Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Mediation on the Sierpinski Tetrahedron

           
Best experienced with eyes closed in a dark and cool room.

An experiment in the layering of synthesizers and rhythms over both a bass drone and a bass ostinato.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Meisa’s Lullaby

    
Meisa’s Lullaby

Written in honor of my granddaughter.

Score and MP3 of the day:
Meisa's Lullaby

Youtube: Meisa's Lullaby
 
 

Thursday, September 03, 2015

Out, Damn Spot!

Sometimes I just get these crazy ideas stuck in my head and I have to get them out of my head and inflict my madness on the world. This piece is one of those ideas, a perverse genetic mutation with the potential to offend even the deaf.

I have describe it as Schoenberg and Shakespeare visit Compton.


Currently there is no score as only 80 percent of the piece was written in Sibelius. The other 20 percent was done in Sonar and has not yet made its way back into Sibelius.




Monday, July 20, 2015

Tanka of the day: This old coat

   
This old coat of mine
smelling of stale cigarettes
with its torn pocket
a reminder of my youth
and many forgotten sins


Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Yuki

雪

Unable to sleep
I listen throughout the night
to the silent song
of falling snow in my yard.

With the soft dawn …
         
         

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Nine Years Later: A | B COMPARISON

 
Nine years ago I mixed my first piece in Sonar (5.x) using the new Garritan JABB library. Mixing music in a DAW using samples was a new area for me and I had (and still do) much to learn. On Deviant art (http://www.deviantart.com/) artist will often post an older piece that they did years earlier with a new rendition they have recently done of the same piece to show how they have improved and changed their interpretation of the subject.


So here I have done basically the same thing. I opened my old Sonar project for my piece “What Ever” into the newest version of Sonar and started redoing the piece. I had to pull out the old version of JABB that used the Kontakt player and replaced it with the newest JABB that uses the Aria player. I redid the routing of the instruments so that each now has its own bus. I pulled out the old reverb I was using for all the tracks and instead use separate(and different) reverbs on each instrument. I also changed the panning of the various instruments and I had to replace the Guitar Rig 3 that the bass was using the the current Guitar Rig 5. I ended up adding some EQ, compression and transient mastering that I did not do on my first version.


For your consideration an A B comparison:


https://soundcloud.com/ed-w-sharpe/what-ever-2006-version
   
https://soundcloud.com/ed-w-sharpe/whatever-2015-version





Ursus Demens  
       

Friday, May 08, 2015

Other People's Squirrels

    
 Well after my last update I started to veer off the path. At first it was only to down load updates and patches to my existing software. That then morph is a short bit of time searching for Freeware VSTs, and that was not too bad as I was continuing to sketch out ideas for the fourth movement. But on Friday I decided to open up the first project I ever did in Sonar 5 way back in 2005 [What Ever]. That is when the first squirrels arrived. I decided to redo the entire piece in the newest version of Sonar Platinum and the updated Garritan JABB libraries. That initially went well, but then Saturday arrived.

   Saturday was the day my Mother and Sister was holding their big annual charity Tea Party and the last couple of years my Wife and Daughter have gotten into helping  with it. Additionally I was on call for work. Saturday the the other people's squirrels arrived. 

 First I need to run last minute errands with my wife to get flowers for the tea party. No big deal you think? Well you do not understand the enormous amount of time it takes my wife to pick out flowers (and I do love her very dearly). Once that was done and the flowers dropped off at my Mother's place I need to shuttle my wife back home and the plan was to then have me shuttle the Daughter back to my Mother's place and that would have worked, except it takes her like 15 minutes to get out of the house. Still not a real problem except I get the page (text message technically) from work.

 So I have the leave the wife a daughter to their own designs and go into my room to fire up the computer to see what the issue. As I was doing that the Wife and Daughter take off to my Mother's house and leave the Granddaughter in the house with me. Soon the Granddaughter is yelling at me because the dog is going crazy and I have to deal with it instead, luckly just then the Wife was back and I could get back to work. But I consider everything a packed up my stuff and drive into the office.

 A couple hours later I had everything resolved and left the office. The Tea party was in full swing, buy because of the hot weather I need to pickup extra bottle water on my way there. To cut to the chase. The rest of the day was spent bouncing between the tea party and the office (I got another shorter call later) and just simply waiting on my family. I think I was finally able to roll into bed at one AM.


  Since then I spent most of the week working on the new mix of “What Ever” and it is almost finished. I made what I call a raw recording of the piece to listen to for a while before finalizing it. The good news is I am back working of the second movement of my new piece. But as for the fourth movement I have decided to step back from it for a few days as I am not longer happy with the initial ideas I had and I might end up taking it in a completely new direction. So unless the evil squirrels rear their heads I am focused on finishing the second movement and getting back to working of the first movement.


   May your days be squirrel free.


Ursus Demens
                 

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Squirrel Free Weekend

       
I kept my weekend squirrel free and made excellent progress in mixing the second movement of my current work in progress. I took a little time off to start working on some ideas for the fourth movement, just sketches at the moment. I took most of Sunday off from working on the music; time to “clear out the ears” and do other stuff, but no squirrels. Monday I was back at working on the second movement, and Tuesday I worked on some more ideas for the fourth movement. I do need to get back to the first movement and finish it. The plan is to see if I can finish the entire piece before the summer solstice.
                 

Friday, April 24, 2015

No Squirrels


I was able to keep focus all week and spent it working on the mix to the second movement of my new multi-movement piece I talked about last Friday.  I am very happy with the way the movement is coming along. And I hope to finalize it this weekend.  Currently I do not plan on releasing it until I have finished all the movements.

I am still working on titles for each of the movements.  So far they are:


  • I Subatomic Emotions
  • II Surreal Anxieties
  • III Forgotten Thoughts or Forgotten Memories or Disregarded Sensations or ... ?
  • IV Quiet Madness or Silent Rage or ... ? 

 
Hopefully I will soon get back to working  on the first movement.  I have already started sketching out a rough outline for the last movement.  And I still have the new ballet sitting on the back burner waiting to distract me. 

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

No Squirrels Over the Weekend

           
Well I was able to keep focus this weekend. After re-configuring my main display on my computer to use HDMI I moved the VGA connection to a second monitor and now have a nice two display system to work with now.


I then spent most of the weekend setting up and mixing the second movement of my new multi -movement piece I talked about on Friday. I am no where near maxing out my new system, but I know there is no way I could load this project on my old system.



As for the piece itself; it is coming along very nicely and  I am very happy with the way it is sounding. If I stay on track I will soon be back to working on the first movement.    

Friday, April 17, 2015

Me and My Squirrels

   
As usual I find myself going down yet another random track instead of staying focused on one thing. My work on my new ballet got side tracked when I decided to finish my set of five impressions that I had put off when the idea of the ballet came to me. So with the impressions finished it should be back to the ballet, no? No. I started on a new multi-movement piece as soon as I have finished mixing impression number five. I have already finished the second movement and the third movement is 98 percent done. The first movement, which I started first, is about 50 percent done. And the final last movement is only an idea in my head. Only time will tell if I stay on track with this beast, or go chasing some other squirrel next week.
           
             


Monday, March 16, 2015

Impressions No. 1 to 5

  
A set of five impressions

Impression of what you ask? That is up to you and your ears to shape. Listen to this piece in a tranquil and quiet spot, close your eyes and let the music take your imagination on a trip.

All five impressions in one continuous recording:

Impression No. 1 Score & Recording

Impression No. 2 Score & Recording

Impression No. 3 Score & Recording

Impression No. 4 Score & Recording

Impression No. 5 Score & Recording
http://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/167156.html

 
 

   

Thursday, January 29, 2015

The Squirrels Ran Away

         
So I started working on the idea that I had at lunch yesterday when I got home last night. After about ten minutes I came to the conclusion that 99 percent of it was crap. So into the round filing cabinet it went. This resulted in me working on Impression No. 5 for the rest of the night. I am very happy where I am with this piece I hope I will be able to get a mix of it done by the end of the weekend. But as you know squirrels are tricky bastards; who knows what they are planning.
               

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Squirrels Everywhere I Look

               

So I am in the process of finishing working on Impression No. 5 with the hope that I can mix it over the weekend. But. As I am sitting here eating my lunch I got an idea for another large project and spent half of my lunch starting to sketch it out. Only God knows if I will get back on track with Impression No. 5 or spend the next weeks working on my new idea for a new piece (lets not even mention that I still have the Ballet to work on).

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Monday, January 26, 2015

So Many Squirrels

               

I spent most of Friday night working and revising Impression No. 5 and I now feel that it is at least 95 percent done; just need a few more listen through and we should be ready to start mixing. Impression No. 4 is waiting for its final mix down and I should had finished it this weekend, but I did not. After working most of Friday night on polishing No. 5 I spent the rest of weekend distracted by squirrels and got nothing more done. Maybe tonight.
                     

Friday, January 23, 2015

Impressions of Squirrels

 

I continued with writing Impression No. 5 last night.  I would say that I am now about 90 percent done with it.  All of the notes are down on the page, it is now a mater of cleaning up the notation, working on the small things, like dynamic marks.  Still need to finish mixing Impression No. 4.  Squirrel!

                  

Thursday, January 22, 2015

More Squirrels!

         
In my last update I stated that I had been putting off mixing of my piece Impression No. 4 for some time now. One of the reasons was because I had no idea for Impression No. 5. (The Impression series was originally conceived as a set of seven pieces, but was trimmed to five by the time I finished Impression No. 1.) So I knew I would be writing an Impression to finish the set off, I just did not know what form it would take.


I truly expected to work on and quite possibly finish mixing Impression No. 4 last night, but as I listen to the first four impressions at lunch on Wednesday Impression No. 5 bloomed full born in my head. So instead of working on the mix for Impression No. 4, I spent most of the night working on Impression No. 5.



Who knows what will distract me tonight!  

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Too Many Squirrels

       
I finished writing Impression No. 4 back in early November of 2014, but I have put off mixing it for the since then. Last weekend after doing a little sketching of some ideas for the new ballet on Friday night I spent the rest of the weekend setting and mixing Impression No. 4. I am currently listening to two different mixes I did before I do the final mix. With some luck and no squirrels I should have something for people to listen to by the end of the weekend, if not sooner.
               


                    

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Ballet Progress

         
I started on my fifth version of scene 1 on Saturday and is coming along very well. It will be the one I will use and is currently about 90 percent done. Even when plowing through the first scene I did continue to think about other scenes; the one scene I am most worried about is scene 11, but I think I have a idea for it now that I need to explore.
           

Thursday, January 08, 2015

Ballet Progress

    
Well the first scene is giving me fits. I have written drafts for three different versions of the opening scene and I am not happy with any of them. I am now working through a fourth version in my head that will hopefully work. My granddaughter has returned from her Christmas/New Years trip to Japan and Singapore, so I do not know how much time I will have each day to work on the ballet; I guess we will see how little sleep I need.
                           

Tuesday, January 06, 2015

Ballet Update:

   
The Music is coming along fine. The music for second and third scenes are both about 98 percent done, with just final editing and polishing to do. I have written two drafts of the first scene, but have started sketching out a completely new third version of the first scene last night. I have made notes on several other scenes, but have not yet put a note on the paper for them.


The current working instrumentation is:
  • A string nontet (4 violins, 2 violas, 2 cells, and bass)
  • A double reeds nontet (3 oboes, English Horn, 4 bassoon, Contra-bassoon)
  • Percussion (both pitched and un-pitched, several players)
  • Flute (maybe doubling on Piccolo and Alto).