|
DATE |
TITLE |
NOTES |
| 4.19.24 |
Piece041924
|
We have a dual theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week, which I suppose we do most weeks,
seeing as our themes are optional. This time it's "Counterpoint Time Signatures/As You Like It." The time signature component it to have one that increases by duration,
which I do here for a bit. Then I do it as I like it. I hope that all makes sense, but either way, you either dig it or you don't. Dig?
|
| 4.12.24 |
Piece041224
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Changing the Playback Speed."
There is a bit of that in this guitar improv.
|
| 4.5.24 |
Piece040524
|
In honor of the upcoming eclipse, the theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Partiality/Totality." This improv is inspired by the event.
|
| 3.29.24 |
Piece032924
|
The optional theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Neon." There is nothing neon about this improv. At least I don't
think there is.
|
| 3.22.24 |
Piece032224
|
Spring has sprung, so the theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Spring is Here." This guitar improv is inspired by theme.
|
| 3.15.24 |
Piece031524
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event week is "Groove." Inspired by the theme,
I used the electric guitar for this one, and in a couple different ways.
|
| 3.8.24 |
Piece030824
|
Our Sound-In
Facebook event theme this week is "Popcorn music," which means to come up
with catchy music that might even become an earworm. You know, a tune that you can't get out of your head. I don't know if this guitar improves
achieves that, but I did make it with the theme in mind.
|
| 3.1.24 |
Piece030124
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Causing social evolution through music and sound."
I don't know if music and sound can bring about social evolution in a meangingful way, but I do know that when I made this improv, I was thinking of a
simpler and more beautiful world.
|
| 2.23.24 |
Piece022324
|
Our Sound-In
Facebook event this week has the theme of "Scat Vamp Jam."
That's not really up my alley, so here's a guitar improv that's not on theme.
|
| 2.16.24 |
Piece021624
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "In the News," with the idea of taking something
directly from a news cast and putting it in somehow. I didn't have time to do that, but I think that everything that's going on in the world
somehow makes it way into my music anyway. Here's another bass improv.
|
| 2.9.24 |
Piece020924
|
I'm hosting our Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and the theme is "Swamp."
I've been wanting to get back to electric bass for a while and this is the perfect theme for it. A low-end improv on the bass, including some slide bass.
|
| 2.2.24 |
Piece020224
|
Get ready for a fun and out-there theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week.
One of the members of our group came up with the following theme, which takes inspiration from Brian Eno. The theme is
"Roleplay improv from 2088." I don't normally include descriptions that the hosts come up with, but this one is too good to leave out:
"It's 2088. You are a musician in one of the new 'Neo-Science' bands, playing in an underground club in the Afro-Chinese ghetto in Osaka,
not far from the university you learn and socialize at. The whole audience is high on 'Dreamwater,' an auditory hallucinogen so powerful
that it is transmitted by sweat condensation between everyone. You are also feeling its effects, as you are finding yourself fascinated
by intricate single-note rhythm patterns, shard-like Rosetta-stone sonic hieroglyphs. You are in no particular key - making random bursts
of data which you beam into the performance's audience. You are lost in the expressions abstracted rational beauty of a system no one else
fully understands, sending out messages that can't be translated. You are a great artist, and the audience is expecting something
intellectually challenging from you. As you enter the performance capsule your music starts, settling in the audience is in a groove
with you. As a kid, your favourite record (in your grandpa's record/CD collection) was Trout Mask Replica."
So, with that in mind, here's a guitar improv for you.
|
| 1.26.24 |
Piece012624
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event the week is "abstract noise constructions
forming new songs." There are definitely some abstract noises in this guitar improv.
|
| 1.19.24 |
Piece011924
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event the week is "Warm Music!"
I think that this guitar improv fits the theme. Does it sound warm to you?
|
| 1.12.24 |
Piece011224
|
Our theme for the Sound-In
Facebook event the week is "Sometimes a song is so new that nobody knows it."
That's definitely the case with my weekly improvs.
|
| 1.5.24 |
Piece010524
|
It's a new year for new music, and our theme for the first Sound-In
Facebook event of 2024 is "Noisy New Year!"
If you've been listening to my music for a while, you know that I like to venture into noisy worlds now and again.
For this guitar improv, I had fun with the effects pedals until I came up with a suitably noisy palette from which to work and then dove in.
I have to say that sometimes when I make my improvs, I'm not always initially happy with the result. I thought I felt that way about this one,
but the more I listened to it, the more it intrigued me. Happy Noisy New Year!
|
| 12.29.23 |
Piece122923-1
Piece122923-2
|
It's the last Sound-In
Facebook event of the year, and the theme is
"The sounds of notes falling from the sky." Inspired by the great theme, I ended up making two guitar improvs, both utilizing the same
initial loop. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!
|
| 12.22.23 |
Piece122223
|
The theme for the Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Jukebox Music for a Winter
Solstice Party." This guitar improv isn't exactly party music, but it was made with both the winter solstice and Christmas in mind.
|
| 12.15.23 |
Piece121523
|
There's a theme again for our weekly Sound-In
Facebook event (Microtonally Mashed Music), but this one is
out of my wheelhouse, so I just went where my ears and fingers took me for this guitar improv.
|
| 12.8.23 |
Piece120823
|
We have a theme again for our weekly Sound-In
Facebook event, and this one is "Let's Be Pussyfooting."
Let's be!
|
| 12.1.23 |
Piece120123
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Weirdly Random Sounds and Songs."
Another theme that's right up my alley.
|
| 11.24.23 |
Piece112423
|
In honor of Thanksgiving, the theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Leftovers after Thanksgiving: Dinner Songs @ Sound-In."
For this guitar improv, I took one of the loops from last week that was still in my looper, reversed it (in the looper), and then improvised over it.
|
| 11.17.23 |
Piece111723
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Musical Anagrams."
I made this guitar improv with the theme in mind. The anagrams are in there.
|
| 11.10.23 |
Piece111023
|
We have another theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and it's "The perfect chords in a song."
This guitar improv is on theme, so keep an ear out.
|
| 11.3.23 |
Piece110323
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Whatevah!" (so no theme, really).
I made this guitar improv with the upcoming time change in mind.
|
| 10.27.23 |
Piece102723
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "spooky music."
I don't know if this guitar improv is "spooky," but I was thinking about the theme when I made it.
|
| 10.20.23 |
Piece102023
|
I'm hosting our Sound-In
Facebook event again this week, and the
theme is "Slow Down." This is a good one in many ways, especially these days. This guitar improv was made with the idea in mind.
|
| 10.13.23 |
Piece101323
|
We have a theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and it's
"Elephant Roar (or another animal sound)." While I would normally be game for this theme, I am so heartbroken and angry
by what's going on in the world right now (starting with the terrorist attack in Israel) that I had to follow my heart on this one.
|
| 10.6.23 |
Piece100623
|
The theme for this week's Sound-In
Facebook event, is
"D Hungarian Minor." This guitar improv is made mostly in that mode.
|
| 9.29.23 |
Piece092923
|
I'm hosting this week's Sound-In
Facebook event, and the theme is
"Reflection." There are lots of ways to go with this, and some of them are in this guitar improv.
|
| 9.22.23 |
Piece092223
|
The theme for this week's Sound-In
Facebook event is
"Interrupted Song Compositions." Normally I would have done something more on-theme but I had to work around a busy travel schedule.
To that, here is another guitar improv for you.
|
| 9.15.23 |
Piece091523
|
The theme for this week's Sound-In
Facebook event is
"Perpendicular to the 'Now Songs'." I feel that this is where I live sonically all the time. To that, here is another
perpendicular guitar improv.
|
| 9.8.23 |
Piece090823
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is
"Fan Fair (Fanfare)." I suppose this guitar improv could count, but not in the typical way. I'll let the listener decide.
|
| 9.1.23 |
Piece090123
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event is
"Strange Music." This one is right up my alley. While I certainly could have gone stranger, here is a guitar improv for you.
|
| 8.25.23 |
Piece082523
|
I'm hosting the this Sound-In
Facebook event this week and the theme is
"Sounds Familiar / Familiar Sounds." The idea here is to include something familiar from another piece of music or to include
any sound that is familiar. I chose to keep this guitar improv fairly clean in terms of effects, and I will each listener decide if they
hear something familiar or not.
|
| 8.18.23 |
Piece081823
|
The theme for this week's Sound-In
Facebook event is "Free association in Improvised Music."
The description is as follows: "...may be bringing in harmonies that are tough to connect -fragments of life or things that cannot be
integrated. Part of the improvisation in a way is to make sense, to create a new improvisation that ties together different affects or
maybe clusters of chords that feel to be unpleasant. Can we work with them musically to make sense of them at least? Maybe represent
them not always in a pleasing way but through our improvisation, be able to create a new motif that now can be examined in different
ways." ~ Rafael Ornstein, MD.
I kept that in mind as I made this guitar improv and it went where it went.
|
| 8.11.23 |
Piece081123
|
We have an interesting theme for this week's Sound-In
Facebook event: "What are songs made for?"
Isn't that one of the big questions? I have all sorts of reasons why I make music, but I tend not to explain them because that may affect how the listener
hears the music, so I just let them "speak" for themselves. I can tell you a couple of things I was thinking about when I made this
guitar improv. I was thinking about a video I saw recently with Bill Frisell and some of the effects he uses. I was struck by how he
uses reversed loops, so I gave that a shot here. I was also thinking about the recent fires on Maui and Hawaii island. So, there you go.
And on a side note, this improv makes 14 years of weekly improvs without missing a week.
|
| 8.4.23 |
Piece080423
|
I'm hosting this week's Sound-In
Facebook event, and the theme is "Higher Ground."
The event started on August 3rd, which happens to be the 50th anniversary of Stevie Wonder's "Innervisions," which happens to include the
song "Higher Ground." This was probably in my subconscious somewhere, but I chose the theme because I'm only using higher pitches
in this guitar improv. Another cool bit of serendipity.
|
| 7.28.23 |
Piece072823
|
The theme for this week's Sound-In
Facebook event is "Serendipitous Sounds."
I recently worked on my pedalboard. This is the first improv with it as it is now. I worked with the settings pretty much as they were,
so serendipity played a role (as it often does in my improvs).
|
| 7.21.23 |
Piece072123
|
The theme for this week's Sound-In
Facebook event is "Existential Threads."
I think that this synth improv taps into that quite well.
|
| 7.14.23 |
Piece071423
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "A New Sound in a song that you have never played before."
For those following along over the years, you'll know that I have used a wide variety of sounds. I spent some time and tried to come up
with ones I haven't used before. I then processed them to make a true duplication less likely. This synth improv is an interesting
summer vibe for me.
|
| 7.7.23 |
Piece070723
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Placing sounds in the stereo spectrum."
I decided to take on the theme and do things a bit differently. This improv is five tracks of mandolin, each in their own place.
|
| 6.30.23 |
Piece063023
|
It's Sound-In
Facebook event time! This week the theme is "Elevator music you would like in an elevator."
This guitar improv would make for a cool elevator ride.
|
| 6.23.23 |
Piece062323
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Becoming ourselves when I am you and you are me."
I'm not sure if this improv in on theme. I'll leave that up to the listener.
|
| 6.16.23 |
Piece061623
|
It's Sound-In
Facebook event time again, and the theme is "Liquid DreamCatcher Songs."
I went for lots of liquid in this guitar improv.
|
| 6.9.23 |
Piece060923
|
Another week, another Sound-In
Facebook event. The theme this week is "By The Numbers,"
which could be taken many ways. I'm not sure if I hit it, but I did make this guitar improv with it in mind.
|
| 6.2.23 |
Piece060223
|
I'm hosting the Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and the theme is "In Six."
This guitar improv was made with the theme in mind.
|
| 5.19.23 |
Piece051923
Piece052023
Piece052123
Piece052223
Piece052323
Piece052423
Piece052523
|
We've got something a bit different for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week. Instead of a theme, this is more like a challenge:
"The Daily Song." The goal here is to post a song each day this week. Here is my first piano improv. I will do my best to post one each day through Thursday.
|
| 5.12.23 |
Piece051223
|
The theme/non-theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "We Never Close."
This guitar improv was made with the theme in mind.
|
| 5.5.23 |
Piece050523
|
It's time for another Sound-In
Facebook event, and this time the theme is "Kulkucan!
I went into this weekend with someone else in mind but the theme took it it an entirely different direction. Get ready!
|
| 4.28.23 |
Piece042823
|
It's Sound-In
Facebook event time again. The theme this week is "The light touch of soft music."
Another guitar improv, made with the theme in mind.
|
| 4.21.23 |
Piece042123
|
Another week, another Sound-In
Facebook event. This week the theme is "Dark!"
This guitar improv was made with the theme in mind. Now turn off the lights and check it out!
|
| 4.14.23 |
Piece041423
|
It's Sound-In
Facebook event time again, and we've got the great of "Vista-Rama."
I'm not exactly sure what the theme means, but I think this guitar improv fits.
|
| 4.8.23 |
Piece040823
|
Our Sound-In
Facebook event theme this week is "Mix/Mash/Sample."
This is a little more involved than usual but definitely on theme.
|
| 3.31.23 |
Piece033123
|
It's Sound-In
Facebook event time again. The theme this week is "Shave and a haircut - two bits."
The gist of this theme is to use call-and-response in the improv. This one fits for sure.
|
| 3.24.23 |
Piece032423
|
It's Sound-In
Facebook event time again. This week the theme is "swirling sounds and wynding noises."
This swirling and wynding guitar improv was made with the theme in mind.
|
| 3.17.23 |
Piece031723
|
Ok, how's this for a Sound-In
Facebook event - "Music Induced High?" I don't know if this improv
does that, but here it is.
|
| 3.10.23 |
Piece031023
|
We have a fun Sound-In
Facebook event this week. Well, maybe for some folks
The theme for this one is "fingers down a chalkboard event with other sounds." I took the theme as inspiration and put some extra work into this one,
but it's all made with guitar.
|
| 3.3.23 |
Piece030323
|
The Sound-In
Facebook event this week has the theme
"It's Unlikely." This could be taken many different ways, and I made this guitar imrov with that in mind.
|
| 2.24.23 |
Piece022423
|
Our Sound-In
Facebook event this week has the theme
"Conducting Ourselves to Make New Music," with the following directions: "How should I conduct myself to make new music as a musical conductor?
Experiment with new sounds: Try new instrumentation and sounds to create something unique and fresh.
Be willing to take risks and try new things to keep your music fresh and interesting." I don't think my guitar improv technically fits this,
but I did try to keep things very sparse and have fun with "playing" the effects.
|
| 2.17.23 |
Piece021723
|
I'm hosting the Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and we have no theme this time.
Here's a simple guitar improv for you.
|
| 2.10.23 |
Piece021023
|
We have a theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event again this week, and it's "DISCORDant."
In this case, there is a double meaning to the theme. Not only is there the literal meaning, but Sound-In is jumping into the
Discord environment this week to see how it goes. Here's my improv for the week. Now to go post it in Discord, wherever that is.
|
| 2.3.23 |
Piece020323
|
There's a theme for the Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and it's "A song that is a dream. (groundhog-day dreams)."
I think this electric guitar improv definitely fits.
|
| 1.27.23 |
Piece012723
|
The theme for the Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "AMSR." If you don't know what that is, it's ok. This
guitar improv doesn't have it in there anyway.
|
| 1.20.23 |
Piece012023
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "The Impermanent Life."
This guitar improv was made with the theme in mind (which it almost always is).
|
| 1.13.23 |
Piece011323
|
There is a haiku-related theme for this event, but due to my busy schedule, I didn't make this
with the theme in mind. Here is another guitar improv for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week.
|
| 1.6.23 |
Piece010623
|
This guitar improv is out there. Like way out there. The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is
"Event from Kepler-62f, what the planet's music might be?." So the fun of this one was thinking about music that is truly otherworldy.
|
| 12.30.22 |
Piece123022
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Colourful Fish." This piano improv was made
and processed with the theme in mind.
|
| 12.23.22 |
Piece122322
|
I'm hosting our Sound-In
Facebook event again this week is
"Sonic Reflections (on the end of another year)." This guitar improv was made thinking about the year that passed and the year ahead.
|
| 12.16.22 |
Piece121622
|
I'm hosting our Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and the theme is "Winter Sky." This guitar
improv may have been inspired by a particularly beautiful southern California sky.
|
| 12.9.22 |
Piece120922
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Within and Without the Loop (of time)."
It definitely plays to my musical sweet spot these days.
|
| 12.2.22 |
Piece120222
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "The digital and analog mix in music."
Technically, everything I do is a digital-analog mix, so I'm right on theme (in more ways than one).
|
| 11.25.22 |
Piece112522
|
We have a Thanksgiving theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and it's "Music for the Thanksgiving Turkey."
I suppose this electric guitar improv could be subtitled "March of the Turkeys."
|
| 11.18.22 |
Piece111822
|
I'm hosting our Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and the theme is "Wide Open Spaces."
I'm back at the guitar for this one. There are some spaces in here. Well, sort of.
|
| 11.11.22 |
Piece111122
|
The theme for our
Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "fantasy." This wasn't made with the theme in mind,
but I think it fits.
|
| 11.4.22 |
Piece110422
|
The theme for our
Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "foggy." There is a bit more to this piano improv
than what I normally do, but I felt inspired. This was made with the theme in mind.
|
| 10.28.22 |
Piece102822
|
"Dada" is the theme for our
Sound-In
Facebook event this week. I'm continuing my run of piano improvs.
I didn't make this improv with the theme in mind but that doesn't mean it doesn't fit.
|
| 10.21.22 |
Piece102122
|
The theme for our
Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Shorter Days / Shorter Sounds."
This piano improv was not made with the theme in mind.
|
| 10.14.22 |
Piece101422
|
Our theme this week for our
Sound-In
Facebook event is "Dissonance and Demons:Tritone Diabolus Musicas."
I'll let you go ahead and look that up. This piano improv was not made with the theme in mind.
|
| 10.7.22 |
Piece100722
|
The theme for our
Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "What does thinking sound like?"
I'm not sure of the answer, but I can assure you that I was thinking about this improv while I made it. Mostly thinking about the rhythm
while I made it.
|
| 9.30.22 |
Piece093022
|
The theme for our
Sound-In
Facebook event this week is an interesting one: "What was that?"
I made this piano improv with that in mind. You'll hear it.
|
| 9.23.22 |
Piece092322
|
We have a theme again for our
Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and this time it's
"What does happiness sound like?" There are so many ways to take this, but this guitar improv was the first place I went with the theme in mind. Don't worry.
|
| 9.16.22 |
Piece091622
|
The theme for our
Sound-In
Facebook event this week is for the birds. No, seriously, it's "For the birds..."
The theme is quite evident in this improv. Close your eyes and enjoy!
|
| 9.9.22 |
Piece090922
|
We have another cool theme for our
Sound-In
Facebook event this week
(In a car sound samples,.. driving to the supermarket) and once again my crazy day didn't make room for me to get out and do some recording.
So, here's another electric guitar improv.
|
| 9.2.22 |
Piece090222
|
I was up in Canada for most of the week, so I didn't get to use the
Sound-In
Facebook event theme for this one
(Supermarket Sounds and Related Noises). I may have to use it in the future, just for fun. Here's another one of my electric guitar improvs. It's got a good
beat and you can dance to it.
|
| 8.26.22 |
Piece082622
|
So I inadvertantly came up with the theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week. In our Sound-In curator group I posted
that I was swamped this week with the new job (in a good way), and that I was too busy to make a new event. After that I realized that "swamped" was actually a good theme.
Thankfully one of the other Sound-In folks took it and ran with it. This electric guitar improv is definitely swampy.
|
| 8.19.22 |
Piece081922
|
We have a theme again for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and it's "Embellished and Ornamented Improv."
The theme is a big part of this guitar improv. |
| 8.12.22 |
Piece081222
|
Another weekend, another themed Sound-In
Facebook event. As a nice contrast to the theme from two weeks ago,
the theme this week is "Intuitive Determinacy," which is a form of musical improvisation based on instant creation in which fixed principles or rules
may or may not have been given. In other words, pretty much what I do every week. This electric guitar improv was definitely made in an intuitively determined manner.
And in the spirit of determination, this event marks 13 years of uninterrupted weekly improvisations. |
| 8.5.22 |
Piece080522
|
The theme for the Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Humdinger."
With the theme in mind, I made this electric guitar and voice improv, which contains both humming and dinging (and other stuff too). |
| 7.29.22 |
Piece072922
|
I have job changes coming up soon, and with not knowing fully how my schedule will be impacted,
I'm hosting the Sound-In
Facebook event this week. In the spirit of the upcoming change for me,
I chose the theme "Change/Chance." This gives lots of room for us Sound-In folks to work. My guitar improv was made in the spirit of the theme,
with both chance and change playing a role. This is one take with some looping and real-time knob fiddling. |
| 7.22.22 |
Piece072222
|
It's Sound-In
Facebook event time again, and the theme is "Neopolitan."
This theme is not obvious, and is actually referring to different types of noise. The challenge is to include noise in the composition.
I am still in synth mode, and there is definitely some noise going on in this improvisation. |
| 7.15.22 |
Piece071522
|
It's time for another Sound-In
Facebook event, and the theme is "S sounds: symbols squeaks screams symphonies."
This theme leaves space (another "s") for all sorts of interpretations. For my improv, I went with Synth, Strings and Space. |
| 7.8.22 |
Piece070822
|
I'm hosting the Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and we are going themeless this time.
For this keyboard improv, I just went where the muse took me. |
| 7.1.22 |
Piece070122
|
It's July 1st, and the beach-inspired theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Touching the Sunset."
This guitar improv was made with the theme in mind. I was going to get all philosophical about sunsets, transitions, etc., but I decided to let it all just live in the music.
I will just say that I am grateful for the light and for the darkness as well. |
| 6.24.22 |
Piece062422
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Before and After Sound Effects."
This recording is the same piano improv twice - before and after effects.
|
| 6.17.22 |
Piece061722
|
I'm hosting the Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and the theme is "Changes."
There are many way to take this, especially in music (chord changes, key changes, sonic changes, season changes, life changes).
This electric guitar improv was definitely made with the theme in mind (in many ways), so hang on to your hats.
|
| 6.10.22 |
Piece061022
|
We have a theme again for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and the theme is "Polyrhythms Syncopations
Hemiola Tempo-Rubato Off-Patterned loops," which means that there will be various overlapping rhythms. This electric guitar improv is on theme. I was having
fun playing with rhythms and dissonances, so it goes on for a bit.
|
| 6.3.22 |
Piece060322
|
It's Sound-In
Facebook event time again, and the theme is "Extended Technique:
unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional music methods," so get ready for some strangeness. This improv is electric guitar, paperclips, and plenty of effects. Enjoy!
|
| 5.27.22 |
Piece052722
|
I'm hosting our Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and the theme is "Remembering."
It is a deep theme, open to many paths of reflection. I know where my head and heart is right now and this improv reflects that. I am purposefully
not mentioning anything specific in order to leave it open for those who create and for those who hear. |
| 5.20.22 |
Piece052022
|
We have a mash-up theme this week for our Sound-In
Facebook event. For my mash-up, I took a percussion piece
by Sound-in member James Bailey that he included as part of last week's event (made by tapping on a sweet tin and then processing it), and then I improvised a guitar part over it. |
| 5.13.22 |
Piece051322
|
I am hosting the Sound-In
Facebook event this week and the optional theme is "Subtle Details."
This simple electric guitar improv was made with subtle details (sounds, silence, textures, space) in mind. Take some time in a quiet place to let the piece wash over you. |
| 5.6.22 |
Piece050622
|
The theme this week for our Sound-In
Facebook event.
is "Counterpoint:note vs. sound effect." This can be interpreted a number of ways, and is right up my alley. I always think about counterpoint when I make music,
and I tried to make it more obvious for this improv. |
| 4.29.22 |
Piece042922
|
Another week, another Sound-In, and the theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event.
is "Time Machine." The directions are to create sounds of the past or sounds from the future. This synth improv was inspired by the theme. |
| 4.22.22 |
Piece042222
|
Another week, another Sound-In
Facebook event.
The theme for this week is "Open as the Sky" (which really means there is no theme). I've been home sick but took a little time to make this improv for the day.
I must be feeling better. |
| 4.15.22 |
Piece041522
|
It's time for another Sound-In
Facebook event.
The theme for this week is "Changing song mood mid-song." This was definitely made with the theme in mind. My intent was to make this all in one take
but some technical issues got in the way, so I had to start the second part again. Being Good Friday, there is also a connection to that (although it
appeared subconsciously). |
| 4.8.22 |
Piece040822
|
It's Sound-In
Facebook event time again.
The theme for this week is "New Creative Thoughts and Ideas." I thought about this theme for a bit and then just let the muse take me. The theme is definitely
part of this guitar improv. |
| 4.1.22 |
Piece040122
|
I'm hosting the Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and the theme is "April _______." The idea is to fill
in the blank with whatever April means to you. "Fools' Day." "Showers." You get the idea. For me, April is a month of hope and renewal. This
bass improv was made with that in mind. |
| 3.25.22 |
Piece032522
|
Since it's Academy Awards time, we have a film-related theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week. In previous years, we would often have an
actual film challenge. We are doing things a bit different this time. The theme for this week is "Why is Film Music not just music?" And yeah, I know . . .
because it goes along with a moving image, but take some license with it. Here is a synth improv for an imaginary movie. Close your eyes and fill in the images. |
| 3.18.22 |
Piece031822
|
We have another theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and this time it's "What is Valued in your sound progressions?"
In this guitar improv, you can hear what I value in my music these days. Or at least most of it. |
| 3.11.22 |
Piece031122
|
We have a theme again for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and this time it's "What will Music be in the future?"
This improv was made with the theme in mind. |
| 3.4.22 |
Piece030422
|
We have largely avoided Covid for our Sound-In events but I guess it was just a matter of time. The theme for the Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Covid Cough," which many of us can certainly identify with these days.
So, in the spirit of the theme, here is a piano improv. This one isn't as "pretty" as some of mine as the situation in Ukraine weighs heavy. |
| 2.25.22 |
Piece022522
|
I am hosting the Sound-In
Facebook event this week and the theme is "Peace."
This electric guitar improv is a prayer for peace and a prayer for the people of Ukraine. |
| 2.18.22 |
Piece021822
|
We do not have a theme for the Sound-In
Facebook event this week. The image that is used for the event is an old upright piano, so I'm using my old upright piano. |
| 2.11.22 |
Piece021122
|
The theme for the Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Extreme Limitless Songs." While this guitar improv is neither extreme nor limitless, it was inspired by theme. |
| 2.4.22 |
Piece020422
|
I am hosting the Sound-In
Facebook event this week, and the theme is "A Pulse." This electric guitar improv was made with the theme in mind (of course). |
| 1.28.22 |
Piece012822
|
There is no theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week. Here's is another guitar improv, using the acoustic-electric this time. |
| 1.21.22 |
Piece012122
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week is "Wild Blue Yonder." That opens
up all sorts of possibilities. I knew the theme ahead of time, but like most all of these improvs, I didn't know how it will show up in the music.
It's in there somewhere. This one is for synth and guitar. |
| 1.14.22 |
Piece011422
|
We have another dream theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event this week. This time it's "Dreaming about Plastic Noises."
This synth improv was made knowing the theme, and I ran with it in a way that made sense to me. |
| 1.7.22 |
Piece010722
|
It's the first Sound-In
Facebook event of 2022, and the theme
is "Dreaming of Music." I don't dream about music much when sleeping, but I think about it all the time when awake.
This guitar improv was made with dreams of music in mind. |
| 12.31.21 |
Piece123121
|
My final
musical offering of 2021. It's New Year's Eve and the theme
for our Sound-In
Facebook event
is "You say you want a resolution..." I was afraid that I
wouldn't make this one due to Covid hitting my entire
family, but thankfully my body has finally started
recovering. This synth and guitar improv was made with the
theme in mind. Happy New Year everybody. Here's to a better
year ahead. Peace, hope and love to you all. |
| 12.24.21 |
Piece122421
|
It's time
for our annual Christmas/Holiday Sound-In
Facebook event.
This improv was made with the day in mind. Happy Christmas
Eve! |
| 12.17.21 |
Piece121721
|
The theme this week
for our Sound-In
Facebook event
is "new music improvisation with mistakes." My first thought
was "well, that's what I do every week." My second thought
was "Is it a mistake if you go in with the intention of
making one." I guess it depends on whether or not the
mistake was intended, right? Either way, here is my improv
for this week, in full-on synth mode. Are there any
mistakes??? I'll let the listener decide. |
| 12.10.21 |
Piece121021
|
We have no
theme this week
for our Sound-In
Facebook event.
This is another one of my ambient-type piano improvs. |
| 12.3.21 |
Piece120321
|
This week
the theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event
is "Cold Rain and Snow." This guitar improv was made with
the theme in mind. Wishing we had some of that in So Cal! |
| 11.26.21 |
Piece112621
|
We have
another theme
this week for our Sound-In
Facebook event,
and this time it's "Mixing the Old with the New." This
improv is just that. Actually a bit more than that. I took
my piano improvs from 9/24 and 11/19, placed them randomly
against each other and panned them a bit to each side. Then
I improvised a guitar part over them them. I think it worked
out nicely. |
| 11.19.21 |
Piece111921
|
The theme
this week for our Sound-In
Facebook event
is "Eclipse Soundtrack." This piano improv wasn't
made with the theme in mind but I suppose it could fit. |
| 11.12.21 |
Piece111221
|
The theme
this week for our Sound-In
Facebook event
is "Found Sounds." This one is all me. A sonic short film? |
| 11.5.21 |
Piece110521
|
I'm hosting
our Sound-In
Facebook event
again
this week and the theme is
"A Moment of Clarity."
This improv was made with that
in mind. Can you tell I am in a searching season? Looking
for that moment of clarity. |
| 10.29.21 |
Piece102921
|
With it
being the last weekend of October, the theme should be
obvious. Yes, the theme is "Halloween Week" for our Sound-In
Facebook event.
It's been quite a while since I've used any sort of "drum"
beat, so this is a good time. This improv is definitely
inspired by the theme and gets a bit noisy. |
| 10.22.21 |
Piece102221
|
There is no
theme this week, but the image used for our Sound-In
Facebook event
is clouds from between clouds. Today is the 98th birthday of
someone who we lost earlier this year that was very dear to
me. This guitar improv was made with her in mind. We miss
you Ruth. Until we meet again. |
| 10.15.21 |
Piece101521
|
I'm hosting
our Sound-In
Facebook event
this week and the theme is
"Finding A Way." There are many ways to interpret
this, so I'll just leave it at that. This guitar
improvisation was made with the theme in mind and the
foundation of it was inspired by a musical idea from my son
Henry. |
| 10.8.21 |
Piece100821
|
It's a fun
and interesting
theme this week for our Sound-In
Facebook event:
"Unheard improvisation." The idea is that you can't hear
your improvisation when you record it. That's a difficult
challenge when playing guitar, so what I did was run the
guitar through effects, which I couldn't hear when
recording. This improv is actually three tracks, each made
while not hearing anything while playing (other than the
unamplified strings of the electric guitar). |
| 10.1.21 |
Piece100121
|
The
theme this week for our Sound-In
Facebook event
is "Take It Down," which is a broad theme with many ways to
interpret it. This electric guitar improv was made with the
theme in mind. |
| 9.24.21 |
Piece092421
|
There is no
theme this week for our Sound-In
Facebook event.
Things have been so crazy lately. The improv was made in a
moment, about being in a moment. |
| 9.17.21 |
Piece091721
|
"Wild
Things" is theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event
this week. This guitar improv was made with the theme in
mind. The wild things are out there (and in here). |
| 9.10.21 |
Piece091021
|
There is no
theme this week for our Sound-In
Facebook event,
so I made this electric guitar improv inspired by a riff
that came into my head a few minutes before recording this.
Somehow it seems to fit where my head is at these days. |
| 9.3.21 |
Piece090321
|
Our theme
for our Sound-In
Facebook event
this week is "Remembering." In this case, it is about
remembering three members of our Sound-In community who are
no longer with us:
Richard Lainhart, Jeff Duke and Steve Moshier.
This improv does not reference them or their music
specifically, but was made with them all in mind. They are
missed! |
| 8.27.21 |
Piece082721
|
We don't
have a theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event
this week. There is so much going on these days, that I
needed to step out of it a bit. That was the intent with
this keyboard improv. |
| 8.20.21 |
Piece082021
|
The theme
for the Sound-In
Facebook event
this week is "The Void." This electric guitar improv was
made with the theme in mind. |
| 8.13.21 |
Piece081321
|
We have a
theme for this Sound-In
Facebook event
and it's "groove." This electric guitar was definitely made
with the theme in mind, and a little pandemic Friday the
13th to boot. |
| 8.6.21 |
Piece080621
|
Twelve years
ago tomorrow I posted my first official weekly improv, back
then on NetNewMusic as part of a thing called ImprovFriday.
A few sites later, I am still going strong and haven't
missed a weekend. Now we post the music in
Facebook events through our Sound-In group. We don't
have a theme this week, so here is an introspective electric
bass improv thinking about all the changes that have taken
place in the last twelve years. |
| 7.30.21 |
Piece073021
|
It's another
Sound-In
Facebook event
time, and this time the theme is "Through the Past
Darkly." The challenge for this week is to bring back
an old track and do some something else with it. What I did
was bring back my sax improv from this weekend last year and
then improvise an electric guitar part over it. |
| 7.23.21 |
Piece072321
|
It's
Sound-In
Facebook event
time, and this time the theme is "UP!" This electric guitar
improv was made with the theme in mind. I guess there's an
up and down to this (just like most days these days). |
| 7.16.21 |
Piece071621
|
It's time
for another
Sound-In
Facebook event,
and this time we don't have a theme. Back at the keyboard
for this one. In a reflective place for this one. |
| 7.9.21 |
Piece070921
|
Our
Sound-In
Facebook event
theme for
this week is "Random," which is a very fitting theme
for me personally these days. Here's an electric guitar
improv with some randomness involved. |
| 7.2.21 |
Piece070221
|
Our
Sound-In
Facebook event
theme for
this week is "Good Songs Take Time." The challenge is to
spend the time needed to craft the piece of music. While my
weekly improvs are crafted in the sense of working them out
as I play, I decided to rise to the theme a bit for this
one. What you have here are two tracks (synth and guitar)
instead of my usual one track. The synth track was
improvised first and a couple minor edits were made. I then
improvised the guitar part over it. A few more minor edits
were made when I mixed it and this is the final product. I
anticipated going in a totally different direction today but
I followed the muse and this is where I ended up. Relax and
enjoy! |
| 6.25.21 |
Piece062521
|
The theme this week for our
Sound-In
Facebook event
is "Heat Waves." This one sounds more to me like a relief
from the heat but I'm not sure about that. I can say that
Terry Riley's birthday was yesterday and this electric
guitar improv was made with his music in mind. |
| 6.18.21 |
Piece061821
|
We have a theme again for our weekly
Sound-In
Facebook event,
and this time it's "Beat." Like last week, this piano improv was not made with the theme in mind. |
| 6.11.21 |
Piece061121
|
There is an optional theme of "Spectrum" for our
Sound-In
Facebook event this week.
This piano improv was not made with the theme in mind. |
| 6.4.21 |
Piece060421
|
The theme of our
Sound-In
Facebook event
for this week
is "Aliens!" There are so many possibilities with this
one. Here's my take, on guitar again. This one is out there.
You have been warned. |
| 5.28.21 |
Piece052821
|
The theme of our
Sound-In
Facebook event
is "summer," and while it's not quite summer yet, I think we
are all ready for it to get here. I made my improv this week
with a summer vibe in mind. |
| 5.21.21 |
Piece052121
|
We have another theme this week for our
Sound-In
Facebook event,
and this time it's "Loop Forever." This guitar improv is
definitely made on theme and while longer than most, does
not go on forever. Relax and enjoy. |
| 5.14.21 |
Piece051421
|
Another week, another
Sound-In
Facebook event,
another
theme. This time it's "drone." I was going to do this one on
guitar but the piano called me over and I couldn't say no. |
| 5.7.21 |
Piece050721
|
We have a theme again this week for our
Sound-In
Facebook event
and this time it's "noise." Here is a guitar improv on theme
that matches where my head is sometimes. You have been
warned. |
| 4.30.21 |
Piece043021
|
It's been too long away from the piano for one of my
Sound-In
Facebook event
improvs, so here you go. |
| 4.23.21 |
Piece042321
|
In honor of Earth Day, the theme this week for our
Sound-In
Facebook event
is "Earth."
Another guitar improv made with the theme in mind. |
| 4.16.21 |
Piece041621
|
The theme this week for our
Sound-In
Facebook event
is "Light."
This guitar improv was made with
the theme in mind. |
| 4.9.21 |
Piece040921
|
Another week, another
Sound-In
Facebook event.
There is no theme this week. Here's another bass improv with
looping and plenty of processing. |
| 4.2.21 |
Piece040221
|
I'm hosting the
Sound-In
Facebook event
this week and again there is no theme.
That said, today is Good Friday, which for me is a
profoundly important day. This electric guitar improv was
made with the day in mind. |
| 3.26.21 |
Piece032621
|
There is no theme again this week for our
Sound-In
Facebook event.
This time it's the electric guitar with some
processing and looping. Once again, I had something
different in mind going in, but this is where it ended. I
just go where they take me. |
| 3.19.21 |
Piece031921
|
There is no theme this week for our
Sound-In
Facebook event.
Using the acoustic-electric guitar for this one, with some
processing and looping. |
| 3.12.21 |
Piece031221
|
I'm
hosting the
Sound-In
Facebook event
for the third week in a row. With hitting the year
anniversary of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the theme
for this week is "A Moment of Silence." The idea is to
include a moment of silence somewhere in the piece of music.
Back to the piano for this one. |
| 3.5.21 |
Piece030521
|
I'm
hosting the
Sound-In
Facebook event
again
this week, and this time the theme is "The Edge of the
Storm." Back to the electric guitar for this one. |
| 2.26.21 |
Piece022621
|
I'm
hosting the
Sound-In
Facebook event
this week and the theme is "Grit." Back to the bass on this
one. Nice and gritty. |
| 2.19.21 |
Piece021921
|
It's
time for another
Sound-In
Facebook event.
We don't have a theme this time. Time to head back to the
bass, having been inspired by some recent playing by a
friend of mine and also by a live-streamed Tony Levin
interview yesterday. |
| 2.12.21 |
Piece021221
|
With
Valentine's Day this weekend, it should come as no surprise
that the theme for our
Sound-In
Facebook event
is "Love Songs for Valentine's Day." Now as for a love
song from me??? I will say that I made this with the theme
in mind. You can decide if it's a love song. And can
something even be a love song if it doesn't have any words? |
| 2.5.21 |
Piece020521
|
We
have an interesting
Sound-In
Facebook event
theme this week - "Blindfolded." While I didn't actually
wear a blindfold, I did have my eyes closed for this piano
improv. It was recorded using my upright piano, then the
processing was added after the fact. |
| 1.29.21 |
Piece012921
|
I'm
hosting our
Sound-In
Facebook event
again, and this week the theme is "Random." There
is always a sense of randomness in how I make my improvs,
but for this one I dialed in some effects that would add to
the randomness. Another one on electric guitar. |
| 1.22.21 |
Piece012221
|
The
theme for the
Sound-In
Facebook event
this week is "Deep." This improv was made with that in
mind. Electric guitar and plenty of processing. |
| 1.15.21 |
Piece011521
|
I'm
hosting the
Sound-In
Facebook event
this week and the optional theme is "Change." This can be
taken a number of ways, which is why I picked it. For me it
means to do something different for my improv, so here's one
outside of my usual palette. That said, it's got a good beat
and you can dance to it. |
| 1.8.21 |
Piece010821
|
Time
for another
Sound-In
Facebook event.
There is no theme this time. I am still wrapping my head
around the events of this week, so I figure the best way to
approach this improv is to just go with where the music
takes me (which is my usual way of doing these). Another
electric guitar improv with looping and heavy processing. |
| 1.1.21 |
Piece010121
|
It's the first weekend of 2021 and we have a new
Sound-In
Facebook event.
The theme this week is "21," which is pretty open-ended.
Back at the electric guitar with a bit more hope and
optimism than my improv from last night. |
| 12.31.20 |
Piece123120
|
Since our
"Solstice and New Year’s"
Sound-In
Facebook event
is still happening, I couldn't let the year end without one
last improv for 2020. Some noisy electric guitar for you. |
| 12.25.20 |
Piece122520
|
The theme for the event this week (yes, week) for our Sound-In
Facebook event
is "Solstice and New Year’s."
This guitar improv was made on Christmas day with Christmas
in mind. |
| 12.18.20 |
Piece121820
|
I am hosting the Sound-In
Facebook event
this weekend, and for this one the theme is "In Memory of
Harold Budd." I unofficially did that myself last week, but
here is another one made with him in mind. Guitar and synth
again. |
| 12.11.20 |
Piece121120
|
There is no theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event
this weekend, which leaves things wide open. My usual
improvs are made with a single instrument and a single
track. This one is out of the ordinary in that this is made
up of three tracks - one track of synth and two of electric
guitar. This is dedicated to a friend and inspiration who
passed away a few days ago. Rest in Peace Hal. |
| 12.4.20 |
Piece120420
|
We
have a new theme for our our Sound-In
Facebook event
this weekend and it's "Percussion." There were a number of
ways I thought to tackle this one but I ended up making one
with guitar. Plenty of processing and looping here. |
| 11.27.20 |
Piece112720
|
Our Sound-In
"The Cassette Album"
Facebook event
is still going on, and since I don't have one to share,
here's a guitar improv. |
| 11.20.20 |
Piece112020
|
Our Sound-In
Facebook event
this weekend has a "theme" of "The Cassette Album,"
encouraging members to share their cassette albums (if they
made them). I never did one, so here is an electric bass
improv (although it's hard to tell the instrument in this). |
| 11.13.20 |
Piece111320
|
The
theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event
this weekend is "Surrealism." Another electric guitar improv,
inspired by the theme. |
| 11.6.20 |
Piece110620
|
Our Sound-In
Facebook event
this weekend has the theme of "Jam-Boree," which for some
reason inspired me to take the mandolin off the wall for my
improv. |
| 10.30.20 |
Piece103020
|
I'm hosting our Sound-In
Facebook event
again this weekend and the theme is "Halloween Blue Moon."
What else
could it be, right? So with that in mind, here's another
electric guitar improv. |
| 10.23.20 |
Piece102320
|
We have another themed Sound-In
Facebook event
this weekend and the theme is "metal." I decided
for a major change in instruments for this improv and went
with a couple of my metal percussion instruments (agogo and
kalimba). In full disclosure, there is some wood and a gourd
involved in this. |
| 10.16.20 |
Piece101620
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event
this week is "Sledgehammer." I stayed far away from the
obvious choices and just went for something noisy. Here is a
heavily processed electric guitar improv. |
| 10.9.20 |
Piece100920
|
I'm hosting the latest Sound-In
Facebook event
this week, and the theme is "A Moment Captured" (which
happens to fit all of these for me). I am lamenting some
recent losses, so I channeled that into this guitar improv. |
| 10.2.20 |
Piece100220
|
Another weekend, another theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event
this week. This time it's "Harvest Moon Energy." I made this
synth improv with last night's Harvest Moon in mind. |
| 9.25.20 |
Piece092520
|
We
have a theme of "Get Weird" for our Sound-In
Facebook event
this week. While I may not be the best judge of weird, I do
not think this one fits theme theme. It's just another
ambient guitar improv Back in a relaxing mood. |
| 9.18.20 |
Piece091820
|
There
is no
theme again for our Sound-In
Facebook event
this week, but there is the suggestion of "just jamming."
Here's another electric guitar improv that must be inspired
by all the mayhem in the world these days. This is just the
Telecaster through a few pedals. |
| 9.11.20 |
Piece091120
|
There
is no
theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event
this week. However, it is September 11th, so I made this
meditative electric guitar improv with that in mind. |
| 9.4.20 |
Piece090420
|
The
theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event
this week is "Textures." This electric guitar improv is
definitely on theme. |
| 8.28.20 |
Piece082820
|
We
have no theme for our Sound-In
Facebook event
this week, so here's another electric guitar improv. A bit
more agitated than usual. |
| 8.21.20 |
Piece082120
|
This
week we have the theme of "Healing with Music Therapy" for
our Sound-In
Facebook event
this week. With that in mind, here is another electric
guitar improv. |
| 8.14.20 |
Piece081420
|
Looks like we're back to having a new theme each week for
our Sound-In
Facebook event. This week it's and it's "No Formula," so
that should be easy enough. Back to a looping guitar mood
for my improv this week. In a twisted surf guitar mood I
guess. Seems about right for the summer of 2020. |
| 8.7.20 |
Piece080720
|
11 years ago to the day, back when this thing started off as
NetNewMusic, I posted my first improv with the group, now
known as Sound-In. I have not missed a week since it
started, which means that I have posted an improvised piece
of music for 572 consecutive weeks. This musical activity,
and the amazing group of music creators that have come and
gone in the group (some of whom are still here from the
start of it) has brought me great joy and musical purpose,
and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to share my
musical meanderings. And speaking of that, we have a new
theme this week for our Sound-In
Facebook
event,
and it's "Separation." This is a rare improv in that I
actually used two different instruments - synth and guitar.
It was made with the theme in mind, thinking of all of us
who are dealing with with separation in one way or another. |
| 8.1.20 |
Piece080120
|
Another sax improv for the "Calm" Sound-In
Facebook
event.
This one doesn't fit the theme. |
| 7.31.20 |
Piece073120
|
We're getting back to the old way of doing things here, with
new themes most every week for our Sound-In
Facebook
event.
This time around it's "Calm," which is where I try to live
(at least in my music). Here's another
tenor sax improv, with plenty of processing. |
| 7.24.20 |
Piece072420
|
We have a new themed event happening for our Sound-In
Facebook
event
this weekend, although the theme is pretty wide open - it's
"Free Format."
It was time to bring out an old friend.
Here's a tenor sax improv for the weekend. Didn't realize
how much I missed playing sax. |
| 7.17.20 |
Piece071720
|
Another new Sound-In
Facebook
event
and the theme is "What's Normal?" Very fitting for these
times. We are told not to go outside if possible these days,
but I'm definitely going outside with this electric bass
improv. You have been warned. |
| 7.10.20 |
Piece071020
|
Yet another guitar improv for this weekend's portion of the "Phase 2" Sound-In
Facebook
event.
Still using the
Red Panda Particle, delay and reverb. |
| 7.3.20 |
Piece070320
|
Time for another guitar improv for this weekend's portion of the "Phase 2" Sound-In
Facebook
event.
Using the
Red Panda Particle, delay and reverb. Going
backwards seems to sum things up these days. |
| 6.28.20 |
Piece062820
|
Here is my third and final electric guitar improv for this weekend's portion of the "Phase 2" Sound-In
Facebook
event.
Still using the
Red Panda Particle and reverb. |
| 6.27.20 |
Piece062720
|
Here is my second electric guitar improv for this weekend's portion of the "Phase 2" Sound-In
Facebook
event,
once again featuring my new guitar pedal
- the Red Panda Particle, and my reverb pedal. |
| 6.26.20 |
Piece062620
|
We are still in the "Phase 2" Sound-In
Facebook
event
this weekend. For Father's Day I received a new guitar pedal
- the Red Panda Particle. It's an amazing pedal that makes
some very cool effects. Here's an electric guitar improv
using just that pedal and a reverb pedal. I'm feeling
another 3-improv weekend coming up. |
| 6.19.20 |
Piece061920
|
Time for another "Phase 2" improv for our Sound-In
Facebook
event
this weekend. Electric guitar in an agitated mood. |
| 6.12.20 |
Piece061220
|
We have moved into "Phase 2" at Sound-In, so here is a
new improv for our
Facebook
event
this weekend. Going with guitar on this one. In an ambient
mood. |
| 6.7.20 |
Piece060720
|
My
Sunday bass improv for our "Phase 1" Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend. |
| 6.6.20 |
Piece060620
|
Another bass improv for our "Phase 1" Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend. |
| 6.5.20 |
Piece060520
|
We're still in our "Phase 1" Sound-In
Facebook
event, so here's another improv. I'm back to the bass and
will make one for each day of the weekend. Here's the first
one - an elegy. |
| 5.29.20 |
Piece052920
|
It's another week of our "Phase 1" Sound-In
Facebook
event, so here's another improv. I had something different
in mind, but with all the heaviness in the world right now,
this is what came out. Again, I just go where the muse takes
me. |
| 5.22.20 |
Piece052220
|
Since this Covid-19 thing is going on longer than expected,
"The Duration" is not going for the duration. Instead, a new
Sound-In
Facebook
event has been started called "Phase 1." I'm back to the
piano for this improv. It was made with a delay in mind, but
the delay wasn't added until after the fact. |
| 5.17.20 |
Piece051720
|
Here is my third and final bass improv for the weekend as
part of the Sound-In
Facebook
event
"The Duration." |
| 5.16.20 |
Piece051620
|
So it turns out I'm going to do a bass improv each day this
weekend for our Sound-In
Facebook
event
"The Duration." Here is the second one, more on
the mysterious side. |
| 5.15.20 |
Piece051520
|
Our Sound-In
Facebook
event
"The Duration" is apparently here for the duration
(which at this point seems like it will never end). Going
back to the Fender electric bass for this. It's been too
long. |
| 5.8.20 |
Piece050820
|
Our Sound-In
Facebook
event
"The Duration" continues (as does this whole epic saga we
are living).
Here's another synth improv. |
| 5.1.20 |
Piece050120
|
Another Friday, another piano improv for our Sound-In "The Duration" event on
Facebook.
At least it's May now. |
| 4.24.20 |
Piece042420
|
It's Friday
(again), and the Sound-In "The Duration" event is still
taking place on
Facebook.
Back to the upright piano. |
| 4.17.20 |
Piece041720
|
It's
another Friday, so it's time for another improv for our Sound-In
Facebook
event
"The Duration." Yes, it's still going on. Back to
the keyboard for this one. |
| 4.12.20 |
Piece041220
|
An
Easter Sunday improv for our Sound-In
Facebook
event
"The Duration." More electric guitar this time, but one
filled with hope. |
| 4.11.20 |
Piece041120
|
A
Holy Saturday improv for our Sound-In
Facebook
event
"The Duration." Still on the electric guitar. |
| 4.10.20 |
Piece041020
|
Our Sound-In
Facebook
event
"The Duration" is still open, so here's another improv.
Today is Good Friday, so it is made with in mind. Electric
guitar this time. |
| 4.4.20 |
Piece040420
|
With
the timelessness of these days, I decided to make another
guitar improv for our open Sound-In
Facebook
event
"The Duration." |
| 4.3.20 |
Piece040320
|
Here
is my regular Friday improv for our open Sound-In
Facebook
event
"The Duration." Back to the guitar for this one. |
| 3.31.20 |
Improv033120
|
This
is a normally rare mid-week improv made late at night on the
piano for our open Sound-In
Facebook
event
"The Duration." These days nothing is normal. |
| 3.27.20 |
Piece032720
|
It looks like we are in this for the duration, which happens
to be our current open-ended
Sound-In
Facebook
event. I made another
live video on Facebook with a couple of synth improvs. I
forgot to hit record on the computer for the first one, but
here is an audio track of the second one. |
| 3.20.20 |
Piece032020
|
Well, it's gotten even weirder since last week. In many
places, people are now asked to stay home unless they are
part of essential services. This, combined with so many
venues closed, means that many artists are taking to social
media for live events, and that was the request for our
Sound-In
Facebook
event
this weekend. I made a video on Facebook of me recording
this improv on my upright piano. Here is the final product,
with some delay and reverb added. |
| 3.13.20 |
Piece031320
|
It's a weird time in the world right now. Covid-19 is
affecting everything, and we are all asked to practice
"social distancing." With that in mind, the theme this
weekend for our
Sound-In
Facebook
event
is "Isolation." I made this synth improv with the theme in
mind. And it works for Friday the 13th too! |
| 3.6.20 |
Piece030620
|
It's Super Thursday, so it's time for our
Sound-In
Facebook
event.
There's not really a theme, so I wasn't sure where the muse
would lead. I fired up the gear and ended up with what you
have here. There is a little more involved in this one than
usual, in terms of sounds and processing. |
| 2.28.20 |
Piece022820
|
It's a timely theme for our
Sound-In
Facebook
event
this weekend: "Pandemic or Bust." Seeing as I'm coming off
of a bout with the flu, how could this not be on theme (in
one way or another). Another synth improv. |
| 2.21.20 |
Piece022120
|
We have an un-themed
Sound-In
Facebook
event
this weekend. Back to the keyboard for this one. |
| 2.14.20 |
Piece021420
|
Believe it or not, the theme for our
Sound-In
Facebook
event is
not Valentine's Day (although that is a secondary option).
The theme is "Disparation Row," which
means to create a piece with disparate (unlike, wildly differing) elements.
I had a couple of ideas in mind
but ended up with what you hear here. A fast rhythmic part
paired with a slow moving sustained line, all done using
apps on my iPad. |
| 2.7.20 |
Piece020720
|
The
theme this week for our
Sound-In
Facebook
event is "It's
Not The 60s Anymore." I'm not exactly sure what that means,
or if this fits it, but here's another piano improv. |
| 1.31.20 |
Piece013120
|
We
are back to a theme this week for our
Sound-In
Facebook
event,
which is "Is It Working?" I guess that could be taken many
ways, including a question asked by composer to listener.
Here's a piano improv. The piano works. My fingers work.
Does the improv work? |
| 1.24.20 |
Piece012420-1
Piece012420-2
|
The
theme for our
Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend is "As You Like It," which basically
means that there is no theme. I couldn't decide what mood I
was in (or wanted to be in), so here are two improvs. |
| 1.17.20 |
Piece011720
|
We
have a theme again for our
Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend, and it's "Where the Old and the New
Meet." While the intention of the host was to make a piece
using old and new materials, I suppose there are other ways
to interpret it. This is a new guitar improv. Not sure where
the old comes in (if it does at all). |
| 1.10.20 |
Piece011020
|
The
theme for our
Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend is "Frequency." I'm using a hammered
dulcime sound with plenty of delay and reverb. Lots of
frequencies floating around in here. |
1.3.20
1.1.20 |
Piece010320
Piece010120
|
I am hosting the first
Sound-In
Facebook
event of the new year, and the theme is "Tabula
Rasa." I made an improv on the 1st, and then another on
the 3rd. Trying to focus on a clean slate. |
| 12.27.19 |
Piece122719
|
It's
the last
Sound-In
Facebook
event of the year, and the theme is "Go out with a BANG!"
I had something entirely different in mind when I started
off with this improv, but once again I went where the muse
took me. |
| 12.20.19 |
Piece122019
|
Another weekend, another Sound-In
Facebook
event, another improv. Back to the old upright piano for
this one. The theme for the event is "feelings." All of my
music comes from some connection with my feelings, so this
one was easy. |
| 12.13.19 |
Piece121319
|
Again, we don't have a theme per se, but the title of our Sound-In
Facebook
event this week is "Wheel House," as in
"what's in your wheel house?" Another looping bass improv is
in mine. |
| 12.6.19 |
Piece120619
|
The title of our Sound-In
Facebook
event this week is "door to door to door." In the words
of our host, "the end it is about the journey and not the destination."
Here is another electric bass journey. |
| 11.29.19 |
Piece112919
|
We have a weather-inspired theme this weekend of "storms" for our Sound-In
Facebook
event. I realized that it's been too long since I made
one of these improvs on electric bass, so here's one and
it's inspired by theme. |
| 11.22.19 |
Piece112219
|
Our theme this week for our Sound-In
Facebook
event is "Processes." The challenge from our host is to post a video, photo or other means of
description for how you composed your piece. I made a video and posted it on
YouTube. The audio file of the improv is posted here. |
| 11.15.19 |
Piece111519
|
Another Sound-In
Facebook
event, another theme: "Heresy or Hearsay." I'm not sure
how to translate that into music, so I just made an improv. |
| 11.8.19 |
Piece110819
|
We have a theme again for our Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend, and it's "Because You Can.
This could be realized so many ways. Here's
mine. |
| 11.1.19 |
Piece110119
|
There is a "Halloween Scarevent" theme happening at our Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend. Made this one with the theme in
mind, although it is not scary at all. |
| 10.25.19 |
Piece102519
|
There is another Sound-In
Facebook
event happening. This one has no theme, so here you go. |
| 10.18.19 |
Piece101819
|
I'm hosting the Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend, and I came up with the theme of "A
Moment." In medieval times, a moments was roughly 90 seconds
long. I was shooting for that, but when making this improv I
was in the moment and had to go where it took me. |
| 10.11.19 |
Piece101119
|
There is no theme this weekend for our Sound-In
Facebook
event. I'm not sure why I was drawn to something
percussive this time. Maybe it was the passing of Ginger
Baker. Maybe it was that I was listening to the Creatures
recently. Regardless, here is an improv for solo drum
machine. |
| 10.4.19 |
Piece100419
|
We have another Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend, and the theme is "All About Focus."
With that in mind, I picked up the guitar, found a set-up
that was inspiring, and tried to keep it focused. |
| 9.27.19 |
Piece092719
|
"Night Music" is the theme this weekend for our Sound-In
Facebook
event. Right up my alley. Back to the guitar for this
one. |
| 9.20.19 |
Piece092019
|
The theme for our Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend is "Listen to the Scientists!" I did
have the theme in mind when I recorded this improv, but it's
not programmatic. I just followed the muse. |
| 9.13.19 |
Piece091319
|
While there is an "H.P. Lovecraft" theme for our Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend, my improv isn't inspired by it. My
head was somewhere else for this synth improv. Not sure
where, but somewhere else. |
| 9.7.19 |
Piece090719
|
Got hit with a cold this weekend that has knocked me out,
and I almost didn't get an improv made. I think somebody may
be after me. Coincidently (or not), the theme for our Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend is "Conspiracy Theory." Improv is
done, now back to bed. |
| 8.30.19 |
Piece083019
|
Another themeless Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend, so here's another themeless piano improv. |
| 8.23.19 |
Piece082319
|
No
theme again at our Sound-In event on
Facebook
and I'm still in piano mode, so here's another piano improv. |
| 8.16.19 |
Piece081619
|
I'm
hosting the Sound-In event this weekend over on
Facebook
and there's no theme, so here's another piano improv. |
| 8.9.19 |
Piece080919-1
Piece080919-2
|
We have another themed event this weekend for our Sound-In
Facebook
event. The theme is "Inspired by the Beatles." I wasn't
going to go with the theme, but I went where the music took
me. In fact, it took me to two places and I couldn't decide
which one to pick, so here they both are. |
| 8.2.19 |
Piece080219
|
No
theme for our weekly Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend. Here's a piano improv with some ambient
sounds in the background. |
| 7.26.19 |
Piece072619
|
Another weekend, another Sound-In
Facebook
event. The theme for this event is
"to please
the mind with sound."
I think my
guitar improv does that. This one has a bit of the So Cal
summer vibe. |
| 7.19.19 |
Piece071919
|
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first lunar
landing, our Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend has the theme of "Apollo." Here is
another theme-inspired guitar improv. |
| 7.12.19 |
Piece071219
|
Our Sound-In
Facebook
event this weekend has a "summer" theme. I made this guitar
improv with the theme in mind. |
| 7.5.19 |
Piece070519
|
It's the 4th of July weekend and we have a "fireworks" theme
for our Sound-In event on
Facebook.
I'm back at the guitar, with some ambient recording of the
fireworks from my backyard in the background. |
| 6.28.19 |
Piece062819
|
I'm still in synth world for my Sound-In improv this week.
Wanted something more rhythmic this week, so here goes. Be
sure to check out our Sound-In event on
Facebook. |
| 6.21.19 |
Piece062119
|
Come check out our latest Sound-In event on
Facebook.
I had an idea of what I wanted to do this week, but I ended
up being taken in a different direction. The sounds will
sometimes do that. The trick is to let them lead. |
| 6.14.19 |
Piece061419
|
Time for our weekly Sound-In event on
Facebook.
In a droney meditative mood. |
| 6.7.19 |
Piece060719
|
Another week, another Sound-In event on
Facebook.
There's no theme, but with the mood of this synth improv,
I'm thinking that I must have D-Day still floating around in
my head. |
| 5.31.19 |
Piece053119
|
Another Sound-In event this weekend on
Facebook,
and another synth improv. |
| 5.24.19 |
Piece052419
|
It's another theme-less Sound-In event this weekend on
Facebook,
and I'm back at the keyboard for another improv. |
| 5.17.19 |
Piece051719
|
Another Sound-In event is happening on
Facebook.,
There is no theme for this one. |
| 5.10.19 |
Piece051019
|
Another Sound-In event is happening on
Facebook,
and the theme is "Futurist." I made this with the theme in
mind but am not sure if it fits or not. Either way, it's
done. |
| 5.3.19 |
Piece050319
|
The theme for the event this weekend on
Facebook is "glitch/stutter/sustain." It's been a very
busy week, so here's a guitar improv inspired by the theme. |
| 4.26.19 |
Piece042619
|
I'm hosting the Sound-In event this weekend over on
Facebook, and decided to go with "no theme" and see
where it takes everybody. Here's another synth improv from
me. |
| 4.19.19 |
Piece041919
|
It's Good Friday today. My
SoundIn improv today was made with that in mind. |
| 4.12.19 |
Piece041219
|
It's a busy week, so here's another quick synth improv for
my weekly
SoundIn contribution. |
| 4.5.19 |
Piece040519
|
There's no theme again at
SoundIn, and I'm still living in synth world. May be
here for a while. |
| 3.29.19 |
Piece032919
|
There's no theme this weekend at
SoundIn, so we're free to go wherever we feel lead. I
have a new recording set-up now, so time to learn some new
software. Going back to synth world for a while. |
| 3.22.19 |
Piece032219
|
The theme this weekend at
SoundIn is "Music with H.G. Wells." The challenge is to
come up with something that fits one of his stories. How
about "A Quiet Moment with the Invisible Man?" |
| 3.15.19 |
Piece031519
|
Since today is the Ides of March, the optional theme
SoundIn this week is . . . "The Ides of March." I think
this guitar improv fits. |
| 3.8.19 |
Piece030819
|
I decided to get back to the guitar and looper for
SoundIn this week. The optional theme is
“In D @ 130 BPM.” It's in D and I'm close on
the tempo. Mission accomplished. |
| 3.1.19 |
Piece030119
|
The optional
SoundIn theme for this weekend is to create an homage to
insects (in light of what is happening to them globally).
There were many ways I could have taken this, but I ended up
with a heavily processed piano improv. Sounds like bugs to
me. |
| 2.22.19 |
Piece022219
|
There's an optional theme at
SoundIn of "Poetry Readings." I opted to not go with the
theme this time. Here's another Triton improv. |
| 2.15.19 |
Piece021519
|
There's no theme at
SoundIn this weekend. Here's another improv made on the
Triton, with delays added later. |
| 2.8.19 |
Piece020819
|
It's
SoundIn improv time again, and we have a theme (from me)
of "sustain." I'm back at the Korg Triton
for a change. Simple and sustained. |
| 2.1.19 |
Piece020119
|
No
theme at
SoundIn this week, so here's another looping guitar improv. |
| 1.25.19 |
Piece012519
|
Time
for another
SoundIn improv. There's a theme going on to make a piece
that's less than a minute long. That didn't happen for me.
Here's another guitar improv. |
| 1.18.19 |
Piece011819
|
The
SoundIn theme this week is a lunar inspired theme called
Far side/Dark side. This was made with the
theme in mind (again, guitar, looping and processing). |
| 1.11.19 |
Piece011119
|
I am "hosting" the
SoundIn
event this weekend, which basically means that I am the one
who came up with the optional theme. The theme for this one
is "Forward & Backward" and the challenge is to include at
least one musical element that is in reverse. Here's my
contribution, again with
guitar, looping and processing. Having fun with different
sonic elements. |
| 1.4.19 |
Piece010419
|
My
first
SoundIn improv of 2019. There's no theme again. Back to
the guitar, looping and processing. Having fun with
different sonic elements. |
| 12.28.18 |
Piece122818
|
This is my last official
SoundIn improv of 2018. There's no theme this time, so I
made a quick improv using the Animoog app on the iPad. |
| 12.21.18 |
Piece122118
|
It's the winter solstice, so it's a winter solstice theme at
SoundIn theme. This was made using three different
hardware synths. It's not a programmatic improv, but I think
it does evoke certain aspects of winter. |
| 12.14.18 |
Piece121418
|
Check out this cool
SoundIn theme:
"BeatleZania.” The challenge was to include in an improv
some Beatles riffs and/or turn parts of any Beatles tune
into something NonPop groovy. Here
is my contribution. |
| 12.7.18 |
Piece120718
|
No theme this week at
SoundIn. I'm still feeling the vibe from last week, so
here's a synth improv in a similar vein.
|
| 11.30.18 |
Piece113018
|
The theme this week for
SoundIn
is to create piece in homage to Terry
Riley's "In C." The basic parameters are to create a piece
in C major, 132 beats per minute, and to have the pitch C
pulsing throughout. This is inspired by the theme. |
| 11.23.18 |
Piece112318
|
There's no theme for
SoundIn this week. Here's another guitar and looper improv (with effects). |
| 11.16.18 |
Piece111618
|
The
SoundIn theme this week is "In the Loop." Right up my
alley! A guitar and looper improv (with effects). |
| 11.9.18 |
Piece110918
|
We
are
changing things up over at SoundIn and you can now find our
weekly events at Facebook on the
SoundIn page. The theme this week is "change," which is
fitting, but my improv doesn't fit the theme. At least I
don't think it does. |
| 11.2.18 |
Piece110218
|
We don't have a theme this weekend at
SoundIn.
Here's an ambient improv
made on the Triton. |
| 10.26.18 |
Piece102618
|
While there is a theme this weekend at
SoundIn
("All Hallow's Eve"), this was not made with the theme in
mind. That said, I think it kind of fits. Another improv
made on the Triton. |
| 10.19.18 |
Piece101918
|
The theme for this weekend at
SoundIn
is "soft textures," which is right up my alley. I had a
little extra time, so I decided to turn on the synths and
see what I could find (and hear what I could hear). This
improv was made with the Korg Triton. |
| 10.12.18 |
Piece101218
|
We have a theme again at
SoundIn,
and while I love the theme ("Bird Songs"), I wasn't able to
make something on it this time. Here's another guitar
improv. |
| 10.5.18 |
Piece100518
|
It's the beginning of October and I'm hosting the first
SoundIn
event of the month, so we're going for a "mystery" theme to
kick things off. Back to some guitar for this one. |
| 9.28.18 |
Piece092818
|
There's a theme of "Hell's Bells" this
weekend at
SoundIn,
but my bass improv this week isn't connected to the theme.
At least I don't think it is. |
| 9.21.18 |
Piece092118
|
There's no theme this
weekend at
SoundIn,
so it's a regular free-for-all. Back to the bass for this
one. |
| 9.14.18 |
Piece091418
|
There's an optional theme of "Ghost in the Machine" this
weekend at
SoundIn.
There's definitely something going on in my improv that
makes it fit to me. |
| 9.7.18 |
Piece090718
|
The theme this weekend at
SoundIn
is "Remembering Steve Moshier." I made this guitar improv
with him in mind. He is dearly missed. |
| 8.31.18 |
Piece083118
|
"Summoning Fall" is the theme at
SoundIn
this weekend. Here's another improv made with the DM1 and Animoog apps.
I think it fits the theme. Trying to be optimistic. |
| 8.24.18 |
Piece082418
|
I'm hosting the
SoundIn
event
this weekend, and we have an optionally theme of
"drums/percussion." Since I'm hosting, I figured I'd better
use the theme. This one uses the DM1 and Animoog apps, and
some live rabana playing. |
| 8.17.18 |
Piece081718
|
There is an optional theme of "jazz" over at
SoundIn
this weekend. This is not on theme. It's another ambient
guitar improv. Relax and enjoy. |
| 8.10.18 |
Piece081018
|
This week saw 808 day, which celebrates the Roland TR-808
drum machine. In honor of that, I used the 808 in the DM1
drum machine app and then improvised some electric guitar
over it for my
SoundIn
improv. |
| 8.3.18 |
Piece080318
|
We have an event going on at
SoundIn
this weekend. There's no theme, so I'm back with another
ambient piano improv. This one roughly marks my 9th
anniversary of making these improvs. The first one was on
August 7th, 2009. I haven't missed a week since I started. I
think I may have a problem. That's the first step, right? |
| 7.27.18 |
Piece072718
|
There a theme at
SoundIn.
It's "Melody Study." I think this is the opposite of that.
Oh well. Another piano improv. |
| 7.20.18 |
Piece072018
|
More piano. There's a theme of "mazes and mirrors" at
SoundIn.
There are definitely reflections here. |
| 7.13.18 |
Piece071318
|
It's a "free for all" weekend at
SoundIn.
That makes it easy for me. I'm back in a piano mood. |
| 7.6.18 |
Piece070618
|
It's July 4th week/weekend, which means that there is an
extended themed event going on at
SoundIn. The theme is "fire/Work."
I'm not exactly sure what to take from that, so I'm not
exactly sure if this fits. There is a little bit of
smoldering going on in the guitar sound though. Here's
another looping guitar improv. Keep cool out there!
|
| 6.29.18 |
Piece062918
|
We have another themed event this weekend at
SoundIn,
and this time it's "Psychedelic." It's been way too long
since I've played my Telecaster, so that's what you hear
here. I don't really think it fits the theme per se, but
who's to say, right? |
| 6.22.18 |
Piece062218
|
It's ImprovFriday and there's a "solstice"
theme going on over at SoundIn.
Here's an Animoog iPad improv that I think fits the theme. |
| 6.15.18 |
Piece061518
|
I'm hosting the
SoundIn
event this weekend, and since we're on the edge of summer, I
picked the theme of "ocean." Since I came up with the theme,
I definitely had it in mind when making this improv. This
one uses a couple tracks of the Animoog app, as well as
looping and solo guitar. |
| 6.8.18 |
Piece060818
|
We have a themed ImprovFriday event today
at
SoundIn,
and the theme is
"free bird." This improv was not made with the theme in
mind, but I think it kind of fits.
I’m dedicating this one to Anthony Bourdain, Kate Spade, all
who are struggling, and all whose struggle got the best of
them. |
| 6.1.18 |
Piece060118
|
We have the timely theme of "Ambien(t)"
happening this weekend at
SoundIn.
I think this one fits. More guitar for you. |
| 5.25.18 |
Piece052518
|
There's some anarchy going on over at
SoundIn
for our event this weekend. Here's my guitar contribution. |
| 5.18.18 |
Piece051818
|
It's
ImprovFriday
at SoundIn, so here's another ukulele improv. |
| 5.11.18 |
Piece051118
|
In honor of
May & moms, the theme this weekend at SoundIn is
"Relaxed and Free Form." Another theme that's right up my
alley, and it doesn't get much more relaxed than ukulele, so
here's an ukulele improv with some processing added. |
| 5.4.18 |
Piece050418
|
In
celebration of Star Wars Day (May the 4th), SoundIn is
having our First Annual Mos Eisley Cantina Jamboree this
weekend. This improv is on theme, made on the upright piano
and then heavily processed. |
| 4.27.18 |
Piece042718
|
It's time
again for our official bi-weekly SoundIn event
weekend. There's no theme this time, so anything is fair
game. For this improv I returned to the Animoog app on the
iPad, with some reverb added after the fact. In an ambient
mood. |
| 4.20.18 |
Piece042018
|
The ImprovFriday 4/20 event is happening over
at SoundIn right
now. This improv was not made with that in mind, but there
certainly is a mellowness about the piece that fits. I don't
use drums in the usual way very often, but it seemed like a
nice change. |
| 4.13.18 |
Piece041318
|
We have
another themed event weekend at SoundIn and
the theme is "powderkeg piano." While I'm not exactly sure
what that means, I am happy to oblige with a piano improv
made on my upright, with some delay added after the fact. |
| 4.6.18 |
Piece040618
|
It's
ImprovFriday time at
SoundIn
and "clouds" is the theme. Right up my
alley! |
| 3.30.18 |
Piece033018
|
Time for
another
SoundIn
event weekend! The theme for this weekend is "cooler
sounds," which means that the challenge is to make cooler
sounds than we have before. I don't know if this is cooler
than anything I've done before, but it is pretty cool, if I
may say so myself. More looping guitar music for you. |
| 3.23.18 |
Piece032318
|
It's been a long while since I made an
environmental recording, but I was inspired by the rain
yesterday, so I recorded it from my front porch to use in my
SoundIn
ImprovFriday improv. Here's the final result, an improv for
guitar with the rain accompaniment. |
| 3.16.18 |
Piece031618
|
It's
SoundIn
event time again, with a theme of "Process/Distortion." As
you will hear, this one is not on theme, unless you count
looping and playing with the delay as a process. Once again
using my Temporary Creatures rig. |
| 3.9.18 |
Piece030918
|
This one almost got past me. Almost. Here's another
SoundIn
ImprovFriday improv, made using the ThumbJam app on the ipad. |
| 3.2.18 |
Piece030218 ("Picture Dance Party") |
It's Oscar weekend, which
means that it's also time for the annual
Sound-In
Film Festival. For my film contribution, I kept with my
usual method of working on these, which was to find a public
domain film (in the case a Kodak commercial) and then
improvise some music for it. The link to the audio track is
here. You can see the video
by clicking on the "Videos" link on the left. |
| 2.23.18 |
Piece022318
|
Another
SoundIn
ImprovFriday, another improv with the guitar, Timeline &
looper. |
| 2.16.18 |
Piece021618
|
We have a themeless
SoundIn event this weekend. Back to the guitar, looper,
etc. |
| 2.9.18 |
Piece020918
|
More
piano for this
SoundIn ImprovFriday improv. |
| 2.2.18 |
Piece020218
|
The theme for this weekend's
SoundIn event is "atonality." I decided to go back to
the upright piano for this improv, then I added the
processing after the fact. |
| 1.26.18 |
Piece012618
|
Another Friday means time for another
SoundIn ImprovFriday. Here's another guitar improv for
you. |
| 1.19.18 |
Piece011918
|
We have a themed event this weekend at
SoundIn. The
theme is "Paradise's Soundtrack," which leaves lots of room
when it comes to making music. This one is on theme, and
again uses my Temporary Creatures set-up. |
| 1.12.18 |
Piece011218
|
It's ImprovFriday again over at
SoundIn. There
is an optional theme of "Extraordinarily Mundane." Hopefully
this is not that (but it's ok if it is). Again, I'm using my Temporary Creatures set-up. |
| 1.5.18 |
Piece010518
|
A new year, another year of ImprovFridays and
SoundIn
events (they usually alternate). The theme for this
weekend's event is "The Dead of Winter," which I had in mind
when I made this improv using my Temporary Creatures set-up. |
| 12.29.17 |
Piece122917
|
The end of another year is upon us. Today is
the last Friday of 2017, so time for the last
SoundIn
ImprovFriday event of the year. I'm hosting this one, and
the theme for this event is “Goodbye, Hello.” This one is
made with the DM1
drum machine app, Rickenbacker guitar, fuzz, delay, reverb and looper. |
| 12.22.17 |
Piece122217
|
As is tradition, there is a
holiday-themed event going on at
SoundIn this weekend, this time entitled "Santa,
Hanukkah, Sound-In and UFOs." My
improv this week was made with a couple apps on the iPad.
While it may not sound like it, I did have Christmas in mind
when I made it. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!! |
| 12.15.17 |
Piece121517
|
We have another ImprovFriday
event happening over at
SoundIn. Here's another improv made with the Rickenbacker guitar, delay, reverb and looper. |
| 12.8.17 |
Piece120817
|
There's a virtual holiday office
party over at
SoundIn this weekend. My musical contribution was made
using a Rickenbacker guitar that is currently living at my
house. Once again I'm using delay, reverb and looper.
Apparently I'm the guy that's over in the corner of the
party, lost in my own world. |
| 12.1.17 |
Piece120117
|
It's the first of December and
it's Friday, so it's a perfect time for an improv. This is
another improv made with guitar, delay, reverb and looper. |
| 11.24.17 |
Piece112417
|
It's
SoundIn time, and theme theme this weekend is "Looping
Around" (which is right up my alley these days). Here's
another improv made with guitar, delay, reverb and looper
(with the new compressor pedal at the front). |
| 11.17.17 |
Piece111717
|
These
SoundIn ImprovFridays seem to roll around faster and
faster. Here's another ThumbJam improv. |
| 11.10.17 |
Piece111017
|
It's
SoundIn weekend and we have a theme of "The White Keys." This improv was made
using the ThumbJam app playing only the "white keys." |
| 11.3.17 |
Piece110317
|
Another ImprovFriday at
SoundIn and I'm back with the iPad. This improv was made
using the ThumbJam app. |
| 10.27.17 |
Piece102717
|
It's
SoundIn event time again. More guitar, looper
and effects. |
| 10.20.17 |
Piece102017
|
The impact/influence of my new friend Samite is evident in
this ImprovFriday improv. This is two tracks of kalimba with
some processing. |
| 10.13.17 |
Piece101317
|
It's
SoundIn event time again, and theme time again. This
time the theme is "Alternate Reality." While I was thinking
about the theme when I made this improv, I couldn't tell you
the connection. This is another one made with guitar, looper
and effects. |
| 10.6.17 |
Piece100617
|
Time for another ImprovFriday improv. It's been a busy,
challenging week, so I took out the uke and made this quick
improv. RIP Tom! |
| 9.29.17 |
Piece092917
|
It's time for another
SoundIn event this weekend, and there's a "Variations"
theme happening. This is another one made with the DM1 and
Animoog apps on the iPad. I guess that makes it sort of a
variation from the one I made last week. |
| 9.22.17 |
Piece092217
|
It's ImprovFriday time and it's the first day of fall. Happy
Autumnal Equinox everybody! I'm using the iPad again for
this one, and was in a percussive mood. This uses the DM1
app and the Animoog app. |
| 9.15.17 |
Piece091517
|
Ok folks, I'm taking it a bit outside for this one. We have
a theme at
SoundIn this weekend and it's "mythology." At first I
had no idea how to approach the theme, but the host of the
event mentioned Pandora's Box, and that gave me a way in.
This was definitely inspired by that idea, and was made with
three iPad apps: Animoog, CagePiano & Sylo Synth, with
additional processing added. |
| 9.8.17 |
Piece090817
|
It's ImprovFriday time! Here's another improv using guitar, looper
and reverb. |
| 9.1.17 |
Piece090117
|
I'm hosting the
SoundIn
event this weekend, with the theme of "memento."
Here's an improv of remembering, again using guitar, looper, reverb and delay. |
| 8.25.17 |
Piece082517
|
These ImprovFridays sure do roll around quickly. Here's
another improv made with guitar, looper, reverb and delay. |
| 8.18.17 |
Piece081817
|
It's
SoundIn
time again, and we have a theme of "Key of C." I went for C
major with this one, using guitar, looper, reverb and delay. |
| 8.11.17 |
Piece081117
|
This week marks eight years since I started making
ImprovFriday musical improvisations and posting them online.
Just for fun, I asked on Facebook if anybody had any
requests for a particular instrument. I had a few different
requests, and most I could accommodate, but when it came
time to make the
SoundIn
improv, I was drawn to two of them. I started off with
electric bass, played through the Timeline, Cathedral &
Ditto X4 pedals. I then brought out the xaphoon, which I
haven't played in years, and improvised a part over the bass
part. I don't know where the urge to make vocal percussion
sounds came from, but these are all about following where
the muse leads. Here's to another eight years! |
| 8.4.17 |
Piece080417
|
It's time for another themed
SoundIn
event. The theme this time "Fairytale or Mystique." I think
there's some mystique to this one. Again, made with guitar,
looper, and the
Timeline. |
| 7.28.17 |
Piece072817
|
There's a
SoundIn
ImprovFriday event happening this weekend, so here's another
improv made with guitar, looper, reverb, and the Strymon
Timeline. |
| 7.21.17 |
Piece072117
|
The theme over at
SoundIn
is "The Old Man and the Song," which is inspired by
Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea." I'm not sure if this
fits the theme, but it is a song of sorts made by an old-ish
man, so there you go. More guitar, looper and the Strymon
Timeline. There's only me. |
| 7.14.17 |
Piece071417
|
It's
SoundIn
ImprovFriday time, and it's back to the guitar for me.
Here's another improv made with the looper and effects. |
| 7.7.17 |
Piece070717
|
It's time for our official bi-weekly
SoundIn
event, and there's no theme this time. I'm using the
ThumbJam app again, and having fun with looping and a single
synth sound. |
| 6.30.17 |
Piece063017
|
There's a Fourth of July theme this weekend for our epic
five-day
SoundIn ImprovFriday
event. For some reason, I remembered that I had the ThumbJam
app on my iPad so I pulled it up and made this improv. I had
the theme in mind when I made it, but am not sure if it
comes across. |
| 6.23.17 |
Piece062317
|
"Sumer
is Icumen in" is the theme for
SoundIn
this weekend. Here's another improv made with the R-05 inside the piano, and then
delay and reverb added later. In my own way, I think this
one has a summer feel to it. |
| 6.16.17 |
Piece061617
|
I was drawn back to the old upright piano for my
SoundIn ImprovFriday improv
this week.
This was recorded with the R-05 inside the piano, and then
delay and reverb added later. |
| 6.9.17 |
Piece060917
|
We have a theme again at
SoundIn
this weekend, and this time it's "poetry." For this one, I
made an improv using the Alchemy synth app on the iPad, read
one of my favorite poems, and then added some processing. |
| 6.2.17 |
Piece060217
|
Decided to go back to the iPad for this
SoundIn ImprovFriday improv.
This was made with the DM1 drum machine app and the Alchemy
synth app. Going old-school on this one. |
| 5.26.17 |
Piece052617
|
There's another themed event at
SoundIn
this weekend, and the optional theme is "Life in the Gaps."
I think this one fits. |
| 5.19.17 |
Piece051917
|
Time for another ImprovFriday improv at
SoundIn. Another one with the
TimeLine and the Ditto X4. I'm using both loopers in the X4
for this one; one with a single repeating loop, and the
other looping with the decay function so that as a new part
is added, the previous part fades out over time. |
| 5.12.17 |
Piece051217
|
I'm hosting the bi-weekly
SoundIn
event this weekend, and the theme is "Inside the Box."
What does that mean? Here are a few thoughts: 1. Play to
your strengths/comfort zone. 2. Emphasize
effects/processing. 3. Stay within strict parameters. It
will be interesting to hear what everybody comes up with. As
for my improv, here's another one using guitar, the Ditto X4 and the TimeLine. |
| 5.5.17 |
Piece050517
|
It's ImprovFriday, and there's even a themed event going on
over at
SoundIn.
The theme is "Big Tree." I'm not quite sure what it means,
but I was thinking about it when I made this improv. Here's
another one with guitar, the Ditto X4 and the TimeLine. |
| 4.28.17 |
Piece042817
|
Back for another
SoundIn
event & improv, and I'm back with the guitar, TimeLine and
Reflex. The theme is "Made for Mashing," which means that
various pieces can be mashed together in one way or another.
This is a pretty common thing at SoundIn, particularly by
mash-master Steve Layton. I always assume (and hope) my
improvs will end up in a mash or two. We'll see . . . |
| 4.21.17 |
Piece042117
|
It's ImprovFriday, so here's another improv. I'm back to my
acoustic-electric guitar, where I will probably be for a
while as I have fun with the TimeLine. I'm using the Ditto
X4 for the looper (and a smidge of reverb from the Reflex). |
| 4.14.17 |
Piece041417
|
It's time for our bi-weekly
SoundIn
event, and we have a theme of Retro 80s Synth. Inspired by
the theme, I made this improv using the Animoog app on my iPad.
It's got that 80s vibe to me. |
| 4.7.17 |
Piece040717
|
It's Friday, so it's time for another improv. On the bass
again, running through the Timeline and the Reflex. |
| 3.31.17 |
Piece033117
|
SoundIn
is officially re-located and we're having our first official
weekend event. The theme for this one is "Thinking Out Of
The Box." I'm not sure what counts as being "on theme," but
this one works for me. Yet another bass improv, made with
the Strymon Timeline. |
| 3.24.17 |
Piece032417
|
It's ImprovFriday time, and
SoundIn
is now at a new location on the fabulous interwebs (no dash
anymore). Here's my latest improv. More bass, with looper
and processing. |
| 3.17.17 |
Piece031717
|
It's
Sound-In
time again and I decided to get a bit more adventurous. This
one actually features drums! I came up with a drum pattern
in the DM1 app and found a sound set I liked. I then
recorded it while manipulating it in real-time. After that
was done I improvised a bass part over it, running the bass
through the Reflex. |
| 3.10.17 |
Piece031017
|
Another
Sound-In
ImprovFriday and I'm still happily making bass improvs. Once
again here's an improv made with Fender Jazz bass, Lexicon Reflex
and the Ditto X4. |
| 3.3.17 |
Piece030317
|
It's
Sound-In
time again! There's no theme this time, so here's another
bass improv for you, made with the Fender Jazz bass and the
Lexicon Reflex. |
| 2.24.17 |
Piece022417
Piece022417-Video
|
I made two improvs this
week. I made one with my usual M.O., and then I made one to go with a video for our
annual
Sound-In
Film Festival. Both are made on bass. You can see the video
by clicking on the "Videos" link on the left. |
| 2.17.17 |
Piece021717
|
I'm still in bass world
these days (and probably will be for a while), so here's
another improv for our
Sound-In
event this weekend. The theme is "sun," which I can kind of
hear in this. |
| 2.10.17 |
Piece021017
|
It's ImprovFriday time at
Sound-In, so
here's another bass improv, made with the Ditto X4 looper. |
| 2.3.17 |
Piece020317
|
Time for another
Sound-In
event. There's no theme this week, so here's another bass
improv for you. The processing is part of the original
recording, coming from a Lexicon Reflex. |
| 1.27.17 |
Piece012717
|
It's Friday, which means
it's another
Sound-In
ImprovFriday. I'm in bass mode these days, so here's an
improv made with Fender bass, looper and some reverb. |
| 1.20.17 |
Piece012017
|
Time for another
Sound-In
event. There is an optional theme of "Rise." Not sure if
this fits it, but here it is either way. Another one made
with guitar, looper and processing. |
| 1.13.17 |
Piece011317
|
It's the first
Sound-In
ImprovFriday of the year. One of my goals for the year is
being deliberate about spending more time this year working
with my guitars and looper pedal (Ditto X4). Here's a start. |
| 1.6.17 |
Piece010617
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is Anti-Music. This is a tough one for me, as I hear music
in everything. What I ended up doing was recording bit of
the rain we've had lately coming in to our leaky shed (which
has some drums in it). I organized what I recorded into a
simple structure, but this is probably as far away from
"music" as I get. That said, it's still music to my ears. |
| 12.30.16 |
Piece123016
|
It's ImprovFriday time at
Sound-In
- the last one of the year! I found out late on the 28th
that one of my music professors and composition teachers at
Cal State Fullerton, Lloyd Rodgers, passed away earlier that
day. This improv was made with his music in mind. This is
three tracks of electric guitar. RIP Lloyd! |
| 12.23.16 |
Piece122316
|
I am hosting the
Sound-In
event this weekend, and the theme is winter/Christmas. I've
been thinking a lot about the situation in Aleppo lately,
and while it's good news that many civilians are currently
being evacuated, the situation is still tragic for so many
of the refugees both there and abroad. I made this improv
with them in mind. It was recorded on my upright piano and
then processed with delay and reverb. |
| 12.16.16 |
Piece121616
|
I'm back on the
nylon-string acoustic-electric for this
Sound-In ImprovFriday
improv. This is a single take recorded onto both a mono
track and a stereo track. I added some delay to the mono
track and reverb to the stereo track. |
| 12.9.16 |
Piece120916
|
Here's my contribution for
the
Sound-In
event this weekend. It was made with me playing some of my
percussion instruments and then playing a melodic part with
the Alchemy snyth app on my iPad. |
| 12.2.16 |
Piece120216
|
We're back to ImprovFriday
at
Sound-In,
so here's one made with doumbek and mandolin (with some
duplicating and processing). |
| 11.25.16 |
Piece112516
|
There's a theme this week at
Sound-In,
which is "oncoming." I'm not sure if this fits, but then
again, I'm still trying to get my head around the possible
meanings of the theme. I made this one in the wee small
hours on my old upright piano. It was recorded with the
R-05. The processing was added a later; some stereo delay
and reverb to taste. |
| 11.18.16 |
Piece111816
|
Here's a simple ImprovFriday
improv for
Sound-In,
made with the Animoog app on the iPad. |
| 11.11.16 |
Piece111116
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In is
"45," and I guess the closest I get to the theme is that
this improv could fit on a 45 record. This is four mono
tracks from the SH-101. The rhythm parts were sequenced in
the SH101 and then recorded. The melody track was
improvised/recorded over the rhythm tracks and then
duplicated. |
| 11.4.16 |
Piece110416
|
It's ImprovFriday again at
Sound-In
and I'm still having fun with my SH-101, again with some
processing. |
| 10.28.16 |
Piece102816
|
There's no "mandatory" theme
for our bi-weekly
Sound-In
event this weekend, but
there is an optional "Halloween" theme. I don't know if this
fits the optional theme or not, but it does get a little
"spooky" at then end. This is made with my SH-101 synth. I
sequenced the bass part first. Then I recorded the sustained
line, which I then duplicated, delayed one a bit, and panned
them to each side. |
| 10.21.16 |
Piece102116
|
It's ImprovFriday again at
Sound-In
and I'm back with the iPad. This one was made with the
Alchemy app. |
| 10.14.16 |
Piece101416
|
The theme at
Sound-In
this weekend is "desert."
I'm not sure this fits the theme, but that's more up to the
listener than the creator anyway, so I'll let you decide.
This was made using the DM1 app on the iPad. I used the same
rhythm that I used for last week's improv, changed the sound
set and sped it up. My original intention was to use the
rhythm part as the foundation, but then I had fun messing
with delay so I decided this would be it, all made in one
pass in real-time. |
| 10.7.16 |
Piece100716
|
It's another
Sound-In
ImprovFriday, and I decided
to get back to the iPad again. This was made using the DM1
app and the Animoog app. For the drum pattern, I typically
work quickly to come up with something interesting and then
I find a good instrument in the app for it. The same thing
with the melodic sound. I try to find something I like as
quickly as possible to keep in the improv spirit. |
| 9.30.16 |
Piece093016
|
There is no theme at
Sound-In
this weekend,
and since the sax was still out, I decided to use it again.
I used some delays, and had fun moving between pitch and
breath. |
| 9.23.16 |
Piece092316
|
I was using the sax for a
project I'm working on, so it was a perfect time to use it
for this
Sound-In
ImprovFriday improv. I found a couple of delays I
liked (one mono, one stereo) and recorded the improv. |
| 9.16.16 |
Piece091616
|
We've got a theme this week
at
Sound-In,
and it's "Eb." I actually made this before the theme was
chosen by our host, but as luck would have it, the starting
pitch is Eb. Or is it D#? Anyway, here's another piano
improv with plenty of reverb. |
| 9.9.16 |
Piece090916
|
It's ImprovFriday at
Sound-In,
and I decided to get back to the old upright piano. I recorded this improv with no processing, but with a delay in mind. After a
few minutes of experimenting, I ended up with a stereo delay
that I liked, so here you go. |
| 9.2.16 |
Piece090216
|
There wasn't really a theme
this week at
Sound-In,
so here's another improv made with the
Korg Triton. Relax. |
| 8.26.16 |
Piece082616
|
It's Friday, so that means
it's time for another
Sound-In
improv. This is one stereo track
made with the Korg Triton. |
| 8.19.16 |
Piece081916
|
I'm hosting the
Sound-In
event this weekend, and I've
opted for going without a theme this time. Since I had the
guitar rig out and set-up, I decided to use it for this one.
This is two tracks of guitar, with one of them doubled and
delayed slightly. |
| 8.12.16 |
Piece081216
|
Here's another
Sound-In
ImprovFriday improv. This is two tracks of electric bass. |
| 8.5.16 |
Piece080516
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "fusion." I can't really do that in the jazz sense, so
this improv is as close as I can get to that concept.
I made this using two different sounds from the same
soft synth in Cubase.
On another note, this event marks (almost to the day) my
seven-year anniversary of posting these improvs, and I
haven't missed a week since I started. I've made about 370
improvs totaling almost 25 hours of music in that time. |
| 7.29.16 |
Piece072916
|
Time
for another
Sound-In
ImprovFriday improv. This was was made with a soft synth in
Cubase. |
| 7.22.16 |
Piece072216
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "water/breeze." I made this using iPad apps with the theme
in mind. |
| 7.15.16 |
Piece071516
|
It's
Sound-In
ImprovFriday time!.
One more inspired by my
friend Steve Moshier. He is missed! |
| 7.8.16 |
Piece070816
|
We've got a theme this week at
Sound-In
and it's "Deep Space." I made this inspired by the theme.
This is two different electric guitar parts with some
duplicating and heavy processing. Play it loud! |
| 7.1.16 |
Piece070116
|
Another Friday, which means it's time for
another
Sound-In
improv. Here's another one inspired by my
friend Steve Moshier. RIP Steve! |
| 6.24.16 |
Piece062416_ElegyforSteveMoshier
|
Composer, musician & educator
Steve Moshier passed away this past week unexpectedly. He
was friends to many in the
Sound-In
community, and was a friend of mine for around 30 years. He
was also one of the composers that influenced how and why I
make music. This week the theme at Sound-In is in honor of
Steve. For my improv, I used a vibraphone sound in his
honor, as it was his main instrument. I recorded audio and
MIDI at the same time as I improvised this. Steve also loved
making gritty electronic music, so I found a sound on one of
my soft synths and used the MIDI track to add a bit of
texture to the improv. |
| 6.17.16 |
Piece061716
|
Time for another
Sound-In
ImprovFriday, and I decided to use my acoustic-electric
guitar on this one. Just two tracks and a bit of reverb. |
| 6.10.16 |
Piece061016
|
There's no theme this week at
Sound-In
and it's been another busy week, but this time I had access
to the Steinway at work. Here's another piano improv, this
time with some reverb added. |
| 6.3.16 |
Piece060316
|
This is a very busy week, so I
made a quick Sound-In ImprovFriday improv
with the upright piano and the R-05.
There is no processing or edits. |
| 5.27.16 |
Piece052716
Piece052716-2
|
There's a theme this week
at Sound-In
and it's "Change It Up." I started off with an improv made
with an ambient soundscape recorded in my backyard a while
ago as the "accompaniment" to a mandolin improv (which I
then doubled, panned and added delay to each track). Then I
made a second version using all sorts of noisy processing on
each of the three tracks,
thereby "changing it up." Both versions are posted here. |
| 5.20.16 |
Piece052016
|
Back to the electric guitar for this
Sound-In ImprovFriday improv.
This is a three-track improv recorded direct into Cubase.
First I found a plug-in effect for the guitar that inspired
me and edited it a bit to make it more interesting. Then I
recorded a short two-measure bit, which I looped. Next I
improvised the left channel part, and then the right
channel. Pretty straightforward. |
| 5.13.16 |
Piece051316
|
"Life" is the theme at
Sound-In
this weekend. This improv was made on kalimba, with some
delay added after the recording was made. It features sound
and rhythm, the things of life. |
| 5.6.16 |
Piece050616
|
I decided to go for something a
bit different with this
Sound-In ImprovFriday improv. This is a
single track, single take improv made with piano and kalimba
recorded on the R-05 recorder. |
| 4.29.16 |
Piece042916
|
I'm hosting the event this
weekend at
Sound-In,
so we've got a Prince theme happening. This improv was made
using the Telecaster -> Earthquaker Bellows -> Vox DelayLab -> EHX
Cathedral -> Fender Vibro Champ, recorded with my Roland
R-05 recorder in front of the amp. The Prince connection is
hidden in there. |
| 4.22.16 |
Piece042216
|
It's ImprovFriday, and I decided
to go back to the old upright piano for this one. It was
recorded with the R-05 and then I added the stereo delay
afterwards. |
| 4.15.16 |
Piece041516
|
I've got a full week, so here's
one more
Sound-In
improv using Telecaster -> Lexicon Reflex -> Ditto
X4 Looper -> direct into Cubase. I could make these all
day, every day. So much fun! |
| 4.8.16 |
Piece040816
|
It's another ImprovFriday, so
here's another
Sound-In
improv made with Telecaster -> Lexicon Reflex -> Ditto
X4 Looper -> direct into Cubase. |
| 4.1.16 |
Piece040116
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "Positive Energy" (to combat all the negativity in the
world these days). Hopefully this one has a positive vibe to
it. It was made with Telecaster -> Lexicon Reflex -> Ditto
X4 Looper -> direct into Cubase. It's got a U2/Edge feel to
it, which is just fine by me. I just went with it. |
| 3.25.16 |
Piece032516
|
It's a 'Good' ImprovFriday at
Sound-In.
Here's another improv using the Telecaster -> Earthquaker Bellows -> Vox DelayLab -> EHX
Cathedral -> Fender Vibro Champ, recorded with my Roland
R-05 recorder in front of the amp. |
| 3.18.16 |
Piece031816
|
There's a theme at
Sound-In
this week, and it's "Disguise or Emphasize." There's
definitely an emphasis on delay in this one, so I'm going
with that. Last Friday I won an Earthquaker Bellows pedal,
which arrived this week. What you are hearing in this improv
is Telecaster -> Earthquaker Bellows -> Vox DelayLab -> EHX
Cathedral -> Fender Vibro Champ, recorded with my Roland
R-05 recorder in front of the amp. |
| 3.11.16 |
Piece031116
|
Another ImprovFriday at
Sound-In.
This is a mono track mandolin improv with delay added. I
then duplicated the track, panned them hard left and right,
delayed the right side a bit, changed the delay on that
track a bit, and brought that track down a bit. |
| 3.4.16 |
Piece030416
|
It's Friday and we've got
another event going on at
Sound-In.
This is a two-track improv made using the DM1 and Animoog
apps on the iPad. There is some real-time processing on the
DM1 track, and the "distortion" is intentional. |
| 2.26.16 |
Piece022616
|
It's the end of February, which
means that it's
time for the annual
Sound-In
Film Festival! I found yet another public domain film and
added a piano improvisation to it. I then processed the
video a bit to change things up. You can see the
video by clicking on the "Videos" link on the left. |
| 2.19.16 |
Piece021916
|
There's no theme for the
Sound-In
event this weekend, so here's another piano improv made on
the Steinway. |
| 2.12.16 |
Piece021216
|
It was time to head back to the
Steinway piano at my theatre for this ImprovFriday at
Sound-In.
The improv was recorded with the R-05 recorded and there is
no processing. Yesterday I found out that one of the
students at Whittier College (where I work) passed away.
This was made before I heard the news but somehow it seems
fitting. |
| 2.5.16 |
Piece020516
Piece020516_v2
|
It's event time
at Sound-In
and I decided to switch things up and get back to the bass
for a bit. I've heard so many great players lately
(including Victor Wooten at my theatre a couple weeks ago),
that I needed to make sure I can still play it. It's still
one of my favorite instruments to play. I couldn't decide how
I wanted to mix this, so I made two versions. There are only
two improvised tracks, but in version two I duplicated the
solo, separated them by time a bit and panned them left and
right. In version one, each track is panned hard left and
right. There is no processing on any of the tracks. |
| 1.29.16 |
Piece012916
|
Another ImprovFriday at
Sound-In,
another guitar improv. |
| 1.22.16 |
Piece012216
|
We've got another event going on
at Sound-In
and I'm still deep in the guitar improvs. I made this one
thinking about all the recent losses in the music world.
Again, trying to focus on hope and gratitude. I'm so
grateful for the music that is made that then makes our
lives better. |
| 1.15.16 |
Piece011516
|
It's another ImprovFriday at
Sound-In,
so here's another guitar improv. This one's heavy on the
reverb. |
| 1.8.16 |
Piece010816
|
The theme (if you can call it
that) this week at
Sound-In
is "The Process," which is more about explaining the process
of making the work than it is about informing the work. I
usually explain how I make these here, so I'll carry on as
usual. As I mentioned in the notes from last week, I have
been spending time with my Lexicon Reflex reverb unit,
creating some different effects and saving them. This is
another acoustic guitar improv made with one of the settings
I came up with. I'll probably be doing this for a while.
This one is in and around the key of A minor. |
| 1.1.16 |
Piece010116
|
Happy New Year! It's the first
day of the year, and it happens to be a Friday, so it's time
for another ImprovFriday event at
Sound-In. I've had this idea for for a while to
make some ambient music with my guitar. The other day I took
out my old Lexicon Reflex reverb and started messing around
with it. After a bit of editing, I came up with an effect I
really like. This is a single track, single take improv made
with my nylon string guitar. I wanted to started out the
year with something that sounded hopeful and beautiful. This
feels that way to me. |
| 12.25.15 |
Piece122515
|
It's Friday and Christmas Day,
so of course there's a holiday theme going on at
Sound-In
- "Christmas Presents or Presence." The loop is two tracks
made with the ThumbJam app. I then recorded two ukulele
tracks over it. I'm not sure if this is on theme or not, but
here it is. |
| 12.18.15 |
Piece121815
|
There's another ImprovFriday
event at Sound-In,
so here's another two-track electric guitar improv. |
| 12.11.15 |
Piece121115
|
Every now and then I like to go
a little more "outside" with my improvs, and since the theme
this week at Sound-In
is "Wrong Notes or Just in Between" I figured this was a
good time to push things a bit. This is two tracks of
electric guitar with processing. The track on the left was
recorded first, with a lot of bending the strings to get "in
between" the notes. The track on the right was improvised
while listening to the first track. |
| 12.4.15 |
Piece120415
|
It's another Friday, so here's
another Sound-In
improv for you. This was made using the Animoog and Alchemy
synth apps on my iPad. I definitely had the attack on
Wednesday on my mind. Still do. |
| 11.27.15 |
Piece112715
|
The theme at
Sound-In
this week is "leaves," so I went outside and recorded leaves
(and other sounds) on this breezy day. I then added an
improvised sax solo (which I duplicated, panned each track
left and right, and processed them each a bit differently). |
| 11.20.15 |
Piece112015
|
It's ImprovFriday at at
Sound-In
again,
so here's another quick two-track guitar improv. |
| 11.13.15 |
Piece111315
|
I'm hosting the
Sound-In
event this weekend, and there's no theme,
so I made another two-track guitar improv. Again this was made
with the Telecaster running through the pedal board and
direct into Cubase. I messed around with the Vox DelayLab
pedal until I came up with something inspiring and took it
from there. |
| 11.6.15 |
Piece110615
|
It's another ImprovFriday at at
Sound-In,
so here's a quick two-track guitar improv. This was made
with the Telecaster running through the pedal board and
direct into Cubase. |
| 10.30.15 |
Piece103015
|
The theme at
Sound-In
this week is "Halloween/Trick or Treat," so I jumped
straight for the obvious instrument choices and made this
improv using the Garageband and Alchemy synth apps on my
iPad. |
| 10.23.15 |
Piece102315
|
It's ImprovFriday time at
Sound-In! Here's
another one with the old upright. I recorded sparse single
notes, with the idea that I would add some stereo delay (two
quick repeats to be exact) to the track once I was done.
Once I had what I wanted, I duplicated the track and then
reversed the duplicate. I think it came out pretty cool. |
| 10.16.15 |
Piece101615
|
The theme at
Sound-In
this week is "sacred sounds." I believe that there is
sacredness in sound and music, and this sacredness is a big
factor on the kind of music I make. In the spirit of the
theme and improvisation, I made this two-track improv with
the Animoog synth app on my iPad. I first improvised a
simple "bass" part, which I then copied and pasted a few
times and added a final tonic to end it. I then improvised
the second track in real-time over it. All processing comes
from the synth. |
| 10.9.15 |
Piece100915
|
It's Friday, so it's time for
another improv. Decided to get back to the old upright piano
for this one. The stereo delay was added after recording the
improv. |
| 10.2.15 |
Piece100215
|
"Community" is the theme this week at
Sound-In,
and at first I couldn't think of how to make an improv that
fit the theme. Then I started thinking about the community
(and communities) around me, picked up the guitar and
started recording. As I started improvising the first track
(on the left side), I realized that I was deeply affected by
the shooting yesterday at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. I
think some of that emotion showed up here. I then improvised
the part on the right over it and added some reverb on the
final mix. I think there is both lament and hope in here. |
| 9.25.15 |
Piece092515
|
Another ImprovFriday event at
Sound-In
this week, so I made another improv with the melodica and the Loopy HD app. |
| 9.18.15 |
Piece091815
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "fast," and since I'm not a great technician, I decided
to enlist the delay pedal to help me out. This is three
tracks of guitar improv, Telecaster into pedal board (delay,
then reverb) into the mixing board into the computer. Track
one was played first and is panned to the left. Track two
was second, and panned to the right. Track three is in the
middle. |
| 9.11.15 |
Piece091115
|
My
Sound-In
ImprovFriday
improv this week is made with 9/11 in mind. This was made
using the melodica and the Loopy HD app. |
| 9.4.15 |
Piece090415
|
Here's an off-theme improv for
Sound-In,
once again using the melodica and mandolin. |
| 8.28.15 |
Piece082815
|
We've got another ImprovFriday
event happening at
Sound-In,
so here's my improv, made with the mandolin and the melodica. |
| 8.21.15 |
Piece082115
|
There's no theme this week at
Sound-In,
so I was free to go where my ear would take me. This was
made using GarageBand on my iPad. |
| 8.14.15 |
Piece081415
|
It's an off week at
Sound-In,
but here's an improv made on the Steinway at work. |
| 8.7.15 |
Piece080715
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "C Major Pentatonic," so I made this with my guitar and
the SrutiBox app on my iPod Touch. It's mostly on theme. On
a side-note, today marks six years of making these improvs,
and not one week missed. |
| 7.31.15 |
Piece073115
|
There's no event this weekend at
Sound-In,
but I made a quick improv on the Steinway at work. |
| 7.24.15 |
Piece072415
|
And here's my usual Friday
Sound-In
improv, made with the old upright piano (with some reverb
added). |
| 7.23.15 |
Piece072315
|
I'm "hosting" the
Sound-In
event this weekend, and while I've decided that we won't
have a theme this time, I figured that the least I could do
was put an improv on the first day of the three-day event.
This was made with the NLogFree app on my iPod Touch and the
tenor ukulele. |
| 7.17.15 |
Piece071715
|
Another ImprovFriday event
going on at
Sound-In
(one day and improvs only), so here's an improv made using
the Sylo Synth app on my iPad. |
| 7.10.15 |
Piece071015
|
There's a fun theme going on
over at
Sound-In
inspired by various titles. I made a quick improv and posted
it there, but I also made this one with my nylon-string
guitar and the Alchemy app on my iPad. |
| 7.3.15 |
Piece070315
|
We've got an ImprovFriday event
going on at
Sound-In
(one day and improvs only), so here's an improv made on the
Steinway at my theatre. This was recorded with the R-05 and
there is no processing. |
| 6.26.15 |
Piece062615
|
The theme this week
Sound-In
is "Isolated and Intermittent." I think this piano improv
fits the theme. |
| 6.19.15 |
Piece061915
|
We had a special
Sound-In
event thjis week for our annual fundraiser to keep the site
running, so I made another piano
improv. Plenty of reverb this time. |
| 6.12.15 |
Piece061215
|
I realized that I haven't used
my upright piano for my
Sound-In
improvs in a while, so it seemed like a good idea to return
to it. The theme this week is "ambient," so I recorded an
improv using the R-05 inside the piano and then processed
it. |
| 6.5.15 |
Piece060515
|
Even though there is no official
event at
Sound-In
this week, I can't stop making these improvs (even with my
daughter getting married tomorrow). This one is made using
the Bebot app using the looper setting. I recorded the track
live into Cubase, then duplicated it, panned them left and
right, delayed the copy a bit, and applied different amounts
of reverb to each. Simple. |
| 5.29.15 |
Piece052915
|
There's no theme at
Sound-In
this week, so here's a quick improv on guitar, with plenty
of delay. |
| 5.22.15 |
Piece052215
|
An
ImprovFriday event today at
Sound-In
today makes for an improv with guitar and rain. |
| 5.15.15 |
Piece051515
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "contrasts." I made this improv using my SH-101 and my
nylon-string guitar with the theme in mind. |
| 5.8.15 |
Piece050815
|
There's another special
ImprovFriday event going on at
Sound-In
today,
so here's a solo improv made using the SH-101. |
| 5.1.15 |
Piece050115
|
Back to the SH-101 for my
Sound-In
improv this week. This is two tracks (one sequenced using
the SH-101 sequencer) with some doubling and processing. |
| 4.24.15 |
Piece042415
|
Looks like we've got a special
ImprovFriday event going on at
Sound-In,
so here's a two-track electric guitar improv. |
| 4.17.15 |
Piece041715
|
Time for another
Sound-In
improv. In the mood for something mellow time, so here's a
solo guitar improv using the Taro Patch tuning. |
| 4.10.15 |
Piece041015
|
There's no
Sound-In
this week, but I'm too hooked on this to not make an improv.
Here's one made with my Telecaster and my new nylon-string
acoustic-electric. All effects come from my pedal board. |
| 4.3.15 |
Piece040315
|
This week the theme at
Sound-In
is "bells." Since it's another busy week, I decided to use
the ThumbJam app on my iPad and make a quick using the
glockenspiel sound. I first recorded a two-bar loop and then
improvised over it, having fun with the different octaves,
and changing up the delay a bit in the process. |
| 3.27.15 |
Piece032715
|
Starting last week,
Sound-In
is moving to an every-other-week format, so that means
they're off this week, but not me. Earlier this week I
received a scam phone call on my voice message machine and
because I was intrigued by the sound and accent of the
voice, I decided to record it and use it here. I chopped it
up into different pieces, improvised a synth part with the
Alchemy app on my iPad, and ran it all through a delay. |
| 3.20.15 |
Piece032015
|
Time for another
Sound-In
improv made with my new guitar. I plugged it in, found a
delay setting I liked and recorded a track. I then recorded
a second track, panned the tracks left and right, and added
a touch of some reverb on the top. Nothing fancy. |
| 3.13.15 |
Piece031315
|
This
Sound-In
improv is about as simple as it gets. I grabbed my new
guitar and my R-05 recorder, sat on the front porch and
recorded this. |
| 3.6.15 |
Piece030615
|
Here's my first
Sound-In
improv made with my new nylon string acoustic-electric
guitar (the Yamaha NTX900FM, which I love). The theme for
this week is "Beats/Percussion," so I decided to make
something on theme using only the guitar. This was made in
real-time using the Boss RX-20XL looper. Once it was done, I
duplicated the track a couple times, messed with the EQ
differently on each tracks and added some processing. |
| 2.27.15 |
Piece022715_1x
Piece022715_50x
|
Today is my 50th birthday, so I
decided to something connected to it for my
Sound-In
improv this week. I started off by making a three-track
improv with acoustic upright piano (recorded first),
electric bass (recorded second) and electric guitar
(recorded last). I purposefully made this exactly one minute
long, representing one year (but not in any programmatic
way). I then stretched the improv 50x, to make a long and
slow-moving piece, representing 50 years. For the stretched
version, I did add some harmonic content at the octave and
fifteenth through the stretching software. Both versions are
here. |
| 2.20.15 |
Piece022015
|
Another February means that it's
time for the annual
Sound-In
Film Festival (now in our 5th year)! I found another public domain film and
improvised some music for it. Like last year, this was made with
the Telecaster, but this time I ran it hrough my pedal board
into the RC-20XL looper and then into Cubase. This was all
made live, with no edits to it - just a bit of reverb added
at the end. You can see the
video by clicking on the "Videos" link on the left. |
| 2.13.15 |
Piece021315
|
Another busy week, so another
quick Sound-In
improv.
This is two tracks made with the Telecaster. |
| 2.6.15 |
Piece020615
|
I have a busy week going on, so
here's a quickly made ukulele improv for
Sound-In.
Two tracks with some processing. |
| 1.30.15 |
Piece013015_Dry
Piece013015_Wet
|
Another
Sound-In
improv made on the Steinway D at my work (and recorded with
the R-05). I made
two versions: one with no effects (dry) and one with some
reverb (wet). |
| 1.23.15 |
Piece012315
|
Here's a solo sax
Sound-In
improv (with some processing). |
| 1.16.15 |
Piece011615
|
I lost my friend Justin a year
ago today. For my
Sound-In
improv this week, I wanted to make something that sounded
hopeful. I used the ThumbJam app to make a little
glockenspiel loop (with delay in it), and then improvised a
sax solo over it. I'm not exactly sure what hope sounds
like, but I think I got near to it. It certainly came from
the heart. This one's for you, Justin! |
| 1.9.15 |
Piece010915
|
Back to the ThumbJam app for
this for this
Sound-In
improv. Again, something simple and beautiful. Well, at
least I think so. |
| 1.2.15 |
Piece010215
|
With one year just over and a
new one just beginning, I went back to the Telecaster (and
some processing) for this
Sound-In
improv. Life's rich pageant grows richer in every way as I
get older, so I wanted to make something simple . . .
reflective . . . hopeful. This is also what I want for 2015. |
| 12.26.14 |
Piece122614
|
As promised, here's another ThumbJam
Sound-In
improv. This was all made inside the app, with no additional
processing. Just a loop with some improv over it. |
| 12.19.14 |
Piece121914
|
I bought a new (older) app this
week for my iPad called ThumbJam. It was on sale for $2, so
I couldn't pass it up. It as all sorts of great samples in
it, so I found one I liked (hammered dulcimer) and decided
to use it for my
Sound-In
improv this week. What I did was record a short loop, and
then improvise a melody over it, purposefully playing on and
around the beat. This app will be getting some more use in
the future for sure. |
| 12.12.14 |
Piece121214
|
For my
Sound-In
improv this week, I went back to the upright piano and R-05
recorder. I quickly improvised a piece with staccato and
silence in mind. I then processed the improv with delay and
reverb, and here you have it. |
| 12.5.14 |
Piece120514
|
I'm in an ambient mood, so
here's three tracks of the Telecaster for my
Sound-In
improv. I choose the reverb setting prior to recording and
only made some minor EQ adjustments afterwards. |
| 11.28.14 |
Piece112814
|
I decided to go with the iPad
and electric guitar for my
Sound-In
improv. I started off with the percussion part (DM1 app
again), which I manipulated in real-time as it recorded (and
then added some panning processing after the fact). Then I
improvised two guitar parts, listening to the recorded parts
as I went. |
| 11.21.14 |
Piece112114
|
All acoustic this time for my
Sound-In
improv. I recorded the doumbek part first (of course), and
then the two mandolin tracks (which are panned far left and
right). To keep things interesting, I didn't listen to the
first mandolin track when I recorded the second one. I chose
to leave all tracks completely dry. I like the sound of it. |
| 11.14.14 |
Piece111414
Piece111414_Version2
|
The first version of this
Sound-In
improv was made with the Animoog iPad app. I was going to
leave it as it is, as I like the space and motion in it, but
then I decided to make a second version with a bass solo
over it. I decided to post both versions. |
| 11.7.14 |
Piece110714
|
With limited time this week, I
went back to my upright piano and the R-05 for my
Sound-In
improv. I recorded a quick pointillist piano improv and then
processed it with delay and reverb. |
| 10.31.14 |
Piece103114
|
Inspired by the day, I made my
Sound-In
improv this week using four different "sounds" from the
Alchemy Pro iPad app. |
| 10.24.14 |
Piece102414
|
My
Sound-In
improv this week uses the DM1 app again for the drums (same
"set," different pattern/time signature), but with two
guitar tracks on top. I went for a bit more of an edge on
this one. |
| 10.17.14 |
Piece101714
|
An iPad improv for
Sound-In,
using the DM1 app and the Animoog app. |
| 10.10.14 |
Piece101014_Dry
Piece101014_Wet
|
This
Sound-In
improv is very simple, but I really like how it came out. I
improvised a piece on the piano (upright and R-05 again),
duplicated the track and then reversed the duplicate. I made
two versions: one with no effects (dry) and one with some
lush reverb (wet). |
| 10.3.14 |
Piece100314
|
Here's a very quick
Crimson-inspired guitar improv for
Sound-In
this week. Happy 5 Years Sound-In! |
| 9.26.14 |
Piece092614
|
This
Sound-In
improv is made up of two electric bass tracks. The ostinato
part is processed with a ping-pong delay, and the solo part
has a more subtle delay on it. Quick and simple! |
| 9.19.14 |
Piece091914
|
For my
Sound-In
improv this week, I used the SrutiBox app on my iTouch to
come up with a drone, and then I improvised a guitar part
over it (processed with some delay and reverb). Simple as
that. |
| 9.12.14 |
Piece091214
|
This
Sound-In
improv was made with the Telecaster recorded direct. There's
some duplicating, panning, and processing. Relax and enjoy. |
| 9.5.14 |
Piece090514
|
For my
Sound-In
improv this week I decided to use the harmonica again, but
this time just two short bits as a delayed/looped drone. On
top of this I recorded two separate tracks of recorder (with
the delay on while recording). |
| 8.29.14 |
Piece082914
|
This
Sound-In
improv is made from two tracks - a harmonica part and a
ukulele part. Each track was duplicated. The harmonica
tracks were panned panned hard left and right, with the
right side slightly behind the left side. There is no
processing on these. The uke part was doubled, each track
panned a bit left and right, and each processed differently. |
| 8.22.14 |
Piece082214
|
Here's a two-track
Sound-In
improv using two apps on my iPad (DM1 and Animoog). All
processing came from the sounds. Pretty simple and
straightforward. |
| 8.15.14 |
Piece081514
|
Back to the old upright piano
for my
Sound-In
improv. This is a one-take, no-edit improv recorded on my
R-05, with delay added after the fact. This is in memory of
Robin Williams. |
| 8.8.14 |
Piece080814
|
Here's a quick
Sound-In
improv made on the Korg Triton. This improv marks me doing
this for 5 years, and I haven't missed a week! |
| 8.1.14 |
Piece080114
|
Pulled out the acoustic guitar
again, and since the theme at
Sound-In
is "F," I tuned the guitar to an open F tuning and
improvised a rhythm/harmony part. I then took out my tenor
uke and improvised a melody over it. I doubled the guitar
track and panned each track
hard left and right. For the uke part I added some delay and
reverb. Another summer track I think. |
| 7.25.14 |
Piece072514
|
This
Sound-In
improv is a one-take no-edit mono improv made on an acoustic
guitar in a non-standard tuning (inspired/influenced by an
existing song). I doubled the recording, panned each track
hard left and right, and added some reverb to the left
channel and delay to the right. It's a good way to beat the
heat. |
| 7.18.14 |
Piece071814
|
I made this
Sound-In
improv on my Korg Triton. I had the events of the day on my
mind. Sometimes living in this world can be so troubling. |
| 7.11.14 |
Piece071114
|
I've been wanting to get back to
my sax for a while now, and this week worked out to play it
for my
Sound-In
improv. My Aunt Nola passed away yesterday, and I made this
with her in mind. What you hear is two parts. The drone was
made by playing a note for a bit and running it through a
delay. I then duplicated that track and panned them hard
left and right, with the right side starting a bit later
than the left side. The melody was the first and only take
(with no edits), recorded while listening to the drone. The
reverb was in place before the track was recorded. |
| 7.4.14 |
Piece070414
|
A quick synth improv in the
spirit of the holiday (and theme) at
Sound-In. |
| 6.27.14 |
Piece062714
|
In a percussion mood for my
Sound-In
improv this week. Three mono tracks using percussion
instruments I have lying around, and no processing. Three
continents are represented here. |
| 6.20.14 |
Piece062014
|
Was in the mood for the
Telecaster again for my
Sound-In
improv this week. This is the guitar into the pedal board
into the mixing board. I came up with the rhythm part first,
then recorded two solo parts, which are panned hard left and
right. I did not listen to the first solo (left) when I
recorded the second one (right). I think they fit kind of
cool together. |
| 6.13.14 |
Piece061314
|
And now for something completely
different. This
Sound-In
improv was inspired by the date, and made with my SH-101.
This is two tracks (with one duplicated and delayed
slightly), and each track/sound was manipulated during the
recording. |
| 6.6.14 |
Piece060614
|
Time got away from me, so this
is a very quickly-made guitar improv with all processing
coming from pedals. The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "travel." I made this thinking of that, but am not really
sure how I ended up with what you hear. |
| 5.30.14 |
Piece053014
|
I was in the mood for something
simple this week, so here's my
Sound-In
improv made with the Sylo Synth app on my iPad. This is just
one track, one take, with no additional processing or
editing. |
| 5.23.14 |
Piece052314
|
With a Hawaiian show coming to
my theatre on the 24th, I was drawn once again to my tenor
uke. This Sound-In
improv is made from two improvised tracks (each doubled and
processed differently). The "harmony" part is based on the
date (sol-re-mi-do-fa). Just a dumb thing I like to do every
now and then. |
| 5.16.14 |
Piece051614
|
It was a busy week this week, so
for my Sound-In
improv I returned to the upright piano. This is one improv
that has been copied twice, and different processing has
been applied to each track. A little bit of panning on two
tracks, and there you have it. |
| 5.9.14 |
Piece050914
|
There was some police activity
in my neighborhood earlier this week, so being the recordist
that I am, I grabbed my R-05, hit "record" and set it out in
the backyard for a bit, knowing it would be good material
for my Sound-In
improv. What you hear is an electric guitar solo (my Tele
heavily processed), and part of the recording made that
night. I call this "Trio for Guitar, Crickets and Police
Helicopter." I think there's some depth to this improv, in a
number of ways. |
| 5.2.14 |
Piece050214
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "Outside the Box," so I used that to inspire my improv.
What I did was run my Telecaster through the EHX Cathedral
reverb and direct into the board. I came up with a setting I
liked and improvised some music into a mono track, which I
then panned hard left. I then came up with a different pedal
setting that I liked and recorded another improv, which I
panned hard right. I usually will listen to the first
improvised part while improvising the second one. This time
I muted track one so I couldn't hear it while I recorded
track two. Each track went in exactly as you hear it, with
no edits or post-recording processing. What you hear is the
result, which I think came out very cool. |
| 4.25.14 |
Piece042514
|
Another simple
Sound-In
improv made with my upright piano and my R-05 (with some
reverb added). |
| 4.18.14 |
Piece041814
|
While this
Sound-In
improv was not made with Good Friday in mind, I think it
fits. This is my Telecaster running through a Strymon Big
Sky into my Fender Vibro Champ and recorded with the R-05.
Relax and enjoy. |
| 4.11.14 |
Piece041114
|
I was teaching my oldest son
about synthesis using my SH-101, so it seemed like a perfect
instrument to use for my
Sound-In
improv. He even came up with one of the sounds used. This is
three parts (with one copied and delayed slightly, and then
both panned left and right). There is no processing at all. |
| 4.4.14 |
Piece040414
|
I just bought an EHX Cathedral
Stereo Reverb pedal, and what better way to break it in than
by using it for a
Sound-In
improv. The theme this week is "madness," so I went for the
more out-there effects. This is two tracks of me playing the
Telecaster through the Cathedral, each with a different
effect. Madness . .. I call it madness! |
| 3.28.14 |
Piece032814
|
With no theme this week at
Sound-In,
I just let inspiration take me. I was working on a song demo
and messing around with the DM-1 drum machine app on my iPad,
when I came up with something I thought sounded cool as the
foundation for my improv. The sounds and processing all come
from the app. I then improvised a solo over the top on my
ukulele, which I then doubled and processed each track
differently. The solo is the first take and no edits (like
usual). Maybe I was inspired by the great Hawaiian music
around me last weekend (even though this doesn't sound
Hawaiian). |
| 3.21.14 |
Piece032114
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "deep," so I went for the obvious - my bass. This is all
made from two tracks (and some stretching, duplicating and
processing). |
| 3.14.14 |
Piece031414
|
No theme again this week at
Sound-In,
which is a perfect opportunity to experiment with a new app
I got for my iPad called GestrumentLE. It's based on playing
samples back by moving your finger around on the screen.
This is my first go at it. Two tracks with no additional
processing. |
| 3.7.14 |
Piece030714
|
Here's a simple
Sound-In
improv using the Tele once again. The rhythm part (left
side) has no processing, and the melody (right side) just
has some delay. |
| 2.28.14 |
Piece022814
|
Time for the 4th annual
Sound-In
Film Festival! Once again I found a public domain film and
improvised some music for it. Yet again, this was made with
the Telecaster direct into the board, then into Cubase to be
processed. This is two tracks, with one duplicated and
delayed slightly and each hard left and right. The "melody" is in the middle. Also, you can see the
video by clicking on the "Videos" link on the left. |
| 2.21.14 |
Piece022114
|
Here's the theme this week (as
described over at
Sound-In):
"Welcome
everybody, to the first semi-regular "Sound-Infiltration
by the society For ShortY new music"!
A lot of you have been doing this mini-music over at the
Facebook group, but this weekend we thought we'd give it a
whirl on our Sound-In platform. Everything still works like
a normal Sound-In event, except solo
track submissions should
be 1
minute or less,
and mash-ups
no more than 2 minutes.
Thanks to Jeff
Fairbanks for
rallying the ShortY troops, and lets just see where it goes,
shall we? Let the games begin!"
So what I did it make a short
two-track improv using the CagePiano app on my iPad. Each
track was improvised in real-time and processed with a
different delay (which were running while the improv was
made). |
| 2.14.14 |
Piece021414
|
There's no theme at
Sound-In
this week, but it is Valentine's Day, and for some reason
the piano seemed like the right choice (and I haven't used
it in a while). Here's a sappy love song improv made with my
R-05 inside the old upright. There is no additional
processing. |
| 2.7.14 |
Piece020714
|
Inspired by the theme at
Sound-In
this week ("ice"), I decided to use the Alchemy Pro app on
my iPad. This is three tracks, and just a touch of
post-production (using a panning plug-in in Cubase for the
"bell" part). |
| 1.31.14 |
Piece013114
|
I put new strings on the
mandolin and took out the bass guitar, so they seemed like
perfect choices for my
Sound-In
improv this week. Here's a little mandolin & bass duet. The
mandolin improv came first, and the bass part was improvised
while listening back to the mandolin part. There is no
processing - just panned hard left and right. |
| 1.24.14 |
Piece012414
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "syncopation," and with very little time to get something
made, I played this quick improv on the tenor uke with a
stereo delay added. The delay was set prior to recording so
the interplay was in real-time. |
| 1.17.14 |
Piece011714
|
My friend Justin Moore went home
to be with the Lord yesterday and I made this
Sound-In
improv while thinking about him. The truth is I can't stop
thinking about him. He was only 17, dearly loved, and now
dearly missed. This is two tracks of the Tele running
through my new Vox DelayLab. Each part was processed with a
reverse delay (with slightly different settings), and then
panned hard left and right. Sometimes you wish you could go
back in time and change a thing or two. |
| 1.10.14 |
Piece011014
|
This week I got a new delay
pedal and an old mandolin (a kind gift), so I figured I
would use both on my
Sound-In
improv. The drone part is my Telecaster running through the
delay, and then duplicated, with each part panned hard left
and right (and the left side delayed slightly). The melody
is my first ever go at something on the mandolin (any
mandolin for that matter). The delay was applied prior to
improvising the melody. This is the first and only take,
with no edits - just a bit of compression applied after the
fact. I made this with by buddy Justin Moore in mind. |
| 1.3.14 |
Piece010314
|
Happy New Year! Here's my first
Sound-In
improv for 2014, featuring the Telecaster running direct
with no processing. The left channel part is something I've
been messing around with for a couple of days. The right
channel is a straight improv, warts and all. |
| 12.27.13 |
Piece122713
|
Time for the last
Sound-In
improv for 2013. Not sure why, but I'm in an ambient mood
today (probably from the rush of the holidays), so I made
this one track, one take guitar improv with my Telecaster
running through two delays and a reverb. See you in 2014! |
| 12.20.13 |
Piece122013
|
No theme this week at
Sound-In,
so I made a quick improv using the Alchemy Pro Synth app on
my iPad. This is two sounds/tracks with no additional
processing. |
| 12.13.13 |
Piece121313
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "the sea," and while I didn't make this improv
specifically with that in mind, I must have had it in my
thoughts somewhere because the music somehow evokes the sea
to me. This was made using the Animoog app (2 tracks)
recorded into the GarageBand app (all on my iPad). |
| 12.6.13 |
Piece120613
|
One of the things I find
inspiring about the music from South Africa is the joy that
comes out of such difficult circumstances. Following that
inspiration, my
Sound-In
improv this week is in memory of Nelson Mandela, who passed
away yesterday at the age of 95. This is two tracks of tenor
ukulele. |
| 11.29.13 |
Piece112913
|
One of the things I love about
doing these
Sound-In
improvs is that I do no pre-planning. Once I get ready to
make one, I just go with what I feel at the moment. It was
raining when I woke up this morning so I went out and
recorded the inside of my leaky shed with my R-05 recorder.
I then came inside and make a quick piano improv on the old
upright piano using this week's theme - F#. There is no
processing at all. And if you listen real close somewhere
between the 4 and 5 minute mark, you'll hear my phone ring.
That's improv! |
| 11.22.13 |
Piece112213
|
No theme this week at
Sound-In,
so I made I quick guitar improv. I copied the track twice
(for a total of three), processed them and panned then left,
right, center at slightly different volumes, which makes for
a nice texture. Relax and enjoy! |
| 11.15.13 |
Piece111513
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "Blowin' in the Wind," so I found a pad in the Alchemy
Mobile app on my iPad that made me think of the wind, and
then I improvised a guitar track over it. I then duplicated
the guitar track, split them both a bit left and right, and
processed them each differently to give a thick, atmospheric
texture. I also had the victims of the recent typhoon in the
Philippines on my mind as I played. This is for them. |
| 11.8.13 |
Piece110813
|
A
quick two-track
Sound-In
improv made on the electric guitar. Thinking about Lou Reed,
even though it doesn't really sound like something Lou Reed
would have made. |
| 11.1.13 |
Piece110113
|
A
Sound-In
improv inspired by the season. This is 2 tracks using the
NLogFree synth on my iTouch. |
| 10.25.13 |
Piece102513
|
Another quick simple
Sound-In
improv, this time featuring two tracks of kalimba. |
| 10.18.13 |
Piece101813
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "words," and even though I was the one who came up with
the theme (some time ago), it almost stumped me. Almost.
Some iPad and spoken word. |
| 10.11.13 |
Piece101113
|
A simple one-track one-take
Sound-In
improv for guitar (with some processing). |
| 10.4.13 |
Piece100413
|
I was messing around on my
Telecaster and came up with something I thought was
interesting so I grabbed my R-05, put it in front of the
amp, and hit record. I finished one improv and wasn't sure I
liked it, so I recorded another one right after it. Later,
after I put it into Cubase, I listened to them both to
decide which one I would pick. I kind of liked them both so
I decided to keep them both and pan one hard left and one
hard right. Not only do I like them on their own, but they
sound cool when played together. So, here's my
Sound-In
improv for the week (and with no processing at all). |
| 9.27.13 |
Piece092713
|
Since I have a Hawaiian show at
my theater on Saturday, I decided to use the ukulele again
for my Sound-In
improv. Two tracks and a bit of processing. |
| 9.20.13 |
Piece092013
|
"Poetry" is the theme this week
at Sound-In,
so I sat down at the old upright an improvised a little
sonic poem. |
| 9.13.13 |
Piece091313
|
A quick, noisy
Sound-In
improv inspired by the date. Two tracks of electric guitar,
with plenty of processing. Just like mama used to make. :-) |
| 9.6.13 |
Piece090613
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "Doppleganger," so I made this improv with that in mind.
This is made with a synth sound in the iPad GarageBand app.
It is one (stereo) track with two lines of music. Again, one
take and no edits. |
| 8.30.13 |
Piece083013
|
Another busy week, another uke
improv for Sound-In. |
| 8.23.13 |
Piece082313
|
Busy weeks make for quick
Sound-In
improvs. Here's a single track, single take improv on
the ukulele, with some reverb added. |
| 8.16.13 |
Piece081613
|
This
Sound-In
improv is one stereo track made with the CagePiano app on my
iPad and some processing (delay and panning). On take, no
edits - another quick one! |
| 8.9.13 |
Piece080913
|
Four years ago this week I
started contributing weekly to an online music improv group
(NetNewMusic, then ImprovFriday, and now
Sound-In).
In all of that time I haven't missed a week. Thanks to the
wonderful community there, I've made over thirteen hours of
improvised music. Anyway, I decided to something a bit
different this time. I don't usually do much with a drum
beat. This is all made with my iPad. |
| 8.2.13 |
Piece080213
|
The third and final
Sound-In
improv in my Utah series. Again, this is the Virgin
River in Zion National Park and acoustic
guitar (with processing). |
| 7.26.13 |
Piece072613
|
Here's the second
Sound-In
improv in my Utah series. This is the sound of the Virgin
River in Zion National Park and a couple tracks of acoustic
guitar (with processing). |
| 7.19.13 |
Piece071913
|
I went to Utah recently, so I
made a few ambient recordings to use for
Sound-In
improvs. Here's the first one, featuring guitar (a couple
tracks and some processing) and a bunch of insects and other
wildlife at Bryce Canyon |
| 7.12.13 |
Piece071213
|
Another busy week makes for
another R-05 inside the upright
Sound-In
improv. I played harder than usual in order to pick up the
noises inside the piano. |
| 7.5.13 |
Piece070513
|
I made this
Sound-In
improv in honor of Independence Day.
The first bit you hear is a 4-second recording of a Piccolo
Pete we lit yesterday. I then stretched that to over 9
minutes, and then improvised a guitar part over it (through
a Fripp-like delay). Simple as that. |
| 6.28.13 |
Piece062813
|
The fourth and final Kaua'i series
improv for Sound-In.
This one features the sounds of the Koke'e forest with one ukulele track
(with delay). |
| 6.21.13 |
Piece062113
|
Here's number three of my Kaua'i series
improvs for Sound-In.
This one features rain recorded outside my hotel balcony one
morning, along with two ukulele tracks. |
| 6.14.13 |
Piece061413
|
The second of my Kaua'i series
improvs for Sound-In.
Again, two tracks of ukulele (with delay and reverb), but
this time over ambient sounds recorded in the backyard of a
house we visited. |
| 6.7.13 |
Piece060713
|
I was recently on the island of
Kaua'i and while I was there I made a few environmental
recordings to use for my
Sound-In
improvs. This is a recording of a waterfall, and I then
improvised two tracks of ukulele, both processed with
compression and one track with delay (and then panned hard
left and right). |
| 5.31.13 |
Piece053113
|
My last R-05 inside the upright piano
Sound-In
improv for this set. |
| 5.24.13 |
Piece052413
|
Another R-05 inside the upright piano
Sound-In
improv. Another one-take improv with a bit of delay. This is
for the victims of the recent tornadoes. |
| 5.17.13 |
Piece051713
|
Due to some busy days ahead, I'm
going back to the R-05 inside the upright piano for my
Sound-In
improvs for a bit. This is a quick one-take improv with no
processing. |
| 5.10.13 |
Piece051013
|
There is a flock of parrots that
show up on my street each evening and I finally had a chance
to go out and record them the other day. I decided to
include them in my
Sound-In
improv this week, along with two tracks on the ukulele (some
processing on each track, but no edits). |
| 5.3.13 |
Piece050313
|
Having limited time (after
coming home today after a few days in the mountains with a
bunch of 5th graders), and inspired by the theme of
"dancing" over at Sound-In,
I made this very quick improv on the ukulele. |
| 4.26.13 |
Piece042613
|
Another quick Sound-In
improv with the Telecaster, recorded live on the R-05. |
| 4.19.13 |
Piece041913
|
I made my Sound-In
improv this week with a heavy heart from the events of this
week (particularly in Boston). However, my desire was to
make something with a feeling of hope. This was made with
the Alchemy app on my iPad and electric guitar (with the
track doubled, panned and delayed a bit). |
| 4.12.13 |
Piece041213
|
I had a real harpsichord in my
theatre this past weekend, so on Saturday night (after the
real musicians left), I made this quick improv for my Sound-In
improv this week. Thankfully I thought ahead to bring my
R-05 to work with me that day. There is no processing at
all. |
| 4.5.13 |
Piece040513
|
The theme at Sound-In
improv this week is "dreams," so I made this improv with
some voice and the Animoog app on the iPad. |
| 3.29.13 |
Piece032913
|
And now back to the Tele for my Sound-In
improv this week. This is two tracks (first takes, no edits)
panned hard left and right, and each processed the same way
(with 2 delays). I had Good Friday in mind when I made this,
but it's not programmatic in any way. |
| 3.22.13 |
Piece032213
|
Back to the bass for my Sound-In
improv this week. This is two tracks (first takes, no edits)
panned hard left and right. On the left side you hear the
bass clean, played with a pick. On the right side it is
played with the fingers, processed with fuzztone, flanger
and delay. |
| 3.15.13 |
Piece031513
|
Some acoustic guitar and tenor
uke for my Sound-In
improv this week. A little compression on each track, some
delay and reverb on the uke, and panned hard left and right.
Simple as that. |
| 3.8.13 |
Piece030813
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "future technology," so I decided to make a piece with
the iPad. This is three tracks improvised using the Alchemy
synth app. |
| 3.1.13 |
Piece030113
|
This
Sound-In
improv is a unintentional companion piece to the one made
two weeks ago, made in the same way (with the inclusion of a
Boss OS-2 pedal). |
| 2.22.13 |
Piece022213
|
It's the 3rd annual
Sound-In
Film Festival this week, so like I did last time, I made an
audio improv and then dropped it into a public domain video
that I found (this one is of the Lincoln Memorial). Once
again, this was made with the Telecaster into Pod into looper (RC-20XL),
but this time direct into the board. This is two tracks,
with one duplicated and delayed slightly and each hard left
and right. The solo is in the middle. Also, you can see the
video by clicking on the "Videos" link on the left. |
| 2.15.13 |
Piece021513
|
Another very quick
Sound-In
improv this week. Telecaster into Pod into looper (RC-20XL)
into Vibro Champ and recorded with the R-05. Again, one take, no edits, no post-processing. |
| 2.8.13 |
Piece020813
|
Another busy
week, so here's another quick one for my
Sound-In
piece. This is the Telecaster played through a Pod and my
Fender Vibro Champ and recorded with the R-05. One take, no edits, no post-processing.
I like the old-school hiss on this one. |
| 2.1.13 |
Piece020113
|
I'm in the middle of a busy
week, so it's back to the R-05 inside my old upright piano
for my Sound-In
piece. One take, no edits or processing, and a couple of
random computer noises from my laptop to round it off. |
| 1.25.13 |
Piece012513
|
This week's theme at
Sound-In
is "elements," so I decided to do something with air (being
a wind player and all). However, none of my wind instruments
were doing it for me, so I just started "singing." What you
hear here is a single take (with one little part cut out
because I didn't like it) doubled, panned to the sides and
processed. I think it sounds very "elemental." |
| 1.18.13 |
Piece011813
|
There's no theme this week at
Sound-In,
so I decided to go back to the Telecaster. I improvised the
track on the left first, with no processing on it. For the
track on the right, I dialed in the delay I wanted, and then
improvised over the first track. These were both the only
takes, with no edits. |
| 1.11.13 |
Piece011113
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "dusk." I didn't have much time, so I picked an app on my iPad (the Animoog
synth), found a sound that evoked dusk to
me, and made a quick stereo track improv in real time. There
is no processing. Soup to nuts in just a few minutes. |
| 1.4.13 |
Piece010413
|
Along with a variety of
unknowns, 2013 will bring a new year of
Sound-In
improvs, so it's time to get started. This one is two tracks
of electric guitar. I duplicated one, then did some
processing and panning. |
| 12.28.12 |
Piece122812
|
This week at
Sound-In
is our "Year-End" event, so I made an
improv for it. With the exception of the guitar part, all
parts were recorded on the Loopy HD app on my iPad. The
piece speaks for itself. Happy New Year! |
| 12.21.12 |
Piece122112
|
I made this
Sound-In
improv as a memorial for the victims in Newtown. While it's
a bit more "produced" than normal, it all comes from just
two improvised tracks. |
| 12.14.12 |
Piece121412
|
Here's a little homage to Ravi
Shankar for my
Sound-In
improv, featuring the sruti box app on my iTouch for the
drone, and a ukulele improv (with some delay) on top. |
| 12.7.12 |
Piece120712
|
Since we're having a Hawaiian
show at my theatre tomorrow, I decided to go back to the
ukulele this week for my
Sound-In
improv. Just two tracks again, with a bit of processing. |
| 11.30.12 |
Piece113012
|
Decided to go back to the SH-101
this week for my
Sound-In
improv. Just two tracks and some processing. Inspired by my
friend Gary Stroutsos, but I didn't realize it until after
the fact. |
| 11.23.12 |
Piece112312
|
The theme this week at
Sound-In
is "planes, trains, and automobiles," which didn't speak to
me. However, "Black Friday" was another story. Here are
three tracks of electric guitar improv. |
| 11.16.12 |
Piece111612
|
It's been a busy week, so I
decided to use my iPad for my
Sound-In
piece. This was made with a modified sound in the SoloSynth
app, recording both tracks live, one right after the other,
then panned and mixed. The only post-recording processing
was a bit of EQ adjustment on the track on the left channel
to bring out the bass a bit more. |
| 11.9.12 |
Piece110912
|
The theme this week at Sound-In
is "wood," so I made this clave duet. I recorded the left
side first, and then the right side side against it (and
then added some reverb at the end). Nice and simple. |
| 11.2.12 |
Piece110212
|
Back to the R-05 and the old
upright piano for
my Sound-In
piece this week. Recorded it live in one take and then
processed it with some reverb. Ok, a lot of reverb. |
| 10.26.12 |
Piece102612
|
To conclude
my Sound-In
percussion month, I took the improvs from the previous three
weeks, and then improvised a rabana (Sri Lankan hand drum)
part over them (with the delay added to the channel before
recording). A little bit of mixing and here you go. |
| 10.19.12 |
Piece101912
|
Percussion month continues for
my Sound-In
improvs. This one is a solo improv on kalimba. I added a
delay to the channel before recording, and played
with/against the rhythm of the delay while recording. I then
duplicated the track, panned each one hard left and right,
and took out the delay on the left side to add more
dimension to the overall piece. |
| 10.12.12 |
Piece101212
Piece101212_reverb |
My
Sound-In
improv this week is a solo improv on concert wind chimes
(again in one take). I made two versions: the first one is
dry, and the second one has reverb added. |
| 10.5.12 |
Piece100512
|
My
Sound-In
improv this week was made from a solo cymbal improvisation
(one cymbal and one take). |
| 9.28.12 |
Piece092812
|
For my
Sound-In
improv this week, I decided to go with clarinet. What you
hear here are two tracks (one take each, no edits), one
panned hard right, the other panned hard left, and each
processed with different delays. |
| 9.21.12 |
Piece092112
|
A busy week with a new season
starting at my job, so here's a quick two-track
Sound-In
improv made with the BeBot app on my iTouch. |
| 9.14.12 |
Piece091412
|
Due to time and technological
constraints, it's back to the old upright for my
Sound-In
piece this week. |
| 9.7.12 |
Piece090712
|
ImprovFriday has had a name
change, and is now called
Sound-In.
However, everything else behind it is the same. And here's
another one patch, one stereo track, one take improv played
on my Triton. |
| 8.31.12 |
Piece083112
|
The theme this week at
ImprovFriday
is "clocks." What you hear here isn't actually a clock, but
close. It's an old Seth Thomas metronome that used to be my
grandpa's, and happens to be slightly bent. I recorded it at
60 bpm, and then duplicated the track, panned them far left
and right, and added delay on one side. I then played
another one patch, one
track, one take improv on the Triton. In case anyone's
wondering how I choose the sound each week, I just play
different ones until something inspires me. Then it's time
to lay it down. |
| 8.24.12 |
Piece082412
|
Another quick one patch, one
track, one take
ImprovFriday
piece played on the Triton. |
| 8.17.12 |
Piece081712
|
This
ImprovFriday
piece is a one patch, one stereo track, one take improv
played on my Korg Triton. |
| 8.10.12 |
Piece081012
|
For "curious" reasons, the theme this week at
ImprovFriday
is "Mars." This one was made with me playing my
Fender bass guitar (two tracks, one doubled, all processed). |
| 8.3.12 |
Piece080312
|
The theme this week over at
ImprovFriday
is "bugs." While there are many ways to go with this, I took
the first thing that came to mind. This is made with three
different sounds (and apps) on my iPad. |
| 7.27.12 |
Piece072712
|
I decided to use the Loopy HD
app on my iPad again for my
ImprovFriday
piece this week. I recorded the percussion loops live into
the app, and then improvised a guitar solo on top in Cubase
(which I then duplicated and processed). |
| 7.20.12 |
Piece072012
|
The theme this week at
ImprovFriday
is "loopy," so I made most of this improv using
the Loopy HD app on my iPad (for the ambient sounds and the
ukulele accompaniment parts), and then recorded the solo
improv directly into Cubase using a delay for more "loops"
(and some reverb). |
| 7.13.12 |
Piece071312
|
This week the theme at
ImprovFriday
is "heat." It's hot and humid here in SoCal, so for some
reason the electric guitar seemed like the right instrument
for my improv. This is two tracks (first and only, with no
edits), processed and panned to each side. |
| 7.6.12 |
Piece070612
|
My
ImprovFriday
piece this week is a duet by the campfire. Simple as that. |
| 6.29.12 |
Piece062912_dry
Piece062912_reverb
Piece062912_delay
|
I had another chance to sit down
at the Steinway D at my theatre today, so it was a perfect
chance for a quick
ImprovFriday
piece. This was recorded with my R-05 and the binaural
earbud microphones - one take with no edits. In fact, you
can kind of hear the AC on, and you can hear me getting a
text at one point. That will teach me to not put my phone on
silent before recording. Also, I made three versions - one
as recorded (dry), one with reverb, and one with a stereo
delay. I put them all here for you to hear. |
| 6.22.12 |
Piece062212
|
A quick
ImprovFriday
piece this week, just voice and ukulele (both processed). |
| 6.15.12 |
Piece061512
|
The theme this week at
ImprovFriday
is "the internet." I'm not sure what the internet "sounds"
like, but here's one attempt at an impression of it. |
| 6.8.12 |
Piece060812
|
An
ImprovFriday
piece for 2 4-string instruments. Made me realize how much I
miss playing bass. |
| 6.2.12 |
Piece060212
|
Managed to squeeze an
ImprovFriday
piece into a busy weekend. This one features voice and uke. |
| 5.25.12 |
Piece052512
|
A simple
ImprovFriday
piece using two iTouch/iPad apps (and a bit of processing). |
| 5.18.12 |
Piece051812
|
When I found some time to make
my
ImprovFriday
piece for the week, my oldest son was playing drums out in
the garage (while listening to his ipod) . Instead of making
him stop, I went out and recorded a bit with my R-05 to use
for my piece. I took what I recorded into my studio, copied
and pasted it to double the length, and then added two
ukulele parts on top. The melody is the one and only take. I
processed the tracks and here you have it. Can you tell what
song he was playing along with? |
| 5.11.12 |
Piece051112
|
In the middle of another busy
week, so it's back to my upright piano for a quick (but
slow)
ImprovFriday
piece. The theme at IF this week is "space" - a common
element in my music already. |
| 5.4.12 |
Piece050412
|
Still using the uke for my
ImprovFriday
pieces. This one is a trio. I recorded the main rhythmic
part first, and then recorded the other two on top of it
(all live, with no edits), then added some processing. I
know that some of the melody notes are "out" a bit, but in
the age of auto-tune, I decided to keep them that way to
make is sound "authentic." |
| 4.27.12 |
Piece042712
|
The theme this week at
ImprovFriday
is "ppp,"
meaning as quietly as possible. This improv is made of of
two tracks. The first is a stereo piano track, recorded
using my R-05 and my upright piano, which I then processed
with delay and reverb. Then I recorded a processed uke solo
over it. I'm not sure if it is as quiet as possible, but it
feels "quiet" to me. |
| 4.20.12 |
Piece042012
|
Yet another ukulele
ImprovFriday
piece. This one has two tracks (played in realtime with no
edits), each doubled, panned, and delayed slightly, and some
reverb on the top. |
| 4.13.12 |
Piece041312
|
I had a plan in mind for my
ImprovFriday
piece, but then the storm came, so I took my R-05 recorder
and uke on to the front porch and made this. There is no
additional processing and no edits. |
| 4.6.12 |
Piece040612
|
A solo uke Good Friday
lamentation for my
ImprovFriday
piece. |
| 3.30.12 |
Piece033012
|
All uke for my
ImprovFriday
piece. Three tracks with delay. Simple as that. |
| 3.23.12 |
Piece032312
|
I couldn't decide on electronic
or acoustic for my
ImprovFriday
piece, so I went with electro-acoustic. This is a quick one
made with the Alchemy iPad app and solo ukulele (with a
little processing). Again, one take and no edits. |
| 3.16.12 |
Piece031612
|
This
ImprovFriday
piece is a simple elegy for a dear friend and colleague who
died unexpectedly last week. Grace, you will be missed. |
| 3.09.12 |
Piece030912
|
Back home from Hawaii, this
ImprovFriday
piece uses a couple of recordings I made there (some birds,
and the Oli Kāhea that we would chant asking permission to
enter certain locations), along with a ukulele improv made
tonight with a tenor uke I bought in Kona. |
| 3.2.12 |
See link to the right.
|
This
ImprovFriday
piece was made while I was in Hilo, HI. Because I didn't
have my usual set-up, I had to resort to using the Souncloud
App on my iPad. What you hear here is really a field
recording of
coqui frogs and other sounds, with me playing bits on
the harmonica. Nothing fancy, but I didn't want to
miss a week! Here's the link:
http://soundcloud.com/swcadman/improvinhilo030112-at-hilo-hi
|
| 2.24.12 |
Piece022412
|
Another
ImprovFriday
piece using my piano. I recorded this improv in the usual
manner, and then made an edit to lengthen it for a video and
added some processing. You can click on the "Videos" link to
the left to watch the video. |
| 2.17.12 |
Piece021712
|
Back to my upright piano for my
ImprovFriday
piece. Like usual, I recorded this piano improv by putting
my R-05 recorder inside the piano. For this one I added some
processing after the fact. This was the one and only improv
this week, with no editing. |
| 2.10.12 |
Piece021012
|
So my plan was to use my upright
piano this month for my
ImprovFriday
pieces, but then the theme was announced of "voice." Being
flexible is always fun, so I switched to voice for this one.
This is made from one quick vocal improv, with a tiny bit of
editing and some processing. |
| 2.3.12 |
Piece020312-forRodgerVaughan
|
For the month of February, I'm
going back to my old upright piano for my
ImprovFriday
pieces. This one is dedicated to my college theory
professor, Rodger Vaughan, who died a few days back. He
would get a kick out of what I did here (in more ways than
one). |
| 1.27.12 |
Piece012712
|
Yet another iPad
ImprovFriday
piece using the
Alchemy app. The theme over at IF this week is "clouds," so
I improvised a solo piece with that in mind. What you hear
is two tracks of the improv, one delayed slightly and EQ'd a
bit differently form the original one. |
| 1.20.12 |
Piece012012
|
Another iPad
ImprovFriday
piece. This improv is made up of two tracks using the
Alchemy app (with no additional processing). |
| 1.13.12 |
Piece011312
|
Back to the iPad for my
ImprovFriday
piece (and a bit of processing in Cubase). |
| 1.6.12 |
Piece010612- In Memory of Richard Lainhart
|
On December 30th, we lost a
member of the
ImprovFriday
community.
Richard
Lainhart died unexpectedly and was an important person
to us, as well as to the world of electronic music in
general. This memorial to Richard was made in real time with
just my Roland SH-101 and delay. |
| 12.30.11 |
Piece123011
|
For my last December
ImprovFriday
piece (and the last one for 2011), sax seemed appropriate. I
used the same effects settings as my piece from last week. |
| 12.23.11 |
Piece122311
|
I decided to play clarinet (two
tracks and some delay) for my fourth December
ImprovFriday
piece. |
| 12.16.11 |
Piece121611
|
I'm in the middle of a busy
holiday performance week, so for my third December
ImprovFriday
piece, here's a quick piano improv (and again, a bit of voice). |
| 12.9.11 |
Piece120911
|
For my second December
ImprovFriday
piece, I'm using melodica (and a bit of voice). |
| 12.2.11 |
Piece120211
|
After a bunch of electronic
ImprovFriday
pieces, I've decided to switch gears for a bit. For my
December pieces, I'm going to use acoustic instruments only,
and use the music of the season as my starting point. This
one features acoustic guitar (and a bit of voice). |
| 11.24.11 |
Piece112411
|
Another Animoog
ImprovFriday
piece, made using three different sounds. I'm putting this
up on Thursday this week as a Thanksgiving offering. |
| 11.18.11 |
Piece111811
Piece111811-solo
|
At this point, I think I'll
continue to use the Animoog for my November
ImprovFriday
pieces. This one started off with just a solo line
improvised, and then I added a drone-type part underneath
it. I'm not sure if I like it better with the drone part or
without it, so I decided to put both up here. There is no
additional processing beyond the Animoog. |
| 11.11.11 |
Piece111111
|
Another Animoog
ImprovFriday
piece. This one features two sounds, both played live, and a
smidge of reverb on the top. |
| 11.4.11 |
Piece110411
|
Again, the Animoog
synth app for my
ImprovFriday
piece. This is a solo improv with only one stereo sound
(recorded in one take with no additional editing or
processing). |
| 10.28.11 |
Piece102811
|
As promised, I'm using the
Animoog
synth app (playing 5 different sounds) again for my
ImprovFriday
piece. The theme over at IF this week is Halloween, so I
thought I'd make something that fit. I'll let you be the
judge. |
| 10.21.11 |
Piece102111
|
This week Moog released the
Animoog synth app for the iPad (which I quickly purchased),
and I must say that it's very cool. As soon as I heard it, I
knew I would be using it for my
ImprovFriday
piece this week (and probably for some time to come). This
improv uses four of the preset "sounds." |
| 10.14.11 |
Piece101411
|
Lately there have been different
themes each week over at
ImprovFriday,
and most of the time I start work on my piece before the
theme has been announced. That was the case again this week.
However, once I saw that the theme was "Peter Gunn," I
decided to crank out a quick improv on the guitar. This
piece is a meditation of sorts on the Peter Gunn Theme. |
| 10.7.11 |
Piece100711
|
This
ImprovFriday
piece uses some ambient crowd noise I recorded with my R-05
(and then heavily processed) along with a soft synth improv
over it. |
| 9.30.11 |
Piece093011
|
For my
ImprovFriday
piece, I recorded a quick stereo improv with my R-05. I then
put it into Cubase, copied it four times (for a total of 5
tracks), staggered the entrances by one second, and then
panned and processed each one differently. Nice piano
grunge. |
| 9.23.11 |
Piece092311
|
I came across this soft synth
sound while working on a project and was intrigued by all
the facets of it. I realized it would be perfect for a quick
ImprovFriday
piece. There is no additional processing. |
| 9.16.11 |
Piece091611
|
Another busy week makes for
another quick
ImprovFriday
piece. For this one, I recorded two tracks using my SH-101.
I then duplicated each one and panned and processed to
taste. |
| 9.9.11 |
Piece090911
|
I've had an insanely busy week,
but managed to find time for a quick
ImprovFriday
piece on acoustic guitar. |
| 9.3.11 |
Piece090311
|
A very quick
ImprovFriday
piano piece this time. I'm dealing with some technical
issues in my recording set up, so I used my R-05 recorder.
Grateful that it records in both WAV & MP3! |
| 8.26.11 |
Piece082611
|
The theme this time for
ImprovFriday
is "voice." Because I'm not a singer, I went where
inspiration lead. Once again, me, my piano, and a bit of
processing. |
| 8.19.11 |
Piece081911
|
The theme for this week at
ImprovFriday
is "soft" or "fragile." Because of the theme, and very
limited time, I decided to once again sit down at my upright
piano and record a quick improv with my R-05. Once I was
done, I thought about several different ways of processing
it, but ended up leaving it alone. It is deliberately
mastered a bit lower than usual. |
| 8.12.11 |
Piece081211
|
This
week's
ImprovFriday
piece features my son Henry on processed guitar (played with
drum sticks and recorded with my R-05) and me on processed
vocals. |
| 8.5.11 |
Piece080511
|
This
ImprovFriday
piece features a recording I made of a backyard fire and an
SH-101 improv (with some processing). |
| 7.29.11 |
Piece072911-Elegy
|
My
ImprovFriday
piece this week is an elegy for victims of the massacre in
Norway last Friday. This was made using my Korg Triton and
field recordings I made at the beach this past week (without
on planning on doing this specifically). |
| 7.22.11 |
Piece072211
|
An "OC Fair"
ImprovFriday
piece this week. What you hear is a binaural recording made
in the midway on Wednesday afternoon at the fair, with an
electric guitar improv that was no doubt inspired by the
Chris Isaak concert I was at later that night (at least in
terms of the guitar sound). |
| 7.15.11 |
Piece071511
|
A super quick
ImprovFriday
piece this week. Two mono tracks of acoustic guitar recorded
with the delay and then panned left and right. |
| 7.8.11 |
Piece070811
|
My
ImprovFriday
piece this week features two stereo tracks of guitar and
fireworks recorded binaurally at La Mirada Regional Park.
The music didn't go where I thought it would before I
started, but that's the fun of improvisation. |
| 7.1.11 |
Piece070111_1
Piece070111_2
Piece070111_3
|
The first two pieces are
straight improvs played on the Steinway D at work. Both were
recorded with my R-05; the first one with the binaural
earbuds, the second one with the built-in stereo mic.
Neither of these have any additional processing. For the
third piece, I was intrigued by some of the rhythms I heard
in the first improv, so I did some editing (and processing)
with it just for fun. I couldn't decide which to use for my
ImprovFriday
piece, so I put them all up. |
| 6.24.11 |
Piece062411
|
The junior high band and
clarinet (as threatened) make their appearance again for my
ImprovFriday
piece. This time I took a different section of the recording
of the band (tuning mostly) along with a processed
duplication of the track, and panned them to the sides. I
then recorded a clarinet improv on top (with the delay and
reverb on the track while recording). |
| 6.17.11 |
Piece061711
|
This
ImprovFriday
piece features a clarinet solo (played on the clarinet I got
when I was nine years old) with junior high band
accompaniment (and a bit of editing and processing). I think
this is the first IF piece I've done with clarinet. It
certainly won't be the last. |
| 6.10.11 |
Piece061011
|
My
ImprovFriday
piece this week features a piano improvisation with some
cricket accompaniment (both in real-time and stretched). |
| 6.3.11 |
Piece060311
|
My
ImprovFriday
piece this week features more sounds from the aviary at the
San Diego Zoo (recorded last week) along with a doumbek
improvisation. |
| 5.27.11 |
Piece052711
|
My
ImprovFriday
piece this week is a piano improvisation combined with a
binaural recording made while walking around in the aviary
at the San Diego Zoo this past Tuesday.
|
| 5.20.11 |
Piece052011
|
A simple
ImprovFriday
piece using an evening field recording outside of my house
and instrumental music created by playing the NLogFree and
Bebot apps on my iTouch (with no additional processing).
|
| 5.13.11 |
Piece051311
|
With litle time yet again, I
returned to my upright piano for a quick
ImprovFriday
piece recorded with my R-05 and the binaural earbuds (and
with no processing at all). |
| 5.6.11 |
Piece050611
|
Another super busy week, so for
my ImprovFriday
piece I recorded a solo on my melodica (which I then
duplicated and manually delayed) and improvised some spoken
word. |
| 4.29.11 |
Piece042911
|
I decided to use my Roland
SH-101 monophonic synth again for my
ImprovFriday
piece this week. Three tracks with some reverb on the
melody. |
| 4.22.11 |
Piece042211
|
I have had (and continue to
have) an insanely busy week, but managed to squeeze in a
quick
ImprovFriday
piece on my old upright piano (with reverb added). |
| 4.15.11 |
Piece041511
|
My son bought his first Fender
guitar yesterday (a brand new HH Blacktop Jaguar), so of
course I had to use it for my
ImprovFriday
piece. The guitar was running through a DD-20 delay and a
Digitech Whammy pedal, and I just put my R-05 recorder in
front of the amp and played. This was made out of one
improv, but I cut part of it and looped it for the drone
part. |
| 4.8.11 |
Piece040811
|
For my
ImprovFriday
piece this week, I give you a piano improvisation (with some
processing) inspired by and mixed with a field recording
made on April 7th while at the local arcade with my youngest
son. |
| 4.1.11 |
Piece040111
|
Ambient sounds and some ambient
piano for my
ImprovFriday
piece this week. |
| 3.25.11 |
Piece032511
|
Shortly after the earthquake and
tsunami in Japan, I contacted my friend Jerry Gordon, who
lives in Osaka, and asked him if he would record and send me
some spoken word pieces, as I wanted to use something by him
on a piece of mine for a benefit CD (which
you can only find here). He sent me four pieces. I used
one of them in the benefit piece, and two in my
ImprovFriday
piece last week. This piece uses the fourth one (with a bit
of processing) along with me improvising two separate tracks
using the NLogFree synth app on my iTouch as I listened to
his spoken word piece (recorded in real time with no edits). |
| 3.18.11 |
Piece031811
|
I recorded and am releasing my
ImprovFriday
piece on Thursday in California this week because it is
Friday in Japan. Why? Well, because IF this week is running
a charity event in order to raise money for relief for Japan
(click on the IF link above to get there). Also because this
work features the spoken word of my good friend Jerry
Gordon, who lives in Osaka, Japan. This piece features Jerry
on voice and me on harmonica. |
| 3.11.11 |
Piece031111
|
My
9-year-old son was messing around on the piano (showing his
father's minimalist leanings), so I decided to record him
for my
ImprovFriday
piece this week. I then played a harmonica part over it
(with a delay on while recording). I put a bit of reverb on
the harmonica part after the fact, and here you have it. |
| 3.4.11 |
Piece030411
|
My
ImprovFriday
piece this week was actually recorded on Thursday night (it
was Friday somewhere over the Atlantic). Anyway, there was a
bunch of early activity on the IF site, and I could hear my
son practicing his electric guitar, so I decided to grab my
R-05 and take it over for a little bit. I put the recorder
in front of the amp and jammed for a little while (with
delay and distortion on). I then found two sections that I
liked, cut them and put them on separate tracks (with no
editing), and panned them left and right. Simple as that. |
| 2.25.11 |
Piece022511
|
For my
ImprovFriday
piece this week, I used my Korg Triton for two tracks and
played some live rabana (a hand drum from Sri Lanka). |
| 2.18.11 |
Piece021811
|
It's been quite a while since I
last played my bass, so I decided to play it for my
ImprovFriday
piece this week. A mono bass solo with a delay on the stereo
out. |
| 2.11.11 |
Piece021111
|
Didn't think I was going to be
able to make my
ImprovFriday
piece this week, but managed to find a couple of minutes to
turn on the R-05 and play my kalimba and then piano. You
hear what I played (with some silence cut out as I moved
from one instrument to the other). |
| 2.4.11 |
Piece020411
|
Another super busy week, so I
grabbed the electric guitar for my
ImprovFriday
piece and recorded two different stereo tracks through my
Line 6 pod (with different speed tremolos). I then used a
bit of processing in Cubase to finish it up. This one has a
little more edge than some of my recent improvs - probably
to balance all the wonderful classical music I've been
listening to lately by hanging out with the Felici Trio this
week. |
| 1.28.11 |
Piece012811
|
Another short and sweet explanation for
my
ImprovFriday
piece. I recorded a solo with my SH-101 synth (mono, of
course). I then duplicated the track, panned them left and
right, added some processing on the duplicated track, reverb
on the master and there you have it. |
| 1.21.11 |
Piece012111-1
Piece012111-2
|
Short and sweet explanation for
ImprovFriday
piece
this week. I sat down at my upright piano with my R-05 and
the earbud mics and recorded two improvs - one right after
the other. I couldn't decide which one I wanted to use, so I
decided to put them both up. There is no processing and no
edits. You hear what I heard. |
| 1.14.11 |
Piece011411
|
I'm a bit under the weather and
very busy, so I had to make my
ImprovFriday
piece quickly, without much thinking involved. For this
reason, I grabbed my acoustic guitar, swung the mic around,
and recorded a quick improv with some delay. I then
duplicated the track, took off the delay and then added some
chorus and reverb on it, panned the two tracks a bit, and
here you have it. |
| 1.7.11 |
Piece010711
|
My first ImprovFriday
piece of 2011. This is two tracks from my SH-101 (which I
forgot to tune before recording), panned hard left and
right. I then duplicated each track, put reverb on both
(which is all you hear - no original signal) and moved them
each slightly off center. I've found that I like using the
whopping 100 note sequencer in the SH-101 to make rhythmic
drones on the fly to improvise over. Also, this synth is
monophonic, which means I can only play one note at at time.
Sometimes limitations are the best inspiration. |
| 12.31.10 |
Piece123110
|
Here's my last ImprovFriday
piece for the year. I really couldn't decide what I wanted
to do, but knew I wanted something that sounded "hopeful." I
ended up once again having the SrutiBox app on my iTouch and
my SH-101 playing live behind me while I improvised on my
upright piano (and once again recorded with the earbud mics
plugged into the R-05). This is one live take, and you'll
know it when you hear the random click (from one of the
pieces of equipment in my studio) that shows up in the
middle of it. I liked what I played, so I decided to leave
it in and not try to edit it out or record another one. I
then added a bit of reverb and here it is. Here's to a
hopeful Happy New Year! |
| 12.24.10 |
Piece122410-1
Piece122410-2
|
I'm going to keep my explanation
short and sweet for
my ImprovFriday
pieces (yes, pieces) this week. It's been raining quite a
bit here lately, and the shed in back of my garage leaks - a
lot. So I took my R-05 and recorded it. I realized that the
dripping had a rhythm to it, so I took a bit of what I
recorded, looped it, and then improvised a guitar part over
that. However, since I had the whole recording I made of the
dripping, I decided to make a second piece using that, again
improvising a guitar part over it. There is quite a bit of
processing going on too, but both guitar parts are the one
and only takes, with no editing. |
| 12.17.10 |
Piece121710
|
I got a bit of an early start on
my ImprovFriday
piece this week. A few days ago, I had a chance to get into
the theater I work at while no one was around and sit down
for a few minutes at the Steinway. I literally plugged the
earbud mics into my R-05, hit record, and played for about
three minutes (exactly what you hear). When I listened back,
I liked what I played but realized that the mics picked up a
bunch of noise from the fans from the moving lights. So,
along with doubling the original track and processing that
track for some "atmosphere," I added in the rain I
recorded last week to make the sound of the fans go away.
Once again, relax and enjoy. |
| 12.10.10 |
Piece121010
|
It was raining here earlier this
week, so I went out on my front porch and recorded it (along
with the other sounds that came along with it) with my R-05
specifically to be used for this
ImprovFriday
piece. Later I sat down and recorded the piano part (using
the CS-10EM binaural earbuds) in one shot, pre-planning that
I would add some delay and reverb to fill it out, which is
what I did. Relax and enjoy! By the way, this piece puts my
ImprovFriday output at just over the four hour mark. That's
a lot of music (for me anyway). |
| 12.3.10 |
Piece120310
|
A pretty straightforward
ImprovFriday
piece this week. I placed my R-05 pointing inside my upright
piano and improvised on the piano over a rhythmic drone
coming from my SH-101 out from the monitors. Added a smidge
of reverb when I was done and that's all there is to it. |
| 11.26.10 |
Piece112610
|
A Thanksgiving
ImprovFriday
piece. What you're hearing is my brother-in-law Johnny
saying the Lord's Prayer in Russian before eating dinner
last night (hence the noise), processed through a delay, and
me improvising on the piano this morning. |
| 11.19.10 |
Piece111910
|
My
ImprovFriday
piece is once again recorded with the R-05, both in regular
stereo (for the birds, etc. outside my bathroom window) and
with the CS-10EM binaural earbuds (for the kalimba part).
Added delay to the kalimba part, and there you have it. |
| 11.12.10 |
Piece111210
|
My
ImprovFriday
piece is acoustic guitar recorded with the R-05 and CS-10EM binaural earbuds
in my partially tiled bathroom while the next door neighbor
was doing some work. I then put it into Cubase and processed
it with some delay and reverb. |
| 11.5.10 |
Piece110510
|
Using the R-05 yet again for my
ImprovFriday
piece.
What you're hearing is one live stereo take recorded with
the Roland CS-10EM binaural earbuds (with built-in
microphones). I ran the Srutibox app for my iTouch and my
SH-101 through the mixing board and out my monitors (playing
behind me) while I played my upright piano. This is the
first and only take, with no edits. On a side note, I will
be starting a new job next week, and am not sure how this
will affect my output for ImprovFriday. Hopefully not at
all, but I guess we'll see what happens. |
| 10.29.10 |
Piece102910
|
More fun with the R-05 for
ImprovFriday.
The Santa Ana winds are blowing, so I thought that would be
a good place to start - by recording underneath a big tree
in front of my house to hear the wind through the leaves. Of
course, you'll hear other sounds as well. I then went back
inside the house and recorded a sax solo (again, on the
R-05). I duplicated the track and applied different
processing on each (delay on one, reverb on the other),
mixed it in with the wind, and there you have it. |
| 10.22.10 |
Piece102210
|
Another
ImprovFriday
piece made a bit differently than usual. I'm still having
fun with my R-05 - it's nice to have a portable digital
recorder. On another note (in case you've ever wondered),
there are reasons why I don't give descriptive titles to my
IF pieces. First of all, since they're made in one day
(usually in less than an hour from start to finish), the
title reflects that. Secondly, because they are truly
improvisations, with very little forethought (if any at all,
other than deciding what instrument to play), I really never
know what's going to come out. Finally, I don't want to
bring any extra-musical content to the piece. When I create
music, I'm usually not trying to depict a person, place,
scene, emotion, etc. It's just music for music's sake (we
call it "absolute music"). All that being said, I suppose
you could call this piece "Tea and Drums." |
| 10.15.10 |
Piece101510
|
This
ImprovFriday
piece was made a bit differently than usual. I recently got
a Roland R-05 digital recorder and the Roland CS-10EM
binaural earbuds (with microphones on the actual earbuds
-pointing out, of course). I won't go into an explanation of
binaural recording here, but suffice it to say that it makes
the listening environment three-dimensional. So what you
hear are two tracks. One is me in my front yard on a fall
day (with a breeze and lots of crunchy leaves), and the
second is a regular stereo track of me playing my upright
piano. Once again, the first and only take, with no editing
or additional processing. |
| 10.8.10 |
Piece100810
|
And now back to the iTouch and
the Bebot app for my
ImprovFriday
piece. Two stereo tracks: the first one is just a few
musical motives with a delay to loop/layer them and slowly
fade-out (and processed in Cubase with a panning plug-in);
the second track is simply a one-take improv over the loop. |
| 10.1.10 |
Piece100110
|
Back to the upright piano for my
ImprovFriday
piece today. This one's pretty straightforward: two tracks,
panned hard left and right, processed with some delay and
reverb. Once again, first and only takes for each. |
| 9.24.10 |
Piece092410
|
Here's the lowdown on my
ImprovFriday
piece for today. The first sound you hear is my voice, which
has been stretched and processed. Then you hear me playing
my Xaphoon. I recorded one track, duplicated it, processed
each one a bit differently and then panned them hard left
and hard right. |
| 9.16.10 |
Piece091610
|
Another busy Friday this week,
so I got my
ImprovFriday
piece posted on Thursday once again (which is fair game by
IF rules, as it's Friday somewhere). This is one mono track
of me playing my old upright piano. I put the mic up in
front of the piano, hit record and played. You hear the one
and only take, with no editing. I then duplicated the track
twice (for a total of three tracks), panned one hard left,
one center, and one hard right, each processed differently,
put some compression and reverb on the output, and here you
go. |
| 9.9.10 |
Piece090910
|
Something came up for tomorrow,
so I had to do my
ImprovFriday
piece on a Thursday this week. One stereo track (one take)
of me playing my Fender American Deluxe Jazz bass through my
Boss ME-50B multi-effects pedalboard, then EQ'd a smidge in
Cubase. |
| 9.3.10 |
Piece090310
|
Keeping things relatively simple for my
ImprovFriday
piece this week. Two tracks of me playing acoustic guitar,
each duplicated and processed. Rock on! |
| 8.27.10 |
Piece082710
|
Sadly, the Gaia is gone (for
now), so it's back to the Triton for my
ImprovFriday
piece. I went through a few sounds before I came across the
organ sound. After as couple of minutes, I came up with the
organ part (then copied and pasted it a few times). The I
came across the bell sound and added the bell part,
overlapping the organ part. Finally, I grabbed the electric
guitar, brought up a preset in Cubase and came up with the
guitar part you hear. Again, one take with no clean-up. I
then panned it hard left, doubled it, and panned that hard
right, while placing it a bit behind the original part, with
the delay increased. Sounds a bit like film music to me. |
| 8.20.10 |
Piece082010
|
Well, I've managed to hang on to
the Roland Gaia for a bit longer than expected, and I have
to give it back soon, so I figured I should use it for another
ImprovFriday
piece before it's gone. What you hear is a single stereo
track using a three-layer sound that I created. I played the
keys on the synth with my right hand while "playing" the
D-Beam on the Gaia (kind of like playing a Theremin) with my
left hand. This is the only take, and all processing comes
from within the Gaia (flanger, delay, reverb). |
| 8.13.10 |
Piece081310
|
Time for another
ImprovFriday
piece. This piece was made with an iTouch, a wooden frog and
some slide guitar. Here's what I did: First, I recorded a
drone using the Sruti Box app for the iTouch with no
additional processing. The I recorded a wooden frog - the
kind with the stick and the ridges on the back - split it
into two tracks, cut the parts into alternating pieces,
panned the tracks hard left and right and processed them
with some delay and reverb. Then I recorded a slide guitar
part (first and only take), with the delay already in place
so I could play with/against it, and then added some plate
reverb. I panned it a bit to the left, duplicated the track,
processed it differently, and panned it a bit to the right.
That's all there is to it. |
| 8.6.10 |
Piece080610
|
There has been more tragedy
since my
ImprovFriday
piece last week, even closer to home. I don't want to go
into it, so let this piece be my prayer for those who have
left us, and for those of us still here, left to deal with
the pain. This piece is
a bit personal, so I don't really want to go into how it was
made. Suffice it to say that everything you're hearing is
either my voice or me playing slide on a resonator guitar. A
little old, a little new, a little church, a little blues.
On a side note, this marks a
year of uninterrupted ImprovFriday pieces. Thanks to IF for
keeping me making music! |
| 7.30.10 |
Piece073010
|
There's a story behind my
ImprovFriday
piece for this week. Last Friday I found out that a student
of mine from last semester was shot and killed on June 30th.
It's a sad story (that I won't go into), so my piece this
week is for Julian Collender, his friends and family.
Sometimes there are no words that can be said to those who
have lost a loved one.
As for how it came together, it goes like this . . . I first
recorded a short vocal drone (using my fake kargyraa, as I
don't know how it's really done). I then stretched it out
x10. At the very end of the piece, the original version
fades in in order to hear the exhale (mixed with the
stretched version). Then I recorded myself saying "Sometimes
there are no words" a few times and spaced them throughout
the piece, processed with a delay. At that point, I knew I
wanted to add something else, but wasn't sure what. At
that time, my 8-year-old son came in to my studio and started playing my kalimba. I swung the microphone around and recorded him
playing. Cut it to fit (with no other edits), threw some heavy reverb on it to
give it a ethereal sound, and there it is. |
| 7.23.10 |
Piece072310
|
Turns out I ended up with the
Gaia for one more week, so figured I should use it for my
ImprovFriday
piece again. For the past few weeks I've wanted to do
something with a bit more "energy" but it never went where I
planned. This time around I decided that I would stick with
the plan of having an up-tempo track to start off with
(which I did). However something else came into play.
Yesterday I was listening to "Who's Next" and have long
admired the hard panning on that record (and other Who
albums). So in addition to deciding that I would make a
piece with some energy to it, I also decided that I would
make a piece that only had two tracks, one panned hard left
and the other hard right.So here's what I did: I made the
left track first, messing with the cutoff knob a bit while
recording. Then I muted it, picked a different sound, and
recorded the right track, messing with the rate knob while
recording (without listening to the first track at all). I
intentionally wanted to second track to feel that it was
moving at a slower speed. Then I brought the left track back
in, adjusted the levels a bit, and there you have it.
Probably more than you wanted to you know, but there it is. |
| 7.16.10 |
Piece071610
|
Probably my last
ImprovFriday
piece made with the Gaia synth (for now), as I have to give
it back. Once again, three tracks played live, and once
again, not what I was originally thinking of doing. That's
the fun of it, right? |
| 7.9.10 |
Piece070910
|
Another
ImprovFriday
piece made with the Gaia. Three tracks played live. I came
up with the rhythm part first by messing around with one of
the presets. I had no idea what I was going to put down over
it, but I didn't think I would end up where I did. Maybe I
should have known better. Like in life, the beauty is often
found in the dichotomy of things. |
| 7.2.10 |
Piece070210
|
Got my hands on a new Roland
Gaia SH-01 synth to mess around with, so what better way to
start off than using it for an
ImprovFriday
piece. What you're hearing is three monophonic tracks (it
does do polyphonic though) with some knob twisting while
playing. Nothing is sequenced - all first takes played live.
Just scratching the surface with this thing. Can't wait to
find some real time to dig into it. |
| 6.25.10 |
Piece062510
|
Feeling electronic again for my
ImprovFriday
piece. I recorded two monophonic tracks with my SH-101
(which is all you can do with it in the first place),
duplicated one of them and added some different processing
to each track. |
| 6.18.10 |
Piece061810
|
I guess because I've been so
busy lately, I've focused on acoustic music using just one
instrument for my
ImprovFriday
pieces lately, and once again, I did the actual recording on Thursday night
in anticipation of a busy Friday. I decided to use the
Melodica again, so that's all your hear on the three tracks.
The first track is actually a ten-second drone I recorded,
then stretched out 16x (with adding some partials). I then
processed it with a chopper plug-in to add some rhythm to
it. The second track is a short harmonic thing that I
recorded, then copied and pasted 5 times (with some silence
in between) and added some reverb. The melody track is the
first and only take, with a bit of delay and reverb. |
| 6.11.10 |
Piece061110
|
I knew I was going to have a
busy day today, so I decided that I would at least start
recording my
ImprovFriday
piece on Thursday night. It was warm in my studio, so I had
the window open. While thinking about what I wanted to do, I
popped on to the IF site to see what was going on and saw
that Paul Muller did a piece for piano, so I figured I would
do the same, on my somewhat out-of-tune upright. I used the
same MO as last week, improvising one mono track and then
improvising two more tracks over it. While recording, I
realized that I could hear a cricket outside my window.
While it didn't really show up on the piano parts, I thought
you should hear what I was hearing, so I put the mic by the
window for the fourth track. You're hearing all first takes,
with a smidge of reverb on the piano parts. |
| 6.4.10 |
Piece060410
|
I have a busy day ahead, so when
I started thinking about my
ImprovFriday
piece, I thought that I should do something quick and
acoustic. I'm in an "acoustic guitar" mood today (probably
from listening to the Swell Season yesterday), so I grabbed
the acoustic, fired up the mic and recorded some tracks in
Cubase. What you hear are four tracks, first and only takes,
with some reverb on the top. |
| 5.28.10 |
Piece052810
|
This past week I was doing some
voice-over recording for Roland and had the microphone still
set up. When it came time to do my
ImprovFriday
piece, I figured I would record something "real." For
a while now I've realized that one of the few musical things
I hadn't yet tackled here was doing something with my voice.
That's probably because I'm not much of a vocalist. However,
today I figured what the heck, so here you go: 3 tracks of
my voice (with delays, reverb, etc.). Again trying to
balance the chaos. |
| 5.21.10 |
Piece052110
|
I was recording a sax part for the modern dance piece
I'm working on, so since I had it out, I figured I would use it for my
ImprovFriday
piece. There are three tracks here, all me playing the tenor
sax. The first part you hear is a rhythm created by key
clicks run through a delay. The second part is also run
through a delay and processed with ring modulation. The
"melody" is sax again, with distortion and reverb. |
| 5.14.10 |
Piece051410
|
Had to do another quick
ImprovFriday
piece this week, so I decided to do something I've wanted to
do for a while. Loaded up Cubase, put a mic up in front of
my old upright piano and played. I recorded this in mono,
panned it hard left, copied the track, processed that a bit
and panned it hard right. Here it is - enjoy! |
| 5.7.10 |
Piece050710
Piece050710_NoMelody
|
Once again, not a lot of time for my
ImprovFriday
piece this week (and with possible things coming up in the
future, maybe even less and less time). Anyway, this time I
was feeling like using a "real" instrument, so I busted out
one I don't think I've used yet on IF - my Melodica. This
was a quick one. I recorded the first track and then put
some delay on it. Then I played a melody on top (again with
some delay). Put some reverb on it to give it a nice "feel"
and there it is. Both tracks were first takes, with no
edits. The reason I have two versions here (one with just
the first track) is that I like them both and think they
both work in their own way. |
| 4.30.10 |
Piece043010
|
Not a lot of time for my
ImprovFriday
piece this week, so I made another two-track improv with the
Bebot app on my iTouch. Sort of a companion piece to last
week's piece, I suppose. |
| 4.23.10 |
Piece042310
|
So last week I saw a video on
YouTube with Jordan Rudess (from Dream Theater, among other
things) talking about this iTouch/iPhone synth called Bebot.
It looked like fun so I got it. Needless to say, my
ImprovFriday
piece this week is a two-track improv using the Bebot. The
only processing outside of the app is a smidge of reverb in
Cubase. |
| 4.16.10 |
Piece041610
|
My
ImprovFriday
piece this week has its beginnings in a modern dance piece
I'm working on. I took a couple of bits from it (the water &
the drums) and then improvised a one-take part over it using
a VST plug-in. Well, there it is. |
| 4.9.10 |
Piece040910
|
I'm sure that my
ImprovFriday
piece this week materialized as a reaction to the crazy week
I've had running out to the Imperial Valley three times (all
the way to Mexicali twice). I spent a lot of time driving
through the desert by the Salton Sea. Once again, testing my
theory of opposites - do I make music that attempts to keep
balance in my life? This is all from the Korg Triton with a
delay inside Cubase. |
| 4.2.10 |
Piece040210
|
My
ImprovFriday
piece this week is inspired by the day. The "environmental"
sounds are created by my SH-101 and the melody is (once
again) a Korg Triton patch with a little bit of processing
in Cubase. |
| 3.25.10 |
Piece032510
|
Due to illnesses and crazy
schedules, I did my
ImprovFriday
piece on Thursday this week (which counts in IF world).
I'm continuing my exploration through my Triton. Here's
another drone piece using a bell-type sound, with an
improvised part on top. |
| 3.19.10 |
Piece031910
|
Must be another
ImprovFriday.
So last week, a good friend of mine gave me his Korg Triton
ProX (which was perfect timing, as my faithful Roland U20
was giving out). It's an amazing instruments with lots of
sounds. I figured that this would be a perfect way to start
learning the instrument and discovering the sounds. I'll
probably be using just this for a while to come. Anyway,
this piece is pretty straightforward. I'm using an organ
patch with just two tracks. The first one is a drone-y
thing, and the second one is the "melody" (ran through a
stereo delay). The tracks were each done in one take, and
there are no overdubs or edits. I've had a chaotic week, so
here's a little peace. |
| 3.12.10 |
Piece031210
|
I've been thinking of doing this
one day for
ImprovFriday
and I guess today's the day. I have a few percussion
instruments lying around in my studio so I thought I would
use them. What you're hearing is a doumbek, rebana,
gonkogui (agogo), Navajo rattle
and a kalimba. The rhythm parts were recorded in small units
and then copied and pasted. The kalimba part is completely
improvised in one take. |
| 3.5.10 |
Piece030510
|
Well,
ImprovFriday
is a year old. I wasn't in on it right from the
beginning, but have been a regular participant for quite a
while now (as you can see by the pieces below). Now, about
this piece. So this week I was talking to a good friend of
mine and he was saying that he didn't "get" a lot of my IF
pieces (which I assured him is ok), but that he really liked
the last one (from 2/26) and he appreciated the explanation
of how is was made. As a result, I thought I would start
including a brief explanation of each piece from now on.
This one's pretty straight-forward. It's a one-track sonic
meditation played on the electric guitar (tuned to
E-A-E-A-B-E) loosely based on "Happy Birthday" for IF. One
take, no fixes (which I think is quite apparent once you
hear it). Play it loud! |
| 2.26.10 |
Piece022610
|
So here's the story behind my
latest
ImprovFriday
piece. Last week I made my ImprovFriday piece. Last Friday
night I took my son to a friend's house for a blues jam
(which I did ended jamming in at the end). An old
friend from school posted on Facebook that I should do a
"blues improvfriday" piece (thanks Chuck!). Well, if you're
reading this, you should know by now that my ImprovFriday
pieces don't exactly fit in the blues/rock/pop world.
However, being one for a challenge, I figured out a way to
incorporate the blues into the piece. The drone that your
hear is actually one 12-bar blues progression, played on my
sax, then stretched out (approx 11.5x) and then adding some
upper and lower harmonics (which makes it sound like more
than just 1 tenor sax). Then I played a solo over it, copied
the solo to a second track and processed both tracks
differently. Probably more than you cared to know, but there
it is. |
| 2.19.10 |
Piece021910
(feat. Steve Layton)
|
My
ImprovFriday
piece.
Steve Layton is one of the members of ImprovFriday, and
quite well-known an respected in new music circles. A lot of
his IF activity is taking pieces by the rest of us and
mashing them together (with some amazing results I night
add). It is his birthday today, so I suggested that for fun,
he put up a piece of us and we could do something with it.
For this piece, I took the last 30 seconds or so of his
piece and stretched it out approx. 5x (while adding some
upper and lower harmonics). Then I put some tubular bells on
the top. Celebratory icing on the cake if you will. |
| 2.12.10 |
Piece021210
|
My
ImprovFriday
piece. After I made it I started wondering if there's any
connection between my moods and the music I make each
Friday. Maybe they're opposites? It's all about
balance.
|
| 2.5.10 |
Piece020510
|
My
ImprovFriday piece
- inspired by a rainy SoCal day and a couple of sounds.
|
| 1.29.10 |
Piece012910
|
Here's my
ImprovFriday piece.
There's been all sorts of analog synth stuff around me
lately, so I felt inspired to use my SH-101 again. It's the
only instrument used, and the only processing on this piece
is a bit of reverb on the "melody" track. |
| 1.22.10 |
Piece012210
|
Got my
ImprovFriday piece
done on a Friday again, which somehow feels "right.". While
I saw many cool toys at the NAMM show last week (including
one or two that are now on my "hope to get some day" list),
I'm working with what I got. In this case, it's all NLogFree,
a synth for the iPhone/iTouch. That's all you hear, with no
additional processing. |
|
1.14.10 |
Piece011410
|
I have a busy couple of days
ahead, so I figured I better get my
ImprovFriday piece
done today. While it is Thursday here, it's already Friday
in Australia, so I'm going with that. Anyway, here you go. |
|
1.8.10 |
Piece010810
|
Well, it's that time again -
time for my
ImprovFriday piece.
I have been anxiously awaiting today, as I had some unused
sounds from last week that I was saving for today's piece.
This piece uses those sounds plus a new free VST synth for
the melody(ies). |
|
1.1.10 |
Piece010110
|
My first ImprovFriday piece of the year.
The other day I downloaded a bunch of
free samples
with the hope that I could find something to use for today's piece,
and that's pretty much what I did. I found a few that I liked and then threw down a little guitar over the top. |
|
12.25.09 |
Piece122509
|
My weekly ImprovFriday piece.
I "cheated" and started this one on 12/23, anticipating a couple of busy days ahead.
The only thing I didn't do was the solo Xaphoon part, which I recorded this afternoon.
It's a piece for the day (and the last one of the year for IF!). |
|
12.18.09 |
Piece121809
|
My weekly ImprovFriday piece.
It's interesting how things work out sometimes (well, to me anyway). I started this one using a
hurdy gurdy VST but I had issues when it came time to exporting it to audio. Not one
for throwing in the towel right away, I used the same MIDI file but switched to a VST that
emulates the Commodore 64 chip (which, btw, was my first computer).
I then added a couple of voices to beef it up and some
reverb and here you have it. |
|
12.12.09 |
Piece121209
|
My weekly ImprovFriday piece.
Well, I didn't make it on Friday (hence 121209 and not
121109), but better late than not at all, right? Also, I had
some tech issues today, so couldn't work in my usual
fashion. Not one for giving up too quickly, I ended up doing
this one in Finale - super fast and nothing fancy. The piece
feels like a rainy December day to me. That's a good thing. |
|
12.04.09 |
Piece120409
|
My weekly ImprovFriday piece.
Last week I was telling folks at the site that I never listen to other people's
compositions first, as I don't want to get unduly influenced (or discouraged) by what I hear.
Well, for the heck of it, I checked in early and listened to the first entry, by J.C. Combs,
which is a found sound collage. For the fun of it, I decided that I would use his piece as a
my starting point. A little cutting, reversing, stretching and adding a purposefully out of tune piano
(with delay and reverb) later, here it is. Don't turn the volume up too loud. |
|
11.27.09 |
Piece112709
|
My weekly ImprovFriday piece.
I heard the opening drum beat in my head a few days back and planned on using it
for this piece. Everything else showed up today. |
|
11.20.09 |
Piece112009
|
My weekly ImprovFriday piece.
Definitely electro-acoustic (or vice versa). |
|
11.13.09 |
Piece111309
|
My weekly ImprovFriday piece.
An electronic meditation made with only my Roland SH-101 (and a
little reverb on two tracks). |
|
11.6.09 |
Piece110609
|
My weekly ImprovFriday piece.
This piece is made entirely with instruments on my iTouch (SrutiBox, Steel Guitar and NLogFree). |
|
10.30.09 |
Piece103009
|
My weekly ImprovFriday piece.
Not at all what I was originally planning, but I guess the
time of year had an effect on me. |
|
10.23.09 |
Piece102309
|
My weekly ImprovFriday piece.
Last night I was thinking about seeing what I would come up with using three mallet instruments. Here it is.
As a side note, This is the first piece that I am posting
from this new site. Hopefully there will be more
activity here in the future (from both me and people looking
for my music). |
|
10.16.09 |
Piece101609 |
My weekly ImprovFriday piece.
I guess I'm feeling industrial today. Percussion (sampled) + 2 tracks of me on my Fender Jazz bass.
|
|
10.9.09 |
Piece100909 - for the Mighty Noah Bailey Dowell |
Another ImprovFriday piece.
I know Noah Bailey Dowell and his family from a church we all used to go to.
He is known as "The Mighty" and he died on 10.3.09 after a battle with a rare form of cancer.
He was 8 years old. He and his family are an inspiration. They are all mighty indeed!.
This piece is for Noah. I don't know what else to say.
|
|
10.3.09 |
Piece100209 |
Yet Another ImprovFriday+1 piece for NetNewMusic.
I'm grateful for the +1, as I didn't get this finished until today. All sounds come from the same
softsynth (Mystic) that comes with Cubase 5. The melody you hear is the first and only take.
|
|
9.25.09 |
Piece092509
|
Another ImprovFriday+1 piece for NetNewMusic.
My most improvised one yet. No forethought. Just played few a through sounds
until I found this one. Once I found it, I messed around for a minute or two and
then hit record. No click track. Just played by feel, based somewhat on the
silences.
|
|
9.18.09 |
Piece091809 |
Another ImprovFriday+1 (people are now free to put them up on Saturday too,
but everybody liked the "sound" of ImprovFriday) piece for NetNewMusic.
Two weeks ago I was wanting to do something with bells, but "it" just wasn't there. Today I decided
that I was going to limit myself to one sound. I went hunting through a few options of mine and the
sound that inspired me today was . . . bells. Tibetan bells to be exact. Well, samples of them anyway.
When I do these things, I try to go in with no musical ideas (hence improv) and get inspired by the sound(s).
Well, here's what the inspiration was for today. With bells, I can't decide which I like most - the attack or the decay.
I think it's the decay (and the harmonics you hear from it).
|
|
9.11.09 |
Piece091109 - In Memoriam |
Another ImprovFriday piece for NetNewMusic.
The date says it all.
|
|
9.4.09 |
Piece090409 |
Another ImprovFriday piece for NetNewMusic.
Another real improv. I wanted to do something with a bell sound but nothing was jumping out at me.
I ran across this sound on my Proteus 2000, which I've been messing with since it can do a variety
of tunings. The sound you hear is exactly as it sounds originally, including the delay. I purposefully
left off a click and played with/against the delay of the drone (which
functions like a tambura part). This one uses a Just Minor tuning.
|
|
8.28.09 |
Piece082809 |
Another ImprovFriday piece for NetNewMusic.
This piece truly is an improv. Here's my day today: Wake up - find out water heater is leaking bad -
go buy new water - start replacing water heater - do a quick improv while water heater starts draining -
go coach saxophones at band camp at my son's high school - come home and finish installing water heater.
For what it's worth, the improv is in Just intonation. I like it. It reflects the peace I need right now.
|
|
8.21.09 |
Piece082109 |
Another ImprovFriday piece for
NetNewMusic. How can you go
wrong with a toy piano?
|
|
8.14.09 |
Piece081409 |
Another ImprovFriday piece for
NetNewMusic. I had this bass
line written down on a piece of scratch paper on my drafting table, so I grabbed it and a little
while later ended up with this little piece.
|
|
8.7.09 |
Piece080709
NOTE: THIS MP3 IS MISSING |
So I belong to this group called
NetNewMusic, and they do this cool thing called ImprovFriday. This
is where members improvise a new piece on Friday and put it up for all to hear. I've wanted to
participate since it started,
but the "day job" got in the way. Well, seeing as I am still unemployed, I thought I would give it a go.
The skinny on this piece is that I've been working with my son on an industrial song. He's 14 and it's our first go
at really trying to make something (mostly him, with help from me on the
technical side). I have a sample cd of all sorts of
sounds and loops, and that was our jumping off point. Well, the other night I was up editing samples to load into Halion
for him to mess with. As I sat down today, I thought I would use those sounds to get started. Once I
had the "rhythm track" going, it took on it's own life. I put down a couple more tracks, but
realized it was still missing something. So I pulled out the tenor, with my new Otto Link mouthpiece (which I love),
and laid down the melody track. I limited myself to one take, with no fixes. A little processing and viola!
Once I was done mixing and just listened back, I came to the conclusion
that I ended up with some sort of tango. Sometimes it's fun to just follow
things where they go. |
|
4.12.09 |
Piece041009 &
Piece 041009 Version 2 |
So this past week I upgraded to Cubase 5 (thanks Steve!), so of course I had to check it out.
There are many wonderful things about the program that I have yet to mess around with, but
I wanted to at least make something to get started. Using my usual MO for these things (3 tracks, approx.
2 minutes long), I wanted to start to work with some of the VSTs. There are some great sounding
synths in here, and the way the sounds are organized makes life much easier. Anyway, I found some
sounds I liked and laid it down real quick. I felt that something was missing, so I added the drums,
which I think was a good call. As for Version 2, there's a little more to the story. I got some money
for my recent birthday and decided to spend it on something musical. I had read about a wind instrument
called a Xaphoon and it intrigued me. If you're interested in seeing what it is, you can read about
it here: www.xaphoon.com. I bought the green plastic one from
Lark in the Morning (a great music store!).
When I was reading about the xaphoon, I read mixed reviews. It's called a pocket sax, but it sounds more
like a clarinet, so some people were not happy about that. My hope is that it would sound more like
a duduk, which is an Armenian instrument. If you don't know what it is, hunt it down. While
you're at it, check out Djivan Gasparyan - he's the man! Well, I got it, and while it's a challenge to play,
mostly in terms of intonation, I think it's close enough to what I wanted to
stick with it. Version 2 includes me playing the Xaphoon.
|
|
4.9.08 |
Piece010608 / 040908
NOTE: THIS MP3 IS MISSING |
So how's this for depressing - I was originally hoping to put something up once a month, and I haven't put
anything up in a year and eight months. Time sure flies by and I sure have been busy with life. I'll
have to figure out a way to revisit this more often. Anyway, back in January I started a little piano and
melody idea that I liked, but had to stop as it was getting late. My plan was to finish it the next day.
Nice plan, but I finally had a chance to get back to it tonight. Seeing as I challenged my song writing
students to get something done this week (Spring break), I figured I could do the same. As usual, here's
something short, simple and (I think) beautiful. With life the way it is these days (2 jobs, 3 kids -
2 of them teenagers, etc.), simple and beautiful is what I need. I hope you feel the same way.
|
|
10.7.05 |
Piece100705 |
Wow, that took a long time to get another piece done. I finally got around to tuning (well, sort of)
the kalimba I bought earlier this year in Sacramento. An African shop in Old Town Sacramento - go figure!
Anyway, I'm going to be talking about African music in my world music class, so I thought that I
would get the Kalimba ready to bring in to show and tell and play. I started messing around on the
piano and then went from there. Just a couple of takes to get something down for fun. Oh yeah, the
"drum" is the kalimba as well. |
|
3.10.05 |
Piece031605 |
Although this piece took only 4-5 hours to write, record & mix, the process
was spread out over two nights. I started it on the 16th, so that's where the
title came from. I had all sorts of possible titles for this one (much more
interesting ones than what I ended up with), but one of the reasons I love instrumental
music so much is that you can say so much without using any words. |
|
1.23.05 |
Piece012305 |
Wow, two in one month. Crazy! The reason I got around to a new piece so fast is that I wanted to show off my new guitars.
What you're hearing is a Gibson Les Paul, a '57 Strat, and a Godin Artisan. OK, so they're not "my" guitars, but really nice samples
of real guitars from Vint Audio. |
|
1.9.05 |
Piece010905 |
Music from a rainy Sunday. That's my three-year-old son Joshua on the piano. |
|
10.24.04 |
Piece102804 |
What can I say? Another 2 minute 3-track synth piece. I just felt like making something. Besides, I just got DSL
last night and I was dying to upload something new. Dial-up never again! |
|
3.17.04 |
Piece031704 |
10.3.14: This
one was almost lost. While recovering a bunch of missing
mp3s of some of the pieces above, I re-discovered this one.
A nice little electric guitar piece. |
