I’m part of the New York contingent of an L.A. group called The Lamps. Along with former members of Jolene, The Connells, Squirrel Nut Zippers and The Bangles. We recorded this tune several years ago – I played violin on the CD. I also did the remix which ended up on this video here:
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Studio Session – Blondie
I was invited to record strings for a Blondie track awhile back (violin / viola). The song, Restless, was originally intended for the album Panic of Girls but ended up as an outtake. Blondie finally released it and now everyone gets to hear it. It was a fun, relaxed session, Debbie’s voice is great, and it’s a nice track written by guitarist Paul Carbonara.
Mostly I remember that Paul’s dog was curled up at my feet during the whole recording.
Sound Design – Neenah Paper / Cabinet
Wait, you’re a graphic designer who works with paper and you don’t use Neenah Paper’s Cabinet software/app? That’s just insane! Seriously, get yourself checked out. While you’re at it, check out this promo video done in collaboration with gmake. Featuring lots of custom recorded wackiness, Stars NYC brings this short, humorous piece to: Zap!, Cronk!, Sproing!…life.
Soundtrack – “Creeping Like Snail…”
So I was walking my youngest son to school on rainy day in May and decided to take some video of him on my iPhone. Yeah, not a big hit with him. But by the end of it he seemed to be less annoyed with me than the beginning. I shot this without any intention of it being used for anything but I was struck by how well it worked with a piece of music I was working on at the time.
Music & Sound Design by Stars NYC
Soundtrack – Book trailer: “Effie Perine”
Books have trailers. It’s true, I’m not making this up.
This particular book, Effie Perine, by Buzzy Jackson is a page-turning hard boiled mystery, dipped in film noir. It’s dark and gritty and a little bizarre and if you’ve got a spare dollar in your couch cushions you can download this on your Kindle or iPad or phone or [placeholder reserved for as yet un-invented device]. You won’t regret it.
Music by StarsNYC, Video by the incredible Gmake
Film Cue – “From good to bad..or worse…”
“A man, disheveled, tip-toes downstairs to the fridge expecting to find his daughter’s leftover birthday cake. Instead, he discovers the head of Flight Attendant Barbie sitting on a plate, surrounded by cake crumbs. A crudely hand-written note taped to the front of the plate reads: ‘you lose’”
Either way-something that was supposed to be awesome has gone horribly not-awesome.
Soundtrack – Rock, Paper, Scissors.
I’ve got something of a crush on found object percussion. Is that a thing? Well, I’m not sure what it’s called exactly. I record things like scraping rocks, ripping paper, zippers, ice cubes in glasses etc.. Then I tweak them to make them sound either exactly like the thing they are, or nothing. I added the glockenspiel because who doesn’t like a little glock with their rocks?
Soundtrack – commercial
Backwards guitars, strings, 6/8 time signature… You already know what it is: A woman, slow motion – flowing hair and gown – her delicate, bejeweled hand caressing the curves of a sleek automobile while a dashing man in a tuxedo peers approvingly over the top of his martini… Well, I suppose it could also have been a taco bell commercial showing a fajita being covered by some new awesomesauce. Either way, definitely slow-mo. This is the uncut version. (rhythm track is field recordings of water glasses and torn paper).
A little slice of pie?
The way I picture it, this is either a dream sequence in a Fassbinder movie or maybe a hallucination segment in a Darren Aranofsky film. The bummer is that neither of these guys has called me. However, that didn’t stop me from making it anyway. In reality, this was a proof of concept for myself. I wanted to turn some found samples I had made into loops and sprinkle on some glitchy ambience to make something tasty. It’s like a disturbing little slice of pie in that way.
Theme for “Required Reading”
The fabulous author, Buzzy Jackson asked me to create a theme for her weekly podcast Required Reading. The only direction I remember was that it was supposed to sound nothing like something B.J. Leiderman might have done. I had previously recorded the basis for a groove with a fuzzed out bass guitar and I thought: “B.J. would really hate this..”