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Posts about music by Kaleb Nation.
I do this when I can’t sleep. Don’t take my efforts too seriously 😛
I have been sick in bed for the past two days, and can’t do much of anything besides sleep and eat and Tweet. This is rather boring. So I managed to get my computer and play around with some music. This is the result. First song of 2010 I think? First song in a long time actually. 2010 is full of new beginnings.
You can download the song for free using the link below:
Hope you enjoy it.
HOW TO DOWNLOAD (You do NOT need Quicktime Pro)
1. Right-click the download link.
2. Click SAVE TARGET AS... (or SAVE FILE AS...).
3. Save the file to your desktop.
I wrote and recorded this song in 2009. You can download it for free at this link.
There are some new features to point on on my site, and a bunch of little updates that I’ve been meaning to post, but just didn’t seem to merit an entire blog to themselves! So without further ado:
– I added an entirely new Fans page, where I’ll be posting some of the awesome stuff that BranFans are making. Creative people are always sending in photos or pictures they drew, so I’ll be collecting and putting them on that page, along with all their cool fansites and videos and music,
– I now have an Official Facebook page, aptly located at www.Facebook.com/KalebNation. It is fan-run, but I will be dropping in at times to post updates,
– I have migrated the TwilightGuy.com Chatroom to jointly be a part of this site, so BranFans and TwilightGuy readers alike can hang out. I’ll be dropping in at random times and there are a ton of cool people there every day, so be sure to check it out,
– I uploaded a new song from the Bran Hambric soundtrack to YouTube, and you can also download it for free! Listen below:
Question time! Since there are only 85 days until Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse, I’ve been trying to think of cool stuff I should prepare as a countdown to the book release. I know that Stephenie Meyer always did some type of countdown where she would give quotes from the book a week or two leading up to the release. This would be a bit difficult for me to pull off since this is a first book, and nobody really knows who the characters are or what I’d be talking about. The only way anyone would understand it was if I forced them to read the preview chapters. FOR EXAMPLE:
“Oh terrible nights of woe and destruction, as I break down and blow up all forms of construction!” he screamed in delight.
If you had never read the book or preview chapters, you might think that Bran had said this under the guise of the pronoun ‘he’, and suddenly feel to your horror that the book you undoubtedly pre-ordered (because ALL GOOD CITIZENS have preordered Bran Hambric*) is actually about a fat brat who likes being brazenly destructive**. ANOTHER EXAMPLE:
“Blast the library,” Sewey said. “We’re going where we can be as loud as we want and not get thrown out!”
“Yay, the zoo!” Balder oinked.
“No,” Sewey snorted. “A bookstore.”
In this case, while the characters are obviously not Bran, you might come to the conclusion that Sewey and Balder are Bran’s pet pigs who happen to talk***, which he keeps in his bedroom closet. Or, to your utter disgust, you might assume that Sewey and Balder are two friends of Bran’s, and that the line afterward would be
“Yes! Let’s burn all the books while we’re at it, comrades!” Bran Hambric sneered, whilst throwing rocks at old ladies and bending over to punch a small rabbit.****
which isn’t at all the case, at least with the book I wrote.
I don’t even know how I got onto that tangent, but as some people have mentioned, there are some of you who would still like a quotes-countdown. You can at least be sure that I’ve got a bunch of plans together to make it lots of fun before the release date!
QUESTION FOR THE COMMENTS: What are some cool things and ideas you would like to see happen as part of the Bran Hambric countdown?
*Obvious attempt at brainwashing
** No offense to those of you who are like this: I happen to have a character for you in the book, whose name also begins with the letter ‘B’.
*** Unfortunately, there are no talking pigs in Bran Hambric.
**** This does not appear in Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse. I am not barring it as a possibility from the sequel, however.
I wrote this song back in January but for some reason, the original version didn’t seem to work. I knew there was a song in it, and I knew the song was for Astara, but for some reason, I just couldn’t get it to sound right. It took me a full four months of on-and-off rewriting the pieces, but I think the final song is worth all the time it took.
As it says in the video, Astara entered into the book as a recycled character from an older story I wrote when I was 12. She was one of those characters I couldn’t let go, so I put her in The Farfield Curse, and it was as if she had been meant for it all the time. For those who were hoping for just a little bit about Astara, here’s the very first part of the book where Bran meets her:
[spoiler effect=”slide” show=”Click here to show”]
[/spoiler]
You don’t really meet Astara in the preview chapters of the book, so it is probably cruel for me to say that she is one of my favorite characters when the majority of you will have to wait until September 9 (only 123 days as of now!) to find out who she even is 😀 . But hopefully her song will help reveal some clues about her.
Question For The Comments: What do you think of the new song?
Yesterday, I was cleaning up my computer and found an old song concept from months ago that I never finished. I had been having loads of trouble with a piano line in the song and had finally just given up. When I found it again, I realized the problem with the piano was that the piano just didn’t belong — I took it out, and suddenly the song came together.
A few hours of not-studying-psychology later, I might actually have another song to add to the Bran Hambric soundtrack (I promise I’ll release Astara soon, I’m almost done mastering it). If I decide it’s worth finishing, I’m thinking this new one will be for Shambles (he’s in the preview chapters if you’ve read them). Here’s a clip from the middle:
[audio:http://kalebnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/shambles-clip.mp3|rightbg=0x5b5ea4]For this one I’m going for a very emotional, brooding sound that’s different from the rest of the soundtrack: this overall feeling of a mentally alone and tortured creature who can’t escape the voices that haunt him from within.
Speaking of the soundtrack, I’ve noticed that there are quite a number of people who want a Bran Hambric soundtrack on CD. A day ago, I posted on Twitter that I was considering it, and within 5 minutes I was inundated with replies from all over the world wanting to get it somehow. (In the midst of showing a spoof of the CD art, I might have inadvertently leaked what we might be using as the Bran Hambric logo…see what unexpected insider information you get from following my Twitter?).
My original idea for the soundtrack was to give the songs away with the book somehow, but it appears that at least with the first edition of THE FARFIELD CURSE, there will be no CD attached. Sometimes, for books that sell particularly well, there will be deluxe editions with extra material, which is the most likely point when a CD would actually come with the book; but as of now, the only way I will be able to get CD’s to the people who want them is to sell it really cheap from a Print On Demand service (most likely LuLu.com). Nothing is set in stone, but my thoughts on this plan are:
– A CD of the soundtrack with 9-10 songs available from BranHambricMusic.com for really cheap ($8 or $9),
– Half of the soundtrack available for free download, as before with Youtube,
– A code inside THE FARFIELD CURSE book that unlocks bonus songs and downloads that aren’t on the soundtrack.
Since Twitter isn’t really a good place to see a show of hands on who likes the idea and who doesn’t, please do comment on this below. Your feedback on this will really be the deciding factor on if a Bran Hambric CD actually does come into being, because at the moment I’m indecisive.
By the way, I’m testing out a new and improved commenting system on my blog. Now, you can reply directly to others comments, and see my replies to you all in one place! Hopefully you all enjoy it 😀
NOTE: You can download this song for free. Click the link below the preview!
In the beginning of writing The Farfield Curse, I had a particularly hard time connecting with Bran. This, obviously, was not a good predicament, as the main character should usually be the one the author connects with the most.
I later realized that the reason for this was because I was suppressing who he really was, in favor of who I wanted him to be. When I came to this conclusion, all of a sudden Bran seemed to explode off the page in front of me with all these new facets to his character: one of these, which followed automatically, was his penchant for drawing. I discovered that Bran was actually more like me than any other character in the book – just as I connected with my writing, so also did Bran connect with his drawing. This small piece of Bran’s life, that has nothing to do with magic, is an enormous part of who he is.
In a way, this song seems to represent for me the wall in Bran’s room that is covered with drawings, and all the stories that are connected to each piece of paper.
TITLE: |
The Wall of Drawings | December 2008 |
| ALBUM: | Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse [Official Soundtrack] | |
| ARTIST: | Kaleb Nation | |
| STYLE: | Classical/Soundtrack | |
| LENGTH: | 2:39 | |
| [audio:http://kalebnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/5-bran-hambric-the-farfield-curse-the-wall-of-drawings.mp3|rightbg=0x5b5ea4] | ||
| CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FOR FREE |
||
As always, there are plenty more on my music page. Also, I have another song almost ready (the one I played a preview clip of in BlogTV last week) that might be in another video I’m working on. As usual, if you want preview chapters of the book, email me or check out BranHambric.com for more info.
Opinions in the comments are welcome!
NOTE: For two weeks, you can download this song for free. Click the link below the preview!
I always liked making songs that sounded somewhat mysterious, but as it happened most of music I’ve made so far has been slow and happy (besides the Prologue song on all the websites). On Saturday I had some free time, so I sat down with a specific part of The Farfield Curse in mind, and tried to set that part of the book to music — and surprisingly enough, the song came out all in a few hours.
In the beginning of The Farfield Curse, Bran is found locked in a vault with no memory of who he is. Years later, when he is 14, he is nearly kidnapped by someone who knows far too much about him, and he realizes there is something dark in his past he hasn’t yet discovered. Searching for the truth leads him to a bookstore, where he discovers something hidden amongst the very townspeople who try so hard to outlaw magic. This song represents the part in the book where Bran first begins to realize how big of a thing he is getting himself into: and how dark and sinister his past could be.
TITLE: |
The Box In The Bookstore | December 2008 |
| ALBUM: | Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse [Official Soundtrack] | |
| ARTIST: | Kaleb Nation | |
| STYLE: | Classical/Soundtrack | |
| LENGTH: | 2:33 | |
| [audio:http://kalebnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/6-bran-hambric-the-farfield-curse-the-box-in-the-bookstore.mp3|rightbg=0x5b5ea4] | ||
| CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FOR FREE (Until Dec. 14) |
||
If you like it there are plenty more on my music page (also, I have another one coming soon, so maybe subscribe in the sidebar or check back for that one). Also, check out the Bran Hambric music Myspace and as usual, if you want preview chapters, email me or check out BranHambric.com for more info on the book.
For the comments: What do you think of this song? Does it seem to portray what I was trying to show?
I know that most of you have not read The Farfield Curse in its entirety yet (as it’s not out until 2009), and even those who have read parts probably do not know well enough about the characters to actually care who Emry Hambric is. I won’t attempt to explain it because I’d really have to write the whole book out for it to be understood, but hopefully my new song will help you imagine the feeling at the end of the first book:
The ending is a mixture of hope and a little sadness, a happy ending but tinged a little, and in a way I feel this song echoes how the first book concludes.
If you like my music or my other songs, I have two that you can download for free on a hidden page at BranHambric.com. I’ll have more news on the book soundtrack closer to the release in late 2009.
There is some about Emry in the prologue of the book (and a song for the Prologue as well, on the Music page) so I can also email preview chapters of The Farfield Curse if you want to get a better feel of who she is. Email me and I’ll try to get previews out as quick as I can.
This song is a first draft so opinions are welcome!
[note: email subscribers must visit the site to hear audio]
[singlepic=68,150,100,,left] As usual, my new music track is quite different from all the other’s I’ve made so far, since I like experimenting. I made the theme for this track in 2007 but I never got around to working on it any more than a few days. Anyone who knows me probably know what this was made for, though even if you don’t you can either guess or ask me.
[audio:http://kalebnation.com/audio/theme-1.mp3]If you’ve already heard this at the other site, this version is different, longer, mixed better and doesn’t have all the thunder and lightning sounds. I also added in a type of bridge to a different but similar theme about 3 minutes in. I really liked the arpeggios (and I can honestly say that is the first time that word has been used on this site). Enjoy and please give opinions.