Harlot

I have three tracks from the local band Harlot to mix and produce. This has been slow work so far - distracted as I have been with other activities. No longer! Henceforth this is my main task. I will post up on my progress.

You can hear them on myspace.

I intend to produce something very much in character for the band. And then do something nasty.

This is all good practise for me. It allows me to focus on the mixing & 'mastering' - to develop my skills in that space using Logic.

What to do?

I have not been particularly creative of late. A combination of too much work and pondering a workable approach to making music.

I love the ease with which I can get ideas down in Live but I hate mixing down.

Moving stuff over to Logic is laborious. But Logic is a joy to mix in.

So what to do?

The thing about Live is that it is also part instrument - in the sense that you can 'play' it and 'create' new sound in it - in addition to capturing ideas. I do wonder if, on occasions or even all the time, 'printing' to an audio file in Live and then working on these files in Logic might be the best way forward.

I am a bit loath to work primarily with audio. No reason why really. A lack of familiarity - which is absurd the more I think about it. It seems like a rather week excuse to me. Of course I am familiar with audio files. Duh. So what is holding me back? No idea. Pure muppetry.

Write and create in Live, finish in Logic. Why not. And of course I can use the ReWire link for some of the effort perhaps. Mind you I am looking at the Record & Reason combo and wondering how that might fit in my workflow. I suspect it would just add unnecessary complexity right now. But further down the line that combo might offer some pretty interesting results.

Its all enough to get me back into the swing of things and perhaps to actually get some tracks finished off. I don't lack material - just a sense of misgiving over the workflow and 'style'. Music can be presented in various ways. At the moment I don't feel my approach is leading to a finished result that I can be happy with. And I do think this is my workflow rather than the material itself. I want to create a particular sound that appeals to me. No I don't know what that is but yes, I will recognise it when I hear it.

Getting the workflow right will give me this sound.

I guess one of my biggest problems is a lack of time to just simply experiment. But no more excuses, come May when my calendar clears up, I will be making some noise.

I am not insane - Michael Gira

Gira created a CD worth of what he refers to as 'rough' material which will be the source material for the forthcoming Swans album. I ordered the album, plus the DVD and artwork... and the forthcoming album.

And guess what was waiting for me when I got home tonight... An envelope with 'Thanks Mike!!' in thick black letters scrawled across the back of it. Once I opened it up, you are presented with this palpable sense of energy and enthusiasm. It's infectious!

From Blogger Pictures

There is a request not to copy the album all over the place on the sleeve notes. Given that Gira has expressly created this album to raise money for the new Swans album it begs the question what kind of tosser would post up the material on the 'net. And yet amongst the 1000 copies sold it seems inevitable. If that is you, then you should have 'muppet' tattooed across your forehead.

I am listening to the album while typing this. Bliss.

I can only hope that Gira brings Swans over to Europe. Well.. Newcastle of course :-p Unfortunately I suspect that will just be too damn expensive. But fingers crossed.

EDIT: its already online and downloadable. Tossers.

Swans

I a week or so ago I found out from Jim that M Gira had reformed Swans and was releasing a new album. Some digging around revealed that Gira was releasing a demo album (in effect) to raise the funds to produce the new album.

Well I am rather excited - I have just ordered the fund raiser album (CD&DVD). Cant wait to get it!

I came late to the musics from the Swans but I am really enjoying their material now. I just hope that if Gira tours, he does some dates in Europe. Fingers crossed.

Testing... from PING.FM!

Ok just kinda playing here....

Music

I love Einaudi. In an entirely manly kind of way of course. Um. I am referring to the piano works of course. Ludovico Einaudi - you could do worse and look him up. The link is to iTunes (UK) and his latest album Nightbook.

And just to contrast I also find Manufactura simply awesome. In fact the whole rhythmic noise thing is fantastic - where it doesn't descend into clubby, dreadful detuned synth crap. It must be an LA thing 'cos W.A.S.T.E are also fantastic. The new album was very good indeed (the link will take to iTunes UK).

Beauty and the beast. It was ever thus.

New Year

Master of the obvious...

I am not expecting much this year. Last year was pretty awful really and this 2010 I expect to be no better. More job threats and with that, a whole boatload of hassle. As the year progresses I should know more but I do not expect a lot of notice. Since I joined this company it has lurched from problem to problem. It seems to be addicted.

On the creative front I am working on a set of tracks for a kind of mini-album. I am still not completely satisfied with the feel & sound of the music. I suspect I will not have real satisfaction for quite sometime. Time. That is the thing that will ultimately shape things. I just need to keep banging away at it. Eventually I will find what I am looking for.

This mini-album is a noise-fest. I will work on more musical stuff later in the year... when.. I hope... I have a decent mic for recording vocals.

In terms of software I have all I need. Yes, there are always extras but honestly... I have what I need.

Reading? I have ground to a halt. I just cant get into books at the moment. I dont understand why. A friend would say: stress. Aye, possibly. Whatever.

I have been reading lots of Charles Bukowski poetry. I must get some of his novels soon. When I have some dosh! His poetry doe not even remotely conform to classical form. But they are quite wonderful. One moment funny, the next disgusting. And the next profoundly sad. They are like streams of consciousness.

My own early efforts as a teenager followed a similar pattern - without the depth & meaning - as I struggled with my circumstances at the time. What is inspiring (by Bukowski) is the 'punk' attitude. Got something to say? Then say it! And classical poetic form be damned!

Games? I find so very little fun in games these days. Most are simply rubbish. The few good ones are too short. There are a few new games coming out in the New Year which might be worth grabbing. First up is the new Splinter Cell. This looks like it will be well worth having. Its from the Montreal team I believe and if the series follows the pattern so far then it will be a great improvement on the Shanghai teams efforts (they did 2 & 4 - I think). One of the more enjoyable features of the 3rd instalment was the mickey-taking of the previous effort. That and the 'in' jokes (heavily armed heating engineer - fans of the film Brazil take note).

On the interesting list is Global Agenda, Mass Effect 2, and some others that I cant remember. Oops.

Global Agenda might just turn out to be a Tribes rip off complete with straight jacket classes. So team death match with a monthly fee if you want the extra functions. I remain unconvinced but I will give it a go since my sons want to try it.

The biggest problem with games is the XBox effect. Most developers do not make sufficient effort to make a decent port over to PC. The consequence of which is a short, limited gameplay, over simplistic game that might pander to XBox lovers (attention deficit types like my sons!) but which fail to address a more demanding gaming palate.

WH40K? Still ongoing. I have so many models to complete & paint it is silly. And I still want more. I have become a real collector. Sigh. Gabe and I still play but it has been a few weeks since we last visited the GW. I expect to be back this coming weekend, weather permitting.

And it is SO damn cold at the moment!

Speaking of games, DAW2 was very disappointing. The forthcoming WH40K MMORPG will be interesting. I wonder what approach they will take with the game. Surely they cant have players as Space Marines? Dark Eldar? Simply being human and playing the role of inquisitor would be quite enough of a game for me. It would combine SciFi horror with cyber- & steam-punk elements. Yeah that would be fun. So that is not going to be the case. Oh well.