Well there’s another social network. I don’t post about sound libraries here too much but I have started a Pintrest “Interesting Sound Libraries” board you can choose to follow. Keep in mind these are interesting to me so expect a high dose of 80s, screams and springs.

“Pinterest is a vision board-styled social photo sharing website and app where users can create and manage theme-based image collections. The site’s mission statement is to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting”.” – Wikipedia

For more info: pinterest.com/thingstocome

If you want to listen to music purely made from analog synthesizers and drum machine Solvent is a good place to start. Jason Amm has some nice stuff in his studio no? I like his honesty when he does into details how even though he’s a veteran at this point he is still largely unknown and gets ripped off my distributors and promoters. He will also be featured in the upcoming I Dream of Wires movie.

“Veteran Canadian producer and hardware lover, Solvent, gave StudioFeed an inside look at his Bloor-West home studio set-up, as well as discussed everything from why he makes music to the story behind his recent RDJ-CS5 EP.” – studiofeed

For more info: solventcity.com

I love software that helps with music theory and composition. Off the top of my head a few of titles come to mind such has Harmony Navigator, SoundPrism, Polychord, Songsmith and LaDiDa. I’ve yet to try it yet but Melody Music Maker looks like a nice addition. Nothing beats some piano lessons of course.

“What have Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney and Ray Charles in common? They could not read scores but nevertheless their songs captured the world. With Melody Music Maker you are walking in the trails of these super talents. You can fully focus on one thing: the melody that you enjoy, without taking care for the notes and theoretical correctness. Colors guide the user through the composition of the song.” – melodymusicmaker.com

For more info: melodymusicmaker.com

via promusicapps

Watch the Rolling Stones record Sympathy for the Devil. There’s a lot of magic happening in bedroom project studios these days but I wish more productions were still created like this.

“Sympathy for the Devil is also the title of a producer’s edit of a 1968 film by Jean-Luc Godard whose own original version is called One Plus One. The film, a depiction of the late 1960s American counterculture, also featured the Rolling Stones in the process of recording the song in the studio.” – DRJVancouver

via musicradar

“Finish what you start.” is a good saying. I agree with it. Last year when I released the album Joyless Pleasure I promised to go song by song and tell you the backstory and technical details. Honestly, I got cold feet realizing I would have to reveal more of myself than I may want to. This blog is useless if I don’t add a personal touch and although it’s 80% music tech it’s music itself that’s important right? In addition I’ve had more than a few readers ask I continue explaining each song. I’m already 6 songs into my next album and want to preview some of it soon. Therefore it’s now or never to get into the details of the remaining 8 songs on Joyless Pleasure. The first two songs are covered here: Modern and We Will Get Wicked.

Darkling Lullaby. If I could have written a song like this when I was 17 years old I would have. I didn’t have the skill or wisdom at that time so I wrote it now. It a lullaby to a beutifull young girl who is on top of the world. She breaks hearts. The song is from the scorned and obsessed. One day the girl will be old and struggle like everyone else. When I listen to the song sometimes I picture a father singing it to a daughter in her bedroom. It’s February so maybe this is fine for a Valentine’s day playlist. Especially if you’re single.

The vocals were written in one take but I changed the last verse a few days later. The main synth is a layer of Fairlight CMI choral samples and a Korg Poly 800 arpeggiated. There’s lots of Altiverb reverb washing over the entire track. The kick is a Jomox Mbase 01. The song took about a week to finish. Be sure to check out the Dom Dumoulin remix on the Joyless Pleasure Remixed album (link). The photos used for the Youtube video still (above) are indeed yours truly. I used to climb the slanted tree to the right of me in the photo almost everyday. Behind me you can see the stream that ran through my front yard.

“I am sorry for what the world will do to you. Darkling I am sad to tell you the truth. Love is a lie like a butterfly. Dear I wish it was different for you. You will cry like everyone cries. I am sorry it’s the truth. Darkling I am sad for for you. My sweet Darkling you will cry. You will cry and cry.” – The Horrorist

Buy the song: iTunes, Amazon or Beatport

Today I received my latest eBay purchase in the mail: a Suzuki Omnichord OM-84. Add a star to my hipster cred wall. Nevertheless I love the (analog) sound and playability of these instruments. There were a few variations and you can buy new digital models with MIDI called Qchords. If you have an iPad and you want some Omnichordness download the very good Polychord app (link). There’s a good blog that covers old Omnis here: omnichords.blogspot.com. Any of you Wire to the Ear readers own an Omnichord?

“The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument, introduced in 1981 and manufactured by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate, and buttons for major, minor, and diminished chords. The most basic method of playing the instrument is to press the chord buttons and swipe the touch plate with a finger or guitar pick in imitation of strumming a stringed instrument.” – Wikipedia

For more info: qchord.net

I apologize if you posted a comment and it didn’t go through recently. As Wire to the Ear continues to grow the site is getting hit quite hard by spam. It almost all gets caught by Akismet and some other plug-ins however some of your own comments end up in there too. I’ve noticed a lot of larger blogs either turned off comments or use a third party system like Facebook connect or Disqus. For now I’m going to keep things as they are. I like the idea of having control on my own server. I should point out that most of the comments on each of these posts mostly takes place on my Facebook page with Twitter and Google+ trailing. Anywhere you create the discussion I enjoy it.

“The labeled ingredients in the classic variety of Spam are chopped pork shoulder meat, with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, and sodium nitrite as a preservative. Spam’s gelatinous glaze, or aspic, forms from the cooling of meat stock.” – Wikipedia

Here I am: Facebook, Twitter and Google+

I’ve been working on music every night for the past few months. I have about 6 songs finished for my next album. Most of what I write these days is autobiographical. It has me thinking a lot of where I grew up and first loves. The house I grew up on had a stream that went threw it. I spent a large amount of time in that water. Even though it’s just H2O, rocks, mud and fish it’s a sacred place to me. I was reading Spinner magazine’s “The 25 Most Exquisitely Sad Songs in the Whole World” (link) and came to Bruce Springsteen’s The River. We really do all swim on the same road. I’ll post some preview clips of what I’m working on in a few weeks.

“Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true or is it something worse?” – Bruce Springsteen

For more info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_River_(Bruce_Springsteen_song)

photo credit: helti

“[About the song Shake the Disease...] Band member Alan Wilder felt this song captured the essence of the band, stating “there’s a certain edge to what we do that can make people think twice about things. If we’ve got a choice between calling a song “Understanding” or “Shake the Disease”, we’ll call it “Shake the Disease”. There’s a lot of perversity and innuendo in our lyrics, but nothing direct.” – Wikipedia

For more info: depechemode.com and Dicken Schrader

via Laughing Squid

Get taught and learn but always teach yourself.

“Mechanically and specifically breed out any hint of creative thought.” – Zappa

For more info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateralization_of_brain_function

photo credit: Eric James Sarmiento