I happened on this short stop-motion pac-man video today that uses a beat from Splice. It’s cute - look:

Yay for finding Splice music randomly about the internet. I love that.

I couldn’t let the day go by without mentioning the new song by groovebox, called Carpet Bomber. I have a dog that’s been known to bomb a few carpets in his day, so I really got a good laugh out of it. So, here is Grrrrrshwin - my favorite little fuzzball on the planet - and here is a song that’s for the dogs.

I get a lot of comments on the slideshow in my profile. This is fun, but you know what I’d love? I would love to make a slideshow of you guys playing music, and especially of you playing music on Splice.

If you would like to contribute to my upcoming new slideshow, email your photo and username to amiee@splicemusic.com.

Rock on.

Mike Tremblett, otherwise known as trembmic, has uploaded a GREAT song entitled “Words”. Not only is the song fantastic, it’s uploaded in 8 different tracks so that you can easily sub in your own parts (or just add more - he’s left you room to work.)

The really interesting thing about this is that trembmic is a music teacher, and has his grade nines remixing this for a school project. Here in the office, *THAT* is music to our ears.

I really love to hear that educators are using Splice. When I worked as a music tutor and piano teacher, I learned that a good music teacher has to constantly be looking for new and interesting ways to captivate and inspire their students. It’s my hope that Splice can do exactly that, with a very attractive price tag of ‘lots pf interesting goodies for the low, low bargain price of free.’ (Having worked in elementary and high school ed programs for years, I realize that budgets are generally very tight.)

If you are an educator who is using Splice, drop me a line. I would be very interested in hearing what you’re having your students do with the site, and also in how we can make it more useful to your classroom. You can reach me at amiee@splicemusic.com.

Man, the music from airtone never ceases to amaze me, so I am very pleased to be able to announce this song as the winner of our Remix Petrol contest! Airtone will be receiving an inMotion9 portable speaker system from Altec Lansing. Take a listen to this! It’s beautiful and really does a nice job of using the vocal sounds I love so much:

Great job!

[11:49:12 PM] Amiee says: So I just made this song on our site and then I made it better
[11:49:15 PM] Thaumata says: I feel so accomplished
[11:49:28 PM] Thaumata says: I have contributed something worthy to the community of creative commons
[11:51:58 PM] Rig says: yayyyy
[11:52:07 PM] Rig says: I just finished another version of that song, actually
[11:52:18 PM] Rig says: you vs thatcrooner
[11:52:26 PM] Rig says: I JUST saved it
[11:52:29 PM] Thaumata says: woohoo!
[11:52:35 PM] Thaumata says: I am famous on teh intarnets
[11:52:38 PM] Rig says: I’d wait for the mp3 to show up
[11:52:40 PM] Rig says: haha

We have just had an avalanche of great content lately, and the newest contribution from Fenix might just take the cake. What a cool thing to make!

If you’ve got something fun you want featured in the blog, be sure to let us know!

I’m always telling people that the best thing about Splice is not that it provides a technology for remixing music, but rather that it provides a new kind of venue for building tighter global communities through music. When you think about it, that’s pretty cool. The internet makes us almost telepathic - a thought that I’m having can be typed and trasmitted to your computer, and therefore into your brain, in a matter of seconds. This kind of technology is taken for granted by most people who have it, despite it being in it’s infancy, relatively speaking. (The internet revolution has only just begun, regardless of what my grandmothers would have told you.) It’s an amazing new tool for bringing people closer together. Music, on the other hand, is one of the oldest tools available for this same purpose. There hasn’t been a culture in the history of humanity that hasn’t had music. I think that’s significant.

To me, Splice is a shining caduceus of these two things, and I love nothing more than giving people examples of the neat things that happen when you give people some tools and a little creative breathing room. My example today starts with another long-lost Splicer, ThatCrooner. He’s a performer and singer from Barcelona, Spain. I’ve always enjoyed his unique vocal work and have been missing his contributions to the site. Lo and behold, though, he’s back, too! It’s like a Splice reunion this week (we must be doing something right!):

So, in my joy at having another vocalist come back to play, I recorded some vocal work that I’ve had stashed in my brain for a while. Typically, I am super self conscious about sharing my music online… since I don’t know a lot about recording, I’m never satisfied with how it sounds. But I had this (glaringly obvious) realization that Splice is actually MADE for sharing unfinished work. I mean, we’re here to make projects TOGETHER and not just post shiny and completed mp3s, right? Right! So then I went ahead and posted this lullaby:

As predicted and hoped, someone picked it up and did a few things to it. Rig went ahead and downloaded the vocals, pitch-corrected them in some places* and then re-uploaded them into HIS version of the song:

Which is extra lovely. So there you have it - From Spain to the USA to Canada… this little train of inspiration just keeps going. Who in the world will hear this song and remix it next, or write something else after being inspired by it? I guess you’ll have to stick around to find out, right?

* I have to say I did laugh at Gurdonark’s comment to me that “you ought to tell rig that the dissonance and unexpected key variation is often a charming benefit to a sophisticated track! .” And well, isn’t THAT a nice way to put it?

Most people who’ve been on Splice for a while are acquainted with our very own JDubb. He was one of our earliest users, and certainly one of our most active users, so chances are if you were here back in the day, you got some comments from him or heard his work. I have to say that I was especially enjoying watching his music change over time… He just kept getting better and better with each song. We’ve made a million changes to the site since he signed up, but he never lets it slow him down. I’ve never met anyone who will remix a song so many times until they get it just how they want. Not only that, but from the time I first met him until the last time we spoke, I’ve seen him make so many friends here and help THEM out, too. I love seeing things like that - to me, Splice is about making music, sure, but it’s also about using technology to form tighter communities.

It’s late and if you get me started talking about how much I love music AND the internet, we will be here forever. That’s an entire separate post that perhaps I will make tomorrow. The point of this post was how awesome JDubb is. At some point, he kind of disappeared without a trace, and I’ve had many Splicers asking me what ever happened to him. Well, you can all relax - guess who left me a comment tonight? (The fun thing about working here is that you can comandeer the blog to tell the whole world things like who left comments in your page tonight. Neat, huh?) JDubb, of course! He says he’s been getting a new computer and has been offline, but that he will be back soon. He also said to say hello to everyone that’s asked for him.

I think Splice had better look out, because I have a hunch that when JDubb comes back, he will be back with a vengeance. You better get your rhymes ready.

Hello, kiddies.

Well, our Remix Airtone contest officially ended on Sunday night, and I have to tell you something: The entries that were submitted were all SO good that our staff was hard pressed to pick a winner. We have been debating this for two days now and all I can say about that is “What an awesome problem to have!”

Really, though - the quality of the music we got this week was above and beyond anything we’ve done so far, and I am extra impressed with everyone who entered the contest. You guys rock! One of my favorite things about my job here is that I’m never quite sure what I’m going to hear when I push Play, and this week was one pleasant surprise after another.

Anyway, without further ado, our winner:

Like I said, it was tough to choose, but we went with TallTechson because we really loved the mix of a live track set to a Splice base. That’s what Splice is really all about - taking the things you find here and enhancing them with your own personal style. We were extra happy to see this, and so we’re thrilled to be sending him that swank set of Altec Lansing Wireless Headphones. After all, we’ve yet to meet a musician who couldn’t do with a few more toys in their gearbox.

But don’t miss the other entries in this contest! I’m not lying when I say that they were ALL excellent. You can see all of the entries by searching for remixairtone.

And of course, let’s not forget to thank the person who REALLY made this all possible: AIRTONE! There is actually another lovely song here that you should listen to, and I will leave you with that and a reminder that we do have a contest here every week. I think the next one is going to be as good at this one was, and I am very excited about it. Join us!!