May 2012
13 posts
4 tags
5 tags
6 tags
2 tags
York's Castle Museum
By way of introducing the following photosets. I had a delightful first look around York’s Castle Museum last Saturday, with a view to possibly using it as a case study for my MA research project looking at sound in narrative spaces. I’m still a little way off properly framing my research aims in a way that is i) interesting, ii) sufficiently narrow in scope, iii) creatively...
4 tags
28 days of great ideas... #6
Keep a dream diary. Writing down or drawing - or both - the fragments of your recent dreams. Who know what it will reveal?
5 tags
5 tags
28 days of great ideas... #5
Had to watch this video a few times … and very slowly … to get a good handle on it. The upshot is that it should (honestly) make for a better-sounding cinematic experience, due to the fact that Dolby have finally given object-based mixing a real go. This allows sound events to be placed and moved pretty freely around an actual space, rather than the kind 5.1 or 7.1 Dolby systems that...
2 tags
28 days of great ideas... #4 →
A great aladdin’s cave for sound designers - and anyone interested in sound and technology generally.
4 tags
28 days of great ideas... #3 →
Great resource for both finding interesting sounds, and uploading your own for others to use. The institute behind it is the Music Technology Group (MTG) based at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, where I studied last year.
This article on the possibilities and benefits of fostering an user-led, online community gives some hard data on how and why such communities function and prosper.
6 tags
28 days of great ideas... #2 →
Yes, all the hoopla has been about John Peel’s record collection (which is indeed fab), but there’s a lot more to be had on this portal. The philosophy and architecture behind it is explained rather well by Mo McRoberts here, and the whole “broadcaster-in-a-box” ideology does seem like a place we’ll all be landing on in the not-too-distant future.
4 tags
28 days of great ideas... #1
First up is this virtual orchestra at the South Bank in London, which can go from a solitary piccolo to a full-blown orchestra, depending on how many “participants” are involved at any one time.
Judging by some of the videos on YouTube, this is a pretty old installation, but it’s still a neat idea all the same.
6 tags
2 tags
28 days of.... great ideas.
What?
Stealing this idea from @dubber and tweaking it a little (because, you know, why not?), for the rest of this month I will be curating a list of 28 great ideas to be proud of.
Why?
I’m currently mining for ideas, concepts and inspirations to help me with the final project for my Sound Design MA.
How it works
Everyday for the rest of this month I’ll be posting links to...
March 2012
1 post
1 tag
February 2012
2 posts
3 tags
1 tag
January 2012
9 posts
3 tags
There Is A Field: Review →
Thanks much to Lawrence at Radio Drama Reviews for this review. I’m just glad the story is reaching people.
3 tags
There Is A Field: Part 2 on Radio Drama Revival
Part 2 of There Is A Field is now up on Radio Drama Revival. You can listen to it here.
6 tags
2 tags
FAWM 2012
Image by Ralph Hogaboom: HQX Design
What Is FAWM And Why It’s Important?
If you’ve never heard of February Album Writing Month before, there’s no better time to dip your toes into the mildy addictive - music-making merry-go-round that takes place on the FAWM website. I wonder if, perhaps, in 20 years people will talk about FAWM in the same way they do about those who take...
Art of the Title →
Currently enjoying…
2 tags
3 tags
WatchIn class today - assembling a Schoeps DMS (Double Mid Side) setup. The big round of applause when the assemble was finally finished was genuine!
4 tags
There Is A Field: Part 1 on Radio Drama Revival
Thanks so much to Richard Summers and the Radio Drama Revival crew for persevering, and really surveying the issues that surround a subject.
Radio Drama Revival: Episode 261 - There Is A Field, Part I aired last Friday, featuring an interview with playwright Jen Marlowe and also Aseel’s younger sister, Siwar. I’ve not heard the interviews yet myself so can’t wait to listen....
2 tags
Skope magazine: Sunday Afternoon 5pm →
A write up on a 2009 FAWM collaboration. Great to see this song getting a little love in the press - see: sometimes it takes people three years to catch on to the good stuff.
This is such a great collaboration, between Michael Gutierrez-May, Sapient and myself.
December 2011
1 post
2 tags
REVIEW: There Is A Field on RDR →
Awesome news! Radio Drama Revival have put up a great review of There Is A Field on their podcast page. Tune in from 2 mins 50 secs. I’ll post again when the podcast date has been confirmed.
October 2011
2 posts
Watch
2 tags
Now playing on Audiobook Radio →
Only a few days left to catch There Is A Field playing out live on Audiobook Radio. Every day for the remainder of this week at 2.17 am / pm and 8.17 am / pm.
If you managed to listen in, let me know what you think of it.
September 2011
2 posts
3 tags
Putting aside Twitter’s largely-indifferent response to PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake winning the 2011 Mercury Music Prize, I wondered if this win might encourage other musicians to focus their lenses outward?
I don’t know if Harvey herself references it, I get a huge sense of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and her Children from that album.
- - -
Why PJ Harvey’s...
2 tags
July 2011
1 post
3 tags
Externalising The Internal You
What is it?
Externalising The Internal You is a short film created for the 2011 edition of the 48 Hour Film Project - the first time the event has been held in Barcelona.
Elevator pitch
A man takes charge of his destiny with interesting results.
Who’s involved?
Based on an original idea by Anna O’Flynn, Steven Garland, and Mariana Gonzalez Pie
Produced & Directed by Dan Ryan
...
June 2011
12 posts
1 tag
Curating Everything: Track20
Fever
In that time-honoured fashion of coming “full circle”, the final offering in the Curating Everything series is in fact the oldest song on the collection, Fever. When did I write this song…? Gotta be about 2002-3. This started out as a really hippy-ish heavy drone played with footstomps and banging pots and pans,
inspired by the Stereolab song Crest, which uses only two...
1 tag
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people...”
– Maya Angelou
6 tags
1 tag
Curating Everything: Track05
Boy Seeking Girl
Some songs are written out of necessity, the need to get something off my chest, if you will. Others to kill time, to try out a favourite line, chord sequence or a new something. Boy Seeking Girl was inspired by a need to express, as well as giving birth to one of my favourite chord sequences (extra special prize if you can guess, a) what the progression is and, b) which two...
1 tag
Curating Everything: Track07
He’s The Man
A really cool song which, to be honest, I couldn’t make as great as I wanted it to be. Initially slated to feature on The Price Of Love EP, It just never stood out to me as “finished”. Fantastic chorus, though.
Listen to He’s The Man
3 tags
1 tag
Curating Everything: Track13
Rufus Goes Pop!
It’s not often I dip my toes into the pool of Americana. I tried to use the Fifty Ninety songwriting challenge as a vehicle to push myself into other genres and other ways of writing - much more so than when I’m writing for FAWM, and lyrically I think this one ploughs familiar territory (for the genre) without resorting to cliches.
Listen to Rufus Goes Pop!
1 tag
Curating Everything: Track03
The Fury
Wiser birds than me will say that the best songs write themselves and are generally written pretty quickly. I can’t disagree with that at all. Of the songs I’ve written, my favourites are overwhelmingly the ones that came together in 30-60 minutes.
The Fury is one of those. I spent about four years on and off working in mental health institutions and facilities in various...
1 tag
Curating Everything: Track16
Learning To Fly
My attempt to write a companion to the bittersweet melody of Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. I wrote this for the 50/90 songwriting challenge, 2009. I didn’t do the challenge last year, and won’t be committing to it this year, but may be using it and the community to try out a few things. Watch this space.
Listen to Learning To Fly
2 tags
London Sky
What is it?
(2009) Third track from Jonny Kilbane’s debut EP, Outside Office Hours.
Elevator pitch
Contemporary pop ballad.
Who’s involved?
Lyrics by Jonny Kilbane
Music by: Marie Tueje
Arranged by: Marie Tueje and Jonny Kilbane
Produced by: Marie Tueje
Mixed by: Marie Tueje
Further details
http://www.myspace.com/jonnykilbanemusic
2 tags
Moment In The Sun
What is it?
(2010) Adult-contemporary ballad written by Jonathan Kilbane and Marie Tueje.
Elevator pitch
Triumphing over adversity and keeping your dignity no matter what slings and bombshells life lays at your door. Moment In The Sun is a bombastic, life-affirming anthem which would not be out of place in the cannon of Diane Warren.
Who’s involved?
Lyrics - Jonathan Kilbane Melody -...
3 tags
Antígona
What is it?
(2011) Interpretation of Sophocles’ Greek tragedy, by Ariadna Moore.
Elevator pitch
Dysfunctional family values laid bare for all to see in a tale of gender, pride, tyranny and the power of the state.
“In spite of the orders, I shall give my brother burial, whether thou, Ismene, wilt join with me or not.”
Who’s involved?
Text by: Ariadna Moore
Directed...
May 2011
4 posts
4 tags
If you’re a newsletter subscriber (sign-up here if you’re not), I’ve got a little something for ya!
Behold! the Members’ Area that I’ve created on my Soundcloud page.
With the secret all-knowing link, you get to listen to and download things that the non-knowing can’t. The secret link will be going round with the next newsletter, which I sort of need to plan...
1 tag
Curating Everything: Track02
Disappointment
A song about nothing (and there’s nothing wrong with that). Love the sound of this; that early/mid-80s doomy goth-with-pop, which was influenced directly I have to say, by getting myself all tangled up in the virtuous simplicity of ‘Til Tuesday’s Voices Carry.
Listen to Disappointment
3 tags
Project: Antigone (2/2)
Finally it’s finished. My almost-year-long journey into the depths of a dark and troubled mind has been printed. Done. And boy, am I relieved!
Above are snippets (excerpts) of the seven chapters that comprise La Muerte de Antígona por Ariadna Moore. I’m not exactly sure that the snippets do the whole thing justice, but it gives you a feel for the environment that Antígona 2011...
3 tags
The Audio-First Classroom by Giovanna Chesler →
Am ploughing my way through the above this week. Has been on my to-do list for a while, and now I finally have a little free time. I’ll keep you posted should anything “good” come out of it.
April 2011
7 posts
1 tag
Interview
Here’s a transcript of an interview I gave to Beth Edwards of 1st Angel Arts Magazine. It’s from 2009, and I found it interesting to read this two years on. It certainly gave me food for thought in terms of what things have changed (and what things remain the same) since then.
I remember quite perfectly answering Beth’s questions in the departure lounge of Gatwick Airport at a...
5 tags
Recording: Beth Trollan
At the beginning of March, I engineered a mini recording session with a gifted vocalist, Beth Trollan. It was a full-on task, but we managed to cram the recording of eight jazz standards into a day session. We recorded How High The Moon, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, You Don’t Know What Love Is, Georgia On My Mind, Bye Bye Blackbird and Canteloupe Island.
Beth and I did the mixing...
1 tag
Curating Everything: Track11
Christmas In June
One of those happy accidents that just turned out amazingly well. Christmas In June is one of my favourite songs I’ve written, and it all came together during the sessions for The Price Of Love. I was taking a “de-stress” break from recording and just started playing around with the main verse riff - which I’d had beneath my fingers on and off for years...