tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81403140435926291082024-03-18T20:58:17.397-07:00Sirloin WineMusic Meets CuisineUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8140314043592629108.post-92213832270858850092012-02-07T16:16:00.000-08:002012-02-07T16:17:05.936-08:00Father - The New Album and The Eternal Broth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio0MoKTcDepDOVuq3F2e547Q5jk_B1rrGx7uD-ikLaYwlzwM5qA4Xthst5WyU1VY2PhcbaHTdFoR3FkTCKiKkIpLhQmc2xdgUxIl8Tjpq_0rVSR16muYwLfCZ7qzlEMZ54v7im1CON_SwO/s1600/Father.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio0MoKTcDepDOVuq3F2e547Q5jk_B1rrGx7uD-ikLaYwlzwM5qA4Xthst5WyU1VY2PhcbaHTdFoR3FkTCKiKkIpLhQmc2xdgUxIl8Tjpq_0rVSR16muYwLfCZ7qzlEMZ54v7im1CON_SwO/s320/Father.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I have been working on the last few months on my latest music project, and today, it is finally released! It is out now on iTunes, Amazon and CDBaby, among many other digital music stores.<br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The new album is called <i>Father</i> and it is a departure from my first two previous albums, which focused quite a bit on food and using food as titles for the tracks.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><a name='more'></a><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">This time round, there is still some connection on food, but there is a short story which I have written that accompanies the album.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The short story is called "The Eternal Broth" and tells the story of the 2 Jin brothers and their dad, who happens to run a bak kut teh stall.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The music album comprises of 10 tracks which details the story in its different phases and events in chronological order.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The music was composed to be like a soundtrack to the story, and thus, "Brothers" is an innocent, almost harmless sounding track, whilst "Departure", which chronicles the dad's death, is sombre and melancholic.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">All in all, <i>Father</i> is my most fulfilling effort so far, and I was looking for just doing musical tracks based on food names, and by writing both a story and a soundtrack based on the story was both challenging and satisfying at the same time.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It is also a more consistent album, where I feel that every track is there for a purpose, and yet it still has a certain degree of variety of musical styles and genres.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">There is a little bit of guitar pop/rock, slight jazz, soul, blues and even orchestral strings thrown in. Some ethnic influences were also added.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">As before, this was initially written and recorded entirely on the iPad and Garageband, using a mixture of instruments and mixed loops available.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">This time, however, final mixing and mastering was done on the Mac Garageband as I wanted the highest quality sound and bit rate possible. Thus, the tracks will come off more vibrant than before.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">It was a great pleasure doing this, and with a story to go along, I hope this album is more substantial than the previous ones and will provide enjoyment and joy for its listeners.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I hope you guys will support it and enjoy it as much as I had whilst writing and recording this album.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">You can also download the iBook for free in the US store at this<a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-eternal-broth/id499272911?mt=11"> link</a>.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ianlow2">Click here</a> to download the album.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">This album is also dedicated to my dad.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8140314043592629108.post-15395331618504523462011-11-21T17:04:00.000-08:002011-11-21T17:04:34.549-08:00Making Videos on iPad Using iMovie<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-YcBayxLxYLwx070hSGn6QFe3gGpwtcfncYLRrT2HH6hx083mjs2cpyRpwTPQAgjAhbbb-f5VvqEUwAQJ9pS8IooOf88HStARcrEjYNZ4SInM2I8wziu8KTLFxTtqod34BPBRgauovqY-/s1600/imovie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-YcBayxLxYLwx070hSGn6QFe3gGpwtcfncYLRrT2HH6hx083mjs2cpyRpwTPQAgjAhbbb-f5VvqEUwAQJ9pS8IooOf88HStARcrEjYNZ4SInM2I8wziu8KTLFxTtqod34BPBRgauovqY-/s320/imovie.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Apart from the fabulous GarageBand app for iPad, there is also the equally amazing iMovie app that is available for both iPad and iPhone, and we have decided to conduct some classes on this as well.<br />
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With both iPad and iPhone able to shoot HD video clips, having the need to edit the footage on a mobile platform means creating finished video is faster than ever.<br />
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iMovie comes with a lot of built-in features that are on the Mac version, albeit it is not as full featured as the Mac one.<br />
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But you can still pretty much a lot of things here, including transitions, captions, adding music and soundtracks etc.<br />
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iMovie also comes with several built in themes that will do some jazzy graphics for you, though they are quite rigid in nature. Nevertheless, the ability to have it on a mobile is still very impressive.<br />
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Once you have done a video, you can also export in various resolutions and even email it or even upload to YouTube directly.<br />
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I have been shooting most of my food and music videos using this manner and so far, it has been very effective.<br />
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Below is a short video on learning how to make videos on iPad and it was shot, of course, and edited on iPad.<br />
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<iframe width="480" height="320" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Blmm8I3WcOc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8140314043592629108.post-72583194180177554692011-10-18T19:27:00.000-07:002011-10-18T19:27:58.304-07:00Learning Music on the iPad and GarageBand Video<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDRywubi4r9OUIRx1uVdBUulIdi7ODKqETRoKLXZ_Omy1or2Cg4ku8IUQHqzuMbPCxFRcl3_kq0nAHRnmBpXvzWG7e5-IdRscOl8-hDJSJNviJTMdXmkmjR4VRXBgT2EoXibDeEklvaI3C/s1600/Photo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDRywubi4r9OUIRx1uVdBUulIdi7ODKqETRoKLXZ_Omy1or2Cg4ku8IUQHqzuMbPCxFRcl3_kq0nAHRnmBpXvzWG7e5-IdRscOl8-hDJSJNviJTMdXmkmjR4VRXBgT2EoXibDeEklvaI3C/s320/Photo1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Recently, I was fortunate enough to meet up with the brilliant directors from InTune music school to work together to conduct music lessons on the iPad.<br />
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We will be rolling out some classes, soon for the coming holidays and the folks from InTune are very known here for teaching music in a more inspiring manner.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Though both directors are relatively young, they do have very good experiences in performing and composing music, especially pop music.<br />
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When we met, it was mutual that we were managed to think along the same plane and we saw learning music on the iPad as something that will appeal to a group of people that may not have music background at all.<br />
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To this end, we are hoping to reach more people in the coming months through the lessons we are hoping to provide here to bring music to a bigger mass.<br />
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We even did a video as a promotional tool to help spread the word.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="320" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bmDSmlwC3ZA" width="480"></iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8140314043592629108.post-3824154367338677862011-09-21T03:39:00.000-07:002011-09-21T03:39:46.159-07:00Goh Su Yong - A Singapore Music Treasure<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBJvic6LkROTH7f2N_0QjEENDCgWoVqop01nIFTKvmIUOw1I9dna40OMxWrtj9_WBKlJUlrcJwAmDN14gKN_xlgTZKKEQzRYyJZtA-MXb_i2TepUxhWKzxjezzjT8FG6PMooGW57gv0I-A/s1600/GohSY.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBJvic6LkROTH7f2N_0QjEENDCgWoVqop01nIFTKvmIUOw1I9dna40OMxWrtj9_WBKlJUlrcJwAmDN14gKN_xlgTZKKEQzRYyJZtA-MXb_i2TepUxhWKzxjezzjT8FG6PMooGW57gv0I-A/s320/GohSY.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Goh Su Yong was a gentleman I met during my TV interview, the reporter had wanted his views on how new technology is used in music, and how from a traditional perspective, would he be able to embrace such new technologies.<br />
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After that remarkable day, Mr Goh and I managed to get together a number of times at his music and school and attempted to collaborate together, and although it was difficult at first, we eventually manage to make some great music together.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>But before I go into the new music we have made so far, I would like to touch upon Mr Goh himself, and what a remarkable musician he is.<br />
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Mr Goh can play almost every traditional Chinese musical instruments out there, including some I have never heard of, including a very rare Moon Guitar.<br />
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He is also one of the few people left in Singapore that can repair such instruments, and it is this legacy that he wants to preserve.<br />
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I am very fortunate and privileged that he has asked me to work with him. You see, Mr Goh is also a very prolific compose, and has been writing music since the 70s!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht6KS4JZiZo_Wjn19nrDIBhcXniPi3I2rXLFY5AyLDRr79nBe8eBmhG1Ro_1gFoockiKDjlHu30gpA1w3j8JFH1eETuWaKekyjz4rKkaulU3jZBw4R_BC3NkG8SslpoE5E7Vj9J3KY0u3c/s1600/MoonGuitar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht6KS4JZiZo_Wjn19nrDIBhcXniPi3I2rXLFY5AyLDRr79nBe8eBmhG1Ro_1gFoockiKDjlHu30gpA1w3j8JFH1eETuWaKekyjz4rKkaulU3jZBw4R_BC3NkG8SslpoE5E7Vj9J3KY0u3c/s320/MoonGuitar.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Moon Guitar</td></tr>
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And it was his late grandfather's wish that Mr Goh would be able to carry on his legacy of music, and with that, I am proud to be able to help preserve this important musical heritage.<br />
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With that said, we have been working to record Mr Goh's original music using the iPad and I have been arranging it to make it more full and complete, and also more accessible to today's audience.<br />
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Some of the fruits of our labour can be heard on The Mooncake Melodies, and 2 of his other compositions, 天山行 can also be found in Five Elements Tea EP.<br />
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We are also working on a very special project for an important occasion for the end of the year, and hopefully we will be able to share this with you and let you savor the genius and talent that is Goh Su Yong.<br />
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To hear some of his music, go to the below link.<br />
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<a href="http://www.last.fm/music/Ian+Low/Five+Elements+Tea">http://www.last.fm/music/Ian+Low/Five+Elements+Tea</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8140314043592629108.post-52834896074313611552011-09-16T16:39:00.000-07:002011-09-16T16:39:43.648-07:00The Online Interview - iMerlion, Singapore's Best iOS Resource<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVVgnnmHPkKmfEg5IqCLea7ewFPPOxC_Ko2qUy_OHz1KnaxcYkmbCmb2fgPatfQZZqDQoTqCgK7e3Ji_ao060sep8IHt_dOIG-EtQ55aFpNdclpGNTwcQ_h9PFCQRUzuhO7Be2c1S072Fe/s1600/imerlion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVVgnnmHPkKmfEg5IqCLea7ewFPPOxC_Ko2qUy_OHz1KnaxcYkmbCmb2fgPatfQZZqDQoTqCgK7e3Ji_ao060sep8IHt_dOIG-EtQ55aFpNdclpGNTwcQ_h9PFCQRUzuhO7Be2c1S072Fe/s320/imerlion.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>My Silverfish coverage continued with a special online interview that I did with Singapore's best online site for iOS news and features, iMerlion.com<br />
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This news site covers basically everything on iOS, iPhone, iPad and Apple stories, and thus, it was a great privilege to have my own story there.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>It is run by Jimmy Yap, who is an excellent writer and editor and he suggested we do an online interview through an email.<br />
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Basically, how that worked was he sent me a list of questions which I answered and thereafter, he would do a couple of follow ups, which was interesting and quite simple.<br />
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Nevertheless, he captured the essence of making Silverfish very well and all in all, I was very delighted with his article, which he did write very well.<br />
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He also did a great job mentioning about my food blog and how a local Singaporean managed to get his music up on iTunes.<br />
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Do visit his site at <a href="http://www.iMerlion.com/">iMerlion.com</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8140314043592629108.post-32987676651587123172011-09-13T17:27:00.000-07:002011-09-13T17:38:51.114-07:00Tips For iPad GarageBand - Using Loops<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWg1mi4pZjXjGUUcQsfYcNo4Yg-Rea1mVuEKYCxamh-AsRKgd9HPl-UflaURdVjHyolzC_4q9_1Nqep348P_wV6aVX0k-i5PMSg1W5_c-Za9UTbs_aPfagjv1Is4ILUBiSt2GAxz6FiugK/s1600/loops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWg1mi4pZjXjGUUcQsfYcNo4Yg-Rea1mVuEKYCxamh-AsRKgd9HPl-UflaURdVjHyolzC_4q9_1Nqep348P_wV6aVX0k-i5PMSg1W5_c-Za9UTbs_aPfagjv1Is4ILUBiSt2GAxz6FiugK/s320/loops.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
In the coming weeks, I will be also providing this series of GarageBand's tips and tricks here on this blog.<br />
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Most of these will be culled from my experience in making music using this incredible app, and hopefully, provide an insight on the process of creating great music using the iPad in this manner.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Today, I would just like to highlight the use of loops within the app. If you can learn learn to handle this feature, I believe it will greatly enhance your music if you can manage to use it wisely.<br />
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Like its Mac counterpart, the iPad GarageBand comes pre-installed with a library of about a hundred or more loops.<br />
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Granted, it is not as rich or as much as what the Mac version can provide, but for a mobile device, the loops provided here are more than sufficient.<br />
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Using loops is really easy. You can choose from a range of categories, from drum kits to guitars and synths, and once you have selected one, just touch and drag into the console view as a new track.<br />
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You can edit the loop as you would any other instrument track, meaning you can cut, copy, trim and move according to your requirements.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwz7afW0xa_AWwa11LhO719XnJ5kpWxznYQ4NbQWzN-WHYa7K9A5U8DziCVheajgEf7YICT8ami4gz9zcx3nFEkxQgdA3k0iWJrca5kgQeFY03rySQadzhqBVggFKZj6RUHKNi5nSc391W/s1600/loops2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwz7afW0xa_AWwa11LhO719XnJ5kpWxznYQ4NbQWzN-WHYa7K9A5U8DziCVheajgEf7YICT8ami4gz9zcx3nFEkxQgdA3k0iWJrca5kgQeFY03rySQadzhqBVggFKZj6RUHKNi5nSc391W/s320/loops2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wide Range of Drum Loops</td></tr>
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The one thing I use loops more is probably the excellent drum tracks here. But there is also a caveat, in the sense that you cannot be as flexible as you would with touch or smart drums.<br />
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However, you can combine different loops within a track, so you can still mix and match drum patterns and drum fills using loops, but it will be somewhat tedious.<br />
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Whilst the touch and smart drums do a very good job of reproducing drum sounds, the loop drums add another dimensional of authenticity.<br />
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I tend to combine both loop and smart/touch drums to provide the ideal drum track, but then, you just have to monitor how many tracks you use up in order not to compromise on your other instruments.<br />
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The synth and guitar loops are also excellent, but I tend to use them more as embellishments rather than actual rhythm tracks as they might not be right for every track.<br />
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My final advice on using loops here is simply not to be over indulgent. Use them correctly, and the results will be quite stunning.<br />
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So, enjoy using loops and give it a go! </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8140314043592629108.post-22234755456782396112011-09-11T18:32:00.000-07:002011-09-11T18:32:15.040-07:00The 2nd Radio Interview - With Executive Chef, Sheldon Tan From the Pan Pacific Hotel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz6fp4Zy7b3zhuD66o75tfywSbPTbFnMiW8VTy73Ok5yl5Gs2WVs7HjmiQLYoTDo3xgtsHq1Em9BogQVBliTzqkouGO3TEp8jaHQN_QsPr74PZU0C_sI_drm5jDi1_4TrqYOz4NY1-ivg3/s1600/958.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz6fp4Zy7b3zhuD66o75tfywSbPTbFnMiW8VTy73Ok5yl5Gs2WVs7HjmiQLYoTDo3xgtsHq1Em9BogQVBliTzqkouGO3TEp8jaHQN_QsPr74PZU0C_sI_drm5jDi1_4TrqYOz4NY1-ivg3/s320/958.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Right after my 1st radio interview on Capital 95.8FM, DJ Teck Chon graciously invited me to go on air again, this time with executive chef, Sheldon Tan.<br />
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And the reason for appearing together with Sheldon was related to mooncakes. You see, my whole inspiration for creating The Mooncake Melodies came from Sheldon himself.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Back in July, I was very privileged to be invited by chef Sheldon and his amiable pastry chef, Winnie to sample some of their mooncake creations for 2011.<br />
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One of the mooncake flavors, Apricot Brandy, impressed me so much that I wrote one track entitled Apricot Brandy, and dedicated it to Sheldon and his wife.<br />
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But, beyond that, I used that as the platform to complete the entire album which you have read about earlier. And it was such that we both appeared on radio to talk about our "collaboration".<br />
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Normally, you would think of collaborations as between different musicians, but not between different craftsmen. But, the thought of pairing music with mooncakes, as you would chinese tea, seemed so natural that we just had to share it with the greater public.<br />
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Again, Teck Chon and his sidekicks did a great job settling us in for the talk show and Sheldon had the opportunity to talk about himself and his creations.<br />
<br />
I had a minor part this time round, but was glad to share the stage with Sheldon, and who knows, we may yet come up with more music and food pairings in the coming months.<br />
<br />
I leave you with the interview itself.<br />
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<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F23136252&show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=125c7e">
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F23136252&show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=125c7e" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <a href="http://soundcloud.com/ianlow32/ian-low-and-sheldon-tan">Ian Low and Sheldon Tan Interview</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/ianlow32">ianlow32</a>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8140314043592629108.post-12235209814507753992011-09-10T17:56:00.000-07:002011-09-10T22:41:58.359-07:00The Mooncake Melodies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<as 2011's="" about="" approach="" are="" contribute="" festival,="" festival="" i="" in="" like="" mid-autumn="" my="" own="" this="" to="" way.="" we="" would="" year's="">My musical instincts have led me to write and record a special musical album for this occasion called The Mooncake Melodies.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8140314043592629108" name="more"></a>It is a collection of 10 instrumental tracks that are uniquely Chinese and Oriental in nature. </as>It also features a cover of Andy C and the New Horizon's "Oriental Dance" and I hope he will like my version of his amazing tune.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Andy was actually featured with me during my interview on Channel 8 news and has written some fantastic music combining modern and classical Chinese music undertones.<br />
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In addition, there is also a cover of Goh Su Yong's Autumn Harvest, which features him playing er-hu. It was an amazing track, and he is really one of the best er-hu instrumentalists out there.<br />
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I also took one of his other compositions, and added my part and turned it into a collaborative composing effort, Autumn Glory, which opens the album.<br />
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Mr. Goh is a supreme composer, and writes some of the most moving Chinese music I know. I really thank him for allowing me the privilege to work with him and letting me arrange and produce his music.<br />
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There will be more collaborations with Mr. Goh in the future, and I will slowly bring our efforts so far to fruition in the coming months.<br />
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In the meantime, I include a live streaming of the entire album for your listening pleasuring as we celebrate this year's Lantern Festival.<br />
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<embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="285" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F1101103&show_comments=true&auto_play=false&show_playcount=true&show_artwork=true&color=125c7e" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <a href="http://soundcloud.com/ianlow32/sets/the-mooncake-melodies">The Mooncake Melodies</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/ianlow32">ianlow32 </a> </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8140314043592629108.post-11717578994057771312011-09-08T19:27:00.000-07:002011-09-09T07:44:32.594-07:00The Radio Interview - Silverfish Featured on MediaCorp's Capital 95.8 FM<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN1NMaAfrm2AceLfpQSvg3iZxcMy7bI9f70h6mMGGS-4ijpxjpr5F6aKfZqCl6Z6qU8qSmJjGvjzfnehrmOD1vmPUq-usqHLlf-8zUsJsjUEJjcMAKb42zgEFfVOPjqJ2XxplF7W3_ttFV/s1600/958.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN1NMaAfrm2AceLfpQSvg3iZxcMy7bI9f70h6mMGGS-4ijpxjpr5F6aKfZqCl6Z6qU8qSmJjGvjzfnehrmOD1vmPUq-usqHLlf-8zUsJsjUEJjcMAKb42zgEFfVOPjqJ2XxplF7W3_ttFV/s320/958.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
After my appearance on Channel 8 News, I was once again invited to appear on a radio station, this time for Capital 95.8 FM.<br />
<br />
This station is a Chinese and Mandarin station, and is widely popular among the Singaporean folks who are driving to work every morning, and I happened to appear on the 8.30am slot.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>This timeslot is akin to a prime time slot, as most drivers will be tuning in at this time on their way to their offices.<br />
<br />
The talk show was led by a very popular local DJ, Ong Tech Chon and assisted by Yi Xin and Vivian. Together, they made me feel very much at ease as this was also my first appearance on radio.<br />
<br />
And unlike the news appearance, this was all "live" and I had to also converse in Mandarin, which to me, was quite a tough feat.<br />
<br />
On the show itself, they interviewed me on my musical background, and how I got into iPad and GarageBand, and I was more than happy to share my history. This was also pretty much documented in my earlier article on Technorati.<br />
<br />
One interesting snippet as Tech Chon challenged me to compose a track based on Durian, and I did in fact do that after the show and presented to him later. He was quite impressed!<br />
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They were also kind enough to broadcast my music throughout the show, and that to me, was a great thrill. I never imagined that my music would get aired on radio, and now it has finally come true!<br />
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At the end of the day, what came through was how fantastic the 3 DJs were, and how nice they are too off air. We had a chance to have breakfast sometime after that, and Tech Chon, in particular, came across as a very humble and genuine person.<br />
<br />
He also has a great fondness for classic food and culture, and I sense that he has a great affinity to preserve this heritage of Singapore culture and goodness. I only hope I can contribute in some small way.<br />
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Finally, I leave you with the actual interview itself.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8140314043592629108.post-30303941937111803502011-09-07T08:00:00.000-07:002011-09-09T17:01:28.271-07:00The TV Interview - Silverfish Featured on Channel 8 News<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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When I completed Silverfish and was in the midst of putting it on iTunes and Amazon's digital stores, I was very fortunate enough to get a call from the media to do a television interview.<br />
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It was specifically for Channel 8's prime time news, and they were very keen to talk to me on the making of the album and how I managed to end up on iTunes. <br />
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<a name='more'></a>This was back at the end of June, and I never got around to blog about it on my food blog as this piece did not feel right on a food site.<br />
<br />
Thankfully, I have this new music blog here and I thought I would like to share a bit on the interview itself, which was obviously a very exciting event for me.<br />
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The whole thing was arranged literally in less than a day, and they wanted to film it almost the very day they called me up. We ended up in a Chinese dance school utilizing one of their music rooms for the shoot.<br />
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As this was for Chinese news, the first thing that came across my mind was my poor command of Mandarin, and I was basically struggling to learn the Mandarin terms of the things that I was going to talk about.<br />
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Thankfully, the crew from MediaCorp were really professional and put me to ease almost instantly. Zhao Wenbei, the presenter and interviewer, was a class act.<br />
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Within minutes, she swiftly briefed me on the questions that she wanted to put forth and was thoroughly keen to try my iPad at the same time.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgymtaHfP23OH8GyGkLXj2EQin6kXrRzkXLxjZtEkUgYmytqvh-ZW2gA7kn-sHa8pqPYkjZweCzlJssKNpTJcAMB9bb67LlRWd7gJ8HJAMgcVvqjdPUxHUObNevnlAZBa8tiufbfTt7TvPO/s1600/tv2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgymtaHfP23OH8GyGkLXj2EQin6kXrRzkXLxjZtEkUgYmytqvh-ZW2gA7kn-sHa8pqPYkjZweCzlJssKNpTJcAMB9bb67LlRWd7gJ8HJAMgcVvqjdPUxHUObNevnlAZBa8tiufbfTt7TvPO/s320/tv2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Brilliant Cameraman</td></tr>
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The cameraman and sound man were equally brilliant, and they really knew their craft well. Getting the angles and lighting setup very quickly and ensuring the sound was setup correctly at the same time.<br />
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For the interview, I was also introduced to Mr Goh Su Yong, a master of Chinese musical instruments and a brilliant composer himself. I will touch upon the venerable Mr Goh in future posts as he needs an entire blog to go through!<br />
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Mr Goh was on hand to understand and learn how new technology like the iPad can combine with traditional Chinese music to produce something new. Andy Chia, from the New Horizons was also present to talk about using iPad versus a professional recording studio. <br />
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All in all, the interview was fun and exciting and a definite first for me. And when I saw the final segment, it was really a moment for me It is not everyday you get to be featured on national television. On prime time news no less!<br />
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I leave you with the actual news clip. Pardon the poor quality as it was literally shot from a hand held iPhone.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8140314043592629108.post-24575574131907533972011-09-07T06:21:00.000-07:002011-09-07T07:38:14.124-07:00Why I Started This Blog<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimjlz5MSwR85u2C-mShJuva1VVmWGiuU328qWyHWfTouS8qFZYnYliei2xDXgpiH88-J9gLyKU7NlLznRyH88kaqc34i2wqXqGCMfKBjMHVW0jSeAlQDYyYb-MNpqeOmKokOF96YzrSoDK/s1600/maul.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimjlz5MSwR85u2C-mShJuva1VVmWGiuU328qWyHWfTouS8qFZYnYliei2xDXgpiH88-J9gLyKU7NlLznRyH88kaqc34i2wqXqGCMfKBjMHVW0jSeAlQDYyYb-MNpqeOmKokOF96YzrSoDK/s320/maul.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Why indeed? For one thing, my other existing blog, The Silver Chef, was already covering more than just food, which was it's original intention. And in the midst of documenting my culinary adventures, it felt right to start a new one.<br />
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One that focuses solely on another of my passion, that of music. Both the appreciation of it, and the process of making it. And as my music journey is about to take off the ground, it also felt right to begin a new blog to document this.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>So, what will this blog be actually covering?<br />
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In case you have not realized, Sirloin Wine actually refers to the title of my second album, which I will talk about it in another post. Silverfish, which you might have read, was my first attempt in making a music album, a culmination of sorts of 20 years of trying to achieve this.<br />
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And thanks to Apple and iPad, I have managed to accomplish this part of my ambition. It certainly feels very satisfying. And instead of resting on my laurels, I also wanted to see how much I could push composing and recording on this new platform.<br />
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Thus, this blog will also be detailing how I go about making music, be it writing it or recording it, and I will also try to cover the various aspects of using the iPad and GarageBand to do so.<br />
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In addition, after recording Silverfish, I was featured in the local media through television and radio, and also some other blog sites, and I also want to use this blog to talk about some of these exposures that I was fortunate to have received.<br />
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I also had the privilege to work with some other musicians, and I also want to use this opportunity to highlight them as well. They may not necessarily be in the same genre as I am in, but it was and still is a great pleasure to meet and to have collaborated with them.<br />
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Other than Silverfish and Sirloin Wine, I have also recorded quite a fair amount of material, including an entire album of Mandarin pop covers, a mooncake musical album, some remixes and my collaborative works.<br />
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Most of these will not be put up on iTunes, and thus, I want to use this site to feature those music and stream them or offer them as free downloads. Quite frankly, with the iPad, I have been writing and composing at a very lightning pace, and I hope to feature as much of those material here.<br />
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I am also considering imparting my knowledge to those who are keen to learn music, seeing how effective the iPad can be as a learning device. With the touch instruments, it is so much easier to get people without any musical background to play music.<br />
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With that said, I will continue to put out music albums that are food and cuisine related, as that has been my unique angle so far. My love for food and music is thus merged here.<br />
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Where music meets cuisine.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8140314043592629108.post-32730555993902042922011-09-06T22:29:00.000-07:002011-09-10T17:56:37.783-07:00Silverfish - My First Album<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Originally published in The Silver Chef blog in late June 2011.<br />
<br />
In my previous posts, I have always mentioned how much I use the iPhone
to take pictures and video, and even edit entire videos on the Apple
device. Well, recently I have gotten an iPad ...<br />
<br />
And Steve was not wrong when he said that the iPad is a magical device.
Yup, it really is amazing at the amount of things you never thought you
could, or even wanted to do on this Apple tablet.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>And the one app that has fascinated me to no end is
Apple's own GarageBand app. I have always had a fondness for making and
creating music, but never would I thought that I would be doing it on a
tablet!<br />
<br />
The thing that impresses me most with GB is that it allows very
authentic sounding music and tracks to be created without even plugging
real music instruments.<br />
<br />
And with that in mind, yours truly now has another project to follow up.
The food video chronicles have so far been really satisfying and really a
wonderful creative outlet for me. Now, I want to produce an entire
soundtrack relating to food.<br />
<br />
So, what I hope to accomplish in the next few weeks is to create a CD's
worth of music with each track named after a food. That would be really
fun and I think, add to what I have been doing on this blog and videos
already.<br />
<br />
For those of you with iPad who remember how your parents put through
music or piano lessons and have not touched music for awhile, I urge you
to try out this app. It is really that magical! <br />
<br />
Just to give you a sampling, I have already completed 3 tracks, namely
Ribeye (simply becos Pauline loves beef!), Lemongrass (an uplifting
jaunty tune) and Abalone (oriental balladry). Below is Abalone.<br />
<br />
I hope you guys will enjoy it!<br />
<br />
Update:<br />
<br />
Since my original post on this, things have been moving very quickly as
not only have I completed the entire music album, entitled <i>Silverfish</i>, it has also been uploaded and being sold on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody and many other music stores worldwide.<br />
<br />
I had written another article for Technorati which can be found here <a href="http://technorati.com/technology/gadgets/article/creating-the-first-instrumental-food-music/">http://technorati.com/technology/gadgets/article/creating-the-first-instrumental-food-music/</a>.<br />
<br />
And most excitingly, I was featured on Channel 8 news where I was interviewed about the album, my food blog and how iPad
can allow music amateurs to create professional sounding music.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8140314043592629108.post-8578557760066840902011-09-06T22:17:00.000-07:002011-09-07T06:29:28.787-07:00Creating the First Instrumental Food Music Album on iPad and GarageBand<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This article was originally published at Technorati in late June. It basically documented how I came about to using the iPad and GarageBand to create my first collection, Silverfish.<br />
<br />
Seeing as this is the beginning of a new music blog for me, and also to give new readers a sense of what I have accomplished so far, I present you this article for your reading pleasure. There is also a newer article focusing on Sirloin Wine, my second album, which I will publish later.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>I remember the early years when I was forcibly told to learn the Yamaha electone organ, something which I dreaded every weekend when my music teacher came to my house to haunt me with unrelenting musical homework.<br />
<br />
Funny thing is, over the years as I look back on those times, I appreciate just how valuable those lessons have proven to me now.<br />
<br />
Fast forward to June 2011, and now we live in a world where gadgets dominate every part of our lives. Apple, Andriod, iOS, iPhone and iPads are used almost everywhere, from work to play to news and information.<br />
<br />
I have never been a talented musician, nor close to being a decent one. And I know purists would frown on using technology to perform music of any order, but the stark truth is that technology can enable even the most humble of musicians to perform more than just adequately.<br />
<br />
And this is what I have discovered with the iPad. Using multi-touch and beautiful graphics to depict real musical instruments, you can be a virtual one man band on a mobile device.<br />
<br />
But beyond that, Apple's GarageBand can actually let you record, sequence and edit your music, all on the go. Maybe Steve Jobs is right, it is 'magical' in a sense that it can bring music creation back to the masses.<br />
<br />
While you do require some basic music knowledge to make even decent music on the iPad, it does not require you to be a very proficient one. Instead, it challenges you to create the music that you think you can always make, but never have the ability to do so on real musical instruments.<br />
<br />
A couple of weeks ago, I set out to do an entire instrumental music album using only GarageBand on the iPad, without any other external instruments. I thought I would take a month or two, instead it only took me literally 6 days.<br />
<br />
Part of the speed in accomplishing this was simply I was able to compose on the go, and never losing that one moment of inspiration when you are outside and having to rush back home to a piano to get that melody that you are so afraid to lose.<br />
<br />
I also wanted to do something unique, thematically, as I am an avid food blogger, and thus I decided to compose themes and tunes based on food and cuisine. I call it <i>Silverfish</i>, and each track is supposed to reflect on the food and also, some of its cultural background which I attempted to replicate musically.<br />
<br />
"Sauvignon", for example, is supposed to evoke a smooth, jazzy atmosphere, while "Sashimi" fused some traditional Japanese-like melody with a modern funky twist and bass line. <br />
<br />
The idea to do this on the iPad seems to work almost perfectly. With its good range of musical instruments and smart instruments, you could literally lay down a bass and drum track in minutes.<br />
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I was then able also to put together chord structures and decide how the track would begin and end, and building the melodies and overlays on top of it was simply a breeze.<br />
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Yes, when you have multi-touch, everything becomes so much easier. I was never able to get into GarageBand on the Mac simply because it was still too laborious, and lack a certain 'human' aspect until the iPad's multi-touch interface came along.<br />
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Now with GarageBand on the iPad, hitting a 'live' drum set feels more realistic, and playing keyboards and piano allows you to play it with accent thanks to the built-in gyroscope.<br />
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Editing using multi-touch was equally simple and elegant , pinching and zooming in on specific parts of your track. Cutting, copying and pasting portions of the music have also never been easier.<br />
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But lest anyone thinks it is also over simplistic, GarageBand still requires you to take some time to learn the interface, and you will probably need a couple of days to fully get used to the sequencer and editing process.<br />
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The good thing is, once you learn the basics, you will be ready to make really high quality music and GarageBand allows you to email or publish to your iTunes. It will certainly make a great party conversational topic.<br />
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Is it perfect? Of course not. But it is certainly powerful and very user-friendly. I would like to see more instruments in future updates, and having a mixer would be just ideal.<br />
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Exporting AAC files in higher quality would also be nice, though there is a workaround now to export your GarageBand files/projects to the Mac version and continue working from there.<br />
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For now, GarageBand for the iPad is really one of the reasons the iPad is really so 'magical'.<br />
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Would-be musicians will rejoice at the ease of creating professional sounding music, whilst professionals will probably find this useful as a music sketchbook on the go.<br />
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Either way, those lessons so many years ago have really come through now. I leave you with my original album of music, dedicated to food - Silverfish.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8140314043592629108.post-19299865253163041512011-09-06T21:52:00.000-07:002011-09-06T22:00:08.346-07:00Introduction - Welcome to Sirloin Wine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEineCf_H1gs4PvilyV1QpL15H3Vb0pBYpf1LMcs7D0gahZ5RB_tshLCQ5cIPuAaqgQ_EDQa2wRpYwgZpmXiQq69vZPJszBO2sJFutBLWSU6MGwUA1R59f6xoiJGSw8OJR764iqEWbXuDX1P/s1600/Ian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEineCf_H1gs4PvilyV1QpL15H3Vb0pBYpf1LMcs7D0gahZ5RB_tshLCQ5cIPuAaqgQ_EDQa2wRpYwgZpmXiQq69vZPJszBO2sJFutBLWSU6MGwUA1R59f6xoiJGSw8OJR764iqEWbXuDX1P/s320/Ian.jpg" width="320" /></a>Welcome to the Sirloin Wine blog! Some of you may be very familiar with my ongoing food blog, The Silver Chef, and some of you may be new to me.<br />
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For all things food and culinary, I would urge you to visit my other blog as it covers a lot on Singapore food and cooking, but this site covers mainly my musical exploits, which is only something I have just started.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>I have been dabbling with music on and off for many years, albeit in a non-professional manner.<br />
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It was only recently that I did something quite serious and substantial, and that was to really make an album.<br />
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And, the cool thing was, I did it all on an iPad and it was all food themed. Hence, the creation of this blog.<br />
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So, rather than talk about it, listen to the banners on the right of here and you will get to hear streaming audio of my first 2 albums, and you will get the links to download them from CDBaby and iTunes.<br />
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Have fun listening and I will talk more about my music and music creation in the coming posts!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0