Dominic Miller on music and sport
One of my arguments is that Australia needs a ministry of culture that unites art and sport
I think I've mostly made the case on my other blog, but Mr Miller shares a great perspective on the topic in the video above.
Tom Morello's guitar harms the gormless
For the record let me put it up front that I think Tom Morello is one of the most imaginative guitar players alive
His
decision to adopt DJing and foley sound as influences are bold creative
choices, particularly as music was undergoing rapid changes in the
early 1990s.
Recently I was watching Rick
Beato interview Brendan O'Brien and the latter said the beginning of
Rage Against The Machine's 'People of the Sun' has Morello using an
Allen key to play his instrument.
It reminded me how awed I was watching the band play at the Big Day Out in Melbourne, where the earth actually shook.
And the moment when he unplugged his guitar to play a solo on the tip of the lead left me speechless.
A few months
ago I watched a bunch of Morello videos where he shared his techniques
and appreciated how open and encouraging he seemed to be for others to
use them.
It seemed to epitomise Morello's attitude somehow, although really I think it'd be better if people designed their own slogan and drew it on a guitar they built.
So I was surprised when Fender announced a signature model of this instrument and have been amused by the responses.
The
signature model trend mystifies me in some ways, partly because many
people will say the secret to copying a player resides in their
fingertips.
It used to be enough to have a guitar the same shape and colour as your idol, particularly if it was something distinct.
As I searched for it just now I found that it's on display in a museum!
So
his justification in the Fender promotional video that making an approved copy
available is surprising since it is prohibitively expensive and about ten times the cost of the model from China, which is even more curious as the flag of that nation is part of the design.
It contrasts with the answer he gave when people asked why RATM were on a major record label:
Modified Artist Telecaster
Went back to the soldering iron with my Artist Telecaster
I also swapped the pickguard and the Artec pickup in the middle for a Texas flavoured one and it's loud.
The original Artist bridge pickup remains although I bought a '50s style one and the phasing is out when used with the others, but I'm really enjoying the effect as it's less jangly.
It's still surprising what a nice instrument this is, as I now have couple of other telecasters that all produce slightly different sounds.
Meanwhile, the variety of stratocaster type guitars is becoming overwhelming and I should compare them in a video sometime next year.
Disquiet Junto 0730 Calendar Advent
The Junto at the end of the year is a form of diary and for over a decade now I've been editing together my videos.
It's an interesting overview and this year I was surprised by how many songs I recorded on guitar.
Disquiet Junto 0729 Community Remix (Nina)
The Junto this week is a prompt to remix 'Nina' by Hans Kindler (1892 – 1949).
Marc's automated email arrived as I was playing with a guitar part from last week's activity, which I'd reversed.
So I bent 'Nina' to suit the key of that track, which took it up four steps to C# minor.
Then I arranged the parts to suit the shape of Hans' performance and used some EQ to minimise its hiss.
Naviarhaiku623 – “Don’t pick it!”
I had an idea how "plums" are a euphemism and thought about recording vocals, but changed my mind as the track developed.
Then I thought about how the poem's warning might be understood by a child and found a menace in it, that came to the fore as I played with bass sounds.
Disquiet Junto 0728 Note Down
The Junto this week is to "Delete a note at a time."
There is just one step to this project: Record a piece of music with a slow melody that repeats. Each time the melody cycles around, remove one note, until during the final repeat none of the notes in the melody remain.
I've recorded a chord progression using my recently upgraded Squier.
It's tuned Nashville style, so the chord becomes more melodic as the range is limited across the strings.
The original version of the song was slower and felt too long, so I look a bit jumpy in the video as it is sped up.
Upgraded Squier
Upgraded the pickups, tuners, bridge and pickguard on my Squier Paranormal Nashville Stratocaster.
Unexpected result is the neck pickup is out of phase and sounds really funky when combined with the others.
The pickups are a "Pure vintage 64' TL Set" from a Chinese website and they are a big improvement.
Artist AT91V3 electric guitar review
There's a lot to admire about this guitar, let's take a look and I'll describe what I'm feeling because it's 'Caster spell on me!
The neck has a satin finish, while the body is silky with golden woodgrain.
There was no reason to change the other pickups that came with this
guitar, as they have character yet a good balance across the neck and bridge, but the simple addition was suggested to me after I bought a Squier Paranormal Custom Nashville Stratocaster.
Before I compare the two guitars, take a look at the
tuners on the AT91V3 because they're good looking and locking and crafted from proper
metal that's cool to the touch.
In comparison
the Squier's tuners have plastic handles and mine have an annoying
rattle, as well as pickups that sound brittle in comparison to the
Artist guitar.
While I'm likely to upgrade
these components, it shows how ridiculously over-priced Fender guitars
are, which might've been an observation that landed a sales representative in trouble but is one I'm often hearing from people.
I
paid twice as much for the Paranormal Custom Nashville Stratocaster as I
did for the AT91V3 -- even when you factor in buying a pickup and
pickguard to modify the latter. (On reflection, some of this difference might be explained in the distribution models of the two companies.)
I doubt you can
find a better value telecaster-style guitar and it's encouraged me to try some of the
other Artist models, which are mostly excellent and they have a 100-day free return option.
It also seems incredible to me that delivery is part of the price, with mine arriving in about one working day -- despite the fact I live in a regional town.
This Artist guitar is remarkable and highly recommended for
the versatile tones with a sensuous touch of quality.
Knocked out by knock offs
It really says something about the business model of this website that they accept up to five returns each month, with a prompt refund soon after the post office scans the barcode on the label provided.
Anyway, my expectations were low but changed dramatically when I installed these "Texas" pickups.
The wax crusted onto thick metal base plates was encouraging, as were the cloth-covered wires.
So imagine my surprise that they sound amazing!
I feel so inspired with the tone that's coming out of my excellent Artist guitar, which was super cheap as it had an electrical fault.
There aren't any moving parts in a pickup, so I expect these will keep performing and inspiring me to do the same.
Disquiet Junto 0726 Chord of Omnis
The Junto assignment this week is to "Make music with a browser-based Omnichord as your sole sound source."
I wasn't sure about using a browser-based instrument, then I remembered that my Omnichord was still plugged into a pedal board.
So here's a quick jam, where I wish that I spent more time getting the levels right.
Fender offender
There's clearly a story here, although one imagines that none of those involved want to discuss it.
It made me want to try a Nameless guitar, however their website seems to have vanished.
While I had been looking at buying a Fender, the message gave me pause to think about their dominance in the market.
So I decided to support a different brand and went looking for an Australian guitar.
Disquiet Junto 0725 Rack It
The Junto assignment this week is to "Change the “focus” of a track as it plays."
I had an idea to record a few instruments, but decided in the end that I only had energy for one take.
As I'd been watching Rick Beato's interview with Tony Levin, so I thought to use a bass which wears his likeness.
There's a pedal board I put together for bass and you can hear it uses EHX Superego for a drone, then an MXR phaser for modulation, before adding EHX Talking Machine.
Jimmy Chamberlin on AI-generated music
"Consume art with your heart" gets to an argument I believe about the emotional connection that humans expect in the media they consume.
Fender pretender
Anyone had experience with Chinese copies?
So I bought this copy, just so I can not worry about scratching the paint on my real Fender Meteora.
It'll be interesting to see how close it lands when it, um, lands.
Disquiet Junto 0724 Work It
The prompt this week is "Do that thing you’ve been meaning to do."
At first my mind turned to the folder of lyrics that I'm yet to record, but as I opened it I noticed another on my desktop.
The track I recorded for the "Dense Fog Advisory" Junto was one that I'd been meaning to tidy up, in the same way that I'd gone back to refix that track last week.
I had been surprised how well the guitar breaks worked, as I recorded them quickly and at the same time as the vocals.
It was good to clear space in the mix and then I had an idea to shift the key.
I dropped the instruments down a fifith, but took the vocals up a seventh.
The result makes me sound a bit like Neil Young, I think.
Partscaster
Recently I had an idea to change a single coil
pickup near the neck with a humbucker for a guitar that was tuned closer
to being a bass
I looked on Marketplace and a
bloke in Deni was selling a loaded pickguard with all these switches
for about the same as buying one pickup.
When
it arrived it wouldn't fit and I didn't want to pull apart a working
guitar or chisel a bigger cavity, so I decided I'd get a cheap
Stratocaster copy.
This used SX brand came from Cash Converters and the strings sit a bit too high because the bridge is bent.
Despite it feeling too light, I was surprised at how smooth the neck and frets feel.
Then I soldered in the new pickups and it has been remarkable.
The
humbuckers make only a little noise with the nastiest of Devi Ever's distortions,
and those little switches can make the pickups sound like mellow single
coils.
Now I'm thinking I'll change the bridge and it'll still only be around $250 in total.
A young Karl Marx wrote how the worker must see themself in their labour, and I'm finding the effort invested is developing into an attachment not shared with my other guitars.
Disquiet Junto 0723 Do the Collapse
The Junto prompt this week asked for a piece of music with a tendency to fall apart repeatedly.
I usually have an idea that forms when the email from Disquiet arrives and then find myself looking for ways to justify it.
This week my mind turned to a song about glass breaking that I recorded in September as a response to a poem by Half Unusual shared by Naviar Records.
There were some drums that fit the piece, so I added a bass part.
Then I went on Archive.org and looked for video of glass smashing, using "toughened glass smash" by tim hunkin and "Glass Door Breaking Meme" by Richie.
naviarhaiku617 – an autumn nightfall
Murray cod are Australia's largest freshwater fish and, as a freshwater person, I kinda relate to it.
In particular, the line about the skeleton prompts me to share this remarkable discovery:
These fish are known to be protective fathers and travel long distances, like salmon, to return to their home to spawn.
They nearly were made extinct by large-scale fishing and, in recent years, have become an aquaculture crop.
The story is that Lake was told a cod had taken residence in a neighbouring dam, where he found it used a 44-gallon drum like it was a treehollow for spawning young.
Anyway, I can talk about cod for a while since I put together an exhibition about them.
Chillin' like Bob Dylan
I've been spending too much time looking at guitars, but among all the photos I saw last night was this screenshot puportedly from Bob Dylan about a musical process.
Disquiet Junto 0722 Spook Street
The Junto assignment is to "Make music for a haunted spy film."
My first step was playing with the "Black sabbath" sounds in the M-Tron, but it didn't go anywhere.
Next evening I decided to explore a spy theme and thought I'd start with a 5/4 time signature like Mission Impossible.
I don't think the result has that timing, but the idea was moving.
Added a few more parts and found the horror trailer, then thought I should finish before Halloween faded.
naviarhaiku616 – whenever we meet
This is my favourite pedal board at present, although the mix in the video has a lot of post effects too.
There were a few takes but the above version was concise and features a cameo from my youngest.
Dunno, the version below is longer and seems to work better?
Disquiet Junto 0721 Well Weathered
The Disquiet Junto prompt this week is to "Record a track in which you play along with the storm."
I found a wonderful storm on Archive.org by Brother Elias and played my bass along while it screened.
There were a number of takes, but I edited this part since it captured some of my favourite ideas.
I also thought I'd record a piece explaining my Junto process, since I haven't been giving it much reflection in recent years.
Sonicake Portal with Noise Wipers
Portal is a useful mixer-style pedal by Sonicake with options to invert, stack or parallel the inputs.
The result has been a lot more use of the Alexander pedals, Reverse delay and Space Race reverb.
With the Portal blending in those Alexander effects when my guitar play gets louder, it makes the experience so much more dynamic.
I'd been pondering dynamics and gated effects in recent months, and another moment was hearing the EarthQuaker Devices Data Corrupter through the gate on the Coppersound Triplegraph (not shown) -- which made an overbearing effect a lot more musical.
Anyway, as someone who is sick of seeing the word "freeze" on pedals, I've been wondering why more effects don't have a gate?
And, yes, I have started using an oven rack as a pedal board.
naviarhaiku615 – reminding me not to forget
Omnichord chasing bliss
Suzuki Omnichords are like little time capsules.
I've thrown a few things at this one over the years, particularly my Roland Boutique synths.
Similarly, the 505 drum machine is like hearing a beige version of a more famous Roland.
Somehow they pair nicely here, which was obvious when I substituted Roland for a punchier Alessis drum machine.
The arrangement of pedals has been changing and I like the quirks that get added.
Another quirk here is the tenor guitar, which has been tuned like a ukulele but from a low A.
That idea arose from learning about Keith Richards!
Disquiet Junto 0720 One from Two
The Junto prompt this week is to combine works in progress.
I found a couple of sketches in 135 bpm that merged nicely with this NASA video.
It’s funny, there were already “combo” titles when I opened my folder of unfinished Live’s als files.
One of those tracks I recognised from last year, so I looked instead for similar bpms and found a few possibilities around 135 from this year.
Then I found this NASA video waiting in another folder, which effortlessly fit the audio.
While, it looks like the Junto came together easily, I had a whole other process up until I re-read the prompt.
Although I knew I had plenty of material, I really wanted to try recording away from the screen and thanfully it was really quick.
Along the way I considered whether a pedalboard would be a work-in-progress, which has been a fun detour.
naviarhaiku614 – The coming of autumn
The haiku shared by Naviar Records reminded me of the red butterflies that I've observed at the start of autumn, such as this scarlet percher.
Disquiet Junto 0719 Riding on the Metronome
The Disquiet Junto assignment is: Play with and against a steady beat.
Step 1: Locate a metronome and set it to play at a speed of your choice. Recommended: 70 bpm.
Step 2: Practice playing with, and against, and entirely apart from the beat.
Step 3: Record a piece of music in which you start off playing with the beat, and then veer away from it, and then are drawn back to it, and then veer away, around and again. End the piece while playing apart from the beat, not in sync with it.
My metronome was Ableton Live and the 70bpm recommendation stirred a couple of tracks as I let the Junto directions simmer since reading them on Thursday evening.
After a day or so an idea arose for a beat that veered away, so I started scaffolding a structure of a track.
Sunday morning arrives and I start recording a drum track, using the second take, then first takes of bass and ukulele.
Along the way I thought of veering on the bass too, more than the ukulele anyway.
Disquiet Junto 0718 Planet Jam It
The Disquiet Junto project this week is to "Record the sound of an advanced alien civilization."
The year is 2126, and your spaceship is on a routine science expedition of the outer reaches of previously unexplored parts of the universe. Your crew has encountered, for the first known time in human history, a planet that is home to sentient life that has developed an advanced civilization not unlike our own. After settling into geosynchronous orbit, you send down a stealth drone to explore. The drone captures audio and video. Please share the audio of your drone’s reconnaissance mission.
Disquiet Junto 0717 Generation Gambit
The Disquiet assignment is to "Layer two eras of recordings, one of them imaginary."
My father died recently and I was remembering that he had wanted to become a doctor.
So I had an idea that my ancestor might've used a rhyme to remember the bones of the body.
Disquiet Junto 0716 Dense Fog Advisory
The Junto project this week was to record music as Dense Fog Advisory.
I started recording parts and wrote my own lyrics:
Forget
forget about the weather
it’s clear you’re not ready to go
you think I’m being clever
but the forecast is not known
the outlook is for cloud
touching to the ground
forget about the weather
your work can’t wait
Time is here for passing
we’ll do whatever you want
we’re going to take it easy going take as long
as all the time we need
suddenly has become free
forget about the weather
your work can’t wait
So rather than thinking about a third lunch
I am here to be shocked by your electric touch
elated and amazed
inhaling in your gaze
your work can’t wait
While the man can make dollars
I am making sense
your imagination
don’t need a fence
I’ll keep you employed
your inner work can’t wait
don’t lose life
striving a housewife
your kind was never kindness
I’m going to hand you a knife
cut the cake it’s your birthday
take all that you want
be here be now
your inner work can’t wait
Don’t be blind the paradigm was always half-baked
the main mistake is feeling you’re faked
honest intention in honourable mention
your work can’t wait
Not a competition on a mission of regret
you were here to be clear and don’t you forget
standing here centred there
your work can’t wait
Dense fog advised get a life it’s a beautiful day
for staying inside and feeling ripe be on your way
Yeah, I’ma love you like a fool
your work can’t wait
naviarhaiku610 – dropped glass
I had a chord progression from playing on my ukulele and had recently tuned my tenor guitar to suit similar intervals, although it's ADF#B rather than CGEA.
Lyrics were generated with ChatGPT, but required editing to arrive at the result that were recorded:
A silence so heavy
felt it would break today
weight of words angrily told
left scattered, sharp and cold
Now a memory that can’t be shut
each shard a lesson, every cut
your apology won’t revoke
the ringing echo of what we broke
When you dropped the glass
and time slowed down
shattered dreams in pieces
scattered on the ground
The cracks are just the space we need
a chance to heal the cuts we bleed
glass debris after the fall
singing on the kitchen floor
You said you didn’t mean it
But the words had already flown
now we're left here waiting
with truth openly known
Now the floor is all swept
we’re still lost in the past
and that sound of breaking glass
is the only thing that lasts
The ring it leaves behind
a circle, tight and blind
the sound of what we lost
a chord that pays the cost
The cracks are just the space we need
a chance to heal the cuts we bleed
we made a window with glass melted down
from outside your knocks are a softer sound
The cracks are just the space we need
a chance to heal the cuts we bleed
like glass debris after the fall
singing on the kitchen floor
Revolutions
The funny thing about change is how often it makes old ideas new again
Since
I spend so much time lately thinking about guitar pedals, it has been
interesting to ponder the revival of the four-track gain stage.
I
am old enough that access to a four-track recorder was one of the most
exciting aspects of starting at Lake Tuggeranong College when it opened
in 1990.
By that point I'd already been
sequencing songs on my Amiga computer but didn't have enough musical
experience to record much more than simple songs on the Tascam
four-tracks.
Those four-tracks allowed both
sides of an audio tape to be used, so the stereo channels added up, and
were still being used to record music when I was making demo tapes with
bands in 1994 and '96.
Recently the interest in
four-tracks has returned for their distinctive gain staging, which
allowed some shaping of the instruments being recorded.
Although
these sounds have had a lo-fi charm for many "indie" style bands and
added character, the current revival has followed from the distinctive
sound of a guitarist called Mk.gee.
Another
element in his tone is the Rainger FX reverb pedal, which includes a
gate to adjust that allows the effect to be added when the dynamics of
the playing go beyond the threshold.
(One of
the details less acknowledged is Mk.gee's use of flatwound strings,
which make his baritone guitar remind me of bassists like Jaco
Pastorius.)
In a recent video to promote the JHS pedal which emulates a four-track gain stage, the guitarist John
Mayer notes “There is a revolution taking place right now in guitar
playing, and it has to do with dynamics.”
“For most of guitar playing history, guitars were plugged into amplifiers, and the way that a tube amp responds has kind of defined the way people played guitar.
“But now people have been plugging into things that aren't tube amplifiers," Mayer continues and those things respond differently.
Alternatives to tube amplifiers have been around for decades, but the real revolution isn't the return of four-track gain stages.
The shift to digital and the ability to emulate analogue circuits has been gaining pace, with many abandoning those big old boxes for smaller rigs.
Elsewhere on the internet in recent weeks is an interview with pedal builder Brian Wampler, who identifies that digital emulations of technology like tube amplifiers and other effects are threatening his business model.
He describes digital modeling as a Napster moment for traditional pedal makers, saying "for those who remember that, that's where everybody who had music that you just uploaded to Napster, and now no one needs to buy any more music.”
I think Wampler's observation is what gives Mayer's sales pitch for the JHS pedal an interesting context.
During the '90s, in particular, guitar dynamics were smashed in popular music as loudness was pursued through the use of heavy compression effects.
Maybe that's what comes to mind when I think about the music on Napster, but I hope that the sound of individual players and their dynamics is something being celebrated.
We're witnessing a variety of revolutions in music technology and, just like the older guitar designs coming back into fashion, there are older sounds that are also being revisited.
In some ways it's depressing to see the "relic" models of guitars being sold so that a consumer can pretend to be their idol, rather than the excitement I find in hearing someone like Mk.gee showing the potential for new tones.
I recently went
down a metaphorical rabbit hole to revisit the sounds of Tom
Morello and don't think it requires his signature model guitar to achieve them.
For me a real revolution is seeing new ideas incorporated into the portable format that pedals offer and the rise of digital modelling means it's offering distinctive combinations of effects that become a way to grab consumer's attention, aside from the heavy reliance on celebrities and brand names.
From this perspective I am impressed with David Rainger's inventive products, such as the implementation of gating in the reverb popularised by Mk.gee but also the wonder-filled Minibar distortion pedal.
There aren't many products that my family show an interest in playing and the Minibar was the first since Korg's Kaossilator and the Wavedrum before that.
(And, thinking of Korg, I'm getting excited to see that Phase8 is nearing release.)
I
am hoping there are many more revolutions occurring in the guitar pedal
format, but that enthusiasm needs to be qualified with a sense of
innovation rather than mining the past for nostalgia.
naviarhaiku609 – revealing in the dark
I liked the image of a lonely fisherman inspecting waves and thought it spoke to those moments of introspection and reflection.
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