Thursday, July 31, 2014

Jazz Combo Groove Loop

This is a 44 second grooving little jazz loop using a traditional small jazz combo. Electric Piano, Bass, Vibes and Drums. This one makes a nice smooth loop at 44 seconds. A little background music for broadcast purposes - fade out at your leisure.

Jazz Combo Groove Loop

This is a 44 second grooving little jazz loop using a traditional small jazz combo. Electric Piano, Bass, Vibes and Drums. This one makes a nice smooth loop at 44 seconds. A little background music for broadcast purposes - fade out at your leisure.


First Ableton & Push attempt

This is my first attempt at a complete song recorded start to finish in Ableton Live using Push. I was just looking to do a simple 30 second Uke and Whistle loop, but it didn't turn out that way.



This marks my attempted usable track made with Ableton Live and Push. It's pretty horrible. There are so many things wrong with it that I don't even want to think about it. But I did it completely with Live & Push, so there's that. The next trick is to do something that's actually good. Sometimes that learning curve just looks like a 90 degree angle from where I stand.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Classic Jazz Combo Loop

This is a short, classic jazz loop that uses a traditional small jazz combo - bass, drums and vibraphone. Simple, short, and jazzy. It makes a perfect loop at 44 seconds.

Jazz has been doing pretty well for me lately, so I might as well knock some more of it. I suspect that these get used for promotions for jazz festivals that happen over the summer. Probably too late to actually do much for the rest of this summer, but there's always next year. It's not as iff jazz ever goes out of style.

This is song #2 for the week. Or maybe only #1, depending on whether I cave in and submit the Rough Edge loop.

Rough Edge Loop

This is a down-tempo electronic loop that uses distorted bass, synths, drums and harp. Gritty, in a minor key, and mysterious. It makes a perfect loop at 44 seconds. It's my first song of the week, and I may or may not submit it. This is one of those ones that just comes out, but I can't help but wonder if it will make it past the reviewers. Not that it's horrible, it's just hard to see a commercial application for it.

I'll probably just leave it on the hard drive unless I can't make my 5 song quota for the week. I'm hoping that the next things that come out will have a little more curb appeal to them.

Week 6 Scorecard

All 5 of last weeks submissions have worked their way thru the queue over the weekend, and it was a mixed bag. 3/5 made the cut - not a stellar week, but I'll take it.

The Pizzicato String Loop, Oriental Journey, and Ukulele and Marimba Theme made the cut, The Metro Strut and Free Range Organ didn't. That brings the summer total up to 19/27. I'm not setting the world on fire here, but still on track to get to 175 items for sale by the end of the summer. If it takes 5 submissions to get 3 in, I need about 13 submissions to get there. With a little extra effort, maybe I can get there by mid-August.

Ukulele and Marimba Theme


I took a few days off for an extended weekend trip to see the video games live concert in Baltimore, but I'm back in the saddle. I can see that I forgot to post my last submission before heading out, so here it is.

This is a short, mellow children's theme song. It includes a 2 second audio tale, but if you truncate it to 32 seconds it loops well. I'm calling it the Ukulele and Marimba Theme and categorizing it under "children's music." 'Cause that's what it sounds like.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Free Range Organ

My wife tries very hard to keep the family eating healthy - non GMO, organic, free-range, you name it. I sometimes thwart her efforts and annoy her in my charming fashion - "Now waiter, is the salad made with free range lettuce?" - but I do appreciate her going to such lengths to keep her family healthy.

"Free Range Organ" is a sad attempt at a pun. Somewhere out there, there is someone in a situation not unlike my own that may snicker. Or not. Yet I insist on my little puns, even if I am the only one who ever laughs at them.

Oh, right. Here's the song. It's my 4th submission for week #6.

A good week for milestones!

I reached another one today, my first $150 month. I love how it happened, too - someone bought an extended license for a 10 second audio clip. It was this one.



Someone decided it worked well enough for a project to spend $27 on that 10 sec. audio clip. It's nice when that happens.

I'm not sure where to set my next milestone. $175 makes sense, or I could just set the bar at wherever sales end this month. I'll decide next week. Time for another trip for ice cream. Maybe I should consider that continued success on these milestones may affect some other personal health goals. But I figure even people trying to lose a little weight can eat ice cream occasionally, right?

Oriental Journey

I composed this one with a slow and peaceful journey through the orient in mine. It's calming, relaxing, and meandering. It's the sort of music I would like to hear playing in the background if I should ever walk through a zen garden over the little bridge that crosses the koi pond.

I did this one because I have never actually tried anything like it before. I don't imagine it's the most authentic sounding oriental piece out there, but it's how a middle age white american THINKS oriental music sounds, and sometimes that's exactly what you want. Who needs the confusion of authenticity when you can just crank out a sensible cliche'?

This is song submission #3 for week #6. #4 is already "in the can," but I'm saving it for submission tomorrow to spread things out. The longer and more often my studio icon sits on the main page of AJ, the better.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

A couple small milestones

I checked a few small goals off of my list this week. This week I managed to knock these off...

-25 sales in one month
-At least one sale every day in one week
-A single item getting 20 sales

Celebrating the small victories takes the sting out of the rejections. I'm also approaching another milestone goal I set - $150 in sales in one month. I'm not there yet, but I've got a week left, and am getting very close.

A lot of these goals don't have much to do with action on my part, but I have them anyway. Kind of like the achievements in video games, they give me things to be encouraged about. Some goals I set for the summer that it's time to get working on....

A 100% ESX24 sampler song - My second submission of all times was a song I knocked off to experiment with a new Korg sampler. I did a whole song with nothing but a water bottle and the stuff inside it. It has actually become one of my best sellers over the years. The ESX24 is a software sampler built in to Logic. It's actually much easier to use than my Korg, and is pretty fun to mess with. I'll start working on something similar with this soon.

A song with vocals - I tried one, but it was rejected. There is a lot of irony in the fact that the guy who spends the majority of his life working with choirs has so rarely ever submitted songs with voice in them. My house is often just too noisy to record in - that's the excuse I use. I haven't given up yet. I gotta get this one checked off to maintain some self-respect.

A song made with drum loops created on Ableton Live using Push - I've learned enough about this program and the controller to get stuff done at this point. I'm just being lazy. It's so much easier just to knock stuff out on the software that I already know so well. It will take longer, but it will be good for me. The whole point is that it makes you think about how you write music differently. I need to shove myself out of my own comfort zone to prevent myself from being an old dog who can't learn any new tricks.

Those three are enough for now. I actually have others, but it's time to just pick one and get my butt in gear. I'll post results on ONE of them next week.

Week 5 Scorecard

Results are in from week #5 submissions. I got 3/5 this time around. The "Accordion Duet," "Whistle & Ukulele Loop," and "Harp Boys & Chime" all made it in. "Clav Dance" and "Spy Vibe" were both politely rejected with a form letter. Se La Vi.

My running count for the summer is now 16/22. The more times you're at bat, the more often you're likely to get a hit.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

An experiment was carried out....

As a possible solution to the "September thru May" issue of music storage, it occurs to me that I actually have a good bit of storage space for this website that I don't really use. So what if I try hosting some of my OWN songs for a change, rather than farming everything out to Soundcloud? What if....

So here is a short loop that I just knocked off to experiment with. It's actually submission #2 for week #6, although I haven't uploaded it into the queue of AJ just yet. I'm going to upload a batch of three tomorrow. It's uncreatively named the "Staccato Strings Loop." I'll bet you can guess why without even listening, but please do anyway.


Staccato Strings Demo

It's not as dance or pretty as Soundclouds player, but it does the job, right?

Soundcloud....full?!

I never thought that it could happen, but I guess it has - my free Soundcloud account is finally full. I have uploaded two hour's worth of music to that account.

What do I do now? I hate to shell out the cash for an upgrade. It's $6/mo or $55/year, and would take me up to 4 hours. My profile says that I have 49 people following me and have had 43 plays in the last week. Hmmmm.

Cost/Benefit analysis: Not exactly setting the world on fire with followers and there are hardly any comments. The 43 plays in a week statistic is actually pretty surprising. I have absolutely no way of knowing if anything I post on Soundcloud ever leads to an actual sale.

A recurring $6/mo fee seems steep considering the way I use the platform - it's just a storehouse for my files so I can generate links to my website. This website is more of a journal than anything else. I haven't made any honest efforts to ask anyone to read it. It turns out that I kind of stink at social media.

Solution - pay for August and quit. HolyHammer Audio is basically a June-August project. I'm way too busy dying the school year to crank out 5 songs a week. I can't even manage the tiny branding clips on a regular basis. After I try it out for 1 month, it will freeze out future uploads (unlikely to matter until next summer), and I'll lose access to my oldest songs (and I don't care.)

Next summer I can either clean out old material to make room for the new stuff, or buy 3 months instead of the whole year and see how they handle that. Sounds like a plan. I'm glad we worked this out.

Metro Strut

I'm calling this one the "Metro Strut" because I spend so much time strutting around metropolitan areas. OK, maybe not.

It seems kind of cocky and funky to me - I can just picture a guy dressed up like a tacky pimp strutting his stuff down the boulevard under the neon lights to this music. I have to call it something. This one is song #1 for week 6. I should have final results from last week sometime tomorrow - my last two songs are near the front of the queue.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Spy Vibe

I had technological thrillers on the mind when I wrote this one. Sometimes I read a book that hasn't been turned in to a movie yet and imagine what the soundtrack would be like if it were. This is one of those songs.

This is the night in the book (and perhaps future movie) when the sneaky hero breaks into the lair of the villain using nothing but moxy and a half million dollars worth of technological toys. It sounds just like this.

Harp Boys & Chime

This is my version of audio for an angel getting its wings. Wings, a halo, and a harp appear, and the new angel ascends to come to rest on a puffy cloud. We've seen in in 100 cartoons.

This version uses harp (of course), pads, strings, boys choir, and chimes. It's only 10 seconds long, 'cause I figure that's how long an unhurried trip to the nearest cloud would take.

I was thinking of the audio I would want for a "game over" sequence if I needed one. This is it.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Milestone reached!

I finally bumped up to the next sales rate level on Audio Jungle! Forgive the exclamation mark, but it took a really long time.

All it really means is that I now make 51% percent profit on the music that I sell for the first time. Until now, Audio Jungle has always taken half. The more sales you make, the higher your commission rate, so it's nice to finally turn the corner. I know, it's just one percent more, but it goes down as a symbolic event anyway.

I tend to celebrate such milestones with ice cream. Probably Perry's Parkerhouse Cherry. I know it's pink, but I like it anyway. Don't judge - it's just ice cream for heaven's sake.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Whistle and Ukulele Loop

This short loop features ukulele, whistling, bass, and light percussion. Cheerful, and relaxed, it loops perfectly at 30 seconds. This would be song #3 for week 5.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Clav Dance

It's tough to describe this one. I almost called it "Funky Space Cowboys," because that's seriously the first thing that sprang into my mind when I gave it the final listen and pronounced it 'done.' That clavichord patch sounds western to me for some reason. The right side of my brain overruled the left, and I just called it "Clav Dance" to keep things simple.

This is song #2 for week 5. Song #1 was the last post, "Accordion Duet".

Week 4 Scorecard

A much better showing this time around - I actually got in my quota of 5. Four out of the five got accepted (Pizzicato Theme, Dance Mod, Walking Jazz Combo, and Swamp Loop). The one that didn't make the cut was my "Dit Doo Dah loop", so my first attempt at vocal audio flopped. I get knocked down, but I get up again.

That brings the summer scorecard up to 13/17 for the summer at the end of week 4. I now have 162 songs up for sale on Audio Jungle. I'm thinking that 175 would be a good target for the summer. We'll see.

Accordion Duet

It's actually a trio if you count the bass player, who insists on it. This is an easygoing waltz of indeterminate european ethnic origin. Clearly "old country", I'm just not sure which one.

Friday, July 11, 2014

Dit Doo Dah Loop

This one marks a first attempt for me. I spent hours sampling & tweaking audio of my own voice singing 'Dits' Doo's" and Dah's", dumped them into a sampler, and banged around for awhile to see what would come out. This is what came out.

I have never actually submitted a song with vocals on Audio Jungle until now. Not exactly 'legit' singing, but that's the next step. That's one of the goals for the summer.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Funky Swamp Loop

This 30 second loop mixes reggae and funk with a little swamp guitar to create an upbeat, but minor groove. If you want a little background music for a party in a spooky swamp, this loop will do the job.

When I was a kid, Scooby Doo was the after school cartoon of choice. Not that we had much of a choice back in 70s - we only had a handful of stations to pick from, and only one or two played cartoons after school. Anyway, the Mystery Machine always seemed to break down near spooky old mansions in swamps, but there never seems to be a party going on. Maybe if they had some appropriately funky music, they would all have a reason to throw one. So here it is.

Maybe the next one will be zydeco. It's probably the world's best swamp music. The only problem is that no one ever searches for that term because they've never even heard of it, except for the exceptionally cool folk from New Orleans.

Week 3 Scorecard

Results are in from last week's submissions, and I went 3/3. That brings me up to 9/12 for the summer so far.

I have already submitted three for this week. I've got enough in process that I should be able to get my quota of 5 this time around. I hope.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Walking Jazz Combo

A smokey jazz loop from a bygone era. This short loop (36 seconds) features a combo with a walking bass line, brushes on a drum set, and a vibraphone. Laid back, relaxed, and cool.

This is the third submission for week #4. "Jazz Cat", the one that I recorded back on June 19, has actually sold twice in the short time it's been for sale. Hey, people want jazz? I'll do some jazz.

Dance Mod

'Mod' as in 'Modification.' My son is currently excited about modifying software to make the characters in games do things they can't normally do - such as dance. This little electronic dance loop was inspired by his enthusiasm.

It's electronic, fast, exciting, and funky. I used acoustic drums for the basic beat, but the rest is full of busy sequenced synthesizers and electro-pop sounds. This little tune makes a perfect loop at 52 seconds for fade out at your convenience. Just the thing to show off your video game hero's new moves.

This is submission #2 for week #4. The last submission of week #3 is near the front of the queue, so results from last weeks (sad) 3 submissions soon.

Pizzicato Theme Song

This is my first offering of the week, a short theme song (35 sec) that I did for podcast or broadcast productions. Clean, happy, and catchy, with a very thin texture. Upbeat and plucky.

I have been pretty miserable at making my quota so far this summer. Last week I only got in 3, and I'm still waiting to hear if they all make the cut or not. I'm not punishing myself too much because the last two that I submitted were both cut, probably because they were rush jobs in order to get 5 in.

I'm being a lot more picky this time and spending more time refining. I figure I'd rather take my time and submit fewer songs, but ones that hopefully have a little better time making the cut.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Latin Twilight

This is a little cheerful background music with an easygoing, Latin feel. Relaxed, carefree, and casual, with a little sophistication.

This is the music I want the house band to play if I ever find myself somewhere watching the sunset over the ocean on the balcony of a laid-back night club with a few sophisticated friends. If I should ever make any sophisticated friends.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Week 2 Scorecard

My final submissions have worked there way through Audio Jungle's review process. I got 3/5 for week 2 submissions, bringing the total up to 6/9. "Warm Fuzzies," "Harp and Pads Ident," and "Island Bounce Loop" all made the cut. "Free Electron" and the "Tremolo Strings & Piano Ident." weren't accepted. You win some, you lose some.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Pizzi and Glock Loop

This is a short loop I made for commercial background audio. It uses pizzicato strings, glockenspiel, bass, and percussion. It's light, clean, upbeat, positive, and bright. It makes a perfect loop at 1:04.

This one marks my second submission for week #3. No report yet on week #2 submissions -they're still working their way through the queue.