Plug a keyboard into a computer, press a key, and a piano sound comes out. It’s natural to assume the keyboard sent that sound down the cable. It didn’t. The cable carried no sound at all. That’s the part of MIDI that confuses almost everyone, and once you see it, the rest falls into place. Read More …
Tag: 1bb
Transients & Punch Notes
Core idea Loudness, brightness, and transients are three descriptions of the same moment, not separate levers Sharp transients need high frequency content, lows are too slow to build a fast edge 50Hz wave takes 20ms per cycle, a snare snap happens in 2 to 3ms Low end still carries impact (chest feel), but the “snap” Read More …
Portfolio :: Jack Missed His Flight
This was the first full piece I’ve scored since splitting my processing workload across two machines. Something felt slightly off in the timing when I reassembled the pieces. Might just be me, might not. Let me know if you see/hear it too. Aside from that, this one was a lot of fun. I’ve been digging Read More …
Music will be safe for now
This is not going to be a traditional book report. In that sense I will go over the book a little bit, and maybe why you should read it, but instead, and surprisingly, this book reaffirmed my belief that in the long run, human made music will still be around for thousands of years, and Read More …
Portfolio :: Cyberpunk Demo
Channeling Vangelis for a Blade Runner-Inspired Soundtrack Building my film score demo reel; one genre at a time. This one’s cyberpunk. When I first opened this project, it was labeled “Cyberhuman.” One word, and I was instantly in Blade Runner territory. That means only one thing: Vangelis. Lush analog synths, that slow cinematic wash of Read More …
Book Report :: Insights into Film Scoring and Digital Audio Workstations Introduction
This book serves as an excellent foundational introduction for anyone new to digital audio workstations, particularly those working with Logic Pro. While the hands-on instructions rely heavily on Logic and Apple-specific shortcuts or system behavior. This means Windows or Linux users will need to translate or bypass certain technical sections, the underlying principles of film Read More …
Portfolio :: Western Wasteland
A foray into a wasteland of sound and space, somewhere between Ludwig Göransson and Ennio Morricone. Göransson has scored many of Ryan Coogler’s films, Tenet and Odyssey for Christopher Nolan, and all the Mandalorian we’ve seen on TV and the big screen. Morricone needs less introduction — most Americans know him from the spaghetti westerns, especially Read More …
Video Monday :: How to Collect International Royalties
SoundExchange is the largest global neighboring rights organization, with agreements covering 87% of the neighboring rights market outside the US. These agreements allow us to collect and pay artist/rights owner royalties when their music is played in countries around the world. To take advantage of this service, you must be a SoundExchange member and complete Read More …
The Instrumentalist vs. The Musician Mindset
The trap References are meant to guide, not dictate Easy to slip from “informed by reference” to “forcing mix to match reference” Two mindsets Instrumentalist: only hears own part, copies reference note for note, ignores that arrangement/tracking/instrumentation differ, boosts highs just because reference curve is bright, ends up harsh/brittle Musician: hears whole piece, knows where Read More …
The Week I Switched DAWs
I had a few short pieces finished. I was into a fourth: “Haunted House”, and the music was already set in my head. The hard part was never going to be the writing or figuring out the melodies, chords, whatever. The hard part was getting a video file into Ableton without it choking. I spent Read More …