The song in the middle and end is "Take Me" by Mimi & Teft

First off ...

This camera is nuts (and expensive)!! Imagine, for moment, that you could take a Canon 5d and make it snap photos at 24 frames a second .... that's right! 12mp at 24 frames a second. But wait! There's more. It can not only double, but triple that speed!! In the movie industry they call this resolution "4k". It's basically 35mm film, only saved to compact flash card!

Some stills ...

Ok, so these aren't 4k stills ... not even standard definition stills! But they're Mimi & Teft teaser stills! Check 'em out ...

More to come ... very soon!

Have a listen to Electric Core: (download mp3)

Our first 1 hour song was a success. So much of a success that we've decided to put a remastered version of "Delicious" on Mimi & Teft's upcoming EP (due out in September). The great thing about the process is that it challenges your decision making and you make choices VERY fast. You pretty much grab a melody within minutes and roll with it.

We usually start out by crafting a beat. I used two "4 to the floor" kick loops from Stylus RMX, and a kit from NI's Battery. Mimi starts building a melody within moments of hearing the kick drum. Anything that comes to mind that sounds remotely usable we cut to disk for reference (and memory!) I start establishing synths from her melodic structure and we set the key.

One of the hardest things to do is to build a chorus/hook right after building a verse. It gets risky sounding too similar to the verse if we're not careful. Production plays a huge role in "lifting" the chorus/hook. If the energy doesn't build, neither does your emotional reaction to the chorus/hook.

Judy (Mom) and Jesse had a great competition to see who could come up with the winning lyric lines. It was definitely a challenge for Jesse because he's use to thinking through the entire set of lyrics and then writing them down. Can't do that in an hour! He did a great job in collaborating on this tune.

Another interesting fact about the 1 hour song challenge is that you can't have an ego. Anytime spent arguing is time wasted, so your forced to see all options for what they really are (good or bad or almost rockin').

Here's the final set of lyrics:

Electric Core

youre moving closer makin pressure like you wanna play
You tell me secrets in your movement and we start the game
yea I can hear you - everything you tell me on the floor
it's elemental, it's essential - our electric core

Chorus
And ohhhh
You got me spinnin like a disco
go round and round into the vinyl
And every time you turn me more you turn me more ohohohoh
And ohhhh
I'll be your puppet- let's put on a show
just get behind and start to move it slow
And when you do I want you more I want you more ohohohoh

we're sinkin lower like a tower under gravity
we're moving closer to the center of our energy
You rock my body til it's shakin and I beg for more
it's elemental, it's essential - our electric core

Chorus

At the 1 hour mark, we had the song put together and some vocals cut. But, we felt the lyrics needed strengthening, so we extended it to 1 hour and 37 minutes and cut the current vocals on the mp3. I slapped an Ozone mastering plugin at the end and raised the volume with it's limiter. We could possibly re-open the song in a few weeks and do some polishing. But, we'll see what happens ...

A few of my favorite things:

• reFX Vanguard
• BLUE
• Albino 3
• NI Battery 3
• Stylus RMX
• Logic Pro

All photos copyright Teft Inc. and were taken during the 1 hour song challenge.

Electric Core mp3 is licensed under:

Download Mp3 Here

In Judy's own words ...

The lyric on this song was inspired by a group of Shamanic Practitioners who gather together in circles to drum and meditate together.  Shamans have been around for thousands of years and are part of all indiginous peoples. They are the persons who act as healers for their tribe or group.  They were driven underground during the worst of the Religious persecutions, but have resurfaced in recent decades. Modern day shamanic practice does the same thing as it's ancient counterpart, working on spiritual causes of illness and societal problems.  The shaman will enter a meditative state and journey to discover the needs of the person, tribe, or land where they live. 
This lyric was a message from Mother Earth about returning to these sacred practices which honor the land, air and water around us.

As “Mimi & Teft” we don't plan on officially releasing this track, but we wanted to share it because it has a very powerful message behind it. Here's the lyrics ...

This old heart of mine is aching ,
for the children waking
in forgotten truth
For the ones who have forsaken
all the ways we taught them
Wind and earth and pool
they still know you
I'm cold now down inside my soul
find the symbols that you value
bring them to me
warm me
offer what is true

Tribal clan, I listen to you
When you dance I open my heart
give to you the songs that you once knew
i'm your guardian
don't think your song is silent
to the high

And this old heart of mine is speaking
to the children listening,
who hear me in the cool
listen to them when they tell you
what the hills are saying
How much we love you
still loving you
we're cold but we are loving you

find the pieces of your home land
take them with you
hold them till you know I'm true

Chief and priest, healer and sage
Ancient words new for this age
falling like the leaves into my hand
i'm your guardian
don't think your cry is silent
to the high

Production Notes

Production wise, the song is drenched in reverb using ArtsAcoustic Reverb. All of the instruments came from digital sources (the drums were sampled), yet it has a predominant acoustic feel. Multiple synth pads were used (Logic's ES2, Native Instruments' Massive, Rob Papen's Albino 3) to create an organic sense of the pad sound shifting timbre, much like dampening on guitar strings.

The kick and snare is a patch from Fxpansion's BFD, and the percussion loops are from Stylus RMX. Native Instruments' FM8, reFX Vanguard, and Rob Papen's Blue software synthesizers were used to round off sections with texture. BTW, NI's Massive is extremely cool, sounds amazing, and DRAINS my dual G5! Freezing tracks is an absolute must when using this software synthesizer.

Lately, my mastering chain has consisted of PSP's Master Compressor, PSP Neon HR, and iZotope Ozone's limiter. I kept the limiter light on this track, because it's not meant to be loud.

This Old Heart mp3 is licensed under:

The song is called "Delicious" and has a very sexy Electronic/Dance vibe. All done in one hour, in Logic Pro, take a listen ...


Download Delicious Mp3
We started out by crafting a beat first. I used Stylus RMX for the core kit sound; programmed the drums; and then added a second RMX instance with a 4 to the floor loop to thicken the kick. Next, I used BLUE for the gushy bass sound. It mixed in really well in the beginning because the drums had a sharp defined cut, and the bass blended over the kicks. This helped create the effect of the instruments blending as one.

To the left is a screen shot of the final song in Logic. I'm a HUGE Logic fan ... been using it since 4.6. SIDENOTE: I hated the fact that Apple bought Logic, until I finally brokedown and bought a Mac, WOW am I glad I fully switched to Apple
I LOVE Vanguard from reFX. It's warm and analogish. I used it twice for synth stab sounds. 1 mild, and 1 dirty. Controlling the synth stabs can always be an issue ... this song led itself to be sparse stabs, whiched really complemented Mimi's vox.

Mimi is a great vocalist to work with (and that's not because she's my girl friend) ... she pours emotion into her vox. We worked directly on the melody with the beat and bass line to get something that jived quickly. Cutting vocals and writing lyrics and melody at the same time is an interesting process. Minute by minute the clock is ticking, so the faster we can cut vox that work, is obviously better. I used ArtsAcoustic Reverb on her voice. Mimi's great at coming up with melodic material on the spot, no matter what harmony or production you throw at her.

The biggest challenge tonight was assembling a melody and lyric together that worked in less than an hour. Mom (to the left), has been song writing with us for over 5 years. We've pretty muched gelled the process, so she knows what generaly works and doesn't work in the lyric world, so she can make quick decisions as the clock ticks. Her tool of choice is a MacBook Pro and Masterwriter. Lyrical prosody is always a challenge ... it can be astonishing to hear the difference between using "that" or "that's" in a lyric and hearing the vox dynamics shift. It can truly make or break a song.

Finally, I capped off the song with Ozone's limiter, which I prefer over most of the limiters available in the digital world (including Waves). Leave a reply and let us know what you think and/or if you give the 1 hour challenge a shot and post it on your blog! We'll probably make a habit of doing this every week

Tool List:

• Logic Pro
• BLUE
• Vanguard
• Stylus RMX
• ArtsAcoustic Reverb
• Ozone
• Mic and PreAmp

QUICK NOTE: Merlin was with us the whole time ... he's the muse. All photos copyright of Teft Inc. and were taken during the 1 hour song challenge.

Delicious mp3 is licensed under:

I'm part of a duo known as "Mimi & Teft" ... we do electronic/pop/dance ... Our first EP got a lot of praise. Soooo, naturally a second release is in order! But, when your writing material as "artists" you always want to feel like your pushing the envelope creatively. Hitting that creative mark is always a strange process. We set a deadline of May 31st 07 to have the second release complete ... but, lo and behold we weren't read at all!! Frustrating, but very good. Because in the end we want it to rock

We've decided that July 15th should be realistic to have the music complete. Then, artwork commences ... we had a successful photo shoot in April, use pics from that shoot for cover, book, etc. It's a fun process! Very time consuming, and in the end, extremely rewarding! Especially when you see/hear people reacting to your art.