Starving Artistry

NEW address!

Ben — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:15:34 +0000

Okay, so finally am updating the following site, so direct yourselves there, and update your RSS feeds!
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www.starvingartistry.net

Pulling Up Some Old Material

Ben — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:41:54 +0000

So while I was cleaning my room, I was looking through some old folders on my hard disk and found some old LOTC songs that we recorded back in college. And as I was listening to one, I realized it actually matched what’s been going on in my life, and how I’ve been feeling so I quickly recorded an acoustic version of it to share w/ y’all. Scroll to the bottom of the post to give it a good listen.

Anyway, so I decided to try to record it on my new Canon 7d, but with now flip around LCD, it’s super hard to focus on yourself. I ended up throwing on my super cheap 18-55 f/3.5 - 5.6 lens, just ’cause I needed a wide angle shot to fit in the frame. I really think I’m gonna spring for that f/2.8 lens though…

I didn’t even play through the song before recording it so there’s definitely a couple of points where i was guessing and hoping I’d play the right chord… afterall, I haven’t played the song since 2005!

Anyway, check out the make-shift tripod i set up on my desk:

Note that I used my floor samples (to outfit the theoretical basement in my theoretical house) in addition to a computer game (Quake Wars if you must know) and my postsecret books.

Anyway, here’s the video and the song. Click on the link to the youtube page to hit up the lyrics.

Second Canon Vid

Ben — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:21:34 +0000

Still enjoying my camera. I really need a new lens. Like this one:

I have a big check coming from my band, so whoooo knows….! Anyway, all I did was carry my cam around with me all weekend last weekend. Spent friday evening editing it. I actually had more footage than music to go along with it for once!

Take note of Anne’s amazing tomato slicing job. Amazing I say. I added some bleach bypass color correction in After Effects and added a very light vignette. Music is by Todd Wright, he’s releasing one song a week until he turns 40 in a project called 40×40. Check it out here: http://www.orangepopsongs.com/

New Music Coming

Ben — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:25:22 +0000

Well, after several months of only writing a little bit, I’ve finally started writing regularly again. So, I’m going to finish a few songs, and compile them into an album and release it for free on the ‘net. I think I’m gonna go with a Sketchbook concept… speaking of concepts, this first EP that I release might actually have a cohesive theme / story / concept.
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Also, I got a new camera. I shot a lot of footage last weekend, hopefully I’ll find time to edit it all together. Meanwhile, here’s the first test video I did with it:
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“New” Recordings

Ben — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:00:27 +0000

Well, several months ago Orange Line went into the studio to record some new tracks. I wrote these with an emphasis on pop-sensibility, but you can hear how we try to make things interesting with tricky time signatures and whatnot.

I’m finally uploading them so my friends can take a listen to them! I happen to like them very much, but it’s unlikely they’ll see any official release, so here you go… on my blog! Download them, listen to them as much as you like! All I ask is, just drop me a note and let me know what you think! Enjoy:

Runaway - Download

Grace - Download

Student Recordings

Ben — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:17:36 +0000

Well, I’m finally going through the recordings I made of my students at the beginning of the summer, and I thought I’d show off some of my students.

9 y/o -

12 y/o -

11 y/o -

Free Music

Ben — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:20:35 +0000

So I’m in the process of uploading older music to the site so people can download whatever they want, when they want, for free. Added a “donate” button for good measure.

I’m thinking about adopting this payment scheme for my next project. More info on that in the future. Meanwhile, I’ve uploaded just about all of the Face to Glass material. Check out the link:

http://blog.ben-powell.net/music

Autotune in Nova Science

Ben — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:39:23 +0000

Found this through Digg. Pretty neat, especially if you aren’t aware of how Auto-tune works.

Did the Jackson 5 Lip Sing?

Ben — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:55:31 +0000

Obviously those kids could play their butts off… but in this video, they’re obviously older. I dunno if Michael woulda sung those notes at that age… maybe. But Jermaine at least would not sound like he was still 14! And he does. Also, notice how they cut the song off right before the talking part? Also, there are strings in the recording, and there are no string players in that studio. Nowadays you could attribute it to a backing track, but I have my doubts as to whether or not they did that back in the day. What do you think?

Because I can’t help laughing every time I see this

Ben — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:09:50 +0000