Insect chords

 Mashed the last two tracks

Say Emma

naviarhaiku603 – insect tremolo

I liked the idea of an "insect tremolo" in the haiku shared by Naviar Records this week. 

Me detuning


 

Disquiet Junto 0708 Vocal Chords

The Disquiet Junto assignment is to "Do something with layers of the sound of your voice."

Analog purists

Lightbulbs are so 20th Century!
 

naviarhaiku602 – scent of plum

The poem shared by Naviar Records this week mentioned a mountain path.

I considered how one will often reach a plateau when walking up mountains, incorporating a slower section in the key change of this song. 

Manipulated footage via タンタンポッピング - ミルキーウェイ乗組員 - やってみます。 

Gay Frog pedal

Funny to see how many people are saying they weren't quick enough to "jump" on this one! 

When you produce


 

Disquiet Junto 0707 Chain of Practice

The Disquiet Junto project this week has a few steps:

Step 1: Think about your artistic practice. 

Step 2: Write down one sentence that in some manner describes your artistic practice. 

Step 3: Record yourself, or someone else, reading the sentence that resulted from Step 2. 

Step 4: Use the recording made in Step 3 as the sole source material for a new musical/sonic composition.

I recorded myself with an old iPhone saying the line shown to the top-right of my blog, hear below.

When I imported the video into Ableton Live I noticed there was a considerable click at the end, which saved me from having to manipulate a transient to produce a kick sound.

Then I picked a couple of ess-y bits for other percussive sounds, looping them and adding Live's Beatrepeat to gate them. 

I also looped the word "sample," pitching it down and adding a filtered EQ, as well as the word "looping," which was pitched up and also EQ'd. 

I looked for a few extended vowel sounds, to pitch up and create harmonic progression.

These weren't grabbing me, so I added Live's resonator and a Sinevibes' effect that is a great shortcut for this sorta thing.

naviarhaiku601 – pulling light

There is something optimistic about the haiku shared by Naviar Records. 

Since I'd been rocking out on drums over the weekend, this song was influenced by a guitar riff.

Then when I went looking for a video to pair with my track, the keyword brought up breakdancing by a Chinchin Milkyway.

So I changed the instruments to be more like something he'd be dancing with and made a few edits to suit the pacing. 

My synths


 

Cute kit

Bought a small drum kit and am enjoying the portability.

I had to put a couple of pillows in the kick and the snare rattles a bit, since it's attached.

The cymbals were mine, but I wasn't using them and am now enjoying the '70s-sounding deeper snare and darker hats.

Love this idea!

Listening can change your relationship with a space, particularly the way recording changes an experience of time.

Then there's the disorienting aspect of microphones and their influence on proximity, which can shift focus.

Disquiet Junto 0706 Tile One On

The project has one step, "record something that makes use of the acoustics of your bathroom." 

I took the opportunity to make my first recording of a cute little secondhand drum kit that I bought.

It has a snare attached to the kick drum, which rattles a bit, but I'm thinking that I might leave that off for my Fire Cracker snare in future.

Wasn't sure what to add, so I grabbed my ukulele and started with the G minor chord that gets used a lot. 

Me watching


 

naviarhaiku600 – thinking of us

The 600th project from Naviar Records was a milestone that I wanted to recognise. 

Their haiku reminded me there was footage I'd shot of the trees during autumn, which allowed me to go look through my files for a piece of music.

I've tried to incorporate atmosphere and a crunchiness for the leaves.

Brian Jungen on sensing the force of creation

I live near three large hydro electric dams. Sometimes I go visit them to hear the sound of the electrical energy produced there as I feel like it is the closest I can get to any sense of the force of the creation of the universe that exists on our planet. 

Rick Moranis in Honey


 

Disquiet Junto 0705 Book Start

The Junto assignment this week is to "Let the beginning of a book help you begin a new piece of music."

I've read the opening to Andrea Wulf's Magnificent Rebels, which I began this week because I enjoyed her book on Alexander Von Humboldt. 

Dr No Raven

Another pedal that I couldn't resist buying for the design.

Has a cocked wah-kinda effect, but with more resonance.

Irritable Bowie Syndrome


 

Disquiet Junto 0703 That's How You Got Killed Before

The Junto assignment this week is to "Revisit something that you just couldn’t get to work last time."

I've gone back to my track 'Wanderer' to try layering a couple of takes that I noticed were close in their tempo, despite not using a clicktrack.

Disquiet Junto 0702 Chain of Application

The Junto this week asks participants to misuse music software.

Usually I use Ableton Live by composing in MIDI, then exporting those notations as sound.

Today I thought to record a song called 'Inner Bitch' using my Suzuki Omnichord to play the MIDI parts. 

naviarhaiku596 – spring dream

The poem shared by Naviar Records needed something with spring, then I set about trying to make it more unhinged. 

Roland Tr-707/727

Disquiet Junto 0701 Gap Ear

The Disquiet Junto assignment is to "Break apart a piece of music and fill the resulting spaces."

I've gone back to my surprise hit from Easter, Innuendo.

Carefully the ukulele part has been cut away, then a moody synth added. 

Pedalboards in bloom

 

What’s the difference between a lead guitarist and a terrorist?
You can negotiate with a terrorist! 

What do you do when you see a girl on the arm of a guitar player?
Say "Nice tattoo"! 

What’s the difference between a guitarist and a savings bond?
Eventually, a savings bond will mature and make money!

 

Meanwhile, a FB group who share photos of effects pedals lost around one hundred followers when they put up a rainbow earlier this week.
 

Uncle Jimmy on culture

Well culture – you can't experience culture, you can't learn it, you can't describe it. You've got to live it. You've got to live it. If you want people to like you you've got to like them. If you want people to respect you you've got to respect them. You can't force your ideas on people. It mightn't be the right way for you. You might have to travel another trail to get to the right meaning and in culture you know that, you know that way. It's more like – I suppose culture was a religion or something similar to religion. It's a way of life, yeah, it's the way you live your life.

Kevin, I'm dying.


 

Disquiet Junto 0700 View Frame

I couldn't resist recording this piece for the 700th Junto project.

The directions were to show people a glimpse outside my world, so here's my backyard and some of the laundry that I washed today.

As I haven't packed away my drumkit yet for winter, I decided to have a bash.

A 303-style bassline has been added because it was the easiest thing to consider at this time. 

One bit of reflection is how I began recording videos for Junto projects at number 100.

Since then that playlist has grown to over 450, which means I've responded to three-quarters of the prompts in that time. 

I was first introduced to the Junto community around 027, which involved music from text but I worried my response had misinterpreted the instruction and didn't share it. 

Just me


 

Straya by Kink

Bought this pedal because I was amused by the graphic.

For anyone reading who isn't an Australian, the character represented is the kind of lower socio-economic figure that might be considered a "redneck" -- although I wouldn't use that term with them directly.

The signifiers are the mullet haircut, "Jackie Howe" blue singlet and Southern Cross tattoo.

As for the sound of the pedal, I was pleasantly surprised.

On the right-hand side is a tubescreamer-style boost, while the left has a throaty overdrive.

It had me playing rock riffs as soon as these were engaged.

I tried it alongside my CopperSound Foxcatcher and Ly-rock King of Clone, which revealed the former to have a bassier boost and fuzzier overdrive (running at 9v, as I haven't tried the 18v option yet).

The Ly-rock pedal has an okay boost and fuzzier distortion, but has sounded way too trebly for my liking.

A friend introduced me to Kink pedals last year, when he brought a Dozer along to a jam.

While graphics on pedals have been a weakness for me, I really like the sounds that I'm getting from Straya.

Wanderer

In my backyard is a mint plant that I hoped might grow to replace my lawn. 

Many butterflies land on the flowers when it blooms.  

I started researching their varieties as I began photographing them and became interested in the Wanderer, which is the Australian version of the Monarch. 

It has distinctive white spots on a black body and magnificent wings coloured like autumnal leaves.  

This type of butterfly arrived in Australia around the time my father's great-grandparents migrated here. 

It is thought it may have been blown here by a cyclone, but found the imported milkweed plant that supports Monarch caterpillars and was able to survive.  

My parents were both born in North America, so I've come to adopt the Wanderer as a symbol for my identity.  

I've performed the song using a ukulele, as it is an instrument from the Pacific – the ocean that unites Australia, Japan and the USA. 

Pictured here is the (so-called) Plain Tiger butterfly, which I understand to be an Australian relative of the African Monarch.

Green light

The second round of the 2025 Disquiet Junto trio project has been a delight.

Once again Sam Knot has added prose to my drums and I love hearing his gentle voice bringing colour to my beats.

 

naviarhaiku592 – slanting sunlight rays

It was the mention of sunlight in the poem shared by Naviar Records that reminded me of this sunrise I filmed at Valla Beach.

The track was produced with Ableton Live, after I recorded takes for different parts and arranged them. I'd listen to this in a forest.

KICK BASS


 

Disquiet Junto 0697 First Third

The first in a trio for the Junto this week.

The amazement on her face

 


naviarhaiku590 – dreadful the stream

 

The dreadful stream in this case is an estuary, and the rain was elusive.

Being happy with my mix

 


Disquiet Junto 0695 Clean After Each Use

The Junto assignment this week is to "Put a piece of music through the dryer."

While I've been holidaying at the coast I'm making happy associations with a chord progression in A# on my ukulele.

A week ago I tried making a song based on lyrics about cupid's arrows and innuendoes.

It was rough and didn't entirely work, but I've used the backing here.

(This chord progression worked better with my Easter Sunday song, I think.)

For the Junto I've taken my backing track and tried to put it through the dryer, but I'm not a fan of those machines for the energy they consume and the uselessness they have in my life.

(There isn't much rain where I live and lots of opportunity for me to get my washing on the line.)

I considered a granular approach to represent lint, but when I decided to use a video from swimming in the Pacific off Valla Beach, arrived at a result more akin to a washing machine.

There's some rotary speaker emulation added, as well as Goodhertz' Lossy effect and DelayCat.

Mixing in headphones


 

naviarhaiku589 – rising sun

On Easter Sunday I convinced my partner to take a trip to Valla Beach for the sunrise.

There we met a group of people gathered around a fire with guitars to sing medicine songs.

My partner joined them while I took photos, then I sang a little and one of the group offered a jar of "eggs".

The handwritten message on the slip of paper I drew said "Wisdom is crystallised suffering," and the woman who offered it explained she'd heard this from a Buddhist giving a talk.

As we continued to walk among the waves at sunrise I had words form around the scene, which I've drafted into the song here:

First verse:
With each breath to caress the earth
at the start of every day
the seasons have a rhythm
of sunshine and rain
like shifting sands
under the movement of waves
as morning light will break
through clouds in a golden ray

Chorus:
Everything will change
nothing stays the same
all of your wisdom
crystallised from pain

Second verse:
In the rumbling of the ocean
a rhythm as old as time
a melody in the roar
song of ebb and climb
as the storm can leave behind
a peaceful breath of calm
from chaos we make meaning
dance like fire to our song

Bridge:
We crash like the waves and we break
then we rise again and learn from mistake
build a home in the unknown, make peace in the storm
finding strength in lessons we learn from being born

Chorus

Since the haiku shared by Naviar is about the rising sun and the sea, it seems appropriate as a response.

Disquiet Junto 0694 5/4ify

There is one step for the Junto project this week: 

Take a pre-existing piece of music that is in 4/4 — either your own or something in the public domain — and add a beat to each measure, transforming it into 5/4. 

As I'm preoccupied with homework, I listened to a few of the sketches on my desktop for inspiration.

This bass riff is a bit uneven, so the extra beat in the drum loops hardly seems to unsettle it.

Which meant that I added more feedback to the delay on the synth!

Trying to appear like I am listening


 

Disquiet Junto 0693 Melody Sorted

The Disquiet Junto project this week is to "Reorganize a familiar song note by note." 

It outlined a process using sheet music, but I thought I'd use a MIDI file instead.

So I downloaded Hall and Oates' 'I Cant Go for That' and rearranged the melody into an ascending sequence of notes.

It was a process that I stopped after running out of space, so there are still some of the higher notes in place -- particularly at the start of verses. 

Then the song seemed to need a bit of rearranging, so I muted a couple of parts, such as the organ.

I also added some randomisation to the MIDI for the drums.

Connor's ASMR board

One of the fun things about returning to school has been making art and trying new things, like watercolours.

In the middle of our recent Easter hat-making one of the students declared that he was building an ASMR board. 

I hadn’t seen these before and Google results suggest it is more likely a fidget board, but I like the concept and am thinking about building my own with a piezo pickup embedded.

One for the jazz fans

Thinking of famous fights between jazz musicians, you might be interested in this discussion of Charles Mingus settling a score with Duke Ellington.

Disquiet Junto Project 0692 Combust a Move

The Disquiet Junto project this week is to "Record a piece of music in which the sound of fire — match, burner, cigarette, etc. — provides the primary source for the rhythmic track."

This morning I recorded the matches and lighter, then used a video from the 2016 Queensland Burning Man event to create a bass with Sinevibes Reactive.

What are your skills?


 

Looking up

That was amazing, Jason!

Disquiet Junto 0691 Un-Ravel

In hindsight I can see how I got here, as there's been a lot of interest in my rapping recently. The kids at the primary school where I work often ask me to rhyme.

As I listened to Ravel I admired the strings and thought they would be great in a hiphop-style track. Then I slept on it and woke up thinking about putting words to it.

When I went to publish the result I looked again at the Junto assignment and wondered if I'd strayed too far?

There's no One Way

Last weekend I recorded a quick vocal performance and then spent the week making it work in two different tracks.

I like the rawness of the version above, then it was surprising how much the arrangement in the version below changed the tone of the delivery but I went further with edits and going pop.

My lyrics