May
16
2013

FB – The Sabbatical

Greetings All…

Hope this post finds you well. It has been an interesting past two weeks. A few things sort of came to an apex and caused me to make a decision one evening that reflects the graphic you see above.

Lessee, it all started with some podcast commentary by a good friend Ray Garraud, who hosts “The Garraud Files Podcast”. In Episode 14, he extemporaneously spoke on his thoughts regarding social media fatigue. He made some great points which reminded me of a phone conversation a few months on how much social media is consumed by people today. It definitely got me to think, more than usual, about my own rate of daily consumption. It was, then, a week ago that I was listening to an episode of Kojo Nnamdi’s Tech Tuesday Show on WAMU.org. A good part of the 07 May episode of The Computer Guys (and Gal) talked about using and/or unplugging from FB and Twitter.

[THIS JUST IN: I just noticed yesterday's (14 May) episode entitled "Unplugged: Overcoming Our Digital Obsession" !! Maybe I should listen to that before finishing this post! How ironic, LOL]

In any event, I thought of the time spent on FB (particularly) and what is was gaining me. My FB habits have never really been like most users. I rarely page hop, keep a very low friends list count compared to many, and generally share tech posts and participate in music fan pages. What I did notice that for me, it began to become a time sink – checking posts during the day, checking messages and posts at night and (unfortunately) being exposed to others drama (very childish). As mentioned, things I wanted to accomplish (and complained I didn’t have the time for) were not moving forward as a result.

By Tuesday night, I left FB and interestingly enough, haven’t missed it at all. I’ve learned (thus far) that I wasn’t attached to it as I thought. Oddly enough, I dont think I’ll ever leave Twitter though (#earlyadopter), and ADN is my new spot, a fresh and clean community similar to Twitter, but about engagement (tech and otherwise), without the branding and ads! (free to join, by invite only (thanks again, Ray) :-) . Will I come back to FB? Maybe. It is certainly a good place to connect, but for now, I’d like to reap whatever benefits I receive from this sabbatical.

Take care….
F!

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Posted in Daily Musings, Social Networking | 3 Comments »

Apr
27
2013

Pathways to music composition (tech and otherwise) in 2013


My Lab

Just yesterday I was having a chat with another musician/producer over Gmail. We were talking about related topics regarding music production. Part of the discussion was about his loose timing of the hi-hat in hip hop to give that “bounce”, another was about using Battery 3 vs Battery 4 as a drum plugin in your DAW of choice, we switched to using Reason 7 vs Live 9 for production, yet another topic was about knowing when not to succumb to gear lust (he has a modular synth being delivered next week) and to make music with the tools (gear) you have. Yet another topic was the bass guitar track I recorded on a recent song and his enjoyment of how it sounded in the mix. The gist of all those topics made me think of a related blogpost I wrote about a year and a half ago on the subject of music composition today.

Ironically, this evening, I visited the blog of David Frank, of The System. He and Mic just released “System Overload”, all brand new tracks and a new edit of their hit “Don’t Disturb This Groove”. I, like many die hard fans of The System, was excited to see and hear them come back together to record brand new music, music which was defintely worth the wait.

Back to David’s blog. He posted (yet another) very interesting article that shares his insight on how some of the ways he composes music for The System. David is classically trained, as well as technically sharp in electronic music composition/production. If you’ve ever (especially) heard live interviews, with David, he continually talks about how his musical training and use of gear, over the years, play their distinct roles in his composition. It’s insight like this that I don’t ever recall seeing in any other similar interviews I’ve read.

I’ve had many discussions with artists/songwriters/musicians who use digital audio workstations and sample libraries to compose their music, with regards to how urban contemporary and pop music is often arranged and composed today.

  • Is there less “musicianship” due to feature laden DAWs?
  • Are arrangements of today that are getting heavy rotation just basically loops?
  • Are sample libraries solely being used over actually playing and recording actual instruments?
  • Is the music of these two genres, for example, too simplistic due to simply stringing pre-recorded tracks together?
  • Are song elements such a bridge, modulations, key changes greatly absent (as opposed to what was heard decades ago) or are songs more attibuted to just a hook for the entire tune?

    • This can be debated, most certainly. The use of DAWs today, undoubtedly, make popular music composition easier (for lack of a better phrase) because of the features built in. I personally find David’s approach not just insightful, but very interesting (but of course this is due to my own journey and level of musical training as a musician). What say you?

    ::: oceans of rhythm :::

    Fresh.

    Posted in Music Production/Studio Recording | 4 Comments »

    Apr
    15
    2013

    The Sunday Soundtrack – 14 Apr 13

    Greetings Listeners….

    Welcome to another edition of The Sunday Soundtrack. “It’s been a long time, I shouldn’t have left you…” (a little hip hop lyric reference there). It’s great to be back with another edition, albeit overdue, of the podcast. It’s about 12:37 am here in studio, but it’s done. I hope to stay on a regular (to be determined) schedule. Starting with pre-production on Monday for the following Sunday helps, doing a little everyday helps even more. The plan is to finish Saturday evening :-)

    For my new listeners, The Sunday Soundtrack podcast is geared towards giving you an alternative listening experience to the standard Sunday afternoon commercial smooth jazz formatted programs and expose you to independent artists with tunes that provide that same smoothness, but in such genres as electronica, nu jazz, downtempo, experimental, chillout, instrumental jazzy hip hop, and the like. Please feel free to take a listen and leave comments, if u like. You can also reach The Sunday Soundtrack at (301) 458-0499

    Without further delay, let’s get to the playlist.

    1. Moon Beat – LTJ X-Perience/Moon Beat
    2. Consequences (Late Night Mix) – Blank & Jones/Relax 4
    3. Gutenmirgenduft (Morning Scent) – dZihan & Kamien/Gran Riserva
    4. Subsolitude – Hypoetical/Pendulum
    5. Try Me – J Boogie’s Dubtronic Science f/Goapele & Capitol A/J Boogie’s Dubtronic Science – OM Records 2003
    6. Square Purity – The Jazzment/Beats – Old Stuff
    7. Sunbeams – Uko/Cafe Del Mar – Vol. 7

    Some special shout outs:

  • My entire podcast massive: Fave, Big La (Todd Kelley), DarrenKeith, Anji Bee, Nikki, BSOTS, DJ Diva, EJ Flavors (The Sensei), and T. Grundy (Mr Brilliant). All excellent podcasters whose episodes range from smooth jazz to soul to hip hop to R&B to chillout to funk. My hats off to all of you, thanks for the encouragement
  • All the podcast drops done by the crew above AND listeners – thank you!
  • Ray Garraud – The Garraud Files Podcast, a versatile tech enthusiast, author, blogger, podcaster, public speaker, and good friend with whom I’ve had several great conversations with on his own thoughts of mobile podcasting and the evolving tech out which allows it. Thanks for the push, Ray!
  • Calandra and Madeline for the re-encouragement
  • @DVSJr, @Upright for the re-tweets/favorites about the return!

    • I hope you’re enjoying the tracks. Please feel free to follow the The Sunday Soundtrack on Twitter

    Take care and have a great week.

    ::: oceans of rhythm :::

    Fresh!

    The Sunday Soundtrack - 14 Apr 13 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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    Posted in Indie Artists, Podcasting, Sunday Soundtrack Musings, Sunday Soundtrack Podcast | No Comments »

    Oct
    15
    2012

    Smooth Sunday – Last night’s work

    Greetings,

    In our last episode :) , I was working on rearranging and audio file our keyboardist recorded into a basic arrangement for the band to start rehearsing. The only thing in the audio file I wanted to delete was the scratch drum track he included, but since it was on contiguous file and not a set of stems, that couldn’t be done. Here’s in lies the magic of using the MIDI file he exported from his Reason 5 project. I finally got it late last night and was able to import it into Logic for greater editing. What’s great about using a MIDI file in a DAW is that your choose from a library of software instrumentsto make an entirely different sounding song. What can be bad about that flexibility is belaboring over WHICH grand piano, bass synth, string ensemble sounds best! In any event, I finally settled on some instruments that sound smooth, and was able to bounce the MIDI files to an mp3 file with no drums that the drummer can now rehearse to.

    Flexibility is good…

    Catch you later…

    ::: oceans of rhythm :::

    F!

    Posted in Logic/Logic Pro/Logic Pro 8, Music Production/Studio Recording | 2 Comments »

    Oct
    11
    2012

    Chronicles of a Mix – M&Ms (10 Oct 12)

    Greetings…

    11:46 am on a Thursday and I’m breaking for lunch a little early, but eating at my desk (have a task I’m working on with a colleague and just got the ok from our supervisor on format – of cousse the task is due early this afternoon).

    Those of you keeping up with my last few posts have followed the work I’m doing on getting this track completed for an upcoming (and long overdue) CD project. This has been after (I hate to admit) a long hiatus from working on the project, steadily that is. This brings me to the subject of M&Ms (no, not the world renowned candy): Motivations and Momentums. When it comes to reaching goals, I’m a task-driven guy that needs a plan to execute in order to even think about successfully reaching the goal(s). One of my favorite quotes is “Failing to plan means planning to fail, so plan the work, then work the plan.”. That’s all well and fine, but without the motivation and momentum behind that, it amounts to just a pretty phrase. M&Ms apply to many interests I have – achieving good financial health, achieving good physical fitness (exercise), achieving, most importantly, the proper spiritual walk with Jesus. What I’ve learned is that none of each of those can or will occur without staying motivated and keeping the momentum going – actions truly speak louder than words. Planning is great and truly a necessary foundation, but execution is key.

    So, back to the music, right now the M&Ms are there and I’m finally realizing that movements, even though they are small, are better continuously, than no movement at all. Simple concept, yeah, but it really wasnt sinking in for a longgggggggg time. Last night’s was a continuation of working on the drum track. The entire drum track arrangement is complete with final editing of the kick drum track, now it’s time to EQ the individual drum tracks to satisfaction, then play back in the mix for proper levels, before bussing them out to the submix.

    In parallel to that, I’ve just about finished editing the orchestral arrangement and have decided to substitute the legato clarinet with a full string ensemble track. I think the legato flutes will stay though. I think so more editing may have to take place to eliminate any overlapped notes, or gaps that will allow the entire orchestral arrangement to sound more realistic than it does at the moment.

    Anyway, M&M’s and music (M-cubed?). I think I may get some for the studio….(candy that is….)

    ::: oceans of rhythm :::

    Fresh!

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    Posted in Logic/Logic Pro/Logic Pro 8, Music Production/Studio Recording | 2 Comments »

    Oct
    08
    2012

    Working on a new arrangement – Smooth Sunday

    Greetings….

    It’s about 8:34 pm, beat from a long day at work. It wasn’t busy, but I was up late last night working out a tune strictly from an audio file. I’m sitting in the studio tonite, about to chart out an arrangement of a song I wrote for the band I play in, Divine Intervention. We’re a contemporary gospel instrumental jazz group in the DC area that’s been together for a little over two years. Over the last year or so, we’ve talked about putting out a CD (as many always ask about that on FB or at gigs of ours). A few months ago a tune popped in my head which I immediately recorded a rough rhythm guitar track into my iPhone as I rushed out of the door for work one day.

    After introducing it at a rehearsal, we’ve toyed with a few different ideas for arrangements, and sorta settled on one. One of the keyboardists took the hook and bridge, recorded a rough track into Reason 5 and brought to rehearsal. Nice percussive drum track, really nice bouncy synth bass, all under a string ensemble/pad voice that worked out the progressions. It’s from that mp3 that I’ve chopped up and rearranged into the main song, using Audacity, a really nice, very capable open source audio editor – a swiss army knife of sorts, if you will.

    I hope to get the MIDI file the keyboardist exported from Reason, so I can import it into Logic for great editing and recording flexibility. Next I’ll chart it, old school, on some sheet music paper, send the rearranged mp3 out to the band, and give it a go at our next rehearsal. We’re hopeful that this is one of many original tracks for the CD. Stay tuned…

    ::: oceans of rhythm :::

    Fresh! aka SixStringa

    Posted in Logic/Logic Pro/Logic Pro 8, Music Production/Studio Recording | No Comments »

    Oct
    06
    2012

    Chronicles of Mix – 06 Oct 12 ::: Drums anyone?

    Greetings. It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted from my blog. With all the social networking sites in full bloom, it seems that blogging is passe now (at least the behemoths like Facebook around). In any event, I’d like to take that realization and start to blog again, especially about the musically creative journeys I take. I’m going to attempt to regularly status what I’m doing along those journeys as way of keeping the motivation going, as well as maintaining some accountability by those who occasionally ask “When is such and such going to be released?”, “What’s going on with that track you were working on?, etc (plus I miss blogging – it’s that self publication thing I guess).

    This series will be entitled Chronicles of a Mix. Tonight, or I should say this morning, I’ve listening back to a track that my partner, Dan, and I recorded for an upcoming CD project we’ve been working on. Though the track is not mixed, I’m thoroughly happy with the arrangement, but not with the overall sound of the track, so I’ve decided to deconstruct it, starting with each element of the drum track, to make sure the drums submix is on point. There’s a certain type of signature sound I’ve always wanted for my drums, but first that comes by learning how to process your drums (EQ, compression techniques are two major aspects of that). Listening to mixes of songs you like is another common way of achieving that. I’ve been listening to a specific song on Mint Condition’s latest CD, Music At The Speed Of Life that has drum track sounding like how I’d like mine to sound overall. Onward with the learning/listening.

    It’s late….or…very early…I’m out.

    ::: oceans of rhythm :::

    F!

    Posted in Music Production/Studio Recording | No Comments »

    Apr
    25
    2012

    Incognito Interview: Bluey Maunick/Surreal – 19 April 2012

    Greeting ‘Cog fans. I’ve had the extreme pleasure of talking with Bluey about the current release Surreal, the tour so far, and especially about the band Incognito. It was truly a blast to interview the leader of my favorite band since they hit the scene. I caught up with Bluey at his home late one Thursday night and he was gracious enough to grant the interview at the time. I’d like to extend my sincere thanks for talking with me, brotha, as well as extending thanks to Donna Mercer of Elements Of Jazz for recommending that I do the interview, his beautiful wife Takami for setting it up, and Incognito’s publicist, Rob, for providing me with pre-interview material.

  • Incognito Official Website
  • Incognito Official Facebook Page
  • Incognito Official Twitter Page
  • Incognito Official YouTube Page

    • ::: oceans of rhythm :::

    Fresh!

    Bluey Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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    Posted in Indie Artists, Live Music | 5 Comments »

    Apr
    09
    2012

    Incognito f/Maysa (with The Robert Glasper Experiment) – 3 April 2012, at The Warner Theater, Washington DC

    Greetings all. I hope this post finds you well. I haven’t posted about a concert since my last one, Jeff Lorber Fusion at The Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis in March 2011. It’s been a minute since I’ve seen Incognito live. As a matter of fact, it was 10 years ago (I think) during the No Time Like The Future Tour at this same venue.

    I purchased my ticket in Dec 2011 and good seats were already going fast so I’m very glad I got seats five rows back from the stage. The crowd, always mature, is filling the theater and the time is 8:02pm. The Robert Glasper Experiment is the opening act, whose current CD. “Black Radio” is blowin’ up the jazz and R&B charts. The Robert Glasper Experiment, for this event, is Robert Glasper, keys; Mark McCollough, drums; Derek Hosge, bass; and Casey Benjamin. vocoder and sax. There’s an excellent cover story article on The Robert Glasper Trio in the April 2012 edition of Downbeat Magazine. Being a musician I’m surveying the stage equiopment…baby grand, Motif 8, and the guitarist’s dream amp, the legendary Roland JC-120, some of which may be for Incognito’s use. Robert played both the grand piano and Motif 8, utilizing its stellar Fender Rhodes patch.

    They did an excellent set from their latest CD. Every member of the group is EXTREMELY talented. Mark McCoilough substituted for Chris Dave, the drummer on the CD (some of you may remember him from Mint Condition). Derrick played a chorded and quite elegant, but soulful bass solo of the Stevie Wonder tune “Overjoyed” (I believe). Robert’s engaging of the crowd went over very well, as evidenced from the feedback from the ladies. They closed the set with their sonically awesome version of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” I am now an official Robert Glasper Experiment fan.

    I regret not going up during the intermission to get that RGE CD purchased and signed, but I stayed put and watched the stage crew get it ready for Incognito. I was five rows back front and center, as a result of purchasing these tickets four months in advance. The interesting thing is I just happened to go on Incognito’s website one night and saw announcements about the tour. They’ve been to the Capitol Jazz Fest since I last saw them in 2002, but as popular as the CJF is, I’m not really a fan of seeing music on the lawn or picnic area because I prefer the comfort of a theater type setting (you know I view the performance from more than an entertainment aspect :-) ) Deborah Bond, DC area vocalist (and a very good one at that) was the emcee for the event. She really engaged well with the audience and I would encourage you to check out not just her latest CD but the ones prior.

    The stage crew continued getting things ready for the main act. I spied Matt Cooper’s keyboard rig, two red Nord Stages and a Roland JP 8000. I noted Bluey’s guitar rig included what looked like a white Strat (just iile mine…ha) and I knew he’d would be playing his Atelier Z (a version of Fender’s famous Telecaster) which he says is… ““Simply the best guitar I have ever played!” . I can’t speak to the drum and percussion gear, nor the horns that the excellent brass section used, but it was very nice to see that Francis Hylton held down the bass duties, using that classic blue Fender Jazz 5 string bass he’s often seen with.

    ‘Cog played The Ram’s Head Tavern, in Annapolis MD, the night before. The Ram’s Head is an intimate jazz club that serves dinner and is obviously a much smaller venue. The audience, for all intents and purposes, is up close to the artist, but the sound system is excellent from ever seat in the house. Seeing many concerts at The Warner in the past assured me that the sound would be on point for tonight’s concert. As the stage crew appeared to be thinning and people started to return to their seats, Deborah Bond assumed her emcee duties and the excitement began to mount.

    Incognito came to the stage and the electricity surely got kicked up a few notches. They wasted no time in getting musically busy! Interestingly enough after the second tune, they DID experience minor sound issues with the Mo Brandis’ vocal monitor and Matt’s keys…to the point where Bluey litterally made an announcement to that effect. Fortunately, from my vantage point anyway, those issues really weren’t noticeable That being said, here is the set list:


    1. Roots f/Vanessa Haynes
    2. As (Steve Wonder) f/Mo Brandis
    3. Can’t Get You Out Of My Head f/Natalie Sullivan
    4. Step into my life f/Maysa
    5. Change f/Maysa
    6. Colibri f/Maysa
    7. Goodbye to Yesterday f/Mo Brandis
    8. Above The Night f/Natalie Sullivan
    9. Ain’t It Time f/Vanessa Haynes
    10. The Leds You Know f/Maysa
    11. Still a Friend of Mine f/Maysa and Mo
    12. Blueys Story
    13. Expresso Maduwria f/the band
    14. Percussion explosion f/Francisco and Joao
    15. Everyday f/Vanessa
    16. Deep Waters f/Maysa (with Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” interlude)

    Every track above was on fire, even in the smoothest sense. Two of the highlights of the concert was a percussion and drum breakdown which brought the crowd to it’s feet. The other was one of Bluey’s famous stories on how he got into music at the early age of five, knowing then he wanted to form a band and tour the world…a dream he is constantly living.

    Cog closed the concert with one of their flagship songs, Deep Waters featuring the diva Maysa. She paid tribute to Whitney Houston by inserting a very nice rendition of “I Will Always Love You”, intricately woven into Deep Waters….excellent.

    After introducing the band, with members ranging from Ireland to Trinidad to Swaziland to Jamaica to England to Brazil, I’ve dubbed Incognito as “The International Groove Alliance”. Bluey always articulates and leaves the audience with messages of pure positivity, global positivity that is much needed in this day and age. This concert was well worth the wait.

    Incognito Official Website
    The Robert Glasper Experiment Official Website

    Oceans of rhythm….

    peace…
    Fresh!

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    Posted in Live Music | 2 Comments »

    Feb
    27
    2012

    Dad and Mike’s Rocket Launch Adventures- Post 1: Launch Site Surveys

    Greetings readers:

    Hope all is well with you. I’m home sick with a 24 hour bug that somehow morphed into 48 hours, so I have a bit of free time to post a blog. Some of you might have seen some Twitter or FB posts about my son and I taking up the hobby of model rocketry. Since I started my career as a system engineer on a Navy Space program, I’ve had the privilege and joy of viewing real satellite launches from Kennedy Space Center. Needless to say, this is and will be a lot of fun. The excitement has been heightened not only by viewing model rocket launches on YouTube but finding out how old this hobby is, as well as knowing that my son can earn some Scout badges in the process.

    We purchased our first set of pre-built rockets from the local hobby store a few weeks ago. They’re made by Estes, a long time manufacturer of model rockets. As beginners, I opted for the pre-built kind to get us started quicker, though the salesman at the hobby shop was well versed in the ready made versus need-to-assemble kits. We opted on the Rascal and HiJinks rockets:

    As said above, these are low power rockets so there’s no special permission needed by the local authorities to launch them. The general rule is to find a wide open space not near any roads and to launch on a day when the wind is as minimal as possible. That being said, even before building, we’ve been keeping an eye on the launch conditions.
    This past weekend, we set out around 8:30am to survey some launch sites around the area. Even before setting out, my son already had a good choice in mind, so we drove out to inspect it. Sure enough, it was right next to the basketball courts we frequent. This seems like a good spot, but I’m taking into consideration the altitude as well. How it will affect the performance of the launch, I’m not entirely sure, but I thought I read something about that somewhere. Here’s the Google Earth satellite view (we are, of course, standing where the blue dot is):
    . We definitely want to have great deal of room to compensate for wind drift after the parachute deploys. Getting the rocket stuck in a tall tree would not be a good way to end the launch, LOL. I’ve seen videos of that happening as well as rockets hitting nearby cars, etc. We plan on filming the entire launch (launch prep, ignition, ascent, trajectory, parachute deployment, and touchdown). How we’ll do that will be explained in a future post (I just order something off eBay that will make this pretty simple to do).

    We took off to the second area I thought might work, but we found out that it wasn’t as big as I anticipated. Here’s a little video footage of us exiting that site:

    I remembered another site (actually my wife reminded of) to check out, so off we went. This one will work equally as well, so we pulled up and got another satellite view, showing us the altitude and geolocation (lat/long) of this site:

    Looks like both sites will work equally well, so the next thing to do is set aside a Saturday to get these rockets built. Stay tuned for the next post.

    Ad Astra,
    Fresh!

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    Posted in Model Rocketry | No Comments »

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