joeltimothy.com

Daily Challenge: Pet Robot

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:06:05 -0600

Daily Challenge Sponsor: Knivy
Twitter: @knivy

Challenge (in Knivy’s words): “When I was a kid living in an apartment where no pets were allowed, I wanted to have a pet robot. I imagined my robot would not only play games with me at home or at the park, but it would also take me to the store to buy candy, walk with me to the arcade and even help me if I ever got into any trouble. My challenge of the day for you is to make a sound my robot would’ve made while doing any of the things I mentioned.”

Daily Challenge: Social Media Overload

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:17:00 -0600

Daily Challenge Sponsor: Nick Bergus
Website: nbergus.com

Challenge: The feeling of being unable to stop checking Twitter/Facebook/Tumblr/MetaFilter/Google Reader/e-mail and go to sleep.

Again, one day to complete this challenge!

UPDATE:
Confession time. It took me much longer than a day to post this update, but I’m glad to be posting it now!

I found sounds from clicking various buttons, phone beeping, vibrating notifications, an iPad cover closing, and rhythmic keyboard typing.

Daily Challenge: Mnemonic of Moxie Wanderlust

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 07:22:00 -0500

Daily Challenge Sponsor: Moxie Wanderlust
Website: moxie.me

Challenge: “Create a mnemonic based on my name. What does Moxie Wanderlust sound like?”

I have one day to complete this challenge. I’m very curious myself to see how this one turns out!

UPDATE: It took me a little over a day to get this turned around. The first day I recorded and edited about 30 different sounds: things like a car’s power locks, walking up a hallway, opening doors on cabinets & appliances. Some were random, but a couple were intentional. I wanted to convey the sense of serendipity and adventure along with the travel bug and a sense of a modern hipster laid back ethic. That’s what the name sounds like to me. The walking up the hallway is the approach to transition. The next section is a drum beat (pardon the poor timing) bookended by doors opening and closing, and also joined or interrupted by random sounds.

I sampled a few notes on a piano with the intention of creating an instrument out of it and then bringing in a melodic aspect. I simply ran out of time to include that in this challenge. I probably could have just played a couple melodies on the piano instead of just taking a few isolated notes.

Moxie-v1 by joeltimothy Moxie-v2 by joeltimothy

Daily Challenge: Leather Sofa Radio

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 07:10:00 -0500

Daily Challenge Sponsor: Dean Klemick
Twitter: @deanlk

Challenge: The sound of a woman sitting down on a leather sofa; radio plays.

I’ll post an update within a day.

UPDATE: I recorded the sound of sitting down on a vinyl leather chair, then a click of a lamp switch (simulating the sound of turning on a radio), and finally created a song in GarageBand on the iPad (with some filters applied to make it sound like an old small radio). Leather Radio Play by joeltimothy

Daily Challenge: A Record Scratching

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:48:00 -0500

Daily Challenge Sponsor: Music Marketing [dot] com
Website: musicmarketing.com

Challenge: The sound of a record scratching.

I’ll post an update within a day.

UPDATE:
Below are various versions of record scratches. I left them as raw recordings with only fades applied to the beginnings and ends.

Record Static by joeltimothy Record Scratch Wah Wah Wah by joeltimothy Record Scratch 06 by joeltimothy Record Scratch 01 by joeltimothy Record Rim Static Loop by joeltimothy

Daily Challenge: Low Rumble, Fire, Explosion

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 15:02:00 -0500

Daily Challenge Sponsor: Danger Cave Media
Website: dangercavemedia.com

Challenge: Create the sound of a low rumble, fire, and an explosion.

I will post the update within a day.

UPDATE:
The best low rumble that I found was by recording the floorboard of my car while driving. I recorded at 96k/24bit and then resampled it to 48K (half-speed) and EQ’d it to get rid of most of the high end and boost the lows.

For the fire, I tried first recording a propane burner on a gas grill. However, there were too many background sounds that got in the way. I finally decided to burn a couple pieces of pine tree branches in my fireplace. This worked out well as I could control the environmental sounds and get a clear recording.

The explosions were firecrackers recorded at 96k, resampled (slowed) to 11k, then brought into a new project for some EQ and a little reverb, and then exported at 48k.

Low Rumble by joeltimothy

Fire short by joeltimothy

Explosions by joeltimothy

Daily Challenge: A Deserted, Dirty, Gritty Alley

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 10:49:00 -0500

Daily Challenge Sponsor: Gene Blalock
Website: seraphfilms.net

Challenge: Create the sound of a deserted, dirty, gritty alley.

I’ll post an update within a day.

UPDATE:
I imagined all kinds of sounds that you might encounter in an alley. In my head I pictured a scene in a movie with some paper being blown by the wind, a trash can closing in the distance, and a cat giving a “meow”. Unfortunately that’s not what I was able to create this time. However I now have that scene imprinted in my mind and will probably attempt that specific interpretation another time.

I ended up going to the historic downtown of Waxahachie, TX and recorded a few alleys and ambient spaces.

The following sounds are the ones that I felt fit in best with this challenge.

Daily Challenge: Futuristic Sci-Fi Sound

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 07:28:00 -0500

Daily Challenge Sponsor: Guillermo Martinez

Challenge: Create a sound of a futuristic engine, weapon, or scanner (think Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Stargate).

UPDATE:
I created and recorded some sounds, mashed them up, manipulated them, and came up with the sound of some kind of futuristic machine. I imagine it as some kind of large scanning device. I also have the individual elements separately in order to show what went into layering the final sound.

Daily Challenge: High School Party

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 07:09:00 -0500

Daily Challenge Sponsor: Eric Striffler
Twitter: @ericstriffler

Challenge: Create the sound of a high school party.

I’ll post an update within a day.

UPDATE:
So I was able to convince some friends to be my high school party ambience, although they are all beyond high school. I recorded several minutes with six different audio tracks. I used the Zoom H2 with all four built-in mics, and the H1 using omni-directional mics spaced about 9 feet apart. The omnis are from Giant Squid Audio Lab.

I layered different sections of the tracks to make it sound like more than the 10 or so people recorded. I also wanted to throw in some other kind of music, so Garageband for the iPad came in really handy. I recorded a few tracks and added that in as well.

I’m not sure that the final result is exactly “high school” but I think the ambience should work well as a background ambient texture.

Here are 3 different versions of the ambience and music. The music is loopable.

And a screenshot from the editing session.

Daily Challenge: Sliding Rocks

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 07:04:00 -0500

Daily Challenge Sponsor: Fabian Becker
Twitter: @geekproject

Challenge: Create sounds of rocks sliding on any kind of surface. They should be able to be used as a sound for a sliding action on a touch pad or as transitions when changing slides.

Note: This is the very first of my daily challenges that I am undertaking. I will be looking for opportunities throughout the day to record sounds. Then I will edit the sounds and update this post within a day.

UPDATE:
Here are a dozen versions of sliding rocks. I recorded them with the Zoom H1 using the built in mics as well as a stereo contact mic. I recorded rocks on a plastic slide, on a whiteboard, on glass, and on a metal tray. Editing was mostly chopping up and adding slight fades.

Pocket Creative Kit is featured in the music section of...

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 03:03:04 -0600

Pocket Creative Kit is featured in the music section of kickstarter’s homepage (at least at 3am on Friday, March 11). I’m honored and looking forward to see what this project will evolve into.

Launched. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joeltimothy/pocket...

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:20:12 -0600

Launched.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joeltimothy/pocket-creative-kit-original-sound-effects-on-the