New App

So perhaps I will starting posting again. Watch this space. Or not.

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.