Year-End 2015: Looking Back, and Forward

I hope everyone who stops by this blog had as great a Christmas as I did. In fact, this has been a very positive year on a number of fronts, especially my music.

Merry Christmas 2015

I'm about to be swallowed up by holiday activities, so I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you a joyful holiday. Whatever you celebrate at this time of year, and however you celebrate it, may it be a happy time for yourself and those you love.

If you happen to be music shopping after Christmas, I hope you'll consider Circadia or any of the individual tracks from the project, It's available at most of the online stores, so please consider it when you're using that Amazon, iTunes, or Google Play gift card you found in your stocking.

I'm sure I'll have something to talk about next week, so I'll save my New Year's wishes until then.

Circadia Complete on YouTube

With today's final upload, all tracks from Circadia are now available on YouTube. Please check out the Circadia YouTube playlist. If you like what you hear, please consider buying one or more tracks or the whole project at CDBaby, Amazon, Google Play, and now iTunes, or adding the project to your Spotify favorites.

Still Uploading Circadia Tracks to YouTube

I'm continuing to upload tracks from Circadia to YouTube. Today's upload is "Transformed," which is maybe the most space music influenced track in the project. You can see everything uploaded thus far at the Music by Thisbrucesmith page on G+. I plan to have all tracks from the project in the Circadia playlist by the end of the week.

Circadia on YouTube and Google Play

This week I'll be uploading tracks from Circadia to YouTube into a playlist so you can check them out. Today's upload is "Photons at Play," a track heavily influenced by "classic" electronic and space music. I hope you'll support my music by buying one or more tracks or the entire album. By the way, you can now find Circadia on Google Play.

Meanwhile, Back in Stock Music Land . . .

I've been busy getting the word out about the release of Circadia, but I haven't stopped working on production music. Here's an easy listening rock track that features a nice atmospheric guitar, available to license now at Luckstock.

Circadia Rolling Out

Circadia is now rolling out. It's featured on CDBaby new releases today. Also, you can now sample, purchase, and download the project and any individual tracks of your choice on Amazon. Just search the digital music category for "Circadia." You can also check it out on MBTBS blog by clicking the player near the upper right.

Circadia is Here!

Circadia is available now at CDBaby, and is coming soon to iTunes and other outlets. Check it out.

Circadia Update

I've been working with the staff at CDBaby to get the last minute kink worked out with the audio on the Circadia track "Absent Friends." I've uploaded the fix and the revised album is now through their inspection process. James, the awesome person who's been working with me on this, advised me to expect an email with instructions to complete the final approval process. "Almost there . . ."

The Perils of Post-Production

I got my notice from CDBaby this evening to do the final review of Circadia before it goes to digital distribution. I reviewed the audio, and freaked! The sixth track, "Absent Friends," starts with an annoying click. I went back and restarted the playback to make sure it wasn't something else, like a bandwidth problem, but no. I went back to my original and, sure enough, there was a (softer) click at the beginning. I had missed it, but it stood out like a sore thumb in the final. So, I sent them an email, went back and quickly fixed the problem, and uploaded the fix.

I also need to make a slight tweak in one of the titles I had missed entered ("Photons at Play" instead of "Photons At Play") for consistency in upper and lower case titling. If they tell me they can't do that, I'll live. But the audio problem had to get fixed, pronto. I don't if or how this will affect the release date, but will publish changes if and when I hear about them.

Circadia is Coming

I'm pleased to announce my first independent music release. The project is called Circadia, and consists of eight tracks spanning about 48 minutes of music. The tentative release date is Monday, December 7, 2015 on CDBaby, with eventual availability at other outlets online. The style of this project blends elements of ambient music with different rhythms. Here's a video for the title track.

Track listing:
1. The Oceanic Feeling
2. Astral Tribe*
3. At a Distance
4. Transformed
5. Photons At Play
6. Absent Friends
7. The Bridge is Flowing
8. Circadia*

*Denotes tracks available for separate purchase (singles).

I hope to have the title track available online in the next few days, so please stay tuned.

Happy Thanksgiving 2015

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day in the US. I'll be having a simple, quiet day. I have much to be thankful for. Friends, family, health, and of course all the buyers who find uses for my music. May my work serve you well. And if you just stop by to check out my tracks, I'm thankful for you as well. Please drop by whenever, and check out my wares. I'm always adding new stuff to my portfolio.

For those of you in the States, enjoy the holiday.

A Shout Out!

Because I sell my work in a marketplace, it's extremely rare for me to have direct contact with a buyer. Recently, I had that opportunity, and I'm most grateful for it.

Hudetz Brothers Video Gets "Corporate Energy"

It's extremely gratifying when I actually get to see some of the cool things people do with my music.

More Christmas Previews

Christmas is closing in, and this year that means I've been working to develop my stock music library.

"Circadia" Project Update

I've finished most of my tweaks on mixes for the in-progress "Circadia" project. I plan on releasing a tentative track listing very soon. I was going to do that earlier, but decided I needed to change the title of one of the tracks. It happened to be called "The Expanse," which I have found out is the same as a series of books that are being made into a series on SyFy. I have another title in mind, and hope to release that track listing very soon.

Working On a New Project

I'm working on a new project, tentatively called "Circadia." I have eight tracks totaling about 50 minutes of music. The style is mainly ambient and new age, with one track that you could call chillout or downtempo. I'm currently tweaking mixes and hope to firm up plans for release soon. I'm excited as this represents my first diversification from stock music.

Milestones, Small and Bigger

I checked today and found I had hit exactly 1000 plays on Soundcloud. Hardly a major milestone, but it's a start. Hopefully, the people hearing those tracks are stock music buyers, and have found something they needed and licensed it. If this is you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'm also pleased to announce that I'm closing in on 300 tracks licensed since I started producing stock music. Looking forward to hitting that milestone soon.

New Stock Music Now, Christmas Tracks Coming Soon

I've released several new stock music tracks, varying from dramatic to corporate to ambient.

Christmas Production

I hope to start producing some new Christmas background music this week. One idea I had was to do a Western Swing arrangement of "Jingle Bells." Suggestions are welcome either here or at my G+ page.

Best July Ever

I'd like to take a moment to express my gratitude to everyone who supported my work last month. The month of July, which just ended, was easily the best July in the three-plus years I've been selling stock music. Usually, June and July are very slow months, but this year both were excellent. In fact, July was my second best licensing month so far this year. One of the tracks that sold was from so deep in my catalog I had forgotten about it myself!

Retro R&B


So, to everyone who bought, commented, +1'd, or just stopped by to check out my portfolio: thank you.

Pondering Next Moves

Business is relatively slow for the moment here at the background music factory, so I'm wondering what to do next. Warning: this post is partly update and partly off-topic.

Hallo, meine Leser in Deutschland

I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the readers in Germany who have been checking out my blog recently. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find something interesting and entertaining here. While I'm typing, I'll share a few updates . . .

Ultimate Classic Rock: Why Do They Do That?

I was looking through morning headlines and saw an interesting story about the band Rush. I went to check it out, and of course along with the content were lots and lots of ads. I get that. They have to make a buck. This particular site with the story was Ultimate Classic Rock.

There was one particular quirk on this page, though. It was a flash video in the right sidebar, advertising some tire outlet or other. It wouldn't let me navigate on the page until I watched the whole ad. Then, because the ad had pulled me back from where I was to it's position on the page, I had to go back to the point where I left off to continue reading.

I got to the end of the original article and saw a link to something that looked interesting. But before I could click it - you guessed it - the tire ad hijacked me again. I left that page and do not plan to view anything on Ultimate Classic Rock for the foreseeable future. If you want to advertise, fine. But guys, you just drove me off your site. How's that helping your cause?

The Revolution Nobody Noticed

I woke up this morning, and checked my email like every morning. There was an update on music industry trends from ASCAP, with links to several articles. One such article was from a songwriter and songwriting teacher named Mike Errico, and I found myself bemused.

Heading to the Slow Summer Season

Here comes the summer, a great time for fun in the sun, but a slow time for my stock music sales.

Off-topic: Where is the Outcry Over APA Torture Support?

A news story broke this week that should trouble a lot of people, but it doesn't appear to be making a ripple. What gives?

Taking a Short Pause

I have some non-musical things that I'm working on at the moment, so I'm taking a short break from producing stock music tracks. In the meantime, here's a remix of a track I produced a decade ago and originally put out under the name BESTunes. This is from my techno period. It's an example of what is called ambient jungle or trip jungle. I was inspired at the time by a stretch of scenic highway north of Chattanooga known as the "Corridor J." If you've ever driven it, you'd understand my inspiration. If not, you should put it on your bucket list.

Turns of Fate

Sales took a sudden spike the last few days, and I'm certainly glad about that. Now all I have to do is find a way to promote and sell my music other than what I consider my "usual suspects."

More Netherscapes, and a Rough Patch

Since the last time I posted, I've put together another "netherscape."

Announcing Netherscapes

I'm now working on a new project to create a series of ambient soundscapes for listening or use as background music for films, videos, or your personal environmental space. I call the series "Netherscapes."

Apple Buys Camel Audio

I guess now we know why Camel Audio mysteriously closed up shop. Apple Insider reports they've been bought by Apple. Speculation I've seen is they're going to fold it into Logic Pro or Garageband, or maybe both. Although I don't plan to buy any Apple products as a result of this, I'm hopeful someone will get the benefit of the awesome Alchemy product line. I intend to continue using and enjoying my Alchemy sound libraries.

Checking Out iZotope Iris 2

I took the plunge the other day and bought iZotope's Iris 2 virtual synth (a 30% discount was quite helpful in that regard). Actually, synthesizer may be a misleading term. Iris 2 functions more like a sound design engine than a traditional synth. It also comes with an incredible 11 gig of samples you can use to create completely new sounds. I've already used one of the factory bass patches in a production music track I created over the weekend. Plus, I was quickly able to create a really eerie sounding drone that I then used on another track I'll be posting to Soundcloud later this week.

Making Music With Native Instruments Strummed Acoustic - Session Guitarist

I'd been wishing for some solution to allow me to incorporate realistic strummed acoustic guitar sound into my production music tracks. It looks like Native Instruments' new Strummed Acoustic - Session Guitarist product for Kontakt 5 is just the thing.

Samples Now at thisbrucesmith.com

If you've stopped by this blog before, you may have noted links to sample pages on the top menu. Today, I set up a sample page at the main web site, and took down the sample pages from this blog. In case  you're looking for specific styles, I'm leaving the tag cloud in the right column so you can check out posts featuring tracks in those styles. Thanks for stopping by and supporting my work, and please check the main site often for updates and links to this blog.

thisbrucesmith.com: Now Mobile-Friendly!

I've been working on an upgrade to my main web site, and am happy to report that it's now up and running! Developed with Bootstrap, the site is much more capable of handling different device sizes than the old one was, so please check it out on your phone or tablet, as well as your PC or Mac. Don't miss the featured track for this week, "Spring Into Action!"

Farewell Edgar Froese

I was thinking I might blog about my experience with the new Mixcraft 7 digital audio workstation this morning, when I saw the news about the death of electronic music pioneer Edgar Froese. Mixcraft can wait.

It's 2015! Are We Having Fun Yet?

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season. I've had a much-needed change of routine and feel ready to roll. So, here are a few things I'm interested in for the new year.