For those who might not know, Melodyne is pitch-correcting software that offers a very intuitive interface and robust control over many aspects of audio material. I recently purchased Melodyne Editor, the first version of Melodyne to feature “DNA Technology,” i.e. “Direct Note Access.”
DNA lets you access, change, or delete notes within polyphonic material, e.g. in a guitar or piano chord. You can change minor chords to major, delete overtones, lengthen notes, etc. All this is thoroughly impressive (and well-documented), but what I want to share are some lesser-known uses of this technology I’ve discovered in the past few weeks. Read on and also feel free to watch the included video tutorial. Read More »
I’m a recent owner of a spankin’ new iPhone, and I haven’t been able to pull myself away from it. One of the things I’ve been doing is exploring the many musical possibilities it has to offer. 2 apps in particular have piqued my interest. The first is Bebot, which is basically a synth with multi-touch control. And the second is Star6, which is a loop player with interesting performance capabilities.
Star6 is what I used in my latest experiment with sound: a remix of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” This track was performed and recorded on the iPhone using the Star6 app exclusively, with the loops being prepared in Ableton Live. I hope you will enjoy the show!
The best way I can describe my latest song is as follows: positive and soaring synths driven by a dance beat sprinkled with the carpe diem of the Goonies.
I’m pleased to share my latest tune, a remix of the Michael Jackson song “Human Nature,” which was part of Thriller. It’s something of a tribute to Michael, as it features a short sample of an interview of his with 60 Minutes in which he talks about wanting to help people and “always love.”
I had no intention of doing a tribute to him, but I found myself fiddling in Ableton and next thing I knew I had a nice hook made of cuts from the song. It turns out I’m not the only one. “Human Nature” has been covered or sampled by numerous artists, not the least of which include Miles Davis, SWV, Boyz II Men, and Nas.
While researching the other covers/remixes of the song, I found a couple of them on YouTube. I think it’s interesting to note the different interpretations. Read More »
I did some research and found it interesting that he constructed his own language for his music. The album is a story of Earth colonists who settle on another planet. That explains the outfit…
This past Sunday I met with a young girl who has a passion for electronic music. Her dream is to produce it, to DJ it, and to sing with it. She heard from friends that the best tool for the job is Ableton Live. Her parents are quite exceptional in that they are fully encouraging her to follow her passion, and this is what led them to me.
Between editing audio books, playing with my band, and nerding out to the history of the Aliens movies, I somehow found the time to make a new song. It’s definitely a beat dropper, and my salute to “big beat” music. Featuring a classic sample of Run-DMC, I think you’ll enjoy it.
Some of you might have noticed through Twitter/Facebook that I recently saw Aliens on the big screen at BAM. My girlfriend and I went to see it and we were so very entertained. Not to mention the spectacular visual effects (way better than CGI), we also noticed the awesome sound design. She pointed me in the direction of this alien egg hatching sound (I don’t think this is actually from the movie, though…it sounds like a gunshot at the end?):
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Something about the Aliens storyline hooks me in and had me thinking about it for days afterward. My girlfriend had never seen Alien 3 (I told her she wasn’t missing much), but I did tell her the basic plot of the movie and where the story goes. I dug up some info from wikipedia that some folks might find interesting:
A number of cast and crew associated with the series, including actor Michael Biehn, previous director James Cameron, and novelist Alan Dean Foster expressed their frustration and disappointment with the film’s story. Cameron, in particular, regarded the decision to kill off the characters of Bishop, Newt, and Hicks “a slap in the face” to him and to fans of the previous film. Biehn, upon learning of Corporal Hicks’ demise, demanded and received almost as much money for the use of his likeness in one scene as he had been paid for his role in Aliens Alan Dean Foster called the death of Newt “an obscenity.”
I’ve always known about Twitter. It’s been around for years, but you’d think it just came out this year by all the popularity it’s recently garnered. I was turned off by it. Tell people what I’m doing? That’s what I use Facebook for…why would I broadcast what I’m eating to a bunch of strangers? More importantly, why would I be interested in what all these other people are doing?
I was wrong. Or rather, I had the wrong idea. You can use Twitter on the basic “What are you doing?” level, but it really shines when you look past that. It acts as an aggregator of people, of news, and of interests. It’s a way for you to receive information that is very specialized and valuable.
Through tools such as WeFollow, Twibe, and TweetMondo, I was able to follow and get updates from people who are fellow Audio Engineers, Musicians, or Photographers, as well as follow people who live in my same neighboorhood. There are new tools popping up daily to aide in the search for valuable people to follow. And that’s what enriches the Twitter experience; the people you decide to follow. That’s what enriches life, too.
Following people is half the fun. For any creative person, the benefits of broadcasting your latest project to hundreds or thousands of people is extremely valuable. With URL shorteners like bit.ly it’s easy to insert a link in your tweet. That link may be something you were involved with, or it might be something you think people would be interested in. Throw in the Facebook Twitter App and your tweets get mirrored to all the people you know personally via Facebook. While you’re at it, use TweetDeck to manage Twitter instead of using their website.
Within the last week I’ve been amazed at the number of interesting people I’ve discovered and the new opportunities I see. As a result of all this Tweeting, I’ve also become more active in my following of blogs, having resurrected my latent use of Google Reader.
A lot of this re-examination of Twitter was thanks to a coversation I had with Molly Gross. Thanks, Molly!
I found this interesting page via Create Digital Music. It’s a bunch of Youtube videos that are all in the same key and all have an ambient quality. You can play them in any order you like, you can adjust the volumes of each clip, and you can alter the playheads as you wish. The result is a beautiful soundscape with you the listener feeling like you were part of the process. Brilliant.
For those who might not know, Melodyne is pitch-correcting software that offers a very intuitive interface and robust control over many aspects of audio material. I recently purchased Melodyne Editor, the first version of Melodyne to feature “DNA Technology,” i.e. “Direct Note Access.”
The best way I can describe my latest song is as follows: positive and soaring synths driven by a dance beat sprinkled with the carpe diem of the Goonies.
I’m pleased to share my latest tune, a remix of the Michael Jackson song “Human Nature,” which was part of Thriller. It’s something of a tribute to Michael, as it features a short sample of an interview of his with 60 Minutes in which he talks about wanting to help people and “always love.”
