Here's to cloud back up!

Over the last year I have had several issues with drives crashing - mainly due to a flaky hub. But recently whole folders went missing - my MP3 library and my sample library and possibly - I'm not sure, much of my completed work.

I have most of it dually backed up on another hard drive, but some recent sample library purchases and (genuinely free) downloads were not copied across.

Luckily I learnt a lesson and backed up everything on an automatic cloud storage drive. I used Backblaze, but there are lots of them.

If you are not doing it. Do it. Please, whichever one….

Thanks to everyone who has viewed my blog to date.

I can see that the more I write the more hits I get. I don't know whether it is just the google search engine spiders happily spidering away or there are some genuine readers. Probably the former.

However if anyone is reading my blog, thank you. And I hope you find at least one or two words of interest.

Smiles....m

100 people talking all at the same time

Writing of experiments I thought of another project track for the SoundXperiments project: recording 100 people speaking and then picking out a rhythmic part of what they say and then overlaying those rhythmic part over and after each other to achieve a kind of nonsense wave sequence of 100 people talking all at the same time.

Perhaps it has been done before - as an art piece but not as a musical piece. A minor change perhaps but a tangible one. Of course what the people speak about will be an important thing. Perhaps asking them about the time that they discovered the most astonishing or beautiful event or person or thing to date. Or a great life changing experience.

I guess it comes from that common phrase about something being like '100 people all talking at once'. Usually referring to a busy situation where you just can't hear anything or the situation is just confusing.

I hope to turn it in to something good..

Of course 'It's going to rain' and other phase recordings by Steve Reich probably forerun this, but I hope that I can get a different effect.

It will certainly be a challenge.

Started a different kind of track today

I remember hearing a track played live where a band of acoustic guitars basically just one chord for several minutes, or a central chord with minor variations. Different rhythms from different guitars pulsated the sound. It was ok. I kind of liked the sound of so many different guitars and it is a kind of layering that is common in synthetic music, but a bit forgotten to an extent. 

So I started one which was based around F#m and with guitar sounds as a base. Though I will morph the chords more and the sounds. I guess I'm extending someone else's idea but it is only an experiment.

New track

Finished (barring minor revisions) a track which I have linked to part of before when in its early stages.

I was looking for a vocal for it, and found a Trent Raznor track from How to Destroy Angels.

Here it is, I guess I will need to ask Trent Raznor's company for permissions, and/or get a singer to sing it. Not sure whether it works but I think so...

Fun sounds and structure, bloody structure

Working on the track I posted about recently. 
I've put in some great sounds - skidding spinning basses and exaggerated harmonics derived from a badly pitch shifted hammond organ sound.

However, at the moment I have come unstuck with structure: whether to pile into the main theme or spread it out, and where to make the drops.

Sometimes those sort of things come fairly naturally but with this one it doesn't.

Have cut down on some of the detail as it was cluttering up and I may need to do more - I guess I'll carry on tomorrow.

Did manage to install my LiquidMix plugins :-)

Lots of local wifi

Getting on Beatport

Beatport now only take tracks from labels:

If you are a label:

Our label managers are only able to consider labels for direct signing who have the following available at the time of application:

1. 6 Month Release Schedule and Accompanying Promotion / Marketing Initiatives
2. Established Online Presence (Label Web Site, Facebook, MySpace, Mailing List, etc)
3. Repertoire of Relevant Artists / Remixers
4. DJ Testimonials for Previous Releases and Promotions

I think that tis is going to be a big work. Beatport also mention http://www.basewaredistribution.com/ I think it may be new

However of course there are other ways of getting on iTunes. CD Baby etc more soon.

Test animation

More chords and animation

Writing some more chord sequences yesterday. Will put them up soon with links - they are all for my live set - all at 170bpm. It's good to get back into writing chord progressions. Some deep, some fizzy, but could be deeper and more complex I think.
One is quite empty with just an F two octaves above an Eb moving up to a similarly 9th/13th feel. Others more traditionally functional harmony...

I've also been doing an animation for vine.cc for a drum and bass project called Bassjumpaz.net.
It didn't take long it only needs to be 6 seconds long for vine.cc


Doing it, I thought of the lyrical content for the music in the background. The main toy that moves around can exchange body parts in different places - here are a couple of shots. The original idea was that the toy - the woman in red and blue - just sort of danced along the desk. But it came about that she and the other toys ended up gravitating towards Launchpad thing, which I got lit up in patterns. So the lyrical content will be something like - 'it will all be alright if I can get to the dancefloor' as the toys limbs get in the wrong place when going along the desk but are in the right place on the Launchpad 'dancefloor'.

However I have to do it again because I made a webpage that said 'Bassjumpaz.com' and not '.net'..... 

Chords

Started to write chords for vocal hooks to be sung over, and some deeper - more involved - ones for verses. 

I was just mucking around with Launchpad as a keyboard. It's weird is does four semitones at a time - four keys going up the left, then extending again up the right. It's quite weird to create chords.

It's interesting doing chords with patterns though. I made the chords for the start of Staring At the Sun by using the 4 by 4 pad of Maschine and creating interesting visual geometric patterns.

Beating up the gates of hell

Ok, so not exactly.

I recorded the sound of the gates to the yard where the studio is. The chain around the gates makes a terrible noise when unwrapping it. It must be hell for the neighbours. It's not my responsibility but I'm going to try to put pipe insulations around and tape up some of the gate poles and the chain so that they don't clang. Because they really clang.

Anyway I recorded them. And cleaned up the recording today. Lots of the sound of wind too. Anyway I ended up ripping out some of the deep bass with Soundtrack Pro, which worked a treat. But the recording itself didn't really capture the massive ring of the gates. I was a bit disappointed - the mics on the hand-held recorder just didn't capture the sound that well. Or I will have to try again!. But I got some ringing sounds that I will include in All Beat Up 2

The track All Beat Up 2 I am working on has some dark industrial elements to it. I have been thinking about enhancing those, and not let too much traditional sounds in.

The idea is that instead of steady chords I put bits of chords from different sounds in - like I did with I am losing you so the sound hints at the chord sequence from various directions.

At the moment I have some organ sounds in there that don't seem right. I'm going to replace this with something more industrial.

I'm also going to see what I can do with the cleaned up clangs from the gates and also the rhythmic wind I managed to create....

All Beat Up 2

I've been going into more detail on a track that I have now given a title - All Beat Up 2 - after a track that I did years ago.

Here it is:  at the moment it is only roughly 2:30 but I'm going to add stuff and put industrial sounding stuff in rather than the guitar sounding thing. Although I quite like that, but probably best elsewhere.

Mixing and downloads

Mixing

Another pass at BigBlueWave. I pulled apart some highly complex percussion tracks that I had sequenced from a Battery Percussion sample kit.

I had previously Eq-ed out too much bass.

The percussion was deliberately frenetic - the track has elements of crashing waves and the vocal chorus says: 'My love is like a big blue wave". I felt that power should be reflected in huge percussion and drums. But I don't think I have got it right. Really close but not there. So I have been pulling it apart, muting some bits- re-Eq-ing. 

I wasn't happy with the snare either so I started hunting down some snare samples. I think I will buy some but I've downloaded free tester samples to try some out, which I will do.

Downloads

I bought Drum Doctor's Drums years ago. They are good, but 16bit, and things need to be a 24 bit these days. They also have a certain rock sound and I'm not sure I want that for this. I might revisit though. They came on a CD so you have to chop them up manually. I did a load a few years ago but I think I will have to dig out the CD and cut up some tracks for some nice high hats - I seem to remember that the hats were nice, but I didn't chop them up in and store them in my library - just take a few out for projects.

Actually I think I may have neatly filed the CD - I usually assume that it's in some sort of unsorted pile - as that's what my life used to be like - but actually it isn't - I don't give myself enough credit - indeed just thinking about finding things now gives me a huge amount of anxiety that I have to fight because of this!)

Well I dealt with that but the CD is nowhere to be found. Damn. I seems to remember that the hats were pretty good.Looks like I'll have to buy it again, unless all the ones I have downloaded yield something.

However there are lots of new ones to buy - and things like BFD and Slate Drums etc. And Loop Loft's Dry Drums but I'll have to listen to them again - not too sure about them.

Recording Drums

Of course I could just record a drum kit, but I'm do not know anyone with a good one who would be prepared to do all of that - I would have to make a commercial project out of it may be. And I assume that people have done it rather better than me before. I'll have to have a listen and see what I think....

Bouncing around

Been bouncing down individual tracks or 'stems' to send to a friend.

I've written a drum and bass tune  - just 2:26 at the moment - needs some structural change, more, may be a middle...and an end? But it sounds great. Definitely sending that off to Neil in Sweden. It will be on soundcloud soon.

Pro Tools is a bugger to do this work from - as you need to solo each track one by one and then record them separately. In Logic Pro you can just press a button that says Export All Tracks or similar. Not sure that it does grouped tracks or how it does effects like reverb though.

I've also done a remix of a track by Hey Ocean! called Big Blue Wave. It was in one of those remix competitions... I used Logic Pro for this. I've been tinkering with it for 1 year or so now if not more. Did a bounce the other day but on listening I realised that there was not enough treble - or high frequencies. I had further processed the vocal too. It sounded good but I ended up just chucking a bit of high frequencies on the hats, ripping out the lead vocal processing, and tinkering with the big percussion and drums to fatten the snare and deepen the kick. Not quite there - but nearly. It's a busy track. The reason i am doing it is more for the challenge. It's in 6/4 which is interesting to write rhythm too. It's quite poppy though and it's been a good challenge to get that uplift feel on the chorus.

Gonna try and do this daily for 21 days

Been involved in a studio share. It turned out to be more of a support system for one member. And he became utterly unpleasant - humourously so at times. 

I have got a lot of work done, but it has been difficult as the person who has been unpleasant has also been knowingly or unknowingly utterly inconsiderate. He was just talking about what he needed all the time and those had to take precedence over everyone else. He configured the studio in a way that only he knew, didn't pay rent. Used everyone else's stuff, took 5/7ths of the days, tried to get the monitors taken away whilst he was holiday - under some false pretext, blamed all the problems that he caused on other people, sends rude texts, lived in the studio, owned none of the equipment, installed software over installations that I was using without discussion on a computer that wasn't his using soundcards that are not his. 

I now realise why I'm not sure that I like going there anymore. 

Sadly he is quite a good musician and people give him leeway for it. 

He has now been removed as a partner. But after writing all that down, I think I will ask that the main partner who is now working with finds someone else who can bring in that sort of work. That guy can find another studio as far as I care.

But things seem to be looking up a bit in terms of work and contacts - nothing to do with Mr Zzzz's contacts or work thankfully.

It has certainly not been a particularly creative, positive professional or profitable environment except for him.

Today I got to Brixon where the studio is to find out that the booking had been cancelled! Sadly the person had phone problems and couldn't receive texts, send them or make calls as his phone was broken and his replacement didn't work properly. Button problems. Alas.....

What are car crash. However we have good equipment and a good room. And the remaining partners are all human.

Anyway I guess I need a place to write and talk about the work I have been doing.