My newest hobby

[Doug Nelson]

This is incomplete (I can't make up my mind where to go from here), but I thought I'd post it if for no other reason than to show I'm making some sort of progress

http://www.retouchpro.com/music/fragment.mp3

[Janet Petty]

Progress is noted. I like where you are going with your "new" hobby. Keep up the good work.

[rondon]

for a bit there I envisioned a mutineer limboing down the Gang plank... then it changed... good strong theme music.

[byRo]

Finally, I got to hear one of Doug's pieces. On a slow dial-up an mp3 download is a major project.
Glad I wasn't disappointed
If the mp3 player didn't have Doug Nelson written all over the place, I'd have sworn it was something from Jean Michel Jarre (that's supposed to be a compliment, OK)
Can't comment on progress, as this is the first I've heard.
I don't think you intended this to be just background music, and so I'd say it lacks the "hook".
What makes a memorable piece of music isn't the general well-executed theme but that something special (hook), even when the something special is often a well-worked piece of (almost) silence.
OK to put it on RP terms....little separation of the subject from the background - to much saturation in both, could use some high radius USM to pull out some general contrast and some low-radius High-Pass to define the outlines.
But other than that I did like it, honest!!

Rô
(PS - have you ever noticed just how many things are similar between music / audio and photos. I do stuff in Cakewalk/Sonar and it seems that the ideas just flow from one side to the other.)

[Duv]

As you have progressed from Sea to Goomm to Creepy and finally Fragment, the tempo has picked up to the point where my bum cheeks are slapping together in joyous ecstasy. Not really knowing what I'm talking about, I do think that an off key counterpoint to the main might be interesting. Whoa!! Two Saki's too many!

Cheers
Dave

[Doug Nelson]

Thanks for all the kind comments. My music (so far) does tend to be a bit backgroundy (although I prefer 'cinematic' ), probably because I'm a movie nut who loves music so a lot of my favorite music moments are from movies. As for getting faster, that's a deliberate attempt to stretch (that, and I just got a cool new drum program, I never had drums before).

I've found that I can't fit music and Photoshop in my mind at the same time. This both helps me relax after finishing a big project and prevents me from composing while I have a project going. My pet theory is its the left/right brain thing, since I do the two very differently. Perhaps this will change as I get better at both. I could use some right brain help with my Photoshop work, and my left brain is stubbornly refusing to help me with any of the music work.

If anyone else also records their own music, feel free to add a link to your songs here.

Dave: did you wear the Groucho glasses?

[PixiePirate]

I prefer to call this "ambient" and it's definitly very refreshing and relaxing! Great job Doug!

Which program are you using to create your music?

You might be interested to know that there is a whole community of digital musicians out there. Try www.myspace.com and search musicians in your area. I found out that there are a TON in the Philly area (I don't know why that was a shock) and you can listen to their songs from their pages and also RATE them and add comments! Are you wheels spinning yet? Maybe an offshoot of retouch pro?

You could call it digimusic pro!

Thanks for sharing that with us, I can't wait to hear more!

-Mindy

[Duv]

No Doug. I wasn't wearing my Groucho glasses but this morning I shot an elephant in my pyjamas. How he got into my pyjamas I'll never know.

Cheers
Dave

[Doug Nelson]

There's already a music equivalent of RP over at http://www.kvr-vst.com (I post over there almost as much as I do here).

My host program is Cubase SX2, but the software instruments I've used for the music I posted here are too numerous to list.

Dave: I go my whole life never hearing of Nanaimo, then I hear about it 3 times in the past week, including the aforementioned Groucho competition. I looked it up on the web, it looks like an amazing place to live.

[Duv]

Doug, you have no idea. Check out Victoria, Campbell River, Comox. We moved out here 13 years ago from Ontario and we're still pinching ourselves. I just travelled from Nanaimo to Campbell River on our new highway. I think I passed maybe 10 vehicles in the hour and half ride. No crime, no traffic, georgeous scenery and everyones as friendly and crazy as me. We've got a big house. Bring everyone up and stay a bit!

Cheers
Dave

[Doug Nelson]

I don't even know anyone named Jane, but this is for Jane (as in "Jane, get me off this crazy thing!" since I couldn't figure out how to stop it).

http://www.retouchpro.com/music/jane.mp3

[Doug Nelson]

It's been awhile, but I still occasionally peck something out to relax. This one owes more than a little to Vangelis' Albedo, but it wasn't intentional (I swear).

http://www.retouchpro.com/music/simplestar.mp3

[Doug Nelson]

I should be better at this by now
Shows why I usually avoid faster songs.

http://www.retouchpro.com/music/squeaky.mp3

[winwintoo]

Doug, when are you getting your G5 with Garageband and all that goes with it?? Then you'll really be able to ROCK

Even I, with my two tin ears can make music in Garageband!

Margaret

[Doug Nelson]

It's funny you should mention that, it was Steve Jobs' keynote speech introducing Garageband a year or so ago that got me interested in doing music on my computer.