I never really got into buying songs online. When iTunes Store first opened, I bought a few albums from it because I own an iPod, but very quickly I was deterred by the fact that I can't even play my iTunes purchases on my Squeezebox because of the DRM-protection.
Annoyed by the situation, I subscribe to Rhapsody Unlimited, which let me cue up pretty much anything I want for a low monthly subsription fee of $12.99. When I find something I really want to own, I just go buy the CD and rip it to MP3 so I can play it anywhere.
Then Amazon introduced Amazon MP3 Downloads, and it changed everything. Really, what's not to love about being able to purchase DRM-free MP3s encoded at 256k? I thought that the 1-click and ship to feature was evil in getting many books that I probably do not need then.. that's until I discover the even more instantly gratifying 1-click and download MP3 :)
Just when I thought that there can't be anything better than 256k DRM-free MP3 downloads, I discovered Beatport yesterday. Beatport offers 320k DRM-free MP3! To top it off, it even offer WAV (16-bit 44 kHz) and 192kbps M4A!
Little did I know, the site was actually launched in 2004, and the latest version as seen above was released in August 2006. Beatport focuses on electronic music specifically, with an eye squarely focusing on DJs and electronica lovers. In other words, it's made for me.
The content is top-notch, and I am able to get to a lot of remix tracks that I would not otherwise been able to get my hands onto if I were to browse on mainstream music sites (such as those described above).
The original track evokes the emotion of being from the distant past, and I thought that it would be fitting to suggest this by using baroque instruments. Using an alto recorder and a lute in my tracks is a first for me, but it feels right. Boys' choir samples were used to balance the sensual lead vocal.
As in all of my remixes, all instrumental harmonizations are original based on analysis of the original track. This one was particularly challenging, particularly when all my original edits are around ten to fifteen minutes, which is a tad bit long for casual listening.
This started originally as a symphonic mix but I got inspired by the name of hellogoodbye and threw in some ringtone and dialtones and in the end turned it into more of a house mix.
This is an early sketch to merge a line of almost-random ladyfinger note hits with a line of time-keeping synths as percussion. I find many such random things on my hard drives these days that I have long forgotten about. I wonder what I would think of it 10 years from now. Thank God some machines are archiving my history for me.
My friend Steven Hall (SML Del.icio.us: Steven Hall) once said to me that it was very hard to make instrumental music sound good. I used to take vocal lessons when I was a teenager, but I am a counter-tenor. Do you really want to hear me sing? I can't sing these days anyway—my voice has been severely damaged after my prolonged nicotine intake.
In 2006, on my path to writing better dance tracks, I discovered that you can get pristine vocal tracks from DJ contests. I signed up for my an ACIDplanet account and was on my first path of remixing.
A few things that I discovered along the way:
It is much easier to get your tracks listened to—and thus discovered—when you're in a remix contest.
You learn a whole lot by being inside a universe of producers all working from the same materials.
You get a whole lot better from the constructive criticisms you received from musicians across the globe.
By listening to other people's tracks, you also discover new ways of turning your samples into all the crazy machines
I have mixed about 10+ tracks since then. Until I have time to convert them all to MP3 and unload onto IMEEM, you can hear my music hosted on ACIDplanet. I have two identities: SML and Symphonic Electronica.
Alternatively, in typical SML fashion, here are my tiny URLs to related SML content in the SML Universe: smlMusic.com and smlRemixMusic.com
This is a piece that I wrote a long time ago that never finished. It was written after my Symphonic Electronica Opus 0.5.9 I haven't been able to bridge the climax to the ending, but the core elements are there.
This was one of the in-between stages when I noted that I am in no place to write dance tracks because I have very little experience, so I decided to remove all the percussions all together and focus on getting the symphonic parts right.
I have a long way to go to write dance tracks but every bit of experience counts — life is an iterative process, and you gain experience on everything that you do. You get more by trying to make something work then sitting around thinking that you will never be able to do it.
My motto is: I can do it if I believe that I can. I can do it well if I believe that I can do it well.
It is my life's dream to be able to work symphonic instruments together with electronic instruments. It's a simple idea really, and I expect that I should hear it somewhere soon, but I did not.
Contemporary classical music using electronic instruments are often very 'analytical,' and to me, they aim for dissonance and atonal but somehow loses its soul. I played a lot of piano music in Bartok, Rachmininoff and the like when I was a teenager, but deep down I much prefer Baroque.
Process
On my path to broaden my musical taste, I came across Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians. It's contemporary classical but very listenable. On the booklet which comes with the CD, Steve recalled that his professor once advised him--I can't find the exact quote--that if he wishes to make harmonized music, he should just write harmonized music. I took this to heart and started writing simple fugues, using counter-point techniques that I once learned in college for music composition.
On the electronic music front, there has been a few DJs, most notably William Orbit, who has attempted to redo baroque classics in electronic music--but in my opinion, they are no difference than sampling records in the 70s and claiming as their own by putting a few VST filters on them. Indeed, Pieces in a Modern Style is so disappointing that I question how it ever got out of the studio.
Then one day while I was listening to trance on Rhapsody -- my pumping background music for work, I came across Hybrid's Finished Symphony. It was the first symphonic electronica piece that I responded to. It combines symphonic parts with electronic instruments and have a lot going for it. It is from there that I thought to myself that perhaps it is not such a bad idea to do something about it.
I started writing this piece in early 2006 as a way to fight depression. Music lets me free from my surroundings and allows me to go places where words and images cannot. But like most afflicted with NADD, I have trouble finishing it, and I was also too insecure to release this piece for fear of getting excruciatingly bad reviews that I probably would not be able to handle.
Studies
In the late summer of 2006, on my research to figure out how to construct better dance beats (since I'm a classically trained pianist, I naturally had no training in percussion and must somehow acquire that knowledge), I came across a fact that many DJ contests on the Web which gives out pristine vocal tracks for download to be remixed and uploaded. At that time, I was toying with Sony ACID Pro, so naturally I signed up with ACIDPlanet and began producing.
My intention was to do these mixes just as studies, to gain experience, in order to write my Symphonic Electronica piece. So I simply took the vocal tracks of all these songs, throw away all the synths, percussion and instrumental parts and throw in my own strings, choir samples and baroque instruments for a symphonic / choir mix of commercial dance remixes!
My first remix is Madison Park's All about the Groove (original commercial release / my remix) To my surprise, I received many positive feedback, both from friends whom I know and from strangers who were kind enough to provide me with criticisms. The best comment came from Steven Hall, a friend of mine who is a music producer by profession. He noted that this was the first piece I have created that is actually good. I took that to heart, and so began a new hobby--mixing music from ACIDplanet.
One thing great about contests is that you get to learn a lot from other entries. It is from these entries that I discovered new ways of handling samples, and experimenting with different things. Coming across Ableton Live was also a blessing, which enables the programmer side of me to experiment with settings that are too challenging in a linear setup like Cubase.
Symphonic Electronica Opus 0.5.9
After many months of remixing, I came back my Symphonic Electronica piece again. From my experience of the remixes, I identified my style and decisions. I decided to publish this piece and ask the world for my opinion. So here is one of many sketches of musical ideas:
What I am aiming for is a synergy of symphonic and electronic instruments, as a co-existing harmony, like a vanilla+chocolate twist you get on an ice cream truck on the street when you were a little boy / little girl.
Unlike my other music posted on AcidPlanet, it is 100% original material.
Remix: All About the Groove / Madison Park / SML (08:48) / WMA MadisonPark.AllAboutTheGroove.SML.Remix.0.8.41.M1 Copyright 2006 Madison Park / See-ming Lee. All rights reserved.
Original: Highest Mountain / Robert G (03:48) / WMA Commercial Release Copyright 2006 Robert G. All rights reserved.
Volley Ball / Steven Hall / SML (04:16) / WMA stream / RM / MP3 download StevenHall.VolleyBall.SML.0.4.7.M1.R Copyright 2007 Steven Hall / See-ming Lee. All rights reserved.
