The Thirteenth Hour Podcast

Originally aired on November 18, 2019. This week, I start work on a new ballad written from the perspective of Aurora from The Thirteenth Hour from this passage in the book where our young protagonists are starting to realize that there might be more to their relationship than just friendship. You can see the passage referred to on the original page of show notes here: https://13thhr.wordpress.com...

Originally aired on October 7, 2019. This week, I'm reading from a short excerpt from The Thirteenth Hour sent to a draft of a music track I just wrote to score this particular passage. It was done on the iOS app, Auxy , and was meant to be an ambient, introspective instrumental piece. Because skipping stones feature in the excerpt a few times, I tried to find synthesizer effects that sounded...

Originally aired on September 9, 2019. This week, I'm finishing a track I started several years ago.  When a sibling of one of my friends got engaged, I said I'd make a music track for them to commemorate the occasion.  And then ... well, fast forward a few years.  Still not done!  All excuses aside, today is the day.  I'm keeping my promise and finishing it.  It's made with Auxy ,...

Originally aired on September 2, 2019. This week, I'm adding to the track I started back in Episode 208.    I think it will eventually be used as accompaniment for flying sequence music videos or a video game with a flying pixelart Logan: https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/09/02/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-212-musical-interlude-chiptune-flying-track-2/ For now, though, I've made a little pi...

Originally aired on August 26, 2019. This week, I'm using the iOS app Auxy to work on a variation of the synth track I started back in Episode 208.    I think it will eventually be used as accompaniment for flying sequence music videos or a video game with a flying pixelart Logan: More at https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2019/08/26/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-211-musical-interlude-chiptune-flying-...

Originally aired on August 5, 2019. This week, we’re discussing Empty Hands behind the scenes, specifically the influence of Dungeons and Dragons and the character creation process.  Just like the D and D alignments, the eight Rangers in Empty Hands have their own specific alignment that informs which sidearm they are assigned.  (If the idea of D and D morality alignments are as mysterious to you...

Originally aired on July 8, 2019. This week, I finished "A Place of Our Own" and experiment with distilling it down to a few key notes to make a theme for Aurora, one of the main protagonists for The Thirteenth Hour books. Edit: "A Place of Our Own" is here https://joshuablum.bandcamp.com/track/a-place-of-our-own In other news, Empty Hands has an official launch date - 7/13/19!...

Originally aired July 1, 2019. This week, I'm working on the musical piece I started last week, "A Place of Our Own."  I'm just playing through it, working out the kinks, mistakes and all.  Typically, it takes many, many takes and a fair amount of practice to get a piece to a point where I can record it without mistakes (or, at least, minimal ones that I can adjust to or work aro...

Originally aired on June 24, 2019. Ideas for songs sometimes come at the most random times and places.  I think the idea for this little instrumental track came when I was cooking dinner or putting my kids to bed.  I remember humming a voice recording to myself since I didn't have time to work on it at the time and didn't want to forget it (my phone is full of similar such recordings; I us...

Originally aired on June 17, 2019. This week, I add the guitar, synth, and vocals to "And Now, We Are One," the last track on the last Empty Hands track, which is an ode to the ending themes of 80s action movies as well as the intros (and sometimes closings) of 80s Saturday morning / after school cartoon shows.  I don't really possess the Sammy Hagar / Freddy Mercury / Stan Bush type...

Originally aired on June 3, 2019. This week, I continue working on the last track on the last Empty Hands track, which is an ode to the ending themes of 80s action movies as well as the intros (and sometimes closings) of 80s Saturday morning / after school cartoon shows. Next week, stay tuned for episode 200! In the meantime, this page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a "starving art...

Originally released May 27, 2019. This week, instead of focusing on "Many Miles," which I'm still working on, I thought I'd do a little intro to the last Empty Hands track, which is an ode to the ending themes of 80s action movies as well as the intros (and sometimes closings) of 80s Saturday morning / after school cartoon shows.  In other words, its cheesy as hell, but in the ri...

Originally aired May 20, 2019. This week, I'm adding a synthesized accented track to the vocals and backing track of "Many Miles."  Inching closer towards completion! I'm also basically done the instrumental melody of   "Dragons' Eyes"  as a short (~2 min) fill for Empty Hands , which has a little scene referencing the song.  There's only one more track to be do...

Originally aired May 13, 2019. This week, I've finally come to the point of having a rough initial draft of "Many Miles" that I started a long time ago.  It will play at the end of the episode.  While still a work in progress, it's definitely farther along than last week.  It's been a tedious process indeed to get it to this point. I've also included the second part of wo...

Originally aired on May 6, 2019. This week, I'm continuing to work on the vocal part of a track called "Many Miles" that I started a long time ago ... I'm a little farther along than last week, but it's still slow going.  Here's the first part.  There's still some parts in the middle that don't quite sound right with the timing, so I'll keep working ... Howeve...

Originally aired on March 18, 2019. This week, I'm finally finishing the last music track to accompany The Thirteenth Hour novella, Empty Hands, an introspective instrumental piece called " Memories of a Better Time ."  I thought last week would be it, but after having listened to the outcome, thought there was still something missing, so this week, we're adding a short whistled...

Originally aired on March 11, 2019. This week, I'm finishing the last music track to accompany The Thirteenth Hour novella, Empty Hands, an introspective instrumental piece called "Memories of a Better Time."  It fits in with a piece of the novella where the main character,  Logan, is thinking back to his childhood friend, Aurora.  It also has some similarities to the track "Emp...

Originally aired March 4, 2019. This week, I'm working on the last music track to accompany The Thirteenth Hour novella, Empty Hands, an introspective instrumental piece called "Memories of a Better Time," which harkens to the love theme we made back in episode #120 .  It fits in with a piece of the novella where the main character,  Logan, is thinking back to his childhood friend, A...

Originally aired on February 25, 2019. This week, I'm working on the last music track to accompany The Thirteenth Hour novella, Empty Hands, an introspective instrumental piece called "Memories of a Better Time," which harkens to the love theme we made back in episode #120 .  It fits in with a piece of the novella where the main character,  Logan, is thinking back to his childhood fr...

Originally aired on December 17, 2018. Way back in episode 130 , I took one part of the main Thirteenth Hour theme and created a short electric guitar part to accompany an introspective part of the book, and two weeks ago, I took the first verse of the theme and made it a slow guitar part.  The last 2 weeks (eps 173 and 174 ), I slowed down the tempo and eliminated notes to get at what we have thi...

Originally aired on December 10, 2018. Way back in episode 130 , I took one part of the main Thirteenth Hour theme and created a short electric guitar part to accompany an introspective part of the book, and two weeks ago, I took the first verse of the theme and made it a slow guitar part.  Last week was a variation on those episodes where I took the same theme and reworked it on the piano to be e...

Originally aired on December 3, 2018. Way back in episode 130 , I took one part of the main Thirteenth Hour theme and created a short electric guitar part to accompany an introspective part of the book, and last week , I took the first verse of the theme and made it a slow guitar part.  This week is very similar, though I'm using a piano for the same effect.   You can see little clips on the s...

Originally aired August 8, 2016. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2016/08/08/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-52-storytime-reading-of-st-george-and-the-dragon/ This week, we're reading an illustrated adaptation of the first part of Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queen  - the tale of St. George and the Dragon.  The one we're reading from was illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman (check out a tribute and bi...

Originally aired on August 1, 2016. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-51-musical-interlude-piano-ballad/ For this week's episode, I've included snippets from upcoming Thirteenth Hour soundtrack tracks.  I recently wrote an untitled piano theme that I was thinking would become an introspective musical track on the soundtrack.  There's a preview of it in its infancy...

Originally aired on July 25, 2016. https://13thhr.wordpress.com/2016/07/25/the-thirteenth-hour-podcast-50-reading-of-robert-brownings-poem-childe-roland-to-the-dark-tower-came/ Last week, we read the Old English fairy tale, "Childe Roland."  This week, I'm reading aloud the Robert Browning poem, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" which was the inspiration for Stephen Ki...