Custom-embroidered logo shirts and apparel by Queensboro

Jul 7, 2011

Designing for Jews Worldwide

And now for my first non-music related post. I'm so excited! Can't you tell?

Okay, so a duck walks into a drug store and says "Gimme some ChapStick! And put in on my bill!"

Sorry about that.

Right, designing for Jews worldwide... I am one of the lucky few who has the opportunity to create designs on my computer at work for chinuch purposes. There's a lot more to it then you think. You might think that I can just create a cartoon of a boy and slap a kippah on him and BAM! He's Kosher. Not so fast my friend, we are dealing with some serious issues here. Your design is completely dependent on what sect of Judaism it's for.

Here's the list:
(C)Hassidim - Long Peyos for kids. Long Coats and Fur Hats for men. Also, you need to have Yiddish.
Sefardi (Israeli's) - Sefard verses for any "Brachot". That's right you need to use the tuf instead of the suf as well.
Ashkenaz - Ashkenaz verses for any "Brachos".
Modern Orthodox - Standard designs with colors
Charedi - Black and white, no mixing boys and girls

The list actually goes on further, but I don't want to bore you with the details. Designing for Jews of all affiliations requires patience and most importantly, it requires many many versions.

For those of you think that there should be no change in details, no matter who you give the design to, your insane!

Welcome to the world.
I'm not just talking about the Jewish world.
I'm talking about this crazy political society we live in.

Mainstream designers will design specifically for ethnicities or religions all the time. You will find in posters with Spanish text, that the majority of the people in it are, can you guess? Hispanic. Everyone has to gear to their target audience, I'm just lucky enough to do it for my own people :).

Believe it or not, I'm not complaining, I actually do enjoy what I do a lot. Here's a sample of my work. And no, I did not create many versions of this. (Click to Enlarge).


A Change of Pace



No longer will this blog be about music. It's going to be about everything and anything. Sure, there will be a lot of focus on music, because it's a major part of my life, but it will not be the only thing to write about. Frankly, Jewish music doesn't come out frequently enough, good Jewish music that is, for there to be enough to write about that everyone else hasn't covered yet. If you have some ideas for some topics to discuss, feel free to post it in the comments section.

Jun 29, 2011

One Day Cover

Yehuda Tenenbaum, a bochur from Baltimore and a former AJewishStar Season 2 contestant has put out a nice cover of Matisyahu's "One Day". Check out the video below to hear it.
Also, you can download the mp3 here - http://www.box.net/shared/juqe5e6id6agbk4ydkh6

Jan 28, 2011

An Aryeh Kunstler Cover (Daniel Goldstein)

Here's a cover of B'sheim Hashem, a track from Aryeh Kunstler's latest album.

Additional lyrics by Daniel Goldstein and G-d.

Follow Daniel on Facebook at Daniel Goldstein Music

Dec 29, 2010

A Jewish Star Entry



Remember this composition? Music by Hillel Kapnick

Dec 20, 2010

How To AutoTune in GarageBand


Everyone hates Autotune and everyone loves it. It makes you sound like a robot who can sing really well. Check out what I did with AutoTune...


People say it's cheap and enhances the voice so it should be banned. I say, do what you like, and here's how.

First of all. Get a Mac.

Secondly. Open GarageBand.

Create a new "Real Instrument" track.

Click on the track you recorded, and swing over to the right side of the screen where it says "Edit". Click on this tab.

Add the following effects:
Compressor - Vocal Compression Rap (setting)
Distortion - Bring the "Drive" setting to 4.5
Chorus - Bring the "intensity" to 2.0
Master Echo - 22%
Master Reverb - 38%

Swing over to the left side of the screen, double click on your recorded track which will open up a "track editor" panel below the recorded track.

Check off the Enhanced Tuning and crank it up to 100%

You know should have the same sound that I have in the track that I recorded above.

I want to hear your versions, so email me your auto-tuned songs at jmderech@gmail.com

Enjoy!

Nov 29, 2010

Two Chanukah Remixes from Acapella Groups


Here are two videos of secular music turned Jewish. One is The Maccabeats singing "Candlelight" which is a take off of "Dynamite". Two is Six 13 singing a compilation of songs for NCSY called "I Light It". Included in the medley is "Baby", "Heartless", "I Like it".

Note: The NCSY video does not only have men in it, if this offends you, don't watch it.


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