Joé McKen ♪ Composer

12tone @12tone.nebula.tv [ View ] Jun 17, 2024 at 19:56 UTC

This is incorrect. Stacy's Mom by Fountains of Wayne has, by any objective measure, the most music theory.

2 replies 7 reposts 30 likes

Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] May 27, 2024 at 12:14 UTC

Finally, and as always: If you want music like this to call your own, I’d love to work with you!

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] May 27, 2024 at 12:12 UTC

I started working on this mammoth project last September, which – at 8 months – officially makes this the longest it’s ever taken me to complete a piece of music from start to finish. (Admittedly, I was interrupted by a few other projects in the meantime.)

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] May 27, 2024 at 12:11 UTC

It’s always fun to recreate themes using whatever new software and skills I’ve gained since I first wrote them. As always, the real trick was finding a way to stitch them together as naturally as possible. I’m particularly fond of the great crescendo segue between Rainbow and Luna’s themes.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] May 27, 2024 at 12:08 UTC

🎵 NEW MUSIC: Sunken Horizons OST | Sunken Horizons Suite 🎵

In the grand tradition of ending a soundtrack with a recap, this is a 10-minute suite of themes from the ‘Sunken Horizons’ score. Think of it as “SH in a nutshell”.

➡ BANDCAMP
➡ SOUNDCLOUD
➡ YOUTUBE

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] May 23, 2024 at 03:26 UTC

My DMs are, and ever shall be, open. 📧

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] May 22, 2024 at 12:46 UTC

?

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] May 17, 2024 at 04:46 UTC

I Am a Nerd.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] May 09, 2024 at 10:55 UTC

By golly, this mammoth freaking track I’ve been working on since <checks timestamps> *last August* is finally approaching completion. Y’all better like it, or I swear I’ll cry. Like, ugly-cry. You’ve been warned.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 30, 2024 at 09:22 UTC

I refuse to use clickbaity titles. I don’t spam my posts with a million tags. I don’t post on Spotify. I don’t plug my songs on Xitter anymore, only on Bluesky and Mastodon. Most of my works are soundtracks for fanfiction audiobooks. I think I’m playing the social media clout game wrong.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 29, 2024 at 16:48 UTC

Tfw you discover a new tool that produces absolutely amazing results and would make all your existing music sound 200% better and you have to fight with yourself not to redo and reupload all your old tracks Oh well. Look for improved sound quality and *clarity* (heh) in future releases!

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 23, 2024 at 04:38 UTC

10/ So, it looks like I’ll be without links in my YT descriptions for the time being. Blame the megacorp that somehow thinks links to websites are an “advanced feature” that’s only suitable for people who agree to submit gov’t ID or to get their face 3D-scanned. /fin

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 23, 2024 at 04:37 UTC

9/ The only other option, “Channel history”, is the slow way – just wait until Google decides you’ve spent enough time using your account and abiding by the rules to give you access to your “advanced features” back. Even though, again, I’ve already done all that. Oh well.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 23, 2024 at 04:36 UTC

8/ What about “Valid ID”? It’s as you can guess: You take a photo of some gov’t photo ID – driver’s license, passport, etc. – and submit it to Google. Again, they totally promise to delete it after 2 months. Folks, in this house we follow a simple rule: “Do not give your gov’t ID to Google.”

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 23, 2024 at 04:33 UTC

7/ What is “video verification”? TL;DR: You record a 30-second video of yourself with your phone, which YT uses to generate a 3D model of your face. This model is then stored on your account, and Google pinky-promises to delete it after 2 months of channel activity. Ha. Hahahaha. Haaaaaa. No.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 23, 2024 at 04:30 UTC

6/ So. How can I get these advanced features (links! advanced!) back? YouTube offers three options: Video verification, ID verification, and channel history.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 23, 2024 at 04:29 UTC

5/ Until or unless I get these “advanced features” back, this is what the links to my other pages look like now in my video descriptions – non-clickable, with anything but the shortest links cut off:

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 23, 2024 at 04:25 UTC

4/ Also, it looks like I’m far from the only one affected. Apparently a lot of people are getting these stupid emails, with equally little justification or explanation.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 23, 2024 at 04:22 UTC

3/ The only thing the email says is that my channel needs more channel history, which basically means it needs a track record of being used over at least a few months without breaking the rules.

Again – already done this. Obviously. Not sure what’s suddenly changed.

1 replies 1 reposts 1 likes

Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 23, 2024 at 04:20 UTC

2/ Why did I lose these “advanced features”? No idea. Neither the email nor the help pages it links to tell me what I might have done wrong. I certainly didn’t violate any ToS or leave my account inactive. (Also, lol at links – LINKS – being an “advanced feature”.)

1 replies 1 reposts 1 likes

Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 23, 2024 at 04:19 UTC

Today’s adventure in Google fuckery: Got an email saying my YouTube channel has “lost access to advanced features”. Apparently these features include things like pinning comments, higher upload limits, and – the only one that matters to me – adding links to other sites in video descriptions. 1/

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 08, 2024 at 12:23 UTC

Just some tags I forgot to add to the previous post like an idjit.
#music #medieval #festival #HammeredDulcimer #DungeonsAndDragons #DnD #elephant #bubbles

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 08, 2024 at 12:16 UTC

I just posted a thread promoting my newest track without remembering to add a single hashtag. Cuz that’s just how I roll. Apparently.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 08, 2024 at 12:14 UTC

Finally, and as always: If you’re interested in music of your own, I take commissions!

Thanks again to @skijarama.bsky.social for paying me to do this. Life truly is a grand voyage.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 08, 2024 at 12:12 UTC

This is probably the silliest thing I’ve ever made, but a job’s a job! It also let me write for the hammered dulcimer again, which is always fun. The sound effects were trickier – it seems the majority of elephant sounds in recordings are reused over and over, usually in ever-worsening quality…

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 08, 2024 at 12:12 UTC

The above link is the “instrumental” version. Here’s the one with the actual toots and bloops:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv3v...

And here’s a version with toots, bloops, and an added crowd ambiance – the truest version, so to speak:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZiw...

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 08, 2024 at 12:07 UTC

🎵 NEW MUSIC: Toots & Bloops 🎵

Sometimes, there are beautiful little moments of spontaneous synchronization.

Or, that time two D&D characters came together to make some music as an elephant-man flew whilst trumpeting bubbles.

Commission for @skijarama.bsky.social

➡ BANDCAMP
➡ SOUNDCLOUD
➡ YOUTUBE

2 replies 1 reposts 1 likes

Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 08, 2024 at 03:42 UTC

As a small sweetener, be on the lookout for a brand-new song that drops very soon. It may just be my greatest composition ever. 🐘 🫧

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 08, 2024 at 03:40 UTC

Semi-important update: The Empty Horizons OST – despite being completed years ago – has new cover/album art! This replaces the previous art. Unfortunately, I also had to blur out the old art in the YouTube videos. You can read more about this decision in this YT community post I just published.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Apr 05, 2024 at 06:35 UTC

I miss Swappano. 🥲

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Mar 26, 2024 at 07:20 UTC

Well, how’s this for a nice surprise! My friend RedPandaCoding, who commissioned me for a track two years ago, just posted a new video for it featuring a snazzy new rendering made in Blender. Check it out!

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Mar 20, 2024 at 21:00 UTC

ICYMI:

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Mar 20, 2024 at 11:16 UTC

As always, if you’re interested in music like this written for you or a project you know, I take commissions!

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Mar 20, 2024 at 11:15 UTC

This piece was originally composed in 2018 as a bit of homework for music lessons I was taking at the time. The assignment was to practice scales in a few different keys, with the challenge of using only a French horn, piano and double bass.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Mar 20, 2024 at 11:13 UTC

🎵 NEW(ISH) MUSIC: Scales (2024 Update) 🎵

A remaster of an old music-class assignment! Fixed a few issues that bugged me in the original. Also serves as something to tide y’all over whilst I continue working on bigger projects.

➡ BANDCAMP
➡ SOUNDCLOUD
➡ YOUTUBE

1 replies 1 reposts 1 likes

Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Mar 20, 2024 at 07:26 UTC

Must … resist … until … the right … time …

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Mar 20, 2024 at 03:22 UTC

Specifically, 📯 🎹 🎻

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Mar 20, 2024 at 03:19 UTC

<stares into the horizon> Something’s comin’. 🎵

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Mar 17, 2024 at 06:55 UTC

I’ve updated my commission pricing, as part of my everlasting quest to find a simple and intuitive system that also covers all cases

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Mar 16, 2024 at 23:56 UTC

Anyhow. Yeah, I’m alive (in case you aren’t following my non-music account). Got several pieces slowly cooking on the backburner. I’m just so busy with other things I barely have time to work on them. 😔

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Mar 16, 2024 at 23:53 UTC

Man, working with creatives is exhausting. Always so full of self-doubt, never happy with their art, constantly downplaying their accomplishments. Good thing *I’m* not like that! [stares at own music projects, gets crushed into a singularity by weight of own imposter syndrome]

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Feb 21, 2024 at 18:06 UTC

Very much depends on the idea! My sketches tend to be pretty fleshed out already, and all I really do is find new ideas to add before and after what I’ve already written, until I can stitch it all together. But for more complete ideas, I just jump straight to the orchestration.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Feb 21, 2024 at 16:13 UTC

Doing it is what’s important! 🙂

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Feb 21, 2024 at 14:37 UTC

Anne-Kathrin Dern (great working composer and educational YouTuber) once explained how she wrote a whole Lord of the Rings mockup using only keyboard and mouse, and if there was any chance I could find the right video without spending all day searching for it I would link it, lol.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Feb 21, 2024 at 14:35 UTC

Sure, extra training is always beneficial, but these composers commit a basic error when they assume that the way they know is the only way that works. There are literally professional working composers who use a mouse & keyboard – it really isn’t much of a limitation.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Feb 21, 2024 at 14:34 UTC

It’s a disappointing view, but hopefully it won’t discourage you too bad. Ultimately, whether you use a piano, a keyboard & mouse, or a MIDI flute, all that really matters is being able to input the notes fast and accurately enough that you aren’t held back. Whatever works for you is best.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Feb 21, 2024 at 02:54 UTC

It’s common for composers to be pianists (at least at a functional if not pro level) because many were trained to play as well as write, but it’s not universal, nor a requirement. I don’t really wanna play – I just want to write music (and hear it played back). Computers let me do it perfectly well.

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Joé McKen ♪ Composer @music.joemcken.net [ View ] Feb 21, 2024 at 02:51 UTC

I don’t play any instrument! I noodled around with piano and the electric guitar as a kid, but never stuck with either. It’s a common myth that you can’t really advance without a keyboard – I do all my composing with mouse & (computer) keyboard, and it’s totally fine. Modern tech bridges the gap.

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