Sound artist Daito Manabe did an awesome job with this piece – both in terms of interface and performance.  But this isn’t just a great example of performance or interface design.  It’s a great example of what can happen when marketers and composers subvert the process of original music production itself – skipping the demo phase and making a true commitment to partner up and build something seamlessly tailored to communicate a specific message.

…but I know how to get it to sound like what I want and that’s all I need.  Cycling ’74 made this great analogy on their site somewhere about how synths and plug-ins and stuff were like frozen pizzas and maxMSP is a kitchen.  I love that.  It’s like building your own toolbox instead of buying a hammer.

Contrary to what posting about a synth plug-in in the previous entry may suggest, I’m a minimalist when it comes to gear.  Even the tweakiest, most left brained music is still about ideas, and I’ve always thought that having as little gear as possible is the best way to focus on those.  Finding the right balance is tough of course, and I tend to rely on hardware for a few particular oddities that can’t be reproduced quite so faithfully in software, but hopefully you know what I mean.  And so much is possible with software these days – and I’m talking way, way beyond hardware emulation and stuff like that.  I’m really interested in the systems you could spend your lifetime learning – that are only limited by your imagination.  I’ve been doing a lot more sound design lately, so I finally have a good reason to get into Kyma as well.  I’m super excited about it.  Sometimes, I wish I had the energy to get past the clean slate and just build stuff with those systems all day.  But then I probably wouldn’t write any music.

The Ace Synth from Urs Heckmann sounds good enough not only to challenge the notion of plugins versus each other, but plugins versus the real thing.  And from a nice and neat “this should only exist in software / this should only exist in hardware” classification standpoint, it’s sort of rocking my world.  Aside from that, the price is totally a no-brainer.  This has become my go-to synth for basically everything.

get it on itunes!

big thanks to Jonatan, Chad & Aaron, and Exceptional Records!!

Music is an incredibly slippery and subjective thing to try to put into words, and you never know how a piece of music is going to play until you try it. So most of the time, it’s easier to do just that.  But when do you stop?

I’d argue that the process of exploring options has mutated into a trend of throwing tracks at the wall that’s ended up hurting pretty much everyone involved.  And there was a time when every music house in the business wanted to show you why the ability to crank out options was cutting edge and innovative.

It’s all about finding the balance of quality and quantity.  And expertise is really about the event where those two adjectives become aware of each other.  Being intimately aware of that moment is the composer’s job.

More options that are presented over that tipping point are just more wrong ways to go.

This way of thinking didn’t really happen overnight.  I think it arose from a need to demonstrate enthusiasm through sheer numbers, and has ultimately resulted in a process that feels more like track selection than track creation.  It’s turned into a numbers game.  Time that used to be spent sculpting and molding is now spent sifting through endless tracks composed by anonymous, underpaid freelancers.  It’s devalued the work, the talent, and the process while further raising the expectations on quantity.

And you only need the one right track to win.

But there’s no sense in bemoaning the current state of affairs.

Mostly, I’d like to encourage composers to have confidence in their quality-showcasing abilities.  Because true professionals – no matter how many or how few tracks we deliver, should know how to nail it.  Or at the very least, use their first round of ideas to show that they can.

You can listen to & download the episode featuring ‘boy’ ‘new moon’ and ‘back on’ here.  enjoy!

from exceptionalrecords.co.uk:

ERNESTO RETURNS – NEW SINGLE + REMIX COMPETITION 

Jonatan Bäckelie aka Ernesto is a 27-year old Swedish soul singer from Gothenburg over in Sweden, who was last seen in action on exceptional with the mind-bending, jaw-dropping album “A New Blues“. You might also have heard his disarming vocal talents on rather fine records by our very own Plej and Blu Mar Ten. 

Ernesto was in town last week for a special show, complete with live band in tow. If you were there, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did ! The show included some gems from his forthcoming albumErnesto Sings, due for release on exceptional blue label later this year. Get a sneak peek at the soul-drenched first single “Bassline” right now on SoundCloud - and it’s out to download on iTunes from June 29th. 

Plus we’re pleased are excited to announce that, in celebration of the forthcoming single, we are giving all of you talented producers out there the chance to remix and rework the song. 

Ernesto himself will pick our glorious winner who will be sent an exceptional goody pack which will include a signed copy of the new Ernesto single Bassline, a goody bag of CDs from the Exceptional back catalogue, plus of course glowing respect from your peers. In addition your mix will be put up as a streamable track on the exceptional web pages with link back to your own website. What better way to show people what you can do? So… 

1. Just download the zip file from here… 
2. Get your creative juices flowing 
3. Email your finished work to info@exceptionalrecords.co.uk as a low res MP3 by 6 July, with the subject line ‘Ernesto Remix comp’. Include your name, contact number and website address (if any) 
Good luck! 

2nd place winner at cut&paste chicago in the motion graphics category.  

directed by Bradon Webb.  music & sound design by waveplant.