Originally posted on April 4, 2014

In this episode, I interviewed Joe Gilder, a songwriter and recording/mixing/mastering engineer in Nashville and host of the Home Studio Corner-Ask Joe podcast. We talked about his song No Time from his first album Out of Indiana.

Joe’s main website is a blog called Home Studio Corner where he makes frequent posts about recording, mixing and mastering. He offers a daily email newsletter. He maintains a YouTube channel with training videos. He also has a nice monthly product called Dueling Mixes.

In my interview with Joe Gilder, we talked about the following:

• His background with music and recording, working at Sweetwater, and starting HomeStudioCorner.com.
• Joe built the audience by creating a lot of blog posts and videos, and connecting with other established music recording and mixing shows like The Home Recording Show.
• Joe listened to 40 or 50 business audio books. He especially likes The Go-Giver by Bob Burg, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, Good To Great by Jim Collins
• Joe talked about moving away from home, getting married, and how much his younger brother grew over the time. Since he does a lot of writing, lyrics are not particularly difficult for him.
• Recording aux percussion. Joe probably recorded a short sample and looped it on this track.
• The instrumentation on No Time, two guitars, mandolin, bass, shaker, tambourine, and background vocals. Joe talked about how he writes and records the background vocal parts.
• The song has an extra dissonant note on the last chord. It is a G chord, one guitar plays G and the other plays Gsus with a C. Joe and his wife were broke and never get to visit home. They finally get a chance to go back to Mississippi but get snowed in at the Cincinnati airport.
• I then played “No Time.”
• Joe challenged himself to write 50 songs in 12 weeks. The intention is that 10 of them will be really good and can be used for a new album. He’s a little behind pace, but has already written about 18 songs with a month to go. The next goal will be to record the songs with a group of musicians as a band.

Joe then described his products and services. Go to HomeStudioCorner.com to find out more. You can find his music at JoeGilderMusic.com.

Send me your feedback by emailing [email protected].

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Originally posted on February 13, 2014

In this episode, I interviewed Charlie McCarron, a composer in Minneapolis and the host of the Composer Quest podcast. We talked about his piece The Mystery of Grey Matters and his song Nothing Flower.

In my interview with Charlie McCarron, we talked about the following:

• The concept of Grey Matters which was released as a Polyalbum
• This is a concept album that included voice actors which was released on three CDs, called “L,” “R,” and “L+R.” The “L+R” version is the same as when you play “L” and “R” at the same timeMMoM-1400-blue
• Nothing Flower is a song from the Cagetones album Did You See The Moon? Cagetones is an experimental group that Charlie created with Nick Syman and John Worth.
• Charlie started with a beat demo, with an electric piano, bass, guitar, and percussion. His friend Jeffrey Schwinghammer made a video of the demo that was uploaded to YouTube.
• Charlie added an additional keyboard part that used an arpeggiator at different tempos. Charlie and I talked about arpeggiators and how you get random performances that you may never be able to repeat.
• I then played Nothing Flower.
• We talked about the different ways to make money from music: film scores, video games, multimedia, commissions, grants, and other notated music for live performances
• We talked about registering with ASCAP or BMI to receive royalties from performances
• Charlie talked about receiving grants for creating music. He recommended these linksNYFA – a large grant database:http://source.nyfa.org/Composers Forum – lots of opportunities, requires membership to view the full listings:http://composersforum.org/opportunitiesThe Composer’s Site – lots of opportunities:https://live-composers.pantheonsite.io/
• Charlie described his podcast Composer Quest where he interviews composers and others involved in the creative process.
• The current quest, #7 is to compose music for your Valentine
• Charlie also mentioned Spintunes Challenge as an external deadline to help him write more music

Send me your feedback by emailing [email protected]. If you use LinkedIn, connect to me and endorse my skills (saxophone, songwriting, recording, mixing, and podcasting).

Originally posted on February 5, 2014

In this episode, I talked about and played a song called “Pill” that I wrote and recorded on January 25, 2014 for Global Game Jam.

But first I talked about and played my 2-minute Video Game Music demo reel that is made up from clips of my songs 8-Bit Frenzy, Escape!, Tremble, Follow The Advice Of Your Heart, Rise Above, Do Re Mi, and Lypasi. You can hear my songs on my SoundCloud page.

Chris Kukla told me about Global Game Jam, which is a worldwide event where game developers get together and create games over a 48-hour period from 5 PM Friday to 5 PM Sunday. It took place Jan 24-26th, and there was a location at Camden County College that was only 20 minutes from my house.

I talked about the group I joined, our brainstorming, and the game ideas we came up with, and how I moved my desktop computer and everything I needed to write and record music at Global Game Jam.

The song is 2 minutes with 3 distinct sections, and is designed to loop. The A section is only on the B minor chord. I have a bass on quarter notes and a “haunting sound” from Omnisphere. I then have 5 parts that can be played when you get each of the five colored pills. I played what they each sound like with the bass part.

The B section is Gmaj7, Em, Bm, and I change the hi-hats to a ride cymbal. The C section is double time, and is in D major. I made a couple other changes.

I then played Pill.

You can see Pill from this site. (You can download and install a Windows version.) You can see a demo play-through of our game level here.

I did the sound effects for Pill as well. I am going to be focusing on sound design, voice over as well as music so I can be a one-stop shop for all video game audio.

Originally posted on January 6, 2014

In this episode, I talked about and played a new age song called “Rise Above” that I wrote and recorded in January 2014. It uses a mixture of synthesizers and a men’s choir.

I analyzed all of my previous recordings to see which keys I have used and have not used. It turns out I’ve used the “easier” keys with 0-3 flats or sharps but not the “harder” keys with 4-6 flats or sharps. I decided to write this song in G# minor which has 5 sharps.

I used the chord progression G# minor, F#, E maj7, F# which turns out to be the same chord progression I used on Rue’s Whistle which was in G minor, just one semitone away. I also used the same bass sound, although I added some distortion on this bass. I found two cool patches in Omnisphere, one called Chilling and one called Chill Factor that I thought I could base a song on. I played those patches. I also played the electric drum pattern I used and the lead sound which is called I Sing The Body Electric (which doesn’t really seem to relate to the song from Fame).

The “A” section builds and runs for 1 minute, 15 seconds. I wanted to move into something completely different. I decided to record myself singing a men’s choir, with four vocal parts and three recordings of each part. I mixed my twelve person choir with a voices sound, and use that on the “B” section. I added acoustic drums and bring back the I Sing The Body Electric part.

The A section was at 100 beats per minute and the B section was at 118 beats per minute. I switch back to the A section at 100 beats per minute but keep the men’s choir singing, so it is a combinations of the A and B sections.

I then played Rise Above.

I started my 2014 songwriting goal of recording and completing 40 songs in 2014. I also decided to release three albums by the middle of the year. The first would be a new age album that would include Rue’s Whistle, Follow the Advice Of Your Heart, Fountain, Late Day Storm, Rise Above, and 4 to 8 more songs. Another album would be of video game music that would include Escape!, 8-Bit Frenzy, Tremble, and 6 to 10 more songs. Also I would release an EP of jazz music, including Sleepy, Elephant’s Feet, Summer Strut, Fusion, and 2-3 more. I may put Powerhouse on it, but especially if I can re-record it with a trumpet player playing the trumpet parts, a trombone player playing the trombone parts, and me playing all the sax parts.

I will probably release these on Bandcamp, a site that allows artists to sell their music and choose the price. I will probably release the albums as “pay as you want.”

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Notes from 2026:

Ok, I didn't come close to writing and recording that many songs, and I didn't release those albums. I did eventually release 1 album called Major 7ths and Minor 9ths in 2014. I also made my own video game called Match Em, and used this song, Rise Above, as the background music in that game. It good good reviews. You can play Match Em here (doesn't work on mobile devices).

Originally posted on December 22, 2013

In this episode, I talked about and played a jazz combo song called Elephant’s Feet that I wrote around 1990 and recorded in November and December 2013. It features my saxophone and a jazz piano, bass and drums. I also talked about Disquiet Junto #100 and an upcoming project.

I talked about my submission for Disquiet Junto #100 which can be found here on my Soundcloud page.

I wrote Elephant’s Feet around 1990 for jazz combo. I wrote Sleepy about six months later. In college I performed it with alto sax, trumpet, piano, bass and drums but I recorded it with two alto sax parts and no trumpet. The chord progression is a 32-bar song in an AABA format. I described the form of the song: First time is the “head” or melody. The second and third are the sax solo, the fourth is the piano solo. The fifth has the sax and piano trade solos with the drums, and the sixth is a reprise of the head.

I played the head of Elephant’s Feet so people could hear the melody and chord progression.

The chord progression is the most complicated of anything I’ve used for this podcast. In particular I wanted to talk about ii-V-Is and altered dominant chords.

I talked about what I, ii, iii and so on mean. In the key of C, a ii-V-I is Dmin7, G7, Cmaj7. I learned to play ii-V-Is on piano in every key. Having the bass move in a cycle of fifths (up a fourth or down a fifth) makes it a strong progression.

In Elephant’s Feet, I have Fm9 – Bb9 – Em7 – A7 – Dmin in the A section and I have Gm7 – C7(b9) – Fm9 – Bb13(b9) – Ebmaj9 in the B section.

I also use altered dominant chords. I use a G7(#9), G7(#5,b5), C7(b9). I played them on piano so people can hear how they sound.

I talked about writing the piano parts and recording the sax parts. It was tedious and I took frequent breaks from the song, working on Follow The Advice Of Your Heart, Disquiet Junto pieces, and a piece called Irrational Fantasy that I also had trouble completing.

I then played Elephant’s Feet.

Send me your feedback by emailing [email protected].

I enjoy math/music songs like Michael Blake’s What Pi Sounds Like and What Tau Sounds Like. I’ve been working on my own irrational number song that I will try to use as my next podcast episode. I planned it out and recorded a bunch of parts, and then realized it was a bad plan. I have to start over in the planning and probably record parts over.

If you use LinkedIn, connect to me and endorse my skills (saxophone, songwriting, recording, mixing, and podcasting).

Originally posted on December 2, 2013

In this episode, I talk about and play a new age song that features my saxophone called Follow The Advice Of Your Heart that was inspired by a fortune cookie as per Composer Quest #6. I also played 8-Bit Frenzy, my submission for Disquiet Junto #99.

I started with 8-Bit Frenzy. I talked about the instructions. The new Xbox One has a 3-note sound when you start it up, which you can here in this blog post. We were to record a song with 8-bit flavor that started by playing and repeating those three notes.

I downloaded two Commodore 64 emulators from de la Mancha plugins, basic 64 and mini SID. I started with the pattern, and then went into a section on a C chord. I briefly go to A minor, and then back to C. I added some white noise drum sounds, and some sound effects to the end. I then played 8-Bit Frenzy.

I then talked about Composer Quest #6. Composer Quest is a great composition podcast hosted by Charlie McCarron, a composer from Minneapolis. His quest #6 was to have people compose songs based on the fortune they got from a fortune cookie. My fortune was “Follow the advice of your heart.”

I heard about a website called FocusAtWill that has you stream relaxing music while you work to get you keep your focus. It gave me the idea to write a relaxing chill-out type of song. This is my first song using the Omnisphere synthesizer. It has amazing patches. I demonstrated three that I particularly like (from the beginning of the alphabet!): Anaheim Fun Live, Choral Menagerie and Aerophonica. I have three different kinds of parts for Anaheim Fun Live, and simultaneously rock back and forth with sustained chords on the other two patches. These three patches make what I am calling my “first layer.” My "second layer" has a synthetic bass and acoustic drums. The third layer adds more bass and more drums but uses the same sounds.

I talked through the form of the song. The 8-measure sections are four measures of F maj7 and four measures of D min9.The first two times through is just the first layer. The next two times adds layer 2. The fifth time adds my sax solo. The seventh time adds layer 3.

On the ninth time, I changed the chords to Bb maj11#9 and D min9 as a change of pace. I also add a shaker and woodblock. On the eleventh time, the aux percussion stops and I go back to the original chords. I then fade out layer 3, then layer 2, then the saxophone (leaving just layer 1), then the whole song.

I then talked about mastering and how I mastered this song. I learned how to master from Joe Gilder and Graham Cochrane. The chain is gain, EQ, Compressor, Limiter, Metering. I needed a gain plugin and downloaded Blue Cat Audio’s Blue Cat’s Gain Suite. I am also using TT Dynamic Range Meter to see what my dynamic range is to make sure it is right for a master.

I then played Follow The Advice Of Your Heart.

I was able to write and complete this song in just one day last Friday. I want to complete more songs, and I made a personal goal to complete one song every week. If I can do that, I may try to release a podcast every week, but I will really try to release one at least every two weeks.

Send me your feedback by emailing [email protected].

Originally posted on November 22, 2013

In this episode, I talked about and played two projects that I completed for Marc Weidenbaum’s Disquiet Junto project. I completed #97, Page 99 Remix, and #98, Woven Audio Bio.

I’ve been listening to interviews and podcasts with composers, and I really like Composer Quest with Charlie McCarron. In episode 54 he interviewed Marc Weidenbaum from Disquiet.com. Marc has a weekly project called Disquiet Junto.

I played my composition for Disquiet Junto 97. I then read the rules/guidelines. I used the book “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield. I explained about “resistance” and how the text says “resistance is a bully.”

I played the melody on my alto saxophone. I recorded in stereo with two microphones, and intentionally moved back and forth while playing. I added just a little of long (5 second) reverb on the sax. I added a flute that plays the notes for the word “resistance” in fast notes and a cello that plays the words for “bully” in slow notes. I then play my piece again.

I then played my composition for Disquiet Junto 98. I then read the rules/guidelines. I used the phrase “I was born in [the Philadelphia suburbs] and I like… I recorded a 100-word essay on cheesesteaks, a 90-word essay on the Philadelphia Eagles, and an 80-word essay about how I like living in the Philadelphia suburbs. I overlapped the three recordings but panned then left, right and center so you can hear each better if you are paying attention to it. I added a melody called Fountain that I played in episode 2 underneath the text.

I am beefing up my personal website, tomsnively.com. I wrote an essay on Philly Cheesesteaks you can find over there.

Send me your feedback by emailing [email protected].

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Originally posted on October 25, 2013

In this episode, I talked about and played a song called “Tremble” that I composed and recorded in October 2013. It is my first “Trance” dance song.

When listening to trance music, I heard a great song called Symphonica by Daniel Kandi. It had a number of elements that I really liked, and I used it as a loose reference track on this song.

I used Reason 5 and took advantage of the “Blocks” songwriting feature. Tremble uses an A block for the A section that repeats six times, a B block for the B section that repeats three times, and a C block for the C section that repeats three times. I then play the B block 2 times and the A block one time. Each time a block repeats, I can choose which instruments to play and which instruments to mute, allowing me to have a lot of variation on my repeated sections.

I used automation to change some settings while the song was playing. For example, I lower the EQ treble on six tracks in the B section heading to the soft mid-song breakdown. I was able to figure out how to move those six tracks onto a second mixer. That mixer’s output goes to one track on the main mixer. I can then change the EQ on just that one track.

In the C section, I tried to have a melody come in without a strong beat to try to fool people about where the beat is. When the drums come back in the C section, you might be surprised where the first downbeat is if you were thinking about it wrong. I explain this in the podcast.

Send me your feedback by emailing [email protected]. If you use LinkedIn, connect to me and endorse my skills (saxophone, songwriting, recording, mixing, and podcasting).

Originally posted on October 11, 2013

In this episode, I talked about and played a song called “Escape!” that I composed and recorded in September-October 2013. It is the kind of song that could be used in a video game.

I talked about an article I read a few months ago about making money with composing. They suggest video game music is the way to go. Danny Baranowsky has been much more successful composing video game music than he has with film scores. I decided to listen to his and other video game music.

One of my favorite video games songs by Danny Baranowsky is called Dr. Fetus’ Castle from the Super Meat Boy game. I used this song as a reference track and as a guide when composing my song. I did a similar thing last episode with Summer Strut where I used A Very Good Thing by Rick Braun as a guide.

Escape! is 145 beats per minute. The form is intro, A, B, C, D, E intro, A, B, C, D, E, intro (that fades). The repeating loop of music works in video games where the player may be in a section for many minutes. Each of the sections is 8 measures long, except the C section which is 11 measures long.

I got a copy of Reason Essentials from Propellerhead, which is the entry level version of the Reason software that a lot of instrumental dance music is written with. I was able to find decent sounding synthesizer sounds without having to modify them at all, but Reason Essentials and Reason really allows you to customize the sounds.

For this song, I entered notes into the sequencer with my mouse, instead of playing on a MIDI keyboard like I usually do. It went well this way, especially creating 16th note patterns that I would not have been able to play accurately on a keyboard with the latency associated with it. Almost all of the notes ended up 100% quantized (right on the quarter note, eighth note or sixteenth note) without timing variations, and all the notes have the same velocity (or loudness). At this point, I am OK with how it sounds.

I recorded the electric guitar in 6 tracks for the 6 chords (Cm Eb Fm Gm Ab Bb). I used a capo for each chord so I could play the same Em, E, Am or A open chords. As I have done previously, I have 2 recordings for the guitar, one on the left and one on the right which used different distortions.

I then played Escape!

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Originally posted on September 1, 2013

In this episode, I talk about and play a smooth jazz song I wrote in August 2013 called “Summer Strut.” The song features my saxophone throughout.

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I read email feedback from Peter and Nicholas. Send me your feedback by emailing [email protected].

I wanted to create a full-length smooth jazz song that features my saxophone. I’ve started listening to Spotify to hear new music in Smooth Jazz, trance music and video game music. I heard a smooth jazz song that I really liked, A Very Good Thing by Rick Braun. Rick plays the trumpet throughout. I used a lot of the ideas from this song in terms of using a form with a verse, pre-chorus, and chorus. Each section is on one minor chord, but the pre-chorus’s chord is non-tonal – it doesn’t fit in the key of the verse and chorus chord.

I described how I recorded the different parts. I recorded three “takes” of my sax part, and “comped” the best parts on each section to make the full saxophone part that was used throughout the song. I didn’t need to do much in the mixing phase. I then played Summer Strut.

I got a copy of Reason from Propellerhead, which is the software that a lot of instrumental dance music is written with. I will try to learn it and put out a dance song in the near future.