chrooke

Drum Different Episode 3

2006-02-12T22:07:30Z

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!

Drum Different Episode 2: "Soapbox"

2006-01-16T05:04:33Z

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

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

Enjoy!

More Holiday Tunage

2005-12-24T03:46:19Z

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.

Drum Different directory listings

2005-12-06T03:12:52Z

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.

Drum Different

2005-12-05T17:28:19Z

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.

At last!

2005-11-09T02:46:19Z

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.

Symphony 3rd movement work

2005-11-01T03:10:54Z

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.

chrooke @ 2005-10-25T11:56:00

2005-10-25T15:56:32Z

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

Symphony "jigsaw" falling into place

2005-10-22T03:49:13Z

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!

My "Composer Channel" debut is scheduled

2005-10-09T17:30:38Z

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.

Summoned! included Blues Radio 9

2005-09-27T00:17:56Z

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!

Summoned!

2005-09-25T13:27:40Z

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.

Rave Akilter

2005-09-08T17:33:06Z

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

Another work in progress

2005-08-06T15:48:03Z

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!

I've submitted to "The Composer Channel"

2005-08-03T01:12:21Z

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.

"Singin' Naked" on MacIDOL Blues Radio

2005-06-15T21:49:41Z

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.

Singin' Naked!

2005-06-10T00:16:11Z

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.

How did I do it?

2005-06-04T00:52:06Z

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.

"Chrooke Unleashed" may become "Hectic Day"

2005-06-03T02:34:26Z

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.

Yet another rev to Introversy

2005-05-11T01:01:11Z

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.

Introversy revised

2005-05-10T12:19:39Z

On sunday night I posted a revised version of Introversy.

After repeated listening, I decided something was needed in the second half of the "A" section to keep it from being too monotonous. A common trick, of course, is to layer in a few more elements. I didn't want to do that, though, because I felt the background was as busy as a I wanted it to be. I ended up adding a second synth, and writing a new piece of the main melody for it to bring in in the 3rd quarter, then used that melody as the basis for a harmony after returning to the original melody in the fourth quarter. This provided variation without gimmick, and meshed with the style in the "B" section.

I also felt like it wasn't right just fading out at the end. It's like, "Here's something cool sounding, kinda grooving, ...hey! Where did it go? What happened?" I thought about shifting to a modified sonata form, but decided the piece would just be too darned long. I ended simply adding a coda to bring the thing to closure, so it's not just fading out midstream.

"Introversy" released

2005-05-04T17:00:08Z

Last night I released Introversy (formerly known as "Brainbender").

It's also available for download at my MacIDOL artist page.

featured song; new works in progress; remastering

2005-05-03T02:36:15Z

As usual, I've been too busy to keep this up to date. What little time I get has gone into composing, not documenting. There are several items in my musical world to update folks on:

1) Rock Garden (Instrumental) is the "Artist's Choice" featured song in the May issue of Robert Andrews' my Best of Collection newsletter. This marks my second appearance in the newsletter. (The same song was a genre link in the March issue.)

2) I don't think I made a journal entry when I published Protean Dirge. Ground rules were the same as for Protean Party, but a completely different tone.

3a) In addition to all the irons already on the fire, I'm working on two more songs. "Chrooke Unleashed" is a fast, dancy riff. So far it's mostly loops from Skip to My Loops and Bollywood Dreams, with an original element conceived by my wife, Julie. It's a really cooking background, but I haven't figured out musically how I want to use it, so it's stalled for the nonce.

3b) I'm close to finishing a tune currently called "Brainbender", though I may rename it. (I originally meant to make it weirder than it came out.) This tune is fairly slow and grooving. It's all synth, and proud of it. It's also all original (no pre-made loops.) The music for this one is pretty much done. I may add a little embellishment here and there, and I still need to handle the panning, mixing, and mastering.

4) I've been going back and re-mastering all of my stuff using Audacity, following a tutorial by the incomparable B&Massa. It sounds much better! My 2005 stuff is done and replaced, and I'm working on the 2004 stuff.

New Song: Maestra Discordia

2005-03-27T04:22:36Z

Maestra Discordia

While the gods revel, Eris, the goddess of discord, has commandeered the Mount Olympus Symphony Orchestra, and is turning it to her own purposes. Will Zeus wake up before the musicians lose all sense of order?

No loops, I composed all music from scratch. Created in GarageBand 1 using Garritan Personal Orchestra as an AU plugin.

The whole story...
While the gods revel, Eris, the goddess of dischord, has commandeered the Mount Olympus Symphony Orchestra, and is turning it to her own purposes. She starts with her own odd motif, and has the strings back her up. When they've got the hang of it, she goes a little wild with key changes. The cellos try to guess her pattern, which really makes her mad, since she doesn't want to have a pattern. Everything halts while she stews.

When Eris resumes, she has the woodwinds take up the background, entrusting her theme to the clarinets. Things are going so well that she lets the clarinets keep her theme, while she again scatters all over the place. The violas and basses join in when she does, providing a foundation for both the altered and unaltered themes. The snubbed cellos, feeling really left out at this point decide to join in, uninvited. Eris is not pleased, and calls another halt.

While Eris fumes, the cellos plead their case, with support from the woodwinds. This just makes Eris really cranky, and she goes off on everyone. The strings (except the cellos) then take up her angry theme, while Eris fumes and the cellos whine.

Finally, Eris calms down a bit and decides to resume. She decides to try something a bit different, and starts off a 5-part round in shifting time signatures for herself and the woodwinds. This could warp the orchestra permanently, but Zeus wakes up and comes in with a very orderly round of his own with the brass. One by one the instruments abandon Eris and join in with Zeus' round, until Eris finishes off alone, subdued by a fanfare.

Eris attempts to explain herself, but Zeus rebuffs her. Order is restored on Mount Olymus, but Eris leaves us a parting word to let us know she won't forget this...

My artist page at MacIDOL.

(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.

Too long since I updated

2005-03-04T03:08:38Z

It's been too long since I updated. I was ill the first 1.5 weeks of Feb., then hyperbusy trying to catch up on all that happened while I was ill. For the last few evenings I've gotten home and just crashed -- I think I'm fighting off a cold.

Even so, there has been time for a little music here and there.

I'm working on getting a good recording of the Rock Garden vocals. I gave it another whack, but I just don't pull it off well. If I can pin him down, I'm going to try to get E to do it.

Rock Garden (Instrumental) has just been featured as the ambient genre link in Robert Andrew's Best of Collection Newsletter. Check it out, and check out the other featured MacIDOL artists.

For a while now I've been wondering what would happen if I took a software loop intended for drums, but changed the instrument to something else. I gave it a shot, and Protean Party is the result. The interesting thing about this song is that at any given time, it is exactly the same point in the same loop playing on all instruments, but because of the different characteristics of the instruments, it sounds like something anyway. Protean Party is the first in an upcoming series where I will use the concept in different ways. "Protean Dirge" is coming up next...