I’m lucky to have my own driveway in NYC. I’m also lucky to have a beautiful apple tree that blooms to park underneath. The only problem is hundreds of birds love this tree too. Therefore going to the car wash has become a routine trip. I’m amazed that for $10 you can get a full car wash that includes a full cleaning of the interior too.
My mother is a avid gardener. There were four large planters outside my building that were just dirt and weeds to I asked her to help me choose some plants to fix the situation. You can see the full set of photos of my “garden”: click here
Van Houten Farms by thingstocome
You can hear more of my field recordings here: soundcloud.com/thingstocome/sets/field-recordings
This entry was written by , posted on May 4, 2010 at 4:08 am, filed under sounds and tagged car wash, Creative Commons, field recording, gardening, samples, van houten farm. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Today I would like to welcome a new sponsor at Wire to the Ear: Wave Alchemy. You can see there advert running on the top right sidebar of this blog. I’ve turned down a lot of advertising requests from companies that were totally unrelated to pro-audio. Why diamond and shoe companies think this is a good place to advertise I don’t know! Wave Alchemy are based out of Nottingham in the UK. They sell sample libraries that are 100% royalty free and every sample is 100% original (not ripped from vinyl or anywhere else). Even if your not ready to buy anything it’s worth a visit to their site because each pack has a free sample set. There’s also a few totally free sample packs such “Club Kicks” and “Odyssey FX”. Robert Babicz (Rob Acid), Chris Lake and Martin Eyerer are a few of the artists using Wave Alchemy’s stuff.
I hope you welcome them as it does help Wire to the Ear stay on your computer screen.
For more info: http://wavealchemy.co.uk
This entry was written by , posted on April 23, 2010 at 3:47 am, filed under business, sounds and tagged Dan Byers, drum samples, samples, sound effects, sponsor, Steve Heath, Wave Alchemy. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
I was pleasantly surprised to hear an ice cream truck on my block yesterday. I snapped a photo and recorded the melody the truck was playing. It has to be one of the happiest sounds ever created.
Ice Cream Truck by thingstocome
This entry was written by , posted on March 12, 2010 at 5:49 am, filed under sounds and tagged ice cream, ice cream truck, sample. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
A real analog kick processed by some monster hardware boxes. Record it 65 ways and give it away free. That’s what Wave Alchemy just did. Hey, it got me to their site to look around.
“65 24-bit 100% royalty free kick drum (Jomox AIRBase 99) samples which have been recorded through an A-grade signal chain including devices such as the Thermionic Culture Vulture, Empirical Labs Distressor and API 512c pre-amp.” – wavealchemy.co.uk
Get your free samples here: http://www.wavealchemy.co.uk/club_kicks_2/pid60/fr
via Synthtopia
This entry was written by , posted on March 3, 2010 at 5:58 am, filed under sounds and tagged Airbase, API, API 512C, compressor, Distressor, drum machine, Empirical Labs, free, Jomox, kick drums, samples, Thermionic Culture Vulture. 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.
TOPLAPapp and GRID from Oliver Chesler on Vimeo.
Here’s a video I make of two terrific iPhone Apps that make random digital sounds. TOPLAPapp (iTunes link) and Grid (iTunes link) are must haves for any noise nerds out there.
“TOPLAPapp is a sonic puzzle based around a virtual machine for sound synthesis. This machine only accepts a few valid instructions, and you control it by placing each command letter within a grid, along with setting some associated parameter sliders. The machine runs through the grid, following the instructions to create the output sounds, which are usually of a somewhat noisy character, hopefully interestingly so. The historical antecedents include instruction synthesis as pionneered at the Institute of Sonology in the 1970s, and the live coding movement, of modifying a running program as it acts.” – Nick Collins
For more info: Nick Collins and Kin
This entry was written by , posted on January 8, 2010 at 7:13 am, filed under iPhone, sounds, synthesizer and tagged Grid, iPhone, Kin, Nick Collins, noise, TOPLAPapp. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Humans are born with a musical instrument attached to their face. All they have to do is mush their lips together and blow to make pretty sounds. Germany’s Best Service has released Whistler. A Native Instruments Kontakt library full of real human and bird whistles. I think this is pretty interesting. Why not add a background layer of whistle at the end of a song now and then? Sitting on the Dock of a Bay (iTunes link) by Otis Redding comes to mind.
“With the help of talented whistler Eduardo Tarilonte and a few birds, Best Service has released Whistler (19.99 EUR or approximately $30), a comprehensive library of every type of whistle tone you can imagine. No synths were used to create this library” – gearwire.com
Whistler is about 20 Euros. For more info: www.bestservice.de
This entry was written by , posted on December 14, 2009 at 5:38 am, filed under sounds and tagged Best Service, birds, Kontakt, native instruments, Otis Redding, whistle, whistler. 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=s92YywVZSPQ
I once owned a Magnavox Odyssey 2 (Wikipedia link) videogame system. I also spent a good amount of time at two Arcades. Galaxy and Mr. Arcade were their names and sadly they are both gone. I remember there was this gum filled grape candy I used to love. It was like a square Blow Pop without the stick. So no wonder when anything 8Bit retro pops up on my computer screen I stop for a minute and think to myself, “Yeah this is cool somehow”. 8Bitone (iTunes link) looks very solid and Vocoder Synthesizer SV-5 (iTunes link) look useful beyond retroness. I really like making music and every now throwing in the iPhone’s audio.
“This tune is ‘Behind The Mask’ by Yellow Magic Orchestra. So I performed on 8Bitone and Vocoder SV-5 that is iPhone/iPod touch musical apps by Yudo. 8Bitone is retro 8-bit sound monophonic Synthesizer and 4 track Sequencer. SV-5 is authentic Vocoder and polyphonic Synthesizer like a Roland VP-330.” – humanmaestro
8Bitone and Vocoder Synthesizer SV-5 are .99. Insert Coin!
This entry was written by , posted on November 23, 2009 at 6:16 am, filed under apple, iPhone, sounds, synthesizer and tagged 8bit, 8Bitone, apple, iPhone, retro, Vocoder SV-5, Yello Magic Orchestra, Yudo. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
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