Category: #FailBetter

Troubleshooting: Video Changing Speed?

This might have been better served on a message board, but I had to post it here as a testament to how weird technology can get when trying to perform a complex task – like editing a movie trailer. 

This morning I was sitting at my computer, working on finishing up my score for my trailer project, when I noticed some of the musical accents no longer lined up with the scene changes.

“What the…” 

I moved to an earlier part of the video, then back again. Sure enough, about a third of the trailer was now behind the music score – and I hadn’t touched the master tempo in months.

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My First Fiverr Gig

Ladies and gentlemen, we are officially on the board.

You may know that I’ve recently started offering to create background music on Fiverr for tabletop games, podcasts, Medieval Times festivals (if they would be so kind), etc.

Well last Saturday, I got a text from someone looking for help with a sci fi game they were running. They even expressed interest in the largest package I offered.

The catch? They wanted to combine a fast paced, almost manically-upbeat tempo (180-200BPM) with the darker distortion reminiscent of a Doom soundtrack.

And I had just seven days to figure out how to make it work.

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Bouncing Back From Defeat

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
- Samuel Beckett

A couple days ago, I started practicing on the Golden Ears Training CDs after nearly a month of practicing with my own patch (which I’ve talked about previously).

I did terrible at it. And I didn’t get much better yesterday.

Still smarting from that, I started working on my trailer project today, only to blow a whole morning unsuccessfully trying to create a realistic-sounding glissando with string samples.

So… An article about bouncing back from setbacks feels like something we BOTH need.

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1000+ Hours!

It’s official: I’m 10% of the way towards my “mastery” goal of 10,000 hours in the music industry.

I can safely say I’ve never put so much intentional time into a meaningful goal I’ve set for myself. This is new ground, which is both scary and exciting.

To commemorate the occasion, I thought I’d take stock of my journey – what’s changed, where I thought I’d be compared to where I am, etc.

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Want Some Humble Pie With ‘dem Samples?

I’ve recently come out of a bit of a rough patch – sky-high anxiety levels, low energy, all that fun stuff. This put me behind on my writing, so I thought I’d quickly share what I learned from the experience.

So, I’m a big fan of fantasy – was raised on the Dragonlance series growing up – and a big D&D enthusiast. So I figured, hey, I can make some fantasy music, and combine it with the dance-y tracks I’ve been making!

And since I’ve been adverse to using samples or presets, I thought I could learn to create the orchestral sounds from scratch, and learn more about sound design in the bargain.

Well, that may have been biting off a teensy bit more than I could chew.

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So… I Might Have F**ked Up

Man, it’s been a hard week.

My latest track, “Steam-Powered Knight”, has been kicking my a**. Lots of new instruments to learn how to reproduce and arrange, and sometimes the inspiration just hasn’t been there.

I’m coming out the other end, thankfully, and just finished my first fully productive day since my mood dipped. What I wanted to share however, was a few things I learned hearing about the struggles of another dancer and blogger, The Girl With the Tree Tattoo. You can check out her article here.

What hit me wasn’t what she was going through, and it wasn’t even how she got through it. It was why she wrote it, and her concerns about doing so. And it’s made me take a hard look at myself.

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