and Welcome to the workbench!

This is a real journal of the music I'm working on *now*, today...It's rough and ready but contains actual notes, files and work-in-progress audio. You can check back and see what I'm working on, where the struggle is and what's coming together. Feel free to comment too, another perspective can be super-interesting!

lessons

from Recording in the shed

• please, ffs, next time get a quiet computer
• did I lose the vibe of some of these works? its so easy to do. Many times the feel of the original is better and hard to beat in the future, even though it's a demo and not played or recorded in earnest. So  - perhaps engineer a scenario where the studio is switch on all the time, even while writing, so that the magic when it happens can be used commercially

from Oar...

• overlapping low organ notes makes nice crunchy sounds
• using simply delays with glock sounds makes interesting cross rhythms
• mixing is 90% about levels and a good arrangement
• beat repeat has lots of Autechre vibe
• reversed sounds can add some drama if mixed well

Click to read more ...

mental focus

Some simple affirmations to help put me in the best mental state before working. I am grateful for...

1. all the exquisite, dramatic and sensuous music i create, for the enriching experiences it manifests and for the privilege of sharing these with others
2. the ongoing pursuit of effortless viola mastery, which i utilise to express a full spectrum of emotions 

mixing it - general notes...

I'm a DIY Indie musician, here's my mixing crib notes from mixing articles i've found useful...

• get the sounds right at source
• compare frequently with commercial mixes in the same genre
• aim for great compositions&arrangements recorded well - it's much easier to mix, tey might even mix themselves :)
• use track groups for more complex mixes, so that you're just mixing groups

Click to read more ...

names

A collection of names for future works...

• pheneoe first, second, third
• ontologiae
• artisan
• sequoia
• scented and tall
• wild white horses
• the tenderness I feel
• send the dark underneath
• artisan
• indian arm
• nova
• the sky is blue the end
• watershed
• how to master the emptiness

Qualities...

All the qualities that excite me in music, I think about them as I put music together.

• sensuous
• exquisite 
• extremely beautiful
• delicate
• lavishly elegant and refined

Click to read more ...

Tools

I love my musical tools,  they're awesome and get better each day. There's never been a more exciting time to be making new music...

Viola The center of my music making world. I'm still looking for my 'life partner' instrument - it's intensely personal and quite a journey. Hopefully we will meet soon :)

Viola Bow The next step after finding my viola will be to partner it with the right bow. I have some great bow making talent here in the Pacific North West, and will be reaching out to makers soon

Viola Case I know this doesn't make any noise, but I tell you what, Dmitri Musafia's cases are a work of art, and I'll be ordering one as soon as I've found my viola...

Click to read more ...

2Pearl manifolds

This is an impressionistic work, built as a superimposition of contrasts

Contrasts

• rapid interlocking of rhythmic cells and transient de-lacing thereof, perfumes of pulse
• remote key centres
• find Contrapunta patterns that are interesting and emotionally engaging. Then notate them and record the parts - so no actual pitch shifting takes place
• kaleidoscope instrumentation - so there is a constant shift of instrumentation
• include an unaccompanied episode, and incporporate antescofo in an amazing way to bring backother instruments
• include periodic metallaphone cascades in remote or chromatic keys - chaotic and violent but easing
• impressionistic additive rhythms
• lilting&lyrical

3untitled*first

• crystalline texture - harpsichord(s), raw organs, viola trio
• call and response, irregularly solo viola initiates a new direction - rhythmically, melodically, harmonically, followed by full bodied tuttis
• start with solo viola initiating each new line, as each is immediately taken up by another ensemble instrument
• choose augmented 4th - A-C#-D#-E-D#-C#