ringtones.

From New Gear, New 'Tones

2010-02-20T17:54:00.001-05:00

Fast and furious today. Here are some of the fruits from Gear-induced experimentation yesterday.

The Source: Exotic Percussion and Brilliant Brass, released by Directional Sound (DS-5006), a division of Premier Records.

Performed by The John Evans Orchestra with "...actual birds and jungle animals..." that "...become part of the orchestral spectrum."

Liner Notes by Nat Hentoff.

The Culprit: A phono player, Korg Kaos Pad, Waves MultiRack with, well, stuff.

Crunchy, nasty, spooky--I think I'll call it "Recorded in Aggro-Fi"

3 flavours:

k08 Exotic Percussion in "Aggro-Fi" iphone mp3 wav

For Karnaval, German Drinking Songs and the Sounds of Angels

2010-02-20T17:23:00.005-05:00

The prodigal ringtoner returns. It's been too long--here's a start back into things.

The first, lifted from an Album of old German drinking music. In honor of the Cologne Karanaval last week.

The second, a happy accident while exploring strange MIDI instruments. In this case, the Psaltery. Each posted in 3 flavors.

k06 German Beerish iphone mp3 wav

k07 Psalters of Angels iphone mp3 wav

Ringtones 1-5 reposted for iPhone

2009-07-16T15:10:00.004-04:00

I have discovered thru a bit of beta testing with friends that iPhone ringtone-ing is actually a lot easier than I thought, and certainly a lot easier than it used to be. To that end, here are the first 4 ringtones, plus one more that I don't have much to say about that hasn't been posted yet. It is just a telephone. Backwards.

Right/Control click each one to save to your HD, then just drag it into Ringtones in iTunes and it should work fine. From now on I will post mp3's and m4r's, which will also make it easier to try before you buy.

k01MarbleDrop.m4r

k02MarbleDropBare.m4r

k03FriesWithThat.m4r

k04Call4PrepPno.m4r

k05ClassicRingerish.m4r

From Sitar Bridges on Banjos to Prepared Piano

2009-05-06T20:46:00.007-04:00

Brainstorming about what to make the next ringtone, I had been thinking about what a banjo would sound like with a sitar bridge on it, as the strings are similarly made of metal. And the banjo is such an ancient instrument--from there I wandered to prepared piano, which seems just odd enough to warrant ringtone-ification.

This is an original composition, entitled, "Pick up your phone, John Cage". Two technical side notes, this one will overload the speaker on your iPhone if you turn it up too loud. Despite my attempts to figure this out, I have not quite gotten it yet. So don't turn your phone all the way up. Also, a slightly different distribution, the zip file contains an mp3 and a garageband project. For iPhone, just open the gb file and Share. For all others, apologies, I am quickly, it seems, becoming somewhat iPhone centric. Oh well, it's my only testing platform.

I still want to modify my banjo with a piece of camel bone.

k04Call4PrepPno.zip

PS. If I really wanted to pay homage to John Cage, I should have made a ringtone called 14 sec. that was dead silence, but I will refrain from getting totally impractical just yet.

How to put ringtones on your iPhone

2009-04-28T17:03:00.000-04:00

A little known fact (at least it was to me until someone pointed it out) is that you can make anything you want into a ringtone for your iPhone. All you need is GarageBand '08 or '09 and iTunes, which, if you have a mac, you probably do. Not sure if there is a way to do this on a PC, so sorry about that. But here's how to do it on a mac:

1) Download the ringtone from here and unzip it.

2) Open GarageBand. Drag either the mp3 or wave (if there is one) into the big space in the window, creating a new track.

3) Click the cycle button. This is how you decide how long your ringtone will be.

4) Drag the edges of the cycle bar (in yellow) the beginning and end of the ringtone file. It won't let you ringtone-ify it without this step.

5) From the 'Share' Menu, choose 'Send Ringtone to iTunes'. And that's it! It will name it in iTunes whatever the GarageBand file is called, so you can rename it in iTunes to be more descriptive if you need to.

6) Sync your phone. Voila!

You can save this GarageBand file or not, it doesn't matter b/c now it is in your iTunes collection, and properly registered as a ringtone. I believe that internally it is really just an AAC file, but if you try it any other way, it will end up in your music collection, not your ringtones. Unless your phone is unlocked, but I don't know anything about that.

love fries

2009-04-28T16:07:00.002-04:00

here is a french (actually belgian) frie-inspired ringtone, and a reminder to myself (and anyone else) that there is a new (to me, not to people who know it) fry place in town, off st. marks. Bonus is, not only can you get fries belgian style, you can also get poutine, fries Quebecquer style!!

Fantastic. I must go try it.

Just the mp3 file on this one, the wave is too big. It's a creeper tone--starts small, gets bigger, and then makes sure you hear it at the end.

k03FriesWithThat.mp3.zip

Dropping Stuff on the Floor

2009-04-28T14:39:00.001-04:00

iPhone explanation to follow, but first some ringtones.

fx collection roulette is to thank for our first installment. An exploration of dropping things on the floor.

Posted as a zip files including wave and mp3 files. Enjoy.

k01MarbleDrop.zip

k02MarbleDropBare.zip

The Blog Sees New Life

2009-04-28T14:14:00.000-04:00

Rather than start a 3rd blog with some other semi-clever barely-sensical epithet, I am going to resurrect this one, although with a slightly different purpose, one that I have been meaning to do for some time.

What could it be?

Inspired by my friend Dan's recent efforts and discipline, I have decided to finally realize my week long dream of making sound almost every day. The version of this 'a play a week' exercise for a sound designer seems to me to be:

Ringtones!

So, every few days, (I am going to be as disciplined about this as I can) I will post a ring tone or 2, that you can listen to, and if you like, download and use on your phone. I understand that most phones take mp3s, some take wave files, iPhones are a bit of a process (explanation to follow), so I will post them as waves and mp3s. The idea is that these all be the result of a bit of creating on my part, which should be fun, but also keep me working.

So, please participate, comment, download and make phone calls.

More to come.

Wall painted animation

2008-06-05T12:45:00.000-04:00

I have recently been interested in high definition images in low definition motion. New work of film artist Lewis Klahr, for example. A beautiful image can hold up in a longer time frame, and it is nice to have a moment to enjoy each image as it goes by, while still creating a sense of motion. More on this if I figure it out.

In the meantime, things come around every once in a while and you have to make sure they get shared. This is one of those things. More on the blu website

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Endless Delight, 1959

2008-06-03T14:52:00.000-04:00

This is a slide show prepared by the COLOR CONTROL COMPANY of 1538 CASSIL PLACE, HOLLYWOOD of the 1959 Rose Bowl Parade.

The show was edited down by my great grandfather, who may have even been involved with its creation. He also had a box of photos from the 1958 Rose Bowl Parade.

Following is the introductory paragraph from the slide show script:

SEVENTIETH ANNUAL TOURNAMENT OF ROSES PARADE

Theme: ADVENTURES IN FLOWERS

1959

The Rose Parade is California's special greeting to the New Year. These slides will give you a finer view of floats than anyone of the millions of spectators had who lined the streets. The Kodachrome originals were chosen from the very best exposures taken by eight photographers stationed on press stands along the parade. We know that these slides, in all the magnificent color of California's most beautiful flowers and matchless sunshine will bring you endless delight.

Each float has a theme, prepared by various Socal cities, companies, and other countries.
Notable exclusions from great-grandpa's version include:

Adventures in Desert Living
Polynesian Potpurri
Adventures in Christian Love

Big pictures. It may take a moment to load.

reducing our cow-bon footprint

2008-06-02T14:27:00.000-04:00

an interesting talk about the importance of having a thoughtful and earth-conscious diet.

I like the idea of retraining my idea of consumption based on actual dietary needs, not lobbyists and the USDA.

You see us as you want to see us, In the simplest terms...

2008-06-02T13:46:00.000-04:00

I went to jury duty this morning at the borough of brooklyn civil court. We were instructed what to do in the simplest, clearest, most planned manner I think I have ever heard anywhere. All questions were answered before they could be asked. All forms were described and redescribed. I am sure they have seen everything. I got in trouble twice.

This was in the men's room.

What was once state of the Art...

2008-06-01T19:44:00.000-04:00

The Smurf. The Apple Power Mac G3 was pretty cool when it was released. I remember not being able to have one and wanting one.

However, it has been relegated to the unfortunate status of being last century technology, and given the speed with which curbside donations are snatched up, I thought the plight of this poor smurf was both funny and sad.