Archive for the ‘ Opinion ’ Category

The Power of Less

This quote comes up often in a discussion with a good friend of mine, and I am remiss to not remember the power of its truth.

“What you need are fewer possibilities that are more interesting…It’s not more options you want; it’s more useful options…

Brian Eno, Imaginary Landscapes

Recently while on a short trip, I took my travel rig (consisting of a Macbook, some cheap external speakers, Reason 4, a Korg nanokey, and a few refills). I had a few hours to myself in my hotel room so I decided to putz about and work on a new piece. Because I had a limited set of tools on hand, when I “heard” in my head what was needed for the piece, I couldn’t launch into this mad search for a “close” preset from one of the thousands in my library and flit about to god knows how many VSTs and VIs. Nor could I delve into the vagaries of some little used plugin in both the hope of and search for “the answer”. I had to work with and focus on a limited palette (relative to the home studio space).

What I distinctly remember is being forced to “stop and think” about what the hell I was trying to do. The experience was very revealing: Over time (and unconsciously) the way I work has been influenced by the proliferation of my studio options and the contraction of available time. The result is that I no longer take the time to really understand most of my tools. Don’t get me wrong: I’m quite proficient with the operational aspects of most of the tools I own. I have a grasp of how to use them, how to navigate them, how to modify them to accomplish a given task; but that is not the same as having a deep understanding of them or being proficient in their use. (Proficient: [adj] skilled, skillful, expert, experienced, accomplished, competent, masterly, adept, adroit, deft, dexterous, able, professional, consummate, complete, master)

Lack of time and the proliferation of choices works against developing this sort of deep understanding and for me has fostered a “grazing mentality” wherein I search presets or soundfiles for something close to what I want (which is fine), but then I often fail to take it the next step and begin really working what I find into something unique. Instead, I move on because maybe I’ll find something “even closer” to use as a starting point. Problem is, I run out of time so the end result is that I have simply “grazed” and the piece is left with far too many IGB2I placeholders (I‘ll Get Back 2 It).

Grazing has perhaps become an end onto itself…

View entire post…

VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Please Rate This...
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Quick Props: Documentaries on Brian Eno

Picture of Brian Eno

There are two documentaries on Brian Eno that I am aware of and both are outstanding. One is from 1989 and is called Imaginary Landscapes. This is a fantastic look at Eno of nearly 20 years ago. As far as I know, it’s out of print (though a quick search will yield much info). The shots of him in his 1989 workspace alone are worth it, particularly when contrasted with contemporary scenes of his workspace from a very recent BBC4 documentary on Eno entitled Another Green World. (Hint: Everybody is moving “into the box” these days.) For different reasons, the latter documentary is not available for viewing “across the pond” in the US, but info can be found here. Both of these documentaries make for fascinating and highly recommended viewing.

Below is the VHS sleeve for Imaginary Landscape. I can’t figure out why they have not re-released this on DVD…

VHS Jacket front cover photo

Front Cover

VHS Rear Cover photo

Rear Cover

View entire post…

VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Please Rate This...
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

I am beginning to think Diego Stucco may be brilliant….

Diego Stucco is a sound designer and composer, who creates new sound experiences in unusual ways…to say the least. The latest really cool “created instrument” is below.

embedded by Embedded Video

I first learned about Diego from a video by Spectrasonics released during the Omnisphere unveiling. Diego is the crazy guy who created an Omnisphere instrument based on samples taken of a burning piano. The video below is a melange of images taken from that effort I believe with a soundtrack provided by the resultant set of samples.

embedded by Embedded Video

A bit more informative is this video from 2 years ago where Diego and Eric Persing talk a bit about the sampling techniques used in developing Omnisphere.

embedded by Embedded Video

Click to continue reading
View entire post…

VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Please Rate This...
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

MICK KARN APPEAL

(The following is from Mick Karn’s Website.)

mickkarn02“With great sadness we regret to inform you that Mick has recently been diagnosed with advanced stages of cancer. Mick is currently in a positive mood and undergoing further tests and treatment. His family and friends are close with him, supporting him in practical ways, and surrounding him with their love, friendship and care.

Mick has been struggling financially for some considerable time now and we are hoping that this appeal may help to raise funds for any necessary treatment and perhaps go some way towards providing a small degree of financial support whilst Mick’s immediate family provide the care and comfort we would all wish for him. We are hoping that his friends, fans and musical colleagues will, over the coming months, offer any support they feel capable of giving. Quite aside from the sheer brunt of daunting medically-related costs, Mick’s clear and major concern is for the security and well being of his wife and young son.

If you would like to make a donation whether as an individual or as a group, you can do so via the paypal link below which has been set up for this sole and express purpose. Any support you are able to give, no matter how small, could make a difference in helping Mick cope during this difficult period. His friends will be looking at a variety of ways to raise funds.

If you would simply like to leave your kind messages of support for Mick, please do so, here: Messages

We will keep you all updated as often as we can.

Please do note that news is released with Mick’s full approval.

Posted: 3rd June 2010″

I wish Mick and his family the best. Please contribute whatever you can.

View entire post…

VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Please Rate This...
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Putting food on the table and keeping the lights on…

Hi everyone,
I have a question that has been bugging me for years now:
How do some artists support themselves?
Specifically, there are some artists that I listen to quite heavily who put out CDs and MP3s on a regular to semi-regular basis but to my knowledge don’t really tour, have not licensed their tracks for commercials or movies, don’t seem to offer schwag on their sites for purchase, etc. So how do these folks support themselves? Surely it’s not from CD sales, or is it? I’m referring to artists like:
Boards of Canada
Helios
Kiln
Loscil
Marconi Union
Jumpel
Near the Parenthesis
Biosphere
Johann Johannsson
Julien Neto
Brian McBride
SND
Olafur Arnalds
Do they have day jobs? Teach music? Survive on arts grants? All of the above? I NEVER see anyone discuss this in magazine interviews for instance. I’d really appreciate it if an interviewer would ask the straight up question:
“So, [fill in the name], it’s been three years since your last CD release. What have you been doing to put food on the table and keep the electricity on since then?”
I posted this same question on my blog and in a couple of other forums. I’m hoping to gather good responses and eventually post them to my blog and share them with people. Anyway, if somebody has some insight, please share. Thanks in advance.
(My blog is http://www.nk-e.com. You can get a better though not complete picture of what I listen to hear: http://www.last.fm/user/gnapier3)
Ok. Really. What's the secret?

Ok. Really. What's the secret?

How do artists support themselves??

I’d really appreciate it if an interviewer would ask the straight up question:

“So, [fill in the name], it’s been three years since your last CD release. What have you been doing to put food on the table and keep the lights on?”

Specifically, there are some artists that I listen to quite heavily who put out CDs and MP3s on a regular to semi-regular basis but to my knowledge don’t really tour, have not licensed their tracks for commercials or movies, don’t seem to offer schwag on their sites for purchase, etc. So how do these folks support themselves? Surely it’s not from CD sales, or is it? I’m referring to artists like:

  • Boards of Canada
  • Helios
  • Kiln
  • Loscil
  • Marconi Union
  • Jumpel
  • Near the Parenthesis
  • Biosphere
  • Johann Johannsson
  • Julien Neto
  • Brian McBride
  • SND
  • Olafur Arnalds

Do they have day jobs? Teach music? Survive on arts grants? All of the above? I NEVER see anyone discuss this in interviews.

I posted this same question in a couple of online forums that I frequent. I’m hoping to gather good responses and eventually post and share them here. Anyway, if somebody has some insight, please comment.

Thanks in advance.

View entire post…

VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Please Rate This...
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Cubase 5.1

cubase5po2

I’ve recently bought and started to use Cubase.

Some folks are going to think I am nuts…and they might be right.

After all, (1) Cubase traces its lineage back to 1989 so is pretty “old school” as far as sequencers go…it is one of the apps that helped to establish many of the approaches that define the “traditional” sequencer. (2) I complain constantly about lack of time and information overload and how each reinforce and worsen the other. (3) I also have and use LOGIC9 so why would I want something else?

Well…

  1. CUBASE5 is definitely old school in many ways. When I first opened up the fully functional 30-day trial version, I thought “uh-oh”. I had not opened and closed so many windows since DP5 or LOGIC7. There is a plethora of windows and not a unified interface in sight. But I quickly got used to it, and I was able to set up my screen layouts EXACTLY as I liked. Nothing I couldn’t do in LOGIC of course, but my point is that it wasn’t such a burden.
  2. After futzing with the demo a bit, I decided to take a chance and nab a CUBASE5 tutorial from MacProVideo on sale. This was definitely the right move as a) the tutorial was a good basic overview, b) I was able to go through it in a couple of days, and c) I learned about the program the “right way” from the get go (i.e., good project management practices, keyboard shortcuts, etc.). This helped to make me efficient and capable with the program from the start. I should emphasize that CUBASE is fairly accessible without going this route particulalrly if you have any history with sequencers. The manual is also very clearly written and available online from within the program.
  3. Well, it’s about comfort level and productivity. I feel more comfortable with Cubase than with LOGIC (and this after much use of LOGIC over the last year and many, many, many tutorials). And if you are more comfortable with something, you tend to do better with it. CUBASE also has this wonderful VST Expression feature with which I produced my best key-switched celli performances to date in just a few hours. (Note that I said “my best” and not necessarily “good”.)

Does this mean CUBASE5 is perfect? No. There are times I still miss a unified interface, and the program is not nearly as efficient as LOGIC when it comes to VSTs and using multiple cores efficiently (one of my original complaints about DP). And it does not have FlexAudio. But it is very capable, easy to get to grips with, and there is always hope that CUBASE6 will get to better grips with multi-processor management.

More on specific features, experiences, and results soon.

Click to continue reading
View entire post…

VN:F [1.9.3_1094]
Please Rate This...
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)