my friends' blogs
- niteshift — Unplug the Plugins !
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Well, what a harrowing week it's been. Having the time to sit down and actually get it all togther and create something has got to be a gift at the best of times. A month just to write, a collection of internet collaboraters to help speed the process along, and long days dfirting off into the creative ether. Nothing could be better right ?
Now, nothing at all is suppossed to go to plan, and with no agenda, the pressure should be off, to just go with the flow and let the mind have a mental splurge. That is, until internet collaborater No1 comes up with some lyrics, a great tune, and a great voice to sing the tune, to a musical piece first visited a couple of months previous.
So, it's into the dark recesses of the computer, to pull up the track, and see how it sounds with a new melody line. Sounds great, and everything is flowing along well. So, it's a quick mixdown, and onto the internet for peer review.
First comment : "There is something very wrong sonically like the music is playing from a separate source than the vocals. I have never heard you have this sound before, is something off on the set up?
Second comment : " ...but the vox sound like they are recorded in a room quite different than where the music is taking place "
Third comment : ".....had the same sense of something off, so I'll look forward to the next one? "
And so they went on . OK, check and recheck, and yep, there is a phasing issue, and yep, those vocals are sounding really different to the backing track, so what's the problem ? The problem was, that the backing tracks were recorded months ago, built up one by one, with various effects being added to the tracks. Sometimes 2 or 3 units per track, as it was a bit thin at the time and needed some "oomph" After adding a total of thirty five tracks, each with it's own clutter of little gizmos to make it sound "better" the whole thing ends up a sonic cosmic slop, spinning around in the phones like a demented cat in a clothes drier.
Only solution. Back to basics. Back to square one. Back to kindy school and back to the simplicity of the sandpit. Like a child scribbling with crayons, the plugins are unceremoniously detatched and thrown out the virtual window hopefully to be shattered on the ground into a million little bits never to return. Replaced with just an EQ, a bit of reverb, a smidgeon of compression, and a big dash of ears, all is well in sonic land.
We live, we learn, and try to remember that "better" does not always mean "burden me down with gadgets" So the next time you consider brewing up a batch of sonic soup, just remember....... unplug the plugins.
cheers, niteshift
read more... - Richard Thomas — 4 new (old) songs!
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- Hi friends, I've recently added four new songs to my page, relatively old for me but new for this site: Two more or less spontaneous instrumental improvisations (category: humor) and two songs, 'Bushmensong' and 'Mystery to Me'. The latter being based on an improvisation of words, guitar and Groove Agent. The lyrics seemed meaningless at first but in retrospect they reveal some meaning, at least to me. Song art will follow… I hope you like them. read more...
- Lo Kivikas — Interview with Lo Kivikas!
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SR International Radio will broadcast an exclusive interview with Lo Kivikas on Saturday, 25 of October, 22.00. You can find the station at 89.6 on the FM dial.
read more... - Morten Jernberg — New Mac Book and Mac Book Pro - gimme, gimme...
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- At last! Check out the new Mac Book and Mac Book Pro´s here. read more...
- My Mi7 Collabs — DreamsAreBuriedHere, Now On Sale!!!
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- Not only was I proud to take part in this wonderful project, I'm as joyful to announce that it is now available as a music download—Nice! Well done, Jef, Achim & Artie. read more...
- Mindmovie — New song added: Theme for An Imaginary Mindmovie
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- This will be the opening title of my upcoming first solo album. If you find some time please take a listen and if you want to feel free to leave me a comment. Audio quality is below my normal standard as the song is 8 minutes long I had to go down with the bitrate to 160kb. Anyway I hope you may enjoy. read more...
- My Mi7 Collabs — DREAM9 (I'LL BE WHO I WANNA BE)
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- Escaping the land of the dream stealer. Fleeing for my sanity. I'll be at home with the real dealer. I am who I wanna be. Fleeing the dream stealer; I'll be who I wanna be. I'm getting out of Dodge. Small minds don't dare to dream, because in reaching for the stars they are made aware of how far it is to fall, so they dont try. I say dream big dreams, people, and fear not the fall, nor heed the fool who laughs at those who do. The fool is only jealous, for in laughing loudest he hopes that others wont notice he has no dreams of his own. Nor the courage to pursue any. Fantasy, I'll make you my reality; I'll be who I wanna be read more...
- My Mi7 Collabs — (I CAN"T BE SURE, BUT I THINK) I LOVE YOU.
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- All right Boys & Girls, I know what you’re thinking ... yes, I do. That I only do collabs with the Man/The Legend known as Mr. M. Right? Tho’ it may appear so, it’s not entirely true. Anyway, a few nights ago, I was communing with the delectable Mrs. Q; having a high old time, as is our want. “So ‘oos this Mindmovie, geezer, then? Says she. “My dear, please ... Mr. Mindmovie, to you.” “Got any ‘uver music by ‘im, then? ‘Ee’s pretty fab, in’t he?” “I should say his music is very wonderful, my dear. Now, would you pass the bottle of Epernay, that you’ve been hogging all night.” So, with a glass of bubbly in hand, I scoured the computer for more Mindmovie collaborations ... and up came this lil gem that had been hiding for a while. No sooner were the first 8 bars of the track filling the air ... well, Mrs. Q became envigorated—transported into another dimension. She was girating like a cat on heat; sexy dancing up close, next to me, glass of champers firmly clasped in one hand and me in the other. “Mr. Q, is this you singing? You are sexy, Mr Q. I like this song. This is groovy,” says she, “so groovy, in fact, I’m going to send it to my Dad ...” (???) The Story Continues ... read more...
- Mindmovie — New Song added - Moonmaiden
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- A rough mix of one of the songs which will be on Mindmovie's first solo record - your feedback is most welcome read more...
- mullion — I'm comming down from the mountains, and this is how it sounds.
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It's much too quiet here these days, so I've uploaded a new track and hope you will follow.
read more... - mullion — Release concert in Oslo
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The very talented artist Paulin Skoglund Voss with band are giving a concert in connection with the release of her album Dragonflies & Hummingbirds"
Time and place: September, 12 2008 at Herr Nilsen, Oslo
Please check her out on Myspace:
<u>http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=86653691</u>
read more... - Geomatic — Get Geomatic "Blue Beam" for FREE!
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We just started selling our music on AmieStreet.com, and to kick things off they are giving our fans $5.00 to download our music as well as all music in the entire AmieStreet.com store.
All you have to do is click on the link below to get $5.00 to download our music or songs from tens of thousands of other great independent artists. Just click here:http://amiestreet.com/_l/tunecore
Thank you,
g.
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- Mindmovie — New Song added - House Of Love
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Although This side is now soooo painfully slow that it is no longer a real funny thing to upload something - here is a new song. Welcome to any visitor who wants to leave a comment about the music. This title features Sara England on vocals - she as well as myself have discovered what it means when you a re trying to build a "house of love" with the wrong person. That's what this song is about.
read more... - Morten Jernberg — Yearbookyourself.com - check it out!
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Ever wonder what you might have looked like if you time-warped back in time? Check out http://www.yearbookyourself.com/
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- Geomatic — New track "Sacrifice" is uploaded!
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New track "Sacrifice" is uploaded
All comments are welcome!
Thank You!
read more... - Mindmovie — Planet Passion IV
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- A collaboration with Andres Rexach a guitar magician from Spain. Check his profile on myspace this man is a guitar and sitar monster. read more...
- OmarHash — "Between You & Me" sneak-peak track
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- http://www.cavecybernation.com/popsmash/content/omarhashpages/ click the first track in the playlist. read more...
- Morten Jernberg — Øya festival and the end of another vacation
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I can`t remember the last time summer in Norway meant sun, nice weather, and bucket-loads of it in the summer month of July. Went to the yearly Oslo music festival called Øya Festivalen yesterday, and saw a cool new band worth checking out if you`re into "americana"-type of music. Check out american band Okkervil River.
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- Tom Pedroli — Benjamin
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Today at 12.00 hrs my (our) son was born. We named him Benjamin. The Clair the Lune remix was specially written for this child (as a modern lullaby).
All is well and we are all very happy. read more... - Simon — Moving on with Trains!
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Hi there!
As you know, I enjoy composing for my “Quest of the Heroes”-project immensely, but lately I’ve tried to compose pieces not connected to a specific story. Its absolutely great to compose more “freely” and let the music lead the way in different directions. Due to my lack of patience, I improvise a lot to get the pieces finished. I rush through my compositions leaving them with apparent flaws... But, I’m still fond of them and I will probably revisit and rework them some day!
And now, I've uploaded a new song again, made with no restrictions of a story but with inspiration from… …trains.
So this time, its a piece about trains. Trains? Why? Well... Why not!
As a kid I was fascinated by trains (along with Star Wars and dinosaurs, of course). I played with them, and I read about them. Now, thirty or so years later, I finally have the possibility to make music. So why not make a piece for trains? So this is my homeage to all the trains in the world!
I've got tons of ideas and I'm thinking about, someday in the future, expand the music into a longer and more worked-through piece, a kind of "Train Symphony". So this is a kind of a little test, like a demo for more music to see if the music holds up. Most parts are improvised but I'm really fond of the piece, especially the "happy moment" beginning at about 2:47 and when the main hammering motif returns at about 4:06. I think my arrangements improves as I keep on composing, learning more and more about my humble equipment (no, I don't even use midi yet), trying to get the most out of it. I've learned more how to cut pieces together in Cubase, to edit, fade in, fade out, cut, paste... And by putting small pieces together into a longer piece my computer holds up a lot better and I can use more sounds and instruments in my music.
I had such fun doing this piece anyway, the music coming straight from my heart. At first I thought about using military march drums, clashing cymbals and metallic sounds but I didn't find any good of these sounds in my keyboard, so I used hammering piano and a lot of pounding drums instead to drive the piece forward. And I'm quite happy how that turned out, the main "hammering" motif is distinctly "trainy" and instantly recognized. Like trains could go on forever, I could do variations on this "train music" forever. The piece uploaded is finished with a little coda, just for fun.
By the way, the "Nightmare Suite" is thrown out in favor of the trains, but can still be heard at www.myspace.con/quest oftheheroes
Regards
/Simon
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