Song Reflections

Here is a couple audio reflections of some of my classmates song project.  Enjoyed listening to them all!

Jason Butler's Song


Kevin Crowder's Song


James Myer's Song

My Audio Reflection on Soundscapes

I listened to a few of my classmates soundscapes and recorded a short audio blog of each.  Each is numbered with it's creators name next to it.  Sorry but you have to download the files to listen to them, I have a PC and therefore had to use a basic recording program instead of GarageBand.

Peter Hauptman's Soundscape


Peter Fumosa's Soundscape


Jessica Rovniak's Soundscape

I am the lizard King, I can do anything

A quote from Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors.  Something I’ve never really understood until reading Brainwashed by Seth Godin, an article that challenges you to challenge yourself, and your teachers, and your parents, and whoever else you can name.   Brainwashed by Seth Godin

           When Godin writes about acknowledging the Lizard he’s talking about silencing the voice inside your head.  You know the one.  The voice that tells you you’re going to bomb the test even though you’ve been studying for days; that makes you give up and walk away instead of going through with a high rick situation.  The lizard is what gives us fear about not succeeding or doubt over a personal creation, and it’s not until we overcome this doubt that personal success can be found.

              Failing is another idea Godin presents to us in his article.  Also an important step of success, failure helps guide us to find what we are looking for.  Scientists and inventors like Einstein and Edison tried and failed for years before successfully making ideas like the Theory of Relativity or the phonograph come to pass.  It takes work and time to construct something of your own, sometimes the only way to learn this is to for an idea of yours to fail miserably just so you can start all over again with a new view of how to improve your idea/yourself.

             The ideas mentioned above can be applied to many things in the life of your average college student, take this blog for example.  I’m acknowledging the lizard because I’m writing and posting whatever it is I feel.  So what about doing it to get a grade or for other people to read, I put whatever I want to in my writing because that’s what I truly believe and nobody can change that.  This blog is graded so I must have everything turned in by a certain time and meet a certain criteria so in that aspect the Lizard has won.  Does that make me a better student for having completed these requirements; I would say so, but a better person or artist I doubt it.  As for failing I won’t know until I receive my grade for this post but I would definitely have learned a lesson if I do fail and I would probably get some info on what I did wrong/how to rectify those problems.

For a minute, I lost myself....

Hello friends and welcome back to Rush Delivery.  Today I will be comparing/contrasting 2 songs.  One original and the other a cover of said original they shall both be judged by criteria consisting of quality, timbre, rhythm, and a jumble of other terms used in class.  The song I chose is:

Karma Police – Radiohead-àhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uYWYWPc9HU

And the cover:

Karma Police - Easy Star All-Starsàhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edNNvg-NBzY

            I have always loved everything Radiohead has come out with. Thom Yorke is a lyrical genius and Johnny Greenwood is an incredibly talented guitarist and musical arranger.  First looking at the lyrics of both tunes it’s clear they are the same (no wonder, it’s a cover song).  However they do differentiate in the way the lyrics are presented.  Radiohead gives the song a very mellow vibe due to Yorke’s falsetto tones and almost hypnotic voice.  Radiohead also does a great job with very soft and harmonic background vocals by keeping it to very simple vocal patterns such as the “oooooohhs” during the chorus.  Easy Star All-Star’s approach is very similar keeping an overall relaxed mood with a slightly harsher tone found in lead singer’s (Shelton Garner Jr.) voice.

            Karma police has a very slow and steady rhythm in both versions.  In the original performance Radiohead keeps things moving with a consistently droning bass backed by a slow steady 4/4 beat on the drums.  This really gives the song a slow-steady pacing feel, making it relaxing and intriguing.  The Easy Star All-Stars keep the steady pace but give the tune a completely new feel using their unique sound blending reggae and rock.  The riddim is set by the light poppy drums and the bass highlighting the 1^st and 3^rd beats.  They also add in the “skank” guitar commonly found in reggae, which brings out the 2^nd and 4^th beats making it hard to not swing your hips to.

            The song’s level of intensity rises and falls about the same in each band’s rendition.  There’s a nice rotation of verse/chorus/verse/chorus that slowly and surely builds until climaxing right before the bridge, which is the mellowest section of the song.  Radiohead drops all instruments except Yorke’s acoustic guitar and a piano only to bring the band right back, giving you a nice contrasting sound.  Easy Star has the same idea, but instead of leaving in some sound they drop out everything but the lyrics before taking it to the bridge, where the electric organ drives the rhythm.      

            An interesting comparison between the two is each band’s use of timbre.  Radiohead utilizes a very clean cut repertoire of instruments for this song, which is not their usual plan.  Keeping everything clean and steady allows Yorke’s voice to emulate the emotions they’re trying to convey.  When looking at Easy Star however we see a different story.  Right off the bat you can hear an organ being run through a myriad of effect pedals, as well as an echoed guitar, and a bottom-boosted bass.  Also later in the song horns come bursting in at an octave or two higher than normal meaning more manipulation of timbre.

            In both versions tension and release play a major role.  The entire song creates tension continuously until the bridge.  Radiohead achieves this by adding a soothing melodic piano right before kicking it to the bridge and starting those infamous lyrics of “for a minute, I lost myself.”  Easy Star uses the same principal by keeping the guitar skank and therefore the main rhythm right before the bridge.

            The final comparison is in active and didactic sound qualities, but mainly active.  Both bands use active sounds throughout the song to keep the pace moving and have the melody continuous.  Not too much didactic sound found in either version.

            I love both versions of the jam as well as both bands but as for my winner I choose the Easy Star All-Star’s rendition.  The heavy bass and reggae drums are something I am obsessed with and who doesn’t love the beautiful skank of a twangy, echoed guitar?  As a huge reggae follower I feel that any cover done by the Easy Star All-Star’s is always done with taste, originality, feel, and excellent musicianship.        

Soundscape

Soundscape can be found via Will's blog, at Will's Blogisphere, under the soundscape post.

Breakthrough

Hello friends!  In this week’s blog I’ve been asked to give a brief summary of Mr. Mitch Ditkoff’s article entitled “14 Ways to Get Breakthrough ideas.”  Which can be located hereà  Mitch Ditkoff - 14 ways     

   Mitch begins with something I’ve always agreed with in saying to achieve a breakthrough you must care about or enjoy.  Follow your fascination as Ditkoff puts it is a necessary step to any and all who wish to create an idea that is truly original or a breakthrough. 

    The second step of Ditkoff’s process is simply immerse, something rarely seen in today’s world of non-stop multi-tasking on blackberries, Ipads, and smartphones.  To become inspired to the point of having a successful breakthrough you must know all there is to know about your topic, or else how are you to know that your breakthrough has not already been done by someone else?  

The third step in creating a breakthrough idea is very difficult and stubborn, and is usually the one that frustrates me most.  Tolerating ambiguity is rough particularly after you have overworked ideas a hundred times, been at it for hours or days, and are about at breaking point.  Its times like these when your ability to power through and realize the trials and tribulations are almost as equally important as the creation of a new idea. 

Next up to the plate on Ditkoff’s agenda is making new connections.  Important for anybody looking for inspiration or a fresh idea, meeting new people and discussing ideas with them will almost always give you a new outlook on the situation.  If the only input you get is from your friends or colleagues you will always be getting the same feedback.  Go find someone new with no previous connection to you and try on their suggestions for size.

Something most of us forget is even a tool when lacking creative thought, fantasizing is an excellent way to jumpstart the brain and get new vibes flowing.  An activity I always associated with youth when I used to daydream all the time, fantasy can be a great way to not only give yourself a break on what could be a tedious and tiresome project it may also be the creative key to unlocking your breakthrough idea.

Sometimes the answer is the true problem at all but the question which you’re trying to answer.  Defining the right challenge is something I have failed to do multiple times in the past.  Whether it’s because I rushed past it to get started on solving the problem, or because I didn’t really understand the dilemma from the beginning  asking yourself the right question is imperative to achieving success on a new and creative idea.

(Steps seven and eight go hand-in-hand in my book so I’ve decided to group them together)  Listening to your subconscious can change your entire game plan on a whim and end up paying off with a one-way ticket on the gravy train.  Gut feeling is what helps us tackle problems in which we know little, so take it up a notch to an idea you’ve been working and examining.  With prior knowledge and adoration for the topic you know your immediate thoughts will we well guided.  While listening to your subconscious it’s always good to realize when it’s telling you to take a break.  Relaxing and taking your mind off the clock for a little will pay off tenfold the next time you step back to the issue.

Step number nine in Ditkoff’s article is to notice and challenge existing patterns and trends.  I would not consider this a necessary step in the breakthrough process because sometimes the greatest ideas to be had are improvements on existing solutions.  It is important to be able to know and identify trends and patterns but sometimes the best way to ensure success is to coattail an existing innovation and improve upon it.

                Ditkoff’s tenth and eleventh points are also similar.  Hanging out with diverse groups of people and brainstorming are always a god method at getting some new insight and obscure insight into an idea that could end up twisting it around into something completely new.  Brainstorming is something I’ve been taught since high school and has been the key to some of my best projects and papers yet.

The twelfth step of looking for happy accidents is definitely something to consider but not what I would say is worth dedicating too much time too.  I’ve always considered myself to possess terrible luck as it has been proven many times so I would guess that I’m more likely to run into the colossal failure than the happy accident.

Ditkoff closes his article with the interesting points of using creative thinking techniques and suspending logic, which both run a similar line.  Both are skills possessed many great thinkers of our time and are necessary to create a truly groundbreaking idea.

For the final step of today’s blog I am to answer a prompt from one of Ditkoff’s points.  I’ve chosen Mitch’s 5^th step, fantasize.  The prompt given is Think of a current challenge of yours.  What would a fantasy to this challenge look like? What clues does this fantasy solution give you?

A major problem occurring in my life now can be easily described, accounting 101.  I have never been a math or logic oriented person and I have yet to find the secret to it.  A possible fantasy solution would be to possess a calculator possible of given me the answers to problems by me merely speaking to it, or a pencil that is along the same lines.  Sadly such a solution gives me no clues or resolution about my real problem but it does offer some small humor and sometimes laughter is the key.

We want the Funk

For our 1st assigned blog entry we are to tell you a little about are creative-selves and what inspires us.  My name is Chris Rush, I'm a student at Ohio University going for a media management, not necessarily a degree offering a lot of creative opportunities so I make time for them in other ways.  I'm a bass player in a band (& occasionally in another one too) making music one of my main outlets for creativity.  I love all types of music other than country really, but my personal favorites are reggae and funk.  Both contain styles and moods found only in their respective genres so I'll give the the lowdown on some of my more preferred bands.

Maggot Brain
George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic are considered to be the Godfathers of Funk, not an easy title to have bestowed on someone.  They frequently use Active and Didactic sounds throughout their pieces. Using my example of Maggot Brain George and the gang intro in with some enlightening words although disguised as some heavy thinking material. "Mother earth is pregnant for the 3rd time, ya'll knocked her up" is their way of saying we are mistreating our planet and fellow humans, shortly after they kick it to the active sectionof the song with a raging 8 minute guitar solo sure to keep any music fan entertained.

Easy Star All Stars - Time
The next artist I've selected is a somewhat newer band on the reggae scene, but they're making quite the name for themselves with their amazing covers. Easy Star All Stars are a modern reggae act with the classic roots sound taken to a whole new level. By covering entire albums such as Dark Side of theMoon, Sgt. Pepper, and Radiohead's self-titled album they present a contrast and affinity you rarely hear.  Their ability to take any genre of music and give it an island roots twist yet maintain the same integrity and overall feel of the song is incredible.

Rebelution - Bright Side of Life
My last choice of artist is another reggae oriented band, but they pack more of a rock/hype-up feel to them. Rebelution is another newer band to the scene but they have already carved out a nice niche for themselves as the new hard rockers of reggae.  Using amazing text and subtext in their lyrics they sing about problems facing modern society in one song and their way of taking care of it in the next, and best of all they throw in some amazing guitar work and rhythms that are aggressive when making you dance.

Enjoy.

Test Page

http://mdia203wingard.blogspot.com/

The Beginning...

This is the first blog I have ever written so I'll call it my guinea-blog, enjoy.  In the land of the blind the man with one eye is king.