Product Review – Roland Super JV-1080

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Fresh

Yep, you read right. Roland Super JV-1080, from 1994. I just got it last week and love it. Why, you ask? (I thought you would).

Ok, I, like many, started out using outboard gear (keyboard and rack mounted synths) to compose music. Synth manufacturers always set out to provide better emulations of instruments such as electric guitars, basses, orchestral instruments, drum kits, etc. As the technology advanced, so did these emulations. Enter today’s use of digital audio workstations, 24-bit, 48-bit sampling resolutions, greater modeling, and faster computing power and you have software synths and samples that sound pristine and unmistakably realistic in quality. I use one of the big seven DAWs, Logic Studio, and like all seven (with the exception of Reaper, I think), Logic employs the latest in sampling technology, synthesis, modeling, etc. That being the case, why would any musician with access to today’s DAWs, choose older technology for composing?

While I won’t repeat personal reasoning I’ve stated in previous posts, suffice it to say that…I just like the sounds of this particular rack mount synths and the expandabilty it offers. For 1994 technology the orchestral (primarily string ensembles) are fantastic. Roland has always been known for their superb emulations for just about any sound they chose to craft. I’m particularly fond of the factory presets in Bank C. There are some really nice pads and string ensembles that breath inspiration as soon as I hear them, especially for doing chillout and downtempo tracks.

Another reason for choosing this particular synth module is that the presets are good enough (to me) to use right off the bat. I’ve done some synth programming over the years on two different Yamaha units, but never took the time to get into it. Frankly, with the graphical interface in DAWs, I’d sooner take that easy route then to fiddle around trying to use an editor to save the new patches, or worse yet, program from a little LED or LCD screen. The presets are easy to get around, via manually or by sending MIDI messages from your controller to change patches.

What really made me pick this module was a YouTube video of a piece for a film score that was done with the JV’s Orchestral I expansion card. If I closed my eyes, I’d be convinced it was an orchestra and not a synth. Add that to the fact it was done on 1994 technology, and I was pretty much blown away.

I decided to hop on eBay and get the Orchestral I card as my second expansion card.

(the previous owner sent the House expansion card already installed)

I found the entire list of the 20 or so expansion boards cards Roland developed for use here and listened to contents of each one here here . The sounds are REALLY good. There are some, mainly the brass ensembles, that sound (even in their expertly recorded sample demos) as if they are being played by a keyboard, but 17 year old technology, Roland really did a great job.

I’m looking forward to composing some tunes for a future release using the JV-1080, and will probably move it from the rack in Studio B to the main rack in studio A, since there is Logic Studio environment created for it. In the meantime, I’ll be having fun learning/using it as well as satisfying my desires for buttons, knobs and LED displays when making music… LOL.

::: oceans of rhythm :::

Fresh!

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“Left Coast Flow” (Thai-Roc Instrumental Mix) Pt. 1

Posted on February 27, 2011 by Fresh

Ok.. hope everyone’s well. Some of you may remember seeing some posts about a P5 Audio West Coast Detox beat contest I entered last month. I follow them on Twitter and check out the free samples they always post for their contests. While I’d download some packs along the way, I happened to like this particular one, and thought I’d give it a shot. For those who haven’t heard, my entry is here.

Fast forward. Another Soundcloud member, Thai-Roc is definitely feelin’ it and has asked for a longer version….has some MC that wants to have at…some vocoder stuff, etc. The full mix is done, nothing really special about it, and I’m about to send it. Click the player below. Pt 2 of this post will have his final production on it.

::: oceans of rhythm :::

Fresh!

Sample credit: “California Love” – 2Pac/Dr. Dre

Left Coast Flow (Thai Roc Instrumental

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After Six [Quiktraks – 24 Feb 2011]

Posted on February 26, 2011 by Fresh

Crew…

Hello. I was sitting in the studio late one night organizing some samples and came across this drum loop. They often tend to provide inspiration for song development. It’s going in the vault for now, but thought I’d share something a lil jazzy. Got a sax player on board, so that’s cool.

After Six

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Motivation – How to keep it fresh

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Fresh

Good morning…

Being one that is a constant keeper of to-do lists for all things I try to achieve AND being one that never really experiences boredom (see the first part of this sentence), I still seem to wane in the area of staying motivated. I can count the number of times that I’ve set goals and reached them, but it was never through minimal work. Yet and still, I try to find ways to stay motivated, ESPECIALLY when it seems there are never enough hours in the day to get things done (they say everyone has the same amount of time each – 24 hours, but let’s not get TECHNICAL here…LOL).

While there are PLENTY of sources on the web and in print about this very subject. I came across an article that I’ve saved in .pdf format that I wanted to share with you. I’m gonna read it again today, because as I populate my Google calendar then sync it across various iCals on my Macs, then sync it to my Blackberry – with my events and tasks, all that will be for naught without a healthy sense of motivation. I hope the article inspires you to keep striving and reaching. Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t add the foundation behind this:

Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (all that is in line with His will)

Giving Him thanks…

Enjoy….

::: oceans of rhythm :::

Fresh!

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Welcome To The Sunday Soundtrack – 20 Feb 2011

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Fresh

Crew,

Welcome, once again to The Sunday Soundtrack. It’s been a few months, almost four months, since the last podcast and during the necessary hiatus, it was good to rearrange somethings, and get some new tracks to share with you. Officially, I wish you a Happy New Year and hope things are going well for you.

As said above, brand new tracks are on the playlist, representing the essence of what I’ve created The Sunday Soundtrack for years ago – a relaxing, yet no so common mix of laidback music for any day of the week. I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank all who gently poked me in the side to get the podcast back on board. Mad shouts to my entire podcasting crew (see the blogroll) for the encouragement, the ID drops, the whole nine. Keep doin’ it big, you keep me inspired. Special shout to all the fans of the podcast as well, your comments keep me inspired in the same way.


1 – Optymystic-Tom Middleton/Life Tracks
2 – Letcha Letcha-Ten Madison/Travelling
3 – Harissa-Ten Madison/Travelling
4 – Miner’s Son (Aquatic mix)-Beth Hirsch
5 – Another Time, Another Space-Citrus Sun/Another Time Another Space
6 – afterthewoman-rdm
7 – Afternoon in the Park (Orbiting Dream) Ft. Dan Prudian-Inner Light Spectrum/The Path to Reality
8 – A Touch Of Jazz

It’s been a pleasure. I’ll be back with another edition within the month. Big shouts to all my indie musicians who are flowin’ everything from jazzy, downtempo instrumental hip-hop (stay tuned in the coming episodes), to @fave and @toddkelley, my writing partners on the Cross Country Collective (C3) project, my writing and business partner as well as LONG time good friend, Dan McCollum (we are After Six Productions on FB) and to all artists adding to this universal language of of music. One last shout out to @dvsjr and @shaktiirocket, I hope The Sunday Soundtrack continues to provide that musical backdrop for your Sunday brunches. To my fans, I salute you! Follow me here:

Fresh on Twitter
The Sunday Soundtrack on Twitter

::: oceans of rhythm :::

Fresh!

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Hardware vs Software: Tools of musical composition

Posted on February 19, 2011 by Fresh

Hey crew…

Hope all is well. It’s been a minute since I posted a blog, but I’m back. Been pretty busy between various music projects, work, fam, life, etc. This post is sorta related to the last few as its on the subject of how we, as musicians, compose music and the tools we use. Two days ago I happened to be reading an article on world renowned electronica musician, Tom Jenkinson aka Squarepusher in Future Music Magazine #235. He has a new release entitled “Squarepusher presents: Shobaleader One”. I’ve featured a track or two of his on my podcast The Sunday Soundtrack.

Being a solo artist until this new release, he’s greatly relied on hardware to produce his tracks. He’s relied on the Yamaha QY700 up to now to handle all his sequencing. Even with the employment of actual musicians for this release, he’s still using it for that task.

The interview is actually pretty good. In it he talks about his use of samples (or lack thereof) in his compositions. He said the following:

“With a modern sequencing package, I get four pages of snares, a hundred kick drums and a giant screen. That’s my idea of hell”

That, ironically, reminded me of a thought I had just a day prior… about a hip-hop producer I connected with on Twitter that graciously shared with me a slew of drum kits and samples. One file alone contain 1600 snares….1600! I thought to myself…”How would I ever be able to audition all of those snares in a somewhat timely fashion to find “the right one” for a tune?”. Ever since getting Logic Studio and an MPC shortly after that, I’ve been collecting samples and loops on the net (from the vast majority of free ones offered) for quite a bit of time how. So far to the tune of about 5GB alone. This doesn’t include the sample CDs that come with my monthly purchase of Future Music Magazine, and occassionally Computer Music and Music Tech.

I’m in a moment of time where I am seriously enjoying using Logic Studio as my DAW of choice, but at the same time, there’s something about pressing buttons, turning knobs, and seeing the glow of LED and LCD screens in the studio, that makes it all part of composing music (not to mention picking up one of my guitars or my bass guitar as starting points).

The hottest composition tool that, in my mind, is a mix hybrid of hardware and software is NI’s Maschine. I won’t even begin to get into this right now, but it is what’s on point right now. Tons of videps all over the net, big time artists using it. Many have made the jump from the MPC to this unit.

That being said, I think Squarepusher shares the following mindset with many artists who have been composing music in the digital age. He sums it up quite nicely:

“My advice to anyone who’s reading this would be: Don’t worry about what I’ve got. Don’t worry about what anyone else has got. Take whatever’s in your studio and make music. The most important thing is that you keep the free flow of ideas. Keep pushing your imagination. If you can only afford two bits of gear…fine! Use them, push them as far as they’ll go”.

Am I an advocate of the above quote? Yes, definitely… but at the same time, I am hardly against buying new gear at all. While I had enough hardware in my studio to make music without a Mac, I found that using a computer easily made the process and workflow MUCH easier and quicker.

I often key my eyes on everything coming out that’s new, but with Logic Studio and a rack full of synths, a MPC, and an MC-808, I find myself hard pressed to purchase anything new. What I am beginning to find exciting (again) is to breath life into some of my older modules (even the stock sounds) and combining them with Logic to come up with tracks that are….”Fresh”! 😉

Thanks for the read… now go make music. Peace.

::: oceans of rhythm :::

Fresh!

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“You Love Me”

Posted on December 14, 2010 by Fresh

A smooth little groove, one of the songs on my band’s set list, we use a filler….Enjoy.

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The Chamorrita Sessions – AfterSix Productions

Posted on December 5, 2010 by Fresh

Crew….

Good afternoon. Hope all is well with you this holiday season. Had a recording session last night in The Lab to lay vocals for a track I wrote called Chamorrita. The origin of this track goes back to a summer I spent on the island of Guam, on business travel. Guam, although in the South Pacific, is a US Territory, and is, in many ways, very commercialized. The team I was with put in very long hours during the week, and like many of us do here, hit the mall at times for a little shopping etc. I noticed one afternoon that the mall there is no different than the mall here on the mainland, especially with guys checkin’ out girls and vice versa. As I noticed this similarity, the idea came to me about the song. It’s typical, a guy checkin; out this female in the mall, and she knows he’s doin’ it. They island natives are called “chamorros”, which is where I got the name “Chamorrita” from.

I basically fleshed it out on my laptop when I got back to the hotel that afternoon, presented the instrumental to Dan for a listen and he came up with a melody and lyrics, and that’s how the track was born. Here’s a few outtakes (we gotta have fun during the session) and two snippets from the track.

Paranoid? Yeah ok:

Candlewax, ummm…

Beatboxin’…uh no.

Chamorrita- the intro

The guitar solo (in work)

We’ve got one or two more sessions before it’s ready for mixdown…Stay tuned, stay safe.

Peace,
F!

PlayPlay

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Proofing Tracks: “Marry Me”

Posted on December 4, 2010 by Fresh

A little studio work before heading into work. Material from the upcoming EP: “What Love Is”


::: oceans of rhythm :::

Fresh!

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Sample Library Organization – Making Workflow Efficient

Posted on November 26, 2010 by Fresh

Greetings…

Thanks for stopping by. Some of you may have read a three part series I did recently on Sampling and Music Compostion. Over the last two days (Thanksgiving morning and evening, and this evening), I decided to gather up all the downloaded sample libraries, construction kits and various samples spread out over two Macs to add and categorize them onto a 250 GB portable HD I use for music production. While there are many software apps (Redmatica, etc) out there to do just this, I needed a solution that would work best for the way I intend to work. One solution I thought (and still do think) will work great is using iTunes to categorize samples. It has smart folder capability and search and can be used across Windows and Mac. While multiple playlists can be set up, I’d have have the app installed on my computers (which it is) as well as the external drive. I decided I wanted to be app independent.

I read and viewed a very good video by my man St. Joe over at Sounds and Gear entitled Organizing your samples and sound libraries for better workflow. I like his thought process, but since I am not primarily a sample based musician, I really don’t care about the manufacturer connection to the samples I use (unless of course they really suck, which none I have come across do), instead, it’s more important to me that I choose my samples by sound category, genre and bpm (if they are loops). So I set out to categorize them in that fashion. While I prefer to program my drum tracks from scratch, I do find loops useful for quick and dirty tunes or for something fast I may need for a client. I most likely would use an audio drum loop for something backing, though there are a few songs I’ve used straight loops for. In any event, being able to choose loops of any sort by bpm first is easiest for me because the tempo of a song is one of my first considerations, along with genre. I keep my genre list basic because frankly, the industry is out of control with genres, sub-genres and the like…I just can’t keep up.

That being said, here is a screen shot of what my sample organization looks like. There are a number of sample loops aside from drum loops with bpms so having that as the primary search criteria makes composing, from a sample standpoint, very easy.

I still have a ton of sample CDs that I haven’t categorized yet, but at least I’ve got all the ones from the various hard drives done. Aside from adding the sample CDs over time, the next project is to burn all of these current ones….to CD, then incorporate the iTunes solution into the mix. Between the CDs, my portable drive and Logic Studio, I shouldnt ever want to see another sample or sample loop ever …lol. (I know that it itself, is unrealistic…ha!) I’ll continue to look out for the info I get from Primeloops, Loopmasters, Platinumloops, Siliconbeats, P5 Audio, and a host of other fantastic vendors that grace the music production community with free demos and samples…but at least now, I can categorize them in an order fashion.

Sample users (this means you especially Big La ha!), I’d be interested to read about how you categorize your samples, if at all.

Thanks for the read…

::: oceans of rhythm :::

Fresh!

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