#Falling Down

Here it is. Well, actually it's been live for a couple of days now, already seen over 15 000 hits so far, which is rather splendid.

So it's a "review copy" of recently aquired "Falling Down" SNES game that's never before been seen. And yes, I pronounce SNES as "snez" too, if the Americans like to call it S-N-E-S, they can -we're both talking about the same console so stop complaining! (please)

Anyway... you can hear my lovely noises (the 8-bit sfx and music) on the video underneath the noisy dialouge. I can only presume that it was intentionally noisy in which case I'm cool with it.

So check out the video and see what you think. Pete Curran (producer/creator) has done a great job with the animation I think, works well, and he's busy getting on with a new Christmas special feature, "The Night The Reindeer Died" with the rest of the Firefly Production team. The new feature length movie, "When London Slept, It Came Alive" should be out in a couple of weeks too. So that'll be one to watch out for!

As for me, I just got back from Oxford and that's why there's a delay between this blog and the release of the Falling Down video. Nevermind. I'm sure you'll enjoy it nevertheless.

Subscribe to PulpitPower on YouTube, oh and subscribe to SneakyZebra too. That'll be one to watch out for! Good stuff.

I'll add the hyperlinks and vanish.

See.

I've gone.

Ok I'm still here. But just to say I saw Harry Potter pt1 and it was great. I liked the sense of space created in the the music and all in all great soundtrack! Also kudos to the special effects team, director, editor, producer, audio guys, maybe the cast too. Ah, you know who you are (and I also presume you're not reading this!) but well done Harry Potter film squad. (can I have a job?)

Sorry readers

But I seem to lack things to read...

I should probably explain my composition? Maybe.

Well here's something I wrote this evening:


Silver Lining by mgarthaudio

I didn't write it for any purpose other than playing about with music. I wanted to try this sax VST instrument and I thought it sounds quite nice.

So I started by making 5 drum patterns (4 are 4 bars long and 1 is just a single bar intro). Then I added the piano part, easy enough using a MIDI keyboard. Then playing around with melodies on the sax and record, delete, edit, retry, etc until I'm happy.

Eventually a piece comes together and there we go...

That wasn't much of an explanation was it?

But the thing is, I'm not writing music for any occassion, I didn't prepare any theme or feeling or mood before hand. I simply sat there are wrote whatever happens -you'll find I do that a lot, unless I get a particular request for style or have a reason for making music. Just my way of making music without any stress, but without an objective also gives way to "no direction" and poor music generally.

Anyway, I'm hoping my 8-bit music and SFX gets uploaded soon, you'll hopefully recognise the music (as it's already on SoundCloud) but it's included in a video and I think it's quite fun to watch and listen to.

I'll keep you posted when that video goes live.

Cool.

Cheerio.

Triela

Triela by mgarthaudio

Hello.

This is something I wrote, just trying out differnt features of Ableton and making music of some sort. I'd consider buying a full verson of Live if i had an income.

Nevermind.

So I've been away a couple of days... but should be back to do something interesting. Although at the moment I'm tempted to get my pneumatic stuff and LEGO Technic and make something interesting.

Anyway, I've lost my trail of thoughts and will try and pick up the trail for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Two more

So far today I've re-tweaked and composed to create these two tracks:

Turning by mgarthaudio

Driven by mgarthaudio

One made in Ableton one made in Pro Tools. I'm way more familiar with Pro Tools, and it's got a lot more useful things -in Ableton (M-Audio version) i'm limited to 6 effects and not many instruments. Saying that, I have installed some free live packs and added about 2500+ synths and stuff, far too many to know what's good or useful...

I'm just having a break, looking for jobs and listening to an audiobook (Harry Potter no.4 something about a goblet).

I'll hopefully write one more piece tonight and a couple more tomorrow. It's getting cold out isn't it!

[Edit: Here's the one I made this evening... made a few drum loops and just hit record and the whole thing is a recording of a live mixing session. Great fun, hence why it's over 6 minutes long, I could've gone on for hours. Well, a few more minutes..!]

Exploration by mgarthaudio

A short day

The day was far too short, I've not done any composition today.

Not a note.

I've also noticed my monitors have developed a wonderfully unbalanced stereo image without any notice -however turning the gain up and down soon rectifies the problem... Also the problem is very noticeable which makes it less of a problem when it comes to mixing. It's very obvious when it occurs and is quickly resolved. Still a problem I don't really want.

So guess what, new monitors are on my "to get when you finally have some spare money" list. It's not a bad thing, my current monitors don't have a great bass response or flat frequency response either -I have of course done some frequency tests on them so I know where to compensate/adjust audio when mixing.

Anyway, just me saying I've done nothing.

I'll be doing lots tomorrow though,

hopefully!

Wandering

So here's something I made this evening.

Wandering by mgarthaudio

It's not what I intended to write but that's what happened. I started my session trying to make some drum and bass, or just "energetic" music, and side tracked (possibly because of the piano) into writing that instead.

Imagine, if you will, a young person in the city for the first time, looking to make their fortunes but end up wandering, lost in the cold city streets.

No?

Well, imagine what you like then.

Midweek +1

It is Thursday, that is to say, the middle of the week (plus one day). I'm hoping to go to an auction this weekend, just to see what's there and maybe grab a bargain -I don't know what, I've not been to an auction before and wanted to try it out.

I'm not buying furniture.

Unless...

Anyway, today.

I've been working on more 8-bit music, and I'll really getting into the swing of the Korg DS-10 and it's very fun. Although mostly today I was editing/cutting up short sfx made using the DS-10 instead of making tunes.

I think my biggest problem with plug-ins and virtual instruments for DAW(s) is the complexity of them. If I'm looking for a sound I tend to go for presets and tweak them a little -but with the DS-10 I will spend a few minutes making the sound I want, without presets. This way I know more about the instrument and it's capabilities. Going for presets might be quick but you lose out getting to know, like really know, the instrument.

Such as Vacuum for Pro Tools (8). It's a really cool synthesizer and there's a lot you can do with it, but I've just gone with presets in Vacuum. I need to take a better look at the interface, and start making my own sounds. Here it is:


The video (for which the game music is being written) looks pretty cool, and that should be uploaded in a few days.

It's pretty cool.

Also the narration for "Dissolution" Half Life mod has been completed. I did it Tuesday, it's pretty cool and it's my first time as a voice actor and also first involvement I've had in a video game, although a small part. The mod comes out early next year, I'll keep you posted.

Ok, well, I think I might play about a bit more on the DS-10. Oh and the Korg M1 should be coming out next year, that looks a lot of fun too! Can't wait.

Oh and before I go, I might as well mention Pro Tools 9 is out, and I'm not excited by it. I like the idea of using any ASIO driver, making things really portable, but I want Pro Tools to actually merge with Sibelius for a really good musician/composers tool. Still, Pro Tools seems to be taking large steps in a good direction, and lots of people (especially in the AVID PT9 video!) seem to love it. So that's good.

Cheerio!

Level 2

Almost... Hope you've been checking out my SoundCloud for new tracks!

This is the latest one. I'm really enjoying working with the DS-10 as a synthesizer, I actually have the DS-10 plus, but I'm using a DS lite so I don't get the extra synths. Not to worry.


Street Dungeon by mgarthaudio

Ambience of Loneliness

Using the Korg DS-10, not for retro game music, but for something a bit different - "The Ambience of Loneliness".

An empty ambient piece, simply named "Loner". Have a listen:

Loner by mgarthaudio

That's me done for the day.

It's also in video form:



Cheerio.

Tuesday Fun

Hi,

I'm back from Oxford with a variety of things to do.

1) Narrating for a video game/mod
2) Making music for a new video
3) Compose a new Christmas carol for a local choir

Plus some other stuff, but they're the main ones.

So the narrating, I'll get that done today and I'll tell you more about it when I know more about it.

The music for a video. Ah, yes. It's a video styled with the SNES in mind, so I've got to make some lovely 8-bit music. Here's something I wrote at about half 11 last night:

Gytono by mgarthaudio

I'm not sure why I called it Gytono ("guy-toh-no") but it's a name, and it'll do.

Hope it doesn't mean anything already, that'd be odd, if Grytono meant fish-fingers or something, then the title really wouldn't suit.

[Edit: here's another]

Street Walker by mgarthaudio

I'll be working on lots of 8-bit music, and might well make it all on my DS. (Thanks to the Korg DS-10).

More to follow, probably tomorrow. Still, there's a tune for you to listen to. OK?

Stay creative!

Rock

Ok, so here's the riff at least. And an attempt at constructing a generic song pattern.

Rock by mgarthaudio


So have a listen if you like.

I simply recorded the guitar parts (verse and chorus) and went on from there. I might actually make a "middle eight" section, add more instruments and maybe make it into a song.

It was just an attempt to see if my method works, which it kind-of does. It only took about an hour from picking up my guitar this morning, recording the riffs, editing and adding drums etc then exporting the audio.

Anyway, I'm off to get some lunch or at least a cup of coffee for now.

Cheerio!

Guitar

Nothing to say...

Except yesterday I made some cinnamon cookies which are very tasty, and today I've done nothing. More or less (mostly more) nothing anyway.

I decided to pick up my guitar, put it through a Line 6 Ubermetal pedal into a Hartke bass amp. Got some meaty tones out of that!

A few chords I eventually wrote a piece of music. I just need to record it and then you can have a listen.

That is all. I'm off to eat cookies.

Mmm.