Rainstormy's Music

Welcome to Rainstormy's Music and Photography Blog

Hi, and welcome to my blog. I set this blog up primarily to go along with my Soundcloud and Flickr accounts and to share my thoughts as they relate to my music and photography. I plan to keep it light and focus on subjects such as what equipment I use, my difficulties and breakthroughs, and occasionally, my influences, travels, and life events as well. I intend to avoid discussing hot button topics; Facebook will remain my primary outlet for that; this is to focus on my art, and to help me stay positive and focused.

I am very excited about writing music and that is the main impetus for starting this blog. A few weeks ago I purchased an M-Audio Mini Keystation 32 and Mixcraft DAW. Voila, the elusive and very intimidating world of digital music composition finally has come within my reach. I am learning new things every day with Mixcraft as I get comfortable with this new software interface and figure out all the things that I can do with it. 

I hope you enjoy my blog and thank you for stopping by. 

 

Party in Berlin - Soundcloud song

Since I haven't made an entry to my blog about an earlier song I'd uploaded to Soundcloud Party In Berlin, I'm taking a moment to do it now. This song is an experimental style original composition assembled with Mixcraft 6 Pro DAW and an M-Audio Keystation 32 mini. This is an electronic style dance track infusing elements drawn from the late 1980's dark techno sounds of Nitzer Ebb, Front 242 and Electric Cafe - era Kraftwerk. Click the link above to enjoy my modest tribute track to the greatest era of electronic dance music, as well as my other songs on Soundcloud.

A Cold Day in Heaven - Original Soundcloud Composition

My first new composition for the 2013 calender year,A Cold Day in Heaven is now live and posted on my Soundcloud page. This composition is inspired by the dreary winter landscape where I live, but the song is intentionally a bit upbeat and hopeful that dark months are slowly passing along, and will give way to the splendor of spring before all hope is lost. The southern winter landscape here is typical for the season, with one overcast and cold rainy day following another. Birds and squirrels gather at my birdfeeder in the back yard, appreciative of the millet and sunflower seed I leave for them. Even during cold nights, I can hear the owls in the big tree behind my house; signs of life are here, but the trees and plants are dormant, and the weather forecast doesn't seem very hopeful for the next week. I don't enjoy this time of year, except in knowing that it is, like everything, temporary, and that it will pass in time. Until then my sweaters and fireplace are put to good use. Enjoy my newest composition (my first effort with my new M-Audio Axiom Pro 61 keyboard) and my others on my Soundcloud .

Scholomance Dance

I uploaded a new track to Soundcloud yesterday named Scholomance Dance (click link to hear). The cryptic name is derived from a mid-level dungeon on the game World of Warcraft which I'd completed with my son earlier in the day. This composition was created with my M-Audio Keystation 32 mini and Mixcraft 6 Pro DAW using mainly piano, oboe and synth bass elements, with a little help from Beatcraft for the percussion track. It seems that I have a "REASON" (key word!!) to think that I may be getting a dramatic upgrade to my existing home studio setup for Christmas - including new DAW software, speakers and a much more lavish keyboard synth interface - which I am very excited about and hope it will take my music to the next level. Until then, I am enjoying what I'm making on my current, very modest laptop/desktop setup. Feel free to enjoy my new track, along with my others, on Soundcloud.

Hunter's Moon - original composition

The Hunter's Moon is the first full moon after the Harvest Moon, during the fall equinox. This year, the hunter's moon appeared close to Halloween. I wrote my Soundcloud piece, Hunter's Moon, in honor of this lovely lunar site and Samhain festivities, just as we transitioned into the somber month of November and All Souls Day. The cricket sounds and loon call are integrated into this track along with the piano and strings, as they evoke the presence of nocturnal wildlife and quiet moments alone in nature during a fall evening. You can hear Hunter's Moon, along with my other Soundcloud pieces, by clicking here.

Lake Degray State Park, Fall, 2012. Bismark, Arkansas.

Melancholy - Soundcloud composition

I'm going a little out of order on my blog, only because I started my Soundcloud account first and I want to add some dialogue about the tracks I've previously uploaded. The third song I wrote is called "Melancholy." It is a very simple melodic structure and arrangement of only piano and strings in 3/4 time, and entirely devoid of any percussion. It is a somber composition about looking back on the joys and good days of summer, not so long ago, but fading away now as the days slowly grow shorter and cooler. Summer is just a memory. and soon it will turn cold. Nature is winding down and must rest. The winding down feeling is evident everywhere now. The trees know what's going on, so do the birds that have taken flight towards the south as forest creatures scramble about preparing their food stores and homes for the cold winter ahead. We must make preparations, too. We take our plants inside, wrap our pipes, and add to our firewood pile. The shadows grow long in the late afternoon now, and dry leaves skittle along the streets and driveways. Winter is coming very soon,and the carefree days of summer seem very far away.

To hear this track, click the song link. Melancholy

Original music composition - It's Tuesday So This Must Be Neptune

It's Tuesday So This Must Be Neptune is the title of my latest composition on Soundcloud. It has whimsical 80s style techno elements, with warm moog synths and a jazzier keyboard than I'm used to playing, but I'm trying to venture out of my comfort zone a little with this one. Click here to hear my new track.

Before The Leaves Fall - original composition

A trip to the beautiful Norton Gallery gardens (where i took this photo) inspires my latest classical style piece, Before the Leaves Fall. In this track I used piano, strings and virtual dulcimer in a quiet, atmospheric classical style arrangement. You can hear this song by clicking here.

Legend Rock, Wyoming