Staff Styles in Logic Studio – brief tutorial

Three voice harmony in one region – don’t analyze harmony too closely! Sometimes these lines move together sometimes independently.

When the score edit window is opened

You will notice that with no overlap checked some notes are missing or their lengths have been shortened. Uncheck no overlap and the score window will look like this

This is still not satisfactory as the score editor adds tied notes to the parts or ‘voices’ that are not moving

One way to remedy this is to create a new staff style that accomodates 3 voices.

First choose the staff style closest to the on you want to work with. In the top left hand corner under the name of the region there will be a drop down menu next to the word Style, if this box is hidden click on the little triangle next to the region name. After choosing the appropiate staff style open the drop down menu a second and choose ****DUPLICATE!****. You will selected Staff Style change to something like “staffstyle*copied”.

In the score window go to the Layout menu choose Staff Styles… this opens the Staff Styles window (you can also double click on the Staff Style name).

Here are all the settings to change the look of the staff style, there will be a list of staffs (for multi staff stles such as piano) and a sublist of voices for each staff.

To create a new voice go to the New menu and select Insert Voice. For multi staff styles it is easier to select the pencil tool and click in the Voice columns (columns headed by Rest to Color) under the staff you want the voice to appear.

For each new voice you can select how you want it to appear. In the example below I’ve chosen the rests for each voice to be hidden and the top voice to have it’s note tails pointing upwards.

Also note in the Assign – Split  column a note value (default C3) has appeared. Notes above this value belong to the voice above, notes below this value belong to the voice below. I’ve selected splits so that the our original three lines are independent

The score window for this region should now look like this

 

Wild Rose

Alligator Bench

Nocturnal Conspiracies

This has been available for awhile on iTunes. I’m just lazy as always getting the news out there.

I layed down some cello tracks for this a few months back, though my input only goes so far as a provider of material that has then been masterfully taken apart, rearranged with other elements and put back together again by Stuart Tonge of Firstfold Records. Nice collision of seemingly disparate elements, you might enjoy it…

first fold records

I’ve just been in the process of laying down cello tracks for first fold’s next release.

Four delicate tracks with a curious acousmatic soundscape dub with metal haiku vocals. Music and experimentation for it’s own sake, and that’s what I love.

More news when it arrives

Topical Fruit

From the many years I have been making Sound Design and Music for theater I’ve built up quite a large library of my own hand crafted sound effects. In the past month I’ve been sifting through this material as well and re editing this work to sell as royalty free stock on iStockphoto.com. You’ll also find a selection of music. As well as old audio I’ve started collecting and editing new work. I’m selling under the auspices of Topical Fruit. You can view my portfolio here

Piano Circus at Kings Place

I am preparing visuals with Will Simpson for a concert of composer Colin Riley’s work, performed by Piano Circus at Kings Place, London.

The works are for 6 keyboards/pianos in various formats and combinations, with the sound treated live through computer, creating curious and beguiling sound world. We are trying to reflect the different moods and textures visually. In the first piece Squiggle Zipper that feels erratic and twitchy but needs absolute precision from the performers, the visuals will be interactive. Each note played will trigger an event and in some cases a sequence of events. I am programming this with a combination of Quartz Composer and MaxMSP, taking MIDI and audio feeds from the performers. Will is creating stunning treated slow moving, evolving landscapes for the second piece that has a stiller more reflective feel. For the third piece we will be taking live camera feeds and processing these live.

InterAct Reading Service

I was asked by Nirjay Mahindru Chief Executive of InterAct Reading Service to edit material taken from workshops with stroke patients. They decided the form of the material that would be recorded, whether it be a radio play, a reminiscence, an episode of a soap opera. I edited and added sound design.

This is the kind of art project I really love. The work, the interaction between the participants, and their opening up and human expression reaching out and touching the rest of us, creates moments of true beauty that words can’t express.

You can hear examples here

Venus in Transit at (D)FEFV: in Krk, Croatia

Venus in Transit was screened as part of the (D)FEFV: film and video art festival in Krk, Croatia at Galerija Decumanus

Influenced by ‘London’ by Patrick Keiller. Using a sequence of images poetically rather than dramatically to reflect a series of thoughts.

Developed by Simon McCorry, Caroline Collinge and Jan-Willem van den Bosch for Museumaker pitch at Orleans House.

Epiphany

A few months ago I was asked by Theatre Is… to make a short film interviewing people about defining moments in their lives as part of workshops for young adults around theme of epiphany.

I kind of wanted to get away from the cliche of wow-I’m-flying-in-the-sky type realizations and find a deeper wrestling with ones place in the universe. The following six interviews uncover that finding ones ‘element’ can be a long and difficult journey battling with the expectations of others, clearing up what are the underlying motives for what we think we want, clearing away the baggage of hurt and pain.