music, noises and other stuff
audio
My Coolest Piece of Audio Gear
May 27th
I’m currently working on a number of projects which for various legal reasons can’t be posted here yet. In the meantime, lest you think I have vanished, I’d like to post about the coolest piece of audio gear I own.
It was built in the late 1990s by a good friend of mine (Hi RoverT!) as a dedicated interface for a piece of revolutionary software that was blowing all of our minds at the time: Propellerheads Rebirth. For those of you younger than a certain age, you have to appreciate that this app came out right at the dawn of the VST-engorged era we now live in. Rebirth is dead simple: it simulates a bunch of classic Roland gear: two TB-303 bassline synths, a TR-909 drum box, and an 808. It provides the same knobs and controls that the original synths had, and it was designed to be real-time controllable.
There was nothing else even remotely like it in 1997. In fact, I’d go as far as saying Rebirth kickstarted the virtual synth revolution. Sure, there were other synths around at the time – VAZ springs to mind (loved that) - but nothing else had ever been so accessible, so easy to use, and frankly, so AWESOME SOUNDING.
RoverT built a hardware interface for it, so that he could control it live without having to fiddle with a mouse. It was a prototype for a much more elaborate interface that he subsequently built for himself, which had a bunch of sliders instead of knobs. When he completed the next generation, he gifted the old prototype to me.
Check it out:
The Box
As shiny and cool as his new box was, I love this piece of gear more. The fact that it’s built into a cigar box ramps up the coolness factor for me by an order of magnitude.
This controller basically handles Rebirth’s two 303 synths only – one row of knobs per synth. The telephone keypad on the left maps to the pattern controllers for each synths (you had to pre-sequence your notes on the 303) – eight pattern buttons per synth.
The knobs control Filter Cutoff, Reso, Envelope Mod and Decay – pretty much everything you need to make the synth express.
Life progressed and we moved onto other things, but I kept using The Box. After all, it has gorgeous knobs – seriously, they’re far chunkier and solid than anything you find on a dedicated hardware interface today. And they send out standard (although hardware fixed) MIDI messages.
All I have to do is remap them on the software side to whatever DAW or synth function I want to control, and I get to carry on using this epic piece of kit. I cannot imagine my life without it. I will be heartbroken when it finally dies (although, touch wood, it is showing no signs of doing so).
Incidentally, Propellerheads now gives away Rebirth for free as something of a historical oddity. I totally recommend grabbing a copy, it’s an awesome synth.
Remix: Viltin ft Kitana – “Gyratory”
Apr 30th
UK-based DL40 Records commissioned this electro-flavoured remix from me. It’s by a new artist called Viltin, and features vocals by singer Kitana. You can hear the original version of this song on DL40’s Myspace page.
It’s been an interesting project to work on – Viltin’s a very dynamic character with a strong vision of where his brand is headed; I expect big things from him in the near future.
If the woman in the image looks familiar, it’s because Kitana is an alter-ego of Kimberly Dayle, the singer and live performer. She’s well known for her high end impersonations of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilerra and, more recently, Lady Gaga.
Take a listen.
Remix: Jesta’s “Be Mine”
Mar 29th
Jesta is a talented singer and songwriter based in London, England. I have to say, off the bat, that her personal taste and style is a lot harder than this remix suggests – she’s a big fan of the dirtier, more experimental underground dancefloor beats.
I typically ask my clients to list some tracks that they like in the genre we’ll be producing, but beyond that, I’ve also begun asking for examples of music they listen to recreationally, for their own pleasure – it helps me understand their musical headspace.
Well, Jess schooled me. She sent me a list of some of the most interesting, cutting edge beats I have ever had the pleasure of working my way through. Some of them I knew, others were a complete discovery to me and had me bouncing around the studio. If nothing else, Jess has markedly improved the quality of my mp3-player’s playlist.
But “Be Mine” is a gentle ballad. Much as I tried to coax this song into a hardcore format, it refused. It would impishly roll its eyes at me, smirk, and point towards the Beach. I discussed this with Jess, and she was cool to head beach-ward, so I gave in, and followed where the song led, which was all the way to Ibiza. The result is this fluffy, uplifting mix.
Karoo: The Smackdown
Mar 25th
Today we locked off the soundtrack to Karoo, the film I’ve been working on for Kaugoomi. It’s been one of the more challenging projects I’ve been involved with in that I’ve spent most of my time on it wayyyy outside of my comfort zone, composing music that is largely unlike anything I’ve ever had to write before. This is less scary than it sounds, because it also means I’ve been pushing myself and having a lot of fun.
Instead of epic orchestral, I’ve been doing lots of dark atmospherics, using palettes that are largely limited to organic instruments, with a strong emphasis on mood rather than melody. Most of the work I’ve produced on it is designed to support and punctuate what’s happening on screen rather than taking centre stage itself, which is as it should be. It was hard to begin with, but the process began to flow when the various characters defined themselves – not with melodies, but with textures of sound and signature instruments.
For example, we’ve got a leather-clad villain who decided he was best represented as a metallic sounding bushman bow. We’ve got a mysterious protagonist who eventually revealed herself as a sound not unlike breathing air.
Karoo is an interesting movie, jam packed with stuff that makes for entertaining viewing: sex, death, drama, violence, and even a bit of humour. I’m sad it’s over – I love this kind of work.
The producers have given me permission to post some of the score here, so below is a cue entitled The Smackdown. In it, a very pissed off bad guy tracks down someone who’s stolen something from him, and dispenses a liberal amount of corrective treatment. Without dropping spoilers, the scene resolves with gory death for someone.
Remix: Slide’s “Dime Store Queer”
Jan 5th
Kicking 2010 off with a bang, here’s a kick ass remix of Slide’s new single, “Dime Store Queer.” This is the second remix I’ve produced for Slide, the electro rockers from the USA’s west coast, and follows on from the equally clubby “January (Feel Like Dancing)“, which recently garnered a Platinum Auddy award on uPlaya.com.
I’m really proud of how the Dime Store Queer remix came out – this one roars. There’s a lot I like about this song – not just the catchy chorus hook or the solidity of the bassline, but the fact that underneath its glitzy pop sensibilities it’s got a serious message: don’t let these bastards push you around.
Don’t let them hurt you, don’t buy into the vicious labels they attach to you. You won’t always be stuck where you are. Keep your head up and stay fabulous, because some day soon you’ll grow up, get ripped, and tear all their heads off. Kinda.
Have a listen to the radio edit:
Untitled Dystopia
Dec 5th
It’s been a while since my last post; couple of major changes in my life and a move to a new town will do that. Without further ado:
A month ago I completed work on the soundtrack to Untitled Dystopia, a film written and directed by Martin Lejeune. It was a fun project for me, as Martin had very clear and interesting ideas about what he was after.
You can watch the full movie via streaming video here.
I have been writing pure classical to picture for so long, it was fun to let my hair down and do something completely different for a change. Here’s a clip from the end credits:
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9,000 bellends! Oprah FTW!
Sep 20th
You would think that the American people, having tasted the Patriot Act, would have tired of being stripped of their civil rights. You would be wrong.
Seeing as no one is terribly concerned about terrorists anymore, the US Govenment is falling back on the tried and trusted horror of paedophilia to force through legislative changes that would allow them to violate the privacy of their citizens even further.
And now they have Oprah aboard, punting their agenda for them. You see, Oprah speaks to middleclass suburban moms. Her audience is larger than that, of course, but that’s her base. It’s a huge crowd, they all have kids, and they’re concerned about this Internet thingy that their kids are spending so much time on. Who better to rally them round?
Now quickly view this video before the inevitable DMCA takedown removes it from YouTube. In case it’s gone, I will quote it for you.
“Let me read you something that was posted on our message board by someone who claims to be a member of a known paedophile network. It said this. He does not forgive, he does not forget, his group has over nine thousand penises, and they are all raping children.”
The truly hilarious part of her mind-numbingly dumb quote is, it’s a 4chan meme. Some internet troll went and posted an outrageous message on Oprah’s forum that included the classic meme (which, to be fair, her fact checkers really should have caught), and she’s gone and quoted it verbatim.
So Oprah clearly has some egg on her face here. In her frenzy to drum up support for a legislative strapon the US government can use to cornhole anyone they don’t like for any reason, she fed a giant troll. Around the world, regulars of /b/ are now chortling with glee and high-fiving each other at the outstanding resurrection of a meme almost as virulent as All Your Base. This is so much better than any RickRolling.
So in honour of the occasion, and because I cannot resist joining the celebration, I have created a small ditty featuring both her quote and the source. Enjoy.
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What I don’t get is, do Americans genuinely believe that these evil new laws will actually be used to hunt paedophiles? Oprah clearly does, but how can she be so naive? She’s usually pretty well informed.
Update 1 : A number of things have occurred to me since I initially posted this.
The legislation that Oprah’s having everyone write their Senators about isn’t about pedophiles. The Bill in question (1738) is in fact an omnibus of 30+ other issues that various senators are trying to get passed but can’t, plus one small child protection issue – which is in fact about reducing civil rights further. The Americans must love that Patriot Act.
So, let’s be clear, Bill 1738 isn’t really a bill at all, it’s a way to get some random (and quite scary) stuff passed that wouldn’t get passed on its own. But Oprah’s selling it really, really hard, using the fear of every terrible predator she can muster, including some trolls who happened by her site.
The computer admins at Oprah dot com clearly realised they were under attack by the crew from 4chan, and in fact all of the 4chan vandalism has been removed from the Oprah forums. Given that the post that Oprah quoted was removed along with all the other 4chan bombs, she had to know it was a troll.
Which means it is now my opinion that it was no accident she read it out. It was precisely the kind of FUD she was looking for, and she was counting on the idea that the bulk of her target audience wouldn’t recognise the meme reference.
But it is now delightfully backfiring. And I am pleased, in my small way, to be a part of that.
Update 2: The tune is now on YouTube and seems to be spreading. The Anonymous lads of /b/ have already ripped the Oprah 9000 song and are propagating it way farther and further than I would ever have imagined – in fact their posts are generating far more hits than my own. It appears to have grown its own legs.
Aylos – single released
Jul 18th
Well, Guffy gave us the go ahead, so it is with great pride that we present the first of what we intend to be many “CD singles” sold through Amie Street. The album art is the work of my frighteningly talented brother Christopher.
The term “CD single” is of course redundant in this day and age – it’s a digital download of 3 different mixes of Aylos’s track “I’m Beautiful,” all completely DRM free. If you want to burn it to CD, be my guest.
I posted a version of this track a few weeks ago, so for variation find below a much harder, much clubbier, much more radio friendly version.
Dig it:
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If you like it, play it again 
If you feel like owning it, pop over to Amie Street, where it is available free for a limited period.
Mr Ray: Run
Jul 12th
So, yesterday I nailed a mix for a produced-up version of Mr Ray’s track, Run. The original is here.
This has been a tricky project because of what Ray does. Part of what makes him so unique is his style of delivery – not just the mind bending weirdness of seeing him pull off the simultaneous beatbox + singing + playing guitar thing, but the intimacy with which he does it.
So any production I do on it needs to respect that, and I have to approach it carefully in case in my zest to elevate it with cool synth noises I lose the very thing that made it appealing to begin with. Also, I don’t want to add too much that can’t be reproduced in a live setting, which is where Ray truly shines.
So I’ve done my best to keep it as organic as possible while going nuts on it. I think I’m happy with how it came out.
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edit: find Mr Ray on the Intarwebz here. Buy his stuff here.
Armalion: Worm Battle
May 19th
This is a piece from the upcoming film Armalion. With Nico Mendrek’s permission it featured in an insert on Afro Cafe on SABC2 last week (I’ll try and upload that video soon), so I’m sure he doesn’t mind if I post it here.
In this scene, our heroes are set upon by a giant dragon summoned from the abyss. Obviously they have to fight it. It eats most of the nameless support cast before being vanquished by a spellcasting witch who turns it on the evil villain. All in all, a fun scene.
I like it because I got to make use of big choirs singing faux-latin (lyrics concocted by my friend Jacques van Heerden) when the beast appears. This is, of course, all done in software, using a library called Voices of the Apocalypse, and its associated VOTA utility that lets you type in syllable by syllable the words you’d like the choir to sing.
East West have since replaced and updated this with a product called Symphonic Choirs which, while being marvellously versatile, does not, in my opinion, sound anything like as good despite drawing on a 35GB library of 24-bit samples.
Also I got to do some nifty sound design during the spellcasting bit, which is made up of choir dischord clusters, reversed recordings of people talking, and the sound a plastic pipe makes when you drown it in reverb. I love my job.
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