Thursday, August 31, 2006

Multimedia Gardening

I just read an article by John Jantsch of Duck Tape marketing titled Economic Gardening. I was excited by this concept for the fact that this is very similar to what I am trying to accomplish with this blog for my audience. Albiet we are working remotely (the true concept was developed for local communities) the goal is for a win-win-win situation. All of my communications are basically asking: "How can I help you help your customers reach and exceed their goals?" Any thoughts?

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Bumpers, Stings, and Transitions are your Friends

In all facets of media production, your goal is to convey information clearly and concisely, if not to convert the viewer to your way of thinking. Audio bumpers, stings, and transitions help you to achieve these goals by establishing logical connections between scenes and events.

B, S, and T's are not just "window dressing" that embellish your media by making it merely sound or "read" better. They are cues with particular moods/meanings that tell the viewer to think and react in a particular way to your scene progression. In providing the viewer with these important cues, B, S, and T's help readers understand the logic of how your ideas fit together.

Seems you can never have enough transitionary music pieces or SFX to choose from. Here is an acoustic guitar driven transition from the Big Dog Music Library Acoustic Collection that has been very useful and versitile. Use it in your next production with our compliments. And please, as always, feel free to send us your clips...we'd love to check them out.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Say it with a Slap

Say it with a Slap is a really great song by Louis Prima. Louis can never be accused of being understated with the emotional inflection of his singing or playing.
Sometimes video images need the extra "slap" with SFX or music cues; being way obvious with the mood or ambience you are trying to portray.
Yes, it is really easy to land on the cheesy side of this equation as well. But here at Big Dog Music Design we can alter the level of emotion with a number of qualifying parameters we define when we work with you to zero-in on your intended vibe including intended audience demographics, product placement, image setting, and much much more.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Publicity = Good...Just ask Shakespeare

Shakespeare is known to have been an artist who used PR to great heights. Some accounts show that his sister actually was the spin-miester-ess in the family.
Getting good publicity is a full-time job it seems. Reading numerous marketing books for small business (i.e. under 50 employees) definitly proves that the best advertising for the money is word-of-mouth, referrals, and positive press. We can help your cause. Our marketing efforts strive to transcend the basic sales pitch where we are forming community with competitors and compatriots in all corners of our industry. Our communications are seen daily by new eyes. If your company has used one of our music pieces lately, let us know. We will list you on our Big Dog Hall of Fame i.e. client list. If you want us to link to you, just let us know.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Big Dog Supplies Ringtones


Big Dog Music Design currently supplies real music ringtones to content provider Zingy.com
The ringtones range anywhere from chinese kotos chiming to heavy rock n roll guitar licks.
To ensure quality, we optimize them to sound best for this medium by remixing in mono through an actual cell phone speaker. We have been pleasantly surprised as to the amount of sales we have generated.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Free Musical Sound Effect

Besides Music beds, we also engage in ditties that border on sound effects. Here is one that we call "Wa-Da".


If your projects need assets like this or some other vibe, please feel free to call or email with your needs as our cache is constantly growing.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Get a Grant

The Grant Writing Coach, Dr. Tom Moucka, is just that; he coaches an individual or organization on how to write a grant. I attended one of Tom's seminars recently and was amazed at how attainable a grant may be if applied for correctly. His services includes coaching on doing it yourself as well as full service grantwriting. I have noticed that many of my clients have a non-profit arm that create charity productions. This truly may be a way to meld your art with making a difference.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Another Writer's Block (or editor's block) Remedy


My wife gave me a book written by Twyla Tharp, the reknown dance choreographer, titled "THE CREATIVE HABIT: LEARN IT AND USE IT FOR LIFE". In it, she describes in detail how to start, nurture, and foster the creative flow within daily life regardless of your art form.

It really has been a helpful source of reference in analyzing what contributes to the occasional "dry spells".

I have to say that before I was given this book, I never heard of her.

I am currently reading it for the 2nd time.

Monday, August 14, 2006

1000 Mona Lisas


The Mona Lisa, possibly the most famous portrait ever, still stirs wonder.
Here is an article I ran across about Mona Lisa's Smile
and how the human eye/brain perceives it.

Da Vinci was able to dig so deep into his art, there are still layers of creativity and hidden message being discovered.

Here is a song from my 3rd album, Figurehead, called "1000 Mona Lisas" Check it out.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Da Vinci's Muse


Writer's Block.....Not a good word for any creative type. It stops the music, it stops the smooth edit ideas, it stops the writing.

Da Vinci got around this by mind mapping. I was first introduced to this by a book called
"How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci".

Here is a decent explanation and example of How to
Mind Map like Da Vinci.

The really great thing about this is that I have not only used it for solving creative puzzles but also financial and organizational tasks.

This works. Now go finish the project!:)

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Public Domain - Truly FREE LUNCH!


While creating custom music, it is sometimes refreshing to do a cover song every once in a while. This is a great way to sit back and let someone else do the driving (read composing) and put your artistic touch on a piece that is already exsistent. When using a piece residing in the public domian, the client get's to use a familiar song or melody without the hassle or expense of clearing it first. Following is a link to a Christian Hymn I had the pleasure of doing for a faith-based dvd production. Check it out, use it, then please send me the clip!

Are We Yet Alive

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Vibrator

This cue has gotten alot of play lately in an assortment of ways.

It is called "Vibrator"

Check it Out!

It is from our Electronica collection.

See the whole She-Bang

I will email a high quality mp3 to all who respond with a free license. Enjoy!