Tag Archives: Composition

Zhiguly

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I stumbled across this gem, that was recorded during a jam session between myself on Rhodes, Nils Westdal on bass, and Kyle Herskovitz (DJ Zenrock) on turntables. This session happened more than four years ago on March 11, 2004.

I couldn’t stop myself from messing about with it until I got this simple 0:22 second arrangement. I automated a filter on the Rhodes as well as running it through an amp modeling plugin and then topped it off with a touch of ping pong delay.

The main thing that attracted me to this archive was the skillful turntablism of Mr. Herskovitz. I have been fortunate to work with him off an on for more than a decade. Kyle is the most talented, creative and dedicated DJ and turntablist I have ever heard or worked with, so I have included a solo snippet of his track from this session so you can hear some of his magic on its own.

By the way, the photo is from a video installation we produced. It was performed during a show at the convention center in Minneapolis on a co-bill with Keston and Westdal and Zenrock last year.

Zhiguly

Zhiguly Scratch

From Your Kitchen to ABC

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I have to admit it, I like comfort. I’ve always loved working on a track while sipping some good Port, enjoying all the nuances of a perpetual loop. Unfortunately, this is not a luxury that a composer/producer can always enjoy. This one time I was desperately trying to deliver a track on time for a submission, yet-another ‘maybe it will go through’ situation. I had to catch a flight to LA a few hours later and was really looking forward to this trip, since I had never been to California! I really almost refused to work on this submission this time, I still had to pack and get ready for some gigs I had there with Kirsten Price. But it happens often: you get the call, they need a track, but NOW! You end up working impossible hours to make the deadline and…’Sorry, they loved it but it didn’t make the cut’.

I really had no time to run back to the studio to work on this track, so sitting in my girlfriend’s kitchen, I decided to give it a shot using all I had there: MacBook, MOTU Ultralite audio interface, Korg K USB controller and a pair of cheap ear-buds. Talk about basic! For the sounds, I used a couple of Virtual Instruments: Spectrasonics Trilogy, Stylus RMX and the Korg synth bundle that came with the K controller. In the end the track was done, mixed and uploaded via FTP to the production company within an hour total, all the time I had. I made it to the airport in time.

One whole year later, to our surprise, this one made the movie, that turned out to be ‘A Raisin In The Sun‘, a pretty major TV event that aired on ABC. The lesson I’ve learned: never get too comfortable, always be ready to deliver in a professional manner -even when working from your kitchen- and your music will take care of the rest.

The Concept for AudioCookbook.org

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Stove Top AudioDuring my life as a musician, audio engineer and sound designer I have always been fascinated by the unique ways we construct believable sound environments. The concept of AudioCookbook.org is to pass on what we have learned as sound designers, foley artists, musicians and engineers by hosting “recipes for sound design”. This can include all sorts of things we do as audio professionals to create great sounding productions. From crazy foley techniques to step-by-step sound design tutorials.

Plenty of great sites offer terabytes of pre-recorded audio files. That’s not the purpose here. The goal is to share fun and useful techniques on how to create high quality, original sound effects. Perhaps this will lead people to reach for the microphone instead of browsing for needle drop. To help illustrate techniques, an integrated media plugin routes audio or video files directly into a player within posts. If you’re an audio professional and interested in sharing your techniques we please consider participating.