A quick update today.
This is from a commercial for a TV channel. I would love to hear a full rendition of this cover...
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Participatory Music
I really had to think hard about the title for this one, but I think "Participatory Music" really captures the essence of this little project.
In Bb 2.0 is a project that explains itself, but here's the idea: Invite people to submit a video of themselves playing music in Bb, but with no set tempo or groove. Provide a backbone idea of what to play, but let the submissions take their own course. The end result is a collection of videos with mostly random notes being played....yet they all strangely fit together nicely. ...But at this point, it's just the "typical" web-produced music thing. Which is itself neat, but this takes it one step further...
The truly amazing part of this is that the listener can choose to begin, stop, skip, change the volume etc. of each video at their own will. But because of the style of music and the type of submissions that have been made, the "listener mix" always works! I've played around with making specific trumpet notes come in at my own will. This type of work is really quite inspiring.
I've seen "listener mix" type of websites before, but those ones are essentially just a collection of on/off button for different instruments in the track. In those websites, the tempo and groove remain the same, so the song is really just the same thing with different volume levels. This project however, really lets you move around the different instruments at will...yet it will always work. Awesome.
To check it out yourself, go to their website here . Unless you have a kickass computer and high-speed internet, I would suggest closing all your windows before though, because you're about to load 12+ youtube videos at once.
Enjoy!
(Thanks to Brian for the link)
In Bb 2.0 is a project that explains itself, but here's the idea: Invite people to submit a video of themselves playing music in Bb, but with no set tempo or groove. Provide a backbone idea of what to play, but let the submissions take their own course. The end result is a collection of videos with mostly random notes being played....yet they all strangely fit together nicely. ...But at this point, it's just the "typical" web-produced music thing. Which is itself neat, but this takes it one step further...
The truly amazing part of this is that the listener can choose to begin, stop, skip, change the volume etc. of each video at their own will. But because of the style of music and the type of submissions that have been made, the "listener mix" always works! I've played around with making specific trumpet notes come in at my own will. This type of work is really quite inspiring.
I've seen "listener mix" type of websites before, but those ones are essentially just a collection of on/off button for different instruments in the track. In those websites, the tempo and groove remain the same, so the song is really just the same thing with different volume levels. This project however, really lets you move around the different instruments at will...yet it will always work. Awesome.
To check it out yourself, go to their website here . Unless you have a kickass computer and high-speed internet, I would suggest closing all your windows before though, because you're about to load 12+ youtube videos at once.
Enjoy!
(Thanks to Brian for the link)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Not Only Is This One Continuous Shot, It's Also A Live Recording!
I've lately been playing a couple music videos over and over again. It's pretty neat that both of these were introduced to me very recently, yet they happen to share a really rare quality/achievement in music videos:
1. It's one continuous shot. From start to finish, the whole thing is done with one camera, one take. Neat stuff. The earliest version of this (as far as I know) is with Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (but it's actually just a part of a documentary film). Since then, it's been done by U2, Feist, to Miley Cyrus...so it's not as rare as you might think.
However, the 2 videos I've been obsessed with also have this...
2. The actual music is being recorded/performed live as the tape is rolling. Music videos are always lip synced, and the audio itself is previously recorded in a proper studio... which is why when you hear the album version, it sounds exactly like the music video. These two gems however, decided to record the audio live as well! So not only are they performing to the camera in one take, the artists must also perform the music correctly. It really feels "raw" and personalized...and I find the musicianship that is required to pull this off to be extremely impressive.
Anyways! 2 genres, 2 indie artists, 2 videos with one shot, with live audio. Enjoy!
1. It's one continuous shot. From start to finish, the whole thing is done with one camera, one take. Neat stuff. The earliest version of this (as far as I know) is with Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (but it's actually just a part of a documentary film). Since then, it's been done by U2, Feist, to Miley Cyrus...so it's not as rare as you might think.
However, the 2 videos I've been obsessed with also have this...
2. The actual music is being recorded/performed live as the tape is rolling. Music videos are always lip synced, and the audio itself is previously recorded in a proper studio... which is why when you hear the album version, it sounds exactly like the music video. These two gems however, decided to record the audio live as well! So not only are they performing to the camera in one take, the artists must also perform the music correctly. It really feels "raw" and personalized...and I find the musicianship that is required to pull this off to be extremely impressive.
Anyways! 2 genres, 2 indie artists, 2 videos with one shot, with live audio. Enjoy!
Monday, May 11, 2009
An Instrumental Shopping Mall
First, sorry for the lack of update in the past little while. I've been pretty busy lately, so I haven't been able to get around to this.
Moving on...
Shopping and music tends to... have a weird relationship, at least in my mind. There's statistical evidence that if you play soft, adult-contemporary music while shopping, sales go up. Which is why when you go to shopping malls, muzak is playing on repeat (speaking of muzak, THE muzak company filed for bankruptcy in February. Seems like even their omni-present musical output has been hit by the economic crisis. But what if the music that is playing is not a pre-recorded song.. and the instrument is actually the mall itself?
Macy's in Center City Philadelphia is a National Historical Landmark because the building itself is an architectural masterpiece. It boasts Italian and Greek marble arches in it's Grand Court etc, which make it an amazing building to look at... but by far the most interesting thing in it is the "Great Pipe Organ". Built in 1904, it's a massive organ that is one of the world's largest. I like the idea of a shopping mall being something more of a focal community area where you can enjoy just sitting there and listening to music. It's amazing how having great music can change the perception of a space...
Moving on...
Shopping and music tends to... have a weird relationship, at least in my mind. There's statistical evidence that if you play soft, adult-contemporary music while shopping, sales go up. Which is why when you go to shopping malls, muzak is playing on repeat (speaking of muzak, THE muzak company filed for bankruptcy in February. Seems like even their omni-present musical output has been hit by the economic crisis. But what if the music that is playing is not a pre-recorded song.. and the instrument is actually the mall itself?
Macy's in Center City Philadelphia is a National Historical Landmark because the building itself is an architectural masterpiece. It boasts Italian and Greek marble arches in it's Grand Court etc, which make it an amazing building to look at... but by far the most interesting thing in it is the "Great Pipe Organ". Built in 1904, it's a massive organ that is one of the world's largest. I like the idea of a shopping mall being something more of a focal community area where you can enjoy just sitting there and listening to music. It's amazing how having great music can change the perception of a space...
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