Presenting…
After what feels like months and months of work, I’m finally ready to unveil my latest project. A little drumroll, please?
It is my pleasure to introduce: Music for Photographers!
http://mettaaudio.com/music_photo.htm
First order of business, I can’t have a blog post without music. It just isn’t right. For your listening pleasure, I offer, The Dude Shoot:
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Ok, if you’re a photographer, or if you’ve ever Googled “Royalty Free Music” you know there are a ton of sources for music. It’s like trying to sell ice cubes to Eskimos. Why on earth would I try to compete with the likes of Triple Scoop Music and istockphoto and even White House Custom Color? Why am I selling my music?
Honestly, because I was a photographer back when it was BetsyandJohn.net. I know what it takes to make great pictures and I know how hard photographers work. But I’m also a musician, and I would watch Betsy take our photos and create beautiful slideshows, but using music pulled from iTunes, and I just didn’t feel right about it. As photographers, we had several discussions about how to prevent people from stealing and printing photos from the blog. Some kind of image protection is built into just about every online proofing site out there, and yet we’re doing the same to musicians.
After a lot of discussion, I think I’ve finally convinced Betsy that using unlicensed music is just not the right thing to do. (Even today we’ve been debating it, because she wants to post a personal slide show to copyrighted music.) As a composer, I decided that I could either sit and complain about it, or try to provide an alternative for her, which is why you’ve seen my music now on several of her slideshows. I’m proud of her for being willing to let go of the licensed music and give mine a try. (I think it has helped that once she’s selected the photos for her slideshow, I take over and do all the syncing and timing for her.) Either way, I sleep just a little better at night knowing we’re doing the right thing.
Writing music for Betsy has been kind of a game changer for me too. I was in a bit of a musical dead end. I had started a million pieces, and finished none. My computer was a sea of open ended work, without a deadline or a goal in sight. Having Betsy come to me week in and week out demanding music was as therapeutic as it was motivating. I’ve only posted 5 of the pieces that I’ve written, but there are several more in the wings (awaiting some polish), and every week she’s off on another shoot. I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me!
But I still haven’t answered the original question: Why am I selling music? Honestly, because I want to encourage all photographers to use licensed music, mine or someone else’s. By providing music and timing templates (so all you have to do is add your photos and stir), I hope that decision is just a little easier to make. Besides, there’s a lot of great music out there and a lot of passionate musicians. If you don’t find something here that moves you, I’m sure you can at many of the other royalty free music outlets. (But I’m not going to help you with their timing templates!)
Finally ready to listen to some music?
http://mettaaudio.com/music_photo.htm#listen
This is the best place to browse all the pieces at once. Be sure to check out the slide shows to see how the music and images fit. When you’ve picked the ones you want, just click on the “more info and purchasing” button, and it will take you to the shopping cart. Every piece includes a CD quality .wav file, a high quality mp3 file, and at least 2 timing templates, and all the rights you need for your business for only $60.00 per piece.
I’m really passionate about encouraging photographers to use licensed music, but like buying prints, I also understand that it can be expensive to get what you want. To help, I’m putting together two things. First is a bundle of all 5 pieces and their 10 timing templates for only $120. I know Betsy would never settle for having the same music over and over for each slide show, so I thought it was the right thing to do. Secondly, from now through the end of the month, I’m offering 20% off by using the coupon code “MettaAudio” when you check out. That 20% even applies to the bundle, you can use it as many times as you like and can pass it on.
By the way, if you’re not a photographer or don’t use ShowItWeb, every download includes a CD quality .wav file and a high quality mp3. You can use the music for your website, a podcast, your on-hold music. You can even just load it into iTunes and listen to it for fun, if you want to.
Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed. Any new slideshows I create will get posted here too!
Much metta,
John
Tin Caps in Full Motion!
Have you seen the Tin Caps commercial I scored a couple weeks ago? No?!? Truth be told, I haven’t actually seen it on TV yet either, simply because I just don’t watch that much TV. (I’ve got WAY too much music to write!) So if you’re like me and haven’t caught the commercial yet, or you are unfortunate enough not to live in the greater Fort Wayne area, then this post is for you!
Presenting, the Tin Caps!
This video comes courtesy of Derek over at Punch Films. As you can see by the visuals, he and his staff are VERY talented. It’s a real pleasure working with him. More on that later…
Thanks for tuning in. Let me know if you spot the spot on TV!
Much Metta,
John
Where the where?
Still waiting for “Thursday” to arrive and for me to post a copy of the Tin Caps project? Ya, me too. I have it on good authority that the finished commercial has been delivered and I have even heard of a potential spotting, so I know it’s out there. (Comcast local commercial on the Weather Channel. Thanks Karen!) But the producer, Derek, has been slammed lately and unable to get a suitable copy of the video to me yet for blogging. So nothing to share?
Of course not! I wrote the music, so I’m going to share the music. Then when I DO get a copy of the video, I’ll post that too so you can see how it all fits together. In most cases the video dictates the music, but in this case Derek and I worked out the music first and then he edited to what I wrote. So why not present it that way!
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Let me know what you think. There is at least one other Tin Caps commercial out there, so if you don’t here this music in it, it isn’t the one I worked on!
Thanks for tuning in!
Much Metta,
John
The Tin Caps
I’m freaking out! It’s finally happened! I finally have my first TV spot! If you can’t tell by all the exclamation points, I’m very excited! Pull up a chair and have a seat, ’cause here’s the story:
almost 10 years ago I moved to Fort Wayne to work at Sweetwater as a Sales Engineer. Sweetwater does extensive training, and as part of that training, they would loan out a new piece of gear to someone for a weekend with the expressed purpose of learning as much as they can about the equipment and doing a report on it the following week. The piece I got was a Roland JV5080 sound module, so over the weekend I wrote a couple quick pieces with it.
Fast forward to about 3 years ago. Betsy and I have moved into our current home, and I’m walking the pugs, when all of a sudden a guy named Derek pulls over to chat with me. We had worked at Sweetwater together and he remembered the music I had written. He owns Fort Wayne’s premiere creative house for film and digital video productions, Punch Films, and wanted to try using some custom music. For that project, I did what I could, but at the time I was still working at Marching Show Concepts and I didn’t feel like I was able to really give the best of myself.
Fast forward to about 2 weeks ago, and lo and behold, Derek again pulls over while I’m out walking the pugs. This time he’s got another gig he wants to try some custom music for. It’s a commercial for the Tin Caps, Fort Wayne’s new minor league baseball team.
The challenge to this project is that he hadn’t edited the video, because he wanted to edit it to the music. But it’s hard to write music to video you haven’t seen yet. So, going off our conversation about what he envisioned for the clip, I wrote all day Friday and this is what I came up with:
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In a nutshell, it was completely wrong! It was too symphonic, and not aggressive enough. So I took the elements he liked from my effort Friday and I wrote all morning on Saturday to create a second version:
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I was getting closer! But this time, it was too hard rock. Had to loose the drumset, and go more tribal.
Monday rolled around (yes, Memorial Day), Derek came over and together we hashed it out. I bounced a version for him that he presented to the client earlier today. Derek tells me after watching it, the client was silent for a moment, and than said “Wow, I can’t believe that’s our new commercial!” He loved it! I was expecting to do some more tweaking on it today, but they liked it just the way it was.
So, are you eager to hear it? So am I! I guess you’ll have to tune in on Thursday and watch for the promo. 
I’ll post the final audio (and the video, if I can get permission to) here on Thursday.
Much Metta,
John
Listen to Chris
In order to share this little piece with you, I feel like some explanation is in order. The other day I was sent this video from my good friend, Chris Melching: Auto Tuning. After watching it, I replied that I had an auto tuner in Logic. That’s was all that was said.
Fast forward a day or two, and Betsy is out of town. It’s a bachelors weekend with Miles and I, and we just can’t have a bachelors weekend without inviting over Chris to hang. It’s Saturday afternoon and I’m getting ready to put Miles down for his nap when Chris shows up. Chris comes over a lot to play with Miles so I thought it was odd that he arrived just as Miles is getting ready for a nap.
“I want to see this auto tuner.” His motive was clear. As soon as Miles hit the bed, we hit the studio. After finding my microphone, we put down a quick beat and some alternating chords and it was vocal time. But you can’t sing vocals without lyrics, right? Right? Hm, lyrics… We have a limited amount of time before Miles will wake up and want to join us. (His job in my studio seems to be to try to steal paperclips and rubber bands, and to find and turn every knob in the room. And then do it again.) So where the hell are we going to get some short rhyming words to try out this auto tuning with? Well, listen to Chris!
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Who knew this:
would be the perfect source of inspiration!
The funniest part about the whole project is that Miles LOVES it! Because it’s Chris rapping, he asks to “Listen to Chris” every day. And the more I play it for him, the more I like it. He has even listened to it while falling asleep for almost a week now. Not sure what developmental damage I’m doing to him, but I’m not about to deny my boy his chance to “Listen to Chris.”
Oh, and one last thing… You’ll know it is time to turn the page when you hear the chime ring, like this:
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Much metta,
John
Pawnee
For those of you who follow my twitter might recognize this post:
“Boy, the music I’m writing today sounds like a weird Jewish polka. Not sure it’s going to fly…”
Well, I finished the piece, and you know, it did fly! It was a piece I submitted for a new sitcom that you may have heard of, called Parks and Recreation. If you’ve seen the show, you know I didn’t get the gig, but I did end up with a fun, quirky little piece. Enjoy!
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Dancing Fingers
A while ago I entered a contest at CGEmpire. I had blogged about it but wasn’t able to post a link yet because the competition was in full swing. Well, now the competition is over so I can post my piece here!
The goal was to write 1 to 2 minutes of music that would be suitable for a children’s video game teaching about the alphabet. I hadn’t listened to it for a while, so as I’m figuring out what to say about it, I’m listening to it again. You know, it’s funny… when I write a piece, I find that I like it a lot more when I’m actually listening to it then when I’m remembering it. All I could remember about this piece was that I wished I had sped it up a bit. As I’m listening to it now, I’m finding all sorts of things I really dig about it!
Dancing Fingers
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First off, check out the typewriter sound. How cute is that? Especially for a game about the alphabet. Then, right around 30 seconds in, I found a way to combine the two melodies I’d created. They somehow managed to fit right overtop one another and you can hear that with the bells on one melody and the celeste on the other. How cool is that? I love it when that happens!
I’m also digging the heavy cello entrance 40 seconds in. It gives it a new feel without being to ominous. In fact, it reminds me of a big, hairy muppet wondering down the street.
One last note here, the piece was designed to loop. (That was part of the competition) That’s why it ends a tad on the abrupt side.
Thanks for stopping by and taking a listen!
Much metta,
John
mettaaudio.com
Hey everyone! Well, it’s finally live! My new site, that is. Head on over to mettaaudio.com and take a look around.
Be sure to check out the recordings of my new marching band shows, or stop by and check out all the music for media.
This has been a big project that I’ve been working on for a while now, and I’m thrilled it’s finally ready to release. It’s not over yet though! I’ve got several more sections in mind, but they’re not quite ready. You can bet I’ll let you know when they are! In the mean time, I’ve got some more music to write…
Speaking of which, if you are in need of music for your project, whether it be marching band or motion picture, I’d love to have the opportunity. I get asked all the time what exactly I do for a living, and for some reason “composer” kind of stumps people. I guess there aren’t too many of us out there. Regardless, there’s music EVERYWHERE. If you have a project, or you know of anyone that needs music (band directors, video editors, film makers, advertisers, web designers, even photographers need music!) drop me a line and let me know how I can help.
Thanks for stopping by!
Much metta,
John
Illuminations for Percussion
Thanks to everyone who left such kind comments about my Illuminations show! I’m flattered that so many people took time to listen to it and let me know what they thought.
Now I’d like to post the original Illuminations, written in the fall for indoor percussion ensembles. This piece came about because of Jason Miller at Impact Marching. Jason and I used to work together at Marching Show Concepts, and out of the blue this fall, he called me up and asked if I would write an IP show for his new company. An opportunity to write music? Sign me up! So I sat down and wrote this:
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If you’re familiar with IP music, you’ll notice the battery is missing. Although I took drumset lessons as a tween back in the day, I don’t have the chops to write the battery just yet. That actually worked to my advantage, because Jason decided to have Mike Coers write the battery! Well, it must have worked, because last time Jason and I spoke about it, our show was one of his top sellers! That’s actually why we decided to re-work it for the field for 2009.
Oh, and if you’d like to hear the full version, battery and all, check out Impact Marching’s site here. Just scroll to the second show. The mp3 is at the bottom of the listing.
Thanks for listening!
Much metta,
John
Illuminations
It’s finally done! I just finished work on another marching show! The show, titled Illuminations, was written for Impact Marching. Its original concept was based on an indoor percussion show I wrote for them for this winter season. What? I never blogged that show either? Boy, have I been slacking on the blogging! More to come on that one in a future post then…
Yet I digress.
Illuminations is divided into 3 parts:
Tree Shadows
Aurora Borealis
Urban Dawn
I suppose being a part time photographer and having a wife with a successful photography business, it’s not really a surprise that I would be inspired by light.
Tree Shadows – Much of this music was written before the actual theme was conceived. The image of light dancing through the moving arms of a tree is such a strong image however, full of sound and motion, that it just felt right. Then we had our ice storm in December and Betsy shot an image that seemed to capture the essence of my piece perfectly.
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Aurora Borealis – For anyone not familiar with an indoor percussion show, each performance takes place in a gym, is typically 4 minutes long and played entirely by percussion, from the snare line in the battery to the glockenspiel in the front ensemble. A marching band show takes all the percussion of an indoor show, adds a woodwind and brass section, doubles the length and sticks them on a football field. From a composition stand point, taking 4 minutes of music, doubling it in length and adding an entire wind section turned out to be extremely difficult! It’s almost as if writing music is like solving 1000 tiny problems over the course of the piece. As I was going back to re-orchestrate the show, I had already solved all those problems. I had already written it the way I wanted it, so changing it was much more difficult that I ever anticipated.
As Betsy would say, long story short, too late, I wrote a ballad for Aurora Borealis based on my indoor show, and it didn’t fly. (Although I like it… It’ll show up in another show, I’m sure.) So, I scrapped it all together, and wrote this next one from scratch. I love how it comes and goes from nothing. Like all my favorite music, it’s simple and direct. I swear if you close you eyes while you’re listening, you’ll see them. And like all marching band music, when it hits, it HITS.
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Can I say, I love how this turned out. Seriously. It makes me want to jump.
Urban Dawn – Again a strong image informs this show. I actually have a commute across the northern leg of I85 in Atlanta in mind for this. It also ended up quite different from the Indoor piece, particularly the ending, which I struggled with for a while. I have to give props where props are due that Betsy suggested I repeat my theme from the opener, which I think turned out to be an awesome idea.
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So there it is. Illuminations. By John King. Thanks for listening!
Much Metta,
John