Category: collaboration

The Point: Ep 5 (finale)

©2022 Michael Raven

Oh my garsh. This is it. Golly. We’ve reached the stage where we are at the end of a long journey.

The final episode of The Point, as written and performed by Cherie Lynae Cabrera Suski (who also had a hand in putting the multimedia part together using some kind of magic). Art was by O’Wisp. I added some sound and stuff.

Warning: if you are the type who requires there to be trigger warnings before you consume content, you probably shouldn’t watch the following video. We accept no responsibility for any trauma you might experience by ignoring this warning and choosing to watch or listen. This is a work of mature fiction and is not intended for minors.

A couple of short notes about the parts I added. I promise — short.

I’m actually pretty proud of the music on this one, as minimalist as it sounds, it is also more complex in a number of ways. Without delving deep into the details, it is in an atypical key for me (B minor) and uses a time signature that I don’t typically use (6/8). I’ll admit, I trend towards 4/4 in 99% of the music I write, although I’ve tried to explore really atypical time signatures like 5/4 and 7/4; I did a bit of 3/4 during my Irish folk music phase, but mostly I stick to ye ol’ 4/4.

And while those things make me happy to have gotten a chance to explore and (I think) make work for me, I think I hit the background music elements best on this episode (although recorded and composed 4th in the series). I start off very minimalist and build up towards the end with subtlety (again, personal opinion, you may disagree). I ended up layering 3 pianos along with the keys, bass, guitar, and a choir voice on a synth, avoided drums almost entirely, while playing some of silence to my advantage.

Influences on this were pulled from late Joy Division, along with listening to several soundtracks from era movies, typically from the end where things are unsatisfactory resolved (instead of the Disney “everyone ends up happy” tunes).

See? Short.

I hope you enjoyed this series of collaborations. I’m probably needing a break with respect to multi-episodic multimedia BGM for a spell but, if you like what you heard, I am always interested in exploring collaborations with other writers and other types of artists. Hit me up at my about/contact page if you have an idea you’d like to explore.

A little reminder: The Point

©2022 Michael Raven

art by o’wisp

In about 29 hours from now, episodes three and four of The Point go live. The Point is a five-episode collaboration with storytelling by Cherie Suski (story and telling), O’Wisp (art things), and myself (general racket and sound production).

Here is an early mix of the music “teaser” from the track (w/o voiceover). This “demo” is what I sent to the others to get feedback for Ep 3., so the final version is quite a bit longer and has a different mix:

Listen to Episodes 1 & 2 here if you haven’t already.

Stop by again after 6pm CST tomorrow to hear the next two episodes. And a week after that to hear the final episode. Honestly, that last episode is my favorite in terms of overall sound production and I really can’t wait to get that one into everyone’s ears.

The Point: Eps 1 & 2

©2022 Michael Raven

Back in late April I was doom-scrolling my Twitter feed, bored out of my noggin, when I saw a Twitter post from Cherie looking for someone to do some collaborative work. She expressed some interest and I wasn’t sure what she had in mind, so I threw out a few skill set examples to see what might appeal to her. I had considered something along the lines of what I had done with Tara Caribou last year (poetry/music) and mentioned something along those lines, as well as other methods of collaboration. Cherie tossed a couple of poems and a few short stories in my direction. When I first read The Point, it evoked memories of Blade Runner mixed with a bit of Fallout and a taste of Mad Max. I thought, well, I can try to do something post-futuristic and a bit on the ambient side of background music and maybe add in some special effects, do a bit of tweaking to clean up the background noise and boost the signal, and even out the…

Continue reading “The Point: Eps 1 & 2” →

“The Point” advance release announcement

©2022 Michael Raven

Cherie has told me that the episodes will be posted via a YouTube page and I’ll get the links for these first two episodes posted sometime on Friday. There are things, listening to the first episode even now, that I am resisting the urge to go back and tweak for the music/sound production. But I have to remind myself, I was actively learning some new techniques with that and the second episode, and learning where that fine line was between promoting music and promoting the story. Still… I wish I could dial the ‘verb back a bit on Cherie’s voice.

Anyway, these first two are my least favorite. I started getting comfortable with everything around episode 3, which has a scheduled release alongside episode 4 on Friday the 19th. Episode 5 (and finale) is scheduled for release on the 26th.

Wayside

©2022 Michael Raven

I’ve fallen by the wayside these past few days, disinclined to write much or anything — although I keep my commitment to myself to write at least something every day.

I have yet to experience an empty house (that, my friends, begins Tuesday, which cannot come soon enough), so it has nothing to do with the presence (or lack thereof) of people. And it isn’t writer’s block. I have ideas (and I’ve been jotting down a ton for my planned power-writing session later in the week). I’m merely disinclined to write.

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Nuthinduan

©2022 Michael Raven

It is rounding around that time again when the house will become emptied of everyone but myself and seven ornery cats who expect to be fed five times a day (when they’ve never been fed more than three times a day). Next week, I will experience a temporary empty nest and, unlike the past few years, I’m not looking to fill up my freedom with social engagements that I am normally unable to pursue because of, well, seven demanding cats and three kids.

Instead, I think I might make other plans.

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Grab bag of disappointingly boring contents

©2022 Michael Raven

I’ve been a little less productive here lately, as I have a couple of things on my plate that I’m working on. There is the aforementioned collaborative multimedia piece I am working on, which has three of the five episodic storytelling pieces completed (it takes me anywhere from 10-20 hours per 5-minute episode to engineer the sound and write music, depending on how creative I am feeling and how much tweaking the audio needs). That’s finally start progressing into video format, so I suspect it might actually appear sooner or later.

Continue reading “Grab bag of disappointingly boring contents” →