Day 41: Noise Conquers All

Find the melody within the noise.
Watch static long enough and you'll see a pattern.
Sort it out.

I think that was almost a haiku.

Day 40: Clocks

This track is probably a commentary on the lack of hours in the day.  Probably.

Day 39: Subject is Influenced by Daily Life

Some days we're all just trying to keep it together.


Lyrics:
Can't you see?
We all have to stand together.
Can't you see?
We can't be apart.
Can't you see?
We're all in this together.
Can't you see?
We are all one piece of the same part.

Don't let 'em hold you down,
Don't let 'em hold you down,
We've got to get away.
Don't let 'em hold you down.

Day 38: Nothing sounds quite like...

An 808!

Just a little experiment with 808 in ABA form.  Who says it's not possible to mix classical music training with modern music?

Day 37: Collaborate

Been working on today's post for several days.  It's a collaborative re-imagining of a piece by Zydis Qwap.

Here's a link to the original work.

Wanted to go into a more "abstract noise art" direction, but instead it's more "post-rock, experimental."

Hope you listen, hope you like, hope you follow Zydis Qwap on Soundcloud.

Day 36: A Comma

Just a break in the day's routine.  A comma in your day, then go back to rushing about like you were.

This track brought to you by Nucleus Soundlab.  Features the Ambient Drums refill and the VAST refill.

Also features my son saying "Box, box, box, box" although you'd never know it.

Ready to Defend his Kingdom.

Day 35: Everything Almost in it's Right Place... Almost

Sometimes I'll just make a little musical doodle and store it away in my underground cubby hole where I save musical doodles for a rainy day.  While going thru doodles last night I found this little gem.

Pretty sure it should be in some kind of film.  If you know someone who could use it, let me know.  In the meantime, add it to your iPod.  No charge for the download.

Day 34: Rush Rush Rush

Time is running short this week, but you just have to make time for some things.

 Today's music was a piece that started as an experiment with the Divisor rack extension by the Chronologists.  It ended up being a homage to Richard D. James.  It's quirky and kind of strange.  Hope you like.

Day 33: 3 is the Magic Hashtag

New sounds, new day.  The title says most of it.  Next time I'll record the screaming kids too.

Day 32: In the Still of the Nite

Something dark, different, and driving for a late night.  A "modern" classical work, featuring atonal harmony, and very dense chord clusters.
Not sure why, maybe it's the old subconscious working something out, maybe it's just a change from electronic music and "every day" routine.


Oh yeah, made it a month!  Hooray!  (Celebration begins playing in background)

Day 31: On Inauguration Day

This track isn't political or inspired by politics in any way, it just happens to be the one that got posted on Inauguration Day.

An experiment with glitch, stutter, reverse, whole tone scales, piano, and delay.

Lyrics:
What kind of pain do you know?
Why don't you show me?

Day 30: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Internet

Yesterday, I had today's post all planned out and basically finished. This morning while giving my son a bath I was struck by inspiration and threw out the original plan.  Here's the shortest piece I've posted yet, but it's definitely heartfelt.

Oct 2011 improv - by Assemble

This is how they do it in Philadelphia.

Day 29: Meanwhile, on another planet...

The idea was to create a suite of sounds that belonged to an alien race (the OSI) and then to create some of their music, ignoring most of the rules we have come to accept as the norm in our Western music theory dominated music culture.  I made the sounds, I made this track, and didn't get much further.  It was pretty tough to break out of the rules I no longer even think about or consider to be constraints.  I'm a willing participant in this beautiful prison of music theory.  Sigh...

I imagined there to be critters that were like insects in all manner of sizes along with some that were mammalian.  They could all make a range of sounds, what we would think of as singing.  They also made percussion instruments of different kinds.  Add it all together and you have the track below.

Day 28: It's Getting Dark in Here

Really getting tired... it's been a long day. Was able to squeak out this track though.  It's another gem from the $50 Hackintosh treasure chest.  Added a few guitars and mastered it on the "real" computer, but the bulk of the work was done on the Hackintosh. That Atom processor was really chugging along quite nicely. 
This blog continues to be something I look forward to every day.  May not have a lot of people reading it, but it's keeping me going when things get stressful.  Kind of a free therapy, I suppose.
Hope it offers you a small degree of pleasure as well.
Cheers.

Day 27: The Day My Son Rolled Over for the First Time

Henry, my youngest son rolled over for the first time today.  He's almost four months old.  Needless to say, his mother and I are quite proud.

This track has nothing to do with it, but it felt important to mention the occasion.  This was the first attempt at incorporating ReVolt Rack Extension into a track.  Not sure I really did anything with it in this case, but it was there, measuring digital "voltage".  Sugarbytes Slice Arranger gets an honorable mention for it's cool performance at the end of the track.  Oh yeah, I mangled the vocal part with Uhbik-G and a Pulsar.

Lyrics:
Why don't you grin and bare it?
You'll probably have to share it.
You'll probably have to wear it.
Why don't you grin and bare it?

Day 26: It Can Be Difficult

It's crazy how hard it can be to do something really easy sometimes.  Lots of futzing was required to get a track up today.

Some days it is a challenge.

Hope you enjoy all the same.  It's an oddball.

Day 25: Don't Stop Believing (In Ghosts)

Something a little different to keep it fresh.  (Mostly) un-processed vocals with (not real) guitar on a pad of ambient-ness.  Kind of a lullaby.  That's for you to decide.

Day 24: Today is the day

Not a post about a "Screamo" band, just the lyrics in the post for today.  I love it when an experiment turns into something original and enjoyable.  Was able to experiment with some subtle effects using control voltage (what CV stands for) and also come out with a halfway decent piece of music.

Lyrics: 

Today is the day you rise up,

Today is the day you release,

Today is the day you find peace,

Today is the day you give back.

Today is the day we come out,

Today is the day you show up,

Today is the day you let go,

Today is the day we move on.

Day 23: The Revolution Won't Be Televised

Something from an album from last year.  There's just not enough jungle/drum'n'bass that's in 3/4 time.  That's all I have to say about that.

Day 22: 60 Seconds to Detonation

I love some noise art on occasion.  Here's a brief little excursion into that world.  You can listen to it for 60 seconds, then brag to your friends how you were listening to avante-garde electronica on the interwebs the other day... and yes, you will sound just that pretentious.

Day 21: Can You Hear Me in the Back?

Early piece exploring Pulsar in all it's glory.  One of the first time's I used Kong as well, I believe.  If you like piano, distorted drums, repetition, oddly-tuned vocals, and squiggly sounds then this piece is for you.

Lyrics:
Can you hear me in the back?
Where are you?

Day 20: Pulsar

This track started with trying to find a refill released by the maker of Pulsar in which you could play the waves Pulsar uses to effect CV as an instrument.  There are several other ways to do this in Reason, but I wanted to try it that way, only because I never had.  I searched for "Pulsar" (which is apparently not in the name, or I don't have the refill) and got 16 different hits of all kinds.  Never found what I was looking for, but instead chose to make a track using all things called "Pulsar".

In all fairness, I did back up the lead instrument with a trumpet and added a crash cymbal for accents.  Otherwise... all things are called "Pulsar" or have it in the title.  I hope you enjoy.

Day 19: Sour Times

An earlier piece you probably haven't heard.  I'm still grumpy in the morning.

Day 18: Stumble Upon.... Action!

This catchy little number was another in my attempt to use every single sound in the Reason Factory settings. Unintentionally, I wrote what could be a new theme for the video game Street Fighter. I thought it would fit well on the Guile stage, if he's even in the game anymore.

Day 17: Something Something Something

Had this grand idea to try and use EVERY SINGLE Reason plug-in and sound.  I used a lot over the course of several pieces, but I like making my own sounds too much and had to eventually abandon it for greener pastures.  This was the first piece that came out of that.  Will post more in the near future.

Day 16: The Beauty of Reality

It's been too long since I've written anything for "real"instruments.  So much so, I had forgotten how pleasing the sounds were, even if they are simulated/sampled in this particular instance.

This will be revisited again.

I hope your listening experience is as enjoyable as my composing experience was.

Day 15: Go Forward to get to the Past

Glitch track using the glitch Redrum kit and the Glitch RE. They all seemed to work so well together. Probably just a coincidence.

Started on this way back in Reason 5. Put the finishing touches on it yesterday, but Soundcloud wouldn't let me post it.  Their magical track analyzer thought it contained (or was) some other song.  It's 100% original, I'm proud to say.  It was started on whilst sitting on the beach in South Carolina, USA.

Day 14: Annoying Website

I went thru a bunch of trouble to post a new track that no one had ever heard and Soundcloud thinks I'm infringing on someone else's copyright.  While that's settled (I'm not, the work is 100% original) here's something you probably haven't heard either.

Day 13: Say What You Think

The experimentation continues....

Electro exploration of the CV Suite Line Processor by Quadelectra. Was trying to create a combinator with it. Got about halfway there. Also used the Uhbik G granulizer and Uhbik-Q on the vocals. Got a nice reverse effect out of the G (one of the default patches).

If you know what any of that means, you're probably a Reason user.

Lyrics:
You know I'm really not your friend.
I don't like you.
I don't care what you say.
I don't care what you do.

You know I'm really not your friend.
I don't like you.
I don't care how you do it.
I don't care who it's to.
I'm not your friend.

Day 12: Totally Suite

Learning how to abuse sound via the CV Suite Line Processor by Quadelectra.  Other items of note include Glitch by Ochen K. and the RE-2A Leveling Amplifier by Cakewalk (owned by Roland).  Drums are from the RDK 2.0 Refill.
"Melody" and "harmony" components began with a default Malstrom patch.
Cheers.

Day 11: With a Little Help from my Friends

My first of what I'm sure will be many attempts at using the Propellerheads User Forum Free XMas Community Refill.  Style is chill noise electro.  Used patches by the following people:  Peff (Hexpressor - not Xmas refill), Dave909 (bass), NaviRetlav (Scream5), BetraX (Malstrom lead), King Eternal (Morph Organ), George Feb (Psy Kit).
Please Enjoy.

Patches were chosen randomly.