This is the third movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Horn Concerto Number 2, originally written for a natural horn (without valves) and a small orchestra. Jon Hurrell of Synergy Brass Quintet performs the piece in Haydn Hall in the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, Austria.
As part of my Critical Listening class with Berklee Music Online I’ve been spending a lot of time tweaking my audio mixing room. The point is to level out the environment at the listening position for an audio response that minimizes comb filtering and nodes that cancel out frequencies. If the problem is not minimized, at least knowing the frequency problem areas can give you crucial information so you don’t over adjust in the final mixes.
The entire company of Zaia wishes you a Happy Chinese New Year. Kung Hei Fat Choy!
I had my noodles at the local Chinese restaurant and let off bottle rockets into the water of Macau. Happy to report no rockets hit me this year.
ZED had it’s last performance December 31, 2011 at Tokyo Disneyland. I was lucky to travel to Tokyo in October 2011 to see this Cirque Du Soleil show and meet the artists and musicians. The show and music were so fantastic. Consensus is that this was one of Cirque’s best shows. It’s an artistic crime that it is closing. I mean it was fantastic beyond words. It had that Cirque “magic” through out.
There are always hopes with the fans that the show will resurrect somehow – but Cirque has redeployed many of the artists to other shows and the ZED theater was built for the show which makes it difficult to move somewhere else. Artistically I know in my heart that whatever happens the original magic of ZED will have to be a time capsule for the short time it ran – about 3 years. A new magic can continue but you can’t go back and recreate the same magic.
To the musicians, artistic team and cast of ZED I say what you already know: You created a one-of-a-kind masterpiece that you can always carry in your theatrical heart. You were part of something truly magical…
In this video the various Cirque Du Soleil shows say goodbye to ZED, including the show I work currently work on: ZAIA.
I really want to quite smoking. I’ve been smoking for 26 years at a pack or 1.5 packs a day. Today was my quitting day. I made it 7 hours. Was dizzy, disorientated and thought about smoking almost every second. I’m smoking a cigarette now as I write this.
I don’t want to die from a smoking related disease. I have a lot more music work to do. Any tips from people that successfully quit smoking?
Audio engineer Bruce Swedien talks about keeping the mix primitive. Years ago I had his video series on microphone usage. The big tip I picked up from that was to use microphones to capture part of the room. Using microphone pairs to combine the source and ambient reflections. Also started to record keyboard parts going through amps rather than direct to the console.
I think it’s a wonderful approach to sound design and engineering. I’ve also always enjoyed Bruce Swedien’s low profile presentation. Most of us producing music these days are guilty at one point or another of getting too involved in the gear. I guess like with most studies the key is to study the details and geeky procedures as much as you can -- but then forget all that and do your thing when it comes to your productions. Swedien really emphasizes the important of not losing the root passion of the music.
Watch Santa Claus in his visit around the world with the live NORAD Santa Tracker at http://www.noradsanta.org
Above is a video recapping the 2010 Santa NORAD tracker. Happy H0lidays!
I find this incredibly disturbing so I’m posting it in the hopes that it incredibly disturbs you as well. And now ladies and gentlemen, the official 2001 Space Odyssey opener. (Mmmm…Also Sprach Zarathustra or something like that)
Pan Law, in practical application, states that an audio source, of equal amplitude and phase, that is played in both channels of a stereo system and panned from center to left or right will sound natural to increase 3db.
Read the Wikipedia link below for more details. (Actual change is 6.02db for perfect response and perfect acoustics, but practical application for most speaker setups is to think 3db).
Read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_law
Yin Yang. They are not completely black or white, just as things in life are not completely black or white, and they cannot exist without each other.
Highlights of Information from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang
BETA testing just opened for everyone that signed up early and opted in. See you soon in The Old Republic!
SWTOR.com is Star Wars the Old Republic -- an new MMORPG game from Bioware, Electronic Arts and Lucas Arts. Video above are some of the design team stating their opinions of the Sith Inquisitor vs the Trooper. Mmmm……I think I’m sold on the Sith Inquisitor. For those of us playing SWTOR that used to play Warcraft (which is probably most everyone) this seems a little like the Orc Warrior vs. a Rogue with some Mage abilities.
Email question received:
I read quite a few articles on the internet but still not sure who actually first composed Ave Maria, despite so many name changes to the music. I read that Bach, Schubert and Gounod were at least the three persons associated with Ave Maria but separated by hundreds of years apart. The music on Youtube and other places are the same for all three. Can you tell me?
Justin Bieber raps live during an interview with Power 106FM. I know we all like to make fun of the Bieber but this is actually a pretty good rap. I’ve run a rap artist forum for over 10 years and members there were like “ORLY?” -- they give respect to the Bieber.
I think Justin should hire me to orchestrate a hip hop album for him. Now THAT would be very cool. Wouldn’t surprise me if JB ends up having a very long career like Frank Sinatra.
In a conversation today I was reminded that Nat King Cole was a great pianist who later got fame for his vocals. So here are some clips of Nat King Cole on piano.
Clip above is Nat King Cole piano blues.
Here he is playing Tea for Two:
David Foster’s 10 tips for songwriters from his speech upon accepting the BMI Icon Award.
Barbara Walters interviews Cirque Du Soleil founder Guy LaLiberte.
“One of the things that makes billionaires successful is their reaction to failure.”
- Robert Frank, Wall Street Journal
That is such a great quote. Maybe not in the context of billionaires, but in the context that to be successful there is usually a lot of risks and with that comes occasional failure. It’s how we react and use those failures that can help propel us to each new chapter and goal.
Great interview with Danny Elfman on his music scoring of the Cirque Du Soleil show “IRIS” showing at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, CA.
Conrad Askland’s Haunted Mansion Sound Effects released October 17, 2011.
- Amazon.com – Askland’s Haunted Mansion Sound Effects
- Itunes Preview – Askland’s Haunted Mansion Sound Effects
This was a very fun, exhausting and scary project to work on. The fun part was I improvised a lot of different creepy pipe organ, harpsichord and piano music to create a feel I liked for the different Halloween themes. My favorite part was playing a lot of JS Bach style pipe organ bits interspersed with the expected Halloween tritone movements.
Cirque Du Soleil ZAIA Performance on China TV. This was a promo excerpt shot for Chinese television -- it is not a live shot from the ZAIA theater in Macau.
Email question received:
Hi Mr. Askland,
I am trying to break down the storytelling structure of Fiddler on The Roof.
I would like to talk to you, briefly, about who is the antagonist. What is
Tevya’s want. What’s his need. What you think the filmmaker’s statement is.
Norm Jewison said Fiddler’s about trying to maintain traditions in a
changing world. Do you think he’s saying that it is important or that it’s
not important to maintain traditions in a changing world.
Kind regards,
Glenn
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