New Apple IIe drum sequencer

How cool, a NEW piece of software for an OLD computer. More details “>here.

Reactable

If you’re looking for something to get me for Christmas, this is on my list.

Remix a dry cleaner.

Why not.

I still dig the monome

I haven’t written much about it recently, but I still really dig the monome.

monome at moma from tehn on Vimeo.

Archie Pelago

Nice groove from Archie Pelago. It’s a creative blend of DJ, looping, and organic sounds.

NLC Counter / Opener music

A breakdown of the music used for the counters and openers of the NLC conference.

Counter 1

1. DJ Shadow – “I Gotta Rokk”
2. Linkin Park – “New Divide (Instrumental)”

Counter 2

1. Glitch Mob – “Warrior Concerto”
2. The Beastie Boys – “Fight for you right (Meaux Green Remix)”
3. Powerman 5000 (covering Quiet Riot) – “We’re Not Gonna Take It”

Counter 3

1. Moby – “Lie Down in Darkness (Bassjackers Remix)”
2. Foo Fighters – “All My Life”

Openers

1. The Beastie Boys – “Make Some Noise”
2. Glitch Mob – “We Swarm”

Rdio karaoke

Ever since jumping on to Rdio several months ago I’ve been looking to using it for one thing… road trip karaoke. And that just happened this past weekend with my beautiful bride as we headed down to Atlanta for a wedding. I will now list for you our entire playlist, in order. It is not a cohesive mix, but we can certainly sing along, and loudly, to 95% of the tunes. Most of these are certified 1991-1996 high school era.

1. The Bargain Store – Dolly Parton
2. Fly Me Courageous – Drivin’ N’ Cryin’
3. All my Ex’s live in Texas – George Strait
4. Road Movie to Berlin & Birdhouse in your Soul – They Might Be Giants
5. This Can’t be Love, L-O-V-E, Route 66, & Paper Moon – Natalie Cole
6. Punk Rawk Show – Mxpx
7. Psychedelic Super Jesus – Bride
8. Unchain, Say the Word, Desert Rose – Whiteheart
9. Pieces of You & Who Will Save Your Soul – Jewel
10. Stars – Hum
11. Come In, Tuesday, & Break Hard the Wishbone – Sarah Masen
12. 6 Underground – The Sneaker Pimps
13. Anybody Out There? – Burlap to Cashmere
14. Billie Jean – Michael Jackson
15. Black – Pearl Jam

Deadmau5, Tabernacle

This past Thursday I had the great joy to follow an entire day of the NLC Conference at NewSpring with a trip down to Atlanta to see Deadmau5 perform at the Tabernacle. It was both audibly and visually arresting. While the iPhone’s camera doesn’t convey the full experience I was able to capture some of the visuals. There was an interesting stage / lighting display that I would gladly see again. The level of production and creativity was inspiring.

What follows are a series of clips I pulled directly from the show.

Makeup and Vanity Set | Never Let Go

Makeup and Vanity set, one of my favorite homemade electronic bands covered in NES-esque blips and VHS saturation, have a new EP out on Bandcamp. You need to get in on this if anything from the afore mentioned sentence piques your interest.

Makeup and Vanity Set | Never Let Go on Bandcamp

Tenori-on becomes TNR-i

Want to know what I’m excited about? Yamaha is releasing a Tenori-on emulator app called TNR-i for the iPad.  The bummer right now is that it appears to be a UK-only release at the moment. Hopefully it will arrive soon in the US app store.  What is the Tenori-on, and why am I excited about it.  Well first off it’s a musical grid gadget priced well above affordability for most ($1000+).  So an app version will be a nice way to experience the sounds without the high price tag.

Take a look at this.

Thursday Monome time

Spent some time with the monome tonight. What’s cool is that G’s been playing with Reason and composed the main beat! Is that normal for six-year-old?

Locating good music

I occasionally get questions on how we pick music for the videos we produce. Here are a couple of quick tricks to make sure you have the right audio piece for the right project.

1) Listen to music all the time

If you always have music pouring in, you’re more likely to hear something that spikes your interest. I have a shuffle playlist or Pandora stream on just about constantly.

2) Create an “@potentials” or “@promos” playlist

I keep about 5-6 different playlists at all times just to hold music I’ve come across for a future purpose. Hear a moving instrumental? Put it in your “@promos” playlist and save it for that right moment 6 months down the road. Something driving and thumping, use the “@counters” playlist.

It’s better to tag it when you hear it rather than trying to remember it for later. I also utilize Evernote to compile lists of songs I hear at the gym, or tracks that come to me at various times.

3) Shazam at the store

Do you know who picks awesome music? Old Navy. And Express (don’t judge me, I was shopping with Meg). And most other retail stores at your mall. Take advantage of their good taste. If you have a smartphone there is a good chance you can install a music tagging and identifying app (Soundhound or Shazam). Use that to bookmark and identify a track you overheard. You’ll probably discover something new.

4) Pandora and Genius

This is one of our favorite tricks. Find a song that works (or even one you’ve used before) and plug it into Pandora.com for an endless supply of tracks that have a similar tone and feel.

5) Composers

Occasionally we work win a composer to create a custom score for a piece. Sure, this is the pricier option, but it’s not as expensive as we would have thought. Also look at utilizing your worship band and musicians to help create some tracks. This is especially helpful for making simpler, quieter instrumental pieces. Plus, it’s easier to get individual parts to the songs this way which give flexibility when you’re editing.

6) Recycle

It’s OK to reuse a track. If it worked 6 months to a year ago it’ll work again. And no one will likely notice. We don’t use this one often, but occasionally, especially for a promo that will run just once, it’s helpful.

So that’s it, just a few tips on how to locate good music. The moral of the story is to start now, before you’re creating the piece, and build a catalog.

Unleash 2011 opener/counter music

A track listing of music used for the Unleash 2011 media.

Opener
The Insane Warrior – Then You Hear Footsteps, from We Are the Doorway

Counter 1
Ruckus Roboticus – Here We Go, from Playing with Scratches
RJD2 – 1976, from Since We Last Spoke
RDJ2 – Let There be Horns, from The Colossus

Counter 2
Deadmau5 – Some Chords ,from 4×4=12
Tedashii – Make War, from Identity Crisis

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross on the Social Network soundtrack

Great little inside look at Reznor’s studio, some beautiful modular synths.

2011-01a

Here’s a little track I made for fun the other weekend. The results of a few hours one evening.

UPDATE: looks like the embedded player got a little sketchy, here’s a direct link.

Reason 5 + Rebirth on iPad combo with Livid Instrument OHM64 controller

Yes.

Make War series promo

A promo for our upcoming series Make War. It’s fun working with a voice over guy.

Reactable

Reactable is a new music app I picked up recently for iOS. It’s modeled faithfully after the physical interactive surface the Reactable table (which you can see in action here), from reading the wonderful depths of its manual I would say it has real potential as an artistically valid performance platform. I’ve found it to be a little cramped on the iPhone, but this demo of iPad usage is pretty impressive and the track feels complete (even if there are apparent video cuts and edits in the final recording).

Why I wish the monotron wasn’t on such a long back order

I’m fascinated by small music creating devices. I love software, it’s great, deep, endless… but it lacks those tactile controls of a hardware device. Unfortunately most analog hardware devices are a little bit pricey for an average joe like me. Enter the Korg Monotron. It runs about $60 USD, it won’t take up a room in your house, and that probably explains why it’s so far back ordered. And with the right capture/looping infrastructure here’s an example of what one can do with it.

Sampled apple

The other day I decided to sample the audio of one of Meg’s childhood toys, the happy apple. It has an interesting gong-like tone. This was captured quickly through the mic-in of an iPhone headset… nothing hi-fidelity here… but the results were interesting.

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