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Jan
19
2010
19
2010
Fast Pace :: Free Music Podcast
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Adding to the electronic styles for this month, this one was inspired by the fast pace work environment I’ve been experiencing lately. I used my Alesis Q6.1 for all the sounds and mixed it down with the Fostex recorder. This will be the first of many more mixes to come since recording is coming a little easier these days. Enjoy.
Jan
12
2010
12
2010
95to695 :: Free Music Podcast
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Continuing our exploration of electronic music this week, check out 95to695. This is my musical equivalent to my often crazy drive home from work, including the junction from I-95 to I-695 during evening rush hour.
Jan
05
2010
05
2010
House Mix :: Free Music Podcast
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This week’s post is a short deep house mix featuring some classic house tracks from the early 2000s mixed by Matt Cain. Using a pair of Technics 1200’s and a Numark mixer, Matt recorded directly into Audacity as he performed the live mix.
Dec
29
2009
29
2009
7inchXMAS :: Free Music Podcast
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This week’s post is a Christmas mix coming from Tony Biedenkapp. Some time ago he used all the 7″ vinyl that he’d collected over the years and sliced and diced them up using 3 Technic 1200’s, a DJM 600 mixer and sampler.
Happy holidays to all, even if it’s a tad late.
Dec
22
2009
22
2009
Strip :: Free Music Podcast
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Matt Cain lent me a little midi controller device he has called a “Trigger Finger” the other day by M-Audio. Last week I was able to set up the device to work on my Macbook Pro through Garageband to trigger various sounds and effects, much like a percussive keyboard would and put together this song, Strip, with my first experiences with the device. Likely you’ll hear more from the Trigger Finger in the coming weeks as I play around with the device more and learn more about how to do things with it.
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Dec
15
2009
15
2009
My New Story :: Free Music Podcast
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Several weeks ago, my friend asked if we could work on a song for an ad campaign he was working on. The campaign was for the rebranding of a special education school and they were looking for a catchy children’s song for the campaign. We were provided with the lyrics and an example of what they came up with already for the campaign so we went to work the following weekend putting together the song in our own way.
My New Story is the result of the weekend.
Neil came up with the bass line to start us off and we did a series of layers to record the piece in a similar manner to studio style recording. Amber Scott did some guest vocals with us on the song as well.
Dec
08
2009
08
2009
Notes :: Free Music Podcast
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Notes is a spoken word piece, speaking to those that forget the importance of music. As I’ve grown older, I’ve noticed people around me pay less and less attention to music in their lives; the passion for art and music dissipates over the years. When I was younger and I’d play a song I’d worked on for someone, they’d really pay attention to it. They’d find parts that they liked or disliked and give me real feedback on it. However, now, many times when I play something for someone, I can tell the passion for it is gone. They tell me “sounds good” or “I like it”, but I can tell they barely even registered listening to it.
So Notes is a piece that specifically speaks to these people who have forgotten what soul is. They spend so much time planning their lives that they forget about the things they enjoy about living in the first place.
As to the lack of music in Notes, I thought it was interestingly ironic to speak prose about those that forget the value of music without the accompaniment of music at all.
Dec
01
2009
01
2009
The Owl :: Free Music Podcast
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Here’s one I did a while back, probably in ‘06 or ‘07 with my Alesis and the new expansion back I bought for it. It was a hip-hop expansion pack that had some cool beats, plus I could play bass and the synth live, all at the same time.
Nov
24
2009
24
2009
Inarticulate :: Free Music Podcast
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Inarticulate started with some ideas Neil put together and then Jeremy and I followed on by layering on top of his original mix. Lyrically, the song speaks to ideas brought up by Sonja Sohn at the most recent TEDx MidAtlantic. When I attended the event, Sonja’s final spoken word piece struck me particularly and stuck with me.
Her project, Rewired for Change, is a non-profit group attempting to help deter violent behavior in Baltimore by stepping in and helping people find ways to help understand and cope with the stress in their lives. In her speech, she specifically mentions poetry as a means of expression for these young people to help them understand themselves and their surroundings, which is something I often think of whenever I’m writing my own works.
In my eyes, violence is born of emotional misunderstanding. Those who go through difficult or disturbing experiences may have difficulty understanding the impact of these experiences. This internal misunderstanding can manifest itself in a multitude of ways, including violent behavior or depression. However, I feel that finding a way to express this internal conflict in poetry, music, visual art or other avenues of expression can help bring to light these concerns and help those experiencing pain to cope with it.
This is the core of what Inarticulate speaks to lyrically. Many people in crushing circumstances often feel that they can do nothing to compete with their environment. They don’t know how to see that there are ways out of pain or depression and into more positive circumstances. Inarticulate speaks to this and notes how something as simple as writing down your thoughts can help break you free of these constraints or at least understand them in a way that helps to reduce of the stress of them.