Binh Nguyen's Blog: playlists

Been re-thinking my strategy of selling MIDI clips and so on. Basically, I've been thinking of creating a library of small clips in Ableton and then using this as the basis for personal music and/or reselling this on to others. An example of this is using the 'Vinyl Scratches' VST plugin to learn how to create a group of unique clips for later reuse.

Have been involved (or have been researching) various forms of online money making in recent times (options for those tired of the standard office work work). These are some of them.
http://www.maven.co/
http://www.ideaken.com/
https://www.freelancer.com.au/

Thinking more about musical bridges in music. Think of note progression, more short notes into passage and slow out (particularly into 'breakdowns') , using effects as a means to keep things blended in.

Interesting for those 'vocalists' out there (it's a vocal sampler CD. A lot of websites also provide a lot of free or paid vocal samples on-line as well)

http://www.cdsheetmusic.com/demo_order.php
http://www.cdsheetmusic.com/about.php
http://www.cdsheetmusic.com/products/products.php

If you are a vocalist, watch out for over eating. It can have some strange impacts on your body and voice.
http://www.webmd.com/heartburn-gerd/guide/what-is-acid-reflux-disease

A long time ago at University, I was playing around with automated deployment of software (reasonably sophisticated. Think about Windows automated deployment and so forth) and so on. Now there are many options out there including many distrobutions which are designed with customisation included.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/manjaro-awesome-respin/
http://speedracke6.wix.com/jessere-spin
http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/739139-roll-your-own-customized-ubuntu-with-uck
http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2662
http://susestudio.com/
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
https://wiki.debian.org/DebianCustomCD
https://www.suse.com/products/suse-cloud/
http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/
http://windowsazure.com/
http://www.suse.com/products/susestudio/
http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/34465/how-do-you-properly-fork-a-linux-distro
http://peppermintos.com/tag/respin/
http://www.linuxrespin.org/
http://linuxmint.tumblr.com/post/37500129564/how-to-remaster-respin-linux-mint-iso-images-with

Some interesting electronic artists.

http://www.discogs.com/artist/19116-Kaskade
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/kaskade/id2827464
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/10/fashion/a-200000-a-night-dj-known-as-kaskade-is-really-ryan-raddon-a-mormon.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaskade
https://soundcloud.com/groups/chill-lounge-and-deep-house
http://www.discogs.com/artist/44355-Ryan-Raddon
http://8tracks.com/explore/chill_house
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Migs
https://soundcloud.com/miguelmigs1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ti%C3%ABsto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Sinclar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitri_from_Paris
https://soundcloud.com/tiesto

https://soundcloud.com/alekseybeloozerov

- as usual thanks to all of the individuals and groups who purchase and use my goods and services
http://sites.google.com/site/dtbnguyen/
http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com.au/

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Music Players, Production, and Experimentation - Part 5

Updated and added a few more playlists to my YouTube account.

Alternative-Hip-Hop-23-Dec-14
Classic-Disco-24-Dec-14
Classical-19-Dec-14
Foreign-Hip-Hop-and-R&B-19-Dec-14
Lounge-24-Dec-14 overlaps Chillout-4-Dec-14 because style is very similar at times
Latin-and-Tango-4-Dec-14 has become Latin-Chillout-and-Tango-4-Dec-14

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwVJG67iHHPbmBxuHVbyOlw/playlists

After the recent end of production of the Apple iPod Classic it's become clear that the total number of options available in the high capacity digital music department have dwindled drastically (everyone is basically going to Flash or SSD based storage). There are some options from Fiio, an extremely option from Sony, plus using smartphones with support for high capacity flash based storage. If you're willing to buy used products other options may be the Tonium Pacemaker or old iPod Classics (they're selling for multiples of what they were selling last at retail now on eBay and Gumtree).

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/09/where-can-you-buy-a-high-capacity-mp3-player-now-the-ipod-classic-is-dead/

http://www.addictedtoaudio.com.au/product/fiio-x1-digital-audio-player
http://www.addictedtoaudio.com.au/product/fiio-x3-portable-music-player
http://www.addictedtoaudio.com.au/product/fiio-x5-portable-high-resolution-lossless-music-player

http://www.addictedtoaudio.com.au/product/sony-nwz-zx1-walkman-digital-portable-player
http://pacemakerdevice.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=68
http://pacemakerdevice.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=76

Another option are high storage wireless based devices.

http://www.cnet.com/au/products/seagate-wireless-plus-1tb/
http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/005087en?language=en_US

Been struggling with sound engineering of late. Have wondered whether or not it's simply easier to go for transiest shaper VST's across the board.
http://bedroomproducersblog.com/2012/01/05/bpb-freeware-studio-best-free-transient-shaper-vstau-plugins/

http://www.airmusictech.com/product/the-riser
https://www.youtube.com/user/AIRmusictech

Someone questioned why it seemed easy for me to improvise. I was curious about this as well. I think for the most part it's been about listening to heaps of music since I was young.

http://www.perfectpitch.com/perfectrelative.htm

http://www.pianonoise.com/Article.Simple_gifts.htm

Been having major struggles of late how to relate percussion to melody. The best music I've come across seems to have tracks and sections which blend perfectly into one another and where the relative complexity and tempo remains roughtly the same. A bigger toolkit (software or hardware) also helps. Look at work of 'Groove Armada', 'Artful Dodger', and 'Kaskade' and you'll understand what I mean.

A lot of software allows for automated scale selection (useful for me because I tend to select notes based on ear rather than selecting a key first). For those who don't who just prefer the old fashioned mechanism please consider the, 'circle of fifths'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths

Think about use of Melodyne and Antares Auto-Tune for easier composition if you're lazy. Record whistling or singing as a 'WAV'. Import it into Melodyne and then convert the notes into MIDI for import into Ableton or other DAW software.

Some interesting stuff I've come across recently. Possibly worth reworking/remixing them (looking around for good stems for remixing but am willing to work with existing songs if necessary).

Nice track but could have really done something with some note changes here and there. Strange use of panning at times, bit muddy, could have been clarified a bit in multiple frequency ranges. Could have done with master bus (or simply another layer) over the top to add some common effects to the overall track that are common to Latin and Tango tracks (Vinyl distortion, bitcrushing, equalisation, compression, etc...). Some sections don't blend into one another as a stronger song should, could be interesting for samples. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edHXUHTCvBI

Great overall. Some beautiful sections but a little bit disjointed. Bridges (personally, currently struggling with this) into breakdowns use heavy delay, reverb. Breakdowns similarly awkward at times (feel and emotion is just way off). More active strings/harmonica in parts, realy bring out the best in the musician/clip/instrument in question. Rain effect possibly replaced with heavy vinyl distortion effect? Just strange with that muddied sound. Bring up velocity or mixing volume of the piano in some parts? Better use of velocity/dynamics in some parts. Could have used some light scratching in some sections and some glitching if you going for an Alternative Hip Hop and Latin feel to it, made more use of panning and other effects to create better atmosphere. The best tracks that I've come across you can often close you're eyes and you're sitting right in front of the ochestra or band itself. You can't do that here. Ripe for sampling or remixing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOYb9CV2qoQ

Ripe for sampling/remix... Heavier percussion in sections. Overlay scratching in parts. Some glitching. Perhaps electrical guitar over top. Vinyl distortion, bitchrushing for greater character. Really bring out some instruments and dynamics of them... Aware that lazy feel is common to this particular style/genre of music though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2dFLlaEaIU

Overall nice, downtempo track. Slow down vibrato/tremolo rate on some synthesiser sections. Suffering from distortion in the mix in the lower end bass and percussion area. Could have done with some extra complexity/variation in the percussion/synthesiser pad area. Am using monitor style headphones (Audio Technica ATH-M50X) so believe it may be the mix rather than equipment. Deals with high frequency harshness nicely. Feels like, low pass (or multi-band) filter, EQ, compressed, etc... Extra reverb plus some delay across the board on the bus to emphasise atmosphere? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhskiBuoIiY

Lacks oomph, character. A bit lost at times but that is particular to this genre. Greater dynamics across the board. Extra complexity on percussion, staccato shorter, more sincupated rim. Violin string section slightly more active at times. Clarify sound, enhance detail or is that just this particular copy? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c1ngk41fm0

Looking to try some remix competitions. Looking for stems...

http://www.remixcomps.com/

http://www.rudimental.co.uk/remixes/

https://soundcloud.com/groups/free-stems-project-remixs-show-off-your-skills

https://soundcloud.com/tags/stems

Note that there may be a lot of restrictions depending on where you get the stems from. Also that many competitions force you to forfeit right to royalties. You may get prizes/recognition though.

https://realworldrecords.com/remixed/get-stems/84776/

Interesting stuff from these guys (from a song that I found elsewhere).

http://www.chilloutmusic.yolasite.com

- as usual thanks to all of the individuals and groups who purchase and use my goods and services
http://sites.google.com/site/dtbnguyen/
http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com.au/

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Blogging, Music Production, and Experimentation - Part 4

A follow on from:

http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com/2014/12/music-production-and-experimentation_18.html

Have been struggling to come up with ideas for establishing myself within the music sector. Have been going through the possibilities and some of the following options look interesting.

When you are ready (have something worthy of selling to the public), submit your work to various music aggregators (and media outlets) for more advertising.
http://musicaggregator.blogspot.com.au/
http://musicaggregator.blogspot.com.au/p/add-your-music-blog.html
http://musicbloglist.com/
http://songtweak.com/

Hook up with relevant social groups to get you some interest.
https://www.facebook.com/AbletonUserGroupMelbourne?_fb_noscript=1
https://www.ableton.com/en/community/user-groups/
http://www.meetup.com/Ableton-Live-User-Group-Melbourne/

Other options include the usual web specific blogs.
https://soundcloud.com/
http://www.mixcloud.com/
https://bandcamp.com/

I've sometimes seen MIDI files being sold online. Who's to say that up and coming artists can't do the same for themselves. Even if you are just a composer or soemthing who's beginining to learn the business you still need to create stems and samples that may be worthy of selling (sample some of the discs from some music magazines) and you'll understand what I mean. Besides, a lot of the time you need composition pieces to be able to audition for music school (if you ever intend to do so). The easiest way that I can think of at the moment to gather interest is to basically, stick the sample on loop and then stick it on YouTube. You can sell it via an online market or else via something like, https://selz.com/
http://subaqueousmusic.com/free-dubstep-and-downtempo-midi-drums/
https://www.dubstepforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=193790
http://www.nonstop2k.com/midi-files/archive.php?cid=50
http://www.download-midi.com/files/genre/Dubstep
http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/midi/index.shtml
http://www.dancemidisamples.com/download-free-samples.html
http://mididrumfiles.com/
https://www.loopmasters.com/genres/49-Dubstep/products/1062-MIDI-Focus-Dubstep-Synths
http://www.dancemidisamples.com/by-genre-45/dubstep.html
https://primeloops.com/ultimate-dubstep-drummer.html
http://www.midichords.com/midichords
http://mididb.com/

You may need to think about copyright difficulties if you decide to 'cover/copy' from another artist though.
http://www.quora.com/Are-downloaded-MIDI-files-copyright-free

Sell sound samples if you have anything worth sampling.
http://www.midiworld.com/sounds.htm

Sell synthesiser patch sets. Problem is that you often may not be able to sell anything if you don't have any music to be able to advertise your 'wares'. Stick the sample on loop on a group of notes and then run it through a presets at regular intervals to provide a sample of what the customer is being offered on YouTube.
http://alonso-sound.com/dt_catalog/alonso-thomas-gold-spire-soundset/

Sell music making templates. Problem is that like a lot of other things there is a huge market to that you need to deal with. It's a bit of a chicken and egg problem here. You need music to have people want to purchase the template?
http://subaqueousmusic.com/product-category/live-packs/

Another way is to simply make synthesiser software which is easily possible via Reaktor, create sample packs via Kontakt. A lot of the required documentation actually comes with the software to enable you to be able to create.
http://www.native-instruments.com/en/community/reaktor-user-library/other/10/all/all/all/latest/1/
http://www.reaktortips.com/search/label/Practical%20Reaktor

Have been having significant troubles with regards to running CPU load when running certain software synthesiser VSTs. 'Freezing' seems like the easiest option without having to upgrade hardware.
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov07/articles/livetech_1107.htm
https://www.ableton.com/en/articles/reduce-cpu-load/
http://sonicbloom.net/en/ableton-live-tutorial-how-to-freeze-tracks-to-reduce-processing-power/

If you can't figure anything else for the moment try to monetise you're musical journey in the meantime.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/sep/02/how-to-build-and-monetise-a-blog
http://www.wpcopilot.com.au/blog/monetize-wordpress-blog/
http://www.wpcopilot.com.au/affiliate-program/
http://www.blogmarketingacademy.com/top-10-blog-monetization-strategies-ranked/
http://www.problogger.net/make-money-blogging/

Which reminds me there are some interesting options out there for those of you looking to simplify you're blogging environment (if you're running multiple blogs. Note that some of these options are no longer relevant and some services such as Tumblr and YouTube already have such facilities builtin).

http://tweetymail.com/
http://freenuts.com/10-ways-to-update-twitter-via-email/
http://www.labnol.org/internet/email/send-twitter-updates-email-mobile-phone-without-sms/2955/

https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/41452?hl=en
http://mashable.com/2009/08/11/how-to-update-facebook/
http://facebookawesometricks.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/easiest-way-to-update-facebook-status.html
http://email.about.com/od/Facebook-Messages-Tips/qt/How-To-Post-Updates-And-Upload-Photos-By-Email-In-Facebook.htm

http://bamajr.com/2013/02/16/posting-to-google-plus-via-email/
http://www.computerworlduk.com/how-to/applications/3308148/how-to-post-to-google-by-email/

- as usual thanks to all of the individuals and groups who purchase and use my goods and services
http://sites.google.com/site/dtbnguyen/
http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com.au/

Friday, December 19, 2014

Music Production and Experimentation - Part 3

A follow on from:
http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/music-production-and-experimentation.html

Have created 'Classical', 'Foreign Hip Hop and R&B', and 'Soundtrack' playlists on my YouTube profile. Not much there at the moment. I'll add more as time goes on.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwVJG67iHHPbmBxuHVbyOlw/playlists

I've been looking at doing a music course of some sort for a while now (short course or even a degree). Fees can range from several hundred to several thousand dollars.
http://www.bhtafe.edu.au/courses/local/Pages/MUPF5.aspx
http://www.aim.edu.au/?gclid=CLfnmJeMyMICFVIDvAodhaUAsw
http://www.aim.edu.au/future-students/domestic-student-information/fees
http://www.aim.edu.au/courses/composition-music-production/entry-requirements
https://www.kangan.edu.au/courses/tafe-courses/browse-for-courses/course-detail?coursecode=2404
http://www.jmcacademy.edu.au/Course/Contemporary-Music-and-Performance.cfm
http://www.melbournepolytechnic.edu.au/sem/music-courses/?gclid=CO22hpeNyMICFUkGvAodmWUA0g
http://www.vu.edu.au/courses/advanced-diploma-of-music-cus60109
http://www.careerfaqs.com.au/online-courses/diploma-of-music-melbourne/
https://www.nida.edu.au/courses/vet/musical-theatre
http://www.melbournepolytechnic.edu.au/study-areas/creative-industries/music/?gclid=CJOz4fDnx8ICFVcJvAod5BkAeg#
http://www.cae.edu.au/web/?category=58
http://www.cae.edu.au/web/?cinfo=courseguides

There may be some government help but you must fit specific criteria.
http://www.melbournepolytechnic.edu.au/study-areas/creative-industries/music/?gclid=CJOz4fDnx8ICFVcJvAod5BkAeg
http://www.melbournepolytechnic.edu.au/shortcourses/song-writing-online
http://www.ctaonline.com.au/Government-Funding-Training-Courses.html
http://www.eaa.edu.au/index.php/prospective-students/government-funding
http://www.melbournepolytechnic.edu.au/fees/fees-for-local-students/
http://www.vic.gov.au/grants.html

There are, of course, some online options which will also provide certification of skills if you aren't keen on spending too much time on campus and/or don't have the time/dedication to go the other way. In most cases, you'll have to pass an audition of some sort though which involves a demonstration of proficiency, a portfolio, as well as possibly an academic pedigree (high school or private tuition).
http://www.quora.com/What-are-some-websites-similar-to-Coursera
https://www.coursera.org/course/classicalcomp
https://www.coursera.org/signature/course/classicalcomp/973841
http://www.quora.com/What-are-some-websites-similar-to-Coursera
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/music-and-theater-arts/
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/music-and-theater-arts/21m-303-writing-in-tonal-forms-i-spring-2009/
http://www.matchacollege.com/blog/2008/get-into-the-rhythm-50-open-courseware-collections-for-musicians/
http://www.musictheory.net/
http://musescore.org/
http://www.pianopractice.org/

There will be some websites which will often place there reference materials behind walls of some sort but with intelligent searching you can often find a way around these limitations without having to register/signup for further marketing material.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/bm-marketing-assets/handbooks/music-theory-handbook.pdf
http://bundles2.bittorrent.com/berklee-online/pdf/Berklee%20Online%20-%20Piano%20Handbook.pdf
http://bundles2.bittorrent.com/berklee-online/

Some material on programming synthesisers.
http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/26-essential-synth-tutorials-224845/
http://exellon.net/book/The_Complete_Synthesizer.pdf
http://www.infekted.org/virus/files/HowardScarr-VirusTutorial-ProgrammingAnalogueSynths.pdf

A place where you can purchase parts to experiment with .
http://littlebits.cc/
http://littlebits.cc/kits/synth-kit

There are a lot of tablet based music making applications now .
http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/the-best-android-music-making-apps-in-the-world-today-276167
http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/the-best-android-music-making-apps-in-the-world-today-276167/4
http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/free-music-software-the-best-audio-app-and-plug-in-downloads-on-the-net-255880

Sometimes you don't have a vocalist nearby. An option is to try computerised vocals.
http://www.bestservice.de/en/virtual_instruments/vocals.html
http://howtomakeelectronicmusic.com/how-to-create-computerized-vocals-in-fl-studio-without-vocalist
https://www.dubstepforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=263246

Sometimes, I have difficulties with getting the type of sound that I want and/or need. Here are some itneresting manuals.
http://lakeishak129.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/the-mixing-engineers-handbook-2nd.pdf
http://www.bengribaudo.com/audio-engineering/free-learning-resources
http://www.martin-audio.com/userguides/GUIDES/MANUALS/Engineer%20User%20Guide.pdf
http://www.yamahaproaudio.com/global/en/training_support/selftraining/

Having being having some frustrations with sound libraries being built with later versions of Kontakt/Reaktor. Has been frustrating me to the point where I thought is there a way to bypass the checks (easily possible with many simple system checks. I only investigated as I'm on a mobile prepaid connection at the moment which means that I am trying limit my downloads.).
http://www.native-instruments.com/forum/threads/ewql-libraries-with-more-recent-kontakt.148838/
http://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/knowledge-base/show/904/installing-different-versions-of-the-same-native-instruments-application-on-one-computer/
http://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/all-downloads/
http://co.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=freeupdates
http://www.native-instruments.com/?id=freeupdates
http://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/downloads/
https://co.native-instruments.com/?id=updates

Some interesting tips with regards to 'House Music'.
http://modeaudio.com/magazine/deep-house-5-production-essentials
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct99/articles/20tips.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_progressive_house_artists
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaskade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_house
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_progressive_house_artists
https://topdeejays.com/genres//

Setup a new Tumblr account. Basically, a mirror of my Twitter account.
http://dtbnguyen.tumblr.com/

- as usual thanks to all of the individuals and groups who purchase and use my goods and services
http://sites.google.com/site/dtbnguyen/
http://dtbnguyen.blogspot.com.au/

Binh Nguyen's Blog

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Sunday, January 4, 2015

Updated Playlists, Tutorials, Linux Re-spins/Custom Distributions