# My New Video Blog



## Daniel James (Apr 1, 2010)

Hey Guys,

I just started my own little video blog thing, its more a way for me to ramble about what I am doing so I can look back after the project and see where my mind was at, and what I can learn.

If you guys want to check it out, or even follow it here is the link.

NEW
May 14th: Writing Percussion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdXKzdBgRQE

May 13th: Mental Perception
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH9rXlrP6kQ

May 11th: Dynamics + Track Listing 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPvzRafa5mg

May 5th: MegaMan Film Finished 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-OKdBMD_7Q

May 2nd: Mega Man OST Preview The Fall Of Wiley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRuwKdEq0c8

April 29th: Ambiance + Sampling 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDTd-yh-dI4

April 27th: More Action Music + Who's Theme? 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GHrGL9Zolc

April 26th: Action Music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FtTbHE5CtM

April 22nd: Balancing Music And Sound + Megaman Study Score 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_99rlWaJ6Y

April 21st: Sound Design Scene + Be Yourself 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8nQgnddYRw

April 20th: Mysterious Characters + System Crashes 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QvGUMUsprc

April 19th: Thematic Melody Adjustment 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHHlWUlEpi8

April 18th: OST Montage 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBUBZ48bDzM

April 16th: Family Theme Variations 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsqC2uqQe-k

April 15th: A Taste Of Action 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqkVDFvAKEk

April 14th: Infiltration + Sample Libraries 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7ZoxvwEEEQ

April 13th: Elements + Background 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMAt-mgOpl0

April 12th: Foreshadowing The Future + Questions 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2JcEGJVIfo

April 9th: Conceptual Modulations + Ohm Studio 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9gttYfhfa0

April 8th: Scoring The Montage + Tough Decisions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-ABfBKdvHw

April 7th: Scoring The Villain + Creative Sound Design 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_Xn5WgOJfQ

April 6th: Sampling and Working In Ableton Live 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYO5DPjexAQ

April 5th: Productivity + Comedy Cue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z01T-WWxofY

April 4th: Working To Picture + Easter 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YARNaCpWMys

April 3rd: Approaching a cue and Harmonizing themes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJrnDyhMWsI

April 2nd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P7aQL200aM

April 1st
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqhb9Kg5st0
*part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_owFvR4VJ28

Dan

P.S I would love to see some of your video blogs if you have them.


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## Justus (Apr 1, 2010)

Wow, first uStream and now this!
Thanks for for providing an insight into your work, Daniel!
Looking forward to the next episodes.



PS: Love your accent BTW 8)


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## requiem_aeternam7 (Apr 1, 2010)

Dude, midway through I was like "Why am I watching this shite?" Then your themes kicked in and I was like wicked!! As long as you keep your video blogs interspersed with your actual music then I think it'll be awesome cus you're really talented and I love hearing your stuff. 
P.S. also it's a nice diversion to hear the accent otherwise I'd stab myself in the ears if I was listening to a typical guy from the U.S. where I'm from.


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## requiem_aeternam7 (Apr 1, 2010)

p.s. perhaps try to experiment with different lighting. It's a tad off putting and depressing to see you sitting in that badly lit dungeon (because it reminds me of my own depressing dark scoring Lair haha)


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## Daniel James (Apr 1, 2010)

Haha thanks guys... I got permission from the director to use music from the score in my blogs so I will def be putting some more in future posts.

Haha Justus, I will be getting back to ustream really soon, I got really busy really quickly...however I have some plans...some epic plans 

Dan


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## Justus (Apr 2, 2010)

Daniel James @ Fri Apr 02 said:


> Haha Justus, I will be getting back to ustream really soon, I got really busy really quickly...however I have some plans...some epic plans



=o


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## Daniel James (Apr 2, 2010)

Daaay 2 in the big brother house.....lol if you havnt seen the UK version of Big Brother that would have gone right over your heads. Anyways, just uploading my blog for today. Will post link when its processed :D

Dan


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## Daniel James (Apr 3, 2010)

Hey guys, video blog 3 is online :D

April 3rd: Approaching a cue and Harmonizing themes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJrnDyhMWsI


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## Daniel James (Apr 4, 2010)

Number 4 :D 
April 4th: Working To Picture + Easter 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YARNaCpWMys


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## gsilbers (Apr 4, 2010)

cool. 

u might be the only one or small group who uses ableton live as a main daw for filmscoring. very cool. u might wanna run the blog or post in the ableton forums to see if ableton (the company) can put u in thier main page for promoting live in filmscore and maybe give u some sort of sponsorship. or at least promote the film as well. and give u more exposure. 

im used to seeing ableton live used as a slave for sound design/ working with loops within film-scoring in the media venture circles. 
the times ive used it has been great. i come up with stuff i wouldn't of by just using logic or pro tools. u could do the same but the way of thinking is different which leads to cool stuff. 
live def has a different magic in terms of music sound design and working creatively with loops.


also, maybe get ishowu program or video screen recorder to see closely what u are doing on screen. dont mind your face  no offense but more interested whats inside the screen


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## Daniel James (Apr 4, 2010)

Haha ok I'll try adding some screen captured stuff in there, I normally do these blogs when im on a break from working, so I record in one take (hence all the fucking up) then just upload it direct.

There is a fine line between video blog and tutorial video, but I can throw some stuff in I guess haha.

I'll see what I can do tomorrow.

Dan


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## requiem_aeternam7 (Apr 4, 2010)

Gsilbers, how do you know about remote control prod. guys using Ableton? Just curious ...and what is it about ableton that makes working with loops so much better? I haven't used it myself.

Dan I'm lovin the vlog, keep it up I've watched all of them so far and look forward to it everyday. I'm looking forward to hearing more music interspersed as well though. p.s. I checked out the movie it looks cool (the trailer)


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## gsilbers (Apr 4, 2010)

requiem_aeternam7 @ Sun Apr 04 said:


> Gsilbers, how do you know about remote control prod. guys using Ableton? Just curious ...and what is it about ableton that makes working with loops so much better? I haven't used it myself.
> 
> l (the trailer)



i had a short stay working there :( 
and have a few friends that work there or used to work there. 
i also seen it in danny elfmans studio. there was an architectural spotlite on his studio in a website somewhere. pretty cool. 

those folks have a computer running only ableton live synced to the main daw. 
i used to use it a lot in my electronic music phase days =o 
so from now on this is speculation on how they use it. 
those guys have tons of loops made from their own movies or commercial loops from different genres. they added it to their timeline in live and for example u can add a shaker loops and turn down the pitch to sound design levels, print it and make it that in an 8 bar loop and make it so only bar one plays normal, then mute bar two, change the pitch to bar 3 and so on. and later reverse the whole thing, in an instant. 
so now u have a rhythmic sound designy stuff thats pretty cool u can further process. 
the ableton simple delay is a winner and i can actually hear it a lot on their productions. nothing fancy but the filter and the pan is very hmm, i dunno, i can tell. 
this create a very "authentic" sound because u are working with audio which can be anything as suppose to synths or orchestra. orchestra is just supposed to sound like an orchestra right? :mrgreen: 
the sound im talking about is more like greg hanson william stuff thats not narnia. 
pelham123, dejavu etc. that type of sound. but not that u cant get that sound with other means or that its all ableton, for some stuff is usefull. 
oh well. now i am interested in filmscoring like the OP is showing. im not sure how ot deal with tempo changes and stuff. 
also dont wana hijack the thread. the music is good. and i like knowing more on melody and reharm stuff in film scoring.


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## Daniel James (Apr 5, 2010)

Ableton's warp engine allows you to change the tempo of a loop pretty dramatically with acceptable results in a totally no destructive environment.

As I generally approach scores in a more sound design way, this feature is invaluable for me.

Working to video in Ableton is actually a breeze too, as you can treat the video like an audio file (cut it up, shorten it etc) 

Lastly one of the pros of Ableton is the way you can load multi timbral instruments, then add midi tracks when you need them, with no hassle...this one is hard to explain, but in Logic when you load a multi timbral instrument you have to also choose how many midi tracks you want, then it makes them. if you want to add more than that its a pain.

Anyways, I'll see if I can talk a bit about it in my next Vlog.

Dan


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## Daniel James (Apr 5, 2010)

Update April 5th: Productivity + Comedy Cue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z01T-WWxofY

Dan


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## Ranietz (Apr 6, 2010)

I don't have any comments to add, but I just wanted to say thank you for making this video blog. It's always interesting to see how other composers work.


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## Daniel James (Apr 6, 2010)

April 6th: Sampling and Working In Ableton Live 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYO5DPjexAQ

Dan


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## Daniel James (Apr 7, 2010)

April 7th: Scoring The Villain + Creative Sound Design 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_Xn5WgOJfQ

Heh I think I am getting the hang of the lighting.

Dan


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## Daniel James (Apr 9, 2010)

VB9: Conceptual Modulations + Ohm Studio 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9gttYfhfa0

Dan :D


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## Daniel James (Apr 12, 2010)

April 12th: Foreshadowing The Future + Questions 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2JcEGJVIfo

Dan


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## Daniel James (Apr 13, 2010)

April 13th: Elements + Background http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMAt-mgOpl0


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## Ranietz (Apr 14, 2010)

Thanks again for making this video blog.

I have one question. How do you handle you video files? Do you use one big video file (the whole film) or do you split them up into separate scenes?


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## requiem_aeternam7 (Apr 14, 2010)

Ranietz @ Wed Apr 14 said:


> Thanks again for making this video blog.
> 
> I have one question. How do you handle you video files? Do you use one big video file (the whole film) or do you split them up into separate scenes?



good question i'm curious abuot that and ableton too because with Cubase I have to split them in smaller files because Cubase is the worst garbage I've ever used in my life when it comes to video playback. Slow as all hell and very buggy with videos (Cubase 4 at least, don't have 5 yet) so I have to split them up into files for each scene otherwise it's hell.


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## Daniel James (Apr 14, 2010)

April 14th: Infiltration + Sample Libraries 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7ZoxvwEEEQ


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## Daniel James (Apr 15, 2010)

April 15th: A Taste Of Action 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqkVDFvAKEk


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## Daniel James (Apr 16, 2010)

April 16th: Family Theme Variations 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsqC2uqQe-k


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## Daniel James (Apr 18, 2010)

April 18th: OST Montage 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBUBZ48bDzM


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## Daniel James (Apr 19, 2010)

April 19th: Thematic Melody Adjustment 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHHlWUlEpi8


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## Daniel James (Apr 20, 2010)

April 20th: Mysterious Characters + System Crashes 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QvGUMUsprc


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## Daniel James (Apr 21, 2010)

April 21st: Sound Design Scene + Be Yourself 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8nQgnddYRw


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## Daniel James (Apr 22, 2010)

April 22nd: Balancing Music And Sound + Megaman Study Score 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_99rlWaJ6Y


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## Daniel James (Apr 23, 2010)

April 23rd: Finishing Reel 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7-RG3eDpPo


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## Daniel James (Apr 26, 2010)

April 26th: Action Music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FtTbHE5CtM


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## Hannesdm (Apr 27, 2010)

Just wanted to say: cheers for the video blogs! Very fun to watch! 8) 

Good luck with the deadline!


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## Daniel James (Apr 27, 2010)

April 27th: More Action Music + Who's Theme? 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GHrGL9Zolc


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## Daniel James (Apr 28, 2010)

April 28th: Blue's Theme + Penultimate Action
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msIKm7zPWnM


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## Daniel James (Apr 29, 2010)

April 29th: Ambiance + Sampling 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDTd-yh-dI4


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## Daniel James (May 1, 2010)

2nd May: Mega Man OST Preview The Fall Of Wiley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRuwKdEq0c8


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## Daniel James (May 5, 2010)

May 5th: MegaMan Film Finished 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-OKdBMD_7Q


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## Daniel James (May 8, 2010)

VB25: Megaman Soundtrack Download 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkdYnEAubl8


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## Hannesdm (May 8, 2010)

You're FANTASTIC!

:wink: 

I would love to see more screencasts! No special requests, just you making whatever music you like.

Thanks again for those daily 10 minutes of fun. (o)


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## Daniel James (May 10, 2010)

May 11th: Dynamics + Track Listing 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPvzRafa5mg


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## Daniel James (May 13, 2010)

May 13th: Mental Perception
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH9rXlrP6kQ


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