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Fireworks Soundtracks and Mashups

Posted by jamesstodd ⋅ January 1, 2012 ⋅ 1 Comment

Image (C) Merlin Fireworks

“James – we need you to make a fireworks soundtrack. It needs to be 15 minutes long. Oh, and it needs to be beatmixed..”.

I have only had to make one full on fireworks soundtrack mix.

It was around 2001 and was for the AXA Skyfest Cardiff. It was a huge 15 minute display to celebrate the first Football FA Cup Final to be hosted at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium (whilst London’s Wembley Stadium was being rebuilt). It took me a few weeks to make ( through various incarnations) using a very basic setup on ProTools5 (my first ProTools Rig) and with no fancy Elastic Time tools – just clever edits a little varispeed and a lot of edits.

It worked pretty well and it was fantastic to see the whole of Cardiff Bay lit up to a fireworks display set off and designed by the company that produced the fireworks for the Olympics ceremony at the Sydney Games. You can hear it here. I just listened back to it for the first time in a decade – and whilst it’s a little ragged in places, it was pretty epic!

I was at a party last night so missed the huge London 2012 New Years Eve fireworks display. These have become a Traditional part of each New Years celebration. My friend Will Jackson has tracked down the mix from last night’s display – so thought it worth a share here. It was mixed by BBC Radio 1 and Asian Network DJ Nihal. Take a listen here

In fact this mix was curated by Nihal and engineered by BBC Radio 1 Head of Station Sound, Dan Mumford. You can read more about how the display was put together here

My friends at the Benztownbranding Blog have also recently showcased a very clever Beatmix from David Konksy at Sydney’s 2DayFM here. 30 songs in 3 minutes!

And if you REALLY like this sort of thing – get bang up to date with DJ Earworm’s United State of Pop 2011

Now – if you have a good hangover cure after last night’s celebrations – let me have it…

2011-Firework displays around the world! (djleekee.wordpress.com)
London Celebrates Arrival of 2012 (shoppingblog.com)
Big Ben chimes herald Olympic year (mirror.co.uk)

BBC2 Christmas Animation

Posted by jamesstodd ⋅ December 14, 2011 ⋅ Leave a Comment

BBC 2 CHRISTMAS. IMAGE (C) BBC

I’m now feeling more Christmassy having seen the new animations for BBC2′s Christmas idents. The Jack Frost character seems to have been thawed out and replaced by scenes from an animated town.

The idents, created by Red Bee Media with 15 Badgers feature a number of iterations including “Turkey” and “Scientist”. They are slightly off the wall, but have a real sense of fun to them. I particularly love the intricate sound design and little design details in the animation – the sort of idents that you’ll see loads more in every time you watch.

Take a look and see what you think.

My TV Christmas Cracker: The Gruffalo’s Child (guardian.co.uk)
Anti – Christmas: Christmas on E4 (jamesstodd.com)

What A Wonderful World

Posted by jamesstodd ⋅ December 7, 2011 ⋅ Leave a Comment

David Attenborough It's a Wonderful World

Picture from http://blog.everythingdinosaur.co.uk

How do you celebrate talent? Talent behind the mic. Or in front of a camera.

How do you do that when that talent has been associated with your channel, your brand, your station for almost 50 years?

Sir David Attenborough has been associated with the BBC since 1952. First as a producer, then as controller of a TV channel, and since the 1970s, a presenter of some of the most amazing wildlife programmes ever broadcast.

To many, including me, he is the voice of wildlife, almost the voice of the planet.

This trail broadcast tonight before the final episode of Frozen Planet. It associates him with the BBC, with wildlife TV and with quality. It’s beautifully edited too by the team at Red Bee Media.