The Junto assignment this week is to "Make a song from just one sample."
Since my name is Bassling, I thought to use a bass sample.
The kick, snare and percussion, as well the screeching guitar part and bass -- they all come from the one plucked open E string.
For better or worse the Black Friday phenomena has taken a place in my calendar in recent years.
The upside is finding something cheap and then selling it when I realise that I don't need it, which happened last year with a delay pedal that I sold for a small profit.
The downside is missing out on something and then becoming obsessed with owning it, which led me to buy a synth that I've only used once and keep thinking I should do more with it.
This year I have been thinking about the Mystery Box a lot more than I need.
It's a clever pitch from a company that has been innovating guitar pedal effects. (Edit: I have since learned that Wren and Cuff had the idea last year.)
I had been patiently waiting for months to buy their Onward pedal and last weekend let myself visit their website, where I became curious about the mysterious link and arrived at the video above.
Over the weekend I kept pondering the offer and checked in on their social media, where the pitch became even more irresistible.
Some boxes will contain effects pedals from other companies, while a few will contain a Willy Wonka-style golden pin for future pedals.
Within days it became clear that Chase Bliss had hit a sweet spot in marketing, as they closed the offer.
It looks like it took three days for the company to generate so many orders that they expect to be still fulfilling them for the coming months.
I'm surprised this hasn't been observed on one of the many websites that promote musical gear.
Then again, maybe it's common for a Black Friday sale item to sell out.
However, I am now wondering how many other businesses will pitch a Mystery Box?
In many ways it's perfect for people who are difficult to buy gifts for, or who don't get the gifts they want.
The cynic in me also thinks it's also a great way for companies to push out old stock.
Seeing that Chase Bliss are in the process of redeveloping much of their product line, as the EU won't allow components that contain cadmium, I worried that I was going to find a boring flanger pedal when I opened my box.
(Then again, maybe a MIDI-synced flanger is exactly what my drum machines need?)
Anyway, seeing how CBA pedals are ridiculously expensive -- $719 retail in Australia -- I expect the secondhand market will soak up a lot of these mysteries.
And I really love the concept.
I think it packages a kind of lucky dip experience that consumers will find appealing, at least until it's diluted with disappointments.
And I am thinking almost obsessively about when my Mystery Box might arrive as Chase Bliss' social media spruiks a huge variety of possibilities.
The assignment this week is to "Make the quiet part loud, and vice-versa."
This track started as a riff for my class to practice writing raps, so it's sparse and gives scope to speed it up.
The keyboard part was an afterthought, but I realised it was perfect to take the foreground for the Junto project.
As a result, I've pushed the drums and bass into the background, which is the opposite of my usual approach.
Meanwhile, the kids in class have been happy to practice along with a mix by Bobby Corridor instead.
My track is busier than the poem might suggest, but I like to think the bubbling bassline reflects the dreams of the raptors.
The Junto prompt this week is the turn signal on a car.
I like the symbolism, since it's the US election.
So I promote turning left, but acknowledge that the left-leaning choice isn't far from the centre-right.
The Junto assignment this week is to "Make music to help a forest regenerate."
I went looking through my recent ideas and liked the way the organ holds this piece together with a sense of soul like that I can imagine is the role of fungal activity.
There's also the steady rhythm and I decided to give a sense of decay to the melody line, which is a significant contribution from fungi in a forest.
The Disquiet Junto prompt this week is fun: "Bury a secret sound until it is no longer identifiable."
Not sure how much to share about my process as the sound is still intelligible to my ears, however it does have an accompaniament that makes it feel at home.
The Junto this week prompted a few ideas, but I settled on listening at the door.
In my mind it was a reference to a Junto from a decade earlier, which was a haiku Marc wrote about the door clicking unlocked.
I made a cool video at Modifyre to go with a track that's been a feature of live shows.
Naviar Records have given me an honour and shared a poem of mine this week.
The Junto assignment this week is to "Record a track in honor of the late Achim Szepanski."
I liked the industrial minimalism and the emphasis on sampling, so I found some recordings made on my old work phone that I'd been meaning to remix.
The same women went on to form Lunachicks at the decompression event in Melbourne that followed.
After developing my Junto track I kept thinking I should do more with this draft.
I exported it a few times after marrying it with a video I shot at the Marea Bright exhibition currently in the Museum of the Riverina.
Today I pushed myself to add a lead part and developed a melancholy kinda melody to suit the haiku.
The Junto assignment this week is to "Record a piece of music in 29/16 time."
It was about six months ago that I was talking with my son Oscar about how much I enjoy using strange time signatures as a prompt.
He started to talk about a Mother videogame, which is one that he's often discussed, explaining there's a penultimate level where the music is in 29/16.
I thought it sounded wild, so I played around and wrote some songs in Live using this time signature.
Then I told Marc that I thought it would be a fun prompt for the Junto.
This week he came back to me and, as Oscar is home from uni for the holidays, I got him to look at the wording and we added the detail about the name of the original tune in Mother 3.
Last night I began composing with the time signature and came up with a couple of ideas.
I might get back to working on the other, but thought I'd publish this one in the mean time.
Unfortunately I still have uni homework to complete.
The Disquiet Junto assignment this week is to "Record a piece of music that complements the hum and whir of a hard drive."
I have a laptop with a noise hard drive, so first I recorded it.
Then I found a take I'd recorded on the drums and added organ, 303 and bass.
Finally, I gated the hard drive and automated effects.
The Disquiet Junto project this week is to "Record a piece of drone music using sounds from your home."
It reminded me that I'd recorded my washing machine, because I liked the rhythm it was making.
I took the video and stretched, then pitched it down and used Live's MIDI function to create the notes being played by a couple of VST synths.
Then I tried a few instances of Lossy and other effects to make the parts all sound like they fitted together.
This week’s Junto project is a communal remix using either the original or the “denoised” version of this 1922 recording of the classic 'St. Louis Blues.'
The "denoising" was remarkable when I went back to the original!
Marc's instructions state:
Break the track into segments. While you may be inclined toward tiny granular slivers, consider emphasizing bars or phrases. Experiment with segments of equal length and of varying lengths.
I found a number of bars that interested me and, given it was a remix, immediately set about adding percussion to drive my engagement with the piece.
Before long I'd started to apply my usual remix methodology, particularly gating sections and using Live's Beatrepeat function.
Some sections were reversed as well.
Finally, I applied Goodhertz' Lossy effect to add dynamics and give the drums a grittier sound that sat better with the source material.
The result gives me an early Kid Koala vibe and that's a good thing.
I still remember the early days of Youtube, when a simple video could reach thousands of people and it wasn't showing me smacking my partner's arse.
The video-sharing website has tweaked and changed its algorithms any number of times and you can no longer easily find my affectionate slap on her backside.
A couple of simple videos are still among my most-viewed content, despite the efforts that have gone into more thought-provoking material.
I guess it's possible that my mother wrote the URL on strips of paper and handed them out in the bus interchange again.
This week’s project is to interpret the markings on the back of a cello as a graphic score.
After a couple of weeks without a Junto, I jumped on the drumkit and put down a rhythm on Friday afternoon after finishing my uni assignments.
I thought the score looked busy and decided on something upbeat.
Then today I recorded the chords and bass between sessions of Haiku Down Under.
To finish I spent my evening mixing it and am now waiting for the video to render.
I liked the idea loneliness is a feeling that comes and goes, so I added a reversed part along with reverb and delay for more whelm.
The Disquiet Junto project this week asks for "a piece of music that consists of nothing but held tones of varying lengths that start and end suddenly and that overlap as the piece unfolds."
I reached for my bowls, as I knew I couldn't spend too much time working on this piece now that I've returned to full-time study.
This was my third take as the sunlight was starting to fade and I like how the birdsong came through.
I misunderstood the assignment sometime between reading the Junto instructions and recording a track today.
The instructions said to "Make music for babies’ parents" and I read them on my way to Canberra on Thursday, then this morning spoke with my partner about a song idea that I'd been meaning to develop.
It was on an earlier trip to Canberra that I was driving past Lake George and had a lyric and melody pop into my head, so I recorded a short video using my phone.
This musical snippet suited a message I have for new parents.
When you become a parent there are various ways that your life changes and it's important to remain focused on your relationship with the person with whom you had a child.
There are stresses like sleep and bodily changes and also the shift to becoming a parent can trigger things, so you have to make a conscious effort to support each other.
It was this idea of presenting a united front to the world that I wanted to put into the song.
The lyrics go:
This beautiful life that we’ve embroidered
you be a needle to carry my thread
so tightly the patterns intertwined
it is tempting to see it as divine
Weaving together our new family
tentative plans clothe our bed
on life’s loom a fabric known
we work with what our hearts have grown
And I know our family grows
a new world, a new world
and I know our love will show
to the world, to the world
Inside our home we commit our time
choosing to bring each other a shine
take change in circumstance in our stride
I follow your moonlight like the tide
Each day is a season in our lives
we plant words with care so they may thrive
in consultation we share our pride
to present a prime they can’t divide
Then they know our family grows
a new world, a new world
Then they know a love we show
to the world, to the world
The Disquiet Junto project this week asks for music for babies.
I'd begun thinking through different ideas and then spoke with my oldest son, who's home from uni for the holidays.
As I explained the Junto project I remembered my attempts to soothe him as an infant.
First-time fathers learn a number of lessons, from how hospitals view them as a liability to feeling inadequate when a baby wants to be fed.
I can't remember how I arrived at this technique but it sometimes worked.
I would hold my baby close and sing while turning on the spot.
The key lesson I would impart to first-time fathers is the importance of skin-to-skin contact at every opportunity.
With my first child I was too worried to hold him, but subsequent kids got stuck to my chest at the first opportunity and it seemed as though they knew who I was much earlier.
It's not easy being a father and working through the changing dynamic from being a couple to becoming a family.
The best thing is to be ready to provide comfort, ensure your partner has a glass of water during breastfeeding and let go of expectations.
That last point is one that becomes obvious as soon as you enter the hospital and the birth plan is forgotten as the staff do what they think needs to be done to cure the pregnancy.
As you become accustomed to being the least important person in the room, you begin a journey that's different for everyone but entirely your own opportunity to revisit your own upbringing with a new perspective.
It's no wonder that many relationships don't survive this shift, so be ready to play a new role and marvel at the little joys as they arrive.
The smell of the newborn; the moment you feel they see you; that first smile; and then the months of teething,
And shit -- so much shit.
Literal, metaphorical and it's a fertiliser that makes life grow.
The Disquiet Junto project this week asks participants "Stop doing something you always do."
As a longtime contributor to the Junto, I have shared so much of my life in various recordings.
If you were to go through previous projects you'd find everything from making my favourite dish (kimchi) through to having a bath and also making love.
There really isn't much that I haven't already tried and shared with the Disquiet community!
I arrived at the idea of not contributing to the Junto this week, however it seemed as though that would go without notice if I didn't record something for the prompt.
So I've arrived at the idea of sharing an update on a recent activity that's taken me in a different direction and have decided that I won't publish it on the forum where contributors are encouraged to share.
The Disquiet Junto project this week is to "Set a favorite story to music."
My partner suggested that I should use my Totem Story, which I wrote last year and like a lot but it got a mixed reaction from the judges of a competition.
(They thought it was inappropriate for me to write from a First Nations' perspective, which I can understand is not my experience to represent even if it is historical fiction.)
Anyway, recently I've been playing with the M-Tron Pro VST and used it for all the instrumentation except the drums.
I was aiming for a sense of uncertainty, as well as incorporating a human voice and obviously the organ is there for the religious moments.
The video came from Archive.org and was something I had on hand that seemed to suit the music, although it has nothing to do with the story.
It features a man addressing a different sort of storm and offered a good challenge to remix the material into a song.
It was my response to this week’s prompt:
Lewis asks, “Why do we want our computers to improvise?”
This week’s project: record a piece of music that responds in some way to Lewis’ question.
I often use the Random effect, as it adds little variations to the loops I make.
Today I ramped the effect up to 100% and found that Ableton Live's onboard instruments started to crap themselves.
So I sent the information out to my Roland Boutique rack and recorded the results.
Dunno, weirdly it doesn't seem so unpredictable.
Maybe I should've shifted a few more parameters?
The Junto prompt led me to read a little about concerto and I got the impression that it's been one of those types of events where people have shown flair in ways.
So I started pondering what I'd want to see given the solo performer treatment and pulled out my Omnichord thinking that I could finally write a song that showcased electric toothbrushes.
Then I began to ponder my lead instrument and looked around a bit more, before arriving at the video of cowbells. These are near my office and sometimes I hear visitors using them.
So I added a beat, as one does, then thought what sounds would support a cowbell solo?
