Falling from silver clouds Carried down by the wind Tossed around, up again To the warm ground, descend Gently, snowflakes will land To the ground, receives them
The theme was winter or holidays. In the past, when we’ve done this theme I made a rearrangement of a public domain Christmas hymn, so while I made this to be an original composition, I knew that I wasn’t going to have a lot of time to work on it. Despite that, I am happy with the result; it was difficult to get the vocal and guitar sounds.
Taking samples of something I noodled in Korg DS-10 and then tracking (with Renoise) around them generated a result that feels neither like tracking, nor like jamming on DS-10. Please recall the 90s when there were a lot of tech/trance music that dared the listener to sit through repeating motifs and watch for very subtle changes. Thankfully, I’m not that subtle.
The lyric means that extremism is not rewarded as often as it may appear to be, and that something can be gained from any experience, positive or negative.
There is no home for the quiet There is no home for the loud There is no home for the humble There is no home for the proud
This airy piece uses synth and drum loops created with Native Instruments‘ Kore Player (using Haiku, Linus, and Flengoland presets,) Green Oak’s Crystal, and LinPlug’s FreeAlpha VSTs. The sound I was trying to create was that of the college radio electronic music shows I’d listen to in the late 90′s, with the voice of the DJ listing the track titles ducking the atmospheric music.
The vocal is a recording Creative Commons licensed “Attribution” by essesq and can be downloaded on its own by clicking here. It is a most excellent explanation of the Creative Commons purpose and cause.
We hold these truths to be self-evident
That all art is created equal.
That it is endowed by its creators
With certain unalienable rights
That among these are
The right to be protected,
The right to be shared, and
The unfettered right to inspire others.
We the people,
Creators all
Demand absolute determination
And dominion
Over works of our own creation.
We will not be restricted
By the tyranny of copyright lobbyists
Nor will we be denied
The protection of the laws of our land.
We seek not destruction of the artistic landscape
But its development
In the fertile ground
Of the digital age.
Orthodoxy is the enemy of freedoms,
Change their natural child.
In this land
Of refuge from oppression,
Freedom of expression can and should
Mean freedom to share.
One, without the other, is useless.
Freedom to contract,
To bargain and exchange
Whatever currency we choose
Money, hugs, laughter, tears, music, poetry, images
At soul’s length, not at arms length.
We the artists place our trust
In one another, not just in God.
We are not afraid
That the pie slice will be too small
To line our pockets.
A rushed entry made for the remix contest Detroit VI. I like to do these because the samples are usually so off-the-wall that they throw you off guard and require creativity. I wish I didn’t have the trip in the middle so I wouldn’t feel so rushed, but really appreciate the new rules, which made my entry possible: competitors had a greater deadline of a week, within which you may spend 48 consecutive hours creating your piece, starting from when you download the samples. I hope those rules remain in effect because I never feel like I use all the tools at my disposal when I create these things, even though I’m always surprised at the results.
