Tuesday 29 December 2015

Wtf Is With All The Wars and Scamming Suits (extended)




Lyrics:
All, Round The World
People, Are Dyin
Nothing Ever, Seams To Change
Just Names, In The Paper
Countries, Up In Arms
The Wars, Just Rage On
All My Hopes For Humanity Are Gone

The People Don't Care Where The Hell Your From
Unless You Express Your Self With Bombs
Politicians And Terrorists Your Tearing Our World Apart
All Our customs You Don't Care To Know
Where Just Another Place For Your Religion To Grow
Striking Fear Into Our Lives
Just How Long, Till Where All Picking Up Knives

Everywhere Ive Ever Been
And Just About Everything Ive Ever Seen
Every Time I close my Eyes
I See The World On Fire
The Pain Inside It Burns So Deep
An All The People I See Are Sheep
Governments Just simply Need To Fall
Get These Politicians Lined up against the wall

Every Day, Every Country
Wars Are Raging All Around The World
Its Unendin, Its Uncomprihendable (SPOKEN is that even a word)
why does everyone have to die

All These Banks and Their Political Chums
Just Expect Us Folks To Pick Up Guns
Travel Right Across The World, To Fight Some Crazy War
With No Concern For Whats Going On
While Great Britain's Has Clearly Gone
Totally Insane
Our Whole Countrys Gone Down The Drain
 

Monday 2 November 2015

Music From The Movies


As a kid I would often look at the random cassette tapes in Woolworths & TJ Hughes, those movie and tv theme tapes. You probably know the ones i mean, them crazy compilations full of classics from the likes of

  "Some Dude and his Orchestra perform Hits from Some Random Whatever"

I didn't get to watch much tv or listen to much music when i was younger, in fact tv themes and bbc's cfax music used to be as close to music as i got. One Christmas i was given a Walkman and two tapes, i will never forget it. It had Play, Fast Forward and Stop, looking at the tapes i had no idea what to expect, and as i unwrapped 2 Agfa 90 minuet blank tapes, that where new & blank, their i sat totally at a loss and truly gutted. They did get me a keyboard years later for some unknown reason, though its the only thing i ever asked for (besides to listen to music and hear the tv) so i guess they figured to hell with it. As a child i had no sense of smell, my brain adapted around that and my eyes and ears got more brain power than they should have.

My older brother ended up filling the tapes for me, the beatles, early genesis, pink floyds the wall, he also ended up passing me jeff waynes war of the worlds and the best of the doors. I was on fire inside with no idea why. A few years later my old man put on some Vinyl LP of Geof Love and his Orchestra do Western Themes and it just blew me away. The music bug i had and no clue a to why, but the brass and the strings where just WOW.

What i have spent the last couple of days doing is re-creating some of the music i remember the most, some of my earliest memories of music i heard that i got truly gripped by. Ive also been working on some music from modern Films / Tv Shows that truly moves me or perked up my ears. I have also been digging deep into the back of my mind, humming music (the little moments most ears miss) and i decided that be it old or new, i will do some tracks that limit in places and boost in others. A collection of tracks people know and love, yet altered in such a way that the every day listener can better hear some amazing moments often lost on so called untrained ears.

note this is a work in progress with no end date or set list

01 - Transformers (arrival to earth)
02 - Pirates Of The Caribbean (drink up me hearties)
03 - Star Trek (mixed)
04 - Escape From New York (main title)
05 - Crimson Tide (roll tide)
06 - Black Beauty Tv Theme (galloping home)
07 -
08 - Back To The Future (main title)
09 - The X-Files (unheard suite)
10 - Blazing Saddles (main title) Orchestral
11 - Superman 1978 (main title)
12 - .....





Thursday 22 October 2015

Back To The Future No Longer The Future

Its really sad to think that today October 21st 2015 Is now in the past rather than the future. The significance of this is the fact that All Three back to the future movies are now actually set in the Past, where as we know that back to the future part II was the one film out the Trilogy that was set in the future, but not any more after today.


It was good to see the odd video on youtube with Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd on youtube, reunited after all these years. Leading up to this event i covered back to the futures main theme by Alan Sylvestri, which can be heard here (hope i did it justice)



This was an unusual track to play and its amazing how how it almost feels like an homage to John Williams and Ennio Morricone which i found really odd (note this is an assumption from when i was trying to create Instrument banks that would give what i played the right sound, brass is very noticeable by era. The more i worked on creating the banks the more i could hear other stuff, in fact for an hour i sat mixing Raiders of the lost ark, Superman, Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Back to the Future  They all have such moments where they don't just mix and overlap they also blend for unusual durations of time.  I'm certainly not saying "this is" a tribute from alan to john, as i have no idea, but it sure does match johns exceptional orchestration and pretty much compliment the mix.

I did a Tutorial on how to play this piece of music, i have been able to play this for years, but not how i played it in the video. I used to play it in another key/place, it was recognisable, so much so no one ever noticed it was wrong, but i could hear the difference between me humming it and me playing it, so i learnt it properly. Its not actually that complex to play "the main bits" that is, the small fiddly extras are a real ear pain to master, but the main thing most people hear is fairly simple to play..




If you've never sat back one night and watched part I, II and III in one sitting you really should do...  I remember a few years ago (you could get 1,2,3 on dvd with a 4th bonus disc) But when they Re-Packaged the box set and stuck the extras across dvd 1,2,3, removing the need for a 4th disc they over produced the discs compared to the packaging and across the UK stores such as poundland where selling each film disk in a clear cd jewel box for £1, in essence people got the 4 DVD box set (on 3 genuine discs) for £3, rather than the often boxes prices round £35 to £59.  Oddly the company distributing Jurassic Park 1,2,3 also had the discs over produced.



while i remember, Images in this post are from a sweet little iPhone/iPad app on the iTunes app store, there are a few back to the future apps, but this was the cheapest and yet also the cleanest looking one.

For time circuits you hold device in landscape, for the flux capacitor you hold it in portrait. You can get it Here

Please be aware i am in no way affiliated with the dev's Nor does this link to their app have Any Referral information at all, i am linking out of courtesy.... and to by pass questions regarding it.



Other odd memories of back to the future for me was playing BTTF III on the Sega Megadrive and also playing a great looking TC Mod on Vice City which was a back to the future game of sorts built within the gta game, i still have that full install somewhere lol.


Check back on this Post some time in the Future.. or the Past lol, will try and sort the tutorial sometime and Maybe some screen shots from the GTA Conversion.


Sunday 18 October 2015

Free Spooky Horror Music For Your Halloween Videos

OFFER NOW ENDED

I have made 3 albums FREE for this years Halloween movie makers



The "Horror Collection" consists of 60 tracks, Music, Ambience, Sound Effects, pretty much everything you need to give your scary video some seriously moody, disturbing and atmospheric moments. The majority of it is also hands on recording (very little mixing involved and barely any use of actual samples) Making the album very uniqe and distinctive with an emotional genuine sound.

The "Living After The Aftermath (score)" Is another horror based album, though it leans more towards Zombie, and the End Of The World apocalyptic kinda feel to it (it uses some sample based tracks) and again this one has a lot of hands on stuff. It covers a lot of styles from varied zombie and disaster shows and movies, yet holds its own legally with some very dark anf often moody unique compositions.

The "The Dark Drones and Atmospherics Collection" Is a nice set of ambient spooky fillers for use where music just wont work. This ones never gone free before and hosts a staggering 83 tracks.

Between these three albums your certainly set for the perfect Music and Atmosphere for your spooky video (and if you shoot me a comment below with a link to your video)  "and i like it" then there is a good chance i will plug it for you on my blog and my FB page

Main Download Links:
Download "The Horror Collection(Unlimited Downloads)
Download "Living After The Aftermath(Unlimited Downloads)
Download "The Dark Drones and Atmospherics Collection(Unlimited Downloads)
  Please Leave A Rating and maybe a Review on the Albums, remember iPhones also have the GooglePlay app (this is Not limited to android users) any pc/laptop/phone/tablet browser can download these albums

WARNING:
Download the "Full Album" for the price of  0.00
(do not try to download the tracks Individually)

Also Remember:
The facebook "Group" has 100's of other FREE tracks
join the fb group, like the fb page, share this post.. your sharing and joining pages inspires artists

Legal Information:
Download as "Full Album" and check the Album Price is FREE before clicking it.
I don't control prices on iTunes, Amazon, OR Spotify (so i can't offer it free through those services)
When the prices go back onto albums (on googlePlay) you will still own them on the account you used to download them, regardless of device.

Usage:
ANY  (c) claim you get upon the video does NOT affect your youtube accounts good standing in anyway shape or form (and it never will, just click acknowledge and the videos live globally)
So it is perfectly safe to use my music within your videos. I also don't enforce "Click To Skip" adverts OR enforce only monetised browsers, so your video viewers wont be annoyed by having to wait for your video to start or be unable to view it due to them using ad blockers.
So It's Win Win using my music, and hopefully in the future it will be Quids In for you to.

Be Sure To Check Back In December for a MASSIVE Christmas Give Away....



Monday 21 September 2015

Thats Me Genesis (cover)



Its on iTunes Here
Its on Loudr Here
It should be on GooglePlay.. but for some weird reason it is not...
nor have i been told why its not..

You can also listen to a nice Instrumental version of it Here
 the song & instrumental are both in stores..

UPC 841234170400
ISRC USE831508162
ISRC USE831508163

Sunday 20 September 2015

Does the Ease of Using Social Networking Kill Your Coverage, Vibe, Mojo, Statistics and Income?


Ok this is an odd thing that's annoyed me for a fair few years now and it does seam like it'll never change.  Like when you post something on facebook regarding multimedia (embedded playback)

IE:  you post a video from youtube and on the facebook page your looking at.. is a "Play Button" wich is easier to hit and saves any new window or app opening.. but just what's the cost of that simplicity to the creator of the content and the impact it has on their will to do more?

Not everyone knows this but youtube doesn't count embedded statistics as valid views... So not only would you loose out on that 2nd Adsense placement in the top right corner....


But posting on facebook, twitter, forums and blogs, any embedded environment also doesn't register as a video view... even the likes of 400 views on Fandalism or Reverbnation, and yet only 6 actual views on youtube.

This video for example (and people know my airwolf work tends to get hammered over time)
this so far has had 99 Views  (on youtube)



 Stat wise that would be 99  IP  addresses that have viewed the video for about 66 seconds or more and in turn would probably show an advert on the video and one on the page (so 2 ads) 4 if the user didn't minimise the little bar over the video that rotates between 3 adverts...

Now a test on facebook (making one single post, to be able to see the total stats)  and then "sharing" that post, rather than sharing the link with new posts, So i shared the actual post (a re-share doesn't count stat wise neither a lot of the time)

The post was shared into 4 Airwolf communities, 4 locations where my work is essentially viewed by many people in many countries.. and my aw stuff has drawn random fans towards it for over 10 years now, so a perfect place to give something and test a theory. So how close to 99 would it be? in groups with roughly 500 to 1000 members?


683 & 99 = the actual amount of hits it may of got...
but financially speaking (if trying to earn a living) and (marketing your stuff via social media)
facebook would essentially loose me a possible 683 video views, that kinda number would of had the video higher up youtubes ladder in its initial few hours =  less buffering as its on more servers faster due to demand and way more traffic could be generated that way.  Regardless of that statistic fk up fact... But that's also 683   "advert 2 boxes"  that would never be shown and never earn't...

Meanwhile facebook limits who can see posts and offers you to PAY them money to spam peoples news feeds... while showing 3 or 4 other adverts that slow yours down..

Ive had music videos with 34 hits on Youtube and yet on facebook,, seen by 3493 and  500+ likes, yet their it sits on youtube.. video uploaded a year ago.. 34 views..   yet at least 500+  watched it and bothered to like it on facebook.

I think to Bullet Point this in a simple manner, when you share a link to your video outside youtube

Your video gets = 0 Views
Your fb page post reach = fk all tangible
You get = 1 ad view (not 2)
FB with silverlights advert rotation = fb get 30+ advert views during the length of your video

so you get zero views on yt, you get a few likes, load of useless page stats on fb, while fb coin it in and your youtube videos linger around with barely any views and upload dates that say its been around a long long long while... and no ones watched it.. so it must be crap

Then as artists we may also sadly learn most users have ad blocker plugins on their firefox or opera (web browsers) so fb's ads get through at times and the youtube users ads don't. So in the end the video people liked made nothing, never really represented nothing and if anything, sits on youtube with major crap stats making it look worthless.

In light of this, Youtube have got the option to "only playback on monetised platforms" that'll stop loads of people watching videos and a good % of them will have no fkn clue why videos wont playback...  Then there is also the "Disable Embedding" option, meaning the video will ONLY play on the Youtube page.. so the UPLOADER  (that poor fkr who put the time and effort in)  would maybe not just get the VIEW.. count.... but also maybe the TWO ad hits..
And maybe even a like or a subscriber that means something (numbers matter in the right place)

But this zero reward for time served is starting to get to a lot of artists & editors.
it's time people logged into youtube and supported the creators of the content they enjoy watching, or at some stage more and more people will walk away or lock down settings.

Feedback isn't just inspiration for people, its a small sign that what your doing is working...

Aw vs KR amassed over 2.8 Million views in 3 years
If that had been a facebook post it would of been more like 1500 views on youtube and yet seen by 4.9 million on facebook.

Advertising often pays for a lot of things people never consider.
EXAMPLE:
Torrents killed Stargate, advertisers wouldn't fund the show because the shows ratings sucked (thats because torrents let uk users watch 1 to 12 six months early with usa sci-fi releases) then it let USA users watch 13 to 22 six months early with uk sky1 releases... This is fact... (lack of ratings = a lack of ad revenue)  as an audience.. the majority are not very bright

Stargate aint the only show torrents killed......   ¯\(º_o)/¯

I would be interested to know peoples views on social media, primarily the impact (based on its ease of use) over what statistics we loose because of it. Am i the only one who sees this problem, or is this also annoying other people who put hours and hours in only to see how bad some stuff looks in some places due to the lack of reported stats & feedback? This isn't for a course or a book or anything, im just curios as to am i the only one seriously annoyed with the decline in numbers and input that has diminished over time for most people due to websites not co-operating with each other.

Don't get me wrong, facebooks done a lot of great things (sorry)  facebooks made a lot of great things "possible"  there is actually a massive difference, but it has helped people to home and find lost pets, find lost and stolen property even catch criminals.. but like anything in life, it has its good points and its bad points.  As creative artists we have lost a lot of respect from people simply due to something as simple as facebook.  You wont LIKE something because then 300+ people have commented on a post you liked... and you won't comment on something because 300+ people have liked something you commented on.. all due to not wanting a notification (that you can actually turn off)
Meanwhile..  where is the feedback.. there is no 300 comments, no 300 likes, no will to go on..
what we get is 1000+ people reached and a sense of what we did was crap... yes  /  no?

Social Media formats have essentially killed creativity and speeded up the process of exploiting and data mining of personal information to sell you sh*t that makes you even less fkn creative  : /

This aint my first Rodeo with stat problems and a company hell bent on implementing code that looses Key data that is important and shows the time, the effort and the love....

Look at the DATE.. 13th November 2005 (from a time when the org couldn't embed yt links)


.. there are Millions of minuets, thousands of hours, masses and masses of views missing between NOV 2005 and and OCT 2007... Millions.... (ive noted in the past i still get comments today posted 4+ years ago and may of been marked as spam) their still trying to recover lost data.
Meanwhile they all push away members with enforced features no one wants, while we help pay their bills?.. see Microsoft are doing away with onedrive Groups.. Dejavu from MSNgroups right?
will any of what we fkn do even be around a year after we die?.. or be purged from a server because their changing the name and selling the shares?.. where is the longevity or the reason as to why bother?..  congrats on your position, log in today to maintain it or you will be dropped.. log in.. congrats you qualify to be spammed again...

Should you be on Every social media website?
Is it even worth the hassle of being active on every music or media site?
I am failing to see how diluting your content & separating your audience and what little input gets any were...

Lets see what people on Twitter have to say...
if your logged into twitter you can directly comment here




Lets see what people on Facebook have to say...
if your logged into facebook you can directly comment here


Does the Ease of Using Social Networking Kill Your Coverage, Vibe, Mojo, Statistics and Income?http://thewraith517.blogspot.com/2015/09/does-using-social-networking-kill-your.html
Posted by Wraith and Friends Productions on Sunday, 20 September 2015







Tuesday 15 September 2015

If It Be Your Will (cover)



Its rare i hit the mic, but there are songs in movies i also like (besides the score based music)

Anyway's i decided to have a go at If IT Be Your Will, by the legendary Leonard Cohen.
This is on the Christian Slater film,  Pump Up The Volume...




Track has been submitted to iTunes, Spotify, GooglePlay, Amazon and a few others...


Thursday 13 August 2015

Is Windows 10 Really Seeding Updates On The Bandwidth of The End User & Informing Others You Miss Certain Security Fixes?

Is Windows 10 Really Seeding Updates On The Bandwidth of The End User AND!
 Informing Others You Miss Certain Security Fixes?


IS THIS FOR REAL???

IF and i stress  IF  (for the legal FKS at microsoft)  If this is what it simply says it is then I personally  see MASSIVE DANGERS IN THIS

A) Your seeding updates to total strangers, allowing strangers systems to Network with your machine

B) a 3rd party machine can essentially knock on your door and ask for an update?..

what if you don't have that update?
that means someone knows you don't have that update right?
ber in mind a vulnerability nicely worded as "elevate privileges"
(loosely translated means make a user account, demote you from an admin to a user, then control your system and do what they want with it)

This is like wtf.... AGAIN...  you may remember my disgust when i found windows would also share Error Reports with other users & other stuff with gawd knows what if you don't Untick a mountain of stuff when ya first install it.. but this...    god help people tethering or using a dongle with that switched on.. let alone the Enforced updates.. note that things Switched ON by default
no wonder windows 10 is free to upgrade to...

So how long till they start charging us for Updates?
while our old windows 7 or 8.1 was still still entitled to FREE updates until how long?...

Not a wise move when iPhones and iPads wipe the floor with windows poor use of CPU's... more and more people are leaving pc's and laptops for phones..

i sit here shell shocked at this fkn manoeuvre....

you can ready some of my other Windows 10 horror stories on a PC repairs blog i write for here
but i felt ide also share this here...

Sunday 5 July 2015

Interactive DVD Rom Product Catalogue (ideas)

Many years ago i created some Stargate Interactive CD Rom(s) which i sent to MGM. It also cost me a fair bit of money to ship them over to them.. and they never ever got back to me  :'(
I also made an gta cd rom and then later an Airwolf CD Rom, but that aw cd only ever beta phased with a limited release and was never finalized.

Yesterday i decided to use the same kinda design concept all these years later to put together a sort of "Product Catalogue" for my company. Please note these are just test phase images and i have many other projects on the go (so no release date is planned yet)
Though at some stage i shall be looking for beta testers.

The Main Menu When The Disc Is Run
First Audio Page Listing The Collection Albums
Example of The Heists Collection (once selected from Audio Page 1)
Example of The Western Collection (once selected from Audio Page 1)
Example of the Audio 2 Button
The Contact Me Screen

Buttons have visible tool tips (when hovering over them) that also show short cut keys. You can also press H on any screen for specific help box to appear. We can hide screens that need a key combo to access and even lock them so they require a serial number, password or specific user details, even build in a web browser for a customer only section.

You could even have one of those free on line PHP based chat rooms and integrate that code so disk users can access the room. Set an expiry date on the disk. You can also add samples of music rather than full tracks OR integrate the music within the disks code (so their are no actual MP3 files on the disk) When regarding piracy you could also embed data within the disk so its personalized to who ever its sent to (this is something crackers & hackers "how ever good they are" will never find)

Even to compare 2, 3 as many copies as they want, it'll be impossible to find the embedded information that would lead right back to the person pirating your work..
It wont stop piracy, but it'll catch who does it & help you prove their accountable for the leak.

ps...
I am considering looking into making a custom iPad app, but that's a while down the road..


Monday 22 June 2015

Remembering James Horner (1953-2015)


Most of us have movies we really like and some of us have soundtracks we like for movies we hated. When i was younger, i wasn't much of a fan of braveheart, i was more of a highlander fan. Back then i had an ear for music but didn't actually know i could play. I used to listen in awe at the music in movies and i loved the Highlander music (micheal kamen / queen) and i loved the Stuff in Braveheart (James Horner)  He brought us cool vibes with Commando and Darkness with Alien, he took Star Trek II The Wrath of Kahn to a whole new level, so many classic movies spanning so many years. Then he hits us with the likes of Titanic and Apollo 13...

I had a go at 3 of his tracks that i really liked, its something about the Celtic feel & his use of Minor and Major changes in places that gives stuff more emotion than most other composers.
please forgive any mistakes, i was just playing free hand, i don't read sheet music, i play by ear.



Sunday 21 June 2015

Windows 8 and 8.1 Missing Application Updates and Missing Applications

People with Skype (on a laptop OR computer) could be vulnerable.
you should check the "store" to see if theirs an update if your on windows 8 or 8.1

I know a lot of windows 8/8.1 users hate it, many don't even explore it, in fact most are fed up looking in "Control Panel" and "Settings" just to find stuff previous windows held in the same location for ease of use...

SO.. I guess we shouldn't be surprised that they also split updates and moved them to "Store"

I have barely messed with windows 8 or 8.1, however today i got a strange file type i didn't know, normally id google that like *extension, only windows 8.1 asked if ide like to look in the store (xbox users will be used to this interface)  anyways while looking in the store i noticed it said Updates!!

I'm thinking wtf is this, so i clicks it and hits update and down come some updates that windows update is NOT showing me... to get to this screen click start, or press your windows key (then top right corner search for the word store)  But keep reading my post.. it gets even more bizarre.
Note their was around 19 updates their before i hit the screen shot...

So while these updates are coming down (and im still shocked Skype is their rather than in windows update)   I decided to hit Account and then go into My Apps.. their i find what came with my OEM version of windows 8.1, to my shock i see games that where essentially awarded to my account simply due to my windows serial number (but remember what you see in the screen shot below is linked to my Hotmail)  suddenly i feel like i have an apple id for windows...
NOTE i never Purchased any of these, they must be OEM gifted..

But frankly i am disgusted that my operating system came pre-instaled with Skype which has sat needing updates for god knows how long while as a messenger application has put my system at risk..

Saturday 6 June 2015

How To Block ANYONE From A Facebook Page Even If They Don't Like It Or Comment On It Users & Pages Working Fix

How To Block ANYONE From A Facebook Page Even If They Don't Like It Or Comment On It?
This has been asked soooo many times.. its been Years now toooo

Most tutorials regard google chrome bah.. well this one you can do it simply with FireFox!!
Watch the video.. block the user.. and no more mystery phantom messages you can't block
because after doing this.. that troll is gone.. its dead simple to, so once you've done it, its a lot easier for you to do this than for them to keep making new emails and fb accounts ;)
Other help is on this same page scroll down past the video for other info
even your nan could do this...



MISC Help:
Website to turn Profile LINK into the users Facebook ID Number Here  Also another site that finds it Here  if they fail.. then try this one Here BUT make sure you put the  ? at the end of the users name.
Other problems?..  Make Sure its a profile your trying to block. OR see below...

HOW TO BLOCK A PAGE FROM YOUR PAGE?? 
all you need to do their is make sure after changing the ID number.. you also change the user_id to page_id

Image highlighting the User ID (right click the url as shown in the video to select Edit HTML)


TheWraith517.. HELPING BRING PAIN TO TROLLS EVERYWHERE!!!!
Please Share This.. Help Fight The Trolls..

UPDATE: we've been told by a fb user this is working just as easy with chrome ;)

TECH:
Microsoft Silverlight (plugin) thats what makes the adverts update on facebook, so they change, even if you sit on the same page, the plugin also lets you re-arrange your photos. With that, in turn it'll let you update code in real time (even though its not saved to facebooks servers)
IE. without silverlight you would have to Edit the page save it & then refresh.. that refresh would loose all saved changes & load the unmodified page from fb..

HISTORY:
So how did i work this out?  what's my sources?
I used this same concept for 2 years adding "Follow This Blog" widgets to newly made blogs that only offered the G+ Followers button and not the blogger widget
I only looked into fb code due to the troll blocked in the video   ;)

How can you block a facebook user from your page?
How can i block a facebook user from my page?
How to block a user from your facebook page?
How do i block a user from my facebook page?

Monday 1 June 2015

Roll Tide"cover" off-from the classic Crimson Tide Soundtrack

I have never done an exact cover before (i always kinda restyle & re-tempo style shift them) but for the first time ever i have pulled off an actual "recreation" of a Hans Zimmer classic. I have always loved this piece because it shows the slow moody pace of Broken Arrow, the emotion of Armageddon, it rolls into elements of The Rock and it also begins to lean towards later work on pirates of the Caribbean.. i present to you.. "Roll Tide" from the classic Crimson Tide Soundtrack

Visual was just an OFP/CWA set of scripts i was working on for a game mission template.


Saturday 30 May 2015

On this day 74 years ago Walter Franklin Tomkins Died


EP Front Cover

On this day 74 years ago Walter Franklin Tomkins died in Fazakerley General Hospital
after being Injured near his home on May 26th 1941 in an air raid.

To commemorate this day today,  i have decided to release
"On The Trail of Walter Franklin Tomkins"  as an MP3 download
It's FREE on google play Here.





Note that although i Can put it on iTunes, Spotify & Amazon
(I am unable to manually set prices on those stores)
So to put it in those stores, i would have to let them set the default prices
To which it is only available on googlePlay (to keep it free)

It's 100% Free and the files will work on Any device that supports MP3 audio.

Walter Franklin Tomkins 1877 to 1941 R.I.P

You can still watch this in video form Here



Sunday 24 May 2015

Paid or Unpaid and How To Professionally React To That Question


This question of   "Do You Charge?"  often offends composers which ive found odd tbh, i mean ive seen the question pop up around facebook, forums and random blogs, most the replies are often pretty sarcastic and seriously unprofessional.


FACT 1.
Their are millions of musicians willing to work for free, you must know this right?
(also note... i am Not saying you should work for free!!!)

The point i am making is the VAST MAJORITY of musos trying make it, will work for free...
(some directors have to ask for legal reasons)

FACT 2.
A lot of directors can NOT work with musicians who work for free

1 example, A project with a budget per department needs receipts, can you provide official invoices with Your Company Header?  do you even understand that side of the industry?

2nd example, insurance, are you even worthy of being held accountable when investors throw a law suit at the director because you failed to deliver on time and share holders want blood.
Do you even have any form of liability insurance?
contract costs, credits, percentage of the gross.. paperwork = back tracking by the tax man or investors..  who wants a benefit fraud on the credits?

FACT 3.
A lot of you uptight composers need to really think outside the box...
and consider just how viable you really are Beyond your sound...
because your in an industry were there are a Zillion Alternatives to you...

If your asked do you charge, say maybe.. depends on the project
(don't say do you lol) Take an interest, this movie could be the making of you and he's doing the actual work and the faffin with all the departments, your jobs simple really, if he can manage a movie, you can do more than just compose music..

Say DEPENDS ON THE PROJECT..   ask if its charity based, then ask/or has it got funding, does the film have a distributor, are there investors, is there a time frame, try and sound like you actually know what your doing, like you've done this before.

The worst thing you can ever say is NO
the 2nd worst thing to say is YES

You should be flexible to hear someone out BUT you should also be versatile in the Industry to be able to see just where this persons heads at, dream land or a real world.

Why not co-direct for credit, or co-produce, take an additional credit, possibly help improve the film, ur composing the music, you have a feel for the scenes, the characters UR the one person on set that's probably got the most empathy to each of the characters.. that's a viable asset and i know as ive worked on a few actual movie sets (amateur stuff, but the odd pause and single word change has brought more depth to a scene) It depends on the project your working on and the directors and the writers.

One rule of thumb.. don't be all exited when a director even gets in touch with you.. after all.. just where is his assistant or secretary.. ber that in mind..  Maybe he likes you ant felt he should aproach you.. or maybe he just can't afford the staff.

Remember NO and YES  are both the wrong answer....


Korg M1 and T1 for iPad Is Finally Here iM1


Its official, its real AND its ON SALE until the end of June  :D  £15.99 for a Korg M1 wooot

Besides the Yamaha DX7 and the odd Hint of a Jupiter 8.. this is it.. This is the synth.. Speed.. Days of Thunder.. countless others.. this is the 1988 classic Evolution of sound.

Downside?  it's iOS 8 and up...

In-App purchases are the M1 expansion cards and also the T1 expansion cards

M1 Card Pack £3.99
T1 Card Pack £3.99

USA Wise, the synth is currently $19.99 and the 2 in-apps are $4.99 each
(will this inspire more in-apps, more cards who knows)

Notes:
Well i was genuinely reluctant to update to iOS 8 and its no strange reason as to why is it lol,  but to be honest ive yet to find an app that wont work (that i thought would honestly have problems) like i figured alchemy would be dead, hell i really thought appGratis would be dead to, but they both open, CMP Grand, SampleTank, even iArmonica still works.

I can also conform that the IO Dock Pro II is working with an iPad 4th Generation running iOS 8.3 (12F69)  I bet that just helped a stack of people lol

Ive seen a stack of people saying its nothing new and it sounds dated...
To begin with it has 2 kaos pads (thats new, its got other new features too)
 and to say it sounds dated?   Hang Your Stupid Heads In Shame!!!
Its a re-creation of a synth from 1988, of course the instruments sound dated, their supposed to..



ORIGINAL POST BELOW

KORG M1 iPad Ready?



Could one of the most classic Korg synths finally be coming to the iPad?
I have seen the rumours and the odd photos but i have yet to seen nothing official. But the other question I have is will it include the kind of stuff the VST pack provides for PC & MAC users, will it contain the M1 cards or will they be In-App Purchases.

Because as a VST user i often found it was fun to start with the cards and then modify the card pre-sets than faf with it from scratch, though it depended on if i was after a specific sound with a twist or something brand new.


Remember the VST brought us a stack of expansion cards while the DLL its self also allowed the use of SYX files and a lot of tweaking was possible. 

Will any of our pre-sets be viable, has this whole project been thought through.




Remember you also got the T1 range of cards in the VST package, which was another stack of classic pre-sets.
Some of the M1 and T1 sounds have been used on varied movie scores, pop songs and been battered across live performances since they came out, Speed, Days of Thunder.
and many more...


I would assume (with such a dependability on the cards to make the hardware worth while)   That at some stage recently maybe the copy-write or the license has expired and now Korg officially own the rights to all the goodies?
to me this would make sense to why its taken so long.


The same could be said for the Korg LegacyCell, i have no idea just how many external companies where involved within that VST, but again their maybe copy-write problem regarding using certain source code, but i have hopes the M1 is real & that it comes with the T1 expansions along with the swift arrival of the legacy at some stage to.

I am not impressed with the current Korg iPad stand alone synths, because frankly i was never into them actual synths.

I shall leave you with some screen shots of the M1 vst so that IF an iPad version is released, then people can look at the videos on youtube between iPad & VST, check out the screen shots, compare features and see if anything missing (before buying anything)

Instrument Browser
Performance Panel
Midi Panel
Master FX Panel
Easy Panel
OSC Panel
VDF Panel
VDA Panel
Control Panel
Insert FX Panel
Will it have this fun drop down?

If i get any more news or the opportunity to beta test it i will keep you updated...
check the App store on the 25th of May  (using your iPad of course)
I PRAY ITS COMPATIBLE WITH iOS 7

Note all screen shots above are of the PC vst running
(ive posted these as the korg site seams to only have Mac vst shots)

UPDATE:
Its out, its real and its fkn iOS 8 only wtf...










iM1  iOS Screen shots by Darryl King