Tag Archives: Wires

We Are a Part of the Rhythm Frustration

OK, so I lied. I’m a lying liar. I’ll be submitting a track to Anal0g.org’s Wires 7. The track is old shit, like 2002 old. Haven’t decided on which old track I’ll submit; I’m leaving that decision to Jared, who will choose 1 of 3 tracks. I tried to write something new, I really did. Fired up all the music gear, had some great ideas, but the frustration level exceeded my ability to deliver by deadline. So there it is. Glass Door will be representing again on Wires.

Worst foot forward.

So, why the frustration? Isn’t music supposed to be fun? Yes, it’s fun. I can sit at the keyboard and noodle all day. But a quirk of my personality raised its ugly head this weekend. So I can ad-lib as long as I want, but the moment I press “Record”, it all turns to shit. My playing, even though it was smooth and flowing, becomes stuttered, off-centered, mashed keys, skipped notes, the works. Fuckup after fuckup after fuckup.

The recording is in the digital domain, so it’s possible to fix it and clean it up, but doing so is tedious; it is the punishment for screwing up while recording. And there’s the frustration. It’s the same frustration I experience when I’m playing for, singing for, dancing for, performing for anyone else. If I screw up, I screw up big and my mental state changes, like a shock of panic jolts me from having the wherewithall to follow through gracefully as if the screwup was intentional.

I would be the gymnast who would walk off the mat when I inevitably smash my face during a flip. Instead of picking back up with the rhythm and playing through to the end, I’d rather stop then and settle with the low scores.

Wires 7 Uncertainty Principle

According to my friend Jared, who runs the Anal0g.org Wires music series, the submission deadline for the next Wires release, #7, is Thanksgiving day. That’s two weeks from now. Given that it took me 3 weeks last time to write “Stars In the Window” and a few more days of anguish over the sonic mix before I was finally happy with it (only to have it get messed up during the audio sweetening on the final compilation), I’m not sure I can commit to doing a track. So I’m having doubts about submitting something on this round. Just not feeling it.

I know I’ve recently put together my music rig, and I’ve had some great fun noodling with clean sounds, novel melodies, and the first interesting chord progressions in my life, but I just don’t know if I want to throw myself into the project and stress about deadlines when I have to do the same thing every day at work. Yeah yeah, I know, I know, I’m pulling the “I Have a Life” card. I have to. If Elleinad can do it, so can I.

Jared says Glass Door is a staple in the Wires series, and I’m glad he feels that way. But I’m not convinced enough this round to commit to a new track. Sorry, old friend. A little less radio silence on the chat front could’ve helped.

Behold the Sound

Ladies and Gents, it is with great pleasure that I announce the overdue release of Anal0g.org’s Wires 6 compilation, featuring a track by yours truly. Go there and download the album now before the bytes run out (if you don’t know how to save a zip file and play the mp3s inside, get your daughter to do it for you).

I say overdue because the compilation is, for the first time ever, 5 months late. There were certain confounding factors that all added up to the major delay. The last call for submissions was Halloween of last year. Some of us barely got our tracks in under the wire; however, most of the artists didn’t turn in their stuff until well after the deadline, which delayed the production schedule.

The tracks were then handed off to a volunteer member of the anal0g.org crew who had the skill and equipment to properly master everything for volume, punch, and presence. Well, he took his time. And our time. And everybody else’s time. But finally he finished everything and sent the polished tracks back to be packaged and presented.

I got the message yesterday that the compilation was finished and posted and I’ve been listening as much as possible. So far, I’m really digging the music. Some inventive stuff on here; the future of electronic music, I think. Give it a spin and give a shout.

Unbroken Glass

This time marks a pivotal period. I’ve done something good: I have resurrected Glass Door. My friends over at Anal0g.org are putting out another Wires compilation soon, and the deadline is this friday. So, instead of digging up, rehashing, and remastering old shit that I wrote seven years ago, I’ve decided to actually write new material.

I got Acid, Reaktor, and MIDI-OX working on my laptop and a week ago I sat at Genuine Joe’s Coffee and pecked out a slow melody. It was then that I decided to commit to it and to actually get some hardware so I wasn’t so reliant on the “limitless limitations” of software (the one-mouse one-keyboard interface is a major limit), so I bought a drum machine (an Alesis SR18) and a USB audio interface (Lexicon Lambda). I pulled out my long folding table and set it up in my bedroom; all my equipment’s splayed out and wired up. MIDI controller keyboard, drum machine, audio and MIDI interfaces, speakers, laptop, lamp, and an all-important notepad. Now I have a usable setup. Once it’s all physical, then it makes sense, and I’m motivated.

I am once again a bedroom musician.

So I wake up to the sight of that. Its presence in my room is soothing and pushes me forward into motion. It’s something tangible, evidence of the work of my own hands. The song’s coming together. Tentatively titled “Stars in the Window.” I’ve been doing some reworking and rearranging of the melody; can’t proceed with the other parts until the song structure is right. The whole thing’s been a learning process (re-learning shall we say). Learning how to deal with sound drivers and softsynths and MIDI. Learning about musical structure, phrases, chords, keys, crescendos, glissandos, and so on. It’s almost like work, and at times it can get quite unfun (especially when trying to manipulate MIDI controller messages in Acid). But I’m going to keep at it. I’ve got to finish. I’ve got to win.

In about another month, you can hear for yourself when Wires 6 is freely released to the masses. I also have material on Wires 4 and Wires 5. If you don’t have any of releases in the Wires series, do yourself a favor and grab them from Anal0g.org like you’re stealing. (Wires 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)