My Fifty Two Weeks blog is now officially finished, but please feel free to keep updated on my music through my new website:
madeleinecocolas.com
Writing a piece of music every week for a year.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Week Fifty Two Project…. And it's a wrap!
Week Fifty Two has finally arrived!!
Wow. I have so many feelings about this. I'm excited and very proud that I've finished my project (it's a little late, but hey, better late than never!), but I'm also sad at the idea of it ending, given that (for the most part) I've enjoyed it immensely. Right now things are feeling pretty bittersweet. This project has been part of my life for a really long time, so it's going to be hard to let it go and move on to the next project (although I've got a project coming up really soon that I'm super excited about so I'll share that shortly!).
As you may have read/heard in some of the interviews I've done, the reason I started this project was to set myself goals and structure when I moved to Seattle. Moving here was a struggle at first, and it was hard to get away from nagging questions that suddenly popped inside my head (like "what am I doing with my life???"). You know the ones. Rather than having a massive freak out, I decided to spend my time here dedicated to establishing myself as a composer, and I used this project as a way to quickly build up a portfolio of material, and also to prove to myself that I could do it.
Before I post my very last piece for this project, I'd like to say a massive thank you for stopping by my blog and my SoundCloud page over the last year and a bit, and taking the time to listen to my music - it really has been much appreciated!!
And now for my Week Fifty Two Project!! My sister Nicole gave me the idea of setting music to a video (thanks Nic!), so I found some fantastic public domain promotional footage from the 1962 Worlds Trade Fair held here in Seattle. Greg helped me to edit it (well, he did most of the work really), and I set it to music. So without further ado, here is the last installment of Fifty Two Weeks:
YouTube clip with accompanying film:
Or of course you can just listen to it on my SoundCloud page:
Wow. I have so many feelings about this. I'm excited and very proud that I've finished my project (it's a little late, but hey, better late than never!), but I'm also sad at the idea of it ending, given that (for the most part) I've enjoyed it immensely. Right now things are feeling pretty bittersweet. This project has been part of my life for a really long time, so it's going to be hard to let it go and move on to the next project (although I've got a project coming up really soon that I'm super excited about so I'll share that shortly!).
As you may have read/heard in some of the interviews I've done, the reason I started this project was to set myself goals and structure when I moved to Seattle. Moving here was a struggle at first, and it was hard to get away from nagging questions that suddenly popped inside my head (like "what am I doing with my life???"). You know the ones. Rather than having a massive freak out, I decided to spend my time here dedicated to establishing myself as a composer, and I used this project as a way to quickly build up a portfolio of material, and also to prove to myself that I could do it.
Before I post my very last piece for this project, I'd like to say a massive thank you for stopping by my blog and my SoundCloud page over the last year and a bit, and taking the time to listen to my music - it really has been much appreciated!!
And now for my Week Fifty Two Project!! My sister Nicole gave me the idea of setting music to a video (thanks Nic!), so I found some fantastic public domain promotional footage from the 1962 Worlds Trade Fair held here in Seattle. Greg helped me to edit it (well, he did most of the work really), and I set it to music. So without further ado, here is the last installment of Fifty Two Weeks:
YouTube clip with accompanying film:
Or of course you can just listen to it on my SoundCloud page:
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Week Fifty One Project
Week Fifty One. Wow, my project is nearly over?!
I've continued the theme of 'firsts' this week too, with Week Fifty One being written in both Logic and Ableton. Whilst I'm a long(ish)-time Logic person (before Logic I was using Pro Tools), I'm wanting to start gigging with my solo music later this year and I've realized I don't have a hope of reproducing any of my music live unless I can wrap my head around programs such as Ableton Live. So I'm giving it my best shot!
Something I have realized is that I really need to improve my production skills. Big time. I consider my recordings to be 'lo-fi' which is fine…. if it's intentional, but really it's not intentional, it's just I lack the skills (?) to refine and polish my tracks the way I'd like to. Although I should be a bit kinder on myself and acknowledge that these pieces are getting written and recorded over a couple of days, so I haven't really spent the hours needed to get the level to polish I want. I guess that's what I'll be doing when I start working on my album…. Yes, ALBUM! After skirting around the edges of my EP, I decided to sit tight and wait until I have enough material that I'm happy with to release an album. So, once Fifty Two Weeks is up next week (OMG I'M NEARLY THERE!!!!), I'm going to concentrate on an album which will most likely consist of some Fifty Two Weeks material as well as some new material.
I'm not sure what's going to happen to this blog after next week, so if you would like to stay up to date with my happenings on, please feel free to follow my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/MadeleineCocolasMusic
I've continued the theme of 'firsts' this week too, with Week Fifty One being written in both Logic and Ableton. Whilst I'm a long(ish)-time Logic person (before Logic I was using Pro Tools), I'm wanting to start gigging with my solo music later this year and I've realized I don't have a hope of reproducing any of my music live unless I can wrap my head around programs such as Ableton Live. So I'm giving it my best shot!
Something I have realized is that I really need to improve my production skills. Big time. I consider my recordings to be 'lo-fi' which is fine…. if it's intentional, but really it's not intentional, it's just I lack the skills (?) to refine and polish my tracks the way I'd like to. Although I should be a bit kinder on myself and acknowledge that these pieces are getting written and recorded over a couple of days, so I haven't really spent the hours needed to get the level to polish I want. I guess that's what I'll be doing when I start working on my album…. Yes, ALBUM! After skirting around the edges of my EP, I decided to sit tight and wait until I have enough material that I'm happy with to release an album. So, once Fifty Two Weeks is up next week (OMG I'M NEARLY THERE!!!!), I'm going to concentrate on an album which will most likely consist of some Fifty Two Weeks material as well as some new material.
I'm not sure what's going to happen to this blog after next week, so if you would like to stay up to date with my happenings on, please feel free to follow my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/MadeleineCocolasMusic
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Week Fifty Project and a collaboration with Kate Olson!
So there's a few 'firsts' for me with this week's piece. The most exciting is getting the opportunity to collaborate with the amazing Seattle-based saxophonist Kate Olson. I first came across Kate at one of her gigs (her band Ask The Ages was playing with my friend Jenn's band How Things Work), and I was immediately drawn to her saxophone playing. I was super excited when Kate was kind enough to agree to collaborate with me on this week's project!
The second thing is getting over my fear of drums and including drums in this week's project. I may have mentioned before, but there's been a couple of projects I've wanted to include drums, and I've tried to do them myself, and well, they turned out horribly. So now I'm going to come clean - that is not me on the drums. That is in fact Greg, who is an actual drummer. Like with drum sticks and stuff. He recorded the drums on his electronic drum kit (when Lucille wasn't getting in the way).
The third thing is including samples! Except where I've acknowledged people collaborating with me, I've made all other sounds and noises for my Fifty Two Weeks Project myself. This is the first time I've sampled something, and I went for some old public domain radio show material. I found this incredible radio story called "The Doll" from the 1945 "Weird Circle" series, and picked out my favorite parts, which was really hard because there were soooo many good bits... I think I'm going to listen to more from that series just for fun.
Here's my Week Fifty Project:
The second thing is getting over my fear of drums and including drums in this week's project. I may have mentioned before, but there's been a couple of projects I've wanted to include drums, and I've tried to do them myself, and well, they turned out horribly. So now I'm going to come clean - that is not me on the drums. That is in fact Greg, who is an actual drummer. Like with drum sticks and stuff. He recorded the drums on his electronic drum kit (when Lucille wasn't getting in the way).
The third thing is including samples! Except where I've acknowledged people collaborating with me, I've made all other sounds and noises for my Fifty Two Weeks Project myself. This is the first time I've sampled something, and I went for some old public domain radio show material. I found this incredible radio story called "The Doll" from the 1945 "Weird Circle" series, and picked out my favorite parts, which was really hard because there were soooo many good bits... I think I'm going to listen to more from that series just for fun.
Here's my Week Fifty Project:
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| Lucille developed an unhealthy obsession with drum sticks. It was weird. |
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Week Forty Nine Project
Oh my gosh, I'm nearly at Week Fifty Two!! I really want to make the most of these last few weeks - I feel like I'm out of that musical rut I was in recently which is good news. This week, I went back to my roots so to speak, with a layered piano piece. Hope you enjoy!
Ok, in other news I have a Mixcloud mix and some recent photos to share with you.
Bigo & Twigetti recently asked me to compile a mix of my favorite music at the moment. Ummm… yes please! There's loads of amazing music out there, but recently my ears have been glued to musicians such as Tim Hecker, Colin Stetson, Julia Holter & Nils Frahm, so I included those guys as well as a few of my all time favorites such as Dirty Three, Brian Eno/David Byrne, Arvo Part & of course Philip Glass. I've called it Music for a Rainy Day, so feel free to check it out on Mixcloud link below:
And to finish up here's a few of my favorite snaps from the past week:
Ok, in other news I have a Mixcloud mix and some recent photos to share with you.
Bigo & Twigetti recently asked me to compile a mix of my favorite music at the moment. Ummm… yes please! There's loads of amazing music out there, but recently my ears have been glued to musicians such as Tim Hecker, Colin Stetson, Julia Holter & Nils Frahm, so I included those guys as well as a few of my all time favorites such as Dirty Three, Brian Eno/David Byrne, Arvo Part & of course Philip Glass. I've called it Music for a Rainy Day, so feel free to check it out on Mixcloud link below:
And to finish up here's a few of my favorite snaps from the past week:
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| Coloured Easter Eggs which didn't end up being the massive disaster they threatened to be when I started out. |
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| Couch time with Lucille. |
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| Rat City Roller Girls! |
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| View from our shared rooftop balcony. Can't wait for summer to properly kick in here so I can start enjoying this space a lot more! |
Monday, April 14, 2014
Week Forty Eight Project
I woke up today super motivated to get through this week's project, and not even two building-wide fire alarms (both necessitating an evacuation) could stop me. Thank goodness there was no actual fire.
After a stalling on Week Forty Eight for a few days, I managed to get it all written today. It is based on a foundation of synth sounds and glitchy noises with the main piano theme being repeated a bunch of times, but each time slightly differently, so it's not just a loop.
I can't believe I only have 4 pieces to go!!!! I'm so excited at the prospect of finishing this project - I almost can't believe I've managed to get through it all. Honestly if I knew how much work it was going to be when I started I almost think I might not have done it. So I'm really glad I had no idea : )
After a stalling on Week Forty Eight for a few days, I managed to get it all written today. It is based on a foundation of synth sounds and glitchy noises with the main piano theme being repeated a bunch of times, but each time slightly differently, so it's not just a loop.
I can't believe I only have 4 pieces to go!!!! I'm so excited at the prospect of finishing this project - I almost can't believe I've managed to get through it all. Honestly if I knew how much work it was going to be when I started I almost think I might not have done it. So I'm really glad I had no idea : )
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Week Forty Seven Project
As I mentioned last week, I'm consciously going a bit more electronic-y at the moment. There's still piano and other acoustic instruments in this week's piece, but there's also quite a lot of synth, some tremolo and arpeggiators. I played it to Greg and he said he thought it was a bit sci-fi and I probably have to agree. When I think of electronic music, I immediately think of all my favorite electronic artists growing up, namely anything by Vangelis, Mike Oldfield or Rick Wakeman. Yup, those were my go to staple synth people. Needless to say, one of my favorite records ever is Tubular Bells. I think I may have even mentioned that before : )
Anyhow, I'm about to pop out and grab a Sunday night vino, but I wanted to post this track first, so without further ado, I present Week Forty Seven!
Anyhow, I'm about to pop out and grab a Sunday night vino, but I wanted to post this track first, so without further ado, I present Week Forty Seven!
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