Old Man and the Sea trailer

Here's a trailer with interviews and excerpts from the current Riverside Studios production of The Old Man and the Sea.

The Old Man and the Sea

I've been having a thoroughly delightful time working on the music and soundscapes for a version of The Old Man and the Sea at the Riverside Studios in London. It's been adapted by my great friend and collaborator Robert Young, and directed by the wonderful Laura Casey. Get along to it if you can, it runs until the end of February. Awarded the prize for Artistic Excellence when it was in the Brighton Festival.

(Yes that's really his beard)

Details here

Lisa Debenedictis album

Lisa Debenedictis has a new album out on Magnatune, a label that's very sympathetic to the Creative Commons philosophy - I'm very pleased that she's included two tracks mixed by me, Easy Killer and Sleep Lightly. I really like all the tracks.

You can hear the whole album here.

Easy Killer

More fishing on YouTube has turned up this very lovely video to accompany my mix of Lisa DeBenedictis' great song.

Loving Men

Here's a very psychedelic video I just discovered of Loving Men, sung by Ciggi (her words, my tune, Bill Ray's drums).

Sleep Lightly

I'm delighted to be collaborating with the wonderful Lisa DeBenedictis on some of her great songs. I've previously mixed her vocals on ccMixter, one of which was recently ed-picked (Easy Killer - see the 'selected vocal treatments' player on the right), but this is the first one we have worked on together, and there will be more to follow.

You can hear more of her songs on Magnatune here

Tonight

I'm still new to writing and singing my own songs, so it was a huge pleasure to hear my song tonight I love you remixed by Spinmeister, one of the most highly talented mixers on ccMixter. It also features the affirmative vocals of SackJo22.



And here's my original mix:

Winter at Lula Lake

Here's a nice nature video by Sumit Khanna, using my piano music from Too Quiet


Winter at Lula Lake from Sumit Khanna on Vimeo.

No Forever

A beautiful video made by Anchor Mejans, using my song No Forever with film of Moira dancing

Silvia Ochoa's questions

Silvia Ochoa (SilviaO to ccMixters) has sent out a questionnaire to mixers of her excellent a capellas on ccMixter. I thought I would post my answers here. My mix of Nube was an ed-pick on the site a while ago, and Silvia recently performed my mix of Nunca Sabre live in Columbia.

Silvia Ochoa: How did you get to know CCmixter?

oldDog: Just browsing on the internet! At the time I was fairly new to digital ways of composing, and wanted to develop my skills.

SO: What kind of equipment (hardware and software) do you use? Is it all digital, or there are analog instruments as well?

OD: I do everything in Logic Pro, with a Mac Pro and a Fireface 400 interface. I do have a good Rode mic, but mostly on ccMixter I use pre-existing samples and virtual instruments. I also use a Yamaha S90ES Synth, and Dynaudio monitors.




SO: How do you work, do you upload originals or make mixes?

OD: I’m starting to do some songwriting and singing now for the first time, but up to now I’ve been remixing, mostly using complete a capellas, but also doing more experimental mixes, some of them instrumental.

SO: What do you like CCmixter the most?

OD: There’s a great sense of a creative, open attitude, so any style is OK and people often give helpful and supportive advice.

SO: What is your musical background?

OD: I’m a classical composer with a Cambridge degree and a PhD in composition - I’ve taught composition in several University colleges in London, and had pieces performed and broadcast here in the UK and all over the world.

SO: How long does it take for you to complete a mix?

OD: It varies from a couple of hours to several days.

SO: How much time do you spend on CCmixter weekly?

OD: Too much!

SO: Do you also work with commercial music? Do you make your living out of music?

OD: I’ve made a living as a composer, lecturer and editor - including writing contemporary classical music, and some educational and theatre music.

SO: Has any of your projects in CCmixter ever become a commercial project?

OD: Yes, I’ve had remixes on the CalendarSongs project, and an upcoming remix album of Shannon Hurley’s vocals.

SO: Why would you recommend CCmixter to other musicians?

OD: It’s a great way to learn about mixing, and about composing generally - and it’s good fun!

SO: Why did you choose Silvia´s a-capellas? What did draw your attention?

OD: Silvia has a great voice with a strong emotional feel. They have a gentle, intimate quality that I like.

SO: Do you understand the lyrics?

OD: Not very well!

ccMixter down the pub

A privilege and pleasure to meet the great Fourstones (Victor Stone) and his partner Cindy, along with Calendar Girl (Tamara, of the amazing Calendar Songs project - opposite Victor) in a very nice London pub, the Duke of York.

For those who don't know, Victor is the brains behind ccMixter, as well as a fine remixer.

You may notice a slight tilt to the picture - that's not the quaint olde English architecture, just the effect of a couple of pints on the photographer.

Shannon Hurley Remixes

I'm very pleased to say that my mix of Shannon Hurley's "Shame", which was ed-picked at ccMixter, will be appearing on a "proper" CD of remixes that she is bringing out very soon. She is planning a release party in LA on October 10th, with some live performances of the mixes.

You can hear "Shame" in the player above or here. And you can here more of the mixes at the Shannon Hurley Remixes page on MySpace here

Calendar Songs release party

A very enjoyable evening at the Arts theatre Club in London, where Tamara Barnett-Herrin aka Calendar Girl sang several of the tracks (including my mix of April) from the new Calendar Songs Volume 1.

It was also a pleasure to meet Loveshadow, the doyen of ccMixter (see pic - he's on the left, I'm on the right, of the wonderful Tamara).

I think the Calendar Songs project is a great example of what can be achieved with Creative Commons licensing - what makes the CD work so well is that it has plenty of variety between the styles of the different mixers, but they are all linked together by Tamara's songs.



Here are all the links you could ask for:
Calendar Songs
Calendar Songs Store
on iTunes
at Lastfm
on iLike

Nube on YouTube

School of Sound

Earlier this summer I attended the excellent and very well organised School of Sound, a four day conference at the South Bank Centre in London. It's aimed at anyone interested in the use of sound in film - whether music or recorded sound.
Many of the speakers were at the top of their profession, and ranged from practitioners like Jim Webb, who developed the multi-track system that made many of Robert Altman's films so distinctive, and Nathan Larson, who wrote the music for Boys Don't Cry - to academics and writers like Maria Warner and Michel Chion. To cap it all, on the last day Ken Loach turned up.
One of the speakers I particularly liked, because she was so unaffected and down to earth (and fun), was Ann Kroeber. She and her husband Alan Splet pioneered the technique of unusual close micing of ambient sounds (mostly machines) that were then used to create the eerie sound tracks of many of David Lynch's films, from Erazerhead to Blue Velvet.
She has brought out some of the recordings on a set of CD's called Sounds of a Different Realm, and I have used some of them in How Soon (you can also play it in the mp3 player above)
It all reinforced my sense that people working at the very top of whatever they are doing are often very devoted, but making things up as they go along, prepared to try anything to get the effect they want, not following the norm or bothering too much about how things are 'supposed' to be done.

tangos

I have a bit of a thing about tangos: I struggled for some time trying to pick up the basics of the dance, and I've always loved the music, having been turned on to it via the wonderful Astor Piazzolla.

I wrote Tango X for the London-based quintet Tango Volcano. As well as several live performances, they recorded it for their great debut CD "Catching Fire".

Last month the excellent contemporary ensemble Chroma gave a stunning performance of Tango X in a concert focusing on Piazzolla's work.

I'll post Tango X and other tangos if I can sort out the permissions!
Meanwhile, here is a tango of mine using sampler instruments:

terminar el amor

newly published

Stainer & Bell have just brought out two books of easy to moderate trumpet pieces with piano, called The Light Touch. Each contains a piece by me (that is, as Ross Lorraine)

You can read about the books and go to PDF files of the pieces here.

Deborah Calland is the excellent trumpet player who put the books together.

calendargirl

calendargirl writes a song each month for others to remix. Her site is here, and is a great example of what can be achieved with Creative Commons licensing.

She recently performed some of her mixes live (including my mix of March) in a really enjoyable informal gig at Juno's in London, as part of a monthly cc Salon.

film

Here's a lovely short film by Turkish film-maker Gokhan Okur, using multiple open source images of the Eiffel Tower. It is licensed under the Creative Commons (BY, S-A, NC).

He has used music from my mix of the song Nube, which was an editorial pick over at ccMixter.