This is a track

I started way back…

a-way-back-back-a-wiggity-whack.

(dig it)

but my patience diminished

and so I never did-a-dip-done-done finished.

(I ,like, totally got hung up man. It’s crazy.)

snapsnapsnap

So I had this idea for a concept piece to do in fruity loops. It would be like Camille saint-saens’ Carnival of Animals except about  beer instead of animals. And with cheezy synth loops instead of the symphony. So I started this track along time ago and never finished it. Today I just opened it up in my new FL Studio 8 and added some parts and then put a fat compressor on it.

This is about the pull. When you pour the beer from the tap. Its got all the cheezy gurgly, gloopy sound effects that I could find. It’s only a minute long, but sometimes an idea only stretches a minute.

lager

Level 1 – Miami

By nightfall, the hero wins the battle against the demonic horde with the aid of his trusty NPCs, but the battle is grueling and costly and it’s beginning to look pretty hopeless for winning the war.  This piece would loop at dawn when the hero’s hope is renewed and he begins a quest to find a way or afirm his righteousness  or something silly like that.

To break-down the arrangment:

there is a continous arpegio bell that is a sequenced synth. The Drums are essentially sequenced.

There are two main guitar tracks that overlap, and three other guitar overdubs for highlights. On all othe guitars i put on the thick Tracktion chorus filter for that eighties, fantasy sound.

The lead is played on my piano with the same Mellotron flute samples I’ve used before in other tracks.

morning

I created this acapella following this tutorial: http://www.halo3forum.com/music/164655-how-create-cpu-acapellas-full-tutorial.html

I decided to follow the original song closely, because it is just easier that way.  I should probably make the kicks more prominent, and add some more interesting drum patterns with open hi-hat, but seeing as how it is already two days late I’ll take it for what it is. I’ll probably use the acapella for a mashup if I get around to it. Enjoy!

This is just a quick sketch that I did over a couple of days. I was experimenting with the slice to MIDI function of Ableton 8. It takes a selection of audio, cuts it up based on some parameters you select, and then puts those slices into a MIDI instrument of your choosing. You can use a slice size that is based on the time signature of the piece, for example every quarter note. Or you can choose to slice at the transients that Live automatically finds for you. This is a super useful feature for me, since I used to spend a lot of time slicing samples up by hand.

I had a lot of fun making this song, and I didn’t focus too much on forcing it in a particular direction. I tried to have as much fun during the creation as possible, and let it be what it would be.  I created the instrumental, then I decided to put an acapella track to it, so I sifted through my library until I found something suitable. It’s usually easier to fit a remixed beat to an acapella, so I got pretty lucky this time.

I decided to call this song Da Mystery Of Cheeseboxin’ because I’ve been watching a lot of The Wire. Method Man plays a character named Cheese. The funny thing is Method Man only appears in the chorus of the original song.

I generally like Kanye West’s music. I think he has done some really great songs. His production is often both catchy and interesting, and his raps can be very clever and enjoyable. That said, when I listened to his most recent album, “808s and Heartbreak,” I was highly disappointed. I had been wanting for a while to record a dis track, because it sounded fun. My opinions are expressed in this song, which features me rapping over a beat I made out of samples from Kanye’s hit “Heartless.” I am not a rapper, but it was fun to dabble. Writing a good rap verse was actually harder than I thought it would be. The track is not really a full song – it only has one verse – but I was going for a sort of mixtape-style track anyway, so I think it works.

Enjoy.

This is something that me and a friend have started working on for a new project. It’s just the part with my verse. We’re still working on it. Thanks for listening!

-Donny Jarko

fudd

Also, here’s a picture I draw with my new drawing tablet. Still trying to figure out how to use it.

It’s kind-of a dog that’s a crab or something.

dcp_song

this was an old midi song that I did for a game that my friend made about 4 yrs or so ago (Dynamite Car Plane) the original was all very low fi 8 bit sounding and used square lead for all the instruments and some noise sounds for the drums, for this remix I changed up all the instruments and changed the drums a bit and mixed it more progressively, I also changed one of the basslines around and added it as another track. I really like the new version and I want to refine it more and do some lyrics for it, (that may come next post) , but I do think it’s a bit long  and in need of something more, I hope to fix those things in my next visit to it. Anyway hope you enjoy, and I’m open to ideas so let me know if you have any, thanks.

One difficulty with using instrumentals and a capellas is finding them. I found this a capella as a video on YouTube.  I downloaded the video using KeepVid then I converted the video file to just an audio track using WinFF. The Street Culture Musik blog is another great source of a capellas and instrumentals. If you are searching for a particular song I also recommend including the phrase “promo cd” in your search.

This remix itself sounds a little bit like what I would have made in 2006. It was a little bit of a rush job, and it will get some major overhaul as part of the over all Billboard Hot 100 Project. In any case I should stop making excuses and take Lady Gaga’s advice.

Lady GaGa – Just Dance (MW Remix)