Beatmaker, iPhone, and Elf pt.3 – Execution

After transferring the samples to the iPhones we practiced, tweaked, replaced samples, and adjusted levels until everything worked together. We also rehearsed a rough song map (very rough) to get an idea of how the song would build. We practiced with a 5:00 counter to get a sense of time.

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Joel set us up a small mixer and I used a modified (to fit) 1/8″ to RCA monster cable to get us into the sound system. From this point we just executed the plan. The biggest limitation is with only 16 samples it’s a bit of a struggle to keep it from sounding too monotonous. A few pointers:
1 – The second iPhone’s samples keep things from feeling too repetitive.
2 – Spend the first 1:30 building up the drum elements. This lets you demonstrate to the crowd what, exactly, you are doing up there.
3 – I plan one high-toned part, the guitars, to cut through the other synth elements. Then I mapped it to a 4-bar segment. This makes it really easy to cut on and off, quickly changing the dynamic of the song.
4 – There are a few filter sweep / drop points in the song. We coordinate when those will happen and I count them off to Daniel. At my “off” point he triggers the prepared 2 bar filter sweep. At the end of that, he triggers a new vocal sample and I start my playback again. I thought it would be tricky but in the end it really wasn’t as difficult as I’d expected.
5 – Toward the end of the song two things happen. First, I move into the effects channels and start triggering the delay set at a high rate and then move into the Bitcrusher. It’s a nice glitchy distortion that allows me to control the amount of nastiness on the fly. Second, the counter video we’re playing has a 30 second audio build in it. It fades in, and includes some of the song’s samples. Eventually it overtakes the sound from the iPhones and ends the track for us.

I do recommend you set your iPhone to airplane mode, perform a full restart, and load your sample kit as soon as you boot the app to ensure that everything loads cleanly.

10 Most Innovative Concert Visuals ’08

I’m pretty stoked that 4 of my favorite groups, NIN, Daft Punk, Massive Attack, and Kraftwerk, are all mentioned in this list of “Most Innovative Concert Visuals ’08″.

Yes and no

Yes and No.

Hardware or Software?

Hardware vs. Software. Which one?

Like Father, like Son (Santa ed.)

Yesterday as I put my son to be he asked me “Dad, what did Santa bring you?”. This launched into a conversation that Santa brings presents only to kids, but he did visit me when I was a boy. “well, what did he bring you when you were a boy?”

As I mulled it over (via the wikipedia app, mind you) I came up with two items that I distinctly remember. Then I thought about the items G received and realized (not that I didn’t already know) how similar we really are.

(his packages were stuff with various mechanical items such as Robosapien, magnetic fridge gears, and lite brite for good measure).

Here’s mine:

Build A Squid

Got some free time? Build A Squid.

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No Perfect People promo

Here’s little promo we ran during our Christmas services. I went for simple and message-driven. (and as a personal challenge / limit, I decided to only use cuts. There are no actual movements save the “Not Really” keyframed sections.

No Perfect People Allowed promo from Ken Wilson on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas blog world. The gnomes will be running things around here for a few days (read: autopilot) and I’ll see you in a few.

Beatmaker, iPhone, and Elf pt.2 – Preparation

Beatmaker is a sampler / sequencer application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Some may initially balk at a $20 app. I would suggest you think of it less as a toy and more as a musical instrument. This is a fully realized program with seriously amazing functionality.

Propellerhead’s Reason was used to compose each of the audio elements. After tracking them to make sure they flowed together each segment was exported into an individual WAV. Beatmaker only has 16 sampler slots, so I weighed how much impact each piece would make to the entire composition. I isolated bass drum, snare, hi hat, and open hat. This let me program multiple rhythm elements on the fly.

Download Reason Project file
Download Beatmaker Kit 1
Download Kit Samples (WAV files, key of A, 120bpm)

I collected various Elf samples and a few other stabs / builds. The core song elements were assembled into iPhone kit 1, and the Elf / accent elements were assembled into Daniel’s iPhone kit 2. The kits were assembled with Beatpack. (link at the bottom of the page).

Download Beatmaker Elf Kit
Download Elf Samples (WAV files)

Screenshot of sample mapping (the first version, we tweaked this a bit)
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Don’t miss part 1 of this post.

Beatmaker, iPhone, and Elf pt.1 – Concept

PART1 – Concept
Side note: I LOVE BEING PART OF A CHURCH that would allow me to chase an off the wall idea like this to completion. I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m really having fun with this one.

In my mind there are several ways to visualize the lead-in experience of A NewSpring Christmas Party. Two dudes sampling Elf and creating live beats on their iPhones with Beatmaker qualifies as NewSpring Christmas Party-esque. As this could be a atypically long post I’ll be breaking it up across the next several days. Keep reading, I’ll be giving away all of the kits, samples, and project files associated so you can try this yourself.

iPhone / beatmaker opening song for NewSpring Church from Ken Wilson on Vimeo.

Joshua performed this piece at our Greenville campus. We like to make sure and share the fun. Also, the gentleman on the second phone is our student worship leader, Daniel Harper.

NewSpring Christmas Party

This weekend was great. Here’s a little snippet from our Christmas services.

It Is Well from David Jolley on Vimeo.

Yulia Brodskaya

The papercraft work of Yulia Brodskaya inspires me to do something creative over the holiday break.

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Highway Hi-Fi

If my vinyl obsession goes this far someone probably needs to set in and stop me.

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Evernote: Evernote Adds File Syncing

Evernote, which is my digital brain extension, adds file sync. It just keeps getting better. Get Evernote now and see why I depend on it.

Happy Christmas from AKQA

Um, yes, dang. Happy Christmas from AKQA. Really, you should watch it all the way through.

Weezer, Beverely Hills live and acoustic.

This little nugget is from a few months back when I saw Weezer in concert. They brought out an entire band of various local instruments (you know, 10 acoustic guitars, a clarinet, tuba, etc.). The highlight for me in my lousy little recording is the oboe solo (right around 0:24). Listen at least that far.

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Sidenote, I captured the audio using Evernote on my iPhone.

Synthpond

Loving SynthPond on the iPhone. Give it a try if you enjoy the dabble of experimental generative musical apps. Grab the free lite demo if you want to know what the heck I’m talking about.

Christmas prep

Transmissions have been a little sparse over at the AV Club this week but translate that to mean the team’s working extra hard and Christmas services at NewSpring will be extra video-y and glow-y and techno-y. We’re working on a few things you haven’t seen before. Here’s a sample of what my desktop looks like right now.

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Brace yourselves. And if you’re in town grab some tickets (all free) and come to one of our Christmas services.

Yes and no

Yes and no.

Christmas Remixed

It’s no surprise I love music . I revel in a successful choice for a video or element that just lands perfectly. Bonus points are awarded if it’s from a less-known but strangely familiar (and you hear it on the radio in 6 months) artist. This Christmas we’re mixing in a lot of jazzy, trippy Christmas music in our production pieces. The question arises frequently, “what are you playing?” Let me be your holiday groove music guide.

First stop, our awesome intern Justin has compiled a Christmas Pandora online station that touches just about everything holiday and trip hop. Give it a listen.

Here are some other selections I’d recommend.

Verve Remixed Christmas
Holiday Remixed: Reworked Classics And Originals From The Mistletoe Lounge
Merry Mixmas
A Six Degrees Collection: Christmas Remixed – Holiday Classics Re-Grooved
Home for the Holidays

And for your guitar-shredder (and slightly redneck side) I recommend:
Merry Axemas: A Guitar Christmas
Merry Axemas, Vol. 2: More Guitars for Christmas

What are your favorite holiday recommendations?