Jarome Matthew

Author: jarome

  • current favorite music

    I’ve decided to create a widget to share my current fave songs because lately, I can barely contain myself about some of the music I have been listening to. (I’m not sure why really as no one I know or even work with really shares my eclectic and extreme range of taste in music…)

    The first artist I have been really into lately is Finnish band Nightwish, which, if you listen to their older material with previous vocalist, have successfully married hard rock, opera and electronic music, no small feat. Their video for Amaranth puts to shame most north american music videos, never mind their music production. I was pleased to hear they are coming here on tour soon.

    [myspace 15949066 Nightwish-Amaranth Video ]

    And completely different, the other track I have been into lately is M.I.A ‘Baamboo Banga’
    I have put this with other favorites in my box on the sidebar to the left.
    When you come back to this blog next time, check it out for my latest favorite tracks!
    You can even subscribe to my fave files widget using rss if you roll like that:
    http://www.box.net/public/xqegzxngg0/rss.xml

  • I’m going to China

    Well, I’ve got my tickets and it’s confirmed, In two weeks I will be in China!
    I am going to Beijing and Hong Kong for some music projects with Elika Mahony.

    I am very excited to see what the new superpower of the world is like. I have been to the other superpower of the world, India a few years ago, and it was totally incredible.

    Jarome & Felisha Taj Mahal, India: 2005Jarome & Felisha India, 2005

    I’ll let you know all about China when I get back… just not here on this blog.

  • New Mash Up Video: Enjoy The Cylons

    Ever since I was a kid, i have loved the Cylons from the TV show Battlestar Galactica. I even made my very own super cool silver cylon mask out of paper mache for halloween once. When fan of the modern remake of BSG, and an artist I have produced, Laura Harley joked about listening to Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy The Silence’ and thinking ‘enjoy the cylons’, I had my fuel to create the ultimate cylon tribute video.

    Over the last few months, this video has become quite a mash up. What I did is start with the remix of Enjoy The Silence by Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park. Then I edited it and re created parts so that Laura could sing over top. So that was the musical mash up, a remake of the remix of the original song.
    Then for the video, I cut my favorite clips, chosen to work with the lyrics of the song, and give a good overview of the new and old cylons, and show some of the drama and conflict between the cylons themselves.

    So enough reading already, check out the video!


    Enjoy The Cylons: Battlestar Galactica vs Depeche Mode on Vimeo.

    (I posted a high quality download of this in comments below, because the youtube video is not available anymore in it’s original form.)

  • The end of the music industry as we know it

    Last year I blogged about how the music industry is changing along with a lot of others…
    Recently, A very detailed 18 page report has been published by renowned technology and market research company, Forrester. I don’t have access to the entire article, as that would be expensive, but here is the essence of it:

    • Half of all music sold in the US will be digital in 2011 and sales of digitally downloaded music will surpass physical CD sales in 2012, reaching $4.8 billion in revenue by 2012, but in 2012, CD sales will be reduced to just $3.8 billion.
    • “Media executives eager to stay afloat in this receding tide must clear the path of discovery and purchase, but only hardware and software providers can ultimately make listening to music as easy as turning on the radio.”
    • The average MP3 player is only 57 percent full, suggesting that the devices are underutilized (correct in my case)
    • DRM(digital rights management copy protection)-free music enables every profile page on MySpace.com or Facebook to immediately become a music store where friends sell friends their favorite tracks
    • Cable TV style subscription music services will show modest growth, reaching just $459 million in revenue in 2012, while experiments in ad-supported downloads will be silenced by the powerful combination of DRM-free music and on-demand music streaming on sites like imeem.com
    • It is now very clear: Digital Ownership IS The Music Model For The Future
    • Forester’s recommendation to the ailing music industry: Solve The ‘Discovery Of New Music’ Problem Consumers Have First, Then Get Out Of The Consumer’s Way!

    And the MOST important finding of this whole article in my opinion is:
    “The industry has to redefine what its product is,” said analyst McQuivey. “Music executives have spent years tracking CD sales. But the ARTIST is the product — not just the source of it.
    New forms of revenue will come from unexpected sources. For example, the industry has failed to capitalize on the growing popularity of video games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band. In a market where musicians are happy to sell a million copies of a CD, a video game market where titles can sell five million copies is enough to motivate even the most depressed music executive.”
    The Forrester report is based in part on a survey of more than 5,000 consumers in the US and Canada.

    I found it particularly interesting that way back in 2001, Forester did a study that the industry essentially ignored that proved digital music sales to be the future of music.

    More here: www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9874319-7.html
    Forester document: www.forrester.com/go?docid=43759

  • My latest production, ‘Fire And Gold’ by Elika Mahony

    Over the last 3 years I have been producing an album that is quite different than what I usually do by the very talented composer, pianist, and singer, Elika Mahony.
    I have blogged last year about some of the challenges of producing an album like this, and about how intense a project like this can become.
    With it’s combination of electronic elements with piano, live cello, guitar, and flute and other exotic live instruments such as Persian santur, nay flute, and Chinese erhu, I have to say that this album, called ‘Fire And Gold’ is not only the most diverse and elaborate production I have worked on, but one of the most expensive. But it has done extremely well, selling over a thousand copies shortly after release thanks to Elika’s innovative music promotion techniques worldwide. You can listen here.

    For those who are familiar with the musical styles I usually produce, the classical and new age overtones of this spiritually inspired Baha’i album on the theme of tests and difficulties of life may not be your thing. But you will most likely still be able to appreciate Elika’s sweet voice and elegant melodies.

    Elika is also using some of the latest online music promotion techniques such as selling electronic versions of her songs online by donation, and offering discounts for multiple CD orders. One of her fan’s have even created a music video for one of the songs, This Is Faith.

  • Canada proposes new music tax

    In the ongoing fight for the music industry to try and maintain the control they *used* to have, Canada is proposing a new compulsory music tax in addition to the digital download taxes, levy on digital music players, and the levy on blank CD’s. I kid you not, we are talking about billions of dollars collected here, and do you think I will get compensated when my music is downloaded? Nope. But Celine Dion will!

    You can read the propaganda that the music industry has sent the media here.

    I say propaganda because much of the information in this article comes from the music industry and is very misleading, such as the statement “More than 80% of Canada’s musicians earn less than $15,000 annually.”
    This is not because of illegal downloading, but because of things like the lousy music that is released that people won’t pay for, artists who don’t promote themselves, and the fact that most artists go bankrupt because the retail stores, label, and distributors take over 70% of the profits from CD sales. Remove those people from the food chain and you have the new music industry, where the artist is back on top. and THAT is a proven fact.
    (I get into this more in this post about the massive changes in the industry)
    I’m really getting tired of media being too lazy to research this stuff before publishing, aren’t you?.

    The incredible thing is this new tax, much like the levies mentioned above would be charged to everyone who uses the internet in Canada, not just those who download music, creating in total billions in tax and levy revenue for the music industry. How things like this get passed as law in a supposed democracy is beyond me.
    What’s interesting is if it does become law, it will essentially make downloading music legal, along with burning music, which is essentially also legal now because we are paying dearly for it.
    And that means that everything will change forever in the consumption of music. I only wish it could be done fairly, you know the good old way, where the industry gives the consumer what they want and get compensated for doing so, rather than by force.

  • I love skiing

    Skiing is amazing, serenity, high speed exercise in nature, and gorgeous views…
    I finally got some daylight skiing with some amazing weather the other day.
    It’s hard to film with a digital camera while skiing, and this doesn’t even come close to capturing what it’s like up there, especially the city at night near the end, but check it out:

    [youtube h1r43BRTzL8 Skiing, Cypress, Vancouver]

    The video is from the top of this peak on the right.

    Jarome Skiing, Cypress Mountain

  • This is so cool

    I don’t usually  share random YouTube videos, but this is so cool, amazing and beautiful.

    [youtube jwMj3PJDxuo Frozen at Grand Central Station]

    More: www.improveverywhere.com

  • Dusting off the 80’s synths

    Actually I never dust off my old hardware synthesizers, there’s something about an old electronic thing like that with dust on it that is appealing… It isn’t so good for the hardware thought, the dust gets in the pots and sliders and you get all kind of crackles and noise when you turn the knobs and use it.

    What I mean is I am working on a new 80’s inspired pop album for artist Heather Dore. She’s a real sweetie, she even wrote a blog entry about me without even knowing how much I love being appreciated.
    The interesting thing about Heather coming along and requesting I rejuvenate her music career by helping her create her favorite kind of music is that I have spent the last decade telling myself “the 80’s are over, things have to sound modern now, 21st century” (which is interesting as a producer in a way, because the production values and attention to detail on a record in the 80’s have never been equalled).
    And now that I have finally almost mastered that, I have to go back to my roots that I love and forget discipline from using dated sounds for Heather’s 80’s inspired music. But we will be combining modern elements too, so stay tuned for that, it will be very interesting.

    Anyway, it is cool to fire up this old hardware for her music because I have really been into virtual instruments lately in the computer because they save so much time. They aren’t better, they just save time and money. But the old synths have all kinds of crackles and buzzes and stuff that keeps things interesting (and technically challenging from the spoiled computer use). Today one old synth, the Roland MKS-50 that I used (which is a keyless Alpha Juno) started outputting this weird low frequency feedback drone noise which would come and go by itself when I wasn’t using it. Not surprising when using a device that is creating sound using real current generated oscillations. That’s the beauty of old analog hardware, it’s alive.
    Now I just have to get these old beasts to behave long enough to capture their essence.

    Dusty Old Synthesizer
    ahhhh, dusty old synths…

  • a new way to perform and compose music

    Check out the latest and most popular design for electronic composers to perform music, it’s called the Monome:

    [youtube F0A8xR8ieek nolink]

    What you can’t see in this video is he has it hooked up to a laptop with different instruments, loops and patterns prepared. I understood how it worked after seeing it because i have used step based sequencing, but that’s only one of many uses of this seemingly simple but extremely sophisticated device…

    [youtube LuV9Eg6HC34 nolink]
    http://monome.org