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.

The top of my pedal board

 

naviarhaiku617 – an autumn nightfall

The haiku shared by Naviar Records this week reminded me of a song I'd started writing about a fish.

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: 

Archaeological otoliths from midden sites in the Lower Murray River region that are at least 5000 years old, show that in the past, monstrous Murray cod (more than 220 centimetres long!) once lived in this part of the river, and were targeted by the Indigenous people who lived there, the Ngarrindjeri. 

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.

If I drive west there are many breeding ponds where cod are grown for meat, and if I drive east there's the John Lake Centre where the techniques for propagation were documented.

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. 

Now, I love reading about processes used by artists, so it has been interesting to ponder where some of Bob's melodies arise because he's got more than a few.

Local music supporter

 

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.

Anybody would like to say something?

 

naviarhaiku616 – whenever we meet

I thought to respond to the haiku shared by Naviar Records because it's raining.

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?

So I said to him

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.

Era

 

Sonicake Portal with Noise Wipers

Portal is a useful mixer-style pedal by Sonicake with options to invert, stack or parallel the inputs. 

My initial idea to use it like a buss didn't go as planned, but I thought to try adding a gate in the form of the Noise Wiper pedal.

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

The haiku this week was a reminder not to forget to record this pedal board. 

Things that make you

 

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!

Bleep

 

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.

Phil Collins singing and drumming

 

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. 

 

Classic effects