FFmusic Dj

Trying to figure out the power of SH-201. Each anthem is one...

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 10:30:19 -0500

Trying to figure out the power of SH-201. Each anthem is one patch. Some of them are Utada’s tunes, guess which ;)

Releasing some old stuff, I remastered my Xenogears Dream Egg...

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 00:15:02 -0500

Releasing some old stuff, I remastered my Xenogears Dream Egg remix. One of my favorite songs :)

Releasing some old tunes. This one dates back to 2005. An...

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 16:43:14 -0500

Releasing some old tunes. This one dates back to 2005. An original song.

Made this song about 8 years ago; been too shy to release it....

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 03:58:43 -0500

Made this song about 8 years ago; been too shy to release it. Well enough of that, here is a hardcore Megaman Song

Old remix of Joe Cam re-mastered

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 15:35:18 -0500

Old remix of Joe Cam re-mastered

Sharing my Carl Sagan music on sound cloud.

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 09:01:41 -0400

Sharing my Carl Sagan music on sound cloud.

It’s finally finished! GO FFX!

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 23:02:49 -0400

It’s finally finished! GO FFX!

No clue why I didn’t post this here. I made this after...

Sat, 19 May 2012 14:04:48 -0400

No clue why I didn’t post this here. I made this after listneing to minimalism a few… hundred times

I posted this already but I don’t know why it hasn’t...

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 19:32:55 -0500

I posted this already but I don’t know why it hasn’t been posted here.

This song is actually inspired by the picture… I...

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:56:15 -0500

This song is actually inspired by the picture… I don’t know man, I just imagined him going around fighting crime

tjslater: Central catchment area #2, Singapore

Sun, 29 May 2011 22:04:55 -0400

tjslater:

Central catchment area #2, Singapore

I love this song. Thanks randy for helping me with this.

Sun, 29 May 2011 05:29:00 -0400

I love this song. Thanks randy for helping me with this.

Wow, this was in 2004 … so long ago … I hope to...

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:05:00 -0500

Wow, this was in 2004 … so long ago …

I hope to make music far exceeding the quality you hear now.

Man that was such a fun song to make too :)

Ring around the ROSE

Sun, 28 Nov 2010 02:14:00 -0500

Ring around the ROSE

Nothing explains what inspired me to make this except for that...

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 04:11:00 -0500

Nothing explains what inspired me to make this except for that picture…

Ooh wow … You guys, I haven’t made an original song...

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 00:44:00 -0500

Ooh wow … You guys, I haven’t made an original song in 2 years. So I am just so fucking happy I made a song.

It needs to be mastered of course but this is basically it.

I don’t know what I made…

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 03:31:00 -0400

I don’t know what I made…

A song I did a WHILE ago. I found vocals from a BT...

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:31:00 -0400

A song I did a WHILE ago. I found vocals from a BT remix competition. I made this for it. I had to vocode the vocals, made chords to match my song because the original song was NOT in the same key :) hehehe I love changing keys like that! It’s not the greatest song I ever made, but it’s kinda like chillout … in fact, it IS chill out.

… I miss working with vocals. I use to go crazy when friend would sing songs and give me the vocals to mess out with em.

My Last CD Purchase

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 11:50:00 -0400

I’m not even going to try to make a passionate argument against CDs; it’s 2010, and digital downloads are sweeping the nation. If you’re not taking advantage of the digital age, you’re missing out. A major shift in media is occurring and it’s inevitable.

It seems to me that no matter how much you want to deny this change, the idea of purchasing music digitally is far superior than the inconveniences presented by purchasing your favorite music in physical form. I see the future of media meccas like Best Buy, Gamespot, or any place that strictly sells any medium that can later be digitized. Why would I go to Best buy to purchase a music CD when I can download it, and for a cheaper price? Better yet, why pay anything at all when it’s much easier to listen to a whole album for free? Youtube anyone? Try Grooveshark.

It’s Like The Un-Boxing Of A New Toy!

Having said all that, a rarity occurred in my daily routine at Best Buy. An artist I had last listened to almost 10 years ago released a new CD that I was looking forward to. In an instant impulse, I snatched the CD, rushed to the counter, purchased it, and preceded to my car’s CD player, which I had neglected for the last two years since the purchase of the car. It had an iPod connector, so I was set on bringing digital music into my car. I forgot I even had a slot visible for CDs to be inserted into, let alone blank CD-Rs to fill with music, so the idea of inserting a new CD in my car excited me.

I tried to open the wrap around the CD, clawing at the edges of the case with my hand and dull teeth hoping to nibble enough plastic to remove the wrap off the case. Once done, I had to face the sticker wrapped around one of the edges. Ooh, right Music Industry, people still want to steal physical music CD’s, right, I forgot! The fact was, I hadn’t bought a CD in such a long time, so to go through the ritual of opening a new CD annoyed me. But alas, I removed all the useless plastic and opened the case.

A beautiful looking booklet was packed inside, printed with lyrics to the songs featured on the CD, and many wonderful sketches of the singing artist on each page of the booklet. It was beautiful but pointless to have; I am not going to be reading lyrics as I drive. Besides, I can type the name of any song on Google with ease, and then type “lyrics” to easily search anything— even production notes, it doesn’t matter. I must admit though, I did love the beautiful artwork on the CD, in the booklet, on the case; It was glossy, and beautiful. However, I didn’t purchase music for looks.

The Music, Oh The Music…

After having admired the case for 10 minutes, anxiety took over, making me pop the CD out of the case, and launch it straight into the car stereo. I heard music in my ears; the symphony from a song played, pumping the low bass too high and the high’s too low. My car would rumble with the sound of each drum beat, with the taping of that bass guitar, with the soothing chorus hitting the track. The audio quality was noticeable: had it been a digital download, I would have never noticed the clarity of all the instruments, all the notes, all the rhythms. I almost felt horrified to realize what digital download disposed of. Digital downloads may have deluded me to think that what I hear, as far as sound quality goes, is of minimum interest; that if I want a true audible experience, I’d attend the artist concert. This is true perhaps—or not; it’s really a personal preference I have no quarrels with.

Through the entire audible length of the music CD, I sat there in my car, listening, and eventually, as I drove around looking for excuses to keep listening, what happened to me was rare. This event almost never takes place anymore, but for me to take a chance, to purchase a CD full of music that could have all been garbage, instead turned into a treasure of musical tones. That is rare.

Every song from the first track to the last mesmerized me, reminiscent of a happier time, of what it was like to buy a CD filled with good music. I miss that time. I had made a purchase not knowing if what I had purchased would be good or bad, but purchased based on faith, in trust of the artist’s ability to render music that would justify the money spent. On usual occasions, I go to grooveshark to listen to the whole album, and then buy what I liked. Done. So to purchase something and have it be a good purchase without a preview was rare. I am not the only one that uses grooveshark or youtube to preview the entire song before its purchase, and the paranoia of purchasing a bad CD is the fault of the music industry, not mine.

It’s Not My Fault I Pirated

The negative experience with the purchase of CDs: this, the music industry did to themselves, starting with the following:

- Back in the late 80’s, the music industry was so bent on destroying Sony’s DAT recorders/players, it let the CD format slip by without a fight. The Industry sued Sony to stop DAT recorders from becoming accessible to the public with ease, and they won. Audiophiles can buy a DAT recorder today, but the price of the recorder will be the same as when the technology was first released. The industry didn’t understand the ability of digital media, it’s potential, it let music CDs slide because of it making their first big mistake; the irony was that all the suing over DAT was over duplication rights.

- When the music industry realized the potential of CD, it found the ‘gold’ hidden behind the sales of the CDs. (See the sales peak in the 90s/2000s.) This is when the music industry sold more trash than it knew what to do with. The formula to make money became simple; sign an artist, pay them minimum wages while taking the rights to their music, sell the music. Because of this, the music industry sold more CDs than it had any other formats of music in history. I don’t remember how many times I bought a CD for one song, and only listened to that one song because all the other songs were just a terrible waste of space. To acquire these terrible tracks along with that one track I did like was a bother, I’d rather not even listen to the CD at all. I stopped buying CD’s, but then… I discovered Napster.

- Napster happened to the music Industry. Oh joy! Thank you Napster, you not only saved me money but saved many many artists, who were ripped off by the music industry. It became beneficial for an artist to distribute music digitally, and develop a fan-base that attends their concerts; It’s where the artists profited the most. Using Napster, I was even able to discover new artists outside the mainstream, artists who were not even in Ameirca due to the music industry’s zealous claims of not finding them “marketable” in the propaganda machine they themselves created; it was wonderful to beat the system. When people started to download music through Napster, many artists claimed it was karma for all that the Music Industry had destroyed. Regardless of if you believe in karma or not, it’s hard not to agree that they deserved it.

The music industry had caused so much damage to music at that point, that by late 90s, it only made sense to pirate. I began to build a mp3 library around that time, and so did millions, perhaps billions of others as time passed into a new millennium.

I think that because of those three major things, the music industry has yet to make the same out of money it did on selling CDs.

Though I don’t pirate music anymore, I don’t consider purchasing CDs. With iPods, Zune players, combined with many forms of digital distribution available, it would seem idiotic to purchase a CD, because they have to be turned into digital formats anyways. It’s more work for the consumer.

For me, purchasing what I want, when I want, wherever I want, made me a very happy man. Never would I have to take trips to the music store, never would I have to make sure I attend the music store at store hours, never would I get odd looks from employees when I asked for an artist they had never heard of. It was a blessing. CDs are great for backup, but you’re fooling yourself if you think CDs are more accessable than MP3 players. I’d love to see you carry your 200 CD case wallet, filled all the way, while I carry my iPod with all of those CDs you’d carry, plus room to spare.

Many came to the rescue when the CD sales dropped, and the music industry ran out of ideas. Apple sold music in their Itunes store, and if they hadn’t standardized the price of a track (at $.99), I’d be paying a lot more for the CD with tracks I may not want. If you have a beef with digital download, you can join the group of people who think vinyl was a better format than tape cassettes and CDs, which in truth, it was.

The arguments used against digital download were the same arguments used against cassettes and CDs. Some did complain but no one cared. The big vinyls would have so many goodies to offer the masses, but convenience will always take a step up above quality. We all purchase music to listen to it; it’s as simple as that. Anything that is not relating to the ease of listening, the ease of compatibility, the ease of convinance, is automatically unconventional, and therefore irrelevant.

No, I wont be turning this CD I bought into a digital form and playing it off of my iPod. The quality will drop. Besides, I miss quality from music. If I rip the CD in a lossless compression, I’d have less space for other songs on my iPod, best if the music is left in the CD. I already think of CDs like the cassette player. Oh fun. This will be the last CD I ever buy simply because I want to remember how much fun I use to have listening to them.

What Does It Mean To Release A CD?

The music industry is not a place you should want to aspire to be a part of. Young artists should be taking great care and precautions in dealing with them. With a swift stroke of a pen, you become famous, and in less than 15 minutes, you’re replace. Music needs a push, it needs a change, and the zealous industry we currently have is not your friend. This is not a business of making music, it’s the business of making money. The only money you, as an artist can make is from preforming. That they can’t take away from you.

You artists should use today’s networking sites to take advantage of promoting yourselves. It’s very easy, and it’s free—in most cases at least. Aspire for something higher than the release of your music CD. Push the bounties of music, keep producing, keep preforming, turning music back into what it always was, the art of deliberately arrange symbolic elements in a way that influences and affects the senses, emotions, and/or intellect.

In The End…

I remember the time when I had a case full of music CDs. While I drove around, I’d flip through the CD case trying to find the CD I wanted to listen to. I’d be cautious, looking at the road while you turned I head over to give attention to the CD cases and back to the road, and I’d relate until I found what I was looking for. Some people would have 6 CD changer in their cars; how I’d envy them. I remember when I use to carry that large chunky CD player that now was portable. Most CD players, had that 8 second skip free feature which later turned into 25 then 45 second, I’d love that feature. I’d shake my CD player to make sure the feature worked. One CD player I had played music even when I’d pop the CD player lid open: it kept playing music because of that 45 second skip feature. I’d say, how that was so cool! I remember all of those things, some better than others, but desirable memories mostly. I will cherish them, in remembrance of the good times. I will cherish them in this CD, the last CD I’ll ever purchase.

"On the list of things we should be worried about, gay marriage is on page six after ‘are we..."

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:19:00 -0400

“On the list of things we should be worried about, gay marriage is on page six after ‘are we eating too much garlic as a people? …’”

- Lewis Black