selectronica

'1992' a bass solo

2012-03-01T02:07:00.001-08:00

'1989' a bass solo

2012-03-01T01:01:00.004-08:00

This week I recorded a song that's been flowing from my fingertips for a couple of decades. It's a bass solo I first composed onto an Amiga computer sometime around 1989 or 1990.

My inspiration for the tune came from a dream I had early on in my bass playing days when I was about 16 and Cliff Burton, the late and great bass player from Metallica, gave me a lesson.

A funny thing about the dream is I've met a number of other bass players who've dreamed about Cliff. The arpeggios are in his style and he recorded some wicked bass solos.

Director Alex Cox on copyright

2012-02-26T14:29:00.004-08:00

This quote from Repo Man director Alex Cox echoes my earlier comments on copyright:

It's so corrupt. Now they want to have longer copyright periods because they say the young artists are relying on this money. The young artists never see any money because they sign away that money to big media corporations, like Universal and Viacom. We, the artists, lose all of our rights to these massive corporations, who then come down heavy on these kids for downloading films and music that we never see a penny from. It's complete bullshit. I want to encourage your audience to go and pirate a bunch of my stuff right away.

How Apple could change music

2012-02-25T21:50:00.008-08:00

So the other night I was thinking how the loudness war is the result of increased audio fidelity in digital media. The introduction of the compact disc has changed music production and shaped contemporary music too, I'd guess.

Many have bemoaned that the shift toward high definition television has not been accompanied by a shift to high definition audio. Most recently Neil Young said he'd talked about this with Steve Jobs and Apple do seem best poised to introduce a new digital audio format.

Of course, there are services being proposed to add extra features to the delivery of music which don't focus on improving the quality of the digital file. There's one subscriber model outlined here which looks to make a new format with more fan-oriented features.

Anyway, it was interesting to see this quote on the difference between analogue and digital audio mastering in an article on Apple's new mastering feature:

"Most listeners today swear they love the bottom end on vinyl, but I remember in the heyday of vinyl, it was all about top end," VanDette told Ars. "'If we could only have a clear top end without all those pops and clicks' we thought," he said, noting the tendency of low-end record players to introduce unwanted noise. "Back then, bottom was the enemy. It made the grooves [in the vinyl] too wide, and forced us to turn down the overall level of the disc."

To conclude this meandering collection of thoughts, IF Apple were to develop a new format for higher fidelity audio and consumers appreciated the extended quality and sought music which emphasised this detailed sonic spectrum then I guess iTunes would change music.

But it doesn't seem like the new Mastered for iTunes format shows Apple is taking higher fidelity seriously yet, with one engineer claiming it doesn't improve on CDs.

Studio gremlin

2012-02-23T07:19:00.002-08:00

Think I've managed to identify the gremlin in my studio.

The Bird live

2012-01-31T15:00:00.001-08:00

The Bird are my favourite Australian live electronic dance music act and I usually lose my shit when I see them play. I've managed to keep it together watching the above performance but it's great to see they're still blistering.

Leeton parks remix project

2012-01-21T20:20:00.000-08:00

Here's a playlist of the Leeton park remix videos thus far.

I aim to add a Central Park video in the next week and will complete the remaining two parks in the next month or so.

The album will be released in the second half of 2012.

Remix, copyright and SOPA

2012-01-19T01:21:00.002-08:00

Today many of my favourite internet sites have gone dark to protest the SOPA legislation being proposed in the US.

As a result there's been less of the usual opportunities to procrastinate and, when a Google Alert brought up hito's bass ling/ guitar riff concept video by curse1hunter1L, I decided to make my own statement about copyright and edit something other than my next park remix video.

Hopefully this bloke will be entertained because I mean no disrespect. Without wishing to appear patronising, he reminds me of when I first got a bass guitar while I was at high school. Which is how I came to choose the moniker Bassling.

All the work I've produced as Bassling has been released under creative commons rather than copyright because copyright is out of control.

To argue that copyright protects artists is bullshit if you look at how it stretches 70 years beyond their death. Copyright protects businesses which make money from the efforts of artists. There are other ways to support these artists without giving money to corporations, like next time you're at a gig buy a t-shirt because they'll get a much bigger percentage of your money. Send them a donation or help raise their profile so that other opportunities will come their way.

Today I also learned that works that were in the public domain have been put back under copyright. The film Metropolis is one example, an incredible work that I considered remixing but choose instead to mix a new soundtrack to accompany the screening I organised for the Leeton Art Deco Festival last year.

Arthur Lipsett's 21-87

2012-01-17T15:59:00.000-08:00

This morning I was reading an article on George Lucas' new film and it reminded me of an earlier interview I'd read with him in which he talked about the influence of the film 21-87 by Arthur Lipsett, who worked for the National Film Board of Canada (who influenced one of my favourite bands, Boards of Canada).

21-87 -Arthur Lipsett

The film that made the most profound impression on Lucas, however, was a short called 21-87 by a director named Arthur Lipsett, who made visual poetry out of film that others threw away. Working as an editor at the National Film Board, he scavenged scraps of other people's documentaries from trash bins, intercutting shots of trapeze artists and runway models with his own footage of careworn faces passing on the streets of New York and Montreal. What intrigued Lucas most was Lipsett's subversive manipulation of images and sound, as when a shot of teenagers dancing was scored with labored breathing that might be someone dying or having an orgasm. The sounds neither tracked the images nor ignored them - they rubbed up against them. Even with no plot or character development, 21-87 evoked richly nuanced emotions, from grief to a tenacious kind of hope - all in less than 10 minutes.

While there's a fair bit of trivia in the article for Star Wars fans, Lucas' fascination with the film is something that's been in the back of my mind. At the time I was studying television production and thought my lecturers gave sound less attention in the curriculum than it deserves. This view was furthered by a visit to the SMPTE conference in 2006 where one speaker described audio as being "more than 50%" of television because it is a medium that uses a lot of close-up framing, so sound provides context for the narrative.

Today I got around to watching 21-87 and I think it demonstrates the importance of audio and the way it shapes the viewer's comprehension. There are moments when you're watching this short film and the way the sound and picture comes together creates a sense of meaning that is different from what is conveyed in either medium separately.

Can you imagine what 21-87 would be like if Lipsett had tried to match sounds to the onscreen actions? It'd be like Funniest Home Videos, where silly sound effects try to make very ordinary video hilarious.

The other thing it's got me thinking about is a line I read about how when you're in the process of creating an art work you need to disable your critical thinking. You've got to run with your inspiration before trying to analyse the direction. There was a nice analogy about how inspiration and analysis is akin to trying to use first and reverse in your car at the same time. See 8 Bad Habits that Crush Your Creativity
And Stifle Your Success.

While television production emphasised that viewers anticipate that any action seen on screen will have a corresponding sound -- and this is something I've been focusing on when editing my park remix videos -- if you don't do this you open up space for new forms of meaning to be created. If you believe some people this conjuring of meaning is magic.

There's a lot of theory that's been written about editing images (again a demonstration of the focus on the visual, something of a human trait), like how if you cut from a woman's face to a picture of money being left on a pillow you will convey a meaning that she's a prostitute.

21-87 leaves me considering the potential of a kind of 'infinite semiosis' (to use semiotics) or free association to create multiple meanings depending on the viewer if you don't sync the sounds and pictures.

Bruce Odland's Song of Survival

2012-01-11T18:09:00.000-08:00

Song of Survival from Bruce Odland on Vimeo.

Bruce Odland's visit to a nearby part of the Riverina was a highlight of 2011 for me.

Aside from demonstrating the many interesting instruments he built as part of his residency at The CAD Factory outside Narrandera, he also performed a few tunes he'd written like this one.

At the time I didn't really understand the Occupy theme in it and thought he was riffing on the harshness of the landscape and the fascination people have with the name Wagga Wagga, but now I can see the way it reflects his journey from occupying Wall Street to the residence he had in the old Birrego schoolhouse.

The blog he wrote of his visit is a good read too.

King Wicked portrait

2012-01-09T04:22:00.000-08:00

EDM explained

2012-01-04T15:09:00.000-08:00

This video offers a good introduction to the sub-genres of electronic dance music (EDM), which is an area I always struggle to understand.

On one hand I can see why these sub-genres exist because there's so much music out there and it helps people hone in on what they like, but on the other, I still remember going to EDM nights in the early '90s and loving the variety of rhythms.

Makes me wonder if the focus on these sub-genres by musicians, DJs and consumers means that a phenomenal and wide-ranging mix like Coldcut's 70 Minutes Of Madness isn't a product of its time.

Booty

2012-01-03T01:28:00.000-08:00

There weren't many Christmas presents under my tree this year but these cans from my sister are excellent. I also received a tin of biscuits from an aunt the same as the one I recorded with my homemade contact microphones, which leads me to think I should try recording these cans.

I've been enjoying a break from remixing parks but there are only two parks left, so I'll wrap up this project soon and focus on the next album I'm planning.

Turn it up for Jesus

2011-12-19T21:24:00.001-08:00

Some merriment

2011-12-10T14:31:00.000-08:00

Last Christmas by bassling

On the remote chance that you haven't heard my cover version of George Micheal's Last Christmas, here it is.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2012.

Ramponi Park

2011-12-08T01:08:00.000-08:00

I've cheated a little in this park remix. The train line runs alongside Ramponi Park and I was fortunate to record a train when I visited to collect sounds for this track. The camera was recording from within the Park, of course.

Other than the train, the different sounds heard from the slippery slide are a highlight. It's great the way you can tap across the structure and getting the foundations for chord changes. And everything shares the key of the slide.

Playing a slippery slide

2011-12-06T02:50:00.000-08:00

This video shows me tapping harmonics on the slide at Ramponi Park, the site of my next remix. I thought it was a good demonstration of what I wrote about earlier on the variety of sounds produced by a structure.

You can also see I've been trying a new variety of cheap piezo pick-up. It didn't sound too bad but seemed to be broken after visiting the park. Should've guessed it would be crap because it has the word 'professional' in the title on the packet.

Return to Waipukurau Park

2011-12-02T02:09:00.000-08:00

It's kinda funny to return to the park down the end of my street where I first tried recording the play equipment and remixing it. The first Waipukurau Park track didn't really meet the process I've established since then though, as it used a couple of VST instruments to complete the sounds.

As you can see, this time I've overcome the limited sonic palette by incorporating bowing a line that resonates on the slippery slide. This was another technique I learned from Alan Lamb when we worked together as part of the Unsound Festival in 2006.

The reverberating fences of the preschool and childcare centres also appear. Last week I mentioned to the director of the Leeton Childcare Centre that I'd been recording the fence and she's invited me to demonstrate it to the kids next Tuesday.

New Abre Ojos

2011-12-01T19:33:00.000-08:00

The Solar Angel from abre ojos on Vimeo.

It's worth clicking on the link above to visit the Vimeo page for this clip for an explanation of the imagery.

I've been a fan of Scott's work for about a decade now and he also first taught me to edit video. Then there's the small matter of his decision to invite Alan Lamb to Wagga Wagga in 2004 and build a large-scale aeolian harp at the property I was living at at the time.

Take offence

2011-11-30T01:14:00.000-08:00

This Leeton Child Care Centre fence shares a border with Waipukurau Park, the site of my next remix. I've been enamored with its resonance since I first trialled recording the Park for a remix.

This video demonstrates the fence resonance but also the Daphon brand piezo pick-ups that are part of my recording kit.

You can hear the pick-ups seem to be sensitive to surrounding noise, like bird song and my footsteps. I don't mind getting some of that ambiance because it adds much more potential for the remix to stir a listener's subconscious, either conjuring the location or a connotation.

Playing a slippery slide

2011-11-27T21:26:00.000-08:00

Here's a sample of what's in the next park remix.

I returned to Waipukurau Park to try stringing a line to bow, a technique first shown to me by Alan Lamb when we worked together as part of the 2006 Unsound Festival.

Actually, bowing the slide sounds very much like bowing 'the wires' -- except for the length of the decaying note. (That video reminds me Jo is much better at bowing than me.)

Aside from adapting Alan's technique for a slippery slide, I've been experimenting with changing the pitch while playing by adjusting the tension on the line. You'll be able to hear this in the new track for Waipukurau Park.

Waipukurau was the site of my first park remix but I wasn't entirely happy with the result since I ended up using additional instrumentation. This is now my third time recording that park because there's a fence there with lovely resonance that I'm looking to use too.

How to make contact microphones

2011-11-22T20:47:00.001-08:00

Here's a short overview of how to make your own contact microphone using piezo crystals.

This technique was taught to me by Alan Lamb when we worked together as part of the 2006 Unsound Festival. He'd developed this approach for recording 'the wires,' a large-scale aeolian harp modeled on telegraph poles he recorded in Western Australia.

I'm using a couple of piezo sensors (RS part number 285-784), an RCA lead, a soldering iron, scissors or wire strippers, some tape and half a dozen cable ties.

Start by cutting the RCA lead in half and stripping the wires.

Then get ready to solder the two connections on either side of the piezo onto the wires of one of the RCA leads.

The tricky part is soldering and it's worth double-checking you've got the connection firmly soldered before proceeding.

Once the piezo are attached, you need to insulate the wires again.

I use electrical tape and carefully wrap it around one wire and then around both.

Once insulated, I attach the wires and piezos to matchsticks with cable ties.

You can use glue for this but I couldn't find anything suitable today. Alan used a sealant to weather-proof the piezo after gluing them to 'the wires' and this can extend their life considerably.

These piezo contact microphones are great for a wide variety of applications.

Today I tried using them to record a biscuit tin being used as a hand drum. I've used blu-tack to apply them but you can also sticky tape them onto a surface for temporary application, or longer depending on the tape used.

One common problem is a humming sound, which can be eased or removed by earthing the object being recorded. The biscuit tin was earthed when I held it but the Zoom H4 recorder also needed earthing by sitting it on my lap.

You can hear a short demonstration of the biscuit tin hand drum recorded in stereo with two piezo contact microphones below.

Biscuit tin drumming by bassling

Enticknap Park

2011-11-19T03:07:00.000-08:00

This week I visited Enticknap Park for my remix project. It has a smallish playground with swings, see-saw and the same type of slide as Wandoo Playground, Waipukurau Park and also Ramponi Park.

It was a bit of a challenge to make this track. I think I'm beginning to get a bit bored with the similarity in the sounds I've collected and it'd be nice to find something inspiring to manipulate but I've held off on visiting some of the bigger parks until I get a new microphone that's on order.

Finding the sweet spot

2011-11-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

While working with Alan Lamb in 2006 as part of the Unsound Festival, I mentioned that I'd been thinking about recording the water distribution tank that shared the hilltop with 'the wires' he and Scott Baker had built outside Wagga Wagga in 2004.

Alan encouraged me to put a bead on the end of a wooden skewer to tap around the structure and locate harmonics. It was the first time I'd considered that physical objects other than guitar strings and 'the wires' had harmonics.

This thought returned to me while recording Wandoo Playground and I've been spending more time finding the harmonic sweet spots to place the piezo pick-ups and to tap for creating sounds.

These harmonics form and integral part of creating tracks from the playground equipment and contribute to the melody and chordal progression.

Playground recording kit

2011-11-15T12:08:00.001-08:00

This is the gear I've been using to record sounds at playgrounds recently.

These are Daphon brand piezo pick-ups. I bought them from Swamp Audio.

A first generation Zoom H4 and a Fishman transducer, which works like a microphone pre-amplifier and equaliser to increase gain and shape the sound.

Usually I beef up the bass since I'm recording with another pick-up also but I've long thought that piezo sound a bit weak -- which is what led me to experiment with guitar pick-ups on the large-scale aeolian harp built by Alan Lamb and Scott Baker.

A pair of closed headphones are essential, of course.

The small pouch from my friend Janine Middlemost holds spare batteries and SD cards, while the bag holds everything together while I'm riding around town.

Just noticed that both the pouch and the bag feature mushrooms, which is an interesting coincidence and makes me wish I had a magic mushroom story to give it relevance.

For the videos I'm using a Nikon D5100, usually with an old Nikkor 35-70mm f2.8 lens and a tripod.

P.S. Just read this interesting post on contact mic recording and it's worth having a look if, like me, you wonder why piezo sometimes sound a bit weird.

Mountford Park

2011-11-11T08:08:00.000-08:00

Here's the result of my visit to the park that's at the heart of Leeton and the setting for many town events, like the upcoming Light Up Leeton concert for Christmas. I've stuck to the playground here though.

Wandoo Playground

2011-11-06T18:56:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I braved the hot sun to visit Wandoo Playground to record another park to remix. I think this spot also goes by the name Griffin Park because it was created by Walter Burley Griffin when he was consulted on the design of Leeton.

You can see from the video that I only used sounds from the slide and a wooden bench. The sign for the Playground has a good pitch but my pick-ups wouldn't fit onto the frame.

The day was hot so I left with only a few recordings but I must be getting better at hearing what's likely to be used because I'm pretty happy with the result.

Wiradjuri Park

2011-11-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

After Waipukurau Park I opted for a playground with more equipment to find new sounds and inspiration for this, the second track I've created as part of my Leeton park remix project.

While the sounds were all recorded on location, they have been re-pitched, looped and stretched to create the track. Sadly my camera battery ran out before I could show how thumping the plastic slippery slide provided the sound used for a kick drum.

Waipukurau Park

2011-10-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

With Leeton planning celebrations for it's centenary in 2012, I've been developing an idea to record a series of songs based on sounds recorded at parks in the town.

On Sunday I tried the playground at the end of my street in Waipukurau Park. Armed with my Zoom H4 recorder, a Fishman pre-amplifier and a peizo pick-up, I sought recordings to be manipulated into percussive or musical tones.

One of the fittings holding up the swings is loose enough to squeak.

The seat gives a nice thunk.

The stairs really tinkle.

And this fence resonates wonderfully. You can hear my first draft of the song by clicking below.

Waipukurau Park by bassling

Playing a part

2011-10-19T12:53:00.001-07:00

This week I worked on another interesting project that originated on the Ninja Tune Forum.

It's a remix of a remix and the idea is that each participant remixes the previous participants work and passes it along. At the end, the original track and the successive remixes are collected together for release.

It picks up on some of the methodologies of other Ninja Tune Forum projects.

When I first started visiting the site about a decade ago there were regular remix competitions, where the winner would provide the track and parts for the next round.

Another inspiration would be the relay mixes, where each participant is given the previous section of a mix to follow on from and only hears the complete mix once it is stitched together at the end by the person overseeing the project.

These Forum projects are organised by people on the Forum and not the Ninja Tune label but some of the label's artists have taken an interest in the results and there have also been opportunities to work Ninja Tune tracks.

There's a large output of mixes and original music on the Forum and I think it's testament to the creativity and collegiality of the people on there. It's a great community.

My recent remix was an interesting challenge because the parts lacked a melodic component to link it back to the original tune.

Another challenge was my position as third. It's not usually the point in the sequence of an album where you find a big track, more likely something that lets the pace ease up a bit so you can ramp it up again before the end of the first side or slow it down further for a ballad.

I know it doesn't have to be a dud spot but I can see a lot of logic in that sort of progression and it's a view shared in the film High Fidelity:

You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.

This reminds me of an interview I did with Canberra DJ Ben Henderson a while ago. He was organising music nights at Montezuma's Restaurant at the time and explained his philosophy in picking tunes by saying that one needs to be conscious of their part in the line-up.

"To me the ideal night involves getting a group of people together who share common tastes and building them up for a climax," says Ben. "You point every track you play towards that pinnacle. There's no logic in getting five DJs together and having each of them trying to get to the finish line. It used to be that DJs would spend six hours gradually building up to that one moment when everyone would go off. It's like a competition these days in which everybody gets up and does a 100-metre sprint as each DJ pulls out their five best tracks to impress the crowd."

So I set about remixing the track to be a build-up while giving a treatment that fits with my ideas of a bassling sound, particularly in emphasising the lower register.

I'm looking forward to hearing the final release to see if I've managed to play my part.

BAD DAD on the six-string electric bass

2011-09-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

This six-string bass guitar has intimidated me every since I bought it on Ebay. The neck is so wide that I find I get lost while playing on it.

It's been good for creating a drone though and the other day I thought it would be interesting to tune it to BADDAD but mostly just because I think it's funny to say 'bad dad'.

As it turns out it's better tuned to BEADAD, which also sounds funny. 'Be a dad' -- it's like an encouragement to fertility, a variation on 'go forth and multiply'.

In practice the six-string bass guitar tuned BEADAD is a lot of fun. It reminds me of noodling on a mandolin, the right notes seem to appear under your fingers although it runs the risk of all sounding a bit same-ish.

Disco bassling

2011-09-01T03:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a funky house bassling tune with a disco bassline that I recorded earlier in the year while on holiday at the beach.

Humankind is noodle kind. by bassling

Backyard bubbles

2011-08-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

A short video featuring a recent trackthat I made while trying out my new Nikon D5100.

Cut, now PLAY!

2011-08-15T16:59:00.000-07:00

This is the result of the innovative Cut & Run project I wrote about earlier. Fascinating to hear how different producers have mutated the previous bars.

Bumphead on my amp

2011-08-09T02:32:00.000-07:00

Cut & Run

2011-07-15T03:30:00.000-07:00

I've been visiting the Ninja Tune Forum for about a decade now. Aside from being populated with some great people, it's populated with greatly talented people who share a love of music.

There have been many excellent outcomes from hanging out there, from remixing other people's tunes to being introduced to new artists through to these increasingly creative collaborative projects. I've been part of relay mixes and different types of challenges but I think the Cut & Run project I did this week is one of the most innovative.

Update: hear the result here!

Current set-up

2011-07-08T09:02:00.000-07:00

Abre Ojos is playing at my house

2011-07-07T03:03:00.000-07:00

Seasons from abre ojos on Vimeo.

Battles' Futura

2011-06-18T01:57:00.000-07:00

DIY pedal

2011-05-15T03:21:00.000-07:00

Good looking pedal, dunno much more than the band were Petuey. This was an early gig photograph, one of the 'fests in Canberra of the early '90s.

Gold Panda 'You'

2011-04-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

2011-02-28T03:00:00.000-08:00

Vanity plectrum

2011-01-23T22:59:00.001-08:00

Skills

2011-01-15T00:17:00.000-08:00

Nano Muff

2011-01-06T16:15:00.001-08:00

A Nano Muff pedal arrived in the post today and I'm surprised they resisted the urge to print puns all over the packaging.

How does it sound? Nice warm distortion. It's not as creamy and thick with sustain as my Giant Cooter but hopefully it'll get along with the other pedals on my daisy chain better.

bassling mobile sound system

2011-01-01T01:00:00.000-08:00

Here's the start of a sound system for a bicycle. It's a crappy little plug-in stereo that runs on AAA batteries that I've adapted with a pair of bigger speakers.

Next step will be attaching these to a bike.

Last Christmas

2010-12-16T22:23:00.000-08:00

Last Christmas by bassling

Here's a cover of the Wham classic I recorded in '93 and have been sharing every festive season since. Enjoy!

Yamaha RM1x

2010-12-04T00:45:00.000-08:00

This baby really is full of techno. As well as gabba, breaks, trance and house.

Yamaha manufactured the RM1x during the mid to late 1990s and IMO this was the golden age of electronic dance music.

From big beat to trip-hop, the dub-influenced Leftfield through to the unique aesthetic of Boards of Canada. Basically from 1993 to 1998, some of my favourite albums were released.

The RM1x reflects a lot of this period but, more importantly, the period reflects a bit of the RM1x. As you go through the presets you find many sequences which sound very familiar from tracks as well as advertising.

Trippy

2010-11-07T04:38:00.000-08:00

trip-hop by bassling

This has been a surprisingly popular song. Maybe my best since Postal.

In the corpse's embrace

2010-10-21T23:10:00.000-07:00

This is kind of tenuous but it spins me out a bit that a song I wrote inspired by a project planned for an event in 2003 ended up sounding a bit like an album I heard in 2009 that was recorded by a guy who appeared at the event six years earlier.

Let me explain.

In my previous post I mentioned Oren Ambarchi, I'm a big fan of his album In The Pendulum's Embrace -- although sometimes the compression on the bass upsets my tummy.

Oren's album reminds me of a tune I wrote in 2003 called Stripped Corpse, a fairly experimental sorta track compared to the dance music direction of the rest of the SHAKES album.

In 2003 I first heard about Oren from people in the Wagga Space Program and saw his talk at their Unsound Festival on the DVD thanks to Scott :)

Stripped Corpse had been inspired by a Space Program project based on the Exquisite Corpse parlour game invented by André Breton and the Surrealists in the 1920s.

When I recorded the track in Ableton Live I was literally thinking 'If I'd contributed a track to this Unsound CD, what sort of track would it be?' The tempo change through the piece came about later though because I wanted to use it to link Mumblesings and Slumber on the album.

Workshop with Stephen O'Malley and Oren Ambarchi

2010-10-19T01:11:00.000-07:00

There was a concert and workshop in Cootamundra last weekend featuring a couple of my favourite artists, Alan Lamb and Oren Ambarchi. I've gained a lot of experience from Alan over the last five years but this was the first time I'd seen Oren other than his talk on an Unsound DVD and this live video.

With over 100mm of rain falling in the days leading up to the event, it had been scaled back due to the potential for danger on the unsealed road out to the site. So, rather than starting with a demonstration of Alan Lamb's wires on the Saturday, it began with the concert on Saturday night.

The evening began with an introduction to the work of Dr Lamb and a 25-minute collection of his recordings and those of Dave Noze. I'd only recently heard a few of Alan's albums because they're out of print and I've avoided listening to Dave's work because I've been working on my own recordings of the wires that Alan and Scott Baker set up outside of Wagga Wagga. Since finishing a three-hour compilation of my recordings in February I'd been meaning to hear what's been happening in Cootamundra and this set showed a lot of variety.

It opened with a recording of Alan bowing against a backdrop of the wires building in intensity. Then moved on to a soundscape like a laser battle that was the 1km-long wires during rain. This was followed with either a recording of the wires humming against a dawn chorus of birdsong, or a series of chimes playing along the wires, then some more humming. The chimes sounded great, beautiful tones reverberating up and down the long stretch of the wires.

The intermission featured some wines from Charles Sturt University, their cabernet sauvignon was as light as I remembered but there was more of a character that makes me think of granite.

Then we were ushered back into the dim theatre as Stephen O'Malley and Oren Ambarchi improvised 40 minutes of guitar feedback. That might sound like an endurance test but it was awesome to have so much guitar tone wash over me and to get a sense of their interaction and how the subtle modulation was achieved.

The next day began with a workshop led by Stephen and Oren in which they detailed their set-ups and discussed their approaches. It was great for me because I've had a shortage of people to geek out with about guitar pedals and amplifiers.

Stephen discussed the challenge of created tension and release with guitar feedback because you open with the volume at eleven. He also explained how he uses an Fm tuning with a low A and what his effects do.

In the photo above you can see two Rat distortion pedals on the left, a box which splits the signal off to two (or maybe three) amps, a smaller box which splits the signal off to either a Roland Space Echo 201's delay or reverb (not pictured) or the Holy Grail reverb next to it, which is connected to a (Keeley?) compressor. He was using to Fender Twin amps and also a Ernie Ball volume pedal which isn't pictured.

Also connected were these sampling pedals, which apparently could record up to three minutes. I asked how much of the sound in the concert was layered feedback and Stephen said there was very little layering.

In comparison Oren Ambarchi said he tuned to an open A chord, also with a low A. The drone of that bottom string no doubt assisted the feedback, which Stephen directed by moving his guitar in front of the speaker a bit.

Oren had a Holier Grail reverb, an 8-second delay Alessis unit, a 16-second Electro Harmonix pedal and, on the ground, another delay, a ZVEX distortion (these last two Oren said he picked for their size), a volume pedal and a DOD King Buzz distortion. I think that's a tuner on top of the rack unit and on the far right is a Soundcraft Spirit mixer which he adjusted throughout the performance.

The delay above seems to be used a lot in his playing as well as the video I mentioned earlier and he'd slide the sliders to shape the sounds. The Ampeg amp was used for the direct sound, while the delayed sounds went through the Fender.

He mentioned that he'd had to leave two ring modulators at home due to flight baggage restrictions and that he used a Digitech Whammy pedal to get those bass tones you hear on his recent recordings. I'd wondered how he got those tones because on the album In The Pendulum's Embrace they sound so clean, like sine tones. Turns out they're harmonics dropped two octaves.

It was great watching Stephen O'Malley and Oren Ambarchi creating their sounds and improvising together. The rich and varied droning feedback made my body hum in a way similar to listening to the wires when they're amplified and I really dug being able to watch, learn and ask questions.

Delay effects

2010-09-12T14:46:00.000-07:00

Delays are used to create a lot of different effects aside from the obvious one. This table from an old Ibanez unit gives an overview of how the delay works to create various modulations.

bassling rising

2010-09-03T03:17:00.001-07:00

Slumber

2010-09-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

One of my first film clips for the track Slumber from my first LP, SHAKES.

Click on the links above to download the track or album for free.

Orange pedals

2010-08-15T03:55:00.000-07:00

Orange pedals look best.

Wandered

2010-08-14T23:01:00.001-07:00

Here is a draft of a tune I've written called Wandered.

It's a bit glitchy and reminds me a little of Boards of Canada -- although it doesn't have their awesome drum sounds. (I was listening to their earlier albums today and noticed the distortion and sometimes delay on the drums.)

Wandered by bassling

The opening drone reminds me of the wires a bit. It could use some birdsong to reflect the theme of the lyrics in the original.

Lyrics? Yeah, it's got them. Here's an earlier draft of this track:

Wandered by ShowcaseJase

How to protect your speakers

2010-07-15T04:36:00.000-07:00

Mascot

2010-07-15T04:32:00.000-07:00

I like this

2010-07-14T00:13:00.000-07:00

Cool to see other people responding creatively to the potential of aeolian harps.

Water cooler recordings

2010-07-13T04:00:00.001-07:00

It's good to hear how things sound through different microphones and I'd been meaning to try and capture the sound of the water cooler glugging. This was the last bottle of water that we're getting so I didn't give myself much opportunity to set the levels before hitting record.

The glug sounds good though.

Water cooler by bassling

Strung out

2010-07-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

Aeolus Salute by bassling

Here's a track that will be part of my next album, STRING. I'm planning this to be a collection of manipulated recordings of 'the wires' and tracks influenced by the droning sounds of this unique instrument.

Pedal board

2010-06-26T01:46:00.000-07:00

This series of effects produces a gated guitar rhythm triggered by a drum loop.

The guitar output is divided with two chains triggered by the kick drum, one an octave lower and one through a bright reverb. Another chain is triggered by the snare and hi-hat and runs through an Electro Harmonix Ring Thing, using a ring modulator on a delayed signal.

You can hear this set-up in the tune Blue Moon below, along with a few effects added in post-production.

Blue Moon by bassling

Bass Synthesiser pedal comparison

2010-06-24T04:07:00.000-07:00

The postman brought a Behringer Bass Synthesiser pedal to me this week. They're about $70 new on Ebay and do a good fuzz wah if you use an expression pedal. Also has some phasing sort of modulation settings and squelchy analogue sounds.

Boss also make one but it's not as good at tracking the notes. Also the Behringer has a pitch hold function. I guess you can hold a note and then use the direct output to play over the top -- a bit like the new Electro Harmonix Freeze pedal I'd guess. (Keen to try one of those.)

The Behringer also gets closer to the sound of an Electro Harmonix Q-tron pedal for that Higher Ground sound. Unlike Boss though, the Behringer is made of plastic.

The Boss's shortcoming in tracking a bass makes an interesting effect on drums though. It creates these somewhat atonal but quite bubbly generated basslines. It's very acid sounding and fun for jamming.

Pedal board

2010-06-23T01:38:00.000-07:00

Here's the pedal board I've been using with my guitar recently.

A few comments about the effects:

Holy Stain is an interesting multi-effect but, as much as I like the reverbs and tremolo, it falls short in the distortions. Using an expression pedal to control the length of the reverb is a great feature though.
Tubescreamer is great for warm tones but also for taming the Giant Cooter.
MXR's EQ is beaut, even when it's off it seems to add something pleasant.
LPB adds a big bluntness to the attack that's great with the Cooter but I'd like something that adds more presence without the oomph.

Quote

2010-06-23T01:37:00.000-07:00

"Human beings have the capacity to find various viewpoints to approach a problem or to find a solution. There are an infinite number of ways to look at things"

- Herbie Hancock (one of my favourite musicians)

'80s music

2010-06-20T01:57:00.000-07:00

Digital for the '00s

2010-06-18T15:39:00.001-07:00

New bass amp

2010-06-09T02:36:00.001-07:00

I bought this secondhand Peavey TNT 160 from a bloke in Coolamon. It's got a lovely deep tone.

This is my first amp with an 18-inch speaker and the sound it produces wobbles my wobbly bits.

It's also got unusual features like this built-in crossover.

I'd guess the amp is 20-30 years old. I had a Peavey TNT bass amp in 1993 that was at least thirdhand. That was my first proper amp after four years of playing through five-watt guitar amps or putting the headstock against my cupboard doors.

Do you reckon I need to replace the scorpion?

Final Cut is a bitch

2010-05-18T04:48:00.000-07:00

Giant Cooter

2010-05-06T01:57:00.000-07:00

This is a distortion pedal I bought on Ebay. The bloke who made it claimed it was based a Big Muff. It's got a huge, bass-y tone.

Here's what the bloke wrote on Ebay:

If you cant figure out what pedal inspired this build...its a Big Muff circuit which i have built on vero/stripboard.

its not a straight up clone of any particular era Muff but i spent a good while experimenting with different component/value changes to get to what i thought was my ideal muff.
uses 4x 2N5089 transistors and a few modifications which include:

tone: more woolly/muffy/wall of sound... whilst still retaining have clarity and on the other end of the spectrum, more crisp/tight but without the huge mid scoop on the pedals tone/eq knob (labelled "texture")
Sustain/Gain : more of...

Pedal is housed in an aluminium enclosure (BBE pedal size for reference) and uses Switchcraft input jacks with a Clear/Purple 5mm Indicator LED/Berzel.
It is wired for True Bypass and has a battery snap and Power supply jack (2.1mm centre neg. standard boss style power supply) - NOT INCLUDED
there is additional power supply filtering on the jack (for those with dodgy cheapo power supplies)
NOTE: the power supply jack depicted in the attached Photo has been replaced with one that sits more "flush" with the enclosure, so it now doesnt stick out as much)

The enclosure is enamel auto paint with water laser printed waterslide decals with a layer of micro-sol (for the painted on affect) and then further clear coated.

Back after the edit

2010-04-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

In 1 by bassling

This track is a remix I did in 2007 for the ninja.trax series.

The original track was a performance-piece also recorded for ninja.trax. Below is a video I made of one of my rehearsals.

Been wondering about putting video in Ableton

2010-03-23T03:33:00.001-07:00

damaged goods

2010-03-07T01:34:00.000-08:00

damaged goods by bassling

vibrating

2010-02-27T14:15:00.000-08:00

VIBRATING by bassling

Here's part of the three-hour ambient drone soundscape I've edited together for the 2010 RPM Challenge.

You can hear a variety of birdsong along with 'the wires' -- a large-scale aeolian harp built by Alan Lamb and Scott Baker for the Unsound Festival. See http://hghlght.blogspot.com/2009/06/wired-for-sound.html for more on this amazing instrument.

A recording from late 2007 can be heard or downloaded below.

041207PM by bassling

IK Multimedia still suck

2010-02-19T15:54:00.000-08:00

Amplitube continues to pox my Cubase. Thankfully it'll boot up though, my RPM Challenge project is coming along. Looks like I'll have a three-hour ambient opus by the end of the month.

Of all my VSTs only one is crashing Cubase

2010-02-10T03:30:00.001-08:00

And, fuck it, Cubase is what I'm using for my RPM project.

IK Multimedia, get your act together.

RPM Challenge

2010-01-31T09:01:00.000-08:00

Just signed up for the RPM Challenge. I'm hoping it will motivate me to finish an album of ambient field recordings.

Funny thing is that when I signed up for the Challenge in 2008, it was to clear my head of some tunes I was playing on the guitar so I could proceed with this project. I was also procrastinating on the Boxgum EP, which has since been released commercially.

Below is a video I made at the end of February in 2008:

Drum machine on tracks

2010-01-20T02:27:00.000-08:00

Golden age for music fans

2010-01-12T16:40:00.000-08:00

There are a few music commentators discussing the future of music and linking it with video games. The argument that it's more fun to play games than to watch them is a compelling one.

I thought this quote paints an interesting future:

We’re entering a fourth stage in popular music, from (1) pre-rock pop’s distinction between songwriter and performer (think Elvis, the Brill Building system), to (2) rock’s emphasis on musicians writing their own material, to (3) hip-hop’s re-use of existing sonic material, to (4) the current age of audio-games, in which users experience sound by manipulating it — not just with the iPod, but also with games like Rock Band, DJ Hero, and Guitar Hero, and with the audio tools built into the Nintendo DSi, just to name a few examples. (There are similar factors at work in underground and academic music and art cultures, but the focus for me here is on mobile music-making apps, which are significant because of their popularity, because they have made populist numerous activities and approaches to creativity that were previously considered specialized, abstract, experimental, even avant-garde.)

ode2jo

2009-12-26T15:50:00.000-08:00

ode2Jo by bassling

globalswarming

2009-12-21T02:56:00.001-08:00

Globalswarming by bassling

Absynth 5's Alan Lamb preset

2009-12-12T22:21:00.001-08:00

Just noticed this Alan Lamb preset in Absynth 5. To my ear it doesn't sound like his work with 'the wires' but it's got a bit of the rattle that he adds on his aeolian harp recordings.

The drone ranger

2009-12-03T03:29:00.000-08:00

NGC1313 Spiral Galaxy in Reticulum – Abre Ojos @ Electundra from abre ojos on Vimeo.

Above is a video from Scott Baker, who built an aeolian harp with Alan Lamb outside Wagga Wagga that - like Scott - has been an inspiration to me.

Below is video of my drums vibrating 'the wires' that Scott built with Alan Lamb.

Funky jam

2009-11-27T01:34:00.001-08:00

I like this lots :)

Drum compression

2009-11-25T14:41:00.000-08:00

A while ago I found this outline for compressor settings at www.orange-fields.com/widepages/drumscomp

It was useful to me so I thought I'd share. If they're your settings, let me know and I can attribute them to you or remove them if you wish but thanks for the help.

DRUMS - COMPRESSION

(A variety of different settings !)

KICK -

1) To "flatten" = 8:1 or more, short attack 2ms or less.

2) For more "attack" = slow the attack time to let the initial "poke" through.

3) 6:1, Threshold = -3 to -5dB.

4) Between 4:1 & 8:1, attack about 10ms, rel. about 200ms.

5) 10dB gain reduction (maximum !)

SNARE -

1) 3:1, Threshold = -10dB to add "crack".

2) Between 4:1 & 6:1, attack = 5 to 10ms, rel. about 150ms.

3) 10dB gain reduction (maximum !)

OVERHEADS -

1) 2:1 to lengthen signal decays.

TOMS -

1) Between 4:1 & 6:1, attack = 5 to 10ms, rel. about 150ms.

ANY DRUM -

1) 4:1, 5dB gain red. as starting point. Use AUTO (or attack 40 to 50ms, rel. 300 to 500ms.)

Living

2009-11-11T02:42:00.001-08:00

Tom Cosm - Moving from the studio to live performance using Ableton Live from Delicious on Vimeo.

This is good, I should try and see more stuff like this. Any recommendations?

2009-10-22T02:28:00.000-07:00

Going the extra mile

2009-09-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Abre Ojos for passing on this blog post:

Going the extra mile for unique timbres

It's a good read and the other topics covered look promising too :)

2009-08-11T23:44:00.001-07:00

Walk the (Canadian) Plank by bassling

bassling wants to be free

2009-08-11T23:41:00.000-07:00

Five years before Chris Anderson published Free, three years before Radiohead released their album In Rainbows for a donation (of potentially nothing); bassling was inspired by Creative Commons to offer his first LP for free.

Don't wait another five years - download it today!

Unfinished remix

2009-07-01T03:17:00.000-07:00

Halogen - Length and Brecht (bassling's unfinished remix) by bassling

'Doublecrossed' video

2009-06-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

Click here for more about the wires, a large-scale aeolian harp.

Current set-up

2009-06-20T03:12:00.000-07:00

Like live action Elektroplanton!

2009-06-15T21:39:00.001-07:00

SANSULA Dominik Eulberg musicvideo from dirk rauscher on Vimeo.

More meaningful Korzybski

2009-06-08T17:52:00.000-07:00

Anecdote about Korzybski

One day, Korzybski was giving a lecture to a group of students, and he suddenly interrupted the lesson in order to retrieve a packet of biscuits, wrapped in white paper, from his briefcase. He muttered that he just had to eat something, and he asked the students on the seats in the front row, if they would also like a biscuit. A few students took a biscuit. "Nice biscuit, don't you think," said Korzybski, while he took a second one. The students were chewing vigorously. Then he tore the white paper from the biscuits, in order to reveal the original packaging. On it was a big picture of a dog's head and the words "Dog Cookies." The students looked at the package, and were shocked. Two of them wanted to throw up, put their hands in front of their mouths, and ran out of the lecture hall to the toilet. "You see, ladies and gentlemen," Korzybski remarked, "I have just demonstrated that people don't just eat food, but also words, and that the taste of the former is often outdone by the taste of the latter." Apparently his prank aimed to illustrate how some human suffering originates from the confusion or conflation of linguistic representations of reality and reality itself.

More meaningful differences

2009-06-08T16:52:00.001-07:00

This morning I was reading that something like 95% of blogs don't get updated regularly. I felt a bit of guilt but another statement in the article also rang true, that most blogs have an audience of one. I blog because I like the interface better than writing in a diary.

One blog that I think deserves a large readership is The Stretta Procedure because it takes the current topics and adds a dose of reflection. The current post takes the issue of the latest mobile and keyboard and lifts the topic to focus on why people fuss about small incremental differences:

The recent introduction of Tom Oberheim's SEM re-issue sparked a spirited debate on the sonic differences between surface mount and through hole components. I found the discussion mildly amusing - not just because of all the half-truths, flawed premises and mis-information, but due to the psychology behind the discussion itself.

We spend so much time discussing the technical differences because we CAN talk about the technical differences. We can't talk about the sound or usefulness because this is entirely subjective. Those debates pretty much go like this:

"I think the re-issue sounds just like the vintage version."
"I think your ears are full of poop."
And so on.

Technology is concrete, exacting. We can zero in on some minute aspect and obsess about it. We can claim a re-issue isn't going to be EXACTLY the same as the original because the traces are too long, or make sharp 90 degree turns or a SMT chip package was used. The existence of these differences, whether or not they actually contribute something meaningful to the sound, nonetheless exist and can be endlessly debated.

Meanwhile, this generates a lot of noise, the issue is magnified and weighs disproportionately in our minds.

At what point is a difference a meaningful one?

Stretta reminded me of something I was reading yesterday about language as a conspiracy. In Everything Is Under Control, Robert Anton Wilson discusses Count Alfred Korzybski, who:

...observed that the words we use influence our perceptions and conceptions of the world - e.g., even in the same language, a book may be called "realistic" by one reader and "pornographic" by another, and each will tend to perceive/conceive the book that way more and more automatically if they repeat their label ("realistic" or "pornographic") over and over. This underlies the mechanism of hypnosis, as Dr. Bandler discovered later. It also explains why you won't make much progress preaching radical equality to somebody who continually uses the word "nigger," or defending the first amendment to somebody who keeps saying "smut" (or "sexism"). (p.276)

The more I read about perception, the more I realise how little information we use to base many decisions upon. Recently I read a blog post (either Boingboing or Wired) which outlined audio illusions. Like, if you put on headphones and listen to a microphone as you rub your fingers in front of it and adjust the tone so that it's all treble, you'll conclude that your fingers are dry because of the sound. Likewise, if you do this while rolling off the higher frequencies, you'll think your fingers are moist.

Our brains must create realistic illusions every day!

Big excitement

2009-05-01T16:01:00.001-07:00

My big news is that a few of my videos are on the BIG SCREEN at Melbourne's Federation Square at 2.30pm each day during May as part of the Notes From The Underground program.

RIDM

2009-04-20T04:52:00.000-07:00

RIDM by bassling

One of a few tracks that I've written so far this year :(

Current set-up

2009-04-10T23:53:00.001-07:00

Still loving my Boss pedals but I've replaced the drums with a machine to make some electro-sorta music. Next I plan to incorporate the guitar and the triggered bass that I was using but I'm still enjoying this set of effects for now.

Current set-up

2009-03-13T18:42:00.000-07:00