Posts Tagged ‘music’

Vacation In Scotland With A Difference

March 13th, 2010

The country of Scotland has some of the most glorious scenery in the U.K. making it the greatest vacation destination. Countless numbers of visitors to Scotland choose Edinburgh as their main destination, whereas others decide upon something a little different. The article below examines vacations in Scotland and some of the things to do when in Scotland. The article also examines the Wickerman Festival.

With such a diverse countryside the list of things to do is endless. Mountain climbing is tremendously popular, as are mountain biking vacations. The most popular vacations are fishing or golf. With Scotland being the place of origin of golfing it should not be surprising that you are hardly ever too far from a minimum of one excellent golf course. With the Rivers Tay, Tweed and Spey you almost guaranteed of an incredible days fishing. But what if you fancy something a little different?

A growing number of families are making music festivals their annual vacation. Even though most music festivals are incredibly large with a focus upon making money, you can find a small selection of family music festivals, such as the Wickerman Festival and Tartan Heart.

The Wickerman Festival is an annual music and arts festival is held on a farm close to Dundrennan in Dumfries and Galloway about 5m away from the town of Kirkcudbright in Scotland. The event celebrates the cult classic British film, “The Wicker Man” which the stars Sir Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland and Ingrid Pitt.

The very first festival was held in the month of July 2002 and was organized by local guy, Sid Ambrose. With no experience of putting together a very large event it is a surprise that it is still held today, especially when you think about the present economic climate. Wickerman has changed each year and, like the film, has a cult following.

Wickerman is hugely family friendly it features many activities for children including, a mountain biking trail, a fairground, workshops and face painting. This can be easily proven by by visiting a search engine and searching for Wickerman Festival photographs 2009 or simply visit the official Wickerman Festival Gallery.

Near to the festival site is the small village of Kirkudbright where you will find many of the locations used in the film including Harbour Cottage which was used for the bakery and High Street Gallery which was used for the post office and sweetshop. You will find that there are a great many places worth visiting in the region and it is well worth having a short vacation here so that you can visit all of the visitor attractions. Common places in which to stay include Castle Douglas and Dumfries. Bed and breakfast accommodation in Scotland is nearly always first class and is also priced very reasonably and less costly than staying in a hotel.

My trip to Hawaii

March 5th, 2010

Start of this year there was a big surprise for me, who was planned by my family and I hardly had a clue about it till they told me. I had a terrible 2009 my family gave me a lovely present at the start of 2010 – the trip to Hawaii. As soon as it hit 2010 on the 1st January, my family came to my room to ask me how I was feeling after a great night. I answered I have a terrible headache but it was great fun thanks to them guys.

They looked at me with a cheeky smile on their face and I got the funny feeling that there is definitely something there. Then all of sudden they all replied at once oh well the hangover is not going to last for long after what we got for you. I asked what?, they all shouted out holiday to “Hawaii for three weeks” – I was like your joking! I was so excited. I jumped around with happiness and gave them a big bear hug. I was already having visions of Hawaiian women, Hawaiian food. The band playing Hawaiian music to me with pianos , guitars and violins while I drink my rum.

Not only that I started seeing blue sea, white beach, alcohols and a band in all white playing classic guitars & keyboard pianos. I was also seeing myself swimming with the dolphins in the morning then resting by the pool in the evening wearing my Ray Ban sunglasses and sipping on margaritas. I just couldn’t wait to leave Birmingham and land in Hawaii although it is a long flight.

Oh god, please don’t let this be a dream and then my mother woke me up and told me to get ready for a family party. Argh I hate such dreams.

Make Your Beats

February 25th, 2010

Whether you’re into soul, or hip hop, the surest way to establishing a name for yourself in the music industry remains the same: you should make your beats while still maintaining your own brand of music.

Reasonably, it can be quiet daunting to think about creating your own beats. You must see this as a test rather than letting yourself be discouraged from achieving your goals.

Make Your Own Beats Count…Start by Mastering Your Genre

Of course, don’t take this advice to the extreme and challenge yourself into developing a totally new genre. While that is surely possible, you might need to broaden your repertoire a bit more before making that your goal. Meanwhile, there is nothing wrong with devoting your precious time to enhancing your skills and expanding your mastery of your preferred genre. Explore the works of your peers and see if they can inspire you into making your own beats better than ever.

Dedicating your time to excel in your genre means you’re already ahead of other debuting music artists as well as boosting your abilities as a musician.

One nice thing about today’s music business is the increased accessibility to equipment. These days, it’s not necessary for you to purchase expensive technology for creating your own beats.

Making the beat for your own music requires three main components: midi drums, audio loops, and bass line. These components are suitable to all kinds of music so it’s essential that you understand how they work, as well as what they can bring to your music.

A song’s bass line is its underlying frame. It’s composed of a set of beats or notes that will be played from the song’s start to finish and which the other elements need to work with in order to maintain a sense of harmony.

Spend as much time as you want refining your bass line. If your bass line doesn’t work, the rest of the song won’t work either.

The next component you have to focus on is the audio loop. This is a common favorite among rap & hip hop creators. They are commonly used for altering your music’s primary theme or mood. To create one, you simply mix a set of notes from musical instruments or any other viable source of sound. With audio loops, you’re free to play and experiment in any way you wish until you hit upon the ideal set of beats.

Last but not the least, you need to create midi drum patterns which go well with the rest of the piece. You can choose to apply one set or pattern of notes or mix various sets. Anything can be done as long as it boosts rather than detracts from your work.

At times, midi drum patterns are not patterns at all. Rather, they consist of an assorted set of beats but played as repeating loops as well as acting as something similar to a secondary tier of melody or beat.

To summarize: in making your beats, start with forming a forceful bass line to act as your music’s integral part then solidifying it with fully-developed audio loops and one or a number of midi drum patterns.

If you’re ready to make your beats then don’t let anything stop you from creating beautiful music for the entire world to hear.

For information about making instrumentals, go here: Make Instrumentals

For info about making your own music, visit: Make Your Own Music