VN Collation/ Gamelab/ Loop/ Nabakov

The 2000/2001 edition of VNCollation happened to be a collection of Nabokov related items. Happily they published this interview with Eric Zimmerman of gameLab regarding a new game his company had developed for Shockwave, Loop. Gamelab, in turn, had retained Blister Media to produce an interactive audio track for the game.

Briefly, Loop is based upon the character Aida, a little girl obsessed with catching butterflies.

Game players actually catch the butterflies by using their computer mouse to draw a ‘loop’ around several of the same type. The actual cursor had been designed to resemble a pencil. Butterflies once caught, were dramatically mounted and framed to indicate scores.

Eric being a magnanimous director, had graciously invited Michael Sweet and I to participate in discussions regarding character development and marketing concepts for the game. Our official task was to create interactive audio, not provide marketing concepts, so I was rather grateful –and appreciably surprised– when I discovered quite by chance (googling myself, I admit) Eric had so selflessly and publicly given me credit for first submitting the Nabokovian reference, which meeting final approval launched as an integral contextual element for the game–

FRESH AIR REVIEW

Q. My 13 year old son discovered "Loop" on shockwave.com and said "Look Mom, a game about Nabokov." Most computer/video games are not so literary. How did you come to create a game based on Nabokovian themes?

ERIC: At gameLab, we usually begin with an idea for a game's interactivity and let the narrative content grow out of our experience of playing the game. In the case of LOOP, we began with the looping interactivity first. We tried a few kinds of objects in the game, including wandering stars and floating abstract shapes, but when we hit on catching butterflies, it made such perfect sense that we stayed with it.

The addition of Nabokov to the game came about halfway through development. We felt that the game was feeling too kidlike and we wanted to make it clear that this was a game for adults as well as children. During a design meeting, Terry O'Gara (who works for Blister Media, the company that created the sound for the game) mentioned using Nabokov to help frame the game. We batted several great Nabokov quotes around over email before settling on the one we have in the game.

Although it was not part of the original game concept, we like the way that the single quote from Nabokov reframes the game. It and calls attention to the intertextual quality of the game as "writing" - since the player is drawing lines to capture the butterflies. And since games are so much about "pleasure," it is a nice way to start the game experience.

Q. Is Terry O'Gara a Nabokov fan? Were any of you Nabokov readers before creating LOOP?

ERIC: It turns out that most of the LOOP team were Nabokov readers. We pride ourselves on being more cultured than the average computer game developers.

Q. How was LOOP received on shockwave.com? How did it compare with other more traditional games?

ERIC: LOOP has done very well on Shockwave.com. It was launched at the end of February and more than 1.1 million games have been played. Shockwave has received a huge amount of fan email about the game.


* * *

In addition to the Nabakovian reference, I submitted several other original tags. Here are a select few that I presented to the electronic game developer:

Scribble This
Match and Catch
Net ‘em & Set ‘em
Backyard String Theory
Get. Net. Set.
No one’s looking. Play the game!
Can a Mouse Catch a Butterfly?
Butterflies are free. –Not!
No Small Thing Shall Go Untouched
A Girl Amok

But in the end, the famous lepidopterist simply had stronger ideas than I regarding butterfly collecting, and the game launched with this rich, memorable quote-

"My pleasures are the most intense known to man; writing and butterfly hunting."


games, marketing, nabokov

Sound of the Year: 2002 – Plain Talk

The Critical Noise Sound of the Year for 2002 belongs to PLAIN TALK, encompassing the truth tellers and whistle blowers who graced headlines this year, including both:

1. The sexually abused victims of Catholic priests who finally stepped forward with such mass they created a momentum that the neither the church nor the world could ignore.

2. Those corporate insiders who after witnessing fraud and greed could not be silenced with a pay check but instead stepped up and exposed the truth as they saw it, career and dollars be damned.

Their bravery benefits us all.

+ + +

HOW THE SOUND OF THE YEAR IS SELECTED:

The Critical Noise Sound of the Year goes to that sound source, event, entity, happening or concept which so effectively produces wide response and reaction, whether intentional or not, such that it stirs collective emotion, inspires discussion, incites action, or otherwise lends itself to cultural analysis and resonates across the globe.

Terry O'Gara: Select Discography

Here's a select list of clients I produced music, sound design and sonic branding projects for over the course of my career:


TV ADVERTISING ACCOUNTS: Acura, Advanced Micro, American Sensor, Anheuser Bush, Aqua Vie, Armani, Army, AT&T, Atlanta Gas & Light, Audi, Avon, Bahamas Board of Tourism, Bell South, Ben Gay, Block Buster, BCBS, BMW, Boston Market, Braun, Budweiser, Burger King, Cadillac, Campbell’s, Canon, Champs, Chase Bank, Cheerio’s, Citibank, Clairol, Coca-Cola, Converse, Coppertone, Corona, Deutsche Bank, Digital, Discover Card, Disney, Dockers, Easy Spirit, Energizer, Estee Lauder, Fidelity, Finesse, First National Bank, Foot Joy, Gatorade, Georgia Pacific, Gillette, Got Milk, Guess Jeans, Guinness, Helene Curtis, Hershey’s, Home Depot, Infiniti, John Deere, Juno, Kellogg’s, Kemper, Kmart, Lady Footlocker, Lean Cuisine, L’eggs, Levi’s, Lincoln, Lipton, M&M’s, MasterCard, McDonald’s, MCI, Mennen, Merrill Lynch, Mexico Board of Tourism, Michelob, Miller, Molson, NEC, Nikon, Nynex, Ocean Spray, Oppenheimer Funds, Oregon Dept. of Energy, Ortega, Pepsi, Phillips, Pinnacle, Poland Spring, RCA, Reebok, Rite Aid, Salon Selectives, Samuel Adams, Seabreeze, Seagate, Seiko, Showboat Casinos, Shredded Wheat, Snapple, Sony, Southwestern Bell, Sprint, Sprite, Starburst, STP, Stride Rite, SunTrust, Swiss Bank, Taco Bell, Tag Heur, Texaco, Tommy Hilfiger, Toyota, Toy’s R Us, US West, Visa, Volkswagen, Volvo

RADIO ACCOUNTS: Afrin, Allied Signal, AT&T, Bell Atlantic, Bell South, Budweiser Cadillac, Cellular One, Coca-Cola, Estee Lauder, Gatorade, GTE, Levi’s, McDonald’s, Merck, Merrill Lynch, Mitsubishi, Molson, Nikkon, NYNEX, Oregon Department of Energy, Red Light, Shawmut, Southwestern Bell, Sprint, Sun Trust, Texaco, UPS

NETWORK PACKAGING/ID: ABC Television, Cable Vision, CBS News, Cinemax, CNBC, Comedy Central, DCTV, E! TV, ESPN, ESPN 2, Fox News, HBO, HBO Zone, MTV, NFL Properties, QVC, PBS, RCN, SCI FI Channel, Showtime, TeleTV, TBS, TNT, TNT ASIA, VH1, WNET, X-Files Promotions

MUSIC SUPERVISION: 1996 NBC Olympic Broadcast Music Production Library, VAM Ear Candy Library, Provided various and numerous music searches for leading multinational advertising agencies

FILM RELATED: Columbia Pictures Main Logo, Miramax ID

MOVIE TRAILERS: ‘Belle Du Jour’, ‘Dusk till Dawn’, ‘Four Rooms’, ‘Halloween’, ‘Horseman on the Roof’, ‘Last Action Hero’, ‘Line of Fire’, ‘Night Watch’, ‘The Prophecy’, ‘Things to do in Denver When You’re Dead’

FEATURES: "Jam"[Real Film Co.] & "Surprise"[N.Y Picture Company], “Josh W. Eats a Bug” (animation series) [Quiet Man], “Nick & Jane” [Shooting Gallery]

INTERACTIVE AUDIO: Sesame Street/Texaco Foundation “Sesame Street Music Zone”, AMEX Promotions, Noggin ‘Skengle’, ‘Parenting’ CD ROM, AT&T Long Distance Tone, TeleTV Set Top Box

ELECTRONIC GAMES: Shockwave’s ‘Loop’, Lego ‘Junk-Bot’, MSN Netwits, Phillips ‘Flintstone’s/ Jetson’s Time Warp’, Cartoon Network Online ‘Orbit Games’, NASDAQ Market Watch

DIGITAL/ENHANCED TV/SYNC-TO-BROADCAST: MTV ‘Web Riot’, TBS ‘Cyber Bond’, ‘The Weakest Link’ On-line, Game Show Network ‘Inquizition’ On-line, History Channel ‘History IQ’ On-Line

SPECIAL VENUES: NASDAQ Market Site/Times Square, Marvel Store/Universal Theme Park/LA, Epcot Center/Orlando, Kid’s Room @ Millennium Dome/London, RE Swiss Installation/Geneva

PRO BONO: Anti-Smoking, AIDS Awareness, ASPCA, Breast Cancer Awareness, Drug Free America, Education, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights & Literacy, March of Dimes, National Gallery, New York Landmarks Commission, Off The Street Club, Organ Donor, Points of Light

Terry O'Gara: Brand Sampler

This the big block of household brands I've produced music, sound design and sonic branding projects for over the course of my career:


Acura, Advanced Micro, Afrin, AIDS Awareness, Allied Signal, American Sensor, Anheuser Bush, Anti-Smoking PSA, Aqua Vie, Armani, AT&T, Atlanta Gas & Light, ASPCA, Audi, Avon, Bahamas Board of Tourism, Bell Atlantic, Bell South, Ben Gay, Block Buster, BCBS, BMW, Boston Market, Braun, Breast Cancer Awareness, Budweiser, Burger King, Cadillac, Campbell’s, Canon, Cellular One, Champs, Chase Bank, Cheerio’s, Citibank, Clairol, Coca-Cola, Converse, Coppertone, Corona, Deutsche Bank, Digital, Discover Card, Disney, Dockers, Easy Spirit, Education PSA, Energizer, Estee Lauder, Fidelity, Finesse, First National Bank, Foot Joy, Gatorade, Georgia Pacific, Gillette, Got Milk, GTE, Guess Jeans, Guinness, HBO Zone, Helene Curtis, Hershey’s, History Channel, Home Depot, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights & Literacy, Infiniti, John Deere, Juno, Kellogg’s, Kemper, Kmart, Lady Footlocker, Lean Cuisine, L’eggs, Lego, Levi’s, Lincoln, Lipton, M&M’s, March of Dimes PSA, MasterCard, McDonald’s, MCI, Mennen, Merck, Merrill Lynch, Mexico Board of Tourism, Michelob, Miller, Miramax, Mitsubishi, Molson, MTV, NASDAQ, National Gallery PSA, NBC, NEC, New York Landmarks Commission PSA, Nikon, Nynex, Ocean Spray, Oppenheimer Funds, Oregon Dept. of Energy, Organ Donor, Points of Light, Ortega, Patnership For A Drug Free America, Pepsi, Phillips, Pinnacle, Poland Spring, QVC, RCA, Red Light, Reebok, Rite Aid, Salon Selectives, Samuel Adams, Seabreeze, Seagate, Seiko, Sesame Workshop, Shawmut, Showboat Casinos, Shredded Wheat, Snapple, Sony, Southwestern Bell, Sprint, Sprite, Starburst, STP, Stride Rite, SunTrust, Swiss Bank, Taco Bell, Tag Heur, TBS, Texaco, Tommy Hilfiger, Toyota, Toy’s R Us, The US Armed Forces, US West, Visa, Volkswagen, VH1, Volvo

–whew!

Waxing Nostalgic

If I recall correctly, after a year interning I began my professional career ten years ago today. My first job was making folder tabs for the production department. I had already been interning for the company for a year. They brought me on as a Production Assistant at 13K a year. That meant I worked 80 hour weeks and did everything from make dubs (cassettes, DATs, 1/4") to answering phones. I loved it.

In the last decade I have worked with hundreds of musicians and singers, and with a number of extremely talented composers and sound designers. I tried to keep a running list of the projects I worked on, but the first two or three years are basically lost to me –It's all just one big spot. By the time I gained some seniority I had my act together and started to keep closer tab on the many projects that I worked on by keeping a professional journal, something I recommend to just about everyone.

Still, over the years I was commissioned to produce what now seems like innumerable sessions. I'm sure I produced nearly every style of music known to man: Rock, Jazz, Techno –and every little sub genre or trend buried within. Even World Music, from all over the world: Bulgaria, Africa, India, France, Scotland, Mexico –you name it, and often using musicians indigenous to those countries.

I always liked giving a chart to a jazz trio or quartet and hearing what they could kick out.

I always loved a big orchestral session.

And how I loved Gospel sessions –Heaven on earth, burn it to a hard drive.

And I always loved every chance we had to mix it all up.

Friends, I hope we all have a chance to cross paths again when we can enjoy the playback of all those magical performances. I lived for those moments.

Mystic Audio

Click on any link below to read all the articles in the five-part Winter/Spring 2002 MYSTIC AUDIO series exploring the relationship between spirit and sound:

1. Glossolalia: Speaking In Tongues
2. The Ur-Song
3. Theta Waves, Mantras & The Lord's Prayer
4. Atomic Rhythms
5. Thai Drum Samples For Sesame Workshop

Thai Drum Samples For Sesame Workshop

One of my favorite jobs as a young studio assistant at Elias Arts –then Elias Associates–, circa 1991, was scouring the city for unusual ethnic and exotic instruments, which I was then directed to supervise restoration and sample for use in our own in-house sample libraries.

In those days samples were stored on 5” floppy disks and Winchester Drives, and triggered on quarter million dollar keyboard interfaces called Synclaviers.

In order to locate unusual instruments, I visited not just music instrument dealers, but also art galleries and pawnshops all over Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Some of the finest exotic instruments were found in chic furniture shops. I once saved an Thai Glong thad type of barrel drum from the basement of ABC furnishings, where it was destined, it seemed, to be sold as a decorative coffee table.

But I was not about to let a drum constructed for a classic Thai ceremony waste away doing nothing so much as supporting the latest issue of Vogue magazine. True, it is not within my means to save every drum, but at least I could save this one.

Eventually, I designated that singular drum as the voice of several percussion tracks on an interactive Sesame Workshop Project I later produced through my own audio company, Blister Media.

Sometimes I think that maybe despite all the other high profile ad campaigns I produced, or the profits made for various multinationals, or the markets moved as a result of one successful marketing strategy or another, –that my own real purpose in life, as a music producer, on planet Earth, was simply to save that drum so that it could teach kids the world over for a time, the joy of rhythm and song.

I don't endow all inanimate objects with souls, but I know every musical instrument I've ever played has had one.

Software Plug-ins, I'm not so sure about. Probably not, but even my vintage electronic Minimoog has a mind of its own.

It was in fact the task of sampling another drum –a red and white, hour glass shaped Asmat drum with a lizard skin top– a small Tibetan Bell and a weathered pawnshop autoharp, with which I made my first small contributions to future commercial recordings.

Once we finished capturing the sound of all the new instruments, Alex Lasarenko had many of them hung on the walls, alongside Jonathan Elias' vintage ARP synthesizer.

The ARP was legendary for having been used to score the famous ALIEN trailer where the moon-like egg cracks open and the audience is creepily reminded that, ‘In Space No One Hears You Scream’.

To my eyes, the collection resembled the trophies assembled by a big game hunter, of which Jonathan certainly was in the world of commercial music production.

A life hanging on a wall may not seem so different than life as a coffee table, I suppose, but at least we took those instruments down every once in a while and played them.

And the Thai drum was mine. I took it home.

Speaking of Animism, I would not be surprised if some of my original samples continue to live a life quite independent from my own, voicing melodies and rhythms on ever new commercial recordings, year after year.

Quite likely, I'll die before they do!

* * *

Click on any link below to read the entire Mystic Audio Series:

1. Glossolalia: Speaking In Tongues
2. The Ur-Song
3. Theta Waves, Mantras & The Lord's Prayer
4. Atomic Rhythms
5. Thai Drum Samples For Sesame Workshop

Atomic Rhythms

In an article titled 'Music and the Brain', author Laurence O'Donnell reports:

“Classical music from the baroque period causes the heart beat and pulse rate to relax to the beat of the music. As the body becomes relaxed and alert, the mind is able to concentrate more easily. Furthermore, baroque music decreases blood pressure and enhances the ability to learn. Music affects the amplitude and frequency of brain waves, which can be measured by an electro-encephalogram. Music also affects breathing rate and electrical resistance of the skin. It has been observed to cause the pupils to dilate, increase blood pressure, and increase the heart rate.”

Some suggest meditation acts on the brain mechanism the same way as music does, but that it works from the inside out.

I sometimes wonder if there is not a universal frequency, to which perhaps the Ur-Song is tuned, that Monks somehow align with when they chant ‘Aum’.

In The Secret Power of Music, David Tame writes:

"…science is beginning to suspect that matter is all composed of one fundamental something, and that the frequencies or rhythms of this something determine the specific nature of each object and atom."

Or as I like to say:

Sound is everything is sound rinse and repeat ad infinitum.

* * *

Click on any link below to read the entire Mystic Audio Series:

1. Glossolalia: Speaking In Tongues
2. The Ur-Song
3. Theta Waves, Mantras & The Lord's Prayer
4. Atomic Rhythms
5. Thai Drum Samples For Sesame Workshop

Theta Waves, Mantras & The Lord's Prayer

When asked how to pray, Jesus advises in Matthew 6:7:

"But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking."

‘Vain repetitions’ is also translated as ‘babbling’.

I’ve heard it suggested that the lesson being given here is against producing the kind of rote chanting common to eastern religions, whereby the practitioner repeats a word or phrase over and over. That is, don’t confuse the recitation of a mantra for prayer.

Jesus was concerned that repetitive chants lost their meaning –became, in fact, 'vain repetitions' when delivered by rote, with no conscious intent behind them.

He therefore prescribed the following as a model for prayer:

Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

We call this prayer ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, because it is the prayer Jesus used to teach his disciples how to pray. Given that context then, shouldn’t The Lord’s Prayer be a model of conscious prayer; not a prayer itself; and certainly not chanted or repeated verbatim by rote, as it so often is?

The Catholic Encyclopedia reports:

“In many monastic rules, (The Lords Prayer) was enjoined that the lay brothers, who knew no Latin, instead of the Divine office should say the Lord's Prayer a certain number of times (often amounting to more than a hundred) per diem. To count these repetitions they made use of pebbles or beads strung upon a cord, and this apparatus was commonly known as a "pater-noster", a name which it retained even when such a string of beads was used to count, not Our Fathers, but Hail Marys in reciting Our Lady's Psalter, or in other words in saying the rosary.”

But to my mind, this is in fact exactly the opposite of what Jesus intended.

He said: “…when ye pray, use not vain repetitions.”

Vain repetitions have their place though. It is said that chanting in a such a way to stimulate a deep meditative state induces the brain to slow down from its normal beta state (13-30Hz) to the alpha (8-12 Hz) or the even slower theta state (4-8 Hz).

And apparently that’s a good thing. Theta waves are linked to “creativity, intuition, daydreaming, and fantasizing and is a repository for memories, emotions, sensations. Theta waves are strong during internal focus, meditation, prayer, and spiritual awareness.” (crossroadsinstitute.org)

Therefore, one might conclude, that in fact:

When ye pray, by all means use such vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for by thinking not –and despite reports to the contrary– you will be rewarded with abundant creativity.

* * *

Click on any link below to read the entire Mystic Audio Series:

1. Glossolalia: Speaking In Tongues
2. The Ur-Song
3. Theta Waves, Mantras & The Lord's Prayer
4. Atomic Rhythms
5. Thai Drum Samples For Sesame Workshop

The Ur-Song

Carl Jung believed that we are born, not just with our physical bodies, but also with a collective consciousness. He suggested this collective consciousness was composed of “the residues of ancestral life… (whose) origins can only be explained from assuming them to be deposits of the constantly repeated experiences of humanity.”

How else to explain, for instance, universally accepted sounds, terms, symbols, etc– for ‘Mother’?

Along these same lines there are those who believe that part of this collective consciousness includes or contains what has been called an ‘Ur-Song’, that is: A basic, fundamental and universal sequence of notes, forming a melody; and so named because of the Mesopotamian City of Ur, regarded as the first civilization.

Some academics think of melodies as symbols, and indeed a motif can heighten dramatic intent via deft symbolic use. So, it's not a great leap to consider that that this Ur-Song while itself not literally a symbol –not a graphic one, anyway– is nevertheless equivalent to a symbol, –or in fact it is a musical or sonic symbol– and therefore worthy of semiotic analysis.

FYI: Semiotics, is the study of sign processes, or signification and communication, signs and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems. (Wikipedia)

So what does the Ur-song sound like you ask? There are several theories, with one being that it is simply a descending minor third. Sometimes I’m inclined to think that it is the bass line from Pachelbel’s Canon, –the sequence having become so ubiquitous that I now recognize its integration into many pop compositions (do sol la mi fa do fa sol). However, most of the articles I’ve read indicate that the Ur-Song is more probably sung as: ‘sol sol mi la sol mi’. But you probably know it better as 'nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah' or 'Na-nana-nah-na nah nah', a common children's taunt sung upon said to be sung upon the universal melody.


Indeed, it’s heard on every playground around the world. Of course, the lyrics and exact rhythm change depending on the culture and language, but the tune is always the same.

In his book, The Secret Power of Music, David Tame describes this phenomenon:

“…in all lands, children from the age of eighteen months to two and a half years have been found to spontaneously sing melodic fragments with the intervals of second, minor third, and major third.”

Even Leonard Bernstein described a belief in the legitimacy of the Ur-song.

As it happens, I’m also a true believer:

When I was two years old –and living in San Juan de Marcos, Peru– my parents recall this incident: Upon seeing a motorcyclist having troubles with his bike, I spontaneously sang out, “Ha ha ha la moto”, and the words were carried upon the following melody: ‘sol sol mi la sol mi’ –what else but the Ur-song!

* * *

Click on any link below to read the entire Mystic Audio Series:

1. Glossolalia: Speaking In Tongues
2. The Ur-Song
3. Theta Waves, Mantras & The Lord's Prayer
4. Atomic Rhythms
5. Thai Drum Samples For Sesame Workshop