...at least in the race to come out with the first iPod/Phone/Pad DAW control.
For those who don't know what I'm talking about, this is a convenience thing in order to control your Digital Audio Workstation.
After reading this article from Create Digital Music, it left me feeling a little sad inside. I figured that Apple would definitely be the first to come out with a native application for controlling it's own DAW. It's one of the things that I've wanted for a while in my studio, so that when I'm laying down a track on my digital drumset I don't have to get up and walk over to my keyboard to stop recording.
Not only was MOTU first to release this, but they're giving it away to users of DP 7.2. If I didn't love Logic (Apple's DAW) so much, this would be just one more thing... but I do love Logic. So I will continue to wait... but not too long Apple.
I want it. NOW!!!! (Dammit, I'm an American) I want it yesterday!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
A slow day
Not much going on right now (besides my current day job).
Waiting for Mike S. to finish filming Curtain Call so that we can start chatting about the score.
Just got the score for Iron Man 2 (Amazon.com, iTunes). It's okay, but I'm still really obsessed with the score for Inception(Amazon.com (cheaper than iTunes for this one!)). I'm also excited about the score for Predators, which doesn't get released until next month, or this next week at ComicCon (if you're one of the lucky few), oh yeah, and the Batman Special Edition 2-disk set (La La Land Records).
Also, Matthew has begun the hunt for an apartment for us in Seattle. Exciting stuff!
Not too much else, so I'll leave you with this picture:
It was brought to my attention by my wife on Facebook, and is from The Telegraph.
Also, I'd like to see some new blog posts (I'm looking at Herr, Mikey, Stromenger, Matthew), because I'm sick of twitter feeds and I want some actual meat to the information I'm taking in.
Waiting for Mike S. to finish filming Curtain Call so that we can start chatting about the score.
Just got the score for Iron Man 2 (Amazon.com, iTunes). It's okay, but I'm still really obsessed with the score for Inception(Amazon.com (cheaper than iTunes for this one!)). I'm also excited about the score for Predators, which doesn't get released until next month, or this next week at ComicCon (if you're one of the lucky few), oh yeah, and the Batman Special Edition 2-disk set (La La Land Records).
Also, Matthew has begun the hunt for an apartment for us in Seattle. Exciting stuff!
Not too much else, so I'll leave you with this picture:
It was brought to my attention by my wife on Facebook, and is from The Telegraph.
Also, I'd like to see some new blog posts (I'm looking at Herr, Mikey, Stromenger, Matthew), because I'm sick of twitter feeds and I want some actual meat to the information I'm taking in.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Inception by Zimmer
I have to say, upon first listen to this score I wasn't surprised, and for some reason, it didn't overly impress me.
I don't know why, but the brass sound that is a Zimmer standard really irritated me. I kept going back to thinking the brass sounded exactly like that of Pirates (which the timbre of it does) and my ear rejected the sound.
Another reason for the possible distaste... could be the overall ambient sound of the score. I get it, a lot of the movie centers around people going into dreams and doing stuff, and ambience is very dreamlike, but can be boring. These bits actually reminds me a little bit of another Zimmer score: Frost/Nixon.
So I left the score alone for a couple days and read a couple reviews (1, 2) of the movie and score, and I'm glad to say that I did, because sweet baby Jesus, this is one frakkin' awesome score!
It's big, beefy, and really quite epic! It's crazy and seems very logical for the subject matter. It has everything (but woodwinds... I keed, I keed) from sweet mind blowing action cues, to very open ambient/atmospheric chords (not as cool as Debussy's Nuages, but still damn cool).
If you're a fan of the action cues, then you need to listen to "Dream is Collapsing". It ends with huge brass stings and an octave motif in the strings. Its so huge that I have to turn down the volume a bit so my coworkers don't get mad at me.
Another great, quick-feeling cue is "Mombassa". This cue is very reminiscent of some of the Dark Knight music because of the loop-like synthy percussion. But its so cool! The way Zimmer weaves the synths with guitar strings and the percussion. This definitely gets the blood pumping!
I'm not sure how much Zimmer used the trailer music for reference, or if he had any input on the trailer music when he was composing, but there are a couple spots where the familiar brass sting is quoted, and it's so awesome to hear that. Zack Hemsey did such a great job (coloring between the lines) with his music for the third inception trailer, that many people confused him with Zimmer, but that's a good thing. Having written that I must say that one of my favorite parts is the score is when the stings happen in a very strange and wonderfully orchestrated manner, at about 2:30 in the beautiful cue "Paradox".
I'm very excited to see this movie, especially after having let the score marinate and then blow my mind.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Three Movies
This weekend I was able to see three movies with various members of my family.
The first was Knight and Day with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. I went in thinking it would be a fun, popcorn film with a score by one of my favorite film composers. And that's exactly what I got. Despite all the deaths in the movie, it is very lighthearted and fun, and Powell's score plays this really well. One of the main themes was similar to what he did for the Assassin's Tango in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. It was a fun movie to see and listen to.
The next film I saw was The Last Airbender, which seems to be mostly rejected by critics... 8% on rottentomatoes.com is really not good.
However, I have a softspot in my heart for Shyamalan, and I definitely liked the story behind the movie. I was very disappointed in the writing though. I didn't do a ton of research about this film before I saw it, so I didn't know that Shyamalan wrote it. I only thought he was the director, so I thought this would be his chance to redeem himself. In the writing, he failed. There were quite a few lines that were very unnecessary, following in the direction of The Happening. The redemption for me of anything bad though, is James Newton Howard's score. It definitely exemplifies and encompasses the world. It is very warm and rich. I love it a lot.
And finally, a film you should see if you loved Predator, Predators!
Holy shit this movie is awesome! It stays right in the vein of Predator in almost every respect. The effects were great, especially since the predators were not CGI but practical.
And the score completely stood up. It was a great homage to Silvestri's score to Predator, which was awesome. Debney's score to predator had some great quotes, and some great new features, like some wicked synth. It was like listening to a new recording of the old score, because this style is far removed from the Zimmerish action scores of this era. It was wonderful and quite nostalgic. I loved it and wished that more were like this (but if more were like it, it probably wouldn't be so special).
The one thing I didn't like in this score though, was an electronic percussion loop that Debney used for about 15 seconds in the last fight scene.
Overall, however, loved it!
The first was Knight and Day with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. I went in thinking it would be a fun, popcorn film with a score by one of my favorite film composers. And that's exactly what I got. Despite all the deaths in the movie, it is very lighthearted and fun, and Powell's score plays this really well. One of the main themes was similar to what he did for the Assassin's Tango in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. It was a fun movie to see and listen to.
The next film I saw was The Last Airbender, which seems to be mostly rejected by critics... 8% on rottentomatoes.com is really not good.
However, I have a softspot in my heart for Shyamalan, and I definitely liked the story behind the movie. I was very disappointed in the writing though. I didn't do a ton of research about this film before I saw it, so I didn't know that Shyamalan wrote it. I only thought he was the director, so I thought this would be his chance to redeem himself. In the writing, he failed. There were quite a few lines that were very unnecessary, following in the direction of The Happening. The redemption for me of anything bad though, is James Newton Howard's score. It definitely exemplifies and encompasses the world. It is very warm and rich. I love it a lot.
And finally, a film you should see if you loved Predator, Predators!
Holy shit this movie is awesome! It stays right in the vein of Predator in almost every respect. The effects were great, especially since the predators were not CGI but practical.
And the score completely stood up. It was a great homage to Silvestri's score to Predator, which was awesome. Debney's score to predator had some great quotes, and some great new features, like some wicked synth. It was like listening to a new recording of the old score, because this style is far removed from the Zimmerish action scores of this era. It was wonderful and quite nostalgic. I loved it and wished that more were like this (but if more were like it, it probably wouldn't be so special).
The one thing I didn't like in this score though, was an electronic percussion loop that Debney used for about 15 seconds in the last fight scene.
Overall, however, loved it!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
A great 4th
I hope that you all had a great fourth of July. Mine had an unexpected surprise... The wife was able to fly out to minnesota to hang out over the weekend. So, not only was that awesome, but she also informed me that my Varese Sarabande recording of Star Trek had came, so now I get to enjoy that too!
Anyways, I'll continue the hard work in preparation for my next adventure.
Anyways, I'll continue the hard work in preparation for my next adventure.
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