The Music Production Club's Monthly Music Mission is a challenge to make a new song every month.
Each month we get materials, prompts, exercises, etc. to help jumpstart a new song.
Imagine finishing one song per month. That's 12 per year, a full album's worth!
A new album every year is a worthy goal for any artist!
Join the Music Production Club to participate: https://brianfunk.com/mpc

MPC Monthly Music Mission

Songwriting, lyrics, photography/art by Evan McDoniels.  This became an ammalgamation of two prompts, one from my Music Production Club with Brian Funk and one from my Song a Week group lead by James Redding. Felt really fun and inspired to explore this one, if you were to guess which instrument is the majority of the tracks what would you guess?

Jump the shark
Pant and bark
Little trembling warblers 
Go straight to my heart

Meadowlark
Orange monarch
Little bubbling waters
Stream straight to my heart

National park
Disembark
Fiddle fronding ferns
Tickle right in the heart

It’s pitch-dark
For a frog march
Puddle- bending ripples
Vibrate deep in my heart


Oh well, so long
We’ll have our swan song
Oh well, so long
Wouldn’t have it any other way

All the waves are rolling over me
All the states are changing like leaves
All our minds flowing, this symphony
The ways we’re growing into whimsy

Jump The Shark

It wasn't a dream

It Wasn't A Dream

Small dog encounters a whale while running along the beach. Here they communicate to each other. Enjoy!!

November MPC Troubadeck Challenge

Dog Meets Whale

This track was made for Brian Funk's Music Production Club Monthly Music Mission in October 2024.  I used sounds from a preset pack that Brian curated using samples of his dog, Vera.  I also used the chord progression off the 7 of Hearts "Perseverance" card from Charlie McCarron's Troubadeck.

This track is dedicated to Brian’s dog Vera, my dog Charlie,  and all our dogs who are no longer with us but will always be in our hearts!

Best Friends Forever

I wake up really early, and the idea here was to try and soundtrack what my am's feel like. Got close!

Improv jammed a bunch of loops and samples collected over the past few of days along with 3 Ableton Move synths. Added an arp from an op1f, all fed thru and into the sp404 mkii. Resampled a couple times, and here is the result!  
*********** 
©alpha juno llc + jd torian
swu22_04

Point West _pass 1

lofi hiphop + synthwave demo
©2024 alpha juno llc + jd torian
20241113

hiro_demo

My November 2024 MPC song/beat challenge. Theme: Remember When.... Disco Was King

See You On The Other Side

Remember When Disco Was King

Tell Me the Answer was written during the October Monthly Music Mission for the Music Production Club: https://brianfunk.com/mpc
Using the Troubadeck cards from Charlie MacCarron to generate chords: https://troubadeck.com
Here's a full breakdown of the creative process: https://youtu.be/RILXatjqFR0

It's dedicated to my late dog, Vera. 

"Tell Me the Answer"
They say one day we'll see each other again
But can you show me a sign
I don't know if I can go for another day
I need peace of mind

Tell me the answer
Tell me the answer
Tell me the answer
Don't leave me behind

I try to carry on and move on with my life
But I've had a problem ignoring it
If you could throw me some kind of sign
I might know where I'm going next

Everywhere I go and everything I do
Barely hanging on and holding out

Tell me the answer
Tell me the answer
Tell me the answer
Tell me the answer
Don't leave me behind

Tell me the answer
Tell me the answer
Tell me the answer
Tell me the answer
Don't leave me behind

Don't leave me behind

Tell Me The Answer

This song was made for Brian Funk's Music Production Club Monthly Music Mission in November, 2024.

Remember When...

Walk with me out of hiding.

Gray and green visions, heavy with worn out feelings,
Such a long time living in alternate realities.
Broken mirrors, shot-through glass, sounds so fierce and piercing, 
Shake the foundations, the anchors are gone, all gone. 

Under radiant skies, dawning over and over, 
Aching, restless nights, sinking lower and lower. 

Let’s do what we want, do it afraid,
Break ourselves open trying. 
The older we get, finding our way,
Walk with me out of hiding. 

Your mind is a crystal prison—delicate, sharp, and revealing,
Such a long time betting on finding inner solitude.
All of the voices calling you out crack the walls and ceilings, 
Shadows collapsing, the boundaries are gone, all gone. 

Rainfall, blistering sun, moon phase waxing and waning, 
See how far you have come,
Finally, something is changing. 

Let’s do what we want, do it afraid,
Break ourselves open trying. 
The older we get, finding our way,
Walk with me out of hiding. 

Let’s do what we want, who cares what they say,
Break ourselves open trying, 
The older we get, becoming more brave, 
Walk with me out of hiding. 

Hiding

Passion

Composition, Production, Mixing & Mastering by Hunter Wiley
Composition & Vocals by Nicolette Tura

Reclamation - Hunter Wiley x Pacho Nico

Please don’t let the truth in,
I’m too tired to hear it, 
It’s not that I don’t know it,
Sitting under a halo of lies. 

It’s not my profession, 
No I don’t even have one, 
Because I never grew up, 
My expertise is being alive. 

So many things are just a matter of opinion, 
And honesty could lead to feelings of rejection,
Let’s move the conversation in a good direction, 
Partial omission’s not the same as deception.

Don’t ask me how I feel, don’t ask me what I’m thinking,
Who even knows what’s real, who says it without winking?
I’m panting up the stairs, I’m sleeping six feet under, 
Sweat creeping through my hair, caught halfway through a blunder.

Where are the multiples of me?
How do they speak, how do they breathe?
Inside some galaxy of just a bit more courage,
Do they express themselves completely, do they flourish?

Please don’t let the truth in, 
I’m to scared to hear it, 
It’s not that I can’t see it, 
My vision is mostly fine. 

I guess I have conditions, 
The way I hold you to them,
It’s not fair, it’s misleading, 
I’m just worried you’ll leave me behind.

Please Don't Let the Truth In

Lonely Frog

Vorfreude

“keep hearing that voice” loops like a phrase you can’t forget—seductive, spectral, and strangely familiar.
Gritty synth textures meet warm, breathy vocals in a tight two-minute montage of late-night spiraling.


Keep Hearing That Voice

Here's a track made with my Telephone Voice Free Ableton Live Pack: https://brianfunk.com/blog/telephone-voice

They Will Never Know How You Feel

This is my submission to Brian Funk's Music Production Club for the month of April.  The theme was to use sudden changes in the track.  Brian gave us his Magic Kalimba Ableton Live Pack to use.  I automated the Magic Kalimba selection knob and put an arpeggiator on it to create sudden changes in the soundscape.  I also added a few pads and recorded a lead guitar melody near the end.  Thank you for listening!

Lost in Space

Goals for this music mission:

1 - Use an infrequently used resource
2 - Use a spring reverb impulse
3 - Use guitar chord sample

I used the Arturia MiniFreak, a synth I rarely use and wanted to get to know better, for all the synth sounds. I used the spring as a send for my general mix reverb. Gave it a touch of swing to get a groove.

MPC Monthly Music Mission - May

Red Rock Rompin' 145-gm [v2-extended]

Musician, Producer, and Educator from New York. 
Host of the Music Production Podcast. 
Author of 5-Minute Music Producer. 
Berklee Online teacher. 
Ableton Certified Trainer.