What's Happening: Week of May 29, 2017

I hope everyone here in the States is enjoying the Memorial Day weekend. Because of the long weekend I won't be as active tomorrow (Monday, the 29th) on social media as usual. I'll be doing my usual promotion on Twitter and Google+ during the rest of the week, though, so please be on the lookout.

My featured stock music track this week is Salsa Jazz Podcast Intro (Full). It's part of my podcast music collection that includes a bunch of different styles and lengths, many of which have loops. If you're a podcaster or know one, or need intros or loops for any presentation, please check it out.

I was saddened to hear of the recent passing of Gregg Allman. I wasn't a big fan of southern rock in general or the Allman Brothers in particular, other than instrumental jams like "Jessica." However, I did have Gregg's Laid Back album and wore that vinyl out pretty well back in the day. The first track from that album, "Midnight Rider," was one of his signature songs. RIP Gregg.

The web series, "A Universe of Trouble," by Rochelle Krause, continues to run at her YouTube and Vimeo channels. That's the one featuring my stock music track "Mystery Suspense Theme," so please check that out.

I've been doing more traditional stock music the last couple of weeks, as you can see if you check out my Pond5 new music collection. At this writing, I have no new podcast intros in the works, and no ideas either. I've thought about doing a big band version, and maybe something more modern like a future bass version. But nothing concrete yet. If that changes, of course you will be the first to know.

I hope you have a great week, and terrific start to June.

What's Happening: Week of May 22, 2017

Hey everyone! Here comes Memorial Day. But first, I have some new intro music and a corporate track rolling out on my social media feeds starting tomorrow (Monday, May 22, 2017).

The first of the two intros is a "happy rock" track with full (:30), short (:10), logo (:06) and looped versions. The second is a "smooth jazz" track with full, short and looped versions. The corporate track is "The View Ahead." It's an electronic track with lots of rhythmic elements for corporate or other organizational presentations.

Meanwhile, Rochelle Krause's animated sci-fi web series "A Universe of Trouble" continues, featuring my stock music track "Mystery Suspense Theme." In addition to YouTube you can also find it on Vimeo.



So that's my story, and of course I'm sticking to it. I hope you have a great week and that you'll check me out on Twitter and Google+ as well as my official web site. Peace.

What's Happening, Week of May 15, 2017

I hope all the moms out there had a great Mother's Day. It's another week, and new stuff abounds.

I've updated my official web page and added news about my music appearing in artist Rochelle Krause's new web series "A Universe of Trouble." The series is based on a short story by acclaimed science-fiction writer Harry Harrison. It follows the adventures of a cosmic maintenance technician who must repair a hyperspace beacon on a distant planet without arousing the ire of the planet's indigenous inhabitants, who have adopted the beacon as a god! So much for the Prime Directive! My royalty-free stock music track "Mystery Suspense Theme" features heavily through the 17 episodes. More info, and a sneak peak, are on this page. Hope you'll check it out.

Sticking with the spooky background music motif, I have anointed my track "Cinematic Ambient" as my featured track of the week this week. It will be pinned to my Twitter profile page all week, so please check that out as well.

It's shaping up to be a light week for new tracks. I have one coming out on YouTube and my Twitter feed tomorrow. The title of that is Epic Confrontation. It's a dubstep-influenced track that's great for action-oriented video or book trailers. I really think it rocks and hope you do, too.

Finally, a sad note for me. Tomorrow would have been my Dad's 93rd birthday. He and I didn't always see eye-to-eye on every little thing, but before the end I came to understand what a stand-up guy he was. He took two bullets for his country, was a faithful husband to my mom, and found the money to buy all three of us kids musical instruments. I love you and miss you Dad, and I thank for all the opportunities you gave me.

But now, in the immortal words of one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's characters: "Enough talk!" Have a great week, and stay tuned for more to come.

Software Hassles, Update

Yesterday I noted I was dealing with software issues. The issues are resolved and I was able to finish a mix I was working on. I'll be featuring that on my Twitter feed on Monday.

It turns out the problem I was having had nothing to do with the Windows registry. Some IK Multimedia products (like their plugins and my version of Miroslav Philharmonik) require that you run your digital audio workstation (DAW) as an administrator under Windows. I hadn't had this problem immediately after I had installed my update Mixcraft 8 software, but midweek it suddenly popped up without prior warning. I'm guessing something got triggered by my latest update to my operating system. I also have some software that I run the performs utilities like clearing out services you don't need, optimizing processes, etc. and that might have something to do with it as well.

The file I was running when I had the original crash on Monday was still behaving strangely afterward. Some of my effects kept crashing, but in the end I was able to get the mix out. The file itself might somehow have gotten corrupted; I don't know. In the meantime, I will keep on chugging away (and doing regular backups).

Software Hassles

I was messing around with a track in my new Mixcraft 8 DAW on Monday. I had just mixed a version down when it crashed. It was late. I signed and said "OK, I'll come back to it later."

When I tried to reopen the file yesterday evening, everything went nuts. All of my IK Multimedia effects are now inoperative. Seems there was a registry error. I downloaded a new version and reinstalled, but no joy. I tried a System Restore from Windows 10, but it failed.

Long and short of it is I may be out of business for a few days while I'm trying to get my effects back. This is no small deal because it also means I can't go back to old tracks without reworking them with new effects. This looks like it's going to be a very long process. What burns me most is that the functions I thought were there to help me recover fairly quickly and painlessly (and that worked in Windows 7) let me down.

The moral of this story? I don't know that it's "backup everything all the time." The way I'm feeling now, I wonder whether if had backed up the registry that THAT restore wouldn't have failed too. Maybe I should become a Luddite.

My Work in "A Universe of Trouble"

I just got a shoutout of sorts from Rochelle Krause, who has masterminded a sci-fi web series called "A Universe of Trouble." She's featuring my stock music track "Mystery Suspense Theme."

With all the great people out there doing background and production music, I can't tell you what an honor it is that Rochelle chose my work for her project. More than that, it looks pretty interesting. Here's a look at Episode #1.

A Universe of Trouble—Ep01 from Rochelle Krause on Vimeo.

What's Happening: Week of May 8, 2017

I hope everyone enjoyed the Cinco De Mayo weekend. I for one am ready to jump into the new week with both feet.

I have yet more new intro music in the pipeline, and am hoping for approval early in the week. There's a set of "lifestyle-oriented" intros, another that has a very spacey jazz feel (though not as artsy as my "modern jazz" podcast intro, and finally a funky intro with a hint of breakbeat vibe. I did not use the word "podcast" in all of the titles this time around, but they will all (hopefully) appear in my Pond5 podcast music collection nonetheless.

INSTANT UPDATE: I just got a message from the curators at Pond5 indicating that my uploads have just been approved, so I will definitely be featuring them on my Twitter stream tomorrow (Monday the 8th in the US).

In addition to the new intros, I have one longer track (in this case "longer" meaning > :30) also premiering this week. It's a spacey kind of ambient track with lots of bells and fluffy synth pads in 5/4 time called "Infinite Wonder." I may wait to feature that one on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, sales of my stock/production music have improved now to the point where I'm giving serious thought to going all in on the music. (Thanks so much to all of you for making that possible!) Part of that will entail reviewing my social media strategy to better promote my work. Stay tuned for more on that in the next week or so.

So, lots to see and do. I hope you all have a great week, and remember your mom this Mother's Day.

It's Loopy Tuesday!

Today on my Twitter stream I'm featuring loops from across my Pond5 portfolio. These are all great backgrounds to use under your dramas, documentaries, vlogs and podcasts. I hope you have fun with this (and that I do too!).

If you're not already hooked up to my Twitter stream (what!?) you can find it near the top right of my blog page, or directly from Twitter. Thanks for stopping by!