Happy Thursday to you all,

I am so excited to remind you that Dream Volume One is on its way very soon to a computer near you!  The album drops March 1st, 2012.  So don't forget March 1st, 2012.  Once again, that's March 1st, 2012. 

The album will be available for digital distribution only...well, at least for the time being.  I've written 17 tracks (3 are co-writes with my good friend Kel kostar8.com) for your listening enjoyment.  A lot of them you've probably heard, others are brand spanking new.  All in all (and I know I say this a lot) I am very pleased with the result.

Justin Potts from Infinity Arts, once again, has created some fun and whimsical artwork for the cover that I can't wait to highlight.  I love how he creates and am so thrilled to have him return for my sophomore album.  Follow the link to see a youtube of the teaser with artwork included (As well as some "me" pictures over the past several years.  Normally I like to leave those things be...but I know it's a thing... so I digress)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmFR7ERl07A

If you're like me and just can't wait for March 1st to arrive, you can also purchase "Magic" for a very low price at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/murphyjeanna To buy the physical album is only $8.  To download the album is only $5!  Just think of what a wonderful gift that would make!

So enjoy the teaser video, tell all your friends, and don't forget.....

March 1st, 2012....it arrives;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmFR7ERl07A

Have a great rest of your week and we'll talk soon.

Jeanna

I just wrapped the first season of Jim Henson's "Pajanimals" earlier this month.  Such an amazing experiance.  The composer that I work with has been such a great blessing to me taking me under his wing and showing me the ropes and introducing me to a grip load of influential people. Really big names in the industry.

I sent the last of my end of the work to him in the AM of November 3rd and then decided that my brain was too fried to do anything.  So I drove to Santa Monica and laid out at the beach.  It was then that I realized, "it's my one year anniversary in LA, I'm sitting on the beach, and I just wrapped a TV show".  I had to pinch myself at the silliness of it all.  I attacked this town and the result is that I'm a part of it!  Just like that!

There's still a loooooong way to go for sure but I have a year of very hard work under my belt and already something to show for it.  I've got several months before the next season begins so I'm hitting the pavement hard trying to get my next big break and you better believe I'm going to find it.  How can I be so sure you say?  Because I know that this is what I was put on this Earth to do so you better believe I'm going to do it!

So as I cool my heels for the next thing to come along I've decided to FINALLY put out another CD.  Yay!!  I've wanted to do it for so long but there just hasn't been time.  There isn't much time really now either except this time the songs are done and just sitting in my computer.  They're saying "use me, use me" and so I must not ignore them any longer.

I want this next album to be a collaborative effort so i want your help/opinions.  The album will be called "Dream Volume One".  And I'm not teasing.  I really do have other volumes.  I wanted to showcase all of my different styles separately.  So I am doing a quirky electronic album, a solo piano album, a pop/vocal album, an orchestral album....etc.  Volume One will be the electronic one.

So if you'd like to participate in the development I'd love to have you.  I'll add you to a special VIP list and email you from time to time on your opinion of tracks, album art, etc.   You never know, you might get something free out of it;)  Just shoot me an email saying you're in and I'll do the rest.

I hope that your holiday season is shaping up well and we'll chat again soon.

All the best,

Jeanna

http://www.jeannamurphy.com

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/murphyjeanna

http://www.reverbnation.com/jeannamurphy

It was a busy summer and it's looking like it'll be a busy fall as well.  NOT complaining.  Things are happening left and right and I can't help but feel so blessed in the place that I am in my life.  Music is coming out of my ears and fingertips faster then I can record them.  And the paychecks to prove it are just about there.

The beginning of September proved to be exhaustingly wonderful.  My friend is pitching a webisode show and I got to write the theme for it!  He had several people he approached for it and I'm pretty sure he was more interested in them to write it but guess who was the only one that followed through....;)  Just goes to show that follow through is key people!  Don't be a flake!  Not exactly sure when it will be available to share with all of you but I'll be sure to post it as soon as I can.

In other news, I got a really cool part time gig working as Michael Silversher's assistant.  You may not know his name but you'll know his music.  Michael has been writing children's music for decades.  He's written on little known shows like..I dunno.. Gummi Bears, Tale Spin, Duck Tales, Chip & Dales Rescue Rangers, Little Mermaid 2... the list goes on.  And I'm his assistant!!  Currently he's scoring the music for 2 shows.  One animated sunday morning cartoon called Dinosaur Train and the other is a muppets show called Pajanimals.  I get to help with Pajanimals copy/pasting his tracks, creating stems, and uploading them to a little known company called the Jim Henson Company!!  That's right people.  Jeanna is loosely associated to Muppets!!  The little girl in me is completely in shock right now!

Michael invited me to come along with him a couple weeks ago to an Emmy Nominee Reception and introduced me to Alf Clausen!  That's The Simpsons composer for those of you who weren't sure.  Alf and Michael have been friends for some 20 years.  I gotta say, being introduced to Alf rather than introducing myself...well....it was awesome.  There were a ton of people there that night including Ron Jones (Family Guy) and Grant Geissman (Two and a Half Men, Mike & Molly).  I started handing out my card without thinking.  Good idea though.  These guys are vets to the industry and I am sure that they don't want to do any of their busy work anymore which I would GLADLY do for them...so we'll see:)  Either way it was an amazingly surreal night.

I added 2 songs to the site as well.  The first is called Mastering.  I can't say what I wrote it for but I will say that if I get it then that one's coming down fast!  That's how you'll know;)

The second is my 4th cowrite with my buddy Kel http://www.kostar8.com called The Shrieking Eels.  This one is quite possibly going to get me into a library I've wanted in on for a bit.  Still trying to get in on my own but I'll take the in as a co-writer.  Works just fine for me:)

I know there's more but I'll just leave it at that right now.  Have a great rest of your week and see you again next month.

Jeanna

As you all know of me I made the most of it.  What else could I do?!  I packed up all my gear and headed to Burbank where I would be holed up for the weekend.  It was just me and the editor for several hours as everyone was out shooting in the hills of Malibu.  Slowly they started to drop off video for Sel to start working on and I started looking over his shoulder to gain inspiration from picture. 

Every time I start one of these things I have this looming feeling of....I got nothin'.  But as the night and then the morning continues it all pulls itself together.  As usual, I was over complicating my tracks and kept having to mute things as my director kept saying more acoustic, more acoustic ( I really wonder if he understood the meaning of the word.  There was only so "acoustic" I could go using all synth generated sounds straight from my computer?!  But I digress.)

This was the first time that I actually pulled an all nighter on one of these.  In the past I've driven home for at least a couple of hours to either sleep a little or work on the music in solitude.  This time I literally was passing out on my keyboard.  Our "home base" was our director's house and he had set up the office as a crash zone for us hard workers so the 3 of us that were mainly working through the night in post production took turns making due with the pull out couch for 30 minutes at a time.  Anymore then that and we would never have gotten back up again.

There was a never ending supply of food as the directors wife and the producers girlfriend took very very good care of us.  Always refilling our water glasses and making the late night pizza runs.  We even got mash potato balls and other pastry's from Porto's Restaurant for sunday morning brunch. (If you haven't eaten there and you live by Burbank....GO.  It's amazing!)

Our deadline was fast approaching and the guys were hard at work trying to get the video totally pieced together.  All work stations were non stop composing, compositing, editing, visual effecting all to try and make our sunday 7:30pm drop off deadline.  By 5:30 we were hovered around Sel's station.  We weren't even near the end of the film and the rough mix was already at 10 1/2 minutes...the max allowed was 7 1/2...we were starting to worry.

So we all joined in with editing saying cut this, shorten this, what about this.  I learned that day that to render a video mix (that means essentially compress it or burn it to disc for those that have never heard the word) takes a long time.  For every 15 seconds of film it takes around 3 or 4 minutes to render.  So not only did we need time to finish the edits, we needed time to render the whole thing.  We went back and forth believing we could make it.

All of a sudden we all agreed that we could do it! We got ourselves in gear and started the car as Sel sent the project to his laptop.  Eric had an outlet in his car and so the guys were rendering the project as we drove into Hollywood.  We got to our drop off location and several of us were outside the car ready to grab the disc and run as soon as it was ready.  We watched as other teams walked past us, project in hand.  The clock was ticking...

The drop dead deadline was 7:30... the render finished at 7:32.  We missed our deadline.  Noah decided that although we were no longer eligible for awards we could still screen the film for everyone to see.  So that's how our project ended.  I wasn't in town for the screening but apparently the 48HFP audience enjoyed it which was always the point in my head anyways. 

So without further adieu I present to you Jeanna's very first western.  "The Drifter".

http://youtu.be/mMSMIqCkcXY

Enjoy:)

It's been a little bit since I've sent a blog out to you but those of you that know me know that it isn't for lack of work.  In fact, the very opposite has occurred.  I can't keep up with what new songs I've posted and which ones have gone directly to publishers and/or projects.  Although I've been trying to post to reverbnation as soon as I get a new one finished it hasn't always happened.  Even today I'm not posting it all.  I figured if I can put 3 new ones up a month that should satisfy your musical wonderings.  So that's what you'll be getting in this blog entry as well as some news.

On the flash player you will find 3 new ones.  First up is MaGaga.  This one was REALLY fun to write.  I got to spend a couple days researching Lady Gaga, Madonna, and yes Katy Perry to see how they (or rather their team) do thier mixes.  And although I'm a late bloomer I now am a fan of Gaga.  Her engineer is so incredible.  A lot of it is 80's synth influence but then they'll throw modern in there and it becomes a Gaga sound just like that.  Well, not just like that.  Her stuff is pretty complex in my opinion.  But wonderful.

Next is Lost in a Dream.  A lovely beautiful accident in G minor.  I didn't know where this one was going and then all of a sudden it appeared.  I haven't listened to it or played it in years but I can definitely hear the influence Mendelssohn's "Midsummers Night Dream" had on me.  So beautiful and spacious.  So I took that and put that ominous presence into it that I love so much.  Close your eyes and absorb this one.  It really wrote itself.

Then there is Heartbreak.  I fell in love with this one for many reasons.  One was that is really me playing!  As I hate it anyways, I didn't use a click track and only quantized a note here and there but that's it.  One take and this is what it turned into.  Usually I try and mask my bad piano playing but this one just didn't want me to mess with it.  Minimalistic and introspective.

My other news is I got onto another 48 Hour Film Project team!  That'll be the weekend of the 5th so I'll talk more on that next month.  This'll be 2 movie shorts this year.  Yay for projects.

Like I've said before and I'm sure to say again, LA has been just amazing.  So many people here just as driven and passionate as me.  I've been meeting a lot of people, going to a lot of events, and getting my name and music out there.  And it's been working!  If I can just hold on and focus on that patience thing I really feel like something amazing is about to come my way.  Whether it be TV, advertising, or film work doesn't matter.  I just want to write music and pay my bills with it.  I know that if I keep up with my crazy someone is bound to notice that I'm actually pretty good at this and put me where I fit best.  Then all my hours at the computer writing, forgetting to eat, and getting huge knots in my back will all pay off.

This will happen.

Enjoy the tunes and I hope you're having a fabulous summer.  More to come next month.

Jeanna

As usual I have music for you.  Those of you joining me from reverbnation land you'll only find these at http://www.jeannamurphy.com  And those of you that only come to my official site, check out http://www.reverbnation.com/jeannamurphy cause there's music there that isn't here.  Confusing? Just click both links to clarify;)

Attentionista, Nocturne, and Fun are the top tracks on the flashplayer at http://www.jeannamurphy.com .  As you can guess, Fun is...fun.  I get teased for writing so many things in a minor key so I had to include it cause it's happy.  The others of course are more intense.  Attentionista and Nocturne are more orchestral which has just been pouring from my imagination lately.  I'm sure I've got a couple percolating in my brain even as you read this!

Not too much to update you on this month.  I went part time several weeks ago (something I've been working towards for a VERY long time) and so I've been busy holing up in my studio writing and writing and writing.  And I am so pleased with what has resulted.  In 2 1/2 weeks I wrote 8 songs (plus 5 more that are more than halfway done).  A total of about 21 minutes of completed music.  I am speeding up and I also feel that I'm writing even better than before.

I've also been learning what LA can offer me.  Last month I met Scott Smalley (orchestrator to composers such as Jerry Goldsmith, Basil Poledouris, and Danny Elfman) and Ron Jones (composer for The Family Guy).  Both very cool but in very different ways...  I've been finding a bunch of seminars and workshops and luncheons where I not only am learning techniques and tips from the best but meeting some fantastic new friends along the way.  

This city has so much and the buzz of all these ambitious minds is totally infectious.  I just can't get enough of it.  Thank you Lala land.  Thank you!

Talk to you next month and as always tell your friends to come check out the tuneage!

Jeanna

Hello again,

Last week was a big week for several reasons.  One of which, it marked my 6 months living in sunny SoCal!  The time has flown by and it feels like a whole other life I lived before I got here.  I am loving LA and everything around it and am getting really excited for the summer as it's been peaking its head around the corner more and more.  My roomy and I did a beach day last week...in May!  How cool is that!?  Not something I could have done in Oregon that's for sure.

The other news that I found out last week was that I've gotten 4 placements!!  They actually started 2 days after I rolled into town but I didn't figure it out till I read the cue sheet for the repeat!  Then I met up with a bunch of my composer friends last friday and one of them congratulated me for another one...that has also since been repeated!  Unreal!

Only one of the episodes was online.  My cue plays for 30 seconds from 1:25-1:40.  Really really low but it's there!  

http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Full-Episode-200-Adult-Men-Who-Were-Molested-Come-Forward-Video

Not the happiest of episodes to get my first placement but I'm told it was a good one!  The other episode is part 2 of her Australian adventure so if you hear that it's gonna play again let me know so I can DVR it!

The other big news I have is that I'm switching from full time day job to part time!!  This is a LONG time coming but I am finally in a position where I can do it and so I couldn't be more thrilled to finally take a real swing at developing my career.  For those of you who have tried to do what I do with a full time job you know how almost painful it is.  There just isn't enough time and your focus and energy that you want to devote to writing gets zapped by the day to day stuff that must be done.  I don't mind working hard but working hard for something that your heart isn't in....drains you.  So starting next week I'll be flipping the scales.  Music first, day job second!!

If that weren't enough I have music for you!  I just added 3 tracks to the flash player at http://www.jeannamurphy.com Marvin the Martian, Lost and Drive.  You've heard Marvin but this is a different version.  The 1st one I had up was more silly and playful.  This one I feel could be underscore much better.  Lost started off as a rambling song...that developed into a drony melody...and stayed there.  Total background, pretty random.  Drive I wrote for a possible ad campaign...thing....we'll see;)

So enjoy and I'll catch you next month!

Jeanna

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/murphyjeanna

http://www.reverbnation.com/jeannamurphy

The 168 Film Festival was over a week ago but all that I've learned and all the new people that I met are still swimming around fresh in my brain.  Although I've participated in film festivals before this is the first time that I went to the actual screenings.  It was so much fun to be surrounded by so many very talented truly nice people!  There were some exceptional films that I got the pleasure of watching and some top notch people that I got to meet.  All in all, a great weekend!

Now that I'm coming back to my old routine again I'm finally able to share with you the music that I wrote for Blue Blazes!  So excited for you to hear it!  All of the tracks came together in a little over a day and a half.  Crazy fast but awesome as usual.

I don't have a copy of the movie to post just yet but it's coming I promise.  I'd rather you hear my music first anyways;)  So please enjoy! http://www.jeannamurphy.com  As usual, they're on the flash player but you can also find them and a bit of description in the music tab to the left on the website in the "Blue Blazes" folder.

I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed writing.

Also, below I've attached 2 links.  My friend Justin called me up a couple weeks ago and handed me this project.  He's doing a series of video blogs for http://www.Christianpost.com and he asked me to write a riff for the intro into his interview.  It was so great to work with a friend on this and we're both hoping that this will lead to more friend collaborations in the future.  So please come support us.  The more hits they get, the better the site looks, the better the site looks, the better the chance of more projects for me:)  He was aiming for 100,000 hits and as of last week we were at 10,000 so click and "like" away my friends:)

http://video.christianpost.com/mark-driscoll-newt-gingrich-for-president-should-christians-care-about-politics-2396/ 

http://video.christianpost.com/mark-driscoll-interview-too-much-sex-talk-in-the-pulpit-2397/ 

I have some brand new tunes done as well but I didn't want to bombard you.  So I will hold onto them till next month and hopefully by that time they will have found a home in a library or maybe straight into a movie.  A girl can dream right:)

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the soundtrack.  Blue Blazes....the music score.

Jeanna

This past month has been a whirlwind.  First off let me tell you about the 168 Film Festival.  I had a blast! Yup, that definitely nut-shelled it.  What did I do on my President's Day weekend?  I wrote....too much music!  What a horrible problem right:)  For the festival you have 10-11 minutes for your film and in a day and a half I wrote 9.2 minutes of music!  And then when the final rough cut came to me to score to picture it was 8.5 minutes long.  The other minute and a half was for end credits.  So in that week, I wrote 5 original themes, one vocal pop song (co-write with Bill Grisiola) for the end credits and about 3 stems (different versions) of my original themes which totaled about 20 minutes of music!!!!  Whew:)  Can you tell how much I LOVE to write!!  

Then about 2 days ago I found out that Blue Blazes made the top 22!  I believe there were about 80 some teams all over the world that entered and ours is the ONLY super hero themed short that made the final cut!  We have a real shot at getting some sort of award for this!

Unfortunately, because the festival doesn't start until March 31st I can't share the music or the movie with you yet:(  In fact, I haven't even seen the final version.  At first the editor said I would place the music in the film myself but I'm pretty sure he redid it once it came back to him (boo).  So I'm as excited to see/hear it as you are (probably a little bit more so;) That's why the preemptive blogging.

So as not to leave you guys with nothing I figured I'd re-introduce you to some old(ish) music of mine.  These were from my album "Magic" which, if you haven't purchased yet you should;)  1st on the flash player is one of my favs "A Wrinkle In Time".  Think Madeline L'Engle's children's book.  Well, actually just the main cover.  Next we have "Magic".  Yes, those are my vocals;)  Recorded on an SM-57 instrument mic.  Yeah....it took some patience to get that EQed just right that's for sure!  And thirdly we have "Strange New World".  Why?  Because it makes me smile and I've been smiling a lot lately:)

Stay tuned.  The festival is just around the corner and if nothing else I plan on at least networking like CRAZY! ...But I hope we get an award too.....

Have a lovely end of your week!

Jeanna

First off, I have a new song for you!  It's called Marvin the Martian.  He hasn't found a home yet but I really wanted to share him with you anyways!  He's the first track on the flash player.  This one was the result of being bored at the Ontario Airport on Thanksgiving day:)  He was a fun distraction from the blah that's for sure!

Also, after many edits, 3 more of my songs got added to one my music libraries!  They were up on my site months ago but so much has been altered I figured I'd re-share them with you.  Heavenly, Starry and Glowing are tracks 2,3 and 4 on the flashplayer.  And they're all happy and upbeat!  Look at me growing;)

The other bit of news I have to share with you is that I'm doing another short film contest!  It's been a year and a half since Game Night and I could not be more excited about this great opportunity.  

The competition is called the 168 Project.  Basically, we have 168 hours to write, shoot, edit, score and submit a 10 minute short.  The only stipulation is that it has to be based on a Bible verse which is the same for every team.  The verse got chosen Monday night and will be John 19:26-27.  I spoke with the director last night and the writing crew is very excited and they all have high hopes that this short will be a huge success.  I sure hope they're right!

Very excited to be a part of this one for many reasons.  One, it's a Christian production and I'm excited to meet other Christians in the industry.  Two, it's 10 minutes rather that 5 like the last film shorts I've done.  So, more of a challenge.  And three, I'm solo composer on this!  He's having his last composer act as music editor if I need him but if I don't need him then it can be just me on the roster.

If you are interested in helping sponsor this project I've attached the link.  Please feel no pressure at all.  I just figured I'd let you guys know if you're interested.  http://my168project.net/ 

I'm really hoping that this is the year that my songs go do crazy awesome things.  Maybe they could get the next Apple commercial or, even better, a feature spot on a movie....calm yourself Jeanna.  Regardless, I'm having fun in SoCal.  Best decision I ever made!!!

Have a great rest of your week!

Jeanna