Composition – BARRY HARTGLASS

Sep262020 by Barry HartglassNo Comments

Sound Captivation EP and “RIP Summer” by Baravin

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Story by Wesley Orser, one of Barry's former Hofstra University Electronic Music students The work of Andres Virola, a recent high school graduate who has taken composition lessons with Barry for over three years, is finally paying off with the recent release of his first EP, Sound Captivation, and single, "RIP Summer." In the last year since composing "Doomed Paladin," a piece for his school orchestra, he has started using the FL Studio DAW to create electronic music under the artist name Baravin. What started out as just playing around with the FL app on his phone led Barry to recommend Andres get the computer version, which he ultimately did. His creative approach is somewhat unconventional in that he doesn’t use a MIDI controller and manually enters all of the…

Aug72020 by Barry Hartglass2 Comments

“Meditation on Roads Not Taken” by Audible Abstraction

Barry's Projects, Blog

During the Fall 2017 semester at Hostos Community College, I was grading Exercise 2 (E2), a recording and editing assignment in Introduction to Recording Techniques (DM106). For this assignment, students were asked to choose a page or two from the syllabus, a technical manual, or a poem and record themselves or someone else reading the text, and then edit any reading errors. It’s always interesting to see and hear what students choose to record for this assignment. The first student I graded chose the Robert Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken,” and he did a great job recording himself reading it. As I began listening to it, unaware of what it was at first, I noticed that it sounded strangely familiar. Coincidentally, a few months prior, one of my piano…

Apr72020 by Barry HartglassNo Comments

Rich Coffey’s “Nature Suite” – Getting Back in Touch with the Natural World

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Story by Wesley Orser, one of Barry's former Hofstra students who sat in on a mix session for Rich Coffey. In the midst of widespread lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, many residents left isolated in their homes have been reminded why long walks and fresh air are so important to one’s mental health. It was a complete coincidence that I was asked by Barry to write about one of his recording clients, Rich Coffey, and his ongoing “Nature Suite” project right as these nationwide lockdowns started to take effect. Still, unexpected circumstances nevertheless informed the importance of what Coffey is trying to communicate through his music. Coffey’s “Nature Suite” invites listeners to develop a further appreciation of nature by evoking its tranquil effect and beauty through music. Featuring a…

Sep302019 by Barry HartglassNo Comments

Staying Organized 2: Advice for a Music Producer

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I recently shared a blog post about getting organized as a creative professional. In this post, I’ll go more in-depth about how I organize projects as a music producer. Half, if not more, of the job is just making sure everything’s prepped and ready to run smoothly. A producer’s expertise is often in forecasting problems that might arise—gaps in communication, flaky collaborators, changes in creative direction—and making a plan airtight enough to support productive improvisation. Determining a scope of work It’s tempting to just start working and see where things go, but most projects are easier when both the music producer and artist understand the scope of work. In the case of entire EPs and albums, this means deciding which songs to use, often sifting through years of ideas that…

Jul292019 by Barry Hartglass1 Comment

Staying Organized: Advice for Self-employed Creatives

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In my last blog post, my recent intern Jacob wrote, “Barry is the most organized person I have ever met in my life. He has every minute of his day on a schedule and he follows it strictly.” Every minute might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s true that I work hard on having an efficient schedule. Everything in music production and having a home studio requires organization and self-discipline; I am constantly juggling clients and am often the main point of contact between them and the other professionals working on their products. If you’re self-employed, you know you don’t have much of a choice but to get organized. Keeping Track of a Self-Employed Schedule My Apple calendar is probably what Jacob noticed first. I wouldn’t have any idea…

Jul152019 by Barry HartglassNo Comments

A Q&A with Intern Jake Santiago

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My interns continue to make me proud; Jake Santiago sent in these thoughtful insights about his time at the studio. Hopefully mentors and mentees reading along can learn from each other's experiences. Having interns always reminds me of the importance of being organized, and of students following their inquisition to improve their careers. Questions by former intern & assistant Brianna Caleri. Why did you choose to pursue this internship? I chose to pursue an internship with Barry because of recommendation from one of his other students. We go to the same University and he did his internship with Barry and said he might be able to help me set it up. I am very grateful to Barry for taking me in. Music has been a part of me since the…

Jun232019 by Barry HartglassNo Comments

A Performance of “Doomed Paladin” by Composition Student Andres Virola

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High schooler Andres Virola has been taking private lessons with me for the past three years, and he’s come a long way. His school orchestra recently performed a piece that he composed electronically, adapted for strings, trumpet, piano and percussion, “Doomed Paladin.” https://youtu.be/8F-1JnTZ210?t=255 In his spoken introduction, Andres explains that the programmatic piece details a knight’s final fight with vigor and pride, rather than defeat. We can hear a careful balance in the piece between the groups, which often shift in and out of the foreground, and alternate between giving each other space in a patchwork texture, and working homogeneously for the piece’s most triumphant moments. Ascending motifs in the higher strings create an atmosphere of anticipation and determination, while the lower strings play a more mysterious melody. Seizing the…