It all started when my friend David Tames decided he was going to go into the Dynamic Media Institute’s grad program.. and started the Media Tech Tonic group.. which was sorta an off shoot of the Boston Media Makers.. Media Tech Tonics some how became a part of the Dynamic Media Institute program.. and via becoming active in the Media Tech Tonic thing, I started to feel sorta a part of the DMI community, to one degree or another..
What I loved about the DMI community was many fold.. but one of the biggest things was that it started stirring in me the desire to be apart of a community of artists.. people challenging them selves, seeking in that way.. all the stuff that.. I suppose you’re somewhat forced into by being in such a graduate program…
Of course the other thing was just the sorta thing you’d find DMI folks working on. Basically this it’s what is conventionally known as DIY projects.. things like physical computing.. and DMI was so close to the Studio Of Interrelated Media program.. which was my major in my Mass Art days.. or what you do in DMI is stuff that you could have done in SIM, and even did do in SIM! There’s a difference in thrust of course.. DMI being more design orientated.. being a graduate program..
I’ve been thinking of going back to college for years, I’m a drop out don’t cha know.. trouble is I’m somewhat of a fully formed artist at this point.. and as such I don’t really see how anything undergraduate-e would really feed me.. or be of much value.
I don’t know what the chances of being able to get into any sorta graduate program would be for someone who didn’t bother to finish there under grad.. especially if the programs I tend to be interested in are the ones that are hard to get into.. I feel like.. if you see me for who I really am it’s sorta a no brainer.. you see where I’m at and it’s totally there..
The other issue I confront is not really being sure if college is right for me. There are certain ways that knowledge gets organized in relationship to majors and focuses and whatevers.. or at least this was my issue as an under graduate.. which mean “you study this” and that’s what you have to focus on and you don’t get to focus on whatever seems sorta right to you.. and if you are, as I say, a fully developed artist.. you have this powerful sorta inner voice.. sense of direction.. sense of what’s right for you, what you need to get where you want to go.. and you wonder if the college experience might not be more of an obstacle then a helper.
As a sorta extension to that train of thought.. there is the whole issue that I was never exactly a good student… and I wonder if I would be a good student and.. if I were to enter into some sorta graduate type program.. I’d really want to go all out as far as getting everything out of the program I possibly could.
My Visit to DMI
I got word of a DMI social hour… Turns out it was sorta for new people coming to the program to sorta get orientated and meet some of the other folks there.. or that seemed to be the main thing.. and folks who had been there giving advice on how to survive the program.. followed by informal meeting folks, which was where I got into conversations about what this class was all about that I was thinking of taking.
Shortly after this, those of us that didn’t have a class to head to, headed out to a bar.. which is sorta where the real stuff starts happening. Over the course of this I had the sorta amazing feeling of actually contributing to the conversations / helping folks in the DMI community think out what they where doing.
I often experience my brain as if there was this big library of stuff.. on all the ranging subjects I’ve studied.. and sometimes it feels like you can throw nearly any subject at me, and I have all this stuff on it.. so I can say “well for this subject, these are the things I would look at,” which range from youtube videos, podcasts, blogs, films, major works of different philosophers… whatever.
So suddenly it’s as if the library in my brain has all this value, that I can then use to contribute to what other people are trying to do, what they are interested in. And it’s just awesome to me to.. check out what someone’s trying to do, what they are struggling with, what they are thinking about.. and sorta jump into all that and help them think stuff out.. I don’t know.. I guess it’s just the idea of being part of a community in that way that I super love… and really really want to be a part of.
On the Subject of the Class
It’s not even, at this point, totally clear that I can become a part of the class.. or how it would work. It’s a graduate class that may not be easily open to undergraduates.. but one way or another, I can probably become a part of it.
The other issue is the expense of the class.. If you’re taking it for graduate credit it’s $1800.. which is way more then I can really spend.. But, even if it were on the high end of what I’m willing to spend, say for undergraduate credit.. I wonder how much this could be a door into the Mass Art Community and world.. and what of the privileges that go a long with that.. well what are they, and might that be a part of where the real value is?
The truth is I can pretty much teach myself anything, I don’t need the formal structure of classes to learn stuff.. and I don’t necessarily even need an instructor. I already push myself so super hard that I don’t feel a need to have some external force to push me.. I’m just crazy self motivated, self directed, so for me the value is.. in the question of how else this can all help me… much of which I take as being a part of a community of people doing, to one degree or another, similar things.. and that with a community of folks doing that.. I could learn from people instead of just books.. which might be a good deal more efficient… and stuff like that.
I’m, of course, already working on a major project.. could I get feed back on.. not just that part which is specific to this class, but the whole of what I’m trying to do?
The class it’s self is sorta like learning the development process for physical computing type stuff.. or I don’t know exactly the all of it.. but it’s exactly what I need for a range of projects / problems I have in front of me..
I don’t know how realistic my video ideas are, or what.. my feeling at this particular moment is.. probably the most important thing is simply to commit to them.. in a long term sorta way.
Ok, here’s the basic deal.. Video is like.. big these days on the internet.. you may have noticed? I’m basically looking at video as packaging for my music.. or as an extension of the experience of my music.. as a part of the art object. I’m really approaching video from a unique sorta aesthetic perspective… 99.9% of all video production today is produced inside of a certain set of conventions that don’t really get pushed all that much. Sure, there’s great video and film work made this way.. This isn’t a giant value judgement about that.. but its also not what I’m seeking to do.. What I’m seeking to do is approach video from a very ART perspective.
At the moment this means.. screwing around.. It’s a combination of exploring certain ideas as they come to you, and trying to learn the tools… At the moment the tool I’m working with is Apple’s Motion… which is a part of Final Cut Studio.. as an aside, its breaking news that a new version has just come out.. but we shant speak about that.
The project started on a sorta doodling branding adventure a few months back.. I was working in Photoshop and Illustrator.. trying to craft out a logo.. based on some sketches I had done.. This also included messing around with photography.. what follows is a part of that project.. as it looked at one moment in time…
Motion is a motion graphics / animation program.. and one of the things you can do is import photoshop files.. complete with there individual layers.. I did some funky things.. and placed the different layers at different places in space.. to basically turn something like the above image into a 3D image that I could fly the camera around.. and play with various.. well.. ideas.
I’ve been working steadily on this for the last 3 or 4 days; creating these various little psychedelic video clips. The resulting clips seems to be about some kind of exploration of identity and personal branding… or at least that’s what they made me think of.
The idea originally was to simply put out a sorta complicated screen cast of my DAW.. put it on Youtube.. so that I could sorta share what I do in a certain way.. and I figured if I did that.. I’d at least need some sorta titling / motion graphic sequences.. to sorta.. make it look serious.. I may still do this.. I don’t know.. but now I’m thinking of it more like music video elements.. to be sorta remixed together latter on.
There’s a whole sorta visual language.. set of icons.. symbols.. whatever.. that make up the visual identity I plan on making for myself. [editors note: Matt has been working on this language since at least college] It’s something you are much more inclined to read as Fine Art then.. well communications / graphic design.. Though as I elluded to earlier.. I am thinking about this from something of a design perspective.
My kinda goal is to try and produce something that looks like a million bucks.. something that makes you go “wow, that’s fucking cool.” Make something that would seem to have the sorta production values you could expect from the music video of a major label artist.. way back when they had big budgets…. But something totally different.
The hard fact of the matter is I’m early in on learning to do this stuff.. and a great distance from where my ambition is aiming.. and it is not totally clear that I’ll be able to realize these goals I’ve set for myself…
Well.. whatever.. I actually don’t think those kinds of production values are all that important.. I mean they are for my vision.. but I also think if you just do good story telling.. and put together a number of good pieces… I think you really can have something.. so that’s really kinda what its about.. but.. why not aim high?
Apple announced new new Mac Laptops today at WWDC.. My story is I have last years MacBook.. which while I love it.. it’s #1 regulated to secondary status and #2 I’ve been feeling the need for firewire for audio work..
Firewire and USB for audio
I don’t think firewire is as critical for audio work as many say.. but if you want to go high end in your audio interfaces… it really is. On this front.. for me, its all about focusrite or apogee… there is a now discontinued multichannel audio interface from MOTU.. which I understand is quite good.. but doesn’t really feel like an upgrade so much… from what I currently use.. and.. if you’re on a computer with only USB.. well it makes you wonder why MOTU would have discontinued it! In any event.. the cost of the MOTU interface.. is such that I couldn’t afford to do that, and get the sorta interface that I actually want.. so that my mobile interface is really relegated to.. well Kore or Zoom if I want XLRs.. not the best pres.. and I’m limited to stereo.
The difference.. with Apogee it’s the quality of the A/D conversion.. With Focusrite we have convolution based preamp modeling.. these issues are not inherent to the technology behind USB or Firewire.. the difference between USB and Firewire comes down to data rates.. and how much it effects over all performance.
What’s up with the Brand Story?
The biggest thing I’m not getting with the new Mac’s is now every thing is a “MacBook Pro” accept for a new ancient model MacBook.. all be it updated..
To get what used to be the MacBook Pro.. you need to spend $2000.. at that point.. you get “the two graphics processors.” The deal here is one is nice to your battery life, and the other has significant performance.. The lower end MacBook Pro’s have the nice battery life processors… If you’re someone who needs the performance.. well.. you might want to go for the $2K models… or better yet the $2.3K model which now gives you 512 MB of view RAM, instead of 256 MB.. which really makes all the difference… both of which are 15″ models. ..but none of this should miss lead you into thinking that the sub $2K models aren’t fine for video.. its more a question of if you plan to push things..
I couldn’t tell you where the line is exactly.. in terms of how you assess your needs relative to this.. But I’d say.. if you’re doing web video.. particularly that doesn’t need to be HD.. and effects and like.. motion stuff.. isn’t playing a significant roll in how you’re working.. I don’t think you need more power.. if you do that stuff it probably depends on how important that stuff is / how often you go there.
Now you get MacBooks Pros in the 13″ range.. but I’m not sure what the significants of it is.. as aren’t they just calling MacBook’s MacBook Pros now?
Speaking of smaller MacBooks
I think there’s always this trade off you make on size.. The negative of larger is.. costs more, less portable.. the plus is better productivity.. often more powerful.. you can somewhat mitigate the productivity issues by adding a monitor when your at home.. but not really while on the go.
For me..
I haven’t gotten into doing a lot of heavy production work on my 13″ MacBook… long story… and its a secondary computer.. So the idea is “you can work on the go” which I haven’t fully even put together yet.. The main need.. in a sorta heavy production esk sorta way.. is for live performance.. for that, so far.. I’m actually pretty fine with the 13″…
If you look at the Maschine controller
You’ll note that you can see a certain amount of what’s going on just from Maschine screens.. and the software sequencer is fine on the 13.”
And of course Kore is similar in this regard
This would seem to a theme for many a controller of this sorta ilk.. The new controllers coming to Ableton.. the Euphonix MC controllers…
Where things get tricky is when you have to negotiate lots of windows.. which is typical for serious music production of the “studio sort” or.. you see it for video, animation… in design you sometimes see it.. but mainly its the size of the window you’re working in.. and its more of an issue if you’re working with bit map graphics then vectors.. I think..
Conclusions in the World of Matt
For me.. the laptop is.. if I want to get untethered from this desk.. this room.. if.. say cause its nice out.. I want to do stuff on the go.. even if it just means working on the back porch.. It can be about trying to capture the vibe of an adventure.. how being someplace where things are happening.. can alter your consciousness in certain ways.. and thus later the sort of aesthetic choices you make.. There’s also.. if I were doing work for clients.. being able to show them what I’m doing on the laptop is big.. There’s live shows of course.. There’s having a computer when you’re on a trip somewhere.. being able to stay connected… I’d like to be able to go to a friends house and be like “hey, lets make some work,” and be able to do it all there… If you’re doing video or photography there’s the ability to assess things in the field..
There is, of course, the question of how working on a smaller computer impacts your work.. an equation that ultimately probably needs to be felt more then conceptualized.. I mean how often would I really want to lug around the extra weight of Kore or Maschine or even an audio interface?
Other things worth mentioning
Apple claims there’s better battery life to be had now.. like 7 hours.. but they are notoriously untrust worthy on this front.. but it’s probably safe to assume better battery life is here. The negative side of this would be.. it looks like you can’t change your battery.. though they say the life span is greatly increased
Now the only MacBook with an expansion slot is the 17,” which might be important if you want to connect up a fast hard drive.. or use the UAD type stuff for audio work
Now having a backlit keyboard is standard on all MacBook Pros.. which I had one on my MacBook!
There was a price drop.. of some significance.
Apple’s new laptops now come with SD card readers.. which is nice accept that I tend to use CF cards more these days.
What I might do.. If I was gong 13″ the model that makes sense runs at $1.5K.. For that you get 2.53 GHz ( 270 more MHz on your processor.. so a total of $1.3K model which is.. I don’t know, doesn’t seem all that significant to me) more hard drive space.. 4GB of RAM instead of the 2 GB.. and the RAM is the main thing.. of course Apple gouges you for RAM and Hard Disk Space.. Apple charges $1000 if you want to go from 4GB to 8GB, where as the retail cost of the RAM looks to be around $600? Perhaps the thing is to get the cheaper computer and buy and install your own RAM and a 500GB hard drive.. just to spite them! Really.. I think for photography.. if you use Apples Aperture.. you probably want at least 4GB.. and I’m finding with music.. that I can never quite get enough RAM.. even at 6 GB… and I simply can’t use some of my software on 2GB… like Omnisphere.. But really.. I think I’m most likely to hold off doing anything…
I regard exploring new possibilities, as an artist.. stretching into new things.. as being one of the most important things you can do.. and it’s probably true in most other walks of life. Generally it’s a kind of oscillation.. between that area where you are really strong.. and the new areas you’re just starting to explore… It’s about integrating these two things.
In some of my newer directions.. I have some fear that what I’m doing might be nieve… The reason being because I am venturing into areas that are more conventional then my work normally is.. so that if you’re taking you’re first few steps on a very well trotted road, how excited can you be about what you find? I mean.. sure, you’re excited.. but maybe for everyone else its “Ho hum, I’ve seen that before.”
Still.. it is still me making the music.. still a product of my aesthetic thinking.. my aesthetic sensibilities.. still something that largely comes from within.. still my process.. etc. So whatever it is I’m doing.. it’s still inescapably me.. still has a certain.. I’m not sure what.
Ultimately.. where I see the future in the new stuff is finding ways for it to be more and more imprinted with.. whatever it is that’s unique in me.. and integrating it with the older stuff.
Into the New Music
If you’ve been listening to my stuff for any length of time.. you’ll note that this new track is basically an evolution of some of what we heard on ZarMattAThustra’s Deep Space Adventures:
What we hear here is what we were hearing in Deep Space.. but now arranged, mixed, and sorta composed around.. in a kind of new way. It’s been said that the Deep Space stuff was like exploring out into space.. and now we are listening in on Alien conversations..
It’s a crazy kind of dark and harsh ambient.. or that track is, isn’t it? Makes me feel like a journey into the shadow side of the soul.
About this direction
The direction opens up a whole lot in the way of possible possibilities… err, so let me describe the process of the above track.
Inside Reaktor
I started out in Reaktor.. with a sound source by which you can make music / sound / whatever.. via twiddling some knobs with your mouse.. by twiddling the parameters of sequences, synthesizers, sound generators, effects processors, and mixers.. you can only adjust one parameter at a time.. and you tend to not do it too abruptly most of the time.. you spend a lot of time navigating the interface just to get so you can get the thing you want to tweak’s parameter…
Controlling one parameter at a time.. sorta slowly.. with gaps between where you can tweak.. has the effect of making for a somewhat slowly organically evolving sound.. and because we are talking about parameter tweaking.. its as if the resultant sound is.. well it sounds like its coming from the same device who’s pattern and behavior is shifting over time.. and expressive in that way.
Parallel Compression
So you do this over and over again.. generating a few sound files.. and you take these sound files and submit them to an automated process of what is called “parallel compression.” Parallel compression means.. you have a sound source.. that gets thrown through many compressors working in parallel.. and you mix the outs of the various compressors.. indeed I mix the sends into the compressors as well as the sounds out.. The idea is that the various compressors you’re dealing with all color the sound in different ways.. in relationship to things like.. the dynamics of the audio.. and they also effect the dynamics of the audio differently..
So we are both colorizing the sounds and shaping there dynamics.. the latter of which will allow us more control once we get to the mixing and arrangement process.
The Mixing and Arranging Process
Next I take the audio files and load them into my DAW.. Digital Performer.
There’s certain interesting aesthetic issues that pop up about this point. Because each sound file was generated independently of one another.. there’s no “design” to there interrelationships accept that they were all created at the same tempo… There relationships of timber and pitch (counterpoint, harmony, orchestration).. are.. in essence indeterminate.. which kinda brings us into John Cage Country…
What is similar is that.. in many cases the effects treated to the instrument are the same.. or at least some of the effects are the same.. and they are all created via the same process.. so the way they evolve over time is very similar: Process dictates a probability distribution of attributes.. so that its as if there’s a systems level interrelationship of stuff.
The process of mixing and arranging is then our chance to insert a little design into the production.. For now I’m not doing anything much more sophisticated then deciding when an audio recording should be inserted into the arrangement, choosing additional effects for that instrument.. effects of the general mix.. and mixing the instruments.. –Although I have been creating custom stuff with say.. Native Instruments Machine.
The Mixing
In my conventionally unconventional music.. harmony is at least in part conceived of as 3 dimensional.. What I mean is.. the issue of overlapping frequency ranges is a central issue to the mix engineers stock and trade.. and some of how this is dealt with is panoramic positioning.. and just where a sound should be located in a virtual sound stage. Because in my music the mixing and the composition are integrated.. harmony is conceptualized in a context of spacial relationships.
So if you think about it.. the process of mixing.. can be like a process of contextualizing material.. which means embedding meaning into it.. and um.. that kinda thing.
What you end up doing is listening to the material of the audio.. the various audio files you have.. and asking questions.. What you do is making decisions about.. what to highlight at one moment or another.. what should be dominant in the mix.. how the sounds should interrelate.. how to make things interesting in terms of how the track evolves over time..
So in essence the mixing is the composing.. moving things around in space.. automating effects.. and all this kind of thing.
Where Maschine fits into all of this?
Maschine is in essence a pattern based percussive sequencer.. and a little bit more. You compose in it various patterns.. and then in your DAW you tell it when to play what patterns..
So, at the very least Maschine represents the possibilities of pattern based sequencing.. to my music.. something that’s very good for real time music production.. and based sequencing is a big part of what’s going on inside of Reaktor in much of this production.
Machine gets mixed in like any other element.. though its the one element where we have conscious control of.. so that it works to somehow.. fit things together.. I guess.. another layer of it..
Where to go from here
It seems to me that there’s an incredible number of possibilities moving forward from here.. I have an obvious interest in working out how to create a kind of music that is similar to this.. in a live scenario.. and then there’s all the kind of possible mutations of this…
With Kore [ and hands on controllers more genearally ]
Kore, shown here:
represents one obvious set of possibilities. You can load up various software instruments, effects, and what not.. into Kore.. and control them via its buttons and knobs.. which you map to various parameters of the instruments / effects in question.. You have various pages of mappings that you can then move between.. allowing you real time control.. without a mouse.. and in a way were you can control multiple parameters at once.
Real time control of software, in this fashion.. radically changes the way you think, and how you work with.. the software.. it’s really awesome.
A day or so latter:
Implications
The full implications of real time hands on control of software in this fashion, and relative to this sorta production style are really.. well more then I can really lay out in full for you here today… but I can throw a bit at yea
Manipulating multiple parameters at once
As mentioned earlier… mousing around single parameters at a time produces a certain kind of organic evolution of the sounds.. hands on control is a very different beast.. we are not talking about… well there’s a certain artistry of performance.. kind of more power.. and with that power comes the need to know how to temper it.. and anyway.. there’s a good deal to explore here.
Beyond this.. things can get a little complex.. especially is we are using multiple controllers.. and the idea that we can now play with interrelationships on the performance level.
Recording Automation rather then Audio
A significant difference between the way I was tweaking away in Reaktor.. and tweaking away with controllers in a DAW is that we are now recording automation data of a performance.. and not simply the resultant audio.
This means we can go back in and edit the performance.. we can perform on one set of parameters on one take, and another on another take.. so that the results can become a good deal deal more complex in how they evolve over time..
There is a kind of negative.. which is.. well has to do with most modern music.. that you don’t really have to make choices.. when you can alway edit / adjust things latter… this is a kind of long conversation.. but basically it has to do with.. the creative process.. and being pushed into situations where you have to work your way out of the hard way.. and in so doing.. often that’s how brilliant things happen.. But without going to far into this topic.. I will say that ultimately its up to the artist, in how to relate to the technology on this level.
Taking it to Ableton Live, and the joys of patterns.
I imagine the next phase of things is to take the whole production, and bring it into Ableton Live.. creating patterns.. using MIDI effects to tweak the patterns.. and make it so the whole production is produced this way…
Here we really get to thinking deeply about how to take this into the live arena.. also… we are getting out of Reaktor.. and using the rest of my instrument library.
This is sorta like.. “lets go do stuff in the usual studio” stuff. It’s hard to say too much about a path you’ve yet to walk but.. An Ableton Live based… pattern based.. compositional process.. can actually lead you into a world of more control.. more.. lets say design developed.. stuff.. then traditional linear sequencing…
Basically.. you have a bunch of patterns.. and you play with how the different patterns play together.. this can be how you think of production and composition in the real design sense.. or it can be like the design of a framework for improvisation.
There’s perhaps more to say here.. but I’m tired..
Integration
The final subject is really integration.. to integrate this stuff with the stuff that I’m actually good at… or maybe the better way of putting it is where I’m already strong..
I see this kinds of hands on.. tweak it.. kind of organic evolution of sound.. as having certain elements that my more programmed.. crazy attention to detail music lacks.. In case you haven’t heard this stuff.. a reasonable example might be this remix of the Cobert Report Interview with Lawrence Lessig.. I did recently
This track took me about a month to do.. there’s a hell of a lot more attention to detail then you might notice at first.. ( including a fair amount that doesn’t really come out when listened to streamed).. the problem with this track is perhaps mostly how short it is.. as so much of this sorta thing for me tends to be about taking a little trip.. and its hard to go that far in a couple of minutes.. In some ways you can listen to it as a prototype for the new direction of what we are calling my conventional work.. Even with whatever it’s flaws might be.. it does represent a step forward on that trajectory…
I love the idea of taking a whole month to do a single track.. I mean just the level of detail you can achieve that way… that much love and attention to every moment.. of course it’s a little on the unrealistic side.. but still!
The integration can probably happen along multiple axises
If you create a music form where it literally takes a month to finish a couple minutes of music.. to have this along side music where in a day’s work can give you twenty plus minutes worth of music.. well.. now the month for a couple minutes is realistic..
I have this notion of a whole album that is of the tweak kind.. where via creative mixing.. the super programmed detail stuff.. sorta comes out of that world.. where in you’re really considering the album as a whole. ( which may not make a lot of sense for custom play lists )
The Tweak-age stuff could be an element inside of the super detailed programed sequence stuff.
There’s a lot of stuff I’m thinking about where.. you have.. say.. a kind of tweakage space reverb and delay inside of a deeply programmed mix..
A Concluding Statement
Stretching is important.. and that’s really what this is about.. What’s slightly strange about this post is that it seems to almost emphasize the.. let call it objective facts.. over the sorta internal organizing principles that would be.. what is actually known.. the facts.. we must.. as Hunter Thompson would say.. buy the ticket, take the ride.. to really get at.. so it is a strange synthesis.. and we’ll have to see what happens.
In any event.. in the end.. this is just like a confession of one tiny piece in a much larger puzzle
[editors note: This post was started yesterday.. and Matt is actually feeling a bit better today]
I’m feeling so sick, or have been, that rolling over has been difficult.. and now I have to venture forth to get some food.. some liquids, and what not.. to help me kinda survive… what a mess I am..
In other news I just got through watching the latest Apple Keynote at MacWorld.. which always seems like a worth while topic to blog on.. This year’s MacWorld Keynote was… a strange one as it is apparently the last one.. from now on Apple will be presenting there new stuff on there own.. not at MacWorld, which gives them the advantage of not having to always have something to show off at that particular time of year.. so they now have more flexibility.. which might be a good thing.. but.. it strikes me as the end of something that was an very important element of the Apple experience.. for those of us rabid Mac people..
The other interesting point of this keynote is it was not presented by Steve Jobs.. For a long time now.. there’s been a lot of speculation about Steve’s health.. and issues of succession plans.. People feel like “what would Apple be without Steve?” On rummers of Steve’s declining health.. Apple’s stock price plummets.. and so I suppose not having Steve do the keynote.. was in part a way of saying.. Apple has a lot of good people.. and to start lessoning the feeling that Steve Jobs is Apple.
Still.. Steve Jobs is perhaps one of the worlds best presenters.. he’s legendary.. and without Steve giving the presentation.. Apple’s reality distortion field.. isn’t what it otherwise would be.. which I suppose is fine with me.. but.. I also suppose this will be reflected in my comments.
Apple’s new announcements were of updates of there iLife and iWork suits.. as well as a new 17″ MacBook Pro.
iLife
iLife.. of course, is basically a set of media production tools for the none professional.. They come free with new Macs and are under $100 if bought on there own.. What they allow you do to, without spending a lot of money, and without burdening you with all kinds of crazy technical stuff to have to wrap your brain around, has always been pretty astonishing..
The problem, however.. is that for me, iLife is sorta… “well why would I use that stuff?” I’m someone trying to operate on the pro level… so instead of using iMovie I use Final Cut Studio.. and hopefully After Effects soon.. instead of using Garage Band I use Digital Performer and a whole lot of other groovy stuff… instead of using iPhoto I use Aperture…
So a part of me feels like.. well that I want Apple to give me reasons to care about iLife.. which pretty comes down to “give me some sort of unique tools,” which of course it doesn’t really do..
As a social media person.. I love encouraging people to explore the new landscape.. and iLife is a great set of tools to do that.. of the “any one can make media” type of thing. The trouble is.. if you are a serious social media person.. some of the iLife tools aren’t quite right… and I feel as if.. what Apple ought to do.. is make them quite right for this kind of application.. and so this is my other disappointments.
New Features
iPhoto now uses facial recognition tools.. along with geo tag stuff.. to help organize photos.. It’s some pretty cool stuff.. but… it’s so consumer orientated… that I’m like “yeah, ok.”
GarageBand now lets you down load tutorials to learn how to play guitar and keyboard. This was a big yawner to me.. not to mention that all the tutorials seemed pretty well orientated towards total beginners… which I actually am when it comes to keyboards… but I’d rather not learn the “simplified version of the song.”
iMovie’s feature set’s depths are now a little more… flushed out.. which is good.
iWork
I’m not totally sure how I feel about iWork.. and so won’t say too much about it.. however, I am thinking of buying a copy as it does feature there keynote program.. which is really good for giving presentations.. and I’d really like to make some sorta presentation on Podcamp this year.
New 17″ MacBook Pro
The long and the short of it is Apple’s saying the new 17″ MacBook Pro features up to 8 hours of battery life.. and they will last up to 1000 recharges.. which works out to about 5 years.. Of course Apple’s estimates of battery life are notoriously untrue.. so who knows.. but one still imagines it will be pretty groovy…
Removing the battery pretty much takes a technician.. so.. that’s kind of an issue, though Apple says by not allowing you to remove the battery they can save space and make a better battery.. so, I guess its a trade off.. and if it does last 5 years.. the battery issue isn’t so bad.
Other interesting points is that it comes, by default, with 4GB of RAM, it’s processors are.. I wanna say 2.9 GHz… of its fastest processor option is.. though they do make you really pay for it.. making it a faster processor then what we find in my Mac Pro.. and finally we have option for both glossy and flat screens.
A few other things to note.
In working out how fast a computer is, it doesn’t all come down to speed of processors.. there’s many components to our computers, and it depends on all those components mixed with how the software we are using uses those components.. And.. the RAM speed of the new Mac Book Pros is now 1066 Mhz… SO-DIMM… DDR3… which is very fast… So RAM intensive apps out to run extra groovy.
Another fun note is that Apple was sued.. not all that long ago… by photographers.. who were doing color critical work.. when Apple had said there laptop monitors gave you millions of colors when they did not… Now Apple is claiming there monitors have “a greater color range” so.. I suspect this is sorta an answer that bit of PR…
Personally
If my studio didn’t mainly center around a Mac Pro.. if I had to be on a laptop.. the 17″ MacBook Pro is the one I’d go with… and there is a part of me that wishes I had gone with a MacBook Pro instead of a MacBook… for the simple reason of Firewire.. and the sorts of things I’d like to do with it.. but… I also feel like.. given the kinds of things I’m trying to do with my Computers.. even the 17″ Mac Pro.. doesn’t quite have enough power… ( High end 3D graphics )
Why You’d want a 17″ MacBook Pro:
More screen space equals more productivity… this is made particularly true when it comes to pro apps that generally have a tun of pallets and what not.. that can take up much space. Further.. God forbid you ever do something like music production where.. on many a software’s box it list “2 monitors” under preferred system specs. Of course you can attach that second monitor to your MacBook while in your home office type situation…
Matt’s top Apps for Duel Monitors:
Flash: Having a timeline take up one monitor, and the stage another.. rocks..
Digital Performer: Having MIDI Editors and mixing windows on different monitors… or if you find your self messing with automation of an effect or synths parameters.. duel monitors is just the way to go
Final Cut Studio: Having your stage views on one monitor and time line / sequence bin on the other.. makes me happy when I’m feeling blue
After Effects: Again.. timeline on one monitor, stage view of other.
There are apps that don’t seem to benefit from duel monitors.. Ableton Live is one of the first that comes to mind.. however.. should yo want to use Live in ReWire Mode.. which means its audio is being routed into another program, or another program’s audio is being routed into it.. having the two programs on two different monitors is always a nice thing…
And if all that weren’t enough..
For us social media folks.. don’t we always want to have twitter up somewhere? Or how about our email program? A browser? Well that’s how I like to roll.. it’s sorta like having little conversations in the office while working…
Notes on Matt’s Studio
I bought my Mac Pro a year ago.. and I went with a Mac Pro.. not because it was so bad ass.. but because it had just been updated.. and I like to have the longest product life cycle possible before the new version comes out.. it’s kinda a get the most value idea.. I had actually wanted a 17″ MacBook Pro..
So of course I had to take advantage of what a Mac Pro has to offer.. which is why I decided to enter the wonderful world of 3D graphics.. I started out with 1 24″ HD display
But of course had to move on to a second 24 HD display.. of course you’ll take special note of how neat I am as a person..
I’m not even sure what was supposed to be in focus in that shot!
Back to why the 17″ MacBook Pro
Power
Well.. the 17″ is the most powerful of the MacBook Pros.. and if you’re like me power means a lot.. My sense is that most people don’t really need a Mac Pro.. but on the level of the MacBook Pro.. well.. the benefits are probably more apparent right off the bat..
If you’re doing video, effects often have to render.. doing sound.. how many effects / instruments instances can you handle? More sophisticated instruments and effects often require more power.. If you’re just surfing the web.. power probably isn’t all that important..
Most modern computer.. are actually pretty powerful, even the budget ones.. so I think it’s more then reasonable to ask if paying close to $3000 for a computer is necessary.. Hell.. you could get a couple mid ranged computers for that! Further.. if you’re apps that need the power the most… can take advantage of a network of computers.. perhaps getting a couple mid range computers is actually the smarter way to go! Of course.. if you’re computing on the go, what good is that going to do you?
Matt’s Philosophy concerning this sorta thing:
For me.. I wanted a mobile studio option.. that’s why I got a laptop.. I got a MacBook.. and a mid range MacBook at that.. which is to say one that doesn’t really have that much power… It has enough power to do whatever I’d want to do with it.. well.. mostly.. but perhaps not do it as well as might be ideal.. and seeing as it only has a 13″ screen.. the productivity isn’t really that great… but.. being a 13 inch-er does make it more portable.. and on a price versus performance level.. it maybe the sweet spot in the Mac laptop range.
Having the mobile studio… in conjunction with the home studio.. means anything I do while out and about.. can be brought home for more serious heavy lifting work.
Top Jobs for which a Laptop is the way to go (at least in the land of Matt)
Working with clients: Lets say I’m doing your web design.. being able to go hang out with my client at a Starbucks and show you the work I’m doing for you on the laptop.. well, that’s really the way to go.. and this is probably more or less true for any sorta work I might do for a client.
New Media stuff: I can go anywhere… shoot some video, do some audio work.. take some pictures and whatever.. and put it together on the go..
Recording: Not having firewire is an issue but.. I could go to any environment and record.. where the band is, or where there might be an interesting acoustic space.
I could be a live sound engineer: I could probably invest in a few more plugs but.. I can have all the audio ins from the band coming into the laptop.. have them recorded.. and mix them live.. adjust EQ live.. and all the rest of it.. and give the band the live mix..
I can play out: I play guitar.. and um, can at least press down the keys of a keyboard. On my computer are all my effects, and what not.. for my guitar playing… plus all my digital instruments.
I could DJ: DJ-ing is, apparently, a big part of electronic music culture. The music I normally make is a studio construction.. not really something I can do live.. but.. playing live is an important part of how the music industry works.. that’s how you promote you’re stuff.. so developing a live act.. where DJ-ing plays a roll.. could make a fair bit of sense.
Make art from nature: Artist who do a lot with sketchbooks are often drawing from nature.. but digital artists are usually stuck in the studio.. and the closest we get to working from nature is often working from photographs.. So this is sorta a big deal.
Get the vibe of the situation: When you’re out and about.. doing whatever.. there’s often a vibe, and energy.. and being able to work with that vibe and energy.. having that effect you’re creative flow.. is a very cool thing indeed.
Ok.. so this post has probably gone on for too long.. so time to post!
A little earlier tonight I sat through a number of motion graphics examples.. I was expecting to get a lot of eye candy wow-ness.. and while I got a bit of that.. I was left with a feeling of.. being utterly unimpressed with much of what I saw, which probably relates to the problems and issues I’ve been talking about, in my last 2 posts, on the subject of digital story telling. That said.. I did come away rather inspired.
I feel like.. as far as creative possibilities are concerned, the medium of 3D and motion graphics.. is powerful as all hell… The trouble, at least as near as I can tell.. is nobody is really doing it right.. Wow, what an arrogant statement.. well forgive me.. if you’re one of the folks doing it right.. I know.. it’s a little bit of an over statement.
But.. I’m also talking as a fine artist.. I’m also talking about the potential of the medium.. at least as I see it.. and anyway, I wanted to start to talk about some of what has me inspired.. talk about what I’m dreaming in this moment.. that kinda thing.
Dreams
The cost of the dreams
It strikes me that anything is possible. In this simple statement.. in this feeling that anything is possible.. in there.. the god’s sing.. the music of the spheres.. just waiting for an artist to hear.. and there tail to be retold. Can you hear it?
When we talk about film making.. when the conversation turns to special effects, 3D graphics, motion graphics.. we often talk about how expensive it is. That expense would, at least in large measure, seem to be an effect of what the designers in this area are able to command salary wise.. even with a lot of work being outsourced to India.
Of all the art forms I’m interested in, there is no doubt that 3D and motion graphics is the most expensive areas. Cinema 4D, which I’m using.. retails for between $3 and $4K… After Effects is now going for around $1K, Final Cut Studio is around $1.3K, last I checked.. and there are many other tools.. plus one needs a super fast and powerful computer.. and having many computers to form a render farm.. is a nice idea.. If one is shooting video as a part of it.. pro cameras are several grand.. lighting rigs probably start at around a grand.. MoCap is more then I even want to start thinking about.. the gear to pull keys is more money…
So just to get the tools to start learning the stuff is like.. prohibitively expensive.. or at the very least, investing in them takes a major commitment.. and then you’ll be faced with a ridiculously steep learning curve! So all of this “might” have something to do with why it’s as expensive as it is…
But lets just say you’re crazy like Matt.. and you’re like “screw it, I’ll invest in it cause I have a big dream,” now the economics are a little different. Now the economics are.. well once you’ve bought the equipment, the only real expense is the time you have to put into the work.. and arguably the regular expense of upgrades.
Of course Matt is even madder then all that! Cause I mean.. I’m also doing the sound studio stuff! The web design stuff? Yeah.. I have issues!
Ok, so implications of these here economics
So.. much like the lizard king, you can do anything..
A bit latter:
Anything seems like a worthwhile topic for meditation.. though anything might not be real. The topic of technical limitations comes to mind… limitations of skills.. as well as limitations of time… and there are still some limitations to my studio… but.. there is still, given all that, many vectors of limitlessness…
There are lots of little ideas.. many of which have been formed over the course of.. well many years really. I have all sorts of “strategic communications” ideas… relative to the question of how to relate to the market place.. well, lets explore these..
A few days latter:
Little ideas
I think what I really want to do is create “audio visual experiences.” I put it this way because putting it any other way seem to have a certain amount of bagged to it.. it suggests certain things… that “audio visual experience” does not.
I, of course, am a sound artist.. I kind of think being a sound artist is a huge advantage for a digital film maker.. type.. because you’re able to think holistically.. sound could be central, visual aesthetics could be central, the “art-ness” could be central, dialog could be central, a plot could be central.. and what is central, at any given moment, could shift.. and you really only have the ability to work this way if you are fluent in all these parts..
So audio wise I want to create an experience. There’s a lot of ideas I have that are unlike anything I’ve ever heard before, as a part of some sort of film.. so all these things must be explored.. along with.. just creating an amazing sonic experience.
3D
The impression I’m getting about 3D is that It’s really more about design then production. Every element.. it pays to do research for.. and its all about paying a serious amount of attention to detail.. and it might even be that I can get great results.. nearly coming out of the gate.. if I’m willing to put in the work on the research and design front.. along with a little exploration here and there…
Planning
It’s all about planning! My way of thinking about it is.. you start out with an idea and you develop the hell out of it… work everything out.. from how the sound might work, to how the plot works, the story…. all this stuff, and really refine it.. take it to an extreme.. but then, at that point.. well at a certain point.. be willing to just improvise and explore..
Day latter:
I’m thinking I need to just post this so I can go on to the next post.. I’m thinking this should be called memoirs of a meditation on digital story telling.. for the simple reason that it seems more like a record of a meditation then anything…
I’m in this strange mode of meditations on digital story telling… I am driving into this arena after all…
I’m a strange bird, for this there can be no doubt, and so it is that when I approach anything, seems to not matter what, I can’t seem to escape a certain contrarianism.. This is apparently my little cross to bare.. as it seems to have been an issue for me, at least.. since the age of 3… So it’s hard not to think “well, I guess this was God’s idea of a joke on the world” or at the very least it’s sorta a “vocational” thing, maybe.. You ever feel this way? Well… lets explore this as it pertains to story telling.
I have this strange belief that we are all in a constant process of having these little unconscious conversations with each other.. or that there is constant unconscious communication going on.. If you don’t quite believe me.. try taking LSD sometime.. err, I better explain that one, ha?
LSD has a way of giving everything a luminous, numinous, glow. As near as I can gather, from my limited knowledge of neuroscience, psychedelics like LSD essentially create a kind of state of “brain damage,” inside of which the.. lets call it cognitive process.. of attributing causation to stuff.. produces a kind of meta consciousness experience. This, of course, would seem to expose certain structural elements of the psyche to the conscious mind.. so that we have a kind of waking dream experience.. inside of which we can explore our subjective relationship to empirical reality. LOL, boy, doesn’t that sound technical?
Reality.. well it’s something we “experience.” In philosophy and science we often try to understand reality in a way that is like a god’s eye view.. it is a way of looking that is in search of objectivity.. of verifiability.. a way of looking that would seem to be emancipated from human experience.. at least in it’s goals.. The troubles with this are many fold.. not the least of which is that we never experience reality without our “experience” of it. Inside this experience.. is our own “subjective” view point. Here in lys the value of some understanding of psychology in.. well life.
One idea I developed once upon the time was an idea I called “the order of revelation.” The idea is.. in a world of infinite facts.. infinite ways one could come to understand something.. we only experience a limited portion of that totality.. and the “order of revelation” has to do with the order in which this stuff dawns on the conscious mind. The “order” determines “the shape” of our understanding. The order of revelation is thus the expression of the subjective on our experience of objective reality.
What shapes this order of relations is a complex of factors.. we can influence the order by means of prayer, ritual, and “magick.” Archtypes, as we learn from Jungian psychology, are what makes up the structure of consciousness and the psyche… and so the meta consciousness experience of psychedelics.. the numinous nature of them.. is about this.. and thus the connection to the order of revelation.. and the reason why so many people associate psychedelics with notions of enlightenment.
Ok.. enough of this craziness, how does this relate to the subject of digital story telling?
As I was saying before.. there is this thing I’m terming “unconscious communication.” In my last post.. (which as of this writing I haven’t posted) I spoke of the notion of “ambient story telling” which.. essentially points to this concept. We could look at this simply on the level of “what are the unconscious cues” we get as we go about.. life, from our experience of… whatever. When we get “a feeling in our gut” or.. have a feeling about something that we are unable to quite articulate.. simply have a feeling about something.. or… perhaps an intuition.. this is what we are reacting to.
The lie detector test.. which measures biometrics in relationship to questions, is a means of detecting certain types of unconscious communications… The conscious mind is giving you one story, while the biometrics is giving you another. And so it is that the world of “non verbal communication” is an incredibly nuanced world. There are simple things about.. how you’re talking.. word choices, spaces between words.. tempo of words, pitch of words, varying amplitude and volume between words.. words, phrases, sentences.. the body language as this happens.. where the eyes move.. all sorts of little, itty bitty things… are expressing stuff.
Inside of this expression, interestingly enough.. we find the imprint, on everything, of the shape of that there order of revelation…
So, before.. in that last post.. talking about a painter versus design approach to media arts.. in talking about communications versus expression.. perhaps art versus design.. all of this kind of thing.. is about this sorta thing.
So.. that 3D graphics.. and motion graphics, is largely dominated by the design process.. as a pose to a painters process.. that what we are seeing is so much about conscious design.. means that the story telling of medium are more limited to the surface then.. might be.. ideal.
Next day sometime:
Hmm, perhaps I should post this.. and skip on to the next entry on this subject.
I like the idea of trying to get into the habit of posting everyday.. so lets see if we can’t get back into that swing.
Today I was contacted by a PR women. I had mentioned After Effects in a tweet… which was enough for her to go to the trouble of getting my email from the background image.. and message me about a PR campaign she was doing for Intel, which looks to be an ongoing series of.. kinda like motion graphics contests… and she wanted to know if I was interested, or if I might pass it on to others.
If you’re a regular reader you no doubt know that right now I’m focused on trying to develop some proficiency with with Cinema 4D… which is to say fairly high end ish 3D graphics. While I have other projects to attend to.. in general.. it would seem to me that to participate in the Intel project would require a shift of focus… which is a bit like.. you get the ball rolling and then you leave it.. and now how long is it going to take you to get that back in motion?
That said.. what I’m really looking to develop is a whole set of skills.. you render stuff out of Cinema.. you bring it into After Effects or Motion.. where you perhaps have other assets.. eventually this probably ends up in Final Cut.. and eventually render out as a final project. Inside of this scheme you might shoot video.. you might do a lot of things.. So.. moving from a pure 3D focus to a motion graphics focus.. where 3D is but one element.. doesn’t really seem like that bad an idea.
In any event I was inspired enough to go visit my local book store and pick up a couple of magazines I’d been eyeing: A UK digital arts type magazine has a motion graphics special edition this month.. and this month we also see the first launch issue of a magazine called gomotion. I didn’t buy these magazines before on account of how pricy they are.. the total was $34, but.. with all this on my mind.. it seemed like the thing to do.
Gomotion
Gomotion costs $20.. which seems to me outrageously over priced.. but, at least superficially, I must say it’s a very impressive magazine. A lot of 3D magazines are over priced.. and there’s a general feeling of immaturity about them.. or.. there not quite big enough.. but Gomotion is, in fact, rather kick ass…
What I’m digging about Gomotion is as follows: I’m in the process of giving myself a basic 3D education.. at the moment this is via the DVD based video tutorials that came with Cinema 4D. These tutorials don’t really cover all the bases of the software.. they’re basically enough to get you going… I’m only about half way through the main general course.. I’ve learned about modeling, I’m on to pre texture mapping stuff..
Bouncing around in the back of my head is past information I’ve gathered on the subject of 3D.. at one point I read a mega huge book on 3D Studio Max.. from time to time I pick up copies of special effects trade magazines.. and who knows what.. Most of this information exists in my brain on an almost unconscious level, and reflects a state of technology that is.. old fashion compared to where stuff is at today… which I’m only now getting to appreciate.
Gomotion.. has a lot of articles that are.. actually probably not bad for someone as clueless as I am.. I just read an article on character creation.. and strangely enough it conformed perfectly to certain preconceptions I’m starting to evolve as I try and work out what I want to do.. and when you see what other 3D artists wrestle with.. hear what a more advanced person perceives as the challenges.. it gives you a lot of perspective on how to approach your forward movement..
The Current State of Matt’s 3D Plans:
There is, of course, the basic business of getting up to speed on the basics… which is really nothing more then the 101 of the tools.. the projects will take us to the next level in the other areas..
The real project is to come up with some ideas for animated shorts.. What kind of stories do I want to tell? What kind of a challenge is it going to be to develop really good craft when it comes to story telling? I’m not totally sure what my story telling process will look like.. as I have influences coming from strange directions.. But I suppose the first thing is simply to work out what I want to explore.. write something like a script.. and then work out story boards… and from there..
Well we need to embark on a project of designing characters, sets, objects, and what have you.. that make sense for the story we want to tell…
The trouble, as I see it.. are two fold.. or perhaps one fold: There are two viable approaches as I conceive of it… one is that of the painter, the other is that of the designer. The painter process is exploratory.. it’s an adventure.. we perhaps don’t even bother with starting with a script.. we’ll find the story as we go along.. The designer process is the one where we start with a script and move onto story boards…. and blah blah blah.
So there’s a tension between these two approaches.. and the question really is.. how do we integrate them… and I think the question becomes most significant when we look at questions like.. what might we do in a 3D graphics program versus what we might do in a program like After Effects.
Indeed After effects is an interesting problem.. in that it offers the possibility of very strange work flows.. where in 3D we are purely dealing with the 3D world.. in After Effects we can deal with anything.. from photographs, still images, the rendered 3D stuff, 2D computer graphics, video… various sorts of special effects.. compositing… etc. Stuff is fairly endless.
A few latter, now over tired, resigned to the fact that this wont get posted tonight:
Thoughts on story telling
Story telling strikes me as an amazingly rich and complex subject.. one that.. is no easy art to master.
Lets take the actor. What is good acting, or how does one act well? That’s a complex subject that can take a lifetime to master… Acting is, after all, story telling.. a part of how we tell stories.
I was trying to get to this idea of the tension between a painter versus a designer’s approach to media making.. I stepped away from writing to watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.. when I was struck by something..
3D Graphics is an amazingly formalist medium.. Everything in it.. was put there on purpose, consciously.. where as with film.. we are in the world of happy accidence… I’m reminded by something David Lynch said.. about how if you go in someone’s house.. say there bedroom.. you’re amazed at what you find.. because its nothing like anything any production designer could have ever thought of.. so here we see it again.. the difference between.. something like the conscious mind of design, versus the unconscious dialectics of painting.
And then I’m reminded of Tom Wolfe.. Mr Wolfe writes what he calls “new journalism” where in he goes out and makes fiction based off of a kind of journalistic process.. because.. how could you ever writet dialog like.. well like real people speak?
I keep thinking about this.. how does the way a real person speak.. what does this tell us about that person? What does the way a real bedroom looks.. what does that tell us about the person.. To some extent you might think of this as “ambient story telling” in the sense that we are talking about little nuances.. which somehow have something to do with something.. that could somehow be a part of how we might tell a story.. but they also contain a certain extraneous possibility… or at least in how we think of them.. how they might relate to our preconceptions.. which, of course, is the problem of formalism and communication type design.
When I think of what I want to do.. a part of it is something formalistic.. always a synthesis of this with realism.. and always on the surrealistic side of things.. This idea that the unconscious is exactly what I’m after.. but not exactly as an end in it’s self.. which is perhaps what makes me interesting.. if contrasted with surrealism proper..
In my surrealist spirit.. I tend to think.. well what the hell.. do anything at anytime for any reason at all.. which is to take an anarchic approach, or attitude, towards traditional notions of structure.. and how might I weave such a thing into a story?
As you can no doubt gather.. I have some complex ideas about this subject.. which is perhaps atypical of someone in my beginner shoes..
A post ago I suggested that something like creative brilliance trumps what major studios have as there advantages.. and I suppose what it all comes down to is this.. and story telling.. and if I have brilliance in me.. I imagine it will come from an exploration of these kinds of ideas.. at least as it relates to story telling.. and this kind of animation motion graphics stuff.
That’s right.. I finished it.. a new album.. or a rough cut of the new album.. and my mood on it is quite a bit better then it was yesterday.
The album is a journey.. I like it much more as a collection of tracks then I like any of the tracks individually. As a collection I think there might be a reasonable amount of ass kicking going on. The ass kicking is in.. all the little trips it takes you on… that’s what strikes me as potentially powerful about it anyway.
There’s a lot that’s wrong with it.. though most of what’s wrong is fairly minor.. which is why I call it a rough draft.. and there are a few tracks that definitely need to be finished.. that are simply works in progress. There are tracks that I’m not sure about.. but still strike me as interesting little sonic adventures.
Doing the NaSoAlMo thing.. this now being my second year doing it.. I seem to come away with this feeling that.. often in the creative process you fight to push you’re work in a particular direction.. but that you really can.. go in the opposite direction of you’re taste.. of you’re habits, of your judgement, and find that what you got is actually pretty good.
Generally.. this is common knowledge to the artist.. we must go off on these little adventures every now and again.. to broaden our scope.. get off the well trotted ground.. many of these directions, as I look at them now.. strike me as early first steps.. that whatever possibilities of greatness they might posses… it will take a good deal more adventuring to really discover.. and so, I suppose, we wait for our next project.
Yes, there’s a level I want to get my work to that I don’t think I’ve really achieved yet.. I suppose to achieve that.. I’d have to work for about a year.. at least as hard as I’ve worked this past month.. Or at the very least I’d have to work this hard.. without a finite deadline.. working till I say “why yes, this work is done,” and then, once I have my track collection… say “ok time to put this out.” Again.. we’ll have to see.
There’s much work, of course, that I haven’t put out as “an album” that waits to be a part of it.. some of that you can hear on my podcast.. some of it I’ve released for a short moment via twitter.. if you haven’t to be following me at the time.. and happened to be online at the time, and happened to click the link at the time.. well, you got it… or I make mention of it here or there..
Next morning:
I’m excited for new adventures, and figure I should just post.
Since I got the new MacBook I’ve been obsessed with a new video blogging project. This seems to have come out of the blue.. not that I hadn’t been thinking about video a good deal prior.. but jumping into this like this.. The level of commitment I’m now feeling for it.. the excitement and passion I’m feeling for it.. The feeling of just being possessed by it… that is very surprising to me.
It’s as if God spoke to me and said “Matt, you must start video blogging, you must become a video blogger.” “Well God, that’s a little random, don’t you think?” Of course the trouble with God is.. there’s really no one to turn for for second opinions.. well I suppose there’s always Satan but…
It comes to me like a revelation.. like one day you wake up and you realize “this is what I’m supposed to do,” and though you had thought about it prior.. never did it command you.. . not like this.
What’s brought Matt to this new video blogging project?
Ok, brace you’re self.. this could get long.
Somehow I always wanted to be a film maker.. since I was little kid… So it should be no surprise that I took some video and film making classes in college.. though.. the equipment at Mass Art, the only state art school in the US, was not capable of.. well I couldn’t do what I wanted to do with it.. so I never really got too into video or film making while there… really only dreamed about it.. though I did take a few film criticism type classes to kinda.. prepare I guess…
But I can remember hanging out in the dorms.. getting high with some folks.. and telling them how in a few years anyone can own a video camera, the tools to edit it, and how we’d be distributing it via the internet.. imagining that world of possibilities.. and so.. I sorta went in that direction.. with my music, learning web design skills.. etc.
Somehow.. somewhere in there.. perhaps it was a result of my first “real job” as an interactive designer.. I was able to afford a video camera.. I also bought Premier and After Effects. I think I must have been on a G3 that could barely handle it.. it didn’t have a DVD burner, and the hard drive was tiny… so in practice I didn’t do much video.. just played around a bit.. shot video.
I started creating a kind of video library of.. just raw footage.. some of it dating back to the collage years.. with the idea that I’d eventually do something with it.
Sometime latter.. still on that old G4.. I started dating this girl whom.. I fondly refer to as Sue of Zen. Sue was hard of hearing.. needed subtitles to watch tv or films. When she was thinking about getting HBO I saw my opportunity.. ”No, you should get Net Flicks I said… I was thinking “if she needs subtitles to watch films.. she probably will be fine with foreign films.” So.. I conned her into letting me pick the films.. all the great film makers of film history.. for the year or so that we were involved.. I’d see up to 8 films a week.
The effect of Sue of Zen and I watching so many films was.. I became a horrible film snob.. I mean when you watch that many films.. that many of the greatest films ever made.. it’s hard to tolerate the crap! I haven’t watched films like that since.. and I’ve grown a little more forgiving of Hollywood..
Well there was one other effect.. I became a lot more sophisticated about film.
When it came time to buy my Mac Pro.. I was thinking Video Making when I bought it. 8 Cores, a better then standard graphics card, 1.7 or something or other terabytes of space.. go for the 2 24″ HD screens.. etc.. I was even budgeting in professional video cameras and lighting rigs.. .
But the thing was.. I wasn’t really jumping in head first into the video production stuff.. Hell, I wasn’t doing much of anything.. well, that might be over stating it.
A few latter:
Anyway.. so a long story, right? I can’t really get into everything about what I’m up to.. so lets go into what I’m up to at the moment..
Adventures in Apple’s Motion 3D
Motion is a motion graphics program.. that’s sorta 2.5D-ish, that’s a part of Final Cut Studio. Motion graphics is basically animation with tittle graphics for film and TV.. My approach is basically painting plus the dimension of time…
So I don’t know Apple’s Motion.. And Apple hasn’t done a real good job with thinking through the learning process… as the manuel is rather sucky. They have a few training videos, but they don’t really get you up to speed.. they just kinda give you a few things.. and from there you just kind of fumble around.
For the last couple days now.. I’ve been doing these little motion graphics projects.. which are perhaps more about learning the software then it is about making great work.. I’m aiming for great work, but who knows if I’ll actually get there.
Still.. I can see the potential…
A couple days latter (I think):
I’m slowly getting to the point that I kind of understand what’s going on in Motion.. It’s not really that hard to pick up.. though there’s a depth to it that still seems a little out of reach, maybe? Or maybe there’s just a lot of things I figure I ought to be able to do, that it should be able to do.. but I can’t figure out how to do it or even if you can do it.. but then I’m new to the case….I’ve rendered out a number of motion animations.. and.. I have mixed feelings on them.. of course there not exactly meant to stand on there own.. In any event, that I now feel like I’m getting a feel for the program.. my expectations for what I ought to be able to achieve.. is now to start really going up.My latest sets of projects have been to take stuff that I’ve designed in photoshop.. or created in photoshop. In Photoshop these images are constructed with lots of layers.. In motion I take the images of the different layers, and set them up in 3D space.. so the layers now have spatial relationships between them.. and I’ve got a few lights going.. and I’m goofing around with the cameras.. and everything is sorta moving around a little..This really does feel like painting plus the dimension of time… Painting in motion, if you will. Though using this kind of language to talk about it seems to overstate it a little.What I’m doing is very much in keeping with the kinds of stuff I was doing with After Effects those few years back. The After Effects CS4 upgrade is now on my “to get list”.. and I may likely get it rather shortly.. assuming that I continue my video commitment..
Motion Graphics / Animation Goals
My plan of attack, technology wise, is to start with Motion.. of course. Eventually I’ll jump into After Effects… of course.. And then, assuming I can get Cinema 4D to run on this computer, well.. there’s that. The first objective, I guess, is to obtain some serious competency with Motion.. and then into After Effects. Cinema 4D I expect to be a giant learning project, and for that.. the goal is simply to get to a point where I’m able to start creating stuff to integrate into this sort of motion graphics / animation pipeline.. as a pose to going all out into 3D animation. What I mean is.. I get the ball rolling with this stuff.. and then just add pieces to it.. a process by which I hope to develop competency with the other stuff.. but real competency with that stuff.. only needs to be at a level determined by this stuff.. if that all makes sense.
Conclusions
I don’t know what will come of all this stuff, but it’s a fun adventure to go on.. and I have laid down the ground work in many ways.. to hopefully do something great.. We’ll see what happens………..
