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10Mar
Tags: links
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29Apr
I wrote some lyrics to a typically jangly pop song back in 1996/1997. The original tune sounded like a Letters To Cleo song (I was listening to a lot of jangly guitar pop rock then).
I recently dug up the lyrics and thought it might be interesting to get someone else to write and produce a new tune out of it. So I sent out a call to Electronica Manila members for a collaboration. And Emorej volunteered.
He took the lyrics, set it to music, and used a vocal software named Miriam to generate the vocals with the French accent. The result is a simple, but catchy downtempo tune complete with sultry French singer: “STARS.”
LINKDownload “Emorej- Stars” from: http://filesocial.com/35fgo (9.3 MB)
[After the jump, you'll find the actual lyrics.]
Tags: collaboration, lyrics, tracks
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16Apr
A few years back, I wrote a PDF tutorial on how to use the software Reason for live performance. I never got to update it, so it’s circa Reason version 2.5, but it still has some interesting tips on how I personally use Reason in a performance set-up. Download link below.
Acid42’s Guide to Live Performance using Reason Software (PDF) [Size: 337 KB].
Note that the email addresses and URLs have all changed. -
20Mar
I’ve been working on new music here and there — not as often as I’d like to — but enough to come up with 2 new songs with vocals … and sung by myself in Filipino. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a great vocalist. But my Shure microphone sure tries to make up for it.
Click to play/download the 2 new tracks. Or use the music player in the top post of this page.
The two free exclusive tracks are at ReverbNation. You’ll have to create an account and become an Acid42 fan in order to freely listen and download the complete songs, but signing up is quick and painless. Plus, there’s a LOT of good music on ReverbNation.
The new songs (complete with Filipino lyrics and English translations) are the two I recently blogged about:
- Lupain Ng Pangarap [Land of Dreams] - Acid42
- Sa Wakas [Finally] - Acid42
Hope you take the time to check them out. And give feedback as well.
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19Mar
In the past few months, whenever I’ve been able to grab a few minutes, I’ve worked on some Filipino songs for Acid42. Things I’ve realized: composing lyrics and music in Filipino is pure gut feel. You create using your gut and the end result usually comes out strangely honest. You can’t hide behind fancy twists of phrase. Or at least, I can’t. And because I haven’t written in Filipino in years, it felt strange at first. But afterwards, it just started flowing more naturally than ever. Liberating, yes.
Except, how do you translate it to English without losing the rhyme or original flavor? Not that easy. You can’t simply do a word-for-word “formal equivalency” translation and expect the essence of the song to be understood. You need to bring some more context that may not have been obvious in the original material into the translation. Things such as mood can thus be expressed. And idiomatic phrases given more context.
Below are some attempts at translating the Filipino lyrics to my 2 newest songs into English in order that a more international audience can follow along.
Read more… -
17Mar
Here’s an old file from the vaults. This track was done back in 1999/2000 when I was first learning the Acid Pro software and sound editing tools. I downloaded a zip file of tracks from the artist Moon In The Man, and remixed his tune to sound like a sweeping but aggressive battle soundtrack. I seem to have used a lot of stutter edits and effects processing on some parts. The end result was something I was very happy with. Mostly because of the melody (which was not of my making) but also partly because of the intricate edits I had to do in order to make it all work.
Sadly, I can’t find any currently active links to the artist Moon In The Man on the web. All the links our there right now seem to be to a country artist, and a book of the same title. Where did MITM go?
Tags: tracks
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02Jul
For those of us closely interested in the future of internet and culture in general, the book The Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen is riveting reading most of the way through. Keen tackles how the democratization of the Net is producing tons of crap on a daily basis and slowly killing off the production of meaningful art. He cites digital piracy, the production of meaningless “noise” instead of art, and the corruption of values such as respect for intellectual property rights, as culprits in this age of the amateur cut-n-paste videographer and mash-up remixer.
I’ve seen and heard it myself, having been an avid MP3 downloader since 1999, how the levelling of the playing field and the easy availability of every digital tool ever made (via piracy) has ended up making mediocre media producers out of all of us consumers. In fact, the term consumers almost loses meaning, because all participants in ‘the Great Conversation of the Internet’ are consumers and simultaneously content producers — whether you’re commenting on a blog, micro-blogging on Plurk, leaving video responses on YouTube, or posting photos on Zooomr.
One of my major areas of interest is electronic music. I’ve been producing electronic music and releasing it freely on the web via my netlabel QED Records since 2004. And I’ve seen the community of netlabels grow a hundredfold in only a few years.
Just looking at the number of extant netlabels today (July 2 2008) there are 925 free netlabels who house their music files on Archive.org. And each of these netlabels releases something at least once a month, if not more. Some of that output is extraordinary and exquisite stuff you’d never hear over the radio, however the majority is mediocre mush, simply taking up space.
In general, we now all have the tools at our disposal and so we are all now producing much more mediocrity than if those tools were more difficult to avail of. Don’t believe me? Look at YouTube.
And the ease with which digital media can be copied and shared is bringing intellectual property to a dangerous impasse. Old school media producers aren’t making much from their intellectual property rights, so less truly talented people are making meaningful art as full-time jobs. End result? A dangerous slowdown of culture. A slowdown that may one day become a standstill.
Keen asks the poignant question in his book: who makes the decision that something is art or not? In the end, if no one is making any art anyway and simply engaging in the frivolous production of noise in the form of inane mash-ups and blog commentary, then the question is rendered moot.
Something to think about.
Tags: netlabel, reflections
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11Jun
Katorse Shorts poster In 2006, I did the musical score for an independent short film entitled “Puwang” by filmmaker and editor Annabelle “Sunshine” Matutina. It’s a 30-minute short film about a family coming together to take care of their dying father in a hospital. And I was asked to make music that was minimalist and not overly gushy. I think I did a pretty good job at it, and the story is, in itself, a touching tale of family forgiveness.
The film is part of a screening of 7 short indie films now showing in Manila from June 11-17. The show: “Katorse Shorts” is screening at the Robinson’s Galeria Indie Sine.
Go see it if you are in Manila! Here’s the trailer.
Tags: projects
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18Apr
Art means using what you already have
“So what kind of computer do I need to make electronic music?”
“So what kind of investment do I need to make in gear in order to perform live?”
I get asked questions like this all the time. Partly because I’ve been doing this for some time now, (and by this, I mean, create, release and perform electronic music) and partly because I usually have something to say about the creative process and the tools needed.
More often than not, my reply is this: use what you have.
While it’s good to ask around and find out what others use, don’t get so hung up about gear and brands and tools and materials that you forget that dynamic energy that wans to burst out of you because you have something you need to say through your art.
The point I always try to stress to those starting out in any creative endeavor, whether in visual art or music, sculpture or writing, is that you already do possess tools right under your nose that you can utilize in order to create your art.
I can give you a list of what hardware I use right now, and I can do a search on the internet and find out what other music producers have in their ginormous studios, and it will do me no good to try to ape their set ups, only to realize that I could’ve made beats using some software that was already built into Windows or Linux or Mac.
You have a computer and an internet connection. A beginner’s solution lies in freeware.
You have some hardware already and are wondering how to make it all work. The only way to figure out your own needs is to practise doing sets in your bedroom and figure out what you hope to accomplish with the music you dish out.What kind of investment do you need? That question comes AFTER you figure out what you intend to do with your gear and where you intend to go with your art. Literally and figuratively.
Because really, there should be NO physical impediment that stops you from making your art. If it really needs to be expressed, it will find an outlet. Use what’s in front of you. Use what you already have. Investing in better gear comes later when you’ve established a direction and a vision.
Tags: reflections
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12Jul
Here’s a short, Latin-fused house music track. The title comes from a line in William Burgess’ brutal novel (which was turned into a movie) A Clockwork Orange. Dance to the beat of the Clockwork Orange, Julius.
Tags: tracks
