Ocean

~INTRODUCTION~

 My name is Nelson Rogers, My screen name is Ocean.

I have been a professional musician all of my life. Even before I was born. You see, my parents were both professional musicians and song writers. My mother pregnant with me was still playing on stage while I was kicking the backside of her guitar. My parents were traveling the music circuits, and my mother was signed to Columbia Records back in 1963. My mother passed away a few years ago but she lives on and you will find her life story at https://www.wandafaye.net/

My father although deceased, remains very well know worldwide. You might be surprised what you find by a quick google search of “Weldon Rogers”. BAM! first hit! Then you will understand how I became so musically inclined.

I am a song writer, recording artist, and play several instruments. I have been playing drums now for over 50 years therefore I don’t really have a need for beat maps or QM Vamp Plugins during my sequencing. In fact when I let xlights generate beats for me, I usually find myself spending time correcting them.

~My Mixes~ Some of my sequences have a custom mix. ie; Shakeup Christmas, Harry Potter, Play that Funky Music Santa, and more. Unfortunately there are a few uninformed people on facebook that seem to think My Harry Potter sequence was somehow plagiarized when nothing could be further from the truth. It’s akin to saying “Oh he has done Jingle Bells and another vendor has already done it”. or, OMG he used the color red when another vendor has already use the color red!”. All any of them had to do, was just ask me. instead of the gossip ASS-uming a false narritive. Don’t be fooled by the drama of uninformed people, Most of us all use the same music anyone can purchase from Amazon or itunes. Harry Potter is no different. If you are a Harry Potter fan like me, you can also create your own Harry Potter mix, visit this link: Movie Music.

You can also find other Harry Potter music links Here.

~THE BEATS~
Regardless how much coro one has plastered on their house, or how good they are creating effects, or how many pixels they have, it all boils down to the beats. All music sequences have beats, even a cappella groups such as Pentatonix.

~MY MUSIC~
Music is my passion, my love, my life.  You can purchase it via links below.
itunes |Amazon | Spotify

~SEQUENCING PRICING~
My sequences are never a rush job. just like my music I am very particular with every model and every beat I sequence. On a good day I generally average a minimum of 10 hrs of sequencing per minute of music. 4 min song= 40 hr work week. If you were only paying me $10 hr you would still need to pay me $400.00 for one sequence. It’s your job to keep the price down by promoting my sequences in exchange for discount codes.

~HOW I SEQUENCE~
First thing I do is turn off xlights auto save, personally I think it is dangerous. It will save every mistake you make! I prefer to save as I go, it only takes two seconds to click save. I also turn off render on save. I will decide when to save and when to render not xlights.

I import the music and listen to it. I  then I separate the various sections of the song. Intro, verses, bridge, chourse, ending ect…

Once I have the musical structure created I start with the lyrics and singing faces first. I slow down the audio to 1/2 speed so no vowel has no chance of escape. You may notice most vendors don’t include singing faces because you basically have to create a second sequence of the same song (twice the work). However because I sequence the faces first I know exactly where every single beat is which helps make the sequencing smoother.

Some people start with house outlines, not me. I try be unique, generally starting the HD models, mega-tree, Matrix, Grand Illusion ect… I call them placeholders, At this point I never know which effects will go into the place holders, but I know they are there and waiting for me.

Lately I have been sequencing the HD models outros or endings of a song first. Once I know how it is going to end, then I create the intro. The reason I do the HD props first is due to color. I never know what colors the sequence is going to use until all the images, videos, and shaders have been collected, created, compiled and rendered.

I accommodate the colors used in the images, videos and shaders. I tend to use many images, some I create in Photoshop or Gimp myself. I use Handbrake, Sony Vegas, Kdenlive, for videos. For audio I use, Ardour, Sound Forge, and Audacity. I also make music with my Yamaha Motif workstation in the studio.

It’s all about what you like. Some like Fords, some like Chevy’s, Personally I like Dodge because I need a truck that runs all the time. lol.

Holler at me on Facebook, email me any questions you might have. Thanks for reading this and most important, God Bless You

                                           -Ocean