Pitch to Pixel featured on Gamewave podcast

Let's blow some dust off around here! Whew!

So first things first: yeah, I said over and over again that I'd be doing something new. Well, it has now been over a year since PtP was released, so obviously.... I lied. Blah.

But, my promises were always made on certain assumptions... assumptions that were dashed! Actually, being majorly cryptic here, some of those assumptions being broken were actually good things! Like, perhaps, a less crushing need to make every possible cent that I can!*

Actually, I'm very much interested in working music back in to life again, but I'm just not 100% certain how yet. One of the things I learned when I put out PtP is that you have to be very careful about what you do as side work, which is what this has always been for me.

Anyway, back to the point: The fine people over at Gamewave promised me a podcast slot, and they did deliver! Here's the link to them:

http://www.iimusic.net/gamewave/50.mp3

I still get the very occasional sale trickling in, so still by all means spread the word. And I'm probably going to keep this blog around... I need some kind of "front" for my musical activities, after all. Who the heck knows what I'm going to do in the future, though!


*No, I didn't win the lottery or get rich or anything crazy. Let's just say I've just taken a few good steps away from the ledge!

waiting on apple

Busy day today, so here's a short post to update you on things (I assume you care, that is one of the underlying assumptions I make when I write posts here).

June is a potentially big month. It is the first month in which I can receive any payout from apple iTunes. There is a two month lag in between a purchase and when that is reported to CDBaby. So if you bought something in April, you'd get the sale in June. As 99.99999% of the known universe buys music this way, this is obviously a big deal.

I know at least one person who bought the album (pitch to pixel) on iTunes in April. So logic dictates that I should be getting that lovin' from apple any day now!

YouTube promos on Gonintendo

Big thanks to RMC from Gonintendo for once again giving me a hand. After getting that big swing in views on the Monster Hunter Battle Music, it was a little odd to see the other two tracks not quite get that traction, so I'm glad to get the assist!

So far it seems that my YouTube efforts have produced about 1800 views or so. Not amazing, but hopefully some of those people went on iTunes, since I see no action from CDBaby just yet (sniff, sniff!). C'mon people!

One thing of note to comment on, the idea of using Famitracker versus using soundchip emulators (the latter of which has been my method). Someone on the Gonintendo post said my stuff wasn't "real 8-Bit." I responded in the post, but I thought I should rap about that here awhile too.

Its a valid criticism. If you want the most authentic NES style music possible, you get yourself a real NES and manipulate the real, actual chip. Of course many people use a Gameboy, as  this is easily to mess with for obvious reasons.

My goals aren't quite in line with that, though. I want to make great music, period, and my circumstances and aesthetic preferences make 8 and 16 bit sounds part of my musical palette. It isn't a purist thing, in other words. I definitely want my music to invoke nostalgia, so a certain amount of authenticity is required. But my goals to not require perfect authenticity, especially when it involves restrictions that either hamper my ability to compose the music or hamper the actual sound, from a professional sound engineering standpoint.

So that is where I'm coming from. Obviously I have no problem calling my stuff "8-bit," and I guess I don't have a problem with people being persnickety about that claim. But for most people, close emulation with some concession for modern production techniques is probably good enough!

What I'm up to...

After the success of the first Monster Hunter tribute on YouTube, which got over 1100 views in a matter of days (as opposed to my original stuff, which hasn't even gotten that yet in a month), it seems obvious to me that I need to be pumping out these "promo covers" on a regular basis. I'm currently working on the Moga Village music from Monster Hunter Tri, and should have that done by Wednesday. Ironically, doing the covers is a bit more work, because I have to transcribe another composition, which is harder than just letting original music flow from your brain (at least for me anyway). But its good ear exercise.

New album out! Paragon - Patience

Finally, it's out! Patience is an album I recorded with my jazz rock band, Paragon, back in 2004. It sat in the can even though it was our best work, so I always felt bad about not releasing it. Thank you digital distribution, for making the process of releasing an album worldwide so darn easy.

Paragon was all about the hard rock/metal end of the jazz rock spectrum, influenced heavily by the Mahavishnu Orchestra and 1970's era Jeff Beck. These hard rock influences were held in check by the influences of the other primary composer in the group, saxophonist Matt Baumann. Those influences were wide ranging, from ECM jazz (no, not that ECM) to singer songwriters like the late Warren Zevon and Tom Waits.

What we wanted to do with Patience was come out and, to be blunt, kick some ass. The bookends to the album, Patience and The Gunslinger certainly do that! But in retrospect, it is alot of the quieter moments I find myself coming back to, especially the haunting "In A Lonely Place." We usually enjoyed putting in one "exploratory" number (which we did in our first album). For this one, we choose "A Short Expedition, No. 1," a tune that I had written way back in the beginning of Paragon's existence (as evidenced by the fact that its sequel, "A Short Expedition No. 2," is on our first album!).

My favorite guitar solo on this album is the one I did at the beginning of bassist Jason Gahler's tune, "Before One." It is some of my most crisp playing that I've ever recorded. But of course there is Ben Wolkins... freaking trumpeter extraordinaire, who lays down ATOMIC BOMB type solos. I'll always remember looking at the other guys in the band after he recorded that stuff; we were like, holy crap, this guy is a MONSTER player. He is also about the nicest guy you'd ever find.

Anyway, I could go on about this album for awhile, which I intend to, so I'd better save that for more posts later!

#1.... but how?

If you click to enlarge you'll see that this morning I was #1 on the CDBaby chiptune charts! YEAH!!!

Of course, I haven't recorded a sale since last week (my last recorded sale was from my Mom. Thanks Mom!). So I'm wondering how is it that my tracks keep climbing the charts?

Obviously one answer could be that perhaps there is a "timeout" on how long the sales count. In other words, if the sales for the other songs on the chart are older, maybe they "drop off the board," hence rising the chart position without any actual sales. Obviously I'd prefer it if I got real sales, of course (even breaking even, which I haven't done yet, would most certainly inspire more albums in the near future).  But I'm still very happy with this, as the CDBaby style page is where I get most of my web hits, outside of "direct reference" (which is how my web traffic report classifies it when you click a link in an email or directly enter it into your browser).

I actually emailed CDBaby today to ask about how they calculate their charts to get to the bottom of this. Its possible that they have sales they haven't reported to me yet, or their partners via their digital distribution program (iTunes, Napster, Verizon VCast, among many many others) have sales too. Now, I know I don't get paid from those services for awhile after purchase (for iTunes its supposed to be a couple of months of turnaround), but I don't mind that; I get a big cut out of those sales, so while "all things being equal" I would prefer you go to the CDBaby page and order there, I don't mind at all if people buy tracks from iTunes or other places.

Maybe CDBaby factors in *all* sales, even ones not on their site, which is possible since music submitted to CDBaby is digitally encoded (I think those are called "ISRC" codes or something), so they do show up in music industry sales charts. So something sold on iTunes would register as a sale on those charts, probably instantly, way before iTunes pays out the actual money from those sales.And, happily, I do know of folks who bought the album on iTunes (huge thanks to you folks... especially one who is a "great catch.").

In any event, I'm very grateful for the success the songs have had on the charts so far. Please do continue to support my efforts! I'd love to be able to make more Pitch to Pixel for you guys!

Update: Just heard back from the folks at CDBaby. They said that the chart is determined by a combination of sales and how many times the song is listened to. What isn't perfectly clear is by "listened to" they mean the sample you get when you go to the artist page. I'm thinking that's what it is (how can it be anything else?). Of course, that means lots of people are sampling the song, which is good... but more of you need to BUY IT!!! :-) 

It is finally here!!!

Pitch To Pixel Volume 1: A Collection of 8 Bit Video Game Inspired Music is finally out today on CDBaby! 

This is, of course, what this blog is about (well, that and my other music).


To celebrate, here is the full version of "Shooter," a track from my album, as provided by my youtube account. I'll have a few more of these to show you in the coming days! Hopefully they will inspire you to buy  the album or buy some tracks!