10th Anniversary Event Opener

This piece ran after the counter and was used as a setup for the first song, Solution.

* This piece is free and clear to download. Do enjoy!

** Special thanks to Austin Booth who composed the original score.

Fix You

This is the video compliment to the band’s performance of the track “Fix You” by Coldplay. Over the past 2-3 weeks we have had boards set up at all of our locations where people could sign them if they were saved or baptized at NewSpring.

From there we photographed the boards (along with some of the people) and mixed these images together. This is the result.

Example of the piece in play


Example of one of the boards (this one from Florence)

Technical brief
Boards shot with anything from higher end Canon 5D’s down to standard issue point and shoot cameras. In After Effects, I manually masked out each exterior framing, applied a handful of Levels/Curves treatements to isolation the signatures, then utilized the Multiply blend mode (primarily) to lay on the blacks. The blood elements are from a stock collection of ink drops.

** As special thanks to Barron Cooley and the other slew of volunteers who did all of the photography.

*** The audio track is from the band’s performance recording, which I then used to gauge timing and pace of the song. It was executed as a soft roll video, one where we did not send a complimentary click.

Identity Theft promo

I’ll post a handful of our 10th anniversary content over the next few days. Here is a promo we ran for our upcoming series, Identity Theft.

If you’re into that sort of thing, here are some sketches from my whiteboard. I always find it helpful to jot down the script, ideas, comps, etc. to get a feel of how the piece will work. Not all ideas on the board make it in, but it’s a good starting point.

NewSpring 10th

Allow me to share some images from parts of the NewSpring 10th anniversary backstage experience. Thank you especially to the volunteers for all your sacrifice to make this happen. The best is yet to come.

Final Fantasy for the iPhone?

What? Final Fantasy is coming to the iPhone? This really takes me back to my younger years. I don’t know that I’d have the time to invest in these games again, but what a cool idea.

infinite, auto Mario

Now there’s some serious automation going on here.

RJD2

I’m very much looking forward to RJD2′s new album Colossus… it releases this week. Here’s a little sampling. Also it might be the best use of a minotaur in a music video.

Tenori-on + Oberheim Four Voice Sequencing Exercise

It may not do it for you, but that biting analog squelch is just plain beautiful to my ears.

The Best is Yet to Come

Here’s just a little graphical telling of the NewSpring story, set to music and toned in green.

Technical details on this one; as is typical with my pieces as of late I composed this one with a script on the white board first. I’ve that to be the most effective way to lay out a piece, figure out if the storyboard makes sense, and compose the narrative. You’ll see a few elements on there that didn’t make it into the final piece (the time line elements, for instance). Remember the script can be fluid.

What?

As the epic series Lost draws to a close, let’s all gather and remember the biggest question we’re all still asking…

l’ascenseur

Macro shots of fluids with a lovely soundtrack, what’s not to love?

Who says you need to buy a guitar?

I watched It Might Get Loud the other night and was absolutely engrossed. If you are anything like me you will be, too.

My current desktop

New Year, new desktop. On my laptop I seem to get attached to my desktops and have a lot of trouble changing them out for a new one. Maybe it’s my sentimental side. This one I made with a little help from Stock Xchng and some minimal Photoshop color grading. Download the 1440×900 JPEG here.

Nanoloop experiment #123009

A month or so ago I picked up a new audio experiment, nanoloop. Maybe it’s a toy. Maybe it’s an instrument. It’s a bit of a blur, but that’s part of what makes it fun.

nanoloop is “a synthesizer / sequencer cartridge for Game Boy consoles,” according to the site. It was developed by Oliver Wittchow. With this cartridge you have access to a 4-track audio sequencer. There are 2 monosynth tracks (designated “r” and “l”), a polysynth (“s”), and a rhythmic noise track (“n”). Combined together with some deft programming you can create bleeps and blips that sound like Daft Punk in Hyrule. And if you organize your digital snippets well you can use the interface to perform it all live.

What fascinates me is the re purposing of an electronic device into something that, in the right hands, can produce valid musical ideas. Anything can become an instrument. And it doesn’t have to be all that cost prohibitive.

Here is one of my first experiments into the nanoloop.

A special thanks to Bayshorts for donating the Gameboy.