For years I’ve been thinking how great it would be to write a song a day or something along those lines. I write a lot of music but it’s in bursts and most of it I would never release. The RPM Challenge is an online get together where you basically record an album in a month. I just came across this and the 2010 challenge is almost over so why blog it? I really enjoyed checking out the site. Somehow it feels like a small music town get together. I also like listening to songs recorded quickly. The less contrived the music is usually the better.
“This is The Challenge – Record an album in 28 days, just because you can. That’s 10 songs or 35 minutes of original material recorded during the month of February. Go ahead… put it to tape. Don’t wait for inspiration – taking action puts you in a position to get inspired. You’ll stumble across ideas you would have never come up with otherwise, and maybe only because you were trying to meet a day’s quota of (song)writing. Show up and get something done, and invest in yourself and each other. Anyone can come up with an excuse to say “no,” so don’t!” – rpmchallenge.com
For more info: rpmchallenge.com
This entry was written by , posted on February 25, 2010 at 5:11 pm, filed under music, song writing and tagged contest, RPM Challenge, song writing. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
inkQuencer from Sebastian Thielke on Vimeo.
Geeky and cool.
“InkQuencer is a step-sequencer that plays music based on camera input. People can draw patterns on paper and then play back the pattern by holding the drawing in front of the camera. The program receives the images from the camera and draws a saled down, 32 by 30 pixel isometric version. On each beat from the metronome, the scrubber runs through a new column of pixels and plays a sound if the pixel is black.” – Sebastian Thielke
For more info: Sebastian Thielke
This entry was written by , posted on February 24, 2010 at 7:25 pm, filed under song writing and tagged inkQuencer, Sebastian Thielke, sequencer. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Reverse Reverb from Rupert Brown on Vimeo.
I like these type of online music tech shows so I hope The DSP Project gains many episodes. I use this reverse reverb effect quite often. Sometimes I add a distortion unit after the reverb to really make the effect scream. Definitely check out my post: The Kick Boom, Thunderverb song writing element.
“In this episode I will show you how to create the reverse reverb effect in Ableton live (but technique can be used in any DAW) and put it into context by using it in a real project.” – Rupert Brown
Ever use this technique in your own productions?
This entry was written by , posted on February 12, 2010 at 8:59 am, filed under Ableton Live, song writing, sounds and tagged ableton, reverb, reverse reverb, Rupert Brown, sequencer, The DSP Project. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
I’ll admit to a production secret: sometimes I use MIDI files containing drum patterns. I cut my teeth in the early 90s making beats on countless records using various drum machines and sequencers. However, like an old boxer I always seem to throw the same punches. The only way for me to get some totally new grooves is to rely on Herbie Hancock or others who sold their patterns. Well ok often I use randomizers but that’s the not the point of this blog post. Today Groove Monkee released a new set of prefab drum beat MIDI files. This one’s called Twisted Beats and you get 800 for $29.95. If you order today (Wednesday Feb 10, 2010) you can get $10 off with the code: twitter10
“Twisted Beats is a unique collection of over 800 four measure MIDI loops for contemporary music with Rock, RnB World and Fusion influences. A wide range of old and new school influences are represented here: Dave Matthews, Herbie Hancock, The Mars Volta, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Meters, Paul Simon, Prince, etc. The grooves were played by a professional studio drummer or expertly programmed in order to get exactly the right feel. We’ve selected only beats with an infectious “feel” or “groove”; this is NOT just a random collection of unusable beats.” – groovemonkee.com
For more info: click here
via gearwire.com
This entry was written by , posted on February 10, 2010 at 9:34 am, filed under song writing, sounds and tagged drums, Groove Monkee, midi, pattern, sequencer, Twisted Beats. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QxN1u7KWDM
So I’ve been playing with Voice Band (iTunes link) for about 30 minutes and I can definitely say it’s fun. Like many iPhone Apps I will surely use this from time to time for a weird intro or background part in a song. All it takes is a simple import of the audio into Ableton Live. This does a similar trick as the now unfortunately discontinued Antares Kantos plug-in. Anyone remember Kantos? Read the Sound on Sound review of Kantos: click here
“A new iPhone app that turns your voice into an instrument in real time. You sing into the iPhone, and it turns it into a guitar or a bass, synth, etc.” – WaveMachine Labs, Inc.
For more info: wavemachinelabs.com
This entry was written by , posted on January 10, 2010 at 4:00 pm, filed under iPhone, song writing, sounds and tagged Antares, iPhone, Kantos, Voice Band, WaveMachine Labs. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
I was born in 1970 and 2010 really feels like I am living in the future now. Am I wrong or has the human race’s vision of the future not gone much further than what we thought up in the 80s? It seems all we can come up with now is the end of the world. I hope we make it to The Singularity and deep outer space. For now my New Year’s resolution is to make more music. 2009 was definitely my lightest as far as finished songs but that was a bit by design. I feel fresh and ready for new things.
“A singularity is a point at which an otherwise continuous mathematical progression becomes infinite, implying that all continuous extrapolation breaks down beyond that point. Technological singularity refers to the idea that technological progress would reach such an infinite or extremely high value at a point in the near future. This idea is inspired by the observation of accelerating change in the development of wealth, technology, and humans’ capability for information processing. Extrapolating these capabilities to the future has led a number of thinkers to envisage the short-term emergence of a self-improving artificial intelligence or superintelligence[1] that is so much beyond humans’ present capabilities that it becomes impossible to understand it with present conceptions. Thus, the technological singularity can be seen as a metasystem transition or transcendence to a wholly new regime of mind, society and technology.” – Wikipedia.org
What’s your resolutions?
photo credit: Doxieone
This entry was written by , posted on January 1, 2010 at 6:42 pm, filed under song writing and tagged New Years, resolutions. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
One of my most loved audio software tools is about to reach version 2. Harmony Navigator from Germany’s Cognitone software will get some nice new features. The developer will also release a stripped down version called HN2 LE for those who don’t need the advanced features. Be sure to check out my screencast showing a few of the features of the original Harmony Navigator: click here
“After more than a year, it’s now time to bring Harmony Navigator to the next level. During the past year we more and more noticed that the needs of our users largely fall into two categories. While purists and fans of electronic music could comfortably do without virtual accompaniment bands, others wished they had more possibilities for adding their own patterns and building songs. Therefore we decided to offer two separate products for everyone’s needs and budget: A compact and very affordable product for pure harmonic work, and a more comprehensive product for drafting prototypes of entire songs. We invested a lot of work in order to enhance the features of Harmony Navigator and make it more comfortable to draft of entire songs. The new song window is the most important achievement. It features multiple parts on a timeline, which also supports loop playback. You can now maintain your entire project in a single window.” – cognitone.com
It should be released next month (Feb 2010). Read the full press release: click here
This entry was written by , posted on December 31, 2009 at 7:17 am, filed under song writing and tagged Cognitone, Harmony Navigator, song writing. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
http://www.youtube.com/v/yhfvzTivVLg?hl=en_US&fs=1
I’ve been watching Max for Live waiting for the patch that will make me buy and Schwarzonator made me do just that. Grid pattern making patches and hardware hacks don’t get me going as much as software that helps me create melodies. Schwarzonator was created by Berliner Henrik Schwarz and I am finding it very useful. I really love the random function! Check out the video above for what it can do.
“The Schwarzonator is a note twister. It’s all about helping musicians (or non-musicians) find the right notes and chords in real time. It turns one finger playing into chords that fit together well. Choose from a list of Chord Sets in a drop down menu. Then all notes you play on your keyboard will fit into the selected Chord Set.” – Henrik Schwarz (from Ableton’s website)
Get the Schwarzonator here: www.ableton.com/schwarzonator
This entry was written by , posted on December 21, 2009 at 6:45 am, filed under Ableton Live, song writing and tagged ableton, Ableton Live, Max for Live, patch, Schwarzonator. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
I believe melody is hardwired into human’s brains in a way different than hearing just sounds. We remember notes as they hum up and down scales. Every time I leave The Gap I end up singing whatever song was playing over and over in my head for hours. So I always say piano lessons beat a new Apogee interface for making your tunes better. I really like helper applications like Harmony Navigator or even something like Microsoft SongSmith. Harmony Improvisator is a new plug-in from Germany in the same vain. The cochleor website says videos and a demo download are coming soon. It’s Mac/PC VST for 99 EUR.
Improvisator is a programmable chorder and sequencer VST plugin which outputs chords as MIDI data or sound from an internal synthesizer. It can be controlled via MIDI input or by clicking the harmonic functions of the graphical user interface. The first thing in the process of working with Improvisator is to click chords with the mouse which you hear immediately. – www.cochleor.de
For more info: www.cochleor.de
This entry was written by , posted on December 9, 2009 at 6:30 am, filed under plug-ins, song writing and tagged chords, generator, harmonies, Improvisator, plug-in, vst. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Modern (sample clip) -The Horrorist by thingstocome
Here’s a sample of a new song I am almost finished with called “Modern”. Clearly inspired by my day job at Energy Management Solutions. Most of the song is real analog equipment: Vermona DRM1 MKIII and Yamaha CS5. My voice is through a Shure KSM-32 and TC Powercore.
“All the modern. Super Building. Super Building. Growing into a new day.” – The Horrorist
photo credit: boliston
This entry was written by , posted on December 6, 2009 at 12:54 pm, filed under music, song writing and tagged Modern, Powercore, TC Electronic, The Horrorist, Vermona DRM1, Yamaha CS5. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Loading ...
Google Reader Updates
Recent Comments