Image by Patricksmercy via Flickr

Recently, I started working on two new recording projects that will go on through the winter.

The first is a soundtrack for a film. I can’t divulge too much beyond that, but it is proving to be very inspirational in a different context for me. Composition of sound and scoring film themes for characters and story elements. I find that I can work through an idea for a simple melody based around how I perceive a given character, and expand it to interact with other character themes, sometimes pushing for a harmony that matches the two.

I’m also working on another set of recordings for an online album of electronic music. No set rules around multitracking individual notes this time. No rules around use of samples or sequences. No rules.

I upgraded my Soundcloud channel to allow for several hours of music online and no restrictions on the number of tracks. I also have access to more data around visits which is interesting. Finland, Korea and Japan account for over 15% of my listens! Now that isn’t something I would have been able to achieve without online distribution!

The Kurzweils are getting a good workout in both projects, as well as the Korg MS2000R. Added several iPad synthesizer apps to the mix. I’m also very excited about using the XILS-Lab stuff more extensively on these projects. Also looking forward to involving Universal Audio external DSP processing for compression and EQ and tape saturation. In my first experiments with the tools, the results have been sharp and delicious to the ear. So much so that I have taken up the task of re-mastering Rain from my last release, Monotude. I was never as happy with its low frequency and volume outputs, necessary tradeoffs in previous mixing scenarios. These plugs do better!

In other news, HotNaut has morphed into a bigger discovery tool than just a news display. That’s been exciting as well, but other paying projects have forced it to take a back seat for the fall. I have a few talented hands on board to help and will spend more dedicated time on it through early winter.

Alas, no Palm Springs this winter! Too busy. But I may slip away for a weekend of DR or Miami sun. If I can.

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Ganesh is the Hindu god (lord) of success. As in, earthly tangible success. But also, hospitality. As in sharing the wealth.

Ganesh is also a symbol. That everything can be well in the world. In order to have famine and suffering, the opposite has to exist. And that, while not something to live for, success can be attained without spiritual ruination.

As a symbol of success, it isn’t by accident than an elephant has been combined with human characteristics. Elephants are seen to be compassionate and wise in cultures where Hinduism has flourished through the centuries.

I happened across this statue in a window and grabbed a quick photo. Saturated with all the worldly colors of delight that Ganesh brings.

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Since I don’t believe for a minute he would leave the company he created as a vehicle to change the world, it’s easy to conclude that he is leaving because he is closer to death than he would say publicly. How’s that for keeping plans secret?

I don’t care too much about succession and company plans. But I do care about and have interest in what Apple has meant for me.

I came to the Mac because of a job. In 1987. After working through and hacking Commodores and VAX and DOS, to me it seemed a toy. I hated the slowness of it. The job also involved backing up an Apple IIe. I hated that machine too. And then, I did my first layout in Pagemaker on a black and white 8″ Mac screen and printed to 1200 DPI. Mind blowing. A Laserwriter came soon, and before I knew it, I was in business for myself – on the side – doing layout. Intro to pre-press and production. Suddenly networking came into the picture, content management, and then…the Internet. All done through Macs. DOS, then Windows, when needed. A Newton, bad software choices and an oath to leave it behind as punishment.

Then Jobs came back. I resisted until the iPod lured me in. It worked better than all the alternatives. I know, I tried them. And I’m picky about music. Then the iPhone 3G. And it all made sense again. Suddenly, Apple was the absolute best in laptop hardware – I know, I looked – and music players and phones. I standardized on iTunes and its ecosystem of categorization tools. I moved to Logic. An iPad came home to get me off my ass and read whenever, wherever, while flipping into synth mode when creativity struck.

And I didn’t have to waste time learning useless info about formats, and drive speeds and networking protocols, and deliberately arcane command lines. All of that was behind me. I could focus on the important stuff again. Meaning. And so I did.

Thanks Steve. This was the note I wrote several times because I enjoyed all the stuff you made and it did change the world. I just never sent it. I don’t believe in an afterlife or a beforelife, but I do believe in a meaningful life. And yours was.

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Waning colors of summer and the onset of fall on Lake Monona, the lake where Otis Redding died. Yes, there is a dock. No tide that I can see.

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I like tomatoes as much as anyone. So I bought a few plants for the season. The guy next door planted over 50. At some point, I became the principal watering partner since he didn’t have time. Now I have tomatoes everywhere. On my counters, on my deck, feeding the rabbits and the birds. Everyone is enjoying a taste of summer. This is a quick shot of one afternoon’s casual harvest. An ear of corn snuck in for a cameo – also from the garden. I’m going to have to remember all this sunshine in a few months when it isn’t there.

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Sometimes it’s good just to revel in the visual pleasure of food. Simple plate of local Wisconsin cheeses and charcuterie, honey and local black raspberries. Well balanced selection.

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Image via Wikipedia

The Kurzweil 2000 VP kicked off much of the inspiration for Monotude, my first new album of recordings in 20 years. It fell into my hands, literally, at the start of the new millenium, and gestated for a while in my storage units before finally pushing itself forward and making demands for my attention.

Having been introduced to the use of analog oscillators in the mid-70s with my first, a Roland SH-1000, and having also owned the Yamaha pre-cursor to the DX-7, a CE-20, I have seen first hand and familiarized myself with the advances in synthesis technology over the years. From analog, through digital control and sampled wave forms, (including the Fairlight CMI which was put to use on one of my Future MC’s rap records in 1984), to additive and hybrid techniques. All have their unique traits and admirable characteristics.

However, the Kurzweil gave me micro-control over so many disparate elements such as tuning, frequency and combinant forms. It wasn’t like the synths I had worked with previously, and went far beyond the limitations of Yamaha’s frequency mod approach. It was nice to see that a single synth could accomplish what I used to have to string together through layers of tracks then through use of MIDI as it came about.

Of course, all of this happened when I stepped away from electronic music in the 90s to concentrate on other forms of technology. So it was really refreshing to open up the box, and be wonderfully overwhelmed at just how far music technology had advanced.

Some of the sounds you will hear on Monotude are standard Kurzweil sounds. Only minor adjustments were needed to take advantage of its wonderful piano and string constructions. Others were built off existing presets as start points that twisted and turned into completely unrecognizable step-children. Overall, the Kurzweil blended rather harmoniously with whatever I threw at it, including software virtual synths. It became my main MIDI controller as well for some rack mount modules that weren’t nearly as much fun to program. My great wish at the end of the project is that I had an additional unit with full range and weighted keys. Perhaps next time around.

Monotude is the first track from a new album of electronic music I will release summer of 2011. It draws inspiration from the space in between public and private, between the ears and the headphones, and from both digital and analog synthesis techniques. You can find it on my SoundCloud channel here:  colemanjolley/monotude

The recording process has been interesting, this time around. Over the past 15 years, since my last studio recordings to 24 track tape, I have experimented with all the popular digital audio workstations (DAWs), including Pro Tools, MOTU Digital Performer, Sonar Cakewalk, Emagic/Apple’s Logic and Cubase, eventually settling on Logic Pro as my preferred tool. I’ve traveled back and forth between PC and Mac, eventually selecting the Mac as my preferred platform. Thanks ASIO driver mediocrity!

What I struggled with wasn’t the plethora of choices, though it sure is nice to have a gluttonous amount of available tracks if you want them. Instead, I found myself missing the approach of recording to tape, treating it as an instrument adjunct to the music. Yes, performance is required and one can’t *as easily* go back and fix a bum note on tape (does anybody remember punch-ins?), but more importantly, the feeling of a tape reel running along with you, pacing and contributing as an unseen member. I miss the layering.

After looking into acquiring a 16 track machine to record this new album, the daunting cost of signal processing gear and spending more time with Logic, I decided that what was missing was the approach or attitude of tape. A Monotude, so to speak. So I applied that here, and to all the recordings that will comprise the album.

There will be more to come for this album of music, much of it experimental in nature and not particularly melodic. But I did feel this first track set the tone and explained a lot of what I was inspired by, to the point and without unnecessary embelishment.

Latest tracks by colemanjolley

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