Daniel

Always worth checking sites like these once in a while: http://www.cmc.ie/opportunities/competitions.html (this is the Irish one I check, but you could find your local equivalent by googling) Btw, I find competitions are next to useless, but one or two couldn't hurt.

MEGA UPDATE. I had the CD professionally mastered and printed... :D (at some expense :( ) It's finally now available HERE. And soon on iTunes and other such places too. Please have a listen. If you're feeling generous, buy a track for £0.99. The CD itself is really nice looking - digipak with artwork by a local graphic designer. Very nice stuff. But at least listen (you can listen for free on Bandcamp). :)

Just an update on the piano album (Watershed): I've finished recording it. I'm going to get it pressed professionally, but first I need to get it mastered. Does anyone know any good studios for doing classical/piano stuff? Also not dealing with the budget of William Gates here, but I'll pay for it to be good. Planning to release it as digital download and physical CD on CDBaby, which will feed into some other stuff like iTunes, Spotify etc. Will keep you all posted :)

WB :D How was Vampire-land?

I don't mean Zimmer isn't a musician. I mean that his music is tailored actually very well to what non-musicians pick up on most immediately. I.e., one big melody (repeated), lots of percussion and rhythmic energy (usually an ostinato), and then the bass line and general texture. This is what his music pretty much comprises. Whether or not he does it for a particular reason, or just because that's how he writes....who knows. ;) :D

To get a good idea of how non-musicians hear music, listen to some Hans Zimmer. :D *runs for cover* Seriously though... :D

Happy Sibeliusing.

Must.......get.........Omnisphere...... :D

Thanks, great post!

Cheers - I had a look through - looks good :)

They don't seem to do small runs (nothing below 500 it seems).

Ya, true. I should have checked Youtube, source of all the world's greatest knowledge.

Hmm good point about the LFO.

It might be regular synths just used in dubstep, but I'm curious as to which ones they are. I'm thinking specifically of the pulsating bass synth.

Update on the album: I made a suite out of Irish folk song arrangements. http://danielbarkleymusic.blogspot.com/2011/08/irish-suite-for-piano-album.html Does anyone have any experience of printing their own CD labels?