Thought this morning we’d post two new VU tracks for download. We’re in the midst of developing our series of logo videos (more on that later) as well The Logo Factory Podcast One - which we hope to release here and on iTunes later this week - and we need tunage for both. Accordingly, we finished mixing Particle Velocity and Crystal Palace this weekend, adding them to the Vox Underground music catalog. We’re having a few default volume issues - the tracks are at a lower ambient volume than the tunage we released earlier = we’ll fix the files at a later date and upload replacements (Update: done). In the meantime, should give you about nine-and-a-half minutes of ear candy.

While this is all fun and all, you can check out our logo design video (which has been viewed 2500 times on YouTube as of this morning) for the very practical applications of our musical efforts. Allows us to add music to our mutli-media presentations without the usual copyright issues using music ripped from a commercial CD or illicit mp3s downloaded from our fave file-sharing site (activity which the RIAA has expressed some strong opinions about). Anyway, you can download and listen to the tracks by clicking on the links or the mp3 icons below. As this is supposedly a logo design blog, we’ll come full circle with how we developed the music logos for the VU. And for what it’s worth, the Vox Underground Fan Club has doubled in size over the past few months. From my daughter Amy to Amy and her pal Olivia. Let’s hope the fame doesn’t go to my head.

	Crystal Palace		Particle Velocity

Over the weekend, put the finishing touches to another Vox Underground track. Called it El Morte (don’t ask me why) and you can download it here. Pretty funky riff that features samples, keyboards and a little assistance on the drums from my son - Matthew - a fairly accomplished drummer at the ripe old age of seventeen. Matt took time out from jamming with his own band Autumn Falls Drive to help out stodgy old Dad with the live drums. The track features a mix of samples, keyboards and some home-made recordings off the Tee Vee. For those of you who are new to The Factor, here’s a look at the music logos that were developed for this project, as well as some of the whos, the whys and the wheres.

Update: we used an edited version of El Morte as the soundtrack to our new logo design video. Also available on YouTube.

	El Morte

Been a while since we posted any of our humble musical efforts (was actually last March) and the Tunage section of the Factor has been a wasteland of musical sparseness. No longer. Threw up a couple of new soundtracks this morning 1) Logopalooza (the official theme music for our upcoming podcasts) and 2) Mido, a little bit of random musical tinkering I recorded over the holidays. What’s the point to all this? Not much really, though (trying to shoe horn this into a logo design blog) I guess it shows that not only can we develop music company logos, but we can create our own tunage as well. There’s also a serious side to our musical tinkering - allows us to script custom loops and sound effects for logo animation projects. Or, we could just be in the mood for a little showing off. Take yer pick. And as always, music critics need not apply. For those interested in the Vox Underground music logos, and a little back story on same, clicky the linky.

	Logopalooza		Mido

Some of you may know that we’ve been messing around with music for flash animations for a while now. The usual reasons - clients wanted some form of musical track added to their flash opus, can’t just rip off a techno-beat sample from the latest Paul Oakenfold album, and most ‘out of the can’ flash music samples aren’t worth spit. Always a bit of a frustrated musician, I went about setting up a small recording studio (needed for our upcoming podcast series anyway) and putting whatever little musical prowess I had to work. Became sort of a pet project of mine (and the Mrs. did tell me I needed a hobby). Even ‘branded’ the idea with a name and a logo (hey, we’re The Logo Factory after all). Finally got around to mixing a track this weekend, using a score that I had laid down last year. It’s a little on the raucous side (probably better to turn the sound system down a bit). Originally put together a few years ago, just recently got around to mixing it into a more playable format. Contains samples, drum computers, live keyboards and guitar. Now, while I’m certainly no Jean Michelle Jarre, I think it sounds pretty good for an amateur hacker such as myself. If you like, you can click on the music icon or download the track here. Four-and-a-half minute MP3 file size weighs in at about 4.1 MB so you’ll need a healthy set of pipes if you don’t want to wait all day. Music critics need not apply.

	Hacksaw ‘96