Rhythm Diaspora!

I've just finished up a project with a group of fantastic dancers and musicians from the more traditional side of the arts spectrum. It's called 'rhythm diaspora' and it was a commission for the 2012 Oz Concert at the Government House Gardens by Kulcha, who run the event.

I was the music director and concept creator, and I assembled a team of some of the best traditional dancers and musicians in Perth. The piece focussed on the rhythm and dance connections between a range of these traditions. In exploring the connections between these traditions, we got to tell a few beautiful stories along the way, like the story of how the clave travelled from West Africa and became the backbone of Salsa music, to the story of how the Romani Gypsies carried north Indian traditions all the way from India to Spain and back again, creating Kathak and Flamenco in the process.

Without talking about it too much more, I hope that the video explains the process a little more - it's a mix of rehearsal footage at Artsource's Studio 42 and dress rehearsal footage from the event stage.

Skoolbo!

I recently completed the music for kids' iPad app for literacy, Skoolbo. It's currently slated for a March 2012 release. It was a really fun project, with lots of scope for creativity within the context of kids-friendly music. First come the menus, which were all based around the main opening menu theme:

Then comes the main level theme music:

'create a sound that has never been heard before...'

'create a sound that has never been heard before' from taalnaan on Vimeo.

This track was created using a number of nifty 'found objects', and some original instruments made by David Pye in the Nova Studio. These sounds include:

• The 'MegaFlex' (an old airconditioning duct housing);
• The 'Bowed Beastie' (some mounted fence wires played with a bass bow);
• The 'Whirlie' (an old favourite - made with old washing machine hose);
• and last, but not least, the didgeribone - a PVC pipe digeridoo which 'slides' its pitch like a trombone.

These sounds are all processed in Ableton, with a few extra samples from an Amon Tobin Maschine Kit thrown in for good measure.

This track was produced as an entry in the SoundCloud VFS 'make a sound that's never been heard before' Sound Design Competition.

Sound Design for Into the Shimmer Heat

Musical Sound Design for Contemporary Opera from taalnaan on Vimeo.

I recently created the Sound Design for the Contemporary Opera Into the Shimmer Heat. For more info on the Opera itself, please check out my previous post 'Taal Naan goes to the Opera'.

For all live sound/sample triggering work, I like using Ableton Live for its flexibility and musicality. For the Opera I created a soundscape in surround that followed the narrative of the Opera, that I could trigger live from the orchestra pit as part of my cues as a musician in the band. The main problem that needed solving was using Ableton for multi-channel surround audio, which it isn't designed natively to do.

For all you Ableton folks out there who are interested, I'm going to post a tutorial video very soon on some of the workarounds I created to solve this problem, using a little bit of Max for Live and some custom send automation. For now, there's a little bit of a highlights clip above.

Taal Naan Goes to the Opera

Steve and I were recently involved in the Contemporary Opera Into the Shimmer Heat, with music by David Pye and Lee Buddle and a libretto by Phil Thompson. It also featured, amongst a whole bevy of delicious artistes, the beautiful Divas (and keen Taal Naan fans) Sara Macliver and Fiona Campbell. You can see and read more about the full production at shimmerheat.com.au, otherwise check out the pics from the rehearsal and production process below.

bEat Salad is coming...

screenshot: www.beatsalad.com.au

My new kids' computer game/app is starting to take its first shape, basically as a pitch for some big-wig digital producers at the X-Media Lab being held in Perth next week. Head to the brand-spanking new website at www.beatsalad.com.au to get a bit of a taste.

The game is not built yet, we are basically trying to raise money to do that right now. My

production partners are Nick Lowe of letsmakegames.org (he's our game and web developer) and Simon Boxer, who's doing all the concept art and graphic design (www.simonboxer.com). Nick and Simon along with their team at gutsup have done a fab job of knocking together the splash site which basically contains the concept so far, some new concept art, and a little bit of 'gamification'.

We're currently looking for investors/interested stakeholders - if you think that's you then look me up... we're also looking for a children's television producer, I aim to pitch stage 2 (the beatsalad kid's TV show) to ABC before the end of the year... see more at www.beatsalad.com.au

New Music: 'Run Tings' and 'Connected' feat. Rythm Infinit

Finished these tracks about a month ago for the Hilltop Hoods Initiative. Hopefully we'll eventually turn them into something bigger, like a real EP! Meng did all the lyrics/vocals, I did all the music/production.

'Run Tings' is a kind of samba-hiphop freakout....

'Run Tings' Feat. Rythm Infinit by Josh Hogan [rustyjoe]

'Connected' also features Prita Grealy on vocals. More standard chilled hiphop fare....

'Connected' Feat. Rythm Infinit by Josh Hogan [rustyjoe]