangement and experiment with my own tones and textures. This is all me on the MIDI kit and using some nice synth pads. I also got a good guitar tone out of the Amplitude plug-in, I think.
When I listen to this song, I envision some kind of scene in an glistening modern airport: a man running through the crowd. Desperately trying to reach the gate before the woman departs. Like something from the end of a John Hughes movie.
This is a track I arranged and recorded with some close friends over 10 years ago. It is a re-interpretation of the timeless Super Mario Brothers Theme. I always wanted to put an animated sequence to this music: Imagine poor Luigi, living forever in the shadow of his more charismatic, successful brother Mario. Of course, I’d be sued in a heartbeat. All these instruments are real humans! No computers or programming. Me: guitar, pedal effects, and arrangement. The talented Jordan Siegel: Drums. The funky Micah Roark: Bass. Recorded in 1996 at Asleep at the Wheel Studios (Bismeaux) in Austin, Texas.
This is a background music loop for a multimedia presentation I made a couple years ago. Motorola hired me to create a Flash movie about a new technology they were showcasing. At this time I was using Cubase, I think. Just me and a keyboard.
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
I was pleased to be hired by OysterCatcher Studios to contribute some music to an excellent film about the SEA Semester study program.
So here is a more traditional version of the song (see this post for the other version).So I abandoned the West-Side-Roll feel (apparently being from Austin isn’t good enough, you have to be from San Antonio to make it work) and modeled the song into a more train / blues feeling. The idea still works well. I tossed a solo in there as a placeholder for the vocal track.