Making music for NYE 2017 video

I named project as NYE2018 by mistake. It was first time I used wrong year. The video and titles in it will have correct year in them. I had big idea for the video both soundtrack and color grading. I probably won't do it for the video. For soundtrack I did it. It sounds quite weird on its own but works on video. Idea was to make video go from old to new as year changes. It was easier to do to soundtrack. Color grading was hard enough without trying to make age of the video change between shots and make it look consistent. Maybe if I had more time.

Soundtrack have only one piano with two midi tracks. It is sent to two audio tracks with different effects. Then some automation and cross fading and piano goes from worn old piano to weird space piano madness. Effect is quite subtle. You may not notice what is happening if you don't know it is happening. Just like I planned. This might be taste of things to come. This was first time I automated effects. I started to get some hold of it. I bought last weekend few plugins which can do amazing things automated.

I will post the video here tomorrow. Then you can see and hear the video and the music in it. I still need to do something for the video but I am pretty happy with the music and other sounds.

Ruoholahti 20160706

Something less dark for a change. If you follow me on Instagram you have seen some of these places few times. Maybe too many times. I take too many photos from there. This not only video where you see same places. Ruoholahti have many interesting looking places which make me shoot them again and again. If I remember correctly this is only video where I use Make Noise 0-Coast. That is about to change. I plan to make Fun With video using it in near future. If I don't buy new synths I have to use ones I have.

Happy New Year

I didn't felt like going out to shoot last night. But after almost four hours of walking and shooting I got some good footage. I got really good footage of fireworks. I am tempted to color grade it and releasing it without cutting. I might do that if I don't manage to do proper video for this week. I usually do music on Sundays but I haven't even started to edit footage yet and it might require some heavy color grading. I won't be able to start making music today. Editing should be done by today.

Video will probably be three to four minutes with one and half minute of fireworks. I wasn't sure what I was doing but guessing worked. I had my second widest lens on camera. It was 12 mm. Widest would have been 10 mm. Not big difference there. I just guessed where to point the camera and got almost everything without having fireworks on small part of the frame. I didn't need to adjust anything during fireworks. I just let camera do its work and enjoyed the fireworks.

I tried new way to stabilize camera with strap. It worked nice when I tested it. I still need to learn it better. It doesn't give as stable image as gimbal but it is faster and draws less attention. It could be close to gimbal if you are good at it. It looked really good In video where I learned it from. Idea is to make strap one point of contact and stabilize camera against strap. It might look bit silly but it works better than I expected.

Not buying new gear got good start. I bought plugin from sales during weekend and learned to use older ones. I might still need more analog sounding delay but I should have reverbs and delays covered now. Just don't ask how many of them I bought during weekend. Good thing is I learned to use them better when tested what I had and compared to demos. I should manage with what I have at least until next sale.

Monday is training day but I still feel last night's almost four hours shooting trip. I probably force myself to gym to keep the schedule. Right now I don't feel like it.

New Year's Resolutions 2017

It is time for new year's resolutions. Rather than resolutions I set themes and goals for next year. When I get good ones I start immediately rather that wait for year to end. Next year's goals are to get finances in better shape and learn to use gear rather than hoarding it. I started some of that already and some I will start some time in January.

Stopping hoarding gear will have to wait until January. I want to get one delay and reverb before I put music purchases on hold until couple sample libraries are on sale again. I try to stay away from new synths for whole year. Only upgrades. If something really interesting and cheap comes during next year I will reconsider this. This shouldn't be too hard since I upgraded to Arturia's V Collection 6, bought couple synths I have tempted to buy for a while and U-He is giving update to Zebra 2 soon and Zebra 3 is on its way. Zebra 3 counts as upgrade. Ableton Live 10 also count as upgrade.

This should also help getting my finances in better shape along with similar plans on camera side and purchasing new music. Right now on camera side there is one lens on shopping list. Other items there haven't been announced yet. I am pretty sure GoPro Fusion won't be my first 360 camera and I am not sure if I really have use for drone. Motorized slider would be nice but it can wait until I have my finances in better shape.

Learning part started with one year pass to MasterClass. The one with Hans Zimmer, Ron Howard and Martin Scorsese. I will get similar pass to other online courses later next year. I haven't decided which one yet. I will get it later because I don't want all annual subscription fees to hit same time.

If this works I can start planning bigger eurorack this time next year. This will make harder to make most popular videos on my channel. Videos with new synths get most views. I just have to get better at other things to compensate this.

Return of Black Christmas

Another year. Another Christmas Eve at the center of Helsinki. Another video about black Christmas. This is little bit shorter than I planned. I forgot to take spare batteries with me. Battery run out early due cold weather. It might have been blessing since I was feeling quite cold at that point.

Style was more subtle than I thought when I shot the video. It works better with faster moving objects than people. Music is original music done with Albion V Tundra and AIR Vacuum Pro.

Albion V Tundra and Vacuum Pro

I have had couple moments of buyers remorse with Albion V. But only for moments. I need to explain Spitfire Audio's Albion range for the reasons to make sense. There are five different Albion libraries. They are numbered but larger number doesn't replace lower number. It complements earlier libraries. Albion One is the base library which gives you basics of orchestral libraries. Albion II gives smaller and quieter tones and following libraries give something earlier didn't have or went further than earlier. Everything after second has gone to more extremes.

Spitfire Audio says Albion V is recorded at the edge of silence and they really mean it. This sounds really cool until you start to mix some of the articulations with something far less dynamic. I used Albion One with The Last Jedi review. I didn't have similar problems with it. But it wasn't recorded at the edge of silence. Albion V complements Albion One and Albion II. It goes further than those and that is not useful in every possible situation.

Youtube videos of Albion V use it in situation where it is useful. You just have to use it in those situations. Albion One and Albion II are there for other situations. I believe it is good library as I learn where I can use it. On their own articulations sound great. It is just that they should be used in places where other sounds let them shine. I had couple moments of regret until I figured out what I could use and how to get quieter sound stand in the mix.

Even if every articulation isn't useful in every situation Albion range has more to offer. There are percussion, loops and steam band pads. Albion V also has its version of Evo Grid. I haven't tried it yet. Steam band's eDNA sounds have been enough for evolving pads. Talking about pads. I just bought amazing synth for pads. It is AIR Vacuum Pro.

I have been interested about it earlier but I thought I didn't need it. It was on sale for little over euro. I just had to buy it. With that price I wouldn't regret even if I didn't use it after trying it once. I like it so much that I had to use it on next video. Original plan was to do it with Albion V. I found just perfect sound for the video from Vacuum Pro. I had to use it and I run into problems because it is not as dynamic as Albion V's orchestral articulations.