Embrace The Invisible

Hey gang! Here's another track for you to check out! It was also commissioned by my church for our countdown video. I've enjoyed it much creating these tracks. And starting with this one, they're becoming less EDM, and more theatrical/cinematic. I hope you all enjoy it.

This is also my first track that I'm making available for purchase as a royalty-free download. You can find it at http://www.pond5.com/stock-music/30368789/embrace-invisible.html?ref=osmosis_music...or if it reaches 250 listens on Soundcloud, then I'll make it available for FREE DOWNLOAD.



Thank you for your continued support.

Breaking the silence

Here's the new track I promised a couple of weeks ago.

At my church, we use a countdown(video and backing track) to segue attenders from conversing in the lobby area into the worship service. This track was created to serve as the backing track for this sermon series' countdown video.

I hope you all enjoy it. Also, visit www.cstone.tv to follow our sermons online.



G-d bless, and thank you for your continued support. Please share with everyone you know.

New Stuffs

Here's what's new in the life of Osmosis: Today I had a conversation with the worship pastor of my church about creating a musical theme to our next sermon series. It will serve as a countdown video prior to the start of our worship services throughout the duration of this series.

It's cool being commissioned to create works. It does a few things for me:

It gives me a solid deadline that I can't fudge on...which sometimes happens if things just aren't flowing the way I like.

It is a natural ignition for creativity. I can't really explain why, but being asked to do something gets my creative juices flowing in a fresh way.

It sets the parameters in which I'll work. Some folks feel as if parameters/boundaries are constricting. I see them as freeing.

Today, I also jammed out in a band setting for the first time in a really long time. We ran over a few songs that they've previously written. I came up with bass lines to compliment the guitar parts. The drummer arrived about an hour before I left, but he and I instantly synced. It felt so great. Don't get me wrong, I love sitting at my desk, and being the architect and builder of my songs. But it'll never beat the raw organic chemistry of a group of dudes sitting in a room, making a beautiful noise, and forging friendships. To say the least, I had fun.

So those are my recent events. Soon you'll get to hear something fresh coming from my way. I'm excited about what the future holds.

Thank you for your continued support. G-d bless!

Osmosis Music

Temporary Hiatus

I'm taking a temporary break from the posting a new song every week commitment. I've overloaded myself and it's become very tiring. I'm still going to be active, just not as active as I set out to be at the outset of this blog.

I'm about to go do some yoga to wake myself up, and work on a song I started a couple weeks ago. And I'll be back in full force soon. I'm just waiting for my strength to be renewed.

"Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.

Vaya con Dios, hermanos y hermanas.

Current into this week

As you may be able to realize from my last post, I'm seeking to add more richness to my overall melodic/harmonic sound. I'm seeking to make my music darker. That's unnatural for me...I'm a joyful optimist. My type doesn't naturally produce melancholic, dissonant music. I can twist a diminished key into sounding like bubble-gum pop music. It frustrates me because I want that sound of when I hear a song so dark that it makes my soul cringe.

So I've been researching atonal and polytonal music as of late. I've also run across composers who write using tonal centers but employ chromatic harmony to enhance the dramatic effect. I'm not sure in which direction I will trek. I definitely don't want to write Romantic Period sounding pieces...that's just not my niche. However, I do want to use their philosophies to execute the music I long to create.

I'm currently studying Moussorgsky's "Tableaux d'une exposition." I enjoy breaking apart chord by bloody chord of a score. Learning what the greats do and have done to achieve the sound of brilliance. To me, it's like having a posthumous conversation. I ask questions and the ink and paper respond. I wish I took the time to study scores more often.

So...do I know what I'm doing? Not quite. Could this week's track turn out to be a complete disaster? The future of that is likely. Does that bother or worry me? Not at all. So Bobby, how can expecting to poorly write a song, and fulfilling that prophecy not cause any anxiety? In the words of Arnold Schoenberg:

"My music is not modern, it is merely badly played."

Let's go explore uncharted territories.

Vaya con Dios.

Work Harder, Write Smarter

My awesome wife, with whom I just celebrated our first anniversary, bought me a small chalkboard that I keep at my workstation. I started writing a phrases on it to keep the creative momentum during times of distraction or discouragement. The previous phrase was "Write on Purpose." I felt at that time that my musical efforts were sort of all over the place. Even individual compositions didn't have a natural flow or structure that made sense. That personal maxim has served its purpose, and now I've updated it to meet a more immediate need.

I feel like this track, "Completely Confused And Euphoric," is the product of my new maxim, "Work Harder, Write Smarter." I changed my workflow it two simple manners, but they had a profound impact on how I approached the production of this song.

First, I chose the title before writing the first note. This particular title was inspired by a story I heard...a tale of love, heroism, and heartbreak. Typically I struggle fit a title to a finished song, by describing the emotion I feel it exudes, or as a description of the writing process. This time around I knew ahead of time the function of my tune, and it gave a more precise target to aim for.

Secondly, I wrote my chord progression down on paper from start to finish before ever choosing a sound in my DAW. I then blocked out the progression on a simple piano sample before adding the flesh to the bones. In the past, I chose all of my sounds, and wrote to the sounds. This time around, and here forward, I will compose my songs and intellectually choose the sounds that will best suit it.

These methods gave me a sense of freedom and empowerment over my craft. I have been experiencing a staleness in the writing process, and this week's track breathed a breath of fresh air into my dream.

Week after week, I have a new favorite of the songs I've written. I hope you also increasingly enjoy my creations as I build upon my strengths and learn to minimize my weaknesses.

I hope this song stirs your insides, tugs at your heart strings, and leaves you feeling "completely confused and euphoric in equal measure."


SUPPORT INDEPENDENT MUSIC. SHARE WITH EVERYONE YOU KNOW!

My Luminescence

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light.
-Edna St. Vincent Millay

I sincerely apologize for the delay in my postings recently. I have been quite the activity glutton with adding more to my plate than I can sometimes manage. But I'm loving life, living passionately, doing the things I enjoy to do and have to do! And I will take this moment to empathize with Ms. Millay. I know I can't accomplish all I want to all the time. I know that burning my candle at both ends will inevitably lead to burnouts, stops, and restarts. But I'd like to believe it's for some greater good. To share my art, myself, with all who will take notice. And to you, my readers and listeners, it gives a lovely light.

May this post give you some light throughout your week and for weeks to come. "The Quiet Rain" is available for free download at www.soundcloud.com/osmosis_music.



Enjoy and share with everyone you know!

Breaking The Silence

The past couple work weeks have been as difficult as hand feeding a lion buffalo chicken strips. Well, I haven't lost life or limb, but it's been close. I say all that to say that I apologize for the delay of posting the song for week 8. I have posted its work in progress status as I had to halt its production to begin this week's tune. I will continually update it on my Soundcloud as it evolves into its completed form. Enjoy it, and spread the love(stumble it, share it, tell a friend in person...if you still do that sort of thing.)

I have a couple new "series" that will be unfurled in the next couple weeks so keep your eyes peeled until then. In the meantime, love the life you've been given. Use your gifts to add joy to others. Let's make this world more beautiful together.

"Love is furious and brave and loud. It will echo to the end of time." -- Michelle Williams, Incendiary

Thank you and Godspeed!

In Every Day There Is A Reason For Joy

Good morning everyone!

I decided to go a bit more organic with this week's creation. The drums and strings are the only sequenced elements of this week's song. You'll hear my smooth grooving on the bass guitar. I'm currently seeking other talent to fill up the sonic spectrum, but whatever else is added will also be live instrumentation. Stay tuned! You'll hear this raw, work in progress be transformed into an even larger, more beautiful work of art in the coming weeks.

This song is dedicated to my late mother. She's living the glorious life with our Father now, but her enduring smile, now only seen in photographs, still brings joy to all who witness it.

So sit back, crank your speakers up, and enjoy!



Support and spread the word of independent music!

Day Dreaming At Night

Good morning everyone! Here is my upload for Week #6. Enjoy!



Much love and Godspeed to you. Have a great week!

A Classical Fly On The Wall

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I wish I could have been their to watch the greats compose their masterpieces. Our textbook composers who wrote enchanting music that sounds so super human and flawless to my ears. I'm not attempting to demean their unique brilliance, but these men and women did bleed the same red as I do, and breath the same invisible air.

So sometimes when Ctrl+Z is my primary hot key, and I wish that Pro Tools had more than 32 levels of "undo," I imagine what frustrations Beethoven must have faced when trying to make perfect his forever famous Symphony No. 5. The part that everyone remembers is a simple four note motif. Four notes! Four notes that were composed in 1808 have survived three centuries of history. But I have to wonder what it was like composing such a piece. Did he feel "like a boss" the entire time, or did he get "stuck," and struggle stringing it all together.

  When the arrangement isn't flowing as I wish, I picture Stravinsky swearing angrily while penning The Rites of Spring. He must have encountered roadblocks, right? And, I mean, how do I have arrangement issues with a four minute song, but these guys wrote an hour long ballet with seamless flow...and did so on a regular basis. I wish more bands today would give us CDs with an hour worth of quality music. Is that too much to ask?

And when my heart is content about the track I just finished I wonder about the level of satisfaction Dvorak must have felt after completing each movement of his New World Symphony. Or did he even grasp the historical impact it would make? I wonder.

Now, I'm not attempting to distract from the geniuses I've mentioned. I'm not attempting to inflate my current abilities to a comparable level as theirs. I'm just simply stating that my experiences with music composition must have some similarity to what they experienced...I assume every composer, famous and novice, historical and modern, must face the slew of emotions that are encountered as you pull deep from within to write something personally meaningful and interpersonally relatable.

I'll also pose the age-old question of nature vs. nurture. Were they born with something "special" or is Malcolm Gladwell onto something with his "ten thousand hours" examination? I love and hate what I heard Vldamir Horowitz say in an interview. He said something to the gist of "I was born not with special abilities. Anyone can do what I do with practice." I love that statement because it obviously states that I'm capable of the great abilities that he and many others posses. But I also hate it because I don't currently posses that sort of extravagant ability on my instrument. And will I ever? I guess I need more practice and less blogging. Haha. And do yourself a favor and watch a Horowitz performance if you never have. I randomly found videos of him on You Tube, and I was completely blown away!

Thank you for enjoying my midweek musings. I have a great song that I'm wrapping up production on. I'll post it as soon as possible.

And for those wondering why I have posted a seemingly unrelated photo of Omaha, Nebraska, then pick up a book titled "Quitter" by Jon Acuff. It's a great book for anyone chasing their dream job. /p>

You're Gonna Know My Name By The End Of The Night

People will eventually hear you if you say something enough. People will eventually believe what they hear if they hear it enough. Once they're convinced, then you message will spread like wild fire.

May your passion be your energy, and may it flow forth as conversation. And may that conversation speak life and positivity into the lives of your listeners

Enjoy this week's double dose of sound!

I'm off to count some sheep. I love you guys.

May The 4th Be With You!

I'm currently on my way to Atlanta to volunteer at the Shaky Knees Music Festival. It should be an awesome day, but a very long one. However, I'm holding true to my promise of two songs this week. One is done and the other just needs some tidying up. I'll post them by the close of the day tomorrow. So tune in earlier on the 6th to squash your case of the Mondays.

Much love to you, and have a safe, yet memorable Memorial Day weekend.

I apologize for the misdirection of this post's title. I'm only a casual Star Wars fan, and I have nothing to say that hasn't been said.

Where The Rubber Meets The Road

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We all work diligently on the things we're passionate about. I believe that most of us want to have that "break," or to be "discovered." We all want the acknowledgement and compensation that comes as a reward for our talents. We see the success stories that come before us, and at least for me, they typically conjure a conflict of feelings. Their achievement inspires and encourages which causes me to believe, "I can do that too." However, at the very same time there is that nuisance thought in the back of my head that says, "well they are better than you. Or they just got lucky." And although I know it's not true when I hear that negative thought. And hopefully you believe it isn't true either. It still prompts us to pause and reflect. Then we begin to ask ourselves, "what do I need to do to accomplish what I've set before myself. I believe the answer is a simple one:

Put yourself in the path of the discoverer.
Nothing and no one is ever discovered unless it is located where the discoverers are searching. It's true that rare gems are stumbled upon seemingly by accident. But these instances are so special because they're...rare! Archaeologists search in specific areas looking for specific findings, hunters camp in specific areas looking for specific prey, and they people that will find you doing what you dream of doing have specific territory that they have scoped out to find you. You just have to find out where it is that you need to be there, and then be there all the time. And not only be there, but be ready.

I have discovered an awesome online community for musicians that makes this easy. It's www.broadjam.com. They offer both paid and free memberships. The memberships include the ability to peer review songs, and have your own songs reviewed. Enter contests with various rewards for winning. What I'm most excited about is their music licensing opportunities for film and television. Sure, tons of sites offer this. You can join a PRO and receive performance royalties...which you should. But Broad Jam offers something I haven't seen before. With their opportunities they guarantee the music supervisor/director will actually listen to your song! They'll even update you on the time and day that it is sampled! That's impressive if you ask me. They also offer free and $0.99 downloading options.

So if you're a musician seeking to broaden your network, hone your craft, and start making money for what you do then Broad Jam is definitely a great stage to showcase what you do!

Next Week Will Be A 2for

I apologize but there will not be a posting this week. I worked six days this week, and each day is twelve hours. That didn't allot enough time to dedicate to music.
Next week you'll get two.

Another Day In Paradise

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Thank G-d that spring is finally here, and we can experience nice days outside. Here's to outdoor concerts, BBQs, mountain hikes, and the such. Now go soak up some vitamin D, and get high off of endorphins. Make memories this spring and summer that'll be talked about for summers to come.

This week's song is dedicated to good times. And I had a mighty good time writing it. I hope you enjoy it. Now I'm going to go get some sleep because it may be 5 o'clock somewhere but it's 4am here.

Peace and love.

Oh,Vulnerable Me!

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"Part of it is about not trying to be professional. A lot of people come into indie games, trying to be like a big company. What those game companies do is create highly polished things that serve as large an audience as possible. The way that you do that is by filing off all the bumps on something. If there's a sharp corner. You make sure that's not going to hurt anybody. That creation of this highly glossy, commercial product is the opposite of making something personal. Things that are personal have flaws. They have vulnerabilities. If you don't see a vulnerability in somebody. You're probably not relating to them on a very personal level. So it's the same with a game design. Making it, was about: let me take my deepest flaws and vulnerabilities, put them into the game, and let's see what happens." -- John Blow, Indie Game: The Movie.

I just finished watching Indie Game: The Movie. This was a greatly inspiring story. Holy cow! If you have dreams of any kind that you wish to share with the world then you should spend an hour and forty five minutes on this documentary. It is a story of four independent game designers, one duo team and two individuals, who set out to create and publish large platform games. It is a story of perseverance and resiliency. The cameras capture their darkest moments during production as well as the glimmer of inexpressible joy that's in their eyes as they achieve the success they fought so hard for. It's a well produced film that is definitely worth your time.

This too is my goal. I want my art to be as a mirror, and reflect my image to you and me. I want to throw all of my imperfections into my recipes of melodies and rhythms. I want my music to be raw, and have the capacity to make someone feel emotionally moved. I want to put you at ease. I want to give you a strong anxiety. I want to inspire you. I want you to cry for both joy and sadness. I want you to relate to me without words.

I was dining with friends in a steak house back when I was in high school, and a jazz trio happened to be playing that night. I can't remember their name to save my life. But they were very good musicians, and set a killer environment to dine in. Then it got that point in the show where they took it to a more intimate level. The guitarist preluded the song by outlining the story of his first daughter's birth. She and her mother had complications throughout the latter part of the pregnancy, and he spoke of his great anxiety and uncertainties during it all. But everything worked out for the good, and you could hear the joy in his voice when he talked about seeing his healthy daughter for the first time. Then they played this song that he wrote during that time of his life. I can't remember how the song sounded at all, but I do remember how it seemed to fill in every crevice of his story...and without words. It was a very empathetic moment that completely redefined how I interpreted music up to that point. With music alone, I felt, to some degree, the weight of his distress, and then joy of his relief from finding out everything was OK. I'll likely never forget this moment.

I hope I can create the same sort of experiences for you. I want you to not just experience my music, but I want you to experience me. That's great if you like me. That's great if you don't. But it will be by the content of the conversation that I define my success.

10,000 hours

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In his book, "Outliers: The Story of Success," Malcolm Gladwell says, "Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness."

"Personally, I enjoy working about 18 hours a day. Besides the short catnaps I take each day, I average about four to five hours of sleep per night." -- Thomas Edison

Romantic composer Franz Schubert composed 322 works of music including two symphonies, an opera, and a mass between the ages of 18 and 19, while working as a teacher at his father's school.

Macklemore raps in his song titled 10,000 Hours, "The greats weren't great because at birth they could paint. The greats were great cause they paint a lot."

My point is that we all have dreams. Why not live them out? I know it's true that only I can keep me from being the greatest "FILL IN THE BLANK" that I can be. I know the same is true for you. Put in the work. Put your full reliance in G-d. Live your dreams.

Go public with whatever it is that you do. People won't come find you; take it to them. The composer I mentioned used to host "Schubertaids," which were house parties at which he'd only play his compositions.

I'm about to go write some music. Y'all be real!

Chasing The Wind

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In life, the chips will fall how they fall. Eat and drink well, enjoy the work you have, and accept your lot in life. Don't focus on the futility of this short life, but enjoy it to the fullest. Grab someone you love, pull them close, and enjoy it with them. Make your life meaningful to yourself and others. May your life be as a song that others would dance to, laugh to, cheer to and love to. Otherwise, it'll feel like you're just chasing the wind.

Enjoy this week's song! Show me some love with your comments. Send me your links as well...I'd like to get to know anyone that is getting to know me.

Vaya con Dios!

Unknown Home

Here is the week 2 two post. I wrote the piano piece to serve as an intro for a hook that I had written at the beginning of last week. Well, the two pieces didn't fit together all that well, but I enjoyed the vibe of the piano piece so I followed through with it.

The feeling I am shooting for is that of a dreamlike scene mixed with homely familiarity and illusive confusion. I've titled the track "Unknown Home." Enjoy and feel free to comment.

I'm off to sleep. Work from last night wore me out :)

My apology for the delay

Friday I saw my new dentist for a consultation, and end up having a root canal performed the same day. And on Saturday, my wife and I spent the day in Atlanta enjoying a live concert featuring Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Ludacris, Flo Rida, and Muse. It was freaking awesome...and free!

Last week's track will be posted tomorrow. This week's is currently in progress, and I'm pretty excited about it.

No One Likes Labels -- But These Are Necessary

I'm currently tackling the tedious, time-consuming task of renaming my copious drum samples. I'm finding myself bored and distracted while doing this because it's not a chore that can be done while listening to a nice set of tunes, or while relaxing to a movie on Netflix. But what I absolutely don't want is to have folders that list bassdrum01.wav, bassdrum02.wav, and snare drum this and cow bell that. Eh!? Now that's a thought...my music could use a bit more cow bell!

I've been learning and studying a few Jazz chord progressions this past week, and different ways of applying them. This morning I began working on the melody for this week's tune. I was hoping to apply some of what I've been taking in. But what flowed out this morning was a driving synth melody, which is cool since I enjoy the modern indie pop thing that's going on. But it isn't quite what I was chasing after. But there are still a few days left before the week's end so I guess we'll see where it goes.

In typing this, I just revealed to myself a new goal. I love being able to harness that all too elusive creative force of inspiration when it shows up. But that's the shaky, unstable approach whose reliance upon I'm veering away from during the course of this project. I don't need a Muse, just some stone cold determination. What I'm now seeking is to be able to direct my music and tell it where to go rather than always following my music to see where it'll take me. I would rather have the honed discipline to be able to sit down, and compose a piece with intention instead of relying on inspiration to get me started. I think I'll leave myself a visible note in my work area that says "Write On Purpose." I think it'll also carry subliminal weight by having a phonetic equivalence to the phrase, "right on purpose." I'm not certain if 'right on purpose' is an official mantra that people live by, but it probably should be.

Well, it's back to sample relabeling for me. Hopefully I'll stop finding myself distracted, and just get in and get it done. I know it'll make my processes much more efficient in the future. And if you find yourself wanting some decent drum samples(i.e. free and sounds better than your kid brother beating on pots and pans) then go to www.drumsamples.org, and download their DS-1000 package. It contains everything of a standard drum kit, and also various percussive instruments such as bongos, congas, triangles and tambourines. It even includes a folder of 10 different cowbell sounds. And we all need more cowbell!

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter!

Vaya con Dios.

The Launch

The first installment of this journey is here. Share your enjoyment with all of friends, family, and coworkers. Even send copious spam mail to the distant relatives you never talk to...you may make their day by introducing them to music they wouldn't have found by their own Googling.

Stay tuned for each week's update. I also plan to post mid-week segments as I can find holes in my schedule.





Thank you.

Meaning of 52 in 52

Recently, in the past year or so, I've been taking a stab at composing my own music. And it's been a tough journey!

20th century composer John Cage recalling a conversation with his mentor Arnold Schoenberg:
"After I  had been studying with him for two years, Schoenberg said, 'In order to write music, you must have a feeling for harmony.' I explained to him that I had no feeling for harmony. He then said that I would always encounter an obstacle, that it would be as though I came to a wall through which I could not pass. I said, 'In that case I will devote my life to beating my head against that wall.<sup>'"

I know exactly what Cage meant by this, but I too will beat my head against any wall I come up against. I may knock myself out, but I'll dream of what I'll compose upon regaining my consciousness.

So my idea for 52 in 52 was birthed from a conversation with a friend. He has an aspiration for writing fictional short stories, and has been reading on how to develop his craft. A suggestion he ran across said something to the effect of, "try writing one story per week for a year. I dare you to write fifty two bad stories." And that's when my light bulb illuminated. 

For the past year, I've dealt with frustrations in the learning curve of transitioning from player to composer...it hasn't been a natural one for me. This has resulted in lack of motivation to write, lack of inspiration on the occasion that I find the motivation, and a plethora of unfinished projects that just stalled out.

A music mentor of mine spoke of this condition on his blog. "For me, the feeling of 'inspiration' is a rather fragile state...My belief: craft, work ethic, and commitment are the real keys to creativity." You can enjoy his blog at www.randyhoexter.com 

Starting at the end of this month I begin writing, and posting what I'll call "one complete musical idea" per week. I won't set a standard criteria based upon length(i.e. 3'30" pop song), and I definitely won't limit myself to any specific genre. It just has to be a finished product...one that could be used for either or both standalone entertainment or an audio bed for other media.</sup>