First day of the ASCAP I Create Music Expo in Hollywood, CA. Exhausting day, but plenty of free coffee, iced tea, and snacks to go around…for like an hour. Then it was gone
But the “Opening Reception” provided wine and beer so it made it all better.

John Mayer’s interview was pretty dope. Great insight, no bullshit. I was pleasantly surprised, even entertained.. who woulda thought.

There was a TV Composer Panel that was pretty tight. The deadlines that these cats have to deal with are ridiculous. 42 minutes of original music in less than 4 days…every week. They make the big bucks tho.

It seemed like there were a few themes that kept popping up throughout the day. Authenticity, Passion, and Luck. Just be real, work hard, be at the right place at the right time, and go with the flow. That’s what I walked away with tonight.

So many people are searching as if there is a big secret trick to making it big in the industry. The reality is, unless you’re ridiculously passionate, constantly developing artistically, networking with the right people, getting lucky (and being really really good), you probably aren’t going to make it. Even if you are all of the above, you’re still not guaranteed anything.

There were hidden gems of insightful info scattered throughout the entire day. Also, a random panel by the guy who produced Duran Duran’s “Ordinary World.” I remember hearing that song on the radio back in the day.

Anyway, my energy has been bumped up a notch or two. Thank you ASCAP!

I started developing orchestrations for my piano sketches. The process is kinda tedious, but I’m excited to see how it all turns out. I’m not sure exactly how far I want to take it. So far, I’ve been adding subtle ambient pads and understated string parts. I would like to incorporate a substantial amount of synthetic sound design, but we’ll see how long it takes to finish the first song.

It’s been interesting to see all the buzz and hype around the new iPad device. As cool as it is, it’s just a glorified internet toy IMO. However, there is one program that I use all the time on my iPod Touch, that has suddenly become a lot more useful with the iPad’s extra touchscreen real estate. I’m referring to a program called TouchOSC by hexler.net.

TouchOSC is an application that turns your iPxd into a wireless remote control for variety of audio applications. I use it with Ableton Live 8 for the most part. It has definitely streamlined my workflow. It’s easy to make customized controllers on the fly using the TouchOSC Editor (check it out here).  It’s cool cuz I can make and play music in my own way, without being limited to a set of plastic knobs and faders (that all break in the end anyway).

Long story short, this program alone would easily justify me buying a new iPad if I had an extra $500.

Wishful thinking for now ^^

Lately I have been designing some customized TouchOSC layouts using the TouchOSC Editor by hexler.net. My current template has a clip launcher, channel mixer + sends, pad matrix (for misc effects, one shots, etc), and a transition mixer (all crammed into an iPod Touch!).

In terms of flexibility, aesthetics, and overall value, TouchOSC is hard to beat. It’s the next best thing to owning a Jazzmutant Lemur (currently at the top of my wish list) but available at a fraction of the cost.

CLICK HERE to download this layout (includes .touchosc & .oscd files). Have fun!

Check out some examples of TouchOSC in action.