Synthetic Coral
and the Away Void
UNTIL
Somber, solemn...introspective.
The title is one of them age old sayings, "You don't know what you got until it's gone".
I haven't lost anything...except my innocence about the world.
Nothing too serious.
Just watching it slowly die.
Not depressed or anything, just melancholic.
:) See, the smiley says everything is alright.
Thomas
The title is one of them age old sayings, "You don't know what you got until it's gone".
I haven't lost anything...except my innocence about the world.
Nothing too serious.
Just watching it slowly die.
Not depressed or anything, just melancholic.
:) See, the smiley says everything is alright.
Thomas
IN BETWEEN MOMENTS
Exactly what the title means...transitional moments in one's life...when one gets a moment to breathe, look back upon one's life, and realize it isn't so hard from this end of the spectrum.
To stop chasing all the useless things, and look for the things that matter most.
Follow your heart...and having the courage to do so...or perhaps even the transition from life, into death, or birth...all the special moments, big and small, pleasant, and painful, we all have to go through.
All rights reserved 2014 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
To stop chasing all the useless things, and look for the things that matter most.
Follow your heart...and having the courage to do so...or perhaps even the transition from life, into death, or birth...all the special moments, big and small, pleasant, and painful, we all have to go through.
All rights reserved 2014 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
TALES OF DRACULA
This is the music I created for a trailer that was recently posted to Youtube (CLICK HERE!).
The music may be a bit more modern, but the film is a classic throwback, old school homage' to the Universal Studios and Hammer Films. Enjoy!
All rights reserved 2013 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
The music may be a bit more modern, but the film is a classic throwback, old school homage' to the Universal Studios and Hammer Films. Enjoy!
All rights reserved 2013 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Piano Improv
I just sat at the computer, turned on my favorite virtual instrument piano, and went to town. No post edits of any kind, period. Enjoy!
All rights reserved 2013 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
All rights reserved 2013 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
RISE OF THE PROLETARIAT
Another piece done for the film trailer conceptualization which didn't pass muster. No problemo, though, as it might end up in one of the many documentaries or webisodes being done by the same people...so, should be an interesting next few months.
On a side note, it is currently being used as the background music for a Film in Progress PSA (CLICK HERE!) called "Tales of Dracula".
Enjoy!
All rights reserved 2013 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
On a side note, it is currently being used as the background music for a Film in Progress PSA (CLICK HERE!) called "Tales of Dracula".
Enjoy!
All rights reserved 2013 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
TRIUMPH
Like all the rest here, this is an original composition, but this one was done in particular for a particular film trailer. I can not reveal as of yet, the name of the film/film trailer it is being done for, but I have been asked to write it, and this was idea attempt number 4. It was a long shot, as the direction needed to be much darker. That being said, I recently pitched a 5th version and it looks like that one is about 95% right on the money, which is good. Now it's just fine tuning things a bit and seeing where the evening takes us, LOL!
All rights reserved 2013 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
All rights reserved 2013 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
The Long Goodbye
If I need to explain the title of this song, then you aren't old enough.
If I need to explain the title of this song, then you haven't truly lived long enough to experience the pain of love and loss.
It also shows that you haven't gathered to yourself some good friends, nor are you close with family enough to know when troubled times are ahead, that no matter the issues between yourself and them, that they all come together.
It also means that you haven't come to the point in your life when shit gets real, changes need to be made, and you need to start living a life, not waiting for something special to happen to you while life passes you by.
It also means you haven't come to the conclusion of how precious life is, no matter how great, or small...including your own.
We start out innocent, and grow in a world where pain and intolerance likes to fester and infect us all. No one gets out of here alive without that experience.
When we're young, we can't wait to get older...so we can supposedly do all the cool things we think our parents are doing, or relatives, or what have you.
Then when we hit our teens, we get the "God Complex" or think of ourselves as immortal.
Then we hit our 20's and 30's and realize it's time to slow down, not take so many risks...but we still do, on occasion.
Then something comes into our life that makes us take a deeper look at ourselves...called introspection.
Am I where I thought I'd be?
When someone asked me 20 years ago where I thought I'd see myself...have I met that goal?
To me, the answer is a resounding no.
The dream goal has yet to be met.
So since some recent health concerns have given me pause to reflect, I intend to attack my goal with a new vim and vigor not seen by those who surround me in the world of music.
I will no longer wait patiently while other people make up their minds about what their goals are. I know what mine are, and if they don't coincide with mine, then they are chaff, and will be cast aside.
This is no threat to anyone. I just don't intend to waste your time, or mine, anymore.
Time is short, no doubt about it, and if I can't attain/achieve my goals before I die, then so be it, but it won't be because I "waited on someone else" to make a fucking career move.
That being said, after my rehabilitation and health becomes better, things are going to work at a rapid pace.
So be prepared, world...be prepared.
Thomas Edward Rice
All rights reserved 2013 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
If I need to explain the title of this song, then you haven't truly lived long enough to experience the pain of love and loss.
It also shows that you haven't gathered to yourself some good friends, nor are you close with family enough to know when troubled times are ahead, that no matter the issues between yourself and them, that they all come together.
It also means that you haven't come to the point in your life when shit gets real, changes need to be made, and you need to start living a life, not waiting for something special to happen to you while life passes you by.
It also means you haven't come to the conclusion of how precious life is, no matter how great, or small...including your own.
We start out innocent, and grow in a world where pain and intolerance likes to fester and infect us all. No one gets out of here alive without that experience.
When we're young, we can't wait to get older...so we can supposedly do all the cool things we think our parents are doing, or relatives, or what have you.
Then when we hit our teens, we get the "God Complex" or think of ourselves as immortal.
Then we hit our 20's and 30's and realize it's time to slow down, not take so many risks...but we still do, on occasion.
Then something comes into our life that makes us take a deeper look at ourselves...called introspection.
Am I where I thought I'd be?
When someone asked me 20 years ago where I thought I'd see myself...have I met that goal?
To me, the answer is a resounding no.
The dream goal has yet to be met.
So since some recent health concerns have given me pause to reflect, I intend to attack my goal with a new vim and vigor not seen by those who surround me in the world of music.
I will no longer wait patiently while other people make up their minds about what their goals are. I know what mine are, and if they don't coincide with mine, then they are chaff, and will be cast aside.
This is no threat to anyone. I just don't intend to waste your time, or mine, anymore.
Time is short, no doubt about it, and if I can't attain/achieve my goals before I die, then so be it, but it won't be because I "waited on someone else" to make a fucking career move.
That being said, after my rehabilitation and health becomes better, things are going to work at a rapid pace.
So be prepared, world...be prepared.
Thomas Edward Rice
All rights reserved 2013 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
In One Breath
This song has the ebb and flow of a relaxed human breathing at 120 bpm...inhale, exhale...repeat. The song makes me have visions of being submerged in a blood red dark hazy goo, then breaking out into the cold, and light. Growing up so quickly watching time pass by. Teens, 20's, then quickly to middle age when things seem to whip by again. Then going into the last stages of one's life, but still watching life be born, and grow around you, knowing there is less time ahead, and more time behind than you remember. Wondering all along the way what it's for...trying to hold onto the cherished memories as long as we can before our last breath. Its funny how even in the act of dying, we would struggle and deny, kill, or give birth to someone, something, anything, for the next breath...and the next one...and the next until the very last. It's okay, close your eyes now...they're waiting for you on the other side.
All rights reserved 2013 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
All rights reserved 2013 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
DANCING CELLO
This was me just having some fun with the newest addition to the musical enterprise, 8Dio Adagio Cello. What an amazing virtual instrument. I can hear so much more coming out of this software soon enough...well, maybe not soon enough, but soon.
All rights reserved 2013 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
All rights reserved 2013 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
RIKI
This song was written and dedicated today as a response to a recent death.
The creature in question (Riki) is in the image below.
We only got to have him here with us and his two sisters (Tiki and Tavi who are still here) for a short 5 weeks.
(edited 9/8/13)-(On a side note, Tavi died about a month and a half ago...so she is no longer with us either, so we only have Tiki)
For whatever reason, he started screaming two days ago and breathing short quick bursts. He was in and out of consciousness. As far as we know, while he was out of his cage before this, he didn't experience any physical trauma we are aware of, and after two different vet visits, they told us that they couldn't get any rectal temp, he was short of oxygen as his mouth/gums were purple/bluish, his heart rate/pulse was off, and that his intestines felt clumped, like he had swallowed some string and was bound up, or perhaps he had parasites creating blockage.
Who knows.
He sat on my chest last evening until he passed away. He gave two long long breaths, stretched out all the way pushing with his front paws, two more gasps and twitches, and he was gone.
He will be buried in the spring when the ground is softer.
This song, for that very reason, came out of me. Cathartic though it was, it sure was hard to get through it without thinking about all the things he'll never get to do, or see, or experience.
All I can see is him, little as he was, running at breakneck speed, like the rest of us, from the moment we could walk, checking everything out, but not realizing the concept of time yet. Happy to be awake, to see, to hear, to taste, to finally get your first refreshing drink of cool water. Simple things. Then it makes me think of all the stuff he'll never have the opportunity to do now. Like chase a laser pointer (ha) or figure out his pecking order in the grand scheme of things. To really explore the world around him, and the others in it. Now, he can do that, but it will probably seem a bit surreal, since his time here was so short.
Makes me wonder why some pieces of garbage in this world are allowed to continue to draw breath when other more innocent things in this world die for what seems like no apparent reason.
Which brings me to the second part of this dedication: This piece also goes out to all the parents of the children in Connecticut, including the parents of the adults who died there.
May the parents find some solace in the music.
May those who died rest in peace, and say hello to Riki while you're at it.
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
The creature in question (Riki) is in the image below.
We only got to have him here with us and his two sisters (Tiki and Tavi who are still here) for a short 5 weeks.
(edited 9/8/13)-(On a side note, Tavi died about a month and a half ago...so she is no longer with us either, so we only have Tiki)
For whatever reason, he started screaming two days ago and breathing short quick bursts. He was in and out of consciousness. As far as we know, while he was out of his cage before this, he didn't experience any physical trauma we are aware of, and after two different vet visits, they told us that they couldn't get any rectal temp, he was short of oxygen as his mouth/gums were purple/bluish, his heart rate/pulse was off, and that his intestines felt clumped, like he had swallowed some string and was bound up, or perhaps he had parasites creating blockage.
Who knows.
He sat on my chest last evening until he passed away. He gave two long long breaths, stretched out all the way pushing with his front paws, two more gasps and twitches, and he was gone.
He will be buried in the spring when the ground is softer.
This song, for that very reason, came out of me. Cathartic though it was, it sure was hard to get through it without thinking about all the things he'll never get to do, or see, or experience.
All I can see is him, little as he was, running at breakneck speed, like the rest of us, from the moment we could walk, checking everything out, but not realizing the concept of time yet. Happy to be awake, to see, to hear, to taste, to finally get your first refreshing drink of cool water. Simple things. Then it makes me think of all the stuff he'll never have the opportunity to do now. Like chase a laser pointer (ha) or figure out his pecking order in the grand scheme of things. To really explore the world around him, and the others in it. Now, he can do that, but it will probably seem a bit surreal, since his time here was so short.
Makes me wonder why some pieces of garbage in this world are allowed to continue to draw breath when other more innocent things in this world die for what seems like no apparent reason.
Which brings me to the second part of this dedication: This piece also goes out to all the parents of the children in Connecticut, including the parents of the adults who died there.
May the parents find some solace in the music.
May those who died rest in peace, and say hello to Riki while you're at it.
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
This is Riki
This was taken about 3 hours before he passed yesterday (12/15/2012).
He was nestled on the cover I use to put over the top of my keyboard, sleeping.
Needless to say, he was a privileged little boy.
Only two other cats are allowed in this room, and even then they are kept on the lap, not let to run around.
No other cat has ever sat or laid upon any keyboard I've ever owned.
So yeah, this little guy in such a short time, became special.
He'd have moments of complete lucidity when he would get up with a fervor and be looking for something. I've seen it in humans before, when I worked for a hospital years ago.
They'd keep asking what time it was, or be talking to people who weren't in the room.
I think he knew the end was near and was looking for someone he expected to be there and wasn't...at least not quite yet.
I hope he was comforted and knew in the end that he was loved.
Isn't that what we'd all like when it's our time?
He was nestled on the cover I use to put over the top of my keyboard, sleeping.
Needless to say, he was a privileged little boy.
Only two other cats are allowed in this room, and even then they are kept on the lap, not let to run around.
No other cat has ever sat or laid upon any keyboard I've ever owned.
So yeah, this little guy in such a short time, became special.
He'd have moments of complete lucidity when he would get up with a fervor and be looking for something. I've seen it in humans before, when I worked for a hospital years ago.
They'd keep asking what time it was, or be talking to people who weren't in the room.
I think he knew the end was near and was looking for someone he expected to be there and wasn't...at least not quite yet.
I hope he was comforted and knew in the end that he was loved.
Isn't that what we'd all like when it's our time?
AFTERLIFE
This is what the after life would sound like, I think. Not that I've been there, mind you, at least not this time around, but I think it would sound like this music makes me feel. Disconnected, floating, dreamy, high among the clouds. The strings were brought in as the unconscious part of us that notices in dreams when things are not "quite right" and we know something is amiss, or wrong, but can't put our finger on it. It represents, I hope, the part of me that would still wish for life, to be among the living, as hard, brutal and painful as it can be sometimes.
The strings add the odd poignant aspect of being in a dream, and knowing you are. Perhaps in death, everything will seem all great and wonderful. There will always be a full plate of food somewhere, and water as far as the eye can see to drink. Friends and family around you to talk, in a voiceless disconnected way, perhaps. But there will always be a nagging part of the consciousness that will recognize something out of sorts.
Regardless, I think I would prefer to be alive than dead.
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
The strings add the odd poignant aspect of being in a dream, and knowing you are. Perhaps in death, everything will seem all great and wonderful. There will always be a full plate of food somewhere, and water as far as the eye can see to drink. Friends and family around you to talk, in a voiceless disconnected way, perhaps. But there will always be a nagging part of the consciousness that will recognize something out of sorts.
Regardless, I think I would prefer to be alive than dead.
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
EPHEMERAL
Creepy, somber at points, but creepy none the less. I think it works on various levels as far as for setting a mood. What mood does it set for you?
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
PETER G.
This is my attempt, feeble as it may be, at creating something I think may or may not have come from one of the best all time musician's in my book. The one, the only, Peter Gabriel. Whether or not I have achieved it, is up in the air, but I do feel good about the results. I am still working on the lyrics/vocals at this point, but felt like sharing.
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
FOR HER
This song was written recently for my wife. It was brought to my attention that we have been married 3 years come this October 31st, and that I should write her something new, musically. It was also brought to my attention that I hadn't written anything for her since I wrote our wedding music. That being said, this song was written and titled, "For Her", and she loved it, but it's also a song describing how much we have grown together over the years. We really truly did marry our best friend, and it can only get better from here.
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
The Walking Dead Island...
It's an homage to the creep factor that goes into those two things, the TV show "The Walking Dead" and the video game "Dead Island". Both creepy and scary, and nerve wracking as hell to watch/play, watch someone else playing, LOL! Hope you understand the drone aspect, and the more ambient patches used, versus an actual "song" style setup.
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Dracula Title
This is a piece I wrote, it's off time, and short, but it's meant to be the opening credit music for a short series of episodes shot in the old Universal Studio film style black and white, and all about the three characters (Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman) that I'm working on right now with a few local people.
Hope you enjoy it, short as it is.
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Hope you enjoy it, short as it is.
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Samurai Meditation
This song is a representation of what I think, musically, it takes for a true warrior to go to the depths of his soul, to wrestle with his own beast's inside, and to harness that energy, to control it. When they reach that level of attainment, when the beast is truly caged, can they rise up and become the tiger, in full control, not blindly slashing, but watching and actually seeing the situation play itself out, before it happens, then following through with what the mind's eye sees and winning the battle, be it physical or psychological.
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Resident Good?
Something that makes me think of being chased by the Zombie Hordes. Don't know why. Just the creepy vibe, I suppose.
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Above the Tragedy
Above the tragedy, meaning, rise above, or rising above a particular time in your life when you were at your absolute lowest point ever, and you regained your passion, whatever that may be.
I do not know where this idea came from, but I most certainly like where it went.
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
I do not know where this idea came from, but I most certainly like where it went.
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Small Triumph
Something short and sweet for those moments in life when you learn some new truth about one's self. Looking inward, on this one, I suppose. Perhaps a little positive. Enjoying the new London Symphony Solo String Players, though.
I work in a photo lab where I see 2.8 million pictures a year...no kidding. Whenever I come across children in a photo doing what children do, which is being silly and playing, it makes me smile with no small amount of sad nostalgia.
It reminds me of when things weren't so serious...when life wasn't so stupid, or at least I wasn't surrounded daily by such stupidity. No worries about bills or money, mortgage, or anything, and all the time saying to myself back then, "I can't wait until I grow up"...and for what?
This?
Hindsight may be 20/20, but looking forward sure could use an eye exam or two.
If I could go back in time and meet myself, I'd tell myself to cool the jets, slow down, and enjoy being a kid.
Keep being silly.
Oh, and don't take life so fucking serious.
The piano implies that we run through our lives so quickly. Yeah, 87 years might be the average for most, but that sure is short.
The slower strings are the older people around us telling us to take it slower.
The staccato strings are the things in life that urge us to run ahead, when we should be listening and taking it slow, enjoying the walk for the walk itself, not the destination.
Who doesn't want to be that kid again running through the yard with your friends and brother/sister playing tag?
Enjoying watermelon, cook outs with family.
Camping and marshmallows with friends.
HA, Rollerskating on a Friday night?
Swinging on the swing set at the park.
Dreamy lazy summer afternoons lying in the yard looking up at the sky, watching the clouds pass by, picking out shapes of things......
I ended it without a musical resolve, since when we die, no one really knows what's next, so leave the true ending open to interpretation.
Hope you enjoyed it!
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Sad Revolution
This song makes me think, and is what I was thinking of when I wrote it, how people pick up and move on after seriously traumatic experiences, specifically war, or revolution, or perhaps a seriously damaging car crash, perhaps a soldier surviving an IED or watching his friends NOT survive.
Anything that tries daily to kill us.
Something as simple, and I use the term lightly, as cancer, and either beating it, or not, and the aftermath the families go through.
Maybe even something as simple as preparing to run a marathon.
Any time anything can be a challenge.
This is for the fighters, both the winners and the losers, who have to come to terms with their own limitations at some point in their life, but press on, knowing full well the opportunity might never come again.
To all the fallen loved ones in war, and in peace.
This song is an anthem to fight, no matter the odds.
If you lose, you know you left everything on the field of battle, no matter what that field is.
Thomas E. Rice
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Anything that tries daily to kill us.
Something as simple, and I use the term lightly, as cancer, and either beating it, or not, and the aftermath the families go through.
Maybe even something as simple as preparing to run a marathon.
Any time anything can be a challenge.
This is for the fighters, both the winners and the losers, who have to come to terms with their own limitations at some point in their life, but press on, knowing full well the opportunity might never come again.
To all the fallen loved ones in war, and in peace.
This song is an anthem to fight, no matter the odds.
If you lose, you know you left everything on the field of battle, no matter what that field is.
Thomas E. Rice
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Ayatolla You So
This was a piece I had written when trying out some new software/VST's/Effects units recently purchased, and when it was done, I let my guitar player hear it. He pondered a few moments when it was done, and asked me what I had named it. Now bear in mind, this is the guy who has named previous songs from the band I'm in with him as such : Instrumenstral, Cheese Nibblets, Turd Person Shooter and so forth, and so on, silly silly names. This one, he decided, would be named "Ayatolla You So". If you don't get the tongue in cheek aspect already, there is no hope for you...:)
Thomas E. Rice
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Thomas E. Rice
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Juicy MFT (no translation for YOU!)
This was 22 double tracks of some amazing music and ambient things put together. I played about half of what you hear, and looped the rest for some of the rhythms as well as some of the ambient textures, but I will give credit where credit is due.
Online, there are many vast resources of what we in the world of Graphic design and 3D content creation, Merchant Resource Kits. But these particular merchant resource kits are based off of music, or tones, or special effects, or whatever, ranging from progressive metal to dance, from ambient and techno to industrial and hip-hop. Skrillex and many other artist's out there, probably use the same technique, but most likely create their sounds on their own, but they learned from somewhere, and it's where I'm currently learning from. Many places like www.producerloops.com, www.soundsonline.com, www.bigfishaudio.com all share one thing: and that one thing is there are hundreds, if not thousands, of musicians' the world over who have either never made it big, but sure know how to play and write, and sell/share/license bits and pieces of their works for others to use in their own compositions. We, the public, purchase that right, and can remix/remaster/change every single thing about what they originally performed, into something completely different, and use/sell as our own, or change nothing, as long as it's put into a song and nothing is changed, you can still do the same thing.
I've grown accustomed to doing things a wee bit simpler over the years, and when I found Sony ACID Pro 7, and realized there was a huge universe out there of untapped music, I dove in head first. All of what you are hearing in my latest works (2011 and onward) will have something in it that was originally written by someone else, but is then taken and used by myself, for my own works. Sometimes it's a single drum hit, or keyboard slam, or perhaps a grouping of trumpets, but it is usually a small smattering, more for the ambience.
There is nothing wrong with taking/finding inspiration in something someone else did, and creating from that, your own song ideas from scratch after that initial spark. After all, these wonderful musicians took the time to be professional enough, and to create something that spurs my creation, and they do it in studios that rival most pro recording studios. Considering some of the equipment I hear them being created on, it makes me wonder why these musicians are wasting their time creating stuff for the likes of me, and my ilk, LOL! But I digress, they are bought/licensed, and royalty free, after purchase of course, for me to use as inspiration or as a muse.
I like ambient/techno/dub-step, progressive rock-metal/industrial/film scores-scoring for film and many other aspects of music (rap and country are not usually on that table) and I find these other musician's willingness to sell/lease their pieces inspiring, and find it very easy to adapt their pieces into my own. One of my favorites, thus far, is anything by Bluezone Corporation.
Thomas E. Rice
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Online, there are many vast resources of what we in the world of Graphic design and 3D content creation, Merchant Resource Kits. But these particular merchant resource kits are based off of music, or tones, or special effects, or whatever, ranging from progressive metal to dance, from ambient and techno to industrial and hip-hop. Skrillex and many other artist's out there, probably use the same technique, but most likely create their sounds on their own, but they learned from somewhere, and it's where I'm currently learning from. Many places like www.producerloops.com, www.soundsonline.com, www.bigfishaudio.com all share one thing: and that one thing is there are hundreds, if not thousands, of musicians' the world over who have either never made it big, but sure know how to play and write, and sell/share/license bits and pieces of their works for others to use in their own compositions. We, the public, purchase that right, and can remix/remaster/change every single thing about what they originally performed, into something completely different, and use/sell as our own, or change nothing, as long as it's put into a song and nothing is changed, you can still do the same thing.
I've grown accustomed to doing things a wee bit simpler over the years, and when I found Sony ACID Pro 7, and realized there was a huge universe out there of untapped music, I dove in head first. All of what you are hearing in my latest works (2011 and onward) will have something in it that was originally written by someone else, but is then taken and used by myself, for my own works. Sometimes it's a single drum hit, or keyboard slam, or perhaps a grouping of trumpets, but it is usually a small smattering, more for the ambience.
There is nothing wrong with taking/finding inspiration in something someone else did, and creating from that, your own song ideas from scratch after that initial spark. After all, these wonderful musicians took the time to be professional enough, and to create something that spurs my creation, and they do it in studios that rival most pro recording studios. Considering some of the equipment I hear them being created on, it makes me wonder why these musicians are wasting their time creating stuff for the likes of me, and my ilk, LOL! But I digress, they are bought/licensed, and royalty free, after purchase of course, for me to use as inspiration or as a muse.
I like ambient/techno/dub-step, progressive rock-metal/industrial/film scores-scoring for film and many other aspects of music (rap and country are not usually on that table) and I find these other musician's willingness to sell/lease their pieces inspiring, and find it very easy to adapt their pieces into my own. One of my favorites, thus far, is anything by Bluezone Corporation.
Thomas E. Rice
All rights reserved 2012 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Calling the Spirits
This song was written to invoke a Native American influence from various styles mixed with more cinematic modern drums and movements. It should, I hope, invoke some ideas along the lines of what the culture as a whole group, must have been feeling when they realized that the white man did NOT stop taking lands and wiping them out. The immense sorrow, the Trail of Tears, Wounded Knee, etc. I'm not trying to dredge anything up about the past, just giving them an homage' to their culture and life styles which we should all be trying to emulate now. We can live in a modern world, and hold to old traditions. We are screwing this planet, and each other up, and over, for a couple bucks while we are here, but when we die, we are leaving a shittier place for our youth. Living WITH nature isn't that hard to do, and one would think, heck, nature has been living with US for so long that you'd think we would learn to give back a little more often, and destroy a whole lot less than we do now.
Enough tree hugging for now, LOL!
Thomas E. Rice
All rights reserved 2011 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Enough tree hugging for now, LOL!
Thomas E. Rice
All rights reserved 2011 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Turn that s**t up!
This song was put together by using Sony Acid Pro 7 and various wave forms as well as some personal live performances recorded to give it a real feel. I love all the options that loops and Sony Acid formats/AIFF files allow me to create stuff that may be outside my ability to perform on my own using a keyboard, as most of the stringed and horn instruments can not be recreated properly on any keyboard I've heard thus far. That is, unless, you have one that does great and easy sampling, which I don't. So, enjoy. The vocals really mean nothing at this point, but when I get a round tuit, I'll put some other vox there along with these and see what happens!
Enjoy the blast from the past....and yes, I know it sounds like porn music, but isn't that the point?
Thomas E. Rice
All rights reserved 2011 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Enjoy the blast from the past....and yes, I know it sounds like porn music, but isn't that the point?
Thomas E. Rice
All rights reserved 2011 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Dreaming in the Middle
This song has a vaguely middle eastern intonation and progression and was written for the purposes of exploring mixing that particular feel in with the other flavors I used to create the song. Sometimes I write music just to explore new concepts and ideas about "what works" and "what doesn't work" well together....or at all.
This is one of those experiments, and I liked it enough to post it here. It does have a little Peter Gabriel feel to it as well, hope all the fans of Gabriel can hear it for themselves. It moves a bit, grows some, but keeps in tradition with the lengthy droning aspect of some traditional eastern music styles. Almost a little gypsy in there, too.
Tell me what you think!
Thomas E. Rice
All rights reserved 2011 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
This is one of those experiments, and I liked it enough to post it here. It does have a little Peter Gabriel feel to it as well, hope all the fans of Gabriel can hear it for themselves. It moves a bit, grows some, but keeps in tradition with the lengthy droning aspect of some traditional eastern music styles. Almost a little gypsy in there, too.
Tell me what you think!
Thomas E. Rice
All rights reserved 2011 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Bond, James Bond
This song was created by playing around with samplers, and SONY ACID PRO 7. It is a conglomeration of many ideas, both electronica, and orchestra, me playing, and borrowing ideas, royalty free, to use in my own productions, for the sake of recreating things I can not actually perform with my keyboard, such as realistic orchestral string rises and such.
This song, after it was developing, kind of turned into a James Bond theme where I can imagine him "doing what he does" to get the job done. Careful, at first, putting himself into the center of everything, then blowing stuff up, huge knock down drag out gun fights, car chases, hand to hand combat, and a momentary pause as the bad guy thinks he has escaped, and then, BAM, Bond is on him again, like an animal, never losing sight of his prey and always, always going for the kill. And at the end, a momentary musical ambient moment where Bond has satisfied his lust, eliminated his prey, and is covered, head to toe, in dirt, blood, and lacerations, but smirking his characteristic smirk of "I had the last laugh on this one" that he always gives, and then as other pursuit catches up, he makes his daring almost ninja like escape.
Hope you enjoy it!
Thomas E. Rice
All rights reserved 2011 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
This song, after it was developing, kind of turned into a James Bond theme where I can imagine him "doing what he does" to get the job done. Careful, at first, putting himself into the center of everything, then blowing stuff up, huge knock down drag out gun fights, car chases, hand to hand combat, and a momentary pause as the bad guy thinks he has escaped, and then, BAM, Bond is on him again, like an animal, never losing sight of his prey and always, always going for the kill. And at the end, a momentary musical ambient moment where Bond has satisfied his lust, eliminated his prey, and is covered, head to toe, in dirt, blood, and lacerations, but smirking his characteristic smirk of "I had the last laugh on this one" that he always gives, and then as other pursuit catches up, he makes his daring almost ninja like escape.
Hope you enjoy it!
Thomas E. Rice
All rights reserved 2011 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
On the Run
It was done using a Roland VS2400CD digital recorder along with several different keyboards of KORG make. It's about being pursued by something that you can not stop, can not control, and can not completely evade, kind of like death, I guess. I've heard stories about how people when death is near, can see it out of the corner of their eye, but when they look at it fully, it is invisible. True or not, we are all always on the run from something. It is human nature, we are born of two motivations, fight, or flight. This song is also to imply the fighting to flight, or to stay on the run. The lull in the song is to give the impression that the "chased" has a momentary lapse where they think they are safe, and then it explodes into their face again as to what has been chasing them has only lost their trail, for a little while.
I hope you enjoy this song and the many more to follow.
Thomas E Rice
All rights reserved 2008 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
I hope you enjoy this song and the many more to follow.
Thomas E Rice
All rights reserved 2008 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Before the Battle
This song represents the long drawn out bombastic aspects of what the human spirit and soul, during its searching, has to go through before they go out to do battle like we did in the old days, when man faced against another man and sword to sword, skill against skill, fought and died in the service of Kings, Lords, God almighty, and the protection of country, home, and family. There is a black desolation when it comes to men accepting their death. The best way is to follow the way of the samurai, accept that you are already dead, and you will fear nothing. Then when you go out to do battle, know that every victory is on borrowed time and savor it until either you are killed, or your enemy is vanquished and flees the field of combat.
If you live, then scream at their backs, calling them cowards, and give chase if only to make them fear your wrath even more, lest they come back in more and more numbers.
This is what King Leonidis, Vlad Tepes, and many other historical tacticians did. They tried to fight as fierce as possible, drawing in the larger force where they could be manipulated, and were so absolutely brutal about it. Bear in mind, the idea was to strike so much terror into the Persians and Turks, as to make them loathe coming to do battle again, against the enemy who would use the dead of their enemy to mortar their fortifications, or to line their streets and the roads to Wallachia. I wouldn't have come back to attack, would you?
Thomas E Rice
All rights reserved 2008 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
If you live, then scream at their backs, calling them cowards, and give chase if only to make them fear your wrath even more, lest they come back in more and more numbers.
This is what King Leonidis, Vlad Tepes, and many other historical tacticians did. They tried to fight as fierce as possible, drawing in the larger force where they could be manipulated, and were so absolutely brutal about it. Bear in mind, the idea was to strike so much terror into the Persians and Turks, as to make them loathe coming to do battle again, against the enemy who would use the dead of their enemy to mortar their fortifications, or to line their streets and the roads to Wallachia. I wouldn't have come back to attack, would you?
Thomas E Rice
All rights reserved 2008 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Splinter Cell
For obvious reasons, the title should clue you into the music and what it's all about. I was having a dull day, turned on the PS3 and killed some virtual bad guys inside Splinter Cell Pandora and was so involved that my wife, when she was walking down the hallway to try and scare me, didn't, because the sixth sense I have was peaked. I knew she was there before she did. Anyway, imagine Sam Fisher silently moving down a hallway, silenced pistol in hand, or maybe just his knife waiting for his hand on his belt, as he quietly sneaks up behind two unsuspecting sentries. He waits until the conversation is over and as one turns away, the other turns towards him...do you make him knock the closest one out, stab him, or choke him out? I'd go for the choke hold, it's always funny to listen to them squeal and squirm in your grasp.
Thomas E Rice
All rights reserved 2008 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Thomas E Rice
All rights reserved 2008 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
Underground
I'll be honest, I'm not really sure what this song was meant to invoke from the listener. I just wanted to experiment with various ambient layers, tweaking the drums into something electronica, a sort of hodge podge of musical styles. Just because I wanted to see if it worked well.
You tell me.
Thomas E Rice
All rights reserved 2008 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios
You tell me.
Thomas E Rice
All rights reserved 2008 Thomas E Rice / Ex Nihilo Studios