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:

1. Create a subtractor or any synth / sampler, with the patch you want to use
2. Create a Matrix Pattern Sequencer unit
3. Using the patch cord view, connect the Matrix Pattern Note CV output to the OSC Pitch input on your synth. Make sure the synth is connected to the Mixer, or some output (so you can hear the noise).
4.  Then create a 4 or 6 0r 12 (or 32 - whatever) step sequence in your Matrix unit, and give it some random notes. 
5. Hit the Matrix “run” button, and then switch to your synth and play some notes. Your notes should trigger the Matrix sequence.  
6. Because this is not a true arpeggiator, it won’t be in tune in every key. So you will have to choose in-key notes for your Matrix sequence.

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 

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.

In the new Garageband, you can create ringtones for the iPhone. Of course, I don’t have an iPhone since I live in Japan…but my friends do! Yimay asked me to whip something together for her. This is the first draft of the Original Yangsta Theme.  

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.

Here is a short experiment trying out some of the toys in Reason 3.0. Its a short piece, I am thinking about titling it, “The End of Time”, but I am not sure yet.

I never thought I would say this, but I am starting to think a full size keyboard would be a good investment. My small keyboard is very nice, but it feels very cramped recently. Maybe my hands are growing out of control…