Robot Cousin Soundworks

I should probably take this time to mention to anyone reading this who doesn’t subscribe to my Facebook page that I’ve finally been approved for a loan to buy equipment and start up my company for real. And I’ve done everything that I need to do… except…

There’s a bureaucratic hurdle that I’m more than willing and more than able to get over, but unfortunately I have to wait until the signing officer for this document is in their office, which they haven’t been in the last little while. Each day that they’re not there, I’m told they will be there the next day… and when I show up (now I’m just calling beforehand) I get told “Oh, tomorrow, they’ll be in.” This has happened 3 times so far.

I want to push so much music out, it’s crazy. I’ve never felt so pent up with creativity. I think it may be because I’ve sort of limited myself as of late to what I’m doing, so that when I have all of my ducks in order and everything set up, I can always, at a moment’s notice, go over, heat everything up, and get cooking.

Lately, the excitement has dwindled because of how much the carrot has been yanked away from me the closer I seem to get, but over the past couple of days, I’m getting ideas non-stop for all sorts of music. I’ve got 4 projects (one is a sound edit) that are on the queue when everything is green-to-go, and I can’t wait to jump in.

Here’s hoping I get that signature tomorrow.

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Note: Updated the links on the right.

Project R/’Recession: The Rock Opera’ is still being hammered out, note by note, instrument by instrument. I’m having a bit of difficulty with one of the pieces, as there’ll be a lot of orchestration from things like horns and strings, and those are some of the hardest to fake through virtual instruments. Also, my computer is choking. Yay for the ‘Track Freeze’ option (think “Flatten Layers”, if coming from the Photoshop side of things), but even then, you can only freeze so much and get away with it.

On the RPM side of things, I’m actually coming up with a lot of good stuff… which is a problem (for RPM at least). I actually want to turn these into real tracks. And I know that just because they’re for RPM doesn’t mean they didn’t happen, but I don’t think I could bring myself to put a song into two groups. If I actually had a record deal, and was making songs, b-sides would be b-sides, and the track list of an album would be that and only that, not songs from another place or anything like that. Billy Corgan has the same sort of hangup, so I guess I have him to thank for that way of thinking. I can’t help it! It’s a rule, but one I haven’t had to enforce just yet.

So I’m left with about 3 tracks worth of stuff I really, really like, and refuse to put towards RPM, even though I’ve come up with them, and recorded them within February. Will I finish my RPM album? Looks like no. Does this bother me? Not in the least.

RPM is doing what it was meant to do, and for that, I am thankful.

Just finished my first track (which will actually be track 3) of my RPM Challenge 2010 album. I have a name for the album, but I’m not putting that out until the artwork is all done. Yeah, I’m going all the way.

Anyway, I’ve already gotten farther than I did last year, and I don’t plan on stopping. I have a few other half-finished tracks on the go, hopefully will be uploading them within the week. Also, this track, along with any other RPM tracks, will not appear in the flash player below until they’re all done, or when February ends. So for now, here you go;

Element Zero

There are always things I want to learn. Sometimes, I find it really tough, other times I find it not challenging enough, but I always want to learn new things, especially if it expands on something I already basically know. I’m going to try and set some goals for myself this year, in reference to me learning new things. For example, this year I want to learn the following (or at least make an attempt)

• 1- Modes (Lydian, Phrygian, etc) – I know what they’re for, but having them memorized would really help. Maybe that doesn’t count in “learning” them, as all it is to me at this point would be pattern recognition, rather than the understanding I already have/had of them, but I want to learn/memorize them nonetheless.
• 2- All of my synths – I know how synths work, so when someone says to increase the attack time on the envelope generator, I know where to go. That’s not enough, though. If you take a synth like the ImpOscar or especially the Minimonstah, even though you know the functionality of each control on its own, I could really use to get to know my synths, as it can only help me get where I want to go faster. See also: quadraSID… that one’s currently a bit of a mystery.
• 3- Flash Scripting (edit – found a good resource!) – quite a change from the musical goals above, but I believe having a basic-to-good understanding on how to actually get something done in Flash would really benefit not only this site, but perhaps any program I may think of making in the future… which brings me to…
• 4- Programming/C++ – This was a goal for last year as well, and I’ve checked out a lot of resources I’ve been given, and this is something I could definitely grasp. Alongside this, I would love to get to the point of making an iPhone app or game.

So, as of right now, that’s what I want to fill my brain up with this coming year. Easier said than done, but I have a number of books on a few of the topics listed above, so at least I could take some of it in while being stuck at work.

So, people out there reading… is there anything you’d like to learn in the near future?

RPM Challenge 2010 is a go! Sign up here. Don’t know what I’m on about?

From the site…

This is The Challenge - Record an album in 28 days, just because you can.That’s 10 songs or 35 minutes of original material recorded during the month of February. Go ahead… put it to tape.

It’s a little like National Novel Writing Month, (NaNoWriMo.org) where writers challenge each other to write 1,700 words a day for 30 days, or the great folks over at February Album Writing Month (fawm.org), who encourage artists to write 14 new songs in February. Maybe they don’t have “Grapes of Wrath” or “Abbey Road” at the end of the month, or maybe they do—but that’s not the point. The point is they get busy and stop waiting around for the muse to appear. Get the gears moving. Do something. You can’t write 1,700 words a day and not get better.

Don’t wait for inspiration – taking action puts you in a position to get inspired. You’ll stumble across ideas you would have never come up with otherwise, and maybe only because you were trying to meet a day’s quota of (song)writing. Show up and get something done, and invest in yourself and each other.

Anyone can come up with an excuse to say “no,” so don’t. Many of you are thinking “But, I can’t do that! I don’t have any songs/recording gear/money/blah blah blah…” But this doesn’t have to be the album, it’s just an album. Remember, this is an artistic exercise. Just do your best using what you have in order to get it done. If you have a four-track, become a four-track badass! A mini disc, a pro-tools rig, a Walkman, an 80’s tape recorder – use it. Do your best. Use the limitations of time and gear as an opportunity to explore things you might not try otherwise. If you can afford studio time in a “real” studio, fine, but let’s be completely free of any lingering idea that “good” records can only be made in a studio. If that were so, then all the old scratchy blues records or Alan Lomax field recordings that have changed our culture – the world’s culture – wouldn’t still resonate with us today as they do. Springsteen’s haunting classic “Nebraska” was a demo he did at home on a crappy machine. That album is fricking awesome. What label would put those recordings out now? (See: who cares) There are a million examples of this kind of stuff, but the fact will always be: Well written, honest music is compelling and undeniable no matter what it was recorded on. So put it to tape.

February will come and go whether you’ve joined in or not, but do you really want to be left out?

So there you have it. I feel like crap because of last year’s “one song” entry, so I’ll be sure and AT LEAST get farther this time around. All tracks will be posted here as well, denoted as being part of the RPM Challenge.

For all music makers out there, sign up! What have you got to lose?

I’m starting to document my possibly-long-road to success in building my own home recording studio.

I currently own a duplex, and am only using one-half of it. It came to me while we (my fianceé and I) were in search of tenants that I could apply for a government loan to actually build the beginnings of a home studio. Since I’ve graduated, I’ve always wanted to start my own studio, but I kept thinking “too big” (rent out building space, thus incurring even more monthly rent fees, commercial ones at that), or “too small” (Hey, I can work from my basement! Yeah!!). Being a duplex, it obviously has its own entrance, independant of where we actually live. It has 3 bedrooms, at least one of which would be used as a “live” room. The living room is very open and attached to the kitchen. This all came to me one night, and kept me up until 4am. It was wonderful and terrible all at once.

So I’ve decided to take this little corner of the web to document what will be happening over the next… however-long in my quest to finally build my own studio.

Here’s hoping this all comes together. In saying that, does anyone have any idea of where I can go to get money? I’ll be going to try and get a SEED loan, but who knows how that’ll work. I’m totally in the dark when it comes to any sort of Federal loan or grant program. Help?

Silver Wave 2009 has come and gone, and it was a crazy time. I was nominated for Best Sound Editing and Excellence in Music Composition, both for the same film, “Manic Chiropractic” by Fetal Films (website pending).

There was another short there, “A Dark Radius“, and I must say, it’s score was really, really good. I want to use a bigger word here, but none are coming to me. It was involving, intense, and very, very fitting. Kudos to Ralf Bindels and his work there. Very well done. I bow down to his incredible talent. Something for me to shoot for, definitely.

Another meeting for Project R is going to take place tomorrow, and we’re all in good spirits about it. If you’ll notice, on the page I just linked to, Chris Fulton won Best Comedy (as well as Gia Milani for Best Drama). He was awarded $1,250 worth of equipment rentals and services from William F. White. I believe we already have plans on what aspect of Project R this will be applied to.

Man, I can’t wait until the lid is blown off of this. And I also can’t wait until we get it all done. I mentioned it to my dad and he wanted to know if he could have a very small part in it. Perhaps!

I would also like to take this moment to recognize two other very talented people. Travis Grant won for Best NB Student Film for Crossing the Great Divide (check it out here), and my future brother-in-law Ryan Barton was nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Comedy for his work on Travis’ other short film, Wise Guys in the Park (currently not online). I really want to share the last one with everyone, and will do so if they upload it online. It was, for me, the highlight of Friday night’s screening, and should’ve been included in Saturday’s screening instead, as it would have been enjoyed by a much larger crowd. Of course, Ryan is also featured as the lead in “Crossing the Great Divide”.

In other news…. there is none. If you aren’t listening to the Curtis and Tara show, then you may be listening to something else. It damn well be better, otherwise you’re just wasting your time. Hopefully Curtis and I will collaborate on another project and submit it to next year’s Silver Wave Film Festival.

That wasn’t really other news. All in all, there were some really stellar films shown, and I’m sorry I couldn’t catch them all, but I’ll sincerely do my best to get a copy to check out from the film co-op sometime in the next few months. Congratulations to everyone involved.

Here’s some weird trivia: Last year, the two films that ended up garnering the most awards were the two I was involved directly with (sound editing for “A Lion’s Tale” and music for “Gamer’s Manifesto“). This year, again, the only two I was involved with in any capacity (Manic and Radius) also ended up getting heavily recognized. I am in no way saying that I’m the reason they cleaned up the way they did, I just seem to end up being a part of really, really excellent projects.

I certainly hope that trend continues. Man, I know some really talented people.

I guess today marks the pseudo-start of weekly meetings I’m having with a friend of mine over an upcoming project which may end up being the biggest thing I’ve worked on so far. I’ve mentioned it a bit in the past, and while I can’t say anything official about it yet, I can certainly be vague and non-descript! I think I’ll call it “Project R”

The project itself wasn’t my idea, but I wish it had been. Still, I’m the primary composer, so it does allow me a great amount of freedom and input. If Project R is my friend’s baby, then that makes me its “involved Godfather”.

We recently decided to hold weekly meetings, every Tuesday, if circumstances allow. Tonight was really productive. We hammered out and seemed to add a bit of ‘creative cement’ to the whole thing. There was one point where we were sort of both hit with the same idea, an idea that hadn’t occurred to either of us while going over this thing on our own. Very helpful to have active and involved feedback. We want to shape this into something good, something memorable. Something fantastic, hopefully.

Who knows how it’ll turn out? Certainly not me, but I do have the power to steer it here and there, and I just hope I make the right choices about it. Either way, it’ll be a HUGE learning experience. I just hope it ends up opening doors for other opportunities. While Project R won’t actually make me any money directly, who’s to say what could branch out from it? Definitely a possibility.

We’ll find out in two weeks if our work ahead will be on a paved or rocky road. It will be then when I’ll be able to take the tarp off of what we’re working on.

In other news, the yearly Silver Wave Film Festival is coming up. November 5-8th, Fredericton New Brunswick. It seems that this year will be attempting to out-do last year, just like last year did the same for 2007. I have to admit, I’m really excited for it. I was hoping that the two short films I scored would have been submitted to the panel (who generally accepts them, unless they involve questionable material, or are too long), but word from one of the directors was that he had been too involved with the organization of the film festival itself that he was unable to submit his film.

I’m not sure if he means it slipped his mind, or his involvement would prohibit it for being considered for any sort of award or recognition. I didn’t bother to clarify. It’ll be there next year. That’s cool.

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I wasn’t going to get into this, originally, but hey, it’s my site.

I hit a bit of a brick wall today, emotionally. It was one that I didn’t see coming, and even looking back, I still can’t really make it out. All of a sudden, I was overcome with a horrible feeling. I felt as though I was just wasting away, not doing what I was supposed to be doing, and others would soon pass me by, instead of walk alongside me. I felt like I was still, briefly, who I was years ago. It’s as if every bad thing I had ever done manifested itself as an emotional ball of hate that just decided to find me today, and mess me up. Well, it didn’t last too long, but it wasn’t good.

What brought me out of it was this: I’d like to think that I’m not only a different, but better person than I was just a few years ago.We all go through stupid periods in our life, times where we are nothing but emotionally and perhaps physically destructive for no good reason. To ourselves, to others, whether they deserved it or not. I made a deal with myself years ago. I said that I’d forgive myself for all of the stupid shit that I’ve done to others as long as I not only promise to change, but actually do it. And for the most part, all of that, to me, is now ancient history. Yet, every once in a while, a few thoughts will catch me, or something will remind me of how everything used to be, and I just get mad at myself all over again.

I have to remember that I’m still keeping good on my own promise.

Two tracks today, but they’re similar. The first one posted is the second one made. A bit of clipping, but this is before I knew what the hell I was doing. Oh my god, too many ideas ruined by my lack of audio training and knowledge. As always, click for descriptions.

Tourmaline (demo w/piano)

Tourmaline (Mellotron version)

I have too many, WAY too many unfinished ideas. For a while, I was happy making film music, because at least I could channel ideas into that, and work on them there, but now, now that I’m not doing that so much anymore, I have something like a waterfall inside my head that is always going strong. Worst part is, though… I don’t think my bucket is without holes.

I’ll have an idea, fall in love with it, hum it, keep it going for as long as possible…. and then drop it later. Or, I’ll start on something, and then never go back to it. I’m determined to continue work on ‘Carruthers’ (I don’t think that’ll be the final name, though) because I honestly really like the sound of it, although I’ll need better rhythm guitar, and more, different parts to the whole thing, rather than just the back-and-forth of what I have there now.

I don’t usually trust myself to come out with something good. I’ll have a quick idea, I’ll get it down, listen to it a bunch, and end up being somewhat happy with it because I’m too afraid of ruining the feeling I made it with, you know? Like, if I put too much work into it, it doesn’t feel natural, and then I don’t feel that it means anything, and then I end up feeling like I might as well write a three-and-a-half for the local radio station, singing about how “the girl, she makes me cray-zay.” No! I don’t want that! I like the “off the top of my head”-ness of it all. Carruthers took 20-30 minutes, altogether. Yes, it sounds like it did too, but I don’t mind.

I guess I should focus more on making my stuff sound more ‘organic’. Bottom line is that I should finish what I start, but keep the fire going the whole time. That’s quite the trick most of the time.