I named it Oblivion mainly because if you put anything inside it, thats where it goes. It has just yet again made for me a very well done inedible charcoal-like meal. Thank you Spectra for creating the most unreliable oven timer in the world.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Heres something I'm looking forward to
A post I ripped off MATRIXSYNTH's blog. I present to you, the first ever human synthesizer by our dear friend Calvin Harris!
This guy is more creative than I thought he was. Also, check out the making of video.
YouTube via icreateddisco "Calvin performs a version of his new single Ready For The Weekend on a unique human synthesiser. The instrument employs 15 bikini clad models painted with Bare Conductive, a new skin safe ink which conducts electricity. When the performers touch the connection completes a circuit, triggering a sound.
The instrument consists of 34 pads on the floor which have been painted with the conductive ink and connected to a computer via some clever custom electronics. The performers stand on the pads, and touch hands to complete a circuit and trigger a sound. Different combinations of pads trigger the different sounds needed to play the track.
The project is the result of a collaboration between Calvin Harris and masters students from the Royal College of Art's Industrial Design Engineering programme.
Bare Conductive was developed by RCA students Bibi Nelson, Becky Pilditch, Isabel Lizardi and Matt Johnson. The custom electronics and software for the project were created by Matt Johnson, employing two Arduinos and the graphical audio programming tool Max MSP. The performers, floor pads, Arduinos and Max MSP combine to create a giant MIDI controller which is used to create music which is sequenced and quantized with Ableton Live.
Special thanks to: RCA / Bare Conductive - Bibi Nelson, Becky Pilditch, Isabel Lizardi, Matt Johnson - http://www.bareconductive.com
Jerwood Space - http://www.jerwoodspace.co.uk
Join Calvin's mailing list at http://www.calvinharris.co.uk?ref=yths
Reappointment
About a month back I attended a Coldplay concert in the Cynthia woods Mitchell pavilion and I must say, it was a very satisfying show. Ill give most of the credit of my satisfaction to Chris Martin. His stage presence is stunning! Though the bands music is pretty mellow mostly, The show was a still very exhilarating with Chris jumping and rolling all around the stage and all the stage props set up pretty creatively. However as I watched the show I couldn't help but get a little disappointed that there was less showing off of the actual synths used in the records. Every Sound was played by either Chris Martin or Johnny Buckland on two small keyboards which have a fabulous paint job by the way but I would have liked to see more synth out on the stage. Well there were some techies playing some stuff backstage as well but what good is that if they are not part of the show? However when I had gone to see their show I didn't know much about their live setup. Too bad. But after learning more about what they are actually using a little more I gained some respect back for the group. Don't worry I never actually disrespected them, they are sheer talent in its rawest form. I came across this video on Keyboard Magazine.com that was showing off the "rig". Have a look.See what I mean about the beautifully painted keyboards? They are gorgeous! Now I just want to find out what they are. I feel so ashamed of myself not being able to recognize them. Oh well.
Coldplay is probably one of the few pop bands I listen to. I have gotten better though. I used to NEVER listen to pop. It would bore me to death. But I've taken a liking now to Coldplay and some other good bands in my opinion. Killers, Maroon 5, MGMT, etc. One day I decided I should listen to music that the majority of the world listens to so popped in a Killers album and rather enjoyed it to say the least. If you ARE wondering what kind of music I do prefer to listen to I'll tell you. Progressive rock is at the top of the list, hands-down, as my all-time favorite genre. I usually go on musical excursions to seek out new artists of the genre that appeal to my liking. Its difficult because there are so many prog bands that have really great musicians and band members but then you hear the vocalist and think "man, thats the best these guys could get?" They can at least hire somebody to sing well. I'm not going to say any names just because I don't want to piss anybody off but chances are, if I have realized it, hopefully so have you. But thankfully there can't be a bad without a good. Usually I feel very relieved when I hear a prog album with good vocals. I had come across an album like this last year called Demians. If you have not heard of Nicholas Chapel before well then your in for quite a treat. He's an enormous shining orb of talent considering he recorded and produced his whole debut album Building an empire alone by himself. I think he may be another one of my idols in todays music world. Seriously, he is a must listen.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
5 out of 24...
Hours of a usual day are spent in the studio which also happens to be my room that I sleep in and do other activities in such as studying, aerobics, and watching my favorite TV shows. I am also writing on this blog in that very same room so it gets its fair share of attention from me. The studio is small so it takes up only about 1/6th of the room. Leaving 1/4th of the room for the bed and the rest for an idle drum kit and walking space. My dream is to one day expand the size of my studio so that I can actually have a whole room dedicated to it. But for now this is working just fine. I want the next addition to the studio to be a V-synth GT! Which I almost got for 1k earlier in the year, it would have been a great and well appreciated bargain. But NOT having the V-synth isn't putting a damper on songwriting or recording besides quality, it is however making me very very jealous of keyboardist's that own them. Such as Jem (Jeremy) Godfrey and Jordan Rudess. I mention them because, in my opinion, they have been making the most out of the instrument as well as doing it in really creative fashion. But enough about toys on my wishlist and trinkets that I did not receive in my stockings this year, I have decided to post some pictures of my small but humble studio so you, whoever is reading this, can get an idea of where I spend most of my time during the day. This is how it usually looks:
Except, sometimes it looks like this:
And in the dark:
Beautiful. One of my favorite things about most synths is how cool they look in the dark. You know what I'm talking about right? All those glowing buttons and screens. Its so cool! The Minimoog Voyager easily gets first prize for that one. Unfortunately in the picture above it came out kind of blurry because I took the photo without a tripod. And since the shutter speed is slower in the dark I had to hold the camera perfectly still until it finally processed the picture. Finally I just settled with this one. Now imagine all that, but with a 61 key titan of electronic power V-synth GT next to it! Yeah, thats what I'm going for.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Nearly there
This summer I have been working and perfecting one of Beethoven's grand piano sonatas, Pathétique. And now I am quite pleased to say that I'm almost finished with it. 1st movements a killer (as always). Though I was instructed to work backwards through the three movements because the 1st movement is by far the hardest of the three. I don't really care for the third movement much, too many arpeggios and broken chords accompanying a fun but not so memorable melody. If you ask me the two predecessors of the third movement are far more artistic and enjoyable. Its almost as if the man got lazy at the end and decided not to put forth as much effort to make it as over the top as the other two. I guess the point I am trying to make is that it is a very anticlimactic ending to the piece as a whole in my personal opinion. Its better than nothing though so that at least satisfies me a little. Well its about to become another piece well learned for now on my repertoire anyway so why not enjoy it.
Right, enough talk of classical works of the late 17th century. I can only do it for so long anyway.
Just in, Jordan Rudess has invented an iphone/ipod touch application? The app is called JR Hexatone Pro and from the reviews it seems pretty swell of an audio application. Bravo Mr. Rudess for inventing, now, even an iphone app. I'm not even surprised anymore. What is there that this man hasn't done yet? It seems every time there is some new midi instrument or even some anolog synths released the guy has already had it for about a month and has his video review on Sonic State. Sometimes they aren't even midi or synth related, like the time he was a master Harpejji player when he had just received the instrument a month in advance. In fact I had read about the Harpejji on his community forum. The man is unbelievable...in a good way. He is one of my idols in today's music world and deserves every bit of praise he gets. I even got to play on the same Korg OASYS played by the wizard himself while visiting a Sam Ash store in Chicago. It was autographed and even had a little portrait of him sitting above the keyboard. I guess he likes to mark his territory everywhere he goes. Digital proof of the moment:
I heard from the man at the register that he even gave the employees there a complimentary DVD of himself! What a nice man. Mr. JR, your my hero.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
First things first...
For my last month with my maiden beauté, my Fantom, I will try to finish up as much as I can of what I started with her, because I can work on my Logic 8 projects anytime during the year. Of course, I will miss her when I return to the Academy.
So first things first. I am going to post a couple of clips from tracks I have been working on so you (whoever is reading this blog) can know what kind of music I write. So without further ado, here is a short compilation of some still in progress works of mine. Enjoy!
All of the tracks heard were recorded with Logic 8. Most of the instruments are from from there as well. Though there's a couple tracks where you can hear the sweet voice of my maiden beauté. Also, If your interested in hearing some already finished projects of mine I have created a myspace account for a couple of them and more coming soon so stay tuned.
The start of something beautiful
-Josh
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