inspiration posts

Filed under: Audio, Hardware, Features, Rig of the Week, Music

Count The Beats: Interview with a film & TV composer

by Matt Tinsley (RSS feed) on Oct 13th, 2009

If you've ever played Gears of War 2 (who hasn't), or watched Desperate Housewives (we know you secretly love Mrs Van De Kamp), then chances are you've heard music composed by Pieter A. Schlosser from PaaxMusic in Los Angeles.

Pieter's been in the music business for the last five years working on a whole lot of tunes for film, TV and gaming. From CSI New York to composing in "French" for The Sims 3, he's got a wealth of experience in this field and, must be mentioned, he's an avid reader of TUAW too.

When Pieter got in touch with us regarding our 'Count The Beats' series, and sent us the above picture of his studio, suffice to say that the TUAW offices descended into a flurry of excitement (papers flying in the air and everything). What can we say, we love a picture of an inspiring setup.

The logical next step was to sit down with Pieter and talk shop. Read on to find out how the complexities of this mighty setup come together, how the iPhone works as a part of the composing journey, a little bit on DAWs, the "dream upgrade" and how to get the job done when all else is failing.

A word of warning, there is some serious music tech geekery ahead. If in doubt, just pretend that it all makes sense and slowly nod your head, then move onto the next paragraph. That's what most of us do anyway!

Continue reading “Count The Beats: Interview with a film & TV composer”

Tags: composing, count the beats, CountTheBeats, cubase, inspiration, interview, midi, music, protools, setup, studio

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, iMac, Apple

iMac design vs. Audi

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Aug 11th, 2007

We've already seen the iPhone's influence on the new iMac, but the Audi? A British ConceptCar site claims the aluminum and glass casing of the new iMac reminded them of another chrome, aluminum and glass design-- that of an Audi. As you can see in the picture above, the comparison kind of works. Kind of. I especially like the coloring on the windshield.

I really doubt the iMac's design was directly inspired by the car-- I don't see Apple designers sitting around a table while one of them looks out the window and is suddenly inspired by something he sees driving past. Rather, my guess is, as ConceptCar says, that they're both headed towards the same things: form mixed with function, and grace mixed with power.

But then again, who knows what inspired Apple to make that logo black? The iMac certainly costs about as much as my first car did.

Thanks, Christian!

Tags: audi, black, conceptcar, design, glass, imac, inspiration, metal, windshield

Filed under: Accessories, iPod Family

iPod accessories that you cannot buy

by Erica Sadun (RSS feed) on Dec 13th, 2006

Techeblog has a post up about seven of the best iPod accessories made by do-it-yourselfers; accessories they wish they'd be able to buy. They include a tiny foamboard Pac-Man-style Nano cabinet, a full-sized iPod-holding grand piano style table, a bulletproof iPod case, and more.

You've seen several of these already covered on TUAW, but I rather liked how they put them all together into a "best of" article. I love to see how necessity and ingenuity combine for creative solutions. And this post is a nice overview of how deeply personal that inspiration can be.

Tags: DIY, inspiration, inspirational, iPod

Filed under: Audio, iTS

iTMS introduces "New Rock Revealed" weekly band explorations

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on May 23rd, 2006

The iTMS has introduced an intriguing new service called "New Rock Revealed", where one band's music will be dissected each week to find who their roots and inspirations were, as well as similar sounds you can find today.

This first week looks at Pearl Jam's new album (which rocks, by the way), and lists its tracks in the middle of the chart. On the left side is a list of "Roots & Influences", where songs from bands that inspired Pearl Jam are listed, track by track, matching up to the Pearl Jam songs where their influences can be heard. On the right side is the "Similar Sounds" list of bands who clearly were inspired by Pearl Jam. Each of the two lists (Roots & Influences and Similar Sounds) are available as mixes ready for purchase, priced at just over $12 apiece. I would imagine that price will fluctuate, depending on the length of the album New Rock Revealed dissects each week.

This is a really cool idea, though I wish the iTMS could produce some more information along the lines of truly exploring a band's roots. I'd love to be able to read a little more into what exactly inspired Pearl Jam; where they got their sound, how they started out as a band living out of their broken-down tour bus and eating stale bread three times a day until they got their big break. With that said, I'm excited to see the iTMS whipping out clever new services like this to get people more interested in music, where it came from and where it's going.

Tags: bands, groups, inspiration, iTMS, iTunes Music Store, ItunesMusicStore, new rock revealed, NewRockRevealed, roots, service, sound

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