March 4, 2010

Join the online petition to save BCC services…

Here is a quick note from Entropik regarding BBC’s plans…

By now many of you will already be aware of the BBC’s plans to axe 6 Music, Asian Network and a large portion of the website in an effort to cut costs and channel funds into Radio 2, which the BBC say “”significantly and demonstrably more distinctive”. Read the full article here.

Phil Jupitas, comedian, musician and podcaster said of the decision: ”It would be act of cultural vandalism, to axe 6 Music”. We heartily agree with him and feel that the same must be said for BBC Asian Network. Both of these stations are close to our heart given that they have provided a valuable platform and audience for our music and subsequently became our own favourite source of great new and underground music.

We know that many of you have also enjoyed airplay on Tom Robinson’s Introducing show and perhaps on some of the other brilliant shows on 6 Music or Asian Network. If you haven’t already signed the online petition to voice your support, we ask that you do so now and get as many of your friends to do the same. Let’s all do what we can to let the Beeb know they’re making a big mistake and ideally stop them from going through with their plans. Click on the link below to sign the petition and share the link on all of your social networking haunts!

http://www.petition.fm/petitions/6musicasiannet/1000/

www.humtoo.com

March 3, 2010

Meet HUMTOO featured music maker for March, Adam from White Sound…

White Sound is a UK based production company set up by composer and producer Adam Scourfield. Adam has been composing and performing for film and theatre for a number of years, working in some of the most prestigious concert halls in the country. From the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Millennium Dome in London to the Snape Concert Hall, Aldeburgh, White Sound has been involved in encouraging and generating new and exciting collaborations between film, music, art and live performance in order to constantly produce a high quality, provocative finished product.

Recent collaborations with MTV, The Guardian, InterLink and Light Haven Films have extended an already lengthy musical output. With exciting work coming in the future including a return to the collaboration with Bennet Maples to complete his new movie/opera: Guinod, 2010 promises to be an exciting year for White Sound. Working with high quality samples for East West Quantum Leap, Native Instruments, Nine Volt Audio and many more, White Sound has the facilities and creative knowledge to score for any film or TV production. White Sound has extensive experience working in pre and post production work, and will only produce the best possible product.

After starting White Sound at University, Adam went on to graduate from the University of Leeds with a BA (Hons) Music. I gained 1st class awards in Composition, film music analysis and ethnomusicology. Added to his Composition award from the Dixons City Academy and two Honours at Grade 8 level from the Guildhall school of Music and LBRSM, Adam hs a proven track
record of producing quality music.

For more info check out Whitesound.humtoo.com and check out White Sound’s HUMCAST:

www.humtoo.com

March 1, 2010

New HUMCAST

The latest edition of our user-generated video podcast, or HUMCAST, featuring White Sound is up! Check it out:

February 22, 2010

HUMTALK – Feb ‘10

Here’s an excerpt from HUMTOO’s monthly newsletter, HUMTALK.

In this HUMTALK:
2 exciting new releases from HUMTOO
Use our music NOW and have the chance to win a macbook pro
Featured Music Maker

2010 is now in full swing, and we’ve got 2 hot new mix tapes ready to bring your project to life. Go back to School, with School of Rawk. This collection of 20 tracks by talented guitarist Rob Neary delivers plenty of hot licks and grooves that’ll get your moving.

Things that go Bump is a mix tape jammed full of avante garde tracks, that delivers spooky atmospheres with unexpected antics. The mix tape was put together by Neokitsch.

A use of our music is eligible to win a Mac Book pro – for more info, head to macbook.humtoo.com. Remember that our music is FREE to use on broadcast productions.

Congratulations to our hard working Music Maker for February, Alex Fouquet. Foukbass.humtoo.com has been successful for a number of projects, and has numerous tracks in the HUMTOO library. Check out his interview in the latest HUMCAST!

If you need assistance logging into the site or you’ve any questions, Mike is here to help: message him at mike.humtoo.com or email him: mike@humtoo.com.

February 18, 2010

Meet Alex Fouquet…

In HUMTOO’s latest HUMCAST, meet HUMTOO featured musician Alex Fouquet (and his assistant) in his home studio.

www.humtoo.com

February 16, 2010

With love, from Paris (with music)

We were looking at ways of promoting our members music late last week and we decided to create a HUMTOO sampler.

But, being as we are, we didn’t want to do your stock standard sampler. So we created Parisian love…continued avec music. It’s a parody on google’s super bowl commercial, we think it shows off the talent of our hard working music making community on the site, check it out:

February 16, 2010

Things That Go Bump

We released a new mix tape from Neokitsch earlier this week – Things That Go Bump.

Here are a couple of notes from Neokitsch on making the mix tape.

“Things That Go Bump” is a collection of outrageous, weird and damn right silly musical experimentations. This time, the NeoKitsch studio brought together the combination of modern classical music styles, with avant garde film and electronic music. The Trumpet, Viola, Violin, Haken Continuum Fingerboard, Etherwave Theremin, Moog Synthesizers and Bass Guitar are just a fraction of the live instruments used to record this collection.

All tracks were recorded live in the NeoKitsch Studio.

Filmmakers and Content Creators will find that these unusual tracks will really make a stamp on their work

You can check out what some of these very recordings looked like on the NeoKitsch YouTube channel. Here is one of the videos showing Danny Hahn and David Way at work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWAQNcO24O0

And here is another video demonstrating some of the unusual, one of a kind instruments in the NeoKitsch studio:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khy37yavXqA

You can listen to, and download the tracks here.

www.humtoo.com

February 8, 2010

School Of Rawk


Hot new mix tape is released today, School of Rawk, chock full of rock tracks by Rob Neary. You can download the tracks here.

A note from Rob about his mix tape:

20 Tracks was a big challenge, so how did i write them? I Basically armed
my mp3 player with as much (12GB) Pop Rock music as i could. A lot
borrowed from Leyden Irwin my Fiance’s brother in Cape Town, whom i have
to say a big shout out too.

Once I had listened to as many bands and styles as i could, it all began
to sink in and then the end results are the songs you hear today…

Track listing:

  • The Race
  • An New Tomorrow
  • Catch Me If You Can
  • Don’t Look Back
  • Flying High Again
  • Resistance
  • School of Rock
  • Skater Park
  • The Art Of War
  • The One I Want
  • Welcome To The Party
  • Break The Rules
  • Stop And Stare
  • Falling For You
  • Russian Roulette
  • Shine On
  • Super Human
  • The Last Time
  • The Wild Side

Rob Was recently featured in HUMTOO’s HUMCAST series:

More information www.humtoo.com

February 5, 2010

HUMCAST 04 – introducing Corey Bates

HUMCAST is HUMTOO’s podcast series…In this 4th edition, meet Corey Bates.

Corey Bates has been writing and performing since the age of 17. With the regional success he experienced having his music in regular rotation on many area radio stations, Corey decided to relocate to Los Angeles and attend Musicians Institute.

In 1996 he joined the newly formed version of Neve, a band discovered by Randy Jackson. The live dates, label showcases and recordings he played on eventually led to their signing to Columbia Records.

Corey also supported many other up-and-coming aritsts, often filling the role of music director. His experience and abilites were a perfect fit for many solo artists on the rise, such as Kendall Payne on Capitol Records (1997); where he worked with producer Ron Aniello (Lifehouse, Days of the New, Guster).

All the while, his song writing skills were also being recognized and he was offered spec recording time by then Saban Entertainment composer Ian Nickus (The Red West, Friends, Power Rangers). It was during those late night sessions that ‘Alternate Lifestyle’ was recorded, which was eventually placed on Dane Cook’s Tourgasm series and the soundtrack on Playtone/Atlantic.

After relocating to Rochester, NY, he filled the role of Audio Producer for an interactive products company and created promo music for Microsoft, Cisco Systems, the PGA and many others. Locally he has written music used on PBS, RES Exhibits and hired as sound consultant on an audio branding project for Kodak.

These days Corey is performing with his band, Cruelty Free, in the upstate New York area and abroad and continues to have his music licensed for tv/film.

More info www.humtoo.com

February 4, 2010

Featured Music Maker for February





foukbass.humtoo.com (Alex Fouquet) COMPOSER / PRODUCER / MUSIC ENGINEER



Canadian composer Alex Fouquet makes his living playing, recording, and most of all, composing music. His work can be found in numerous cinematic scores for major companies as well as independent film makers and producers. With his dramatic and expressive touch, Alex creates and mixes his special and unique blend of orchestral, ethnic, electronic, and modern music. Alex’s scores are currently used by clients in Canada, Japan, the USA, China, Spain, Belgium, and Hong Kong, just to name a few.



While living in Japan in 2005, he composed an instrumental CD under the Osaka-based Groove Studio’s label. The CD has been released in 50 countries. Alex is well known for his work at Big Score Music for which he has composed over 100 original tracks. Alex also composed original scores for TV shows such as Les grands reportages at RDI-Radio Canada, and Belgium’s famous soap opera Spring.
Lately, he has been collaborating with animation studios in the Middle East. He was also pleased to compose music for projects such as: an advertisement for HP computers (made by G2 studio in Beijing www.g2studio.net ), MTV USA’s reality show Parental control, and the 2009 movie Alien Presence . Alex also worked on a Chew TV project that was brought to him by Humtoo. Alex has been an active member of Humtoo since the very beginning and has built strong business contacts through the website.

Starting his musical career performing as a live musician, Alex has toured around the world as a bass player for major productions such as Cirque du Soleil’s Cheval-Théâtre. The group has been recognized as one of the world’s top live circus acts and Alex took part in over 450 performances in the United States.



Now focusing on creating great scores that aim to show a wide spectrum of emotions, Alex’s motto remains the same: there is no greater feeling than the one you get when you finish a project and both the producer and composer are proud of what they have accomplished together. Only passion and devotion to your art and a professional attitude can make that happen.

More info here: foukbass.humtoo.com

www.humtoo.com

January 29, 2010

Metropol


Metropol, HUMTOO’s latest mix tape, full of smooth percussive electronic grooves…the rhythms of city life.

Track listing:

Beauty – jayhales

Lounge of Lurv – TheAudioDetective
Ruff Lounge – TheAudioDetective

Moby Dyk – garrycribb

Urban Decay – godfreymusic

In An Electro Blue Dream – Giannis
A later shade of blue – Giannis

Leave the city – graham
Trippin – graham

Muffle – audioscapist
Three – audioscapist
Mon Salève – audioscapist

Last Orders – neokitsch

Im flying – foukbass
Bukowski no vox – foukbass
waiting – foukbass

Passenger of the night – StoneLionMusic

Alone in the city – Hans

Light at the end – KeyDrum12

shimmy – Soundgram

Here are what some of the music makers behind the mix tape have to say about their tracks:

Last Orders – Neokitsch is a quirky twist on the smooth groove/lounge music idiom, which uses unusual vocal echoes, and kitchen utensils for its percussion.

Passenger in the Night – StoneLionMusic I like to put myself mentally in to the place for what I am composing for. I imagined being in a Taxi and traveling through the city at night and watching the buildings and lights reflect off of the store front windows. I felt that using a smooth jazz theme matched very well with that.

Alone In The City – Hans I tried to depict the sensation of loneliness in a big city when you don’t have any means to get in touch with the one you love.
I started the track with a sort of Avant Gard chord progression a la Erik Satie (Gymnopedie) and used break beats to sound more modern and urban.

Light At The End – KeyDrum12 I was inspired by watching Nature documentaries and scenery pictures. I just wanted to reproduce, almost “painting”, those beautiful landscapes through music.

Mon Salève – Audioscapist
is a piece with a darkish heavy mood resolved by soaring lighter sections. Inspired by my memories of le Salève, a mountain with wondrous views of Geneva and surroundings. I remember one day watching parascenders rising in the thermals from the top, the lighter pads mimicking them were written first, followed by the driving bass to give the piece the solidity of the slopes.

January 28, 2010

Shades Of White



Shades Of White is a new mix tape full chock full of ‘minimalist emotive drones’.


Track listing:

Molecule Connection – Stonelionmusic

Deep – Stonelionmusic
The Minds Eye – Stonelionmusic

Deep water shallow Breath – davewaugh
june – davewaugh

barrier reef – davewaugh

The Ocean – neokitsch
Ben By Night – neokitsch

Schumann Fish – neokitsch

Frost – neokitsch

Evolving – Keydrum12

Torture 1 – Wizzer

The Lonely Walk Home – godfreymusic

Droning, now waving – godfreymusic

Cold Dawn – godfreymusic

Russian Theme – godfreymusic

Intensity – godfreymusic

Air – godfreymusic

Grindsonte Love – godfreymusic

Temptation – IanD

Here are what some of the music makers behind the mix tape have to say about their tracks:



Ben By Night: (Neokitsch) is an ambient piece which is tranquil, reflective and enlightening. It is a location specific piece, as the music resonates through the chimes of Big Ben, so this track is a perfect choice for those wishing to describe a London night scene.


The Ocean : (Neokitsch) is a mysterious and haunting piece with threatening rumbles contrasted with high pitched chimes. It weaves through light and dark moods, describing the uncertain depths of the otherworldly ocean.



Schumann Fish: (Neokitsch) uses a mixture of subtle ambient music with sound recordings. The name comes from the piece being inspired by a particular passage in one of the Schumann Lieder, although this piece however, has an aquatic texture.



Frost: (Neokitsch) is very dark, with a distant, reverberant female voice accompanied by the low crackles and rumbles of the vintage analogue Moog Rogue synthesizer.


Deep water shallow breath: (Dave Waugh) I spent hours searching through all my synths for sounds and tweaking them, what I was really looking for were synths that were unpredictable, never responding the same way twice, I’d record the outcomes and reposition the audio, sometimes reversing the audio files. Other synths I used had an incredible delay, only starting to be audible a couple of bars after playing them, and then twisting away long after the note had been stopped on the keyboard. I enjoyed not knowing what to expect next in the track. I renamed it when it was complete because it gave me the feeling of something terrible lurking beneath a deep ocean.

June: (Dave Waugh)I tried for something a little more musical in regards to the timing on this track, I started with a bass pulse and a couple of very gentle synths which complement eachother to provide the pad. The melody line is a combination of a celesta through effects and synth. The organ sound which enters in the last third of the track, is a build up of delay from a couple of the synths.

Barrier reef: (Dave Waugh)Although probably the simplest sounding of the three tracks i have on Shades of White, this track took surprisingly long to create. I took hours to find the right synths and although a very simple progression, reworked the chords several times. The track surprised me when it was finished.

Evolving: (Keydrum2) I was inspired by watching Nature documentaries and scenery pictures. I just wanted to reproduce, almost “painting”, those beautiful landscapes through music.

Molecular Connection: (stonelionmusic) I often compose music with out any title in mind at all. I am often inspired by the track itself to title it something and go by the “feeling” of the piece. This reminded me of something on a Molecular level and all the connections within ourselves there are.


The Minds Eye: (stonelionmusic) I’ve always loved doing Ambient/New Age style music and try to convey things through it. In this track I thought it was like a short trip though the mind in a slightly grandiose and expanding way.


Deep: (stonelionmusic) This track was originally done for a deep sea documentary and because of that I tried to convey depth of the ocean and some of the wonders deep within the sea. Recently this track under a similar title was pitched for a feature film because of it’s relaxing nature.

January 27, 2010

neo-drones mix tape


Neo-drones is the first of HUMTOO’s invite mix tapes. Here are some of Neokitsch’s thoughts on neo-drones.

This mix tape came naturally to me, as ambient genres of music are often requested for NeoKitsch. The instruments and performance style bring about a hypnotic, meditative aura. Most of the pieces, although thoroughly minimal, use a technique where all the twelve notes of the chromatic scale are used mainly in relation to one and other, rather than sticking to a key, and it avoids melodic and traditional harmonic structures. This approach, I find, encourages the listener to appreciate textures and mood above all else, as each note is of equal importance. As NeoKitsch produces music for visual mediums, this mix tape is designed to enrich the screen with deep textures, as well as keeping a distance, in order not to dominate the image.

Some of the instruments used were the Moog Etherwave Theremin, Violin, Viola, Folktek Folkchord, Micro Garden, Electron Monomachine, Lap Steel Guitar, Moog Voyager, Bass Guitar, Omnichord and the Haken Continuum Fingerboard.

All tracks are live improvisations recorded at the NeoKitsch studio using a ProTools HD system, with vintage and modern mics and preamps, including the Nuemann U87 and AKG C414.

Neo-Drones is an eclectic mix of atmospheres, which will be appropriate for any soundtrack seeking ambient sounds with the ‘less is more’ approach.”

Listen to it here!

If you’d like to see Neokitsch at work in his studio, check out his HUMCAST:

January 26, 2010

Disco Retropolis

As HUMTOO’s first mix tapes are completed, we thought we’d give you a rundown on our hottest new release…

Disco Retropolis

“Retro Funk And Disco Grooves”

Track Listing

Lost in Disco – garrycribb
Retro Flares – garrycribb
Westbay Bridge – garrycribb


Funk It Now – keydrum12
Friday Night Fever – keydrum12


Can Ya Dig It – StoneLionMusic


Back To Funk – TheAudioDetective

Quarter Past Funk O’clock – audioscapist
December – audioscapist
Funkliving – audioscapist


On The Run – jaywoods
Funky Junky – jaywoods

Funkasaurus 1 – nspaas
Funkasaurus 7 – nspaas
Funkasaurus 5 – nspaas
Funkasaurus 8 – nspaas
Funkasaurus 2 – nspaas
Funkasaurus 3 – nspaas

www.humtoo.com

January 22, 2010

HUMTALK – First releases for 2010 and the Macbook pro is still up for grabs!

Happy 2010 from the HUMTOO team! We hope you had a wonderful festive season.

HUMTOO has 3 new mix tapes hot off the press ready for use! Neodrones is full of ambient drones. Metropol is jam packed with smooth percussive electronic grooves. And get a serious dose of retro funk and disco grooves with Disco Retropolis. You can find them here: mixtapes.humtoo.com.

Remember, any use of either a track from the library or from a project created in the music marketplace is eligible to win a Macbook pro. More information can be found here: macbook.humtoo.com. More prizes are to be announced shortly, so stay tuned!

The latest HUMCAST is up on our youtube page and it features award winning duo EntropiK, check it out here.

If you need assistance logging into the site, have any questions, email us any time – talktous@humtoo.com or mike@humtoo.com.

All the best for 2010!

Kind regards

The HUMTOO team

www.humtoo.com

January 19, 2010

HUMCAST 03 – introducing entropiK

HUMCAST is HUMTOO’s podcast series…Meet EntropiK, the budding producer of media music in multiple genres including classical, electronic and easy listening, and also a performance/ recording duo who make beautiful and boundary-breaking music featuring cello and electronics.

As a producer of media music, EntropiK.humtoo.com is also gaining a solid and favourable reputation. In the past 12 months, they have scored 2 award-winning short films: Enfant (by AdamR) and Le Cinquième Jour (David Forest Animations) and have licensed a vast number of their tracks for a variety of media platforms including documentaries, corporate films, commercials and films.

They have a growing list of short films scores to their name and collaborated on a feature film score for the British independent horror film, Bane.

More info www.humtoo.com

January 12, 2010

Featured Music Maker for January

EntropiK.humtoo.com is known both as a budding producer of media music in multiple genres including classical, electronic and easy listening, and also a performance/ recording duo who make beautiful and boundary-breaking music featuring cello and electronics.

Winners of HUMTOO’s HUMFEST prize, they are also currently finalists in the international People’s Music Awards, and have been generating a buzz on BBC Asian Network and 6 Music with tracks from their latest EP, Cellotronics.

As a producer of media music, EntropiK.humtoo.com is also gaining a solid and favourable reputation. In the past 12 months, they have scored 2 award-winning short films: Enfant (by AdamR) and Le Cinquième Jour (David Forest Animations) and have licensed a vast number of their tracks for a variety of media platforms including documentaries, corporate films, commercials and films.

They have a growing list of short films scores to their name and collaborated on a feature film score for the British independent horror film, Bane.

For more information and to listen to some of their music, check out EntropiK.humtoo.com

November 18, 2009

HUMCAST 02 – meet robneary.humtoo.com

HUMCAST is HUMTOO’s video podcast series…

Meet robneary.humtoo.com in his own studio and find out about his recent success on HUMTOO and also how he creates his sound with his two Ibanez guitars.

November 10, 2009

HUMTALK November

In this HUMTALK:

* HUMTOO’s first HUMCAST goes live
* New Look front page for HUMTOO
* Music Maker of the month announced
* Win a MacBook Pro for the best use of our music
* Remixes and Collaborations

We’re pleased to announce our first Podcast is now live. HUMCAST, HUMTOO’s video podcast, will feature HUMTOO’s music makers and their tracks, to raise their profile. In HUMCAST 01 meet Neokitsch.humtoo.com in his North London studio, complete with handmade synth, Omnichord 0-300 and Theremin.

We’ve updated our front page
. This update reflects our growing content creator community that are looking to access music quickly and easily from the library. The project marketplace is still easily accessed after you log in to your account. If you’ve got any feedback on the update, feel free to message mike on the site mike.humtoo.com.

HUMTOO’s music maker of the month is Rob Neary. You can find out more about his work on the blog. He’ll be featured in the next HUMCAST which will be featured on our youtube page shortly

The MacBook Pro continues to attract interest in the music in our library. We will be announcing more prizes for the best use of our music in the coming weeks. More info can be found here: macbook.humtoo.com. The library is currently looking for Christmas/festive music – don’t forget you can upload tracks directly into the library from your profile page.

Congratulations to Whitesound.humtoo.com for their successful pitch for the interlink project. You can create collaboration projects and remix projects simply and easily from your own profile page.

We’ve had a few questions lately about the new HUM system. If you are a little confused, check out the blurb here in our How It Works section which should make it clear. If you are still unclear, message Mike on the site.

Keep up and great work, and as always if you’ve any feedback or questions about HUMTOO, hit up mike at mike.humtoo.com

The HUMTOO team

www.humtoo.com
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/humtoo
Join us on Facebook: http://tiny.cc/R8uuw
Join us on Myspace: www.myspace.com/humtoomusic
Join us on Youtube: www.youtube.com/humtoomusic

November 9, 2009

Featured Music Maker for November

robneary.humtoo.com (BMI) is a songwriter, composer and music supervisor based in Surrey. He writes music for TV, Film and all forms of media. His motto is “Your vision, my music”

Robert has been involved with various projects this year, which covered custom work for “the Smithsonian Network” documentary film “The Rivals” and independent films (one by the makers if “Hoodwinked”) as well as music for a Unilever Campaign through HUMTOO.

With over 200 music placements world wide each year, Roberts music featured recently in the Oscar Nominated & Golden Globe winning Motion Picture – “The Wrestler” 2009. His work can also be heard on MTV, The Discovery Channel and live broadcasts such as the Asian Excellent Awards 2008.

Popular with corporate companies worldwide, his music has also featured on Radio and website commercials worldwide for CBS, Adidas, Momentum Pictures, KPMG, Unilever, Reuters, Boeing and Porsche.

Roberts creative imagine and musical vision has led him into music supervising with his first 10minute short film (Directed by Neil Moss) called “Open Season” which came in 14th place out of 58 movies in the UK for the 2Days Later film festival which had film critics from the Guardian and the Times.

Robert’s home studio comprises of a Boss digital multi-track, 2 Ibanez guitars and POD X3 effects system.

All of the music you hear on HUMTOO is written recorded and mixed by Robert himself with over 20years experience.

Roberts’ growing success is being noticed worldwide and has also moved his music into Computer games, E-cards and I-phone applications.

More info and his music can be found at robneary.humtoo.com

www.humtoo.com