tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1344633604801002442024-03-05T14:02:00.223+00:00Sam Watts - Composer BlogMostly about music (mine, generally) and things, sometimes about other stuff that's on my mind. Vague, eh?!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-40310721907772034562019-04-02T10:13:00.002+01:002019-04-02T10:13:19.019+01:00Real TalkHello again everyone.<br /><br />I’m going to be serious for once. This is a post I’ve been thinking about writing for a while now. I want to talk to you about mental health and about making mistakes. Both of these things are not spoken about much, so I’m going to tell you a personal story in the hope that it will help one or two people.<br /><br />In 2005/06, I started working as a freelance composer. It was scary, but exactly what I wanted to do, and my parents had always said, “If you don’t try you’ll never know. You don’t want to end up regretting not trying.” My stance on it was, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll do something else.<br /><br />Fast forward to 2014. I’d had nine years of non-stop work on big shows like <i>Planet Earth</i>, <i>The Sarah Jane Adventures</i>, and <i>Wizards vs Aliens</i>. I was, by some measure, a success. I had managed to make a decent living doing what I loved. What luck! But…<br /><br />I was tired. Working very hard had drained me. I wasn’t in the best place, so I decided that I would take a few months off to relax and get myself in better mental shape. I was lucky that I could afford to do so. But that’s what I’d worked so hard for, right? I enjoyed those few months, so I decided to extend them a little so that I could work on writing my first album (<i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forest-Sam-Watts/dp/B0746R9P2D">The Forest</a>,</i> which was released much later). I hadn’t written music just for the sake of it for nine years; it was going to be fun. And it was.<br /><br />Here is the mistake: “Time off”. I put it in quotation marks because I was working; I just wasn’t getting paid directly for it. I hate it when people say creatives “aren’t working” because they’re not currently under contract (I could do an entire post just on how wrong that perception is). Yes, I’d just had a few months of swanning about in my underwear, binge-watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, but now I was back to work. Working as hard as anyone else does to create a good product that I could sell.<br /><br />Five years later and I have worked very little in film and television since. I have been incredibly productive – I have written and released three albums (and am finishing my fourth), along with a number of production music albums. I have begun writing a musical. I’ve contributed to a book. I’ve been pitching for ads. I’ve been trying to network to get jobs. I’ve been attached to three projects that have fallen through (which is soul-destroying). I haven’t stopped working. I just haven’t had very many commissions.<br /><br />What I should have done is kept working, because in this industry, you have to be busy to be seen. I wasn’t busy. I wasn’t seen. Now people have forgotten the work I have done and who I am (not in a “don’t you know who I am?” way – just, literally, my name doesn’t resonate because it hasn’t been seen or heard in the right circles for a long time). So in 2016, when I started to try and get work again, nobody wanted to hire me. It was like starting my career all over again.<br /><br />While all of this was going on, unseen by me, my relationship started to have trouble. The beginnings of a breakdown in communication: small and seemingly insignificant at first, but which would eventually (spoiler alert) decay into a breakup. I’m not going to go into great detail out of respect for my partner’s privacy (and my own) but, after a 15-year relationship, I ended it. The hardest decision of my life. It was taken because my mental health (both due to work – or lack thereof – and the relationship) was at its lowest. I was depressed. Drinking a bottle of wine every night. No, let’s be honest. More than. Starting at 6pm. Then 5pm. Then 4pm… It was a real problem. There were times when I was suicidal. My physical health declined, too. I was broken and trying to numb myself. Eventually, I had no option but to change the cycle, or I’d probably have drunk myself into an early grave…<br /><br />Mistakes happen. You can regret them but, ultimately, you have to deal with them. I am dealing with mine. I moved to Manchester. I have had to start my career from scratch – again. It’s still an uphill struggle to get work, but that will change. I know I’m good at what I do and I know that the right thing will turn up soon.<br /><br />I have a new partner who loves me like crazy and I love him twice as much as that. I’m barely even a social drinker these days. I'm happier than I have been for longer than I can remember. I still have bad days. There are still times when I think I’ll never get hired again. There are still times that I don’t think I have any talent, that I’m not good enough. But that’s okay. It’s okay to not be okay all the time.<br /><br />We live in a world where happy faces doing exciting things greet us daily on social media. Where everyone in the world is constantly having fun… and it’s a massive lie. I am guilty of the same thing. The majority of my social media posts are positive, silly, or of fun stuff I’m doing. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Who wants to see a constant stream of misery? But maybe, like this blog, we should all be peppering our “public image” with the odd not-so-fun thing. Real life is hard and full of struggle. It’s also fun and full of love. We should remember both of these things, because if we believe one or the other is the only way it should be, it can only lead to bad things.<br /><br />Much love,<br /><br />Sam<br /><br /><br />P.S. Any directors/producers/execs looking for a composer? 😉Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-31885176788493487622019-03-15T12:19:00.001+00:002019-03-15T12:19:10.390+00:00Gallifrey One 2019Hello all,<br /><br />I am back from LA. Yay for LA! What a fabulously bonkers place it is. I do love it.<br /><br />Hopefully, I saw some of you at <a href="http://www.gallifreyone.com/">Gallifrey One</a> – and, if not, maybe I will next year (if they’ll have me back)! For those of you who don’t know, Gally is the largest and longest-running annual Doctor Who convention in the world. And what a lot of fun it is! Shaun and his team do an astounding job, from the breadth of panels, the variety of guests, and the way guests and attendees are looked after to the inclusive, safe space they create.<br /><br />This year was a busy one. I started off on a panel about the <a href="https://www.denofgeek.com/uk/tv/buffy-the-vampire-slayer/59266/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-reboot-news">Buffy the Vampire Slayer “reboot”</a> with my partner, <a href="https://jeyradan.wixsite.com/science">Mick</a>, which was a lot of fun. Lots of people with great opinions and knowledge of the extended world of Buffy from the comics to the novels – and a lot of great discussion about what people would like (and not like) to see from the TV “reboot”.<br /><br />I then had a great time on the main stage with <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkAyresRWS?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Mark Ayres</a> and <a href="https://www.blairmowat.co.uk/">Blair Mowat</a> talking all things musical in the world of Doctor Who. The lovely <a href="https://www.edwardrussell.co.uk/">Edward Russell</a> guided us through it and kept us in check. It was interesting to hear Mark’s and Blair’s experiences and how they differed from mine. The one thing that was definitely consistent was the feeling of being a team, a family even, when working on the Whoniverse. It’s a very special thing.<br /><br /><br /><img height="300" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/qUdTFhSo1HAm1Md5XQk9oBaVFAl1VQHVuOEMp7XSkYPVvBiojxqTUJy4iscGhDCFR6jXkFZg3BXX5vs_aN04O81ZubeAySP1_YOb9S-cJ0tKwZi23c4Eq_b9mQwT3GiVhkOYJKVd" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />The annual music panel was next. Again with Mick and his friend Ramie – the two of them started the music panel at Gally nine years ago, along with two other friends who sadly weren’t there this year. We’ll have to think of something special to do for the tenth anniversary next year! We were with our friend Kat, Doctor Puppet composer <a href="https://www.scottampleford.com/">Scott Ampleford</a>, and a lovely fan called Brian whom I first met at The Attic (the tenth anniversary convention for The Sarah Jane Adventures) a few years ago. We chatted about the new series of Doctor Who and, of course, focused on <a href="http://www.segunakinola.com/">Segun Akinola</a>’s new take on scoring the show. There was a lot of love in the room for him, even if I do look angrily animated in this photo… I think I was saying how I love that Segun doesn’t crash all over dialogue with heavy drums…<br /><br /><br /><img height="265" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Pj2No0ugzkd3iWOz-ZFj0f-yuAruJZYap93C7ROfNpe1kVvkMoqdia13ZhxvePJyDt9Cj6KX59Pb1r1xNHTCMe7Aol5EVi7wB57EaXgBRW50xD-MYXW63RVeqvfx6ruJGPa4Ab3J" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />Following on from that was a kaffeeklatsch with me, Mark, and Blair. These are possibly my favourite thing to do. It’s a small group of about 12 people who come to have a coffee and a chat. It’s informal, friendly, and really good fun. This one was interesting. I think it was as much fun for me to just get to chat nerdy music things with Mark and Blair as it (hopefully) was for the attendees. There were some great questions about things ranging from technology to composition process and the three of us got to tell some of our favourite stories and generally have a good laugh. Mark was a little late and there ended up being no seat for him so…<br /><br /><br /><img height="300" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/tJVtQYCMgW28lyMUTtRWUGKHqSLr8OumJT6qosa3hohZy-hbKRXukFs3BFXmIrV0aNhlzvyt8CvDsd4fpQrSbmzAzczwbcK3TA_msQO_jpxzn1YPkQH3ynFn94h1BxH1tko9BQeh" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />I also did a few signing, which I still find a strange concept. Mick edited my name card to let people know who I am…<br /><br /><br /><img height="261" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/l_M3GbVvBlATqo4Lni30u4GljK29LGkucC_g-4yC6KvqQ3TtnoiRKQUcO3SC5cmL3slFnOc-VtTQ-1q9PFKkqfY-hfb2cBbvsKjZOwey6v9n-ce_F1CodXC2QUOKuJ_DzuRtqfhj" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />This actually came from a conversation in the lobby with a very lovely guy who, when he found out that I’d worked on The Sarah Jane Adventures, said, “Oh! You’re a minor celebrity, then.”<br /><br /><br />Finally, the closing ceremony – also a lot of fun. The guests all parade onto the stage and say a little something about their weekend. It’s lots of thanking Shaun and the team (rightly so!) and thanking the fans (also rightly so!). I usually attempt to be funny – not always the best idea; this year I think I said I was sad about the fact that it was the last year at the convention with the carpet. We all love the carpet. Look at this beauty!<br /><br /><br /><img height="400" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/NZna0JoRNO5-rHDp2I3FTjTrCfjwX-dulr7A1AMtR6fikO4aakGfeU7hgMKd7KCnLP5nIPWrP1ZySvNNgmTZtkIcvTfU8XfF4veushJ8C3ZUNvkTHNkWkpaLVz3O3hi4yCViS8eC" width="300" /><br /><br /><br />Next year, they will be auctioning off sections of the carpets from the convention floor (well, not actually off the floor itself). I may have to save up and bid on one.<br /><br /><br /><img height="300" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/otbrzlaM4CMIiObKrXGVFTjmmhKBnu-S82vnMGCyeifcIRBqjQCVxro5mTBGIl6avlG9lDtYlRyy4_fPa_6NeyQ_lvbpLqh55_3Rv6EYhLZgKuiDZMc51dFKQg2diEfw6Jv-1uHs" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />The closing ceremony also lead to a very silly thing on Facebook. We ended up posting a picture back and forth with more and more marking up done on it in a game of spot our friends/spouses/selves:<br /><br /><br /><img height="299" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d-JGiNA7fb8VrHmqxlyZ17LlRVKL8Ux863nwrLChVppjiPCLEPfEu82f3lqkVyyhzDi5pLZak5-kHpPEdPm_OOz5VM78uYqRxorVb9NJRZIreDtLGiodyNHnjXh978iyN0iSq96m" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />Aside from my own programming I also attended a couple of things Mick was doing, starting with a a panel about science (with our mate Rod – everyone should have Rod in their lives; he’s truly one of a kind), which was fascinating. He also led a workshop on scientific realism in sci-fi, which was so much fun, fascinating, and a really big hit. <div>
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Mick was mobbed in the corridor afterwards. Hopefully, he’ll be able to put it on again next year. </div>
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<br /><img height="300" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/aAZ4BsTZa-zzl6noaBSnBw5yXB9Y7Kyz_9ZQPeSyc77o-A1tyxqV_Lu3bkqMtIRo30hIqwkdtJnPWJfW2wfr8T7bY4vbSc0k7VtlTfZtpFlCqb7xnCIV3in4YCh02ZCls3JCA9dZ" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />I was also dragged on stage by <a href="http://tonylee.co.uk/">Tony Lee</a> to moderate a panel on writing audio drama with <a href="https://twitter.com/lisamcmullin?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Lisa McMullin</a>, Tony, <a href="https://twitter.com/0tralala?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Simon Guerrier</a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0377784/">Darin Henry</a>, and <a href="https://lanceparkin.wordpress.com/">Lance Parkin</a>. That sort of spontaneity sums up both Tony and the things that happen on panels at Gally.<br /><br /><br /><img height="300" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/uqrr8rUC4a3g-9c33liOKmOOcA2FnBXBeVHTIoaxHev8wQiiaOyy67dsXSYh70NxOAgHvfG8AMj4MfE9tgHhS4v8KBZ6We4clLqUkxsM-AvPS3ZffimYcosyC-4zq0mqVrv3-jiP" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />We also got the chance to catch up with friends. We had a very pleasant lunch with <a href="https://richarddinnick.com/">Richard Dinnick</a> (a truly lovely man with whom I always enjoy spending time, and I’m not just saying that because I want to work with him on a show…), as well as chatting with Tony Lee while he demonstrated his new iPad’s drawing features on us.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL66ru6FXAWoanMkrjY7so4Ua7Wg39HJVWlDs0Ha5bZjOAaWIuw8lxVdplGFQ5beR9WWYbyjWGu9DZ_Y3mNblZaIcUZEzoUZ50PE6JVtkdLwZ3HULmBWUnLHjfGHVGTxzUTtrHYsQrfWyd/s1600/IMG_0026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1213" data-original-width="1174" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL66ru6FXAWoanMkrjY7so4Ua7Wg39HJVWlDs0Ha5bZjOAaWIuw8lxVdplGFQ5beR9WWYbyjWGu9DZ_Y3mNblZaIcUZEzoUZ50PE6JVtkdLwZ3HULmBWUnLHjfGHVGTxzUTtrHYsQrfWyd/s400/IMG_0026.jpg" width="386" /></a><br /><br /><br />We always have a laugh with Tony; he’s a great example of how genuine and caring the guests at Gally are. Simon Guerrier is another example of this. A fun chap to sit and chat with. It was also great to catch up with Audry Taylor and David Wise, a “relationship goals” couple if ever there was one. <br /><br />Making new friends is always easy at Gally. This year, we met Lisa McMullin. Lisa is a wonderful writer and one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. It was a true joy spending time with her. I would put her in the same category as <a href="https://katymanning.com/">Katy Manning</a> – those who leave you feeling happier and richer. Speaking of which, we managed to fit in a hug with the lovely Katy too. One of life’s unstoppable forces, Katy is one of those people who makes everyone feel welcome, happy, and loved.<br /><br /><br /><img height="320" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/v3eBP-VGmYqRZngHRG88s0euMa07pgsi5yUjrcIbhdkp5_jHTV5xHBC-wfspQ2bVgOrDwV4DjnKULZOJz9-WiUadvXKCSISNTkp2zfWw1E9xuPsj8YLy0IxNaXFM_4mfvbG22vAc" width="240" /><br /><br /><br />LobbyCon, as it has become known, is possibly my favourite part of the convention. Hanging about and just chatting with anyone and everyone. You meet so many great people and it’s often the only time you have to catch up with friends. We managed to make the White Elephant Gift Exchange again this year – it’s run by our friend (and honorary godmother) Anna. She has a couple of fantastic <a href="https://www.illusivecomics.com/">shops</a> in Santa Clara which she runs with our other friend Mark – if you’re there, you must go.<br /><br />If you’re not familiar with it, a white elephant gift exchange is such a fun thing: you bring a gift, if you can (if not, Anna and Mark bring spares!), and you take turns picking one. They’re all wrapped, so you have no idea what they are. Each gift can be stolen twice, which adds a fun element. The gifts we brought were hotly contested by a couple of our friends – who wouldn’t want Star Trek Trivial Pursuit on VHS? I picked a bag that contained a stuffed narwhal. I instantly fell in love and hoped that nobody would steal it from me (fun fact: I love whales). Luckily, they didn’t, and he now lives in our living room. He’s named Shaun after the convention’s founder, naturally.<br /><br />It was also a great pleasure meeting <a href="https://www.chasemasterson.com/CHASE_MASTERSON.html">Chase Masterson</a> (I know, Leeta! I did have a bit of a fanboy moment). We love her charity, <a href="https://www.popculturehero.org/">Pop Culture Hero Coalition</a> – it’s such a great idea and really makes a difference. Hopefully we’ll be able to help her bring it across the pond and do some good in the UK, working against bullying, racism, misogyny, homophobia, cyber-bullying, and other forms of hate. We will get around to emailing you, Chase, I promise...<br /><br />Outside of the convention we got to have a little downtime, luckily. Our friends Jennifer and Blake came with us to Disneyland. What a place! Luckily, it was terrible weather, so it was really quiet and we got to go on loads of rides. My favourite was the Indiana Jones ride. It was a lot of fun and great to spend time with friends whom we only see once a year.<br /><br /><br /><img height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/qAKNzgnpRzFEwZOWogqBi28Qw8gMVEu6Er-4o0rThw9ol6P2sLvNBB2zaBLyOPumpNukvpQJG57BGNJHY7xdMD5m8epMEqG_c0EIRvmN0WPOPIYo6RtEyQNoJK-4PWwUU9Fy9-vh" width="240" /></div>
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<img height="240" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/6lDLvu1hRKosBKRD54IgOt1MzPbmNEPfrMpw9egVlYXzln4jwdLLaU6t8fl51ICvUKgWMuHjC61yVdrI5bRT8AHfArbgYZm20PGmBGj4NFy50JNi9XkI126zn2VDGNIobEFRlyz9" width="320" /><br /><br /><br />We also went to Manhattan Beach with Chris and Kat. The weather wasn’t the best, but we still had a great time eating seafood and ice cream – not together, obviously. That would be gross.<br /><br /><br /><img height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/uElmWVFOCCK2TlwtiqCv2TPb0gfTAjVWYkIVPt_3Ijz6l9f4a5LKWtVbCobBhQBHYF3PM1HUCXseHi0MMF67vb8XV5X7FFyZEXwGbGMz3h4XE3V-pre1RCCdLpQZh5YcHOpq4M_s" width="320" /><br /><br /><br />On the last morning we went for breakfast with Mark Ayres and his lovely wife Nicki, along with Edward Russell and his adorable husband Gareth. It was a very civilised way to end the week. Great company and a good few laughs to end our time in LA. We even got to wait about for the planes with Mark and Nicki, which certainly made the time fly.<br /><br />Well, now that you know absolutely too much about the trip to LA, I’ll leave you in peace. Have fun, and I’ll be back soon with more (un)interesting stuff.<br /><br />Sam x<br /><br /><br /><br />P.S. Thanks to Mick and Audry for the additional photos.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-62296876150919501822019-01-22T12:30:00.000+00:002019-01-22T12:30:05.873+00:00Sample LibrariesHello again.<br /><br />Today I’m going to talk about sample libraries – digital recordings which are loaded into virtual instruments for use by composers/arrangers/producers. There are hundreds out there. Huge full orchestras, tiny finger cymbals, guitars, pianos, pretty much anything you can think of. I mainly use products by <a href="https://cinesamples.com/">CineSamples</a>, <a href="https://www.spitfireaudio.com/">Spitfire Audio</a>, <a href="http://www.orchestraltools.com/">Orchestral Tools</a> and <a href="https://www.cinematicstudioseries.com/">Cinematic Samples</a>. The range and quality of the sample libraries out there is amazing. I often layer them up, so I’ll put <a href="https://www.cinematicstudioseries.com/strings.html">Cinematic Studio Strings</a> on top of <a href="https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/spitfire-symphonic-strings/">Symphonic Strings</a> or the full string staccato patch from <a href="http://www.orchestraltools.com/libraries/berlin_orchestra_inspire.php">Inspire</a> over the Cinematic Studio Strings playing staccato. This creates a full, thick sound and allows me to choose the sort of sound I’m getting from the strings – or whatever instrument I’m using.<br /><br />Sample libraries like Orchestral Tools’ collections allow you to quickly create realistic-sounding orchestras with minimal effort. There are patches that allow you to play an entire woodwind, brass, percussion, or string section in one go. There are patches that you can layer on top of smaller groups of instruments, such as legato violins, should you need a soaring string line over the top. This is great when you’re on a tight deadline, which you often are in film and television. I often have five days to write 20–25 minutes of full orchestral music, so any shortcuts to making it sound great are very welcome.<br /><br />CineSamples have produced libraries that allow you to play individual instruments. You can, for instance, play each of the woodwind instruments individually (three flutes, two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, and contrabassoon perhaps). They are great and allow you to decide on the balance and exact orchestration. The only downside is that this approach takes a lot longer to write, play, and mix.<br /><br />VIs and sample libraries allow the composer to create music that sounds as real as possible without the need for a full orchestra. Why? So that it can be heard by directors and producers before being recorded, or in case the budget only allows for synthetically created music. That’s why they’re a composer’s best friend… but why are they also our nemesis? Sample libraries have become so good now that many people believe there’s no longer a need for live musicians. That isn’t true! No matter how great VIs and sample libraries are, there is no substitute for live musicians playing the music, feeling it, and expressing it. I always try to convince the people I’m working with of the vital role musicians play in breathing life into a score. Not every production can afford (or requires) a full orchestra, and there is a time and a place for electronic scores – but, even on a production with a small budget, I will always try to use one or two live musicians. It lifts the score so much – you can’t sample emotion.<br /><br /><br />Sam x<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-28529504772132010862019-01-21T11:30:00.002+00:002019-01-21T11:30:16.286+00:00Virtual Instruments<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Good evening/morning/January/birthday/elephant*,<br />
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I hope you’re well and looking forward to a bit of a read. In this post, I’ll be talking about virtual instruments and in my next post I’ll talk about sample libraries. These are a media composer’s best friend and also nemesis – I’ll explain about that in the next post.<br />
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Virtual instruments (VIs) are also called software instruments or software synthesisers (softsynths for short). They generate digital audio and can be standalone programmes or plug-ins that are opened within a digital audio workstation (I use <a href="http://www.avid.com/pro-tools">Pro Tools</a>). They can be an emulation of an existing instrument (like a Moog or Roland synthesiser), designed to create new sounds, or a piece of software designed to host other sounds (like sample libraries).<br />
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One of the industry’s leading (and one of my favourite) VI makers is <a href="https://www.native-instruments.com/en/">Native Instruments</a>. I use their <a href="https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/">Komplete</a> bundle on almost everything I do. <a href="https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/samplers/kontakt-6/">Kontakt</a>, <a href="https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/synths/absynth-5/">Absynth</a>, <a href="https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/synths/massive/">Massive</a>, and <a href="https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/synths/fm8/">FM8</a> are absolute go-to instruments for me. I own and use many VIs and sample libraries but there is one that I use above all others, and that’s Kontakt. It’s a sampler that hosts sample libraries so that you can play anything from a drum to a piano to a full orchestra.<br />
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I often have dozens of Kontakt windows open to create an orchestral score. You can open multiple sounds within one instance of Kontakt (so that you can create, for example, a whole string section all in one place). Many companies make sample libraries designed to be used in Kontakt. It has a great feature called “Quick-Load” that allows you to organise your samples however you want – I categorise mine by instrument type and then the name of the library, which I find is best for my workflow. If I want a solo violin, I can look in “Strings”, then “Solo”, and take my pick.<br />
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Some sample libraries are set up so that you can have multiple techniques loaded into one “patch” (a file you load into the VI). Say I have a violin section and I need sustained notes and short notes; I can load a multi patch and use keyswitches to swap between sounds. Keyswitches allow you to change sound at the press of a, well, key. They tell Kontakt that you are switching sounds and are usually placed right at the bottom of the keyboard. Luckily, Kontakt has a keyboard display that shows you where the keyswitches are, so you know which key to press for each sound.<br />
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My other favourite VI is <a href="https://www.spectrasonics.net/products/keyscape/index.php">Keyscape</a> by <a href="https://www.spectrasonics.net/">Spectrasonics</a>. I used it exclusively on my album <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/cypher/1336026323">Cypher</a>. Unlike Kontakt it is a standalone product – a VI and sample library in one.<br />
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You need one instance for each sound you want (unlike in Kontakt), but you can play about with those sounds really easily. There are tweakable knobs and buttons all over the place, which is great for getting exactly the sound you want out of it.<br />
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For me, Keyscape has the best-sounding pianos out there (<a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4nsAYXVjA9djTE4Euou0YL">not to mention the dozens of other keyboard instruments it has to offer</a>).<br />
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<a href="https://www.spectrasonics.net/products/omnisphere/">Omnisphere</a> by Spectrasonics is an example of a VI that allows you to play with waveforms and all sorts of settings to make your own sounds. You can do this in VIs like Massive and Absynth, too. They also come with premade patches that you can use as-is or tweak to make your own version of the sound. (In fact, Absynth has a “Mutate” button you press to randomly modify the patch you’ve loaded – it’s a lot of fun and a feature I use often). Sometimes it is necessary to use the sounds that come with a VI, but I prefer to make my own (or at least tweak them) if time allows.<br />
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Many sample library companies are now starting to make their own VIs – which is great, because they can be adapted to work perfectly for the sample library they’re hosting. However, sometimes it backfires; the VI can be clunky or drain too many resources from the computer. <a href="https://www.spitfireaudio.com/">Spitfire Audio</a> have made their own and it’s pretty good. It works especially well for their Evo Grid concept. An Evo Grid is a collection of samples that have subtle movement in them. They’re great for creating atmosphere and giving your music a sense of realism. You can also select different parts of the grid to change the sound so it makes it sound a little more unique.<br />
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Hopefully this has been interesting or useful or at least not entirely boring. If you have any questions or comments please do use the comment section below. I’ll be back tomorrow with a follow-up post about sample libraries.<br />
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Until then, TTFN.<br />
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Sam x<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-81568534177981756462019-01-10T09:55:00.000+00:002019-01-10T09:55:10.257+00:00New Year, New MusicHello all,<br />
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Happy New year. I had a great break over the holiday season and I hope you did, too. I spent it with family and then had a week away in Kielder Forest (what a stunning place). I'm now back in the studio working away and will bring you new posts about music, drinking coffee, and the dog soon (I know you're all really here for the dog).<br />
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Here's to a bright, successful and happy 2019.<br />
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Sam x<br />
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P.S. Here's a picture of the dog dressed as Santa. You're welcome.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-80141261092699035852018-11-27T14:57:00.002+00:002018-11-27T15:45:32.139+00:00Hi!<br />
Hello all,<br />
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It’s just about possible you’ve noticed the lack of posts recently; sorry about that. I’ve been busily working on a number of production music (library) albums. Currently, I’m working on a superhero album. Here’s a little clip of me writing one of the tracks.<br />
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I’ll be back in a few days with a more interesting post. I promise!</div>
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TTFN<br />
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Sam xAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-20839096404883169562018-10-22T10:35:00.000+01:002018-10-22T10:35:04.217+01:00ReflectionsHi! How the devil are you? Excellent!<br /><br />Sorry I’ve not done a proper post in a while. Usual excuses plus some unusual ones, but anyway – on with the show.<br /><br />Firstly, I want to say a huge “thank you” to everyone for the amazing response and kind words about my new album, <i>Reflections</i>. It’s been lovely to hear that people are enjoying it. I thought I’d use this post to take you through the album a little.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="400" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/SedaXp0GMsptAz2esikNLDTMSKLO5ZJaLKS8OEl6Fryqc-1RjoR_TcS23R5rLA7ps5qTkfogJprn3wm_v_FERujcD9wL1h4ZBdURSnK0P7uv3-cRLbZwx8IxzQ-oCZblk-Uk8Epp" width="400" /></div>
<br /><br />I first thought about making this album as I was writing <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-forest/1270291316"><i>The Forest</i></a>. I knew I was going to be in the studio with a fantastic string quartet and thought to myself, “Why not record a second album at the same time?!” Yeah, not much work at all… I adore strings. They are my favourite instrument family. Cellos are probably my favourite instrument of all time.<br /><br />I had a few pieces already written (this post will follow the timeline of when the pieces were written, not the order they appear on the album). The first was <i>Dan and Lizzie</i>, an imaginatively named piece written for the signing of the register at my eldest brother Dan’s wedding (can you guess his wife’s name?!). The second, my first string quartet, I wrote for my friends’ Chloë and Simon’s wedding and had always wanted to record. It starts with a lively, syncopated movement followed by a slow, more romantic section, and it ends with a busy, mostly pizzicato (plucked) movement, the middle of which has some portamento (sliding). I asked the players to play it as if they were drunk – it was a wedding, after all. <br /><br />I thought I should write a second one as it had been so long and I had enjoyed the first so much, so I wrote <i>String Quartet No. 2</i> (again, I hope you’ll notice the imagination that goes into my track names). When I played this one to a friend of mine he said it was “like a rock n roll quartet”. I rather like that! In the final movement, there is a nod to my favourite composer, Dmitri Shostakovich – can you spot it?<br /><br />Okay, I’ll tell you. There is a way of using musical notes to spell things out called cryptograms. Many composers have put messages into their music, mostly their own names. Bach did it using B♭, A, C and B♮. In German musical notation, B♮ is written as H (B♭ is B) and E flat is written as Es (S). So B♭, A, C, B♮ = BACH. Shostakovich used D, E♭, C, B♮, or “D.SCH,” so I put those notes in, played in unison, as a nod to him. You can hear it just before the players stamp their feet. The first time they did this, it nearly knocked the microphones over, so they had to be a little more gentle with their stamping in subsequent takes.<br /><br />The first movement of the title piece from the album started life as part of a score for a TV show I did many years ago. It wasn’t used in the show, so I decided to rework it into a new piece. The other two movements just followed on from there. It became a very introspective piece, hence the title.<br /><br />Finally, there is an “acoustic” version of <i>Abundant Life</i> from <i>The Forest</i>. I included this because, when we were mixing the albums, fabulous mix engineer <a href="https://twitter.com/joerubel">Joe Rubel</a> had muted all the synths and electronics and was concentrating on the balance of the strings and piano. He turned to me and said, “You know, this is pretty cool as an acoustic version”. As we listened, I realised it worked rather nicely without the additional elements and decided to included it on <i>Reflections</i> as a sort of “bonus track”.<br /><br />I’m really proud of this album. I think it’s some of the most “me” music I’ve ever written and I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed writing and recording it.<br /><br /><br /><br /><i>Reflections</i> is now available to buy online via <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/sam-watts-reflections/1434730897">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sam-Watts-Reflections-Various-artists/dp/B07GZXXL2V/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1539328982&sr=8-2&keywords=sam+watts">Amazon</a> and many more – and to stream on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/sam-watts-reflections/1434730897">Apple Music</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/6bBT3uP1wXyujwCSaplR5J?si=Ua5yaw8rS_2sMwICxS6Qxw">Spotify</a> and other streaming platforms.<br /><br />A huge thank you to the incomparable <a href="https://twitter.com/laurieviola">Laurie Anderson</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/petergregson">Peter Gregson</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/kirstymangan?lang=en">Kirsty Mangan</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/angusmacrae">Angus MacRae</a> and <a href="https://maslink.co.uk/client-directory?client=WOLSS1&">Sara Wolstenholme</a> for their amazing performances, to <a href="https://twitter.com/joerubel">Joe Rubel</a> for his fantastic engineering and mixing, and to <a href="https://twitter.com/johnwebberair">John Webber</a> at <a href="http://www.airstudios.com/">Air Studios</a> for his amazing mastering skills.<div>
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Sam x</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-46178404413015084112018-10-12T08:56:00.003+01:002018-10-12T08:56:23.346+01:00Hello all,<br />
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Sorry for the silence; it has been a very busy few months. But I'm back with a quick announcement. My new album, <i>Reflections</i>, is out TODAY!<br />
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It's now available to buy online via <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/sam-watts-reflections/1434730897" target="_blank">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sam-Watts-Reflections-Various-artists/dp/B07GZXXL2V/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1539328982&sr=8-2&keywords=sam+watts" target="_blank">Amazon</a> and many more – and to stream on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/sam-watts-reflections/1434730897" target="_blank">Apple Music</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/6bBT3uP1wXyujwCSaplR5J?si=Ua5yaw8rS_2sMwICxS6Qxw" target="_blank">Spotify</a> and other streaming platforms.<br />
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A huge thank you to the incomparable <a href="https://twitter.com/laurieviola" target="_blank">Laurie Anderson</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/petergregson" target="_blank">Peter Gregson</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/kirstymangan?lang=en" target="_blank">Kirsty Mangan</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/angusmacrae" target="_blank">Angus MacRae</a> and <a href="https://maslink.co.uk/client-directory?client=WOLSS1&" target="_blank">Sara Wolstenholme</a> for their amazing performances, to <a href="https://twitter.com/joerubel" target="_blank">Joe Rubel</a> for his fantastic engineering and mixing, and to <a href="https://twitter.com/johnwebberair" target="_blank">John Webber</a> at <a href="http://www.airstudios.com/" target="_blank">Air Studios</a> for his amazing mastering skills.<br />
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I hope you enjoy listening to this album as much as I enjoyed writing and recording it. I'll be back soon with a more in-depth post about <i>Reflections</i>!<br />
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TTFN<br />
<br />
Sam xAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-51806927264076883282018-09-21T11:28:00.004+01:002018-09-21T11:29:31.233+01:00An Early HalloweenHello all,<br />
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Sorry for the radio silence. It has been a very busy, very tough month or so. I’m just starting to get back to some sort of normal, but regular service should now resume.<br />
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I’m in the midst of a million (well, four) library albums at the moment, two of which I’m trying to finish in time for a Halloween release (ooooooh!!!). One of these is based on the idea of a haunted fairground and circus, so lots of creepy waltzes and scary sounds. <br />
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You may have seen this little video of me composing one of the tracks on <a href="http://www.instagram.com/i_is_sam" target="_blank">Instagram</a><span id="goog_1970668622"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_1970668623"></span> or <a href="https://twitter.com/i_is_sam">Twitter</a>, but I thought I’d post it on here too. Enjoy, and I’ll be back with a more in-depth blog soon.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-46891104696899147022018-08-13T09:10:00.001+01:002018-08-13T09:10:53.929+01:00Oh My GISH!Hello once again.<br />
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How the devil are you? Well, I hope.<br />
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You may have seen me tweet recently that I was helping some friends out with #GISH:<br />
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What is GISH? I hear you ask. Well, it’s only the <a href="https://www.gish.com/" target="_blank">Greatest International Scavenger Hunt</a>! Set up by actor <a href="https://twitter.com/mishacollins" target="_blank">Misha Collins</a>, it’s a scavenger hunt across the globe every year for his charity <a href="https://www.randomacts.org/" target="_blank">Random Acts</a>. Teams are sent a huge list of challenges to complete, and the team with the most points at the end wins. It’s really creative and a lot of fun.<br />
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Some of the challenges are things like, “Earn a gold medal in the Bellyflop Olympics. You must have judges and large score cards present,” or something like, “Beard garden”, which you must interpret for yourself. Many of them are incredibly charitable – competitors this year had to bring comfort items to children in foster care and play the nose flute (complete with lessons!) at a children’s hospital. So as well as being a lot of fun, the items have real social impact and will make a difference, which is what I love so much about it.<br />
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One of this year’s challenges was, “Make a super scary movie trailer of a visit to somewhere completely boring or normal (like a DMV – but now you can’t use that). You are not allowed to use any ‘jump scare’ scare tactics or actors. The suspense can only be created via how you shoot ordinary objects or people, and the score.”<br />
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I offered to help a friend’s team out by scoring their entry for this in the hopes that having some bespoke music might get them an extra point or two. It was a lot of fun, and the incredibly over-the-top result can be seen in the video below.<br />
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WARNING: Video contains scenes of an incredibly ordinary, possibly boring nature; no strong language, no sex, no violence, and the most cliché, over-egged score you will ever hear.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxSiRCktYxvSQgZ96E3TTjZMdZJ9cQDQlJZmdsZle22qKfnVqLff7K-xbpW8dDQ2bJin9DyAWHs8Mt9NWf8gg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Told you!<br />
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If you want to do something good and have fun doing it, consider signing up next year and getting involved. But don’t all come to me if you need a video scoring; I’ll be too busy making a wire wool muffler or performing a magic trick in front of the Porta Alchemica in Rome or whatever the team at Random Acts comes up with next!<br />
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TTFN<br />
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Sam xAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-77708086395675658042018-07-25T09:08:00.001+01:002018-07-25T09:08:13.405+01:00Libraries - Not the Reading KindHello everyone,<br />
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Sorry I haven’t written a post in a while. I’ve been swanning around Quebec City and San Diego as you do – a little bit of work, a little bit of holiday, which is always nice. But I’m back and I’m raring to go.<br />
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As I’ve been banging on about library albums here and on social media, I thought it was about time I wrote a post explaining a little about them. Here goes...<br />
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Library music, also known as “production music” and sometimes “stock music” (like stock photos), is music that hasn’t been written for a specific project, but is licensed (or lent out, if you like) to companies for use in a TV show, film, commercial, or whatever they want music for. Often, a library album will be written to a theme – something like “dark documentary”, “Hollywood action”, or “fantasy orchestral” – with a number of tracks in a very similar style. This makes it easy for editors, directors, or music supervisors to find the kinds of music they need. For example, somebody making a documentary on gang crime can find the “dark documentary” library and pick tracks from it, whereas somebody making a superhero feature film can look at “Hollywood action” music for the big fight sequence.<br />
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There are many production music companies out there who specialise in obtaining and placing library music. They all work slightly differently, but generally, they ask a composer to write an album – for instance, Bosworth (the company I mostly write for) have me writing an 8-bit video game album at the moment – and then put it into the catalogue of music they sell and try to get placements for it.<br />
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When writing a library album, I tend to be asked for 10 tracks, each one three to three and a half minutes long. Then, I have to produce alternate versions and what are called “cut-downs” for each of these tracks. Cut-downs are shorter versions of the track that can be used where the longer version isn’t necessary or as title music, for scene transitions, or as interstitial stings (the short versions of titles before and after adverts). It makes things easier for the company that wants the music for their production. Each track on the album will end up with between six and ten versions, depending on what is required. I usually end up writing:<br />
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1. Full version<br />
2. Underscore version (or instrumental version if it’s a song)<br />
3. 29-second version<br />
4. 15-second version<br />
5. 10-second version<br />
6. 5-second version<br />
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The full version is the track in all its glory. The underscore version is a slightly thinned-out version of the original track. For this, I often take any melody away and I sometimes thin out the orchestration (depending on the style of music) so that I end up with what my brother Dan and I call “wallpaper” music – music that is really unobtrusive and easy to edit, which library albums often need because they are going to be used across a number of different productions*. Then the cut-downs are needed. The 29-second version is often useful in pre- and post-title sequences. The 15-, 10-, and 5- second versions are often just the last bit of the full track; in fact, the 5-second version often ends up being a few notes or sometimes even a single chord.<br />
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I don’t usually do the cut-downs until the full track has been mixed. This is mainly because it’s easier and faster not to have to mix six or more versions of the same thing. The only downside to it is if you have to rewrite anything to tweak it so that it works as a shorter version – then you have to mix it all over again. (You can avoid this by writing everything at 120 bpm, which makes for lovely cut-downs, but also risks limiting your music and making it less interesting.)<br />
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I usually do the cut-downs for both the full and the underscore versions (not something every production company requires), because it gives clients the most choice and flexibility when placing music and often means that they can use a single album for the majority of their production, giving the score a consistent sound.<br />
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I really enjoy writing production music as it allows me to explore genres that I might not otherwise get a chance to write music for. It’s challenging to write without the input of a specific project, because you have no story or images to guide you (which is why the “wallpaper” style of music works best); I often make up a scene to write for so that I can capture a specific mood or style more easily. The more I write library albums, though, the easier it gets and the more I enjoy it.<br />
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I had better get back to funky 8-bit music now. Feel free to ask questions or leave comments in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from people reading this blog!<br />
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TTFN.<br />
<br />
Sam x<br />
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*If you’re lucky, that is! If a library track is really good, productions with very different genres and styles (think romance and horror) will use the same track – so it has to be versatile.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-18961807237666052482018-06-19T17:30:00.000+01:002018-06-19T17:30:17.625+01:00Studio MoveHello!<br /><br />As you may or may not know, I recently moved to Manchester, and this meant that I had to move my studio with me. What fun <i>that</i> was! Luckily, it’s all set up again now, and I have a bigger studio space than before. What’s in there? Take a look:<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90SOUCsV0giFAXGVxYytTvUnXt6sf4Xe-1MfyQC-ZHxz8UTTmY25ZoiokgA0JrCfoleb4IOS4Ej3ul6beNoXYHFrem3oNytyPQLJDPcCOU9t9p6cWmEbBX5z2IBGgoQabJel6Rd2XaiU9/s1600/IMG_2323.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1158" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90SOUCsV0giFAXGVxYytTvUnXt6sf4Xe-1MfyQC-ZHxz8UTTmY25ZoiokgA0JrCfoleb4IOS4Ej3ul6beNoXYHFrem3oNytyPQLJDPcCOU9t9p6cWmEbBX5z2IBGgoQabJel6Rd2XaiU9/s400/IMG_2323.jpeg" width="288" /></a></div>
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<i>Custom desk, studio equipment and a “Send Help” picture given to my by my brother Dan and his wife – apt when there’s a tight deadline and the computer isn’t cooperating!</i></div>
<br />Let me take you through the setup. I work in a programme (known as a digital audio workstation, or DAW) called <a href="http://www.avid.com/pro-tools" target="_blank">Pro Tools</a>, which you can see on my screens. This handles the video, audio and MIDI (the signals from my master keyboard), and allows me to record real instruments or use virtual instruments and sample libraries.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8bqZq5du0vo8wQm-jRMmA4ugEmeQPWSmNSKeFgPDJ089ISqAbCkRruKUHcFjCjE_D6V0UcCXICNyOZqFi7PwlTxwwENU8sklt4zP6hvfPecJO54AOSiHVCgS2Dzwolh0vbvKwpwkW3b7g/s1600/IMG_2324.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="847" data-original-width="1600" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8bqZq5du0vo8wQm-jRMmA4ugEmeQPWSmNSKeFgPDJ089ISqAbCkRruKUHcFjCjE_D6V0UcCXICNyOZqFi7PwlTxwwENU8sklt4zP6hvfPecJO54AOSiHVCgS2Dzwolh0vbvKwpwkW3b7g/s400/IMG_2324.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Pro Tools on my 20-inch Apple Cinema displays</i></div>
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Pro Tools has two windows: Mix and Edit. They make it quite simple to use – one reason I love the programme. The Edit window is where you input all the data – like MIDI and audio files, time signatures, and tempi – and then edit it as needed.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP-hUld3h5MBUECTHQTLx-e9srCtHlZpOfhRgIGJYN_7BDiZTrSv0Hp9lgNrAxKNTpKmvevOGwkjmYHXU-AHiPOQ0sxDDSHtkGk5_0qNLx2OfxGR2NWVrLQ9RXsNOCZk6npAehXf70bgb8/s1600/IMG_2325.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1043" data-original-width="1600" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP-hUld3h5MBUECTHQTLx-e9srCtHlZpOfhRgIGJYN_7BDiZTrSv0Hp9lgNrAxKNTpKmvevOGwkjmYHXU-AHiPOQ0sxDDSHtkGk5_0qNLx2OfxGR2NWVrLQ9RXsNOCZk6npAehXf70bgb8/s400/IMG_2325.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Pro Tools Edit window</i></div>
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The Mix window is where you can, well, mix the music (more on that later). It is also the window you use to put virtual instruments and effects (like delays or compressors) onto tracks.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisKnPzjD8wDXm8D-s4ufXB3Z1NC103VSqI3ToZW8WSD3DRzeiXPQ_IVJUNYPYaTVuYqhygij1m1EkxOlmDTBMglSzv7mEbS537jWc6TE93hy1xIZBO4D6g-bWHiGqOd3L_ykJJ1zdo8_I6/s1600/IMG_2326.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1040" data-original-width="1600" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisKnPzjD8wDXm8D-s4ufXB3Z1NC103VSqI3ToZW8WSD3DRzeiXPQ_IVJUNYPYaTVuYqhygij1m1EkxOlmDTBMglSzv7mEbS537jWc6TE93hy1xIZBO4D6g-bWHiGqOd3L_ykJJ1zdo8_I6/s320/IMG_2326.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>Pro Tools Mix window</i></div>
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Next to my computer screens, I have my monitor speakers. I use a set of Genelec <a href="https://www.genelec.com/support-technology/previous-models/8020a-studio-monitor" target="_blank">8020A</a>s, which I love. They’re great for writing and doing rough mixes, which is exactly why I need them. They’re real workhorses – I got them in 2005 and they’re still going strong!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9JjHvCebIv8M0AUdebLzUoP27Cj1T5P-TFshqJvULuXiU3ARnPo8y_fv9suH2bHoxLDA6c239uMueTMC82Wj_Q1nQA_3bWWmUZ73e-7DgmsCpeqyOADtm0KIWB0AF1AFTwZaYhNBiv16B/s1600/IMG_2337.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1158" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9JjHvCebIv8M0AUdebLzUoP27Cj1T5P-TFshqJvULuXiU3ARnPo8y_fv9suH2bHoxLDA6c239uMueTMC82Wj_Q1nQA_3bWWmUZ73e-7DgmsCpeqyOADtm0KIWB0AF1AFTwZaYhNBiv16B/s400/IMG_2337.jpg" width="288" /></a></div>
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<i>Graeme sitting on top of a Genelec 2080A</i></div>
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Under my screens, I have an <a href="https://www.arturia.com/beatstep-pro/overview" target="_blank">Arturia Beatstep Pro</a>, which I use mostly for drum programming (by playing the grey pads in different patterns). There are all sorts of twiddly knobs and buttons on it that I’m yet to get fully to grips with, but it’s a great bit of kit.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaxFCfRb-Gtl4kt9Q54XBpn7RovqRxJEyMXXKkQJLUq52mfZHEZMEslOTiu1sROwsQVFPe0ApGNxv4PtUQ4iQWshHBJSu3A7iCrFafXR0BGEwJN2im6FLTTblBj8B3f8nYK5BqSm-uUK9j/s1600/IMG_2338.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="672" data-original-width="1600" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaxFCfRb-Gtl4kt9Q54XBpn7RovqRxJEyMXXKkQJLUq52mfZHEZMEslOTiu1sROwsQVFPe0ApGNxv4PtUQ4iQWshHBJSu3A7iCrFafXR0BGEwJN2im6FLTTblBj8B3f8nYK5BqSm-uUK9j/s400/IMG_2338.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Arturia Beatstep Pro controller and sequencer</i></div>
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Next to the Beatstep Pro, I have my <a href="http://www.avid.com/products/artist-mix" target="_blank">Avid Artist Mix</a>. This is a mixing desk made by the same company that makes Pro Tools. This allows me to mix with actual faders, which have a much nicer feel (and are much easier) than using a mouse to move the virtual faders in Pro Tools.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitdqHBXWrENgNWNETH-AiIeEgFG9x8NwrPOmuN6Gbxyfkn0_5pQPcQpNlfwnrnby3_qV2QgEuQ6R4yFqtsvcag6hiTtm9p1zGvjdx9DgKHhf9m2XvCjAodAt6dNESVI9pwDDAPAzOcWZ8v/s1600/IMG_2327.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="849" data-original-width="1600" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitdqHBXWrENgNWNETH-AiIeEgFG9x8NwrPOmuN6Gbxyfkn0_5pQPcQpNlfwnrnby3_qV2QgEuQ6R4yFqtsvcag6hiTtm9p1zGvjdx9DgKHhf9m2XvCjAodAt6dNESVI9pwDDAPAzOcWZ8v/s400/IMG_2327.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Avid Artist Mix</i></div>
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My screens, the Artist Mix, and the Beatstep Pro all sit on top of a rack unit holding my outboard gear (anything external to the computer, like amplifiers or modular synths). What’s in mine? <br /><br />On the right, I have an M-Audio Midisport 8x8 and a <a href="https://www.uaudio.com/audio-interfaces/apollo.html" target="_blank">UAD Apollo</a> audio interface.The Midisport 8x8 is connected to my master keyboard (see below) via MIDI and to the computer via USB, so that I can record straight into Pro Tools. The Apollo is connected to the computer via Firewire and lets me hear what Pro Tools is playing, as well as plug in microphones and record real instruments. You’ll notice that there’s a gap in the right-hand rack; that’s where there should be an <a href="https://www.eventideaudio.com/products/rackmount/stereo-effects/eclipse-v4" target="_blank">Eventide Eclipse</a>, a great effects unit that adds all sorts of delays and reverbs. (GIVE ME BACK MY ECLIPSE, DAN!) I used it heavily on my score for <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O_D7z4vQkI" target="_blank">Stormhouse</a></i>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijHRR98qHMnIxZHD6T1Q5BdjF91llZ4rDCM0isdJlBRcepPMM1F1PGfAGyoOnvEsxK0RfUPXTOxePnAKARig_xqjcckxI1plcdfZIjsikTXyFMPxYAsVdS__N2hbng2XTrAA4Da3yQjRo9/s1600/IMG_2331.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="690" data-original-width="1600" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijHRR98qHMnIxZHD6T1Q5BdjF91llZ4rDCM0isdJlBRcepPMM1F1PGfAGyoOnvEsxK0RfUPXTOxePnAKARig_xqjcckxI1plcdfZIjsikTXyFMPxYAsVdS__N2hbng2XTrAA4Da3yQjRo9/s400/IMG_2331.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Top to bottom: M-Audio Midisport 8x8/s; UAD Apollo Quad; gap for my Eventide Eclipse (seriously, Dan, give it back).</i></div>
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On the left I have a <a href="https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/tech/focusrite-octopre-mkii-233266" target="_blank">Focusrite OctoPre MkII Dynamic</a> preamp and an <a href="http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/User_Guide/en365819" target="_blank">Avid Digi 002 Rack</a>. You plug microphones into the OctoPre so that you can record instruments. (“Isn’t that what you said the Apollo does?” Well, yes – the OctoPre is mostly a backup nowadays.) The Digi 002 is the first audio interface I ever owned. Made by Avid, it was linked into Pro Tools when I got it, but now it’s another emergency backup.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0n0618mqtkJpZO20nIvfCmHJ-gYwB3rZOjZayvJNvBfek4Azn88XXiIl6B0fQNMoohYnQTopinw9_RLXNoW4G26C87DQcL3EZECD2N8T4k7Hb3pYGlkNX0SDFff87IKeuK9CDB0_SiX36/s1600/IMG_2330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0n0618mqtkJpZO20nIvfCmHJ-gYwB3rZOjZayvJNvBfek4Azn88XXiIl6B0fQNMoohYnQTopinw9_RLXNoW4G26C87DQcL3EZECD2N8T4k7Hb3pYGlkNX0SDFff87IKeuK9CDB0_SiX36/s400/IMG_2330.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Top to Bottom: Focusrite OctoPre MkII Dynamic, Avid Digi 002 Rack.</i></div>
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In front of the rack unit is my <a href="https://www.kensington.com/en/gb/4493/64325/expert-mouse-wired-trackball" target="_blank">Kensington trackball mouse</a> and an <a href="https://www.editorskeys.com/collections/avid-pro-tools-keyboards/products/pro-tools-keyboard-slimline-wired-wireless" target="_blank">EditorsKeys</a> keyboard. I use the keyboard because it has all the shortcuts for Pro Tools marked on it. It’s very handy if I have a memory blank and can’t remember what to press for a certain command. Below that, I have my master keyboard. I use a <a href="http://www.casiomusicgear.com/products/privia-series/px-5s" target="_blank">Casio PX-5S</a> stage piano. The keys are fully weighted so it feels like playing a real piano – great for getting proper expression into the music.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzzOu3ENaG30sGo6HTDsORhcAUtcoMSyHB8y5733dkoxVtXK3Ma0I3Em5SZmRRd6swhdNa4bTuLm3PQpwKgZMTp0AI2e4J7U5vKmyTf4us1PRzg1XXHz3UgxC15vd8n51yMXBV96NmdZn7/s1600/IMG_2339.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="1600" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzzOu3ENaG30sGo6HTDsORhcAUtcoMSyHB8y5733dkoxVtXK3Ma0I3Em5SZmRRd6swhdNa4bTuLm3PQpwKgZMTp0AI2e4J7U5vKmyTf4us1PRzg1XXHz3UgxC15vd8n51yMXBV96NmdZn7/s400/IMG_2339.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Editor Keys keyboard, Kensington trackball mouse and Casio PX-5S stage piano</i></div>
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Right at the bottom, I have the computers. I currently run a 2009 Mac Pro with 32 GB of RAM and 18 TB of hard drives (half of which which is just for samples). I use OS X El Capitan (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it). And, speaking of not fixing what ain’t broke, I also have a PC linked to the Mac using <a href="https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Vienna_Ensemble_PRO/Product_Info" target="_blank">Vienna Ensemble Pro</a>, a networking programme specifically designed for studios. That still runs Windows 7!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ8xFRKj_Jng8zIdihC1N2sy74leQ4ku_EuD6hkwZ_segzy6XP1CNSePBNCQP-GNFvqqHL11y419AEpuEL4_KTujKsOBfCagjXGGwMcXHtUxrun2g6sA5F7SliKJU1khkKIN_RxDz-4Q-x/s1600/IMG_2335.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="775" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ8xFRKj_Jng8zIdihC1N2sy74leQ4ku_EuD6hkwZ_segzy6XP1CNSePBNCQP-GNFvqqHL11y419AEpuEL4_KTujKsOBfCagjXGGwMcXHtUxrun2g6sA5F7SliKJU1khkKIN_RxDz-4Q-x/s400/IMG_2335.jpg" width="193" /></a></div>
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<i>Mac Pro</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkGMIvdqahNno11lVxBOfUsheV_9vuD3Gxsnrm4g1m0WgVzj55oGhDqF-rLQEQVn7ejdb77zGD5zkPKvTeXBZifDNUqOqFrbPkjEk7iYewzKDZKIX6Xj9Z7lReQ_pUqqn6ss_cpZ4IoBVt/s1600/IMG_2334.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1144" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkGMIvdqahNno11lVxBOfUsheV_9vuD3Gxsnrm4g1m0WgVzj55oGhDqF-rLQEQVn7ejdb77zGD5zkPKvTeXBZifDNUqOqFrbPkjEk7iYewzKDZKIX6Xj9Z7lReQ_pUqqn6ss_cpZ4IoBVt/s320/IMG_2334.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
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<i>Custom PC with its little monitor hidden under the desk. In case you were worried that 8 TB wasn’t enough samples, almost all of the PC’s 6.5 TB of hard drive space is… guess what…</i></div>
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</i><br />Finally, it all sits on (and in) a custom desk made by my brother Joe. There’s a lot more furniture (drawers and cupboards) that is spread around the studio now, rather than all connected as it was in my old studio space – you can see it all in a <a href="http://samwattscomposer.blogspot.com/2013/04/new-studio.html" target="_blank">blog post</a> from when I first got it, many moons ago. It’s gorgeous and works much better than adapting a shop-bought desk. I haven’t got any acoustic treatment up yet; that will have to wait a bit.<br /><br />So, there you go. That’s my studio. I might go into more depth about things in a future post (I’ve already promised one about sample libraries and virtual instruments… must get on that…).<br /><br />TTFN,<br /><br />Sam x</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-70934768089463539362018-06-07T16:22:00.001+01:002018-06-07T16:22:10.511+01:00RecomposingHello, me again!<br /><br />Just a quick post this time. I'm currently reworking the <a href="http://samwattscomposer.blogspot.com/2018/04/fang-you-for-music.html" target="_blank">Dracula</a> score for a library album. For this, I'm having to either edit down or expand existing tracks to fit the library album format (yes, I know – I keep mentioning library albums and not explaining them. I promise I'll write a post about them soon!). Here's a little video of me adding a few extra bars of piano to one track. Enjoy!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyVL83GA48tY4je5JOyU7g-uLbEtW89kTPqUAHJzQgdlp0p4pAORNEyyMgxuzyg5if-PDMZGZsk7Cvr72w7GA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
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See you soon.<br />
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Sam xAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-91744960485703240552018-05-21T16:54:00.001+01:002018-05-21T16:54:12.519+01:00Decoding CypherGood morning/afternoon/evening*!<br />
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Well, I’m back with another blog post. This time, I’ll be talking a little about how I composed some of my latest album, <i>Cypher</i>. I’m going to look at the first track on the album, “Tetralogy I”, and deconstruct a section of it. In the <a href="https://uk.musicsalescreative.com/news/post/MjQwODItODg4YTYw/" target="_blank">press release</a> for the album, I talked about how <i>Cypher</i> was never intended to be an album. It started out as a trial of a new virtual instrument (VI). Every time I buy a new sample library or VI (which I’ll explain in a later post), I write a track or two just to get to know it – but with <a href="https://www.spectrasonics.net/products/keyscape/index.php" target="_blank">Keyscape</a> by <a href="https://www.spectrasonics.net/" target="_blank">Spectrasonics</a>, those one or two tracks turned into eight. It’s such a great library of keyboard instruments that I couldn’t help using it to explore a more minimalist, contemporary style. I was so inspired that the entire album took just two weeks to write, record, mix and master.<br />
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As the title suggests, the album explores the idea of numbers and codes. I wanted to use those concepts to show the wide variety of moods and sounds keyboard instruments can create. The tracks are titled by the number of instruments they use; each track is composed of blocks of musical ideas that are repeated, moved around, and manipulated, or of a single idea or repeating chord pattern that I explore through texture and rhythm. “Tetralogy I” and “II” also explore how multiple instruments can combine to create patterns – many of the “heard” melodies and basslines are actually a combination of several instruments. This is what I’m going to talk about in this post.<br />
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“Tetralogy I” is a piece for four pianos. I used Keyscape’s LA Custom C7 grand piano for the recording – and I used the VI tools to customise each one to sound slightly different, so that it feels like there are four different pianos playing. (I’ll talk about manipulating instruments in a future post, too!)<br />
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<div align="center">
<img height="371" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/QJbp-TyULo48YKdVR3ve149aaFRLauOFXEvY8QgVMVi5HGUim2e8Oc4wQb8FmC71ElJiVhICKzJYkAqmyEITbk46Bp2Zhw_D5-jUZ8xE-4Bpl7NYNNx8alAyiHmrU1yLmk2tM-VC" width="560" /></div>
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I started by coming up with an idea for one piano – a riff, if you like. These were short ideas (two or four bars long) that I then repeated to make an eight-bar section. I wanted building blocks of music, so that each piano could be layered on top of the first to fill out a pattern. I could then change one or two of the patterns to change the sound slightly – or change all of the patterns for a more prominent shift in the music. After writing a few patterns for one piano, I built the next ones around the first, so that a bassline or melodic pattern appeared across two or three of the instruments. I might make Piano II and Piano IV, share a bassline, for instance, by making their patterns run up and down the keyboard in opposite directions.<br />
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<img height="395" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/2y4lEJ3O_Bd4aWovgwzWc4Y6NM6arzFcp1-feEDfuiakKbfqPWZjmD6_AGoS-C0OYbc3radxLc5zWOAPDlATdkzsNh1_-DiHanZdusnMzJ0ZWC2vyz86Ch6hcoPFWTPGIu-XGX8K" width="560" /></div>
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I kept going, layering corresponding patterns (for Piano II, then III, then IV) on top of one another until I’d written the whole piece. It was a challenge to fit all the parts together without it sounding too muddy or cluttered – but it was a fun challenge, like a really tough jigsaw puzzle.<br />
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So that there was a bit of structure to the piece, I sometimes returned to previous patterns, rather than constantly creating new ones. Occasionally, I kept a pattern in two or three of the pianos and added something a little different on top to stop it from being too repetitive – a difficult task when the whole concept is repeating patterns!<br />
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Here’s a closer look at the ending of the piece. Firstly, take a look and a listen to what Piano I is doing (don’t worry if you don’t read music; that’s what the audio clips are for!):<br />
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<img height="640" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/jNDw5e0JxkgtAglf1Ljb5Ew6FAEVcn4n_2jx4-774gX3RDAnNbr85KCYk9CVesPOKTwR7eTR0tTuIAUGgtSL5scfu76lOb6eUT71lKYuLT3mznb_YaMFlK-by7zaXqg6GXXCH4zp" width="452" /></div>
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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/447120729&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br /></div>
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Piano II sounds like this:<br />
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<img height="640" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ly3_yvlkcYsNjGqLNFCuj4ty6dqBNdIRfgdLJwQ70SP2sYxdrRVMDop4u5sR6u7jJYjYyYOARBfvIpltIQyUilfToXhNfrDbzvUya08HKs6USkc7AM5XhZ5v9ovfFm1N86ATZbCp" width="452" /><br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/447121215&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br /></div>
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Piano III is having fun playing this:<br />
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<img height="640" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ujYBbR5YO4lwPW-AB0RD6J-sI6LrKZ5gsDQb-3zlf0m1OAo_5_ZU999mX_AhMX76ZcKPvCqUNxb_CBpQSlk_XY_Xk00rmDWjQ-hhDbjd6TW_swc8ve1tlfnpq2UGEg9qe6VzXc-u" width="452" /></div>
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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/447121491&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br /></div>
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And Piano IV returns to playing the opening pattern (but where that was in a minor key, this part is transposed into the major to give the ending an uplifting feeling):<br />
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<img height="640" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/AosDFtZM9R3FHbd3wKWpSvm9V6PPiknsfDTCnVKnyV3MPU3DSB-v3tZjk-5ydiguvWZInkQvP9drOK6hQg324shM6UqqQzKe5wjKUQXcoXGJ2Q0gyc0819yHKues_52jiFWke3Mg" width="452" /><br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/447121797&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br /></div>
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What do they all sound like when put together? Like this:<br />
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<div align="center">
<img height="396" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/bLXfufnF2zlbaAtAkwTA2Xel1FxrwD4EBkOrvmjMC9hyv5EiSF71cIymuXPeMNdGte5g6xcFbaUMorkUyPf6MrsrRoalJusxwhsb_ebiEnNYQHwNIiv6oXxnR_BjvOyeFuhlD_li" width="560" /><br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="300" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/447120459&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br /></div>
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Hopefully, that explains a little about the process of writing <i>Cypher</i>. It was a lot of fun, even if pieces like “Tetralogy I” were challenging at times. I’ll be back soon with another post, probably something a little easier on the brain!<br />
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Sam x<br />
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Like what you hear? You can stream <i>Cypher</i> on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/cypher/1336026323" target="_blank">Apple Music</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/5eKCU7w8eFhqNwwo0l0MM0" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.deezer.com/en/album/55110742" target="_blank">Deezer</a>, <a href="https://gb.napster.com/artist/sam-watts/album/cypher" target="_blank">Napster</a> and many other platforms, or buy it on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/cypher/1336026323" target="_blank">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07937DZNN/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp" target="_blank">Amazon</a>, <a href="https://www.prostudiomasters.com/album/page/17893" target="_blank">Pro Studio Masters</a> and more!<br />
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*delete as applicableAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-64277576541288214882018-05-10T09:51:00.001+01:002018-05-10T09:51:39.643+01:00Top Trips<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello, all!<br />
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Sorry I’ve been a little quiet. I’ve been away seeing my family and enjoying the sun. Sun! Actual, like, summer-style sun. On the coast. It was lovely.<br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-35f87372-4939-35d0-61c6-c5b1609c13ba"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="129" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/2oD1XXQ60hZk0eKmZ_U6JI8iR3N3nPysvZWtrdfmnpEDeCuwNufMRokktms-hoR7ScRQBXbgNXQWVt5PbelWl-cXMmblhvsHLOjVgye3XK_Czs7rExre6WP7EzqUULQW_1TIuYK9" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="560" /></span></span></div>
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(I’m back in the studio now, though, and there’s much less sun in here.)<br />
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I was staying with my brother, <a href="http://www.danwatts.co.uk/" target="_blank">Dan</a> (pictured below pulling his most alluring of faces) – the man responsible for mixing my music. The normal process is that I write, make sure everything is as close as possible to how I’d like the finished product to sound, and then I hand it to Dan. He waves his magic wand and says a spell (or something – I don’t know how it works – mixing is an ancient, mystic art) and sends it back to me sounding all sparkly and great. I’ll go into our working relationship more in a later post. Who knows – I might even get him to write a guest post about the process of mixing on here!<br />
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<img height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/85W4UWo2b7f0dkdam0pGTzOdAEa_ROsmsSy5mxFe6EXYIF2ki-DwzetmswIC3SJ2CnguVFsOC6WHtIZcMjvdv11Q7pxaXLTGMI7ssuN-3y9jquiyh6N6GcJkc1B4nueCeJI3o6dx" width="240" /></div>
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We didn’t set foot in his studio this time, though – although I did leave him with a hard drive full of work. Instead, we enjoyed a barbecue with the rest of our family. It’s such a hard life. I think Eddie enjoyed himself, too.<br />
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<img height="320" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/0c5pXykroCUtwoFmxNzFMzQFYg6jjbtvRA_mYwYkU0HP1oO0eA8Wkya7V1RbZ95UnazNqYIwhWZczS5dnhvS15ATA815B0XGi6jsTsAyh2BIplJfzZLtSHr05L-ql7iOLBIwZ55M" width="240" /><br />
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Anyway, I’ll return soon with some chat about my latest album, <i><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/5eKCU7w8eFhqNwwo0l0MM0?si=yn1BbMDGRBecv28SQwbF3w" target="_blank">Cypher</a></i>.<br />
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TTFN,<br />
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Sam x
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-33227343594967753422018-04-28T11:08:00.000+01:002018-05-10T10:15:21.728+01:00Fang You For the Music<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello. Me again!<br />
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You may be aware that I recently scored a theatrical adaptation of Dracula, penned by the one and only Phil Ford (The Sarah Jane Adventures, Wizards vs Aliens) and directed by Chris Finney (Wizards vs Aliens’ very own Caractacus Crowe!).<br />
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By necessity, I worked entirely from script – I didn’t even see the play until closing night! Normally, I’d go in during rehearsals and sculpt the music around what was being done on stage, timing scene changes and the like. That wasn’t possible this time, so I just had to use past experience and Phil’s script to guide me. Even though it was a little “seat of the pants”, it was a lot of fun to do. And luckily, it all worked well.<br />
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<img height="225" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/yI52bUeOpnkUE9_n3AIjXWAmWXPUqCpnC3u_If-z6WivukOo2UpsGkMfWmqujUfH16oe6oU2oC7ni3d4AXqFwi1h9jj0GbSMls7KaBuMXGimHhfH83z_Ruzgi87nV6DwcS7K7vqd" width="400" /><br />
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Phil’s adaptation stuck very closely to Bram Stoker’s novel so it was nice and dark. Chris and I tried out a few different ideas, but settled on a modern-sounding, synth-based score despite the play’s being set in the Victorian era. Here’s a little excerpt:<br />
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<div align="center">
<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/436018734&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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I used a lot of dark drones backed up with a bowed piano (one played by running a bow across the strings, rather than by hitting them in the usual way) and some ebow electric guitar (which I recorded with my own fair hands, despite not having practiced the guitar in… some time…). What’s an ebow? Pretty much exactly what it sounds like: an electric bow. It uses a feedback circuit (among other things) to create string vibrations when placed near the guitar’s pickups, so that instead of a “plucked” sound, you get an eerie, bowed sound.<br />
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<img height="225" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/KDkqn63m5HbnsqqW0ONYBpeF78SgYAaLx1aM6Y_KWV1bTZGRIGhe2NMlFhAEPEhWmN8Y8t2DS1P2R23QgRCD4KLfn0bmL03HJPZVCn1bfUQ0l-aHVuTn8BtUx00Fa6qR-Ep3gJxa" width="400" /><br />
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There were a few times that I used sul ponticello strings to eerie effect. That’s a technique where the players play close to the bridge of the instrument to create a glassy, unstable sound; in fact, dependent on how hard and how close to the bridge the player plays, sometimes the notes actually jump entire octaves. I also used a grand piano and an upright piano, which I put through a number of delays to create a disorienting effect, and a harmonium, which I mangled a bit with various plugins so that it was both familiar and alien-sounding. (I’ll talk more about plugins, including using delays, later on).<br />
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Chris also wanted to explore the idea of a heartbeat – appropriate enough for a vampire story! – so I used a kick drum and two synths to create a musical approximation of a heartbeat that I could play in or out of time with the music, dependent on what effect we wanted to create. I also got the chance to write some Victorian parlour music – a nice little waltz for string quartet for the scene set in Lucy’s engagement party. Not something you get to do every day!<br />
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<div align="center">
<img height="400" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/71CssLw3YpnpnPVdtGALI3rW9yXOkMiFf-EPQTofgP8gcLRmbXzesJZ-3dHjHY3Cg-ShvQMxzwHG6NbhW-mFxLvPEMuOOYDF_MGiM80b0kSbp-z5uy6mGZN_LzVZmNEjw8TFjRbQ" width="225" /><br />
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Overall the music, lighting, sound design, direction, and acting created a great show, and one I was really proud to have been a part of. And the music will live on – I’m currently reworking it slightly, and it will be released in time for Halloween as a library album – one of many I’ll tell you about in a future post!<br />
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Sam xAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-6324217877992284712018-04-18T17:14:00.001+01:002018-05-10T10:00:59.206+01:00Hunter – No, Not the Gladiator!<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Hello again…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />Yes, I know. So soon! I wanted to share a little clip from <i><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-forest/1270291316" target="_blank">The Forest</a></i> after telling you all about it in my last post. I chose a section of the track “Hunter.” I think you can guess the general idea behind it – some predatory animal searching out its prey – but, as I said, I don’t want to say too much about what I was thinking when I wrote it. I want the music to spark your imagination!<br /><br />I chose this track because it’s a good example of how I used live strings in combination with synths and virtual instruments (VIs), which is what I did on most tracks of the album. Why? The strings drive the music; underlying them, a drum pattern and various synths and VIs lend harmonic support and textural interest*. I’ll talk more about the process of creating the music and blending (or not blending, depending on what you’re going for) live musicians with electronic elements in a future blog.<br /><br />The drums on this track were programmed by my brother <a href="http://www.danwatts.co.uk/" target="_blank">Dan</a>. (“You mean played, right?”) No, actually! Drum programming is where you build up the layers of beats using samples to design your own drum pattern, as opposed to using a drum synthesiser or, budget permitting, a real drummer (or drummers). Although, in this case, there are very few <i>actual</i> drums – but there are lots of plastic containers and interesting things. Keep an ear out for them!<br /><br /> <iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/431624451&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true" style="white-space: pre;" width="100%"></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like what you hear? You can stream </span><span style="font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Forest</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on </span><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-forest/1270291316" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple Music</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/3Gz8tnjETPb6XQUsxD4J0n" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Spotify</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="https://www.deezer.com/us/album/45156541" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Deezer</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="https://us.napster.com/artist/sam-watts/album/the-forest" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Napster</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and many other platforms, or buy it on </span><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-forest/1270291316" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">iTunes</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forest-Sam-Watts/dp/B0746R9P2D" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Amazon</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="https://www.prostudiomasters.com/album/page/15038" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pro Studio Masters</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and more!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">* </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV8_pSrAxgc" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">“Music, music, music. Numbers. Is this working?”</span></a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-52850348111470577622018-04-13T16:01:00.002+01:002018-04-13T16:01:14.463+01:00Long Time No (Middle) CHi, I know. Sorry. I’m so good at blogging that I haven’t done it in a literal age – I think the animated He-Man was still on its original airing the last time I wrote one! Anyway, I’m back and this time, I <i>will</i> be blogging regularly (yes, really – I mean it this time!).<br />
<br />
I should really tell you about everything that’s happened since last *mumble*… So:<br />
<br />
To start with, those albums I was banging on about. Well, two of them are available to buy and stream RIGHT NOW! <i>The Forest</i> and <i>Cypher</i> can both be found on all your favourite platforms. I’ll start by telling you a little about the first release, <i>The Forest</i>.<br />
<br />
(Find it on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-forest/1270291316">iTunes</a>/<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-forest/1270291316">Apple Music</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/3Gz8tnjETPb6XQUsxD4J0n">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forest-Sam-Watts/dp/B0746R9P2D/ref=sr_1_72?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&qid=1523609202&sr=1-72&keywords=the+forest&refinements=p_n_format_browse-bin%3A78186031">Amazon</a>, <a href="https://www.deezer.com/en/album/45156541">Deezer</a>, and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Sam_Watts_The_Forest?id=Bjerjgajhcym73qcqdpkhasp6uu">Google Play</a>.)<br />
<br />
<b>The Forest</b><br />
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-forest/1270291316" target="_blank"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/u3U7nx-pYLHEizY2gMK_D5thifQJhcCI_51rDIuzo2mDlmlJv4APcZMthXdWJ72GfKbGy06--Dgl30HI-pmsPQfycgyGssEUdaUNIdRfiAdFhi4BAHB6CXbxwO8U5idYcyuzgS-I" /></a><br />
<br />
I blogged a little about it when I recorded the album, but let me refresh your memories. This album, released last August, was inspired by my dog walks through the local woodland. Written over the course of half a year, it’s sort of a concept album; the idea is that each track tells a story that might happen through the course of a single day (and night) in a forest. It starts at dawn and ends up at a moonlit pool, making its journey via a babbling brook and all sorts of plants and creatures going about their business. Could I be more specific about what I see in my head for each track? Yes – but I don’t want to. I want the music to do that for itself.<br />
<br />
<b>How it’s made</b><br />
<br />
I did all the initial composition for <i>The Forest</i> in my studio. Then, because I wanted to create music that sounded different to anything I had done before, I went to my brother’s studio to avail myself of his synth collection (and also his skills as a producer. We often use each other as sounding boards for our respective work – more on that later!). Dan and I mucked about with a <a href="http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/juno6.php">Roland Juno 6</a>, a <a href="http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/sh101.php">Roland SH-101</a>, and an <a href="https://www.arturia.com/products/hardware-synths/minibrute">Arturia Minibrute</a>. He also showed me how to use his <a href="https://www.arturia.com/beatstep-pro/">Arturia Beatstep Pro</a> to do some drum programming – which was so cool, I bought one as soon as I got back into my own studio!<br />
<br />
<i>The Forest</i> was recorded at Script Studios in London. The fabulous musicians who played on it are <a href="http://maslink.co.uk/client-directory?client=WOLSS1&" target="_blank">Sara Wolstenholme</a>, Kirsty Mangan, <a href="http://maslink.co.uk/client-directory?client=ANDEL1&" target="_blank">Laurie Anderson</a> and <a href="http://petergregson.co.uk/" target="_blank">Peter Gregson</a> (with some piano and Hammond organ played by me). I was lucky enough to have <a href="http://joerubel.com/" target="_blank">Joe Rubel</a> to engineer and mix the album and <a href="http://www.airstudiosmastering.com/engineers/john-webber/" target="_blank">John Webber</a> at <a href="http://www.airstudios.com/" target="_blank">Air Studios</a> to master it. It sounds great – and that’s really thanks to the quality of players and to Joe and John’s amazing work. People often forget how much creativity mix and mastering engineers bring to a project, not to mention the giant leap in quality the players bring with their interpretations of your music.<br />
<br />
So there you have it. A little about <i>The Forest</i>. Next time, I’ll tell you all about my second album, <i>Cypher</i>. But for now, TTFN.<br />
<br />
Sam xAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-41778347390916593782016-11-28T16:40:00.001+00:002016-11-28T16:40:41.369+00:00One of the three albums I've been banging on about.Hello,<br />
<br />
Last week I said there would be two announcements. I then failed to make the second as the first took over my life for a bit, so here it is right now for your reading pleasure:<br />
<h3>
ALBUM!</h3>
<div>
The album I mentioned in a previous blog that I've written using solely Spectrasonic's Keyscape has been mixed. I went to visit Dan last week to mix it (as those of you who follow me on Twitter and Instagram will know from my silly videos). It was great fun and we mixed the whole album in a day. Yes, one single day. Dan is either a mixing machine or the music is ridiculously simple. Probably a little of column A and a little of column B there...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Anyway, I can now confirm the name of the album and the track listing. The album is called <i>Cypher</i> and has eight tracks:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
1. Tetralogy I</div>
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2. Hexad</div>
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3. Dyad</div>
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4. Quintain</div>
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5. Seofon</div>
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6. Deka</div>
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7. Eahta</div>
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8. Tetralogy II</div>
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I'm still not sure exactly when it's going to be released. Very soon, I hope. I am mastering it as I type, then I will play it to my publisher and we'll take it from there. There is a plan for a very funky bit of artwork but that is still to be confirmed, mostly because I haven't asked the artist if they're willing to do it for me yet...</div>
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<div>
Watch this space and I'll let you know when it's released (along with the other two).</div>
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<h4>
<span style="color: purple;">Sam x</span></h4>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-76600071239831570922016-11-21T14:52:00.004+00:002016-11-21T14:52:42.702+00:00O, as the kids, M, used to say, G!I couldn't wait until later in the week for the terrifying announcement. I had to make it today, so here it is:<br />
<br />
Help. <i>I've gone insane</i>.<br />
<br />
For some reason I've signed up to run the Virgin Money London Marathon 2017. No, really. I have. I blame Nick Harvey. He did it this year and made it look easy. He raised loads of cash for a great cause and it inspired me to try and do the same. So I signed up and luckily got a place with the fantastic charity <a href="http://www.pancreaticcancer.org.uk/get-involved/pcam-2016/?utm_source=Virgin+Money+London+Marathon+2017&utm_campaign=4a1c032aca-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_11_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f9a1246bd3-4a1c032aca-425084561" target="_blank">Pancreatic Cancer UK</a>.<br />
<br />
I'll be running in memory of my late uncle Cliff who, those of you who where were kind enough to sponsor me for Macmillan Cancer Support's 'Go Sober For October' will remember, died in October 2015 from pancreatic cancer. It was sudden and horrible and he was far too young so I'm really pleased to make a positive out of it and get this chance to raise (hopefully) loads of cash for a great charity.<br />
<br />
I have to raise a minimum of £2500 but I'd love to raise as much as possible. If I could double that I'd be beyond happy. I'll have to think of something I can do if I get to £5000. Run in the buff or something. Well, not that. I wouldn't want to blind people (make of that what you will).<br />
<br />
There's another favour I'd like to ask on top of begging for your money. PCUK are running a competition and the two fundraisers with the most money by 12:00 on 12th December 2016 will get to start from the Green Start (that's the bit with all the celebs and the posh loos). It would be great fun to be able to start from there so if you can/want to/are planning on sponsoring me please do it RIGHT NOW! Only actual donations will count, not promises of them.<br />
<br />
To all you UK based taxpayers please Gift Aid the bobbins off those donations, it really does make a difference to the charity to get that extra slice from the tax office. It's also a perfect time to donate as November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. I know money is tight at the moment but if every one of my Twitter followers donated £1 I'd raise £2436. I could almost reach the minimum in no time. So don't think you have to sponsor me thousands of pounds (although, if you can afford to that would be great). Every penny counts.<br />
<br />
You can donate via my Virgin Money Giving page <a href="http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SamWattsComposer" target="_blank">here</a>. Your donations will spur me on, the more you give the faster I'll run. Or at least, the more you give the more likely I am to get through it.<br />
<br />
I'll keep you all updated with how the training is going and thank you in advance for your donations and your support.<br />
<br />
Sam xAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-39922815975182542802016-10-17T17:27:00.002+01:002016-10-17T17:27:57.378+01:00Announcements 'n' StuffHello everyone,<br />
<br />
I've been meaning to blog for ages. So here goes...<br />
<br />
<h3>
A quick catch up</h3>
I'm currently having the pleasure of working with Rob Manning on a project. I'll say more when I can, but it's been a joy. I love collaborating with other composers. It's something I want to do more of.<br />
<br />
I'm also doing Macmillan Cancer Support's "Go Sober for October" in memory of my late Uncle Cliff who died from pancreatic cancer last year. I'm half way through and yearning for a nice gin and tonic but I'm sure my liver is grateful for the rest. If you'd like to sponsor me you can do <a href="https://www.gosober.org.uk/users/sam-watts" target="_blank">here</a>. Any support is hugely appreciated. <br />
<br />
<h3>
Lalaland</h3>
<div>
As you may know, I'm going to be at <a href="http://www.gallifreyone.com/" target="_blank">Gallifrey One</a> in February 2017. Very exciting! I can't wait, I'm incredibly excited. Can you tell? So if you're going, I'll see you there. Come say hi and make me feel welcome, it's my first time in the States.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
I'm also looking forward to catching up with the lovely Katy Manning, Tony Lee, Gary Russell, Scott Handcock and Richard Dinnick, most of whom I haven seen for a very long time. I'm also hoping to fit in time to catch up with the adorable Kerry Muzzey as well as meeting up with the people at Music Sales Los Angeles and a few other things while I'm there.</div>
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<br /></div>
<h3>
Albums</h3>
<div>
You know those albums I recorded in April and finished in July. Yeah, those ones, the string quartet ones. Well, they're not out yet. Sorry about that. I'm hoping they'll be released soon but we're currently talking with some people and exploring avenues for their release. As soon as I know what's happening with them I'll shout about it on every social media outlet, street corner and multi story car park roof in the land.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
In the mean time</h3>
<div>
If you can't wait for that I'm currently writing another album which I plan on self releasing, probably through iTunes, hopefully by Christmas. It's going to be eight tracks (and I've written five of them) and I'm only using <a href="https://www.spectrasonics.net/" target="_blank">Spectrasonics</a>' new virtual instrument <i>Keyscape</i>. It's a stunning collection of keyboard instruments and I've fallen madly in love with it. And no, I'm not being sponsored to say that (although, if you're reading this Spectrasonics I'll happily trial any future releases for you! *cough* shameless *cough*). I find the best way to learn a new virtual instrument or library album is to sit and try to write music using it in isolation. This time I thought I'd release the results. Again, I'll be shouting about it as soon as it's released.</div>
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Anyway, I'd best get back to work.</div>
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Big hugs,</div>
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SamAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-17149887211509985662016-07-13T19:50:00.002+01:002016-07-13T19:50:36.413+01:00MasteringOn Monday I went to Air Studios (total squee - do people even say that anymore?) to meet John Webber and begin mastering the two albums I've been working on for what seems like an eternity.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSfAsiw_jUaFFLqk-9Doj4PV5m0W1Cuju6vR_KRWkqIKo-rdqF5ZWnyOCvq-g1agAnB5UIS-ncKSZJQzphKKsPMISfu6SKZDcLn7FeFJxXZjZ94J-gSnUA-V8DQp8mwfA0qglK9pmjMIvx/s1600/Air+Studios.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSfAsiw_jUaFFLqk-9Doj4PV5m0W1Cuju6vR_KRWkqIKo-rdqF5ZWnyOCvq-g1agAnB5UIS-ncKSZJQzphKKsPMISfu6SKZDcLn7FeFJxXZjZ94J-gSnUA-V8DQp8mwfA0qglK9pmjMIvx/s400/Air+Studios.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
What a place it is! I haven't been for years. I'd forgotten how much I love it. I worked in Lyndhurst Hall on a number of films with George Fenton (including <i>Valiant</i>) and in Studio One on <i>Doctor Who</i> and <i>I Want Candy</i> with Murray Gold. Some great memories came back, including a funny incident with a Swanee Whistle...<br />
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John is properly lovely, as is his assistant Cicely. The set up is, unsurprisingly, rather impressive. So much hardware to drool over.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEHNRabR6KnNVrDgqD4c6vNI5ko13DqHJWWQcRf3kYSpUAeVI73Slmwc4W9Nl5zUSw59Je0zs9Fn9j9nTPls2XsORQ3Kka30wK0QVtTHUYtm3ZF5w9eyvK6WZh62iJPBJ3Fw8ZMUQ-MPZ-/s1600/Desk.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEHNRabR6KnNVrDgqD4c6vNI5ko13DqHJWWQcRf3kYSpUAeVI73Slmwc4W9Nl5zUSw59Je0zs9Fn9j9nTPls2XsORQ3Kka30wK0QVtTHUYtm3ZF5w9eyvK6WZh62iJPBJ3Fw8ZMUQ-MPZ-/s400/Desk.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I'm not planning vinyl releases but on seeing their vinyl cutter I was so tempted. It just looks so <i><u>cool</u></i>!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3CNHrhGESVeWYGtVhWcsDvg2Qsh6WMaALCLhyphenhyphenL-2OACPnsOktspZhVnyLr-01X1Qmm3sXYBTJrqpMvFlLLLpg51aptTNyrPWLwXeor76b0H2kWZ15T8TyRquLbLm9H_Jkn66YpDTZ1q_f/s1600/Record+Cutter.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3CNHrhGESVeWYGtVhWcsDvg2Qsh6WMaALCLhyphenhyphenL-2OACPnsOktspZhVnyLr-01X1Qmm3sXYBTJrqpMvFlLLLpg51aptTNyrPWLwXeor76b0H2kWZ15T8TyRquLbLm9H_Jkn66YpDTZ1q_f/s400/Record+Cutter.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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I could have stayed there all day but I only popped in to give John an idea of what I wanted from the mastering and I had to get home to the dog. Luckily he is incredibly talented and very sensitive to the music. I have no idea what he was doing but within the space of an hour both albums had the basic sound the mastering would add. I could instantly tell that it was going to make a difference. Because Joe Rubel had done such a great job of mixing I think John could instantly see what was needed.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3lOwT382IXMkBP23Et-yRAarnw-ioaEQJsvLhoDFafkoSBuHqk_EYwyDj6ZkmpIknACbfs3YKInEFRMbkjlK1f86b87mEjSLEWw_EDyPfHGk3Vtf5XT_F4MJgvgFNTAQ3YWJ4t1g7QJP6/s1600/Display.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3lOwT382IXMkBP23Et-yRAarnw-ioaEQJsvLhoDFafkoSBuHqk_EYwyDj6ZkmpIknACbfs3YKInEFRMbkjlK1f86b87mEjSLEWw_EDyPfHGk3Vtf5XT_F4MJgvgFNTAQ3YWJ4t1g7QJP6/s320/Display.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Once John had an idea of what I was looking for I left him to it. Later that evening I had an email with a link to the files! I listened the next day and my oh my what a sound. They sound like <b style="font-style: italic;">actual albums </b>you'd buy in a shop. John has just given them a little boost, opened them out and helped everything have an added space and depth. Joe's fantastic mixes in combination with John's sensitive mastering have made them sound fantastic. I really can't wait to release them. I've set up a meeting with my publisher and as soon as we have a game plan I will blog about it and I'll be shouting very loudly when they are release. Very loudly.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-69330437131230561582016-06-27T18:29:00.005+01:002016-06-28T07:31:04.160+01:00Mixing and Stuff<h3>
Mixing</h3>
<br />
So, yeah. Hi.<br />
<br />
I've been mixing my albums. Finally! And they're done. The fabulous Joe Rubel at Pixel (who engineered the recordings) has mixed them. We did it across four days spread across June. Having some gaps between mixing sessions was actually really useful as it let us take a break from the mixes and then revisit and tweak them with fresh ears. I say "we", it was all Joe. I just said "Yeah, that sounds great" with the odd "Could the piano be a bit more present?" just to liven things up a bit.<br />
<br />
It was a really nice experience for me. Joe is so relaxed and cool that it made what can be, let's face it, quite a dull part of the process for us composers really fun. It's necessary, it improves the sound of our music but it involves a person doing things that I, at least, have no comprehension of. I'm not tech savvy, I don't really understand how mixing works. If I mix, they're always muddy, or sound great in the studio but absolute crap everywhere else.<br />
<br />
In the days between sessions I would listen in my studio to the mixes Joe had done, then take them out with me on dog walks and listen on various sets of headphone. I even listened in the kitchen on my bluetooth Bose speaker. They sound great on all of them. I couldn't be happier.<br />
<br />
Sadly, that doesn't mean they're ready to release... The next step is to get them mastered. Luckily for me, I'm able to get them mastered by John Webber at Air Studios, which is very exciting. I know that he'll add the sparklywow (a technical term I've picked up from my sister-in-law's sister - an awesome one I'm sure you'll agree) that will be the cherry on the icing of Joe's mixes.<br />
<br />
Once that's done I have to go for a meeting with my publisher and play them everything so that we can discuss what the next step. They want to try and find a record label to release, we'll then have to decide if to release physical copies or just do download. We also need to coordinate releasing the sheet music (for at least the String Quartets) along with the albums so that people can not only listen to the music put perform it. I'd love to get some string quartets performing them in their concerts. So any quartets out there that are interested get in touch with Music Sales about performing them.<br />
<br />
"But when will I be able to buy the albums?" I hear you reluctantly mumble. Well. That's a very good question. I won't be releasing them at the same time, I doubt. I wouldn't want to saturate the market (yeah, right!). I guess you'll just have to keep an eye on my blog (and Twitter, when I go back on there).<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
Stuff</h3>
I should remain apolitical really as this is my professional blog but stuff that. We're in a time of transition, of uncertainty and I really need to get some things off my chest. I doubt I'm going to say anything that hasn't already been said so I apologise for that.<br />
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Now. Yesterday I posted on Twitter that I was leaving it for a bit, which I am. It'll probably only be for a few weeks, maybe a month. I just need a little break from it. I get the irony of posting this blog on Twitter having said that I'm not going to be on Twitter... I just thought it better to leave with something a little more positive than a rant about not liking it much at the moment. I love Twitter and the people I've met because of it but it's become quite a toxic place recently, especially post Brexit vote. These are unsettling enough times without adding to the negative atmosphere. The events of the last couple of weeks have really shaken me. It has just been one thing after another both globally and within the UK and as much as I love Twitter for it's diversity and the immediacy of it I am seeing things that I don't want to. I will still be using Snapchat (filmmusicsam) and Instagram (@i_is_sam) so you can still chat with me on those.<br />
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I feel I should say that I'm a Yorkshireman who lives in the Home Counties. I worked in call centres and factories as a young man. We had hard times. We weren't rich. I'm not rich now but I know that I am well off relative to a large number of people in this country.<br />
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I have had to begin, over the last few days, to come to terms with the fact that the UK is not the country I thought it was and that my place in it is also completely different from what I thought it was. I am as out of touch as our politicians and now I have to work personally to change this. We all live in our own personal bubble and in this ever smaller world, this global community in which we live we need to burst those bubbles if we are to adapt, change for the better and make this little planet an awesome place to be for every single one of it's citizens. <br />
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I was, at first, angry at Leave voters. I still am, to an extent, but I'm mostly angry <i>for</i> them now. They were lied to. We all were but there are those of us who are privileged enough to have had a good education and/or have a job which pays well, have a house, can afford to shop in a supermarket rather than rely on food banks and have the interest in politics and don't feel like the political elite don't care about us and that our vote won't matter so why bother?! Not that all Leave voters come from this demographic, obviously, but they are the ones I feel have been most harmed by it all. The people who have been downtrodden, alongside the people who benefit from the EU without realising it. And they weren't told that they do because the EU has been used as a scapegoat. It's by no means perfect, there are many problems with it and I will admit that at the start of the campaign I was on the fence.<br />
I ended up despising the tactics of the Leave campaign, they really owned hate. Having said that, the Remain campaign really owned fear. So voters were placed between a rock and a hard place.<br />
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The Leave campaign have fully rescinded their promises. They have said there won't be £350m a week extra for the NHS and that immigration won't be reduced but still have the balls to say they never promised those things (despite the former being emblazoned on a bus and on leaflets posted through millions of doors and politicians from the campaign ACTUALLY SAYING IT ON TELEVISION). They didn't distance themselves from UKIP because it was gaining them votes. They didn't loudly point out that Farage wasn't an official Leave campaigner until he revealed that hideous poster and by then the damage was already done. <br />
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Many people have blamed the "baby boomers" for the leave result but looking at the figures there is a lot of "blame" to fall on the 18-24 year olds (probably the under 40s in truth). They didn't come out and vote in big enough numbers. Why? Do they not care? Too busy getting drunk? Or do they feel that politics isn't for them. I have a feeling it's the latter and that they fall into the "disenfranchised" camp. But I obviously have no way of knowing without going out and asking everyone under 40 who didn't vote "Why not?".<br />
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It would also appear that many people didn't understand that the referendum was "advisory" (so the government don't have to implement it) and that it was being voted for under Proportional Representation (PR), something that we don't use in General Elections in this country (remember that referendum in 2011?), so people thought they could use their vote as a protest vote. Labour Leave even tweeted that "A vote for leave is a vote against the Conservative government" (https://twitter.com/labourleave/status/743084647236653056) implying that it would be a protest vote. Appalling!<br />
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I would love to know how many Leave voters, having seen the ramifications, the financial uncertainty, how it has had an effect across the world, and the fact that Leave have come out and said that the only thing they want to change is the lawmaking side of our relationship with the EU, would still vote to Leave. I would also find it interesting to know if any Remain voters wish they had voted Leave.<br />
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I was shocked at how much I cared about the result. I cried for most of Friday morning. I'm fearful for the arts, for my job, for many things. I'm fearful for the people of this country who migrated here and for their children. I'm worried for my nieces and nephew. My creativity has slumped. I'm finding it hard to write music. But I know this will change. I can feel it change as my mindset is changing.<br />
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In an ideal world, I would like the referendum to be nullified on the grounds that it was fought on "facts" that are now clearly lies and that the promises made were never intended to be kept. But that isn't democracy and that's just how political campaigns seem to be run and we have to live with that. It appears that democracy is in the act of voting not in the way the people who are there to inform us how to vote have to act. I'm hoping this will change. We need a return to ethical politicking (if we've ever had it). I wouldn't be upset if Scotland choose to implement their veto stopping us from leaving the EU. I'm hoping all this turmoil triggers a general election and that a viable party comes forward and campaigns with the main points in their manifesto being a vote for them is a vote to remain in the EU (therefore being a more recent vote, a democratic way of nullifying the referendum) and that they will pass a law making it illegal for politicians to knowingly and willingly lie to the electorate. This is tough because it's technically subjective and hard to prove that someone was purposefully lying, especially when they are a silver tongued, weaselly politician. I also hope that we will switch to PR for all votes in the future as I believe it is must fairer that the First Past the Post system. The question of how democratic Scotland's veto or a general election won on the promise of remaining in the EU are is one that I haven't fully comprehended yet and is probably best left to someone better educated in these matters than me. I understand that ignoring the outcome of the referendum would cause uproar with many people who voted Leave and if it does happen that is something we will have to live with the consequences of.<br />
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I'm think I'm coming to terms with it now. The democratic thing is to enact Article 50, that is the will of the people apparently, although I would argue that the (democratically elected) government has a (democratic) mandate to do what is in the best interest of the country regardless of whether it's a popular decision or not and it is becoming more and more clear that remaining in the EU would be best at least in the short term. Should a narrow (very narrow) win for Leave on an <i>advisory</i> referendum override the fact that they are a democratically elected government?<br />
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Either way we must hunker down and make this country awesome in whatever way we have to.<br />
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I am now becoming hopeful for us, for what we can become. I don't underestimate how hard it will be to fix the problems that have been accumulating for who knows how many years of underhand, fear based politics and lying, scaremongering newspapers blaming anyone but us and our government for our problems but I hope that with Westminster in meltdown our politicians will realise that they have lost a great many of us and that it is not something they can ignore as they may have previously thought. I am not a Jeremy Corbyn fan but I do share the hope that we can have a kinder, gentle politics. I also hope that we can work towards a government that will bridge the gaping chasm between wealth and poverty in this country.<br />
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I'm hopeful that politicians will work on ways of engaging the disenfranchised back into politics and into believing that this country cares for them. Because we do. The politicians might not, but I believe the public do. I'm hopeful that we will defeat the far-right and we will not let this country become a small minded, introverted, hate-filled nation the likes of the sweaty faced lie factory of a man that is Nigel Farage would like to see. Immigration is vital for this country. I believe that the majority of us embrace it, even those who have worries over the numbers of people migrating here. And those worries are legitimate. It doesn't make you racist to worry about the effects migration has on our public services, on housing, on schools. But that's not the EU. Our government has woefully underfunded the NHS for decades along with all our other public services. Houses aren't being built because of our government. Huge corporations aren't paying a fair amount of tax because of our government (the EU actually wants to pass a law to help reduce off shore tax havens). <br />
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So for showing our politicians that we don't want to stand for this in a very big way I applaud Leave voters. I think it is mistimed and misjudged but it is what it is. I believe that our politicians can no longer be self-serving, career minded egoists. And not all of them are. I think they now know that, quite frankly, we won't stand for their bullshit anymore. So I'm hopeful.<br />
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I'm still uncertain what the future holds and I'm more than a little bit scared but I'm hopeful.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-59362453696778582262016-04-28T12:14:00.000+01:002016-04-28T12:14:58.764+01:00Recording at Script StudiosLast week (on the 18th and 19th April), as you probably know, I went into <a href="http://www.script.fm/" target="_blank">Script</a> at the Tileyard in London to record a couple of albums. It was so much fun. Sorry I'm only just getting around to blogging about it but as you know, I'm a bit rubbish at blogging.<br />
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<h3>
Day One</h3>
So, we did two days. Day one started at about 8am for engineer <a href="http://joerubel.com/" target="_blank">Joe Rubel</a> and the studio assistant Reece. My brother Dan (who was along for the ride but also made loads of helpful take and performance notes as well as buying loads of biscuits and cake for us to eat even though he was on a diet and couldn't have any of it) and I joined them shortly after. The quartet arrived at about 9:30 and we set off recording across three sessions (10-1, 2-5 and 6-9), which made for a very long but enjoyable day.<br />
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<i>Script Studios set up ready for the quartet to come in and record.</i></div>
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Cellist <a href="http://petergregson.co.uk/" target="_blank">Peter Gregson</a> put together a fabulous quartet for me, including himself. On violins were <a href="http://maslink.co.uk/client-directory?client=WOLSS1&" target="_blank">Sara Wolstenholme</a> and Kirsty Mangan and the viola was played by <a href="http://maslink.co.uk/client-directory?client=ANDEL1&instrument=VIOLA1" target="_blank">Laurie Anderson</a>.<br />
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We started the day recording the strings for my semi-concept album. This was all done to click so that the players could be totally in sync with the electronics and programming that I'd prerecorded. It was really nice to have the time to do plenty of takes and cover the performance fully while feeling relaxed and having fun. There was plenty of joking around (especially between Peter and Joe). I think it's really important to make recording sessions fun. After all, it's the best bit of the job, it should be the most enjoyable - and enjoyable for everyone. Recording for a film or TV session is great fun but comes with pressures of time restraint, cost restrictions (not that I had an endless budget for this project) and the fact that you have so many other people (namely producers) to make happy. Now, I'm not complaining, I love it. One of my favourite parts of the job is when the people commissioning you to work on their project beam a big smile and tell you you've nailed it. However, it was really refreshing and quite liberating to know we had the time to just enjoy it.<br />
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<i>Sara, Kirsty, Laurie and Peter kicking ass.</i></div>
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We popped for dinner at a local pub. We all got our food except for Sara. Hers turned up 10 minutes before the evening session was supposed to begin. I felt awful for her. She asked for a takeaway box for half of it and shoved the other half down as quick as possible. I doubt it will go down in her memory as one of the most pleasant meals she's ever had.<br />
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For the evening session Angus MacRae joined the quartet on piano to record a piece for the second, completely acoustic album. It was an interesting challenge, Angus was in a booth so that we had good mixing separation between the quartet and the piano but this meant that he and the quartet had no line of sight. They had to play completely from feel. It was amazing to watch and hear. They totally nailed it and after a few takes were really in the flow of it. It goes to show that if you get great musicians in anything is possible. <br />
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Once we'd recorded the piece with Angus we went back to record the final track for the first album before heading home for a well deserved sleep.<br />
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The great thing about recording across two days is the fact that at the end of the day you can just go home and leave everything out, no packing up at night and no setting up in the morning.<br />
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<i>Joe doing his thing.</i></div>
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<h3>
Day Two</h3>
Day two started at 9am with me in the booth recording some piano for the first album then the first session with the quartet started at 10am and went until 1pm. We started with my String Quartet No.1, went onto another piece for quartet and then in the 2-5pm session we went on to my String Quartet No.2. It was great recording the acoustic stuff. It's not something I do a lot of, and the "banter" (I hate that word when used non-ironically, but there we go) continued at very high levels.<br />
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For the evening session it was just me in the booth with Joe and Dan (and Peter) in the control room. I started by recording the remaining piano parts for the first album, including doing some passes using the felt setting, which is just lovely. We then set up the Hammond organ in the main studio and I played that on a track too. It was a noisy old beast but a joy to play.<br />
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<i>Hammond Organ. Such fun!</i></div>
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<h3>
The Joy of Real Players</h3>
As always, over the two days, it struck me just how much real musicians add to a recording. Especially players of the calibre I had at my disposal. The love and the life that players add to a composers music cannot be measured or underestimated. I think sometimes people think I'm a bit of a fraud or a bit wishy-washy in sessions when they ask about performance. If I have a very set idea I will tell a player and when they ask specific questions about how this bar or that phrase should be played I'll answer. But I often answer "<i>Play it how you feel it</i>" or "<i>Do it how you think it sounds/feels best</i>". This isn't because I don't know what I'm talking about (although I don't know what I'm talking about), it's because I <i>know</i> that a player knows their instrument better that I do. There's also something about the different interpretations that a player can add upon reading your music. It may not be what you had in your head but 90% of the time it sounds a million times better than you imagined.<br />
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<h3>
Post Recording</h3>
And so, this week the task of editing the takes has fallen to me. I have to say, Mr Rubel did such a great job of comping as we recorded that there's not a lot to do but I am checking through my notes and listening back to takes just in case there's some gold we missed in the hubbub of recording. I can't wait to get into <a href="http://www.pixelsoundsgood.com/" target="_blank">Pixel</a> and get mixing so that we can release the albums and let you all hear the hard work and, hopefully, the fun we had making them happen.<br />
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Right, I better get back to editing.<br />
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Sam xAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-134463360480100244.post-75667311478828047712016-04-04T17:00:00.000+01:002016-04-04T17:00:01.659+01:00Albums and stuffSo, yeah. I've failed once again to hit my weekly target... Oh well. *Must try harder*<br />
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Now, I have news. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram (or both) you will know that I've been writing two albums. One will include my two string quartets and some other music for string quartet including a piece for piano and string quartet.<br />
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The other is for string quartet and loads of electronic stuff. I spent a week a little while ago down at my brother Dan's studio adding to what I'd already written and using his ear as a producer. It was great and I think has really lifted the music.<br />
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I've now booked to record at Script Studios a little later this month, which is very exciting. I'm being decadent and have booked two days so that I can have five sessions with the strings so that we have time to play about and get a great performance. I'll then spend the rest of the time recording the piano and some other parts for the second album live, which will be a lot of fun.<br />
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The fabulous Peter Gregson is putting a quartet together for me and the very talented Joe Rubel is going to engineer and mix. I've asked Angus MacRae to play piano live with the quartet for one of the pieces and luckily he has agreed. It's all very exciting. Can you tell I'm excited?<br />
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Anyway, they will be released (separately) later this year. I'll keep you posted with any other developments.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12860945442059877791noreply@blogger.com0