chrooke

I have just posted the February edition of <a href="http://www.macidol.com/podcasts/drumdifferent/>Drum Different</a>. This month I offer a selection of love songs for the folks who love Valentine's Day, and also the folks who don't!

Current Mood: tired

Announcing the second episode of Drum Different, a MacIDOL Radio Revolution podcast:

"Soapbox": MacIDOL songs with a political or social message.

Enjoy!

Current Mood: tired

You may remember my rather odd version of Little Drummer Boy last year where I rekeyed it into an Arabic scale. This year I have a version with vocals, thanks to the GarageBand 2 vocal transformer, so I can sound like a young boy.

Also up is my take on The Twelve Days of Christmas. The redundancy in this song has always irritated me, so I had to deal with it my way.

Current Mood: tired

Drum Different is now listed in the iTunes Music Store podcast directory. Search for it by my name, the title of the show, or by MacIDOL.

I've also submitted it to be listed at Podcast.net.

Current Mood: accomplished

I have just launched a new monthly podcast over at MacIDOL called Drum Different.

In case you didn't know, a podcast is like an Internet radio show, but instead of streaming it's a downloadable file you can put on an MP3 player (like an iPod).

If you want to subscribe to my show (it's free!), put http://www.macidol.com/podcasts/drumdifferent/dircaster.php into your favorite podcast reader.

Drum Different is just one of several shows in the MacIDOL Radio Revolution. Please drop by and give the other shows a try.

After a delay of several days due to a UPS foul-up, I have finally received my brand spank-y-new stage piano/MIDI controller. 88 hammer-weighted keys and a direct USB interface to the computer. I'm almost in heaven.

Of course, I can only listen to the thing through headphones right now. I thought I had the cable to plug it into a stereo, but I can't find it. I can't fit it into the computer room until I do a bit of cleaning, so I won't be able to record with it for a little while.

Current Mood: relieved

I should have put this in last night, but I'm running behind.

Last night I gathered the two basic themes for the third movement of my symphony, a string quartet and a waltz that I originally conceived separately, into one file. I wrote a B section to the string quartet part (now the Minuet), and copied sections as needed to get the overall structure. I then stuck my waltz (now the Trio) at the end, just to see if they sounded too odd together.

Fortunately, for what is really still a sketch, it doesn't sound too bad. I still need to rearrange it for orchestra rather than string quartet, add intros/transitions/etc, and probably repeat the Trio theme, (or maybe add a B section to it, but that might be too much.)

In other words, I'm about to the 20% that takes 80% of the time.

Current Mood: geeky

What happens when you give an untrained violinist an untuned violin, and have him jam for 3 minutes? Killing Time 2: You truly kill the time, and you'll never get it back.

Technical
Me playing a student violin I got from eBay for $50. I don't know how to tune it, so I didn't. I don't know how to play it, so I faked it.

Recorded directly into GarageBand 2 using an M-Audio Nova condenser mike and an M-Audio MobilePre USB.

Mastered in Audacity.

Revisions
10/25/2005 -- Original post.

Copyright
(c) 2005 This music free to share under a Creative Commons Music Sharing License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed-music

Current Mood: dorky
Current Music: Killing Time 2 - Chris Cooke - Killing Time

I've spent the last 45 minutes or so (when I should have been asleep) playing with lamenting waltz theme I had hummed to myself either in the shower or on the way to work long ago, and captured in GarageBand so I would have it for later. As I developed the harmonies I realized I had taken elements of my first symphony movement and worked them in. By unconscious artistic comprehension or having fallen into a rut (I prefer the former) I ended up creating exactly what I needed for the Trio portion of the third movement. Combine this with a string quartet little demo theme I wrote when I first got GPO, and, voila, the third movement is practically written. [Ha, ha. There is still the arranging for orchestra, transitions, dealing with the fact that the two parts are in separate GarageBand files, and of course, mixing it all at the end. The art is done. The grunt work remains if I'm to share it outside of my head...]

I have always planned on using Beyond as a theme in the second movement.

Shortly after I released it, I realized that the first 2/3 of Summoned! would be the first theme of the fourth movement. [The fourth movement will be "battered sonata" form. I intend to start with a sonata form but beat it up a bit. I have my reasons.]

So I have actually written music for all four movements of my symphony, needing only two or three themes to have all of the major ideas sketched out. Maybe I will finish this in my lifetime!

Current Mood: artistic

Tomorrow night 10/10 at 10PM Eastern Time I make my debut on The Composer Channel, an Internet radio station for songs produced with Garritan Personal Orchestra.

At 10 PM is The GPO Variety Hour, 29th Edition. Summoned! is the second song in the lineup.

At 10:30 PM, The GPO Variety Hour, 30th Edition opens with Meastra Discordia.

I expect these two shows will go into the normal rotation, so you can look at the schedule and pick them up a different time that may be more convenient.

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Come the Revolution - iFingers - No sleep till Tibet

B&Massa down in Tasmania has seen fit to include Summoned! in his monthly PodCast/Radio Show, Blues Radio. Thanks, Steve!

At risk of seeming like trading compliments, I highly recommend B&Massa's song Prison City. It grabbed me on a first listen, and I'm a sort that usually needs a few spins to let a tune sink in and grab me. And I'm not recommending it just because he stuck me in his show -- I fell in love with the tune and wanted to share it before I even published Summoned!

Current Mood: jubilant
Current Music: Prison City - B&Massa - Risen & Proved

I'm sorry I haven't been updating this as I've worked -- I changed my password and didn't change it in my client. By the time I finished working on the piece at night I didn't want to go downstairs to get the device with my new password stored in it.

Anyway, last night I published Summoned!, which I've been working on here and there for several weeks. Here's the song info from my page at MacIDOL.

Concept
The fire alarm rings...the air raid siren blares...you see a car crash and folks need help...invaders have landed on the beach...

In this short piece I've tried to capture in the abstract the feeling and tension of the summons, that call to action in an emergency.

Orchestration
Percussion: including several tympani, side drum, snare drum, crotales, cymbals, and tubular bells.
Woodwinds: Contrabassoon, Bassoon, Clarinet, English Horn, Oboe, Flute
Brass: Tuba, Trombone, Trumpet, French Horn

All music composed and arranged by Chris Cooke. No loops (that I didn't make, anyway).

Technical
Produced in GarageBand 2.0 using Garritan Personal Orchestra as an AU plugin. Mastered in Audacity using B&Massa's technique.

Revision History
9/24/2005 Initial release.

Copyright
(c) 2005 This music free to share under a Creative Commons Music Sharing License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed-music Orchestral samples used in this recording are from Garritan Personal Orchestra.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Summoned! - Chris Cooke - Ahead of the Curve

Last night I published Rave Akilter.

I started this one while I was on vacation at Lake Gaston in North Carolina, and finished it up over the last few days. It features sampled bagpipes, which I then processed to make a little more electronic. I wrote the main melodies and some of the beats, and grabbed the rest from loops.

My music page at MacIDOL

Earlier this week I did a little sketch. I had an idea of a muted cello riff with some bells or cymbals behind it. Kind of a quiet tension/suspense thing. Last night I took the backgorund sketch and started expanding it into a short piece. I'm going to keep it under 5 minutes, so I can put it on The Composer Channel, and also so I have a hope of finishing the thing!

Current Mood: creative
Current Music: Effect Test - Chris Cooke - In progress

I have submitted "Maestra Discordia" to The Composer Channel for inclusion in their Internet radio program of artists using Garritan Personal Orchestra.

I'll post another message when I find they've actually included me in their program. I encourage you to check out what's already there, though.

Current Mood: artistic
Current Music: The Composer Channel: Featuring Soundtrack, Celtic, Classical and other musical styles that incorpor

I'm in the June 13, 2005 edition of B&Massa's Blues Radio program over at MacIDOL.

"Part broadcast, part blog, a podcast is Radio-On-Demand, and B&Massa's show, Blues Radio, is a weekly roundup of everything that's Idol-licious here at MacIDOL."

It's a great weekly show, so be sure to check it out. New editions usually air on Mondays.

Current Mood: relieved

I've been working on a project for school that involves reading lots and lots and lots of forum posts from MacIDOL. Somewhere along the line someone recommended "singing naked", by which they meant "do not put any processing on the vocals".

Well, those that know me know what happens when I come across things like this when tired and stressed. The result? My new tune: Singin' Naked!


For more details (song info, lyrics, downloads) see my artist page at MacIDOL.

Current Mood: silly
Current Music: Singin' Naked - Chris Cooke - Ahead of the Curve

How did I ever mellow out enough to create "Rock Garden"?

I hope it's my first step toward learning to compose calm. Most of my stuff is pretty fast, bordering on manic. "Hectic Day" takes it almost to the extreme.

Too many musical irons in the fire right now. I've really got to clear some of these out...

Symphony first movement -- the ultimate project that won't die, mostly because I'm primarily mixing it right now, and it's fiddly, fairly boring work, really. I've just got to kill this one off, though, because the current version is oodles better than what I have out there right now.

"Don't Walk Away" -- a broody love ballad. I've got to get Julie to lay down the vocals, and tweak the guitar a bit to make it more realistic.

A secret song in the making -- not going to say anything right now. I'll need E for this one, but I can wait until Macbeth is over.

"Hectic Day" well underway now that I've got a focus.

Current Mood: tired

I've been looking for a musical purpose to the really cool beats I've assembled as "Chrooke Unleashed". It occurred to me during the morning commute this morning that this song can become "Hectic Day", the third of the three "day" songs. ("Rise and Shine" and "Up Too Late" being the other two.)

Last night I added a Matrix-style pause -- tonight I fleshed it out with a cymbal roll and a timpani crescendo. I've also got an insanely fast and hyper synth part that works well with the "B" section of beats.

Current Mood: artistic
Current Music: Chrooke Unleashed - Chris Cooke - In progress

I just can't seem to get the quiet parts loud enough (shrinking the range) while making the crescendos what I want them to be.

Current Mood: aggravated