Thanks to Keith’s efforts, we now have a site online for our collaboration project, VR!
Check it out at http://www.vrambient.net
VR
Cocktail Hour
I recently got married! We had taken care of every detail about the wedding. Centerpieces, layout for the backdrop of the ceremony, pictures, planning for the weekend (it was kind of a destination wedding), water bottle design, and of course, the music.
My (now wife) suggested that we use some of my music… why I did not think of this, remains to be figured out still. So, with a couple of weeks to go, we wanted to create something along the lines of Layers, a music installation.
I had her make some selections, and I did as well, and then I got down into my tracks and split them up to be in a layered format.
I then needed to find the hardware to pull this off. I at first wanted to have the tracks played from wireless speakers, without using a secondary MP3 player plugged into the auxiliary port, but could not find the right stuff.
Blog post: musicalnature.net/2017/04/27/new-music-installation-my-upcoming-wedding/
I finally settled on the DOSS Touch Wireless speaker, with a cheap-ish MP3 player plugged into it. And it worked brilliantly.
Blog post: musicalnature.net/2017/05/01/test-of-wedding-cocktail-hour-music-installation/
Now that the wedding has past, I wanted to share this to my few faithful followers. This album is a modified version of my previous work from Atachafalaya, VR:1, and Eavesdropping – each have been split up into two layers, designed to be played simultaneously from two separate sources.
It is available for Name Your Price on bandcamp only. Pay nothing, or, pay something. You decide…
Enjoy! Let me know your thoughts…
Photo Credit: Nick Inglis
VR:2 Sneak Peek…
Keith Richie and I had a great time working on our first collaboration together on VR:1. So much so, that even during wedding planning and then going away for a week on my honeymoon with my wife, we still found time to get together to start working on our next collaboration album, tentatively titled VR:2.
If you have a moment, please give a listen here (or embedded below), and let us know what you think.
“Echo of a Cloud” from VR:1 Featured on Sequences Podcast 110 Part 1
Pleased to announce that while I was awa
y last week, “Echo of a Cloud” from my collaboration with Keith Richie, VR:1, was featured on the Sequences Podcast No. 110 Part 1.
A great lineup of artists were included in the show, and we’re proud to be listed among them!
For more information on Sequences and their podcasts, be sure to check out their site here: http://www.sequencesmagazine.com/
You can find “Echo of a Cloud” at 99.45 in the podcast below.
VR:1 is Complete!
I am pleased to announce that Keith Richie and I are pleased with VR:1 enough, that we are marking it complete. And we have left it with the “Name your price” feature enabled!
VR is a music collaboration project between fellow SharePoint Developer and Musician Friends Geoff Varosky and Keith Richie.
Geoff currently produces and releases experimental ambient music, ranging from long slowing soundscapes to beat and heavily sampled ambient house via Musical Nature which is his “ambient project in experimental sound”.
Keith Richie produces Ambient / Chill-out / Symphonic and Soundtrack music.
Together, we are “VR”.
VR is obviously a combination of the initials of our last names (Varosky and Richie), but as most know, it is also the abbreviation for “Virtual Reality”.
Virtual Reality typically refers to computer technologies that use software to generate realistic images, and considering that we are both individuals who have been involved in software development and software architecture, it seemed a good fit for us as well.
VR (us) brings you music that will immerse you in a virtual world of the mind, where our musical stories will be the backdrop for your imagination.
Be sure to check it out and let us know what you think!
New Music Installation… My Upcoming Wedding!
We’ve got less than a month to go before the “big day”… we’ve been planning out music, and my fiancée would love for me to play some of my stuff. However, since most of it is ambient and minimal, there really wasn’t much of a place for it, except for maybe dinner or cocktail hour.
Then, collaboratively, we came up with a plan. Using two small portable speakers on either end of the porch we are having cocktails at, I will layer some of my tracks so each end of the porch plays different layers of those tracks, together making up the actual track, very similar to my installation pieces can be used (Layers 1, Layers 2, and Layers 3). Below is a representation of how those will be configured:
This however created a problem…
- I need these to be re-usable, so I can duplicate this process again if needed for other installations down the road.
- I need the speakers to be independent
- I need them to be battery powered
- ….and have a decent battery life
- I need them to support playing MP3’s from a Micro SD card
- Keep this simple, not multiple gadgets strung together
- They need to also be loud enough for people to hear on an open porch with lots of people talking
- Needs to loop at the end of the playlist to the beginning
- Also, be reasonably priced. Due to the cost of the wedding thus far, I did not want to break the bank even further!
Because of the prevalence of Bluetooth speakers, it is very difficult to find something that matches these specifications! I started ordering from Amazon and Jet (free returns!) to test out speakers. After a couple of failures, and hitting up my friends on Facebook for their recommendations, I finally found something that works! Enter the DOSS Touch.
It’s a Bluetooth speaker with an SD Card slot, AUX 3.5mm input jack, rechargeable with a 12 hour playtime, and is decently loud at 12 watts. The controls are easy to use, and, it WILL loop at the end of the playlist, so I do not have to load even more songs on it, and can just use a cheap 8GB Micro SD Card.
Everything I needed… and… it is only $32.99 from Amazon. So, if you are ever in the market to do something like this, or, just need a REALLY good Bluetooth speaker for just over $30, then check this thing out.
If any of you are interested (and let me know in the comments), I can release a special edition on Bandcamp once I’ve done all of the processing on the tracks to be used (tracklist below) and their layered components for your own use?
Track listing:
Announcing VR:1
Click through to Keith’s post to give it a listen, or, go directly to the Bandcamp page.
You may remember this post from a few short months ago where I announced a collaboration project with my good friend and fellow SharePoint/Musician Geoff Varosky that we are calling “VR”.
Well, today I’m very happy and proud to announce to you the fruits of our collaboration in the form of the VR:1 pre-release album.
VR:1 is a work in progress album as we finalize the mix/mastering for wide release. This debut album constitutes the collective energy we both share in regards to ambient and electronic music, and is an absolute pleasure to work on.
Please give it a listen through and let us know your thoughts!
Disclaimer: As noted on the bandcamp page for VR:1, this is a “work in progress” album, and any purchase towards this album entitles you to the final version once complete. Therefore keep in mind that the final set of songs/versions of songs/ etc…
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Echo of a Cloud
Outward – (VR Longmix)
Here’s a longer teaser of the work Keith Richie and I are doing on our collaboration project VR…
VR – Teaser
ICYMI – Both Keith Richie and I are collaborating on a new project called “VR”, which I made mention of in my inaugural post here at my new home on the interwebs. We have started working on some music, and Keith has posted it to his SoundCloud site, and can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/keithrichie/vr-teaser
“A musical collaboration project between fellow SharePoint Developer and Musician Friends Geoff Varaosky and Keith Richie.
Geoff currently produces and releases experimental ambient music, ranging from long slowing soundscapes to beat and heavily sampled ambient house via Musical Nature which is an ambient project in experimental sound.
Keith Richie produces Ambient / Chill-out / Symphonic and Soundtrack music.
Together, we are “VR”.
VR is obviously a combination of the initials of our last names (Varosky and Richie), but as most know, it is also the abbreviation for “Virtual Reality”.
Virtual Reality typically refers to computer technologies that use software to generate realistic images, and considering that we are both individuals who have been involved in software development and software architecture, it seemed a good fit for us as well.
VR (us) will bring you music that will immerse you in a virtual world of the mind, where our musical stories will be the backdrop for your imagination.For more information, please visit www.facebook.com/vrambient/”
Give us some feedback and let us know what you think!
musical nature 