blame the sound

Your Name

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:46:47 -0500

“Your Name” is a piece I wrote with my Poolside partner in crime Melinda Hershey nearly a year ago. It transformed over the year more than a handful of times before becoming what you hear now. The piece has a LOT of sentimental value to me on many different layers, and I’m extremely proud of it.

Please, if you enjoy the music, consider purchasing it as all the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society. If you’re not comfortable making the purchase, clicking that “share” value does a lot more good than most people realize, too.

Thanks!

Songs for the Cure ‘10 has been released. I’d like...

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:48:18 -0500

Songs for the Cure ‘10 has been released.

I’d like to thank the following people for their hardwork and dedication to making this a possibility:

Matt Johnson for doing all the artwork that’s on the album and for the “Your Name” promotional video.
Tara Morrow, Martha Mingle, Danny Clay, Dan Sato, and Matt again for sitting through a grueling five hour recording session for a few of the pieces on the album.
TIGSource.com, originalsoundversion.com, Zen Albatross, gamemusic4all.com, destructoid.com, and all of the aggregate news feeds that posted about this years album ahead of time.
Alec and Eileen Holowka and Blinkworks Media who together made an AWESOME promotional and informative film about the drive that pushed a lot of donations our way.
All of the musicians and hardworkers involved in making this possible. Without them there really would be no cancer drive. In particular a big thanks to Martha Mingle, Danny Clay, and T.R. Beery for being some of the VIPs of my outbox lately.
Huge, HUGE thanks to Melinda Hershey for really helping me perfect “Your Name” over to past year and providing much of the inspiration for everything in it.

There are probably too many more names to mention, so just hurry up and listen already! http://music.cancerdrive.org

CDs, Concerts, Cancer, and Rehearsals?!

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:12:18 -0500

I just put in an order for 500 CDs (technically 1,000). The tentative plan is that we’re gonna throw them at people with cancer until their cancer goes away. We’re aiming specifically for malignant tumors…

I jest. We’re actually giving the money we make from the CDs to the American Cancer Society to beat Cancer on the head. You should be a part of this. Make a donation today at http://www.cancerdrive.org/#donate

For said CD I was directly involved with the production of four tracks with a few artists. First, I worked with Martha Mingle (piano) and Tara Morrow (soprano) to create a wonderful live rendition of “Your Name,” which we recorded and are making a music video out of. Hopefully we’ll see that soon. Whilst this live version is not included on the CD, there is a studio version of it performed in two renditions. Once, by Tara, and again by Melinda Hershey (Poolside). They are very different expressions of a deep feeling. The third piece is called “Sing Gloria” and features Rich Brilli, Melinda Hershey, and Tara Morrow - this is sort of a crazy fare in my usual cinematic/videogame style that I’m very pleased with. The fourth piece is an electronic piece featuring entirely acoustic segments performed by Martha Mingle on piano.

My other big project this quarter has been orchestrating “Your Name” and creating an art piece out of it which properly reflects my feelings and the complicated emotions that are associated with recent tragic events in my life. We’re rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing next week for a performance on MARCH 10, 2010. That’ll be at Cohen Family Studio Theatre at the COLLEGE CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC at 8PM. Free admission and all that jazz. (Also something about Qdoba? hmmmmm) Be there.

Video

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:49:13 -0500

GunGirl 2: Original Soundtrack, featuring Rich Brilli - This is...

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:25:00 -0500

GunGirl 2: Original Soundtrack, featuring Rich Brilli

- This is coming, and it’s coming fast. And it looks beautiful thanks to Amanda Appiarius!

Make your donation today at http://www.cancerdrive.org

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 14:33:48 -0500

Make your donation today at http://www.cancerdrive.org

This Wednesday, January 20th, the Sonic Explorations concert (at...

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:36:24 -0500

This Wednesday, January 20th, the Sonic Explorations concert (at CCM, Cohen Studio Theatre at 8pm) will be premiering exciting new installations and tape pieces by our department, one of which is “GulpGulp!,” an interactive installation developed by yours truly.

At it’s core, GulpGulp! is a procedural audio generator which ‘feeds’ on two-dimensional image data. Based on brightness contrasts found in the image and other various programmable methods, GulpGulp! creates an audio signal comprised of various wave forms, not limited to pure sine waves, squares, triangles, saws, and noise. GulpGulp! further varies the process by assigning special waveforms to various colors and contours, making each and every input a completely different aural experience. Of course, all of this assignment is programmable to the end-user so that a single image has an infinite set of possibilities.

At the recital, I will be taking photographs of various patrons and using those images as the input data to create a truly unique experience. To further increase the experience for the guests, GulpGulp! creates a realtime visual experience which maps to the audio data and detected-contours to help the audience identify the source-material, creating a thought-provoking and entertaining listening and viewing experience.

Here I have a short video sampling three different images that were created using an older version of the algorithm. To save time, these images were only set to be twenty seconds in length, but a more dynamic and richer experience is found with longer durations and higher resolution images.

December 2009 Update

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:04:53 -0500

HAPPY HOLIDAYS from me to you! I hope you are enjoying this joyful time with your friends and family staying warm over eggnog and cider, but hopefully you’re not spending TOO much time under the mistletoe! A good way to start celebrating would be to grab the SONGS FOR THE CURE 2009 ALBUM for FREE (only until Dec. 26) here: http://music.cancerdrive.org - also, consider donating for the 2010 album which is going to be amazing.

I’ve been spending my time away from school working on about a thousand things at once, including my first film score! (Click here to see a photo) That’s proven to be a challenging but ultimately very rewarding process.

I’ve also been finishing up the GunGirl 2 soundtrack with my friend/guitarist Rich Brilli. You can watch a video of our recent jam session right here on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=693336855435 When all is said and done the soundtrack will be released for free along with the game which should be a lot of fun. You can also check out the completed track “Vehemence” from the soundtrack on thesixtyone right here.

I’m also headed up to MAGFest from the 31st to the 4th of January to give a panel on the “Being, Business, and Evolution of an Indie Game Composer” where I will give some inside tips to how the business works, how to find jobs, and how to tackle jobs. I’ll also go over some of that stuff that nobody really talks about - NDAs, Invoices, and all that stuff. No worries, there will also be a video on how to tackle a track from beginning to end! Besides all the work, that should be a BLAST.

Happy Holidays everyone! 2010 is going to be an AMAZING YEAR of music, fun, and celebration!

Yours,
Josh Whelchel

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Josh-Whelchel/14493454471
http://blog.jwmusic.org

7 Days of GunGirl 2: Day 2

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:43:00 -0500

Go listen (and give hearts!).

“Vehemence” from GunGirl 2.

Ladies and gentlemen, Rich Brilli on guitar. We did this...

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:57:00 -0500

Ladies and gentlemen, Rich Brilli on guitar.

We did this improvisation for the GunGirl 2 soundtrack, and we did it in our sweatpants. Sort of like Alec Holowka (Infinite Ammo) and his Pajama Jam.

Free Song of the Day: “Demo of GunGirl 2...

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:13:00 -0500

Free Song of the Day: “Demo of GunGirl 2 Soundtrack”

WHOA, WHOA, WHOA - HOLD ON.
Yes, this is something ENTIRELY new.

Featuring my friend Rich Brilli doing SWEET guitar licks (1st sampled track) like it’s his job to play the music I write. He is insanely good at improving. Go on, let it hurt so good.

Why is this video important? Thirty one minutes into John Romero...

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:05:00 -0500

Why is this video important?

Thirty one minutes into John Romero - you know, the guy who created DooM, Quake, and is still changing the gaming industry… yeah, that John - anyway, he used MY doom remix at the end (31min).

Why’s this a big deal? I’m a geek, and I’m doing what we do best, and that’s GEEKING OUT. It’s not a particularly good remix, it’s very old and I did it entirely on my old Kurzweil keyboard (including the sequencing, which was a headache). I even got old Doom SFX in there.

Download it here: Doom’s Suite.mp3

Just to make sure I have this right in my head… John Romero heard my song. Used it. Whoa.

It’s so rare when I play piano for a camera that I went...

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:13:24 -0500

It’s so rare when I play piano for a camera that I went ahead and uploaded it. This is what I’m working on for the Indie Music Cancer Drive 2010.

“Your Name” by… me.

7 Days of GunGirl 2: Day 1

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:44:59 -0500

Hmm, so here I am locked in my studio hammering out the last of the GunGirl 2 soundtrack, music for a free game being conceived by Paul Schneider. I do these free game soundtracks every once in a blue moon as way to say “thank you” to the community from which I came. After all, some of the best games I’ve written for were come from the “Click Community.” (cough-bonesaw-cough-thespiritengine-cough)

That said, I’m making another mammoth soundtrack for this game, and right now it sounds sort of like what Bonesaw would have sounded like if I wrote it a year later. I’m going for a simplistic sound, with the usual hooks and riffs that draw you in and make you twirl around, wondering, “am I listening to this game, or is it listening to me?”

Well, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but what does make a lot of sense is an idea that I use a lot in my classical compositions that I’m applying here. Every melodically memorable piece of music that I can think of uses leitmotifs pretty strongly, and I can consider those my thing. After listening to a handful of scores and soundtracks I found one that uses one melodic idea nearly in every track, and it’s the Lord of Vermillion soundtrack by Uematsu. I think to myself on Day 1 of these 7 days, that is a thing I want to try to do…

my love child.

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:12:41 -0500

my love child.

Poolside - Shine Tonight It’s complete!

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:05:40 -0500

Poolside - Shine Tonight

It’s complete!

I want one of these so badly.

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:48:05 -0500

I want one of these so badly.

Free Song of the Day: “Indie Brawl Medley” (draft...

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:57:00 -0500

Free Song of the Day: “Indie Brawl Medley” (draft 1)

This is a draft featuring:

Nurykabe - “Remplissage momentané” from Knytt Stories
Kyle Gabler - “Best of Times” and “Red Carpet Extend-O-Matic” from World of Goo
David Saulesco - Eternal Daughter theme (motif from Bach)
Alec Holowka - Aquaria Theme
Disasterpiece - Rescue the Beagles theme
Josh Whelchel - “Confrontation at the Shrine” from The Spirit Engine 2
Josh Whelchel - “bonesaw is ready” / Theme from Bonesaw: The Game

um go! go! go!

Like it, like it, a thousand times like it. I play guitar and...

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:48:35 -0500

Like it, like it, a thousand times like it. I play guitar and sing on this track. I wrote the lyrics and music, Melinda just packs the punch!

It’s my BIRTHDAY! (Almost…) I’m not sure about...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:51:46 -0500

It’s my BIRTHDAY! (Almost…)

I’m not sure about the accuracy of calling my album a “best-seller,” but there it is! That’s something to celebrate, another thing being my upcoming birthday this Thursday! If you’d like to think of a great way to say, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOSH,” you could consider doing any of these things:

Share my music with your friends. Maybe they’ll like it. You can grab most of my music for free here. See that SHARE button? You could click that too - I’d really like that.
You could donate to the Indie Music Cancer Drive. The money goes to a good cause AND makes you a better person. I’m also to believe your gift is tax-deductible when you make your donation directly.
Buy my CD - you can grab it here. If you buy more than one you get a 20% discount, too, and you have to admit that THAT is pretty RAD. It’s already pretty cheap - you can get it digitally or physically, too.
Come see me at MAGFEST!

But if you’re like most casual internet-goers you may want to do something free or less taxing:

Become a fan on Facebook of my music.
Follow me on twitter.com/soundofjw!
Write me an e-mail! (If you spam me I’ll most certainly cry).
Write on my SHOUTBOX on Last.fm.
Listen to my band.

So, happy birthday to me, and toot toot (That IS the sound of my own horn)!

If you want something more exciting to know, it’s this: In December I will be finishing the Gun Girl 2 soundtrack, which will be free, and putting the finishing touches on my album Völuspá. I’ve provided that below - and oh! Look! ANOTHER SHARE BUTTON. ;D