The Game Change

Today began my first semester as a music composition major at Columbia. I decided to go into music instead of sound for a number of reasons. I think it was mainly because it made the most sense to pursue my plan A rather than my plan B. My passion in life, of course, is to make music. Fooling myself into thinking I ought to do anything else is really just a distraction at best.

When I hear well composed, intricate music… I become incredibly jealous and envious of whoever it was that composed it. Having spent a great deal of my younger years idolizing Danny Elfman and being convinced that, at the time, it wasn’t music if it wasn’t Oingo Boingo, works of art in music have always dominated my outlook and my expectations. I’m sure you might find that kind of funny, considering I’ve mostly made simplistic rock-electronic music and the occasional experimental field-recording tracks.

I’m curious to see how I’ll hold up this semester… to see if I’ll really stick with it. Whether or not I’ll decide that “it isn’t for me” based solely on the fact that I will likely become rather frustrated with all of it rather quickly. Regardless, I’d like to see how it goes and, most importantly, how it affects the music I make in the future.

I really felt like going into sound wasn’t the best idea. While it was fascinating to consider all of the possibilities, it wasn’t going to secure the idea that I would be more suited to create music instead of just producing it… or just audio for that matter.

We’ll see how it goes.

In the meantime, I figured it was about time for an update as to how the live aspect of things is going and what measures have been taken recently to take some steps forward in changing the way it’s all done.

A few months ago I compulsively picked up an Akai APC40. I read about it on accident in a newsletter email I received from Ableton. After having watched a video of someone using it… I knew I had to get it. Just a few days later, I took it out of the box and started using Ableton. Until now, I had understood why Ableton was such a great program, but it didn’t seem like it was for me at the time. Now that I have it, it’s completely changed the way that the live show will be performed.

After a few weeks of having it, Braydon got to see me use it. He initially felt threatened that it was somehow going to replace him, but of course this isn’t the case. Within a few weeks, maybe a month, I had convinced him to get one as well as a PC. He did so without hesitation, and now we both have APC40’s.

The live set is no longer going to consist of me sending Braydon some finished tracks based off of a setlist… covering one track at a time. Instead, it’s going to be a massive amalgamation of distinct elements of different tracks spanned over a long set… consisting of external samples, breaks, extra sequences and synth lines either created specifically for the live set or from unfinished tracks that simply collect dust in my disturbingly expansive projects folder which is made up primarily of these unfinished pieces.

The live internet show I had done on Rathole Radio was exclusively on the APC40, sitting in Dan’s apartment with the console on my lap and my computer sitting in front of me on a chair. While I’m still pretty new to the application, Ableton has proven to be the most powerful DAW I’ve ever used, seamlessly integrating every piece of composition software I have into a giant and convenient arsenal instead of hopping from one application to the other, piecing things together that were composed usually knowing only the key and tempo the current project was at. I’m still figuring things out as far as how to use it… but I know that it’s going to be the main program I use for music making from here on out, and the APC will be the console that I use to control it for both producing and playing live. It also makes things very nice for using Reason with Ableton in a live setting… since I can use Reason as a single audio track in Ableton, I can make little corrections between that and the samples and tracks I’m using in the program, not to mention that it’ll be processed live by the various VST plugins I’m using. Needless to say, this has completely changed the game for good… and obviously for the better.

This also opens a lot of doors for our side project, “The Dad Machine”, which is a Steinski and Double Dee-esque break-fest (not breakfast) with absurd numbers of layers and percussive elements, both sampled and composed… I’m trying to convince Braydon that we should record a live set of The Dad Machine and post it here on the site.

This Saturday we have a show with a band we’re friends with called “Bad With Names”, a funk/reggae group from our home town. We’re playing a well known but rather small bar on the north end of town called O’Neill’s Pub that I’ve seen all of the other local bands play at. I’ve always wanted to play there just out of principal, since we’re the only ones who have yet to legitimately play there. Since Braydon is so new to the APC40, I wanted a really sincere reason for him to get attached to it and dive into it head first. I told him that the set was up to him, to record his breaks from his records through Serato and begin taking bits and pieces of his never-ending collection of funk, boogie, hip-hop and disco tracks and compile it into one cohesive format. I’ve been putting together a set myself to play along with him of additional breaks, not to mention composing huge drum patterns to drop over what he’s doing. In order to keep it simple, I decided that this set would be done exclusively on the APC’s so Braydon could really feel comfortable with it not only in preparing for but also playing a live set. I’m going to do my best to ensure that the set is recorded… Also, I’ll be playing keys and samples/beats with the band… it should be interesting!

The following weekend we have a show at Reggie’s Rock Club again in Chicago, opening for The Glide (who do kick ass, bt the way) at their upcoming CD release show… which I have recently completed a rather epic remix of… I had much more time to work on theirs than Aktar Aktar’s, so hopefully this brings the fire as much as the other remix did (if not more). We’ll be dropping both remixes, as well as a few other tracks (all complete and seamlessly) from the APC’s. Joining us on stage will be Whitney Millikan, the girl who played drums on that live jam track I uploaded several months ago. This is easily the most preparing I’ve ever done for one show, considering I worked for a few months on this remix, bought the APC40, convinced Braydon to do the same, and engineering the set so that we could fit Whitney in without much trouble. Again, I have every intent on having this recorded as well.

All in all, things are going really well. School should be interesting and music has been absolutely flying… so fast that I’m not sure what to do with it. After these two shows, It’ll be back to the lab to work on an EP to release on rec72 which will feature a new style… I don’t want to go into much detail since I’d like it to be somewhat of a surprise (even though I just told you that I was making it).

Well, it’s almost 2:00am… I’ve got class at 11:00. I should get going. Thanks for reading, and I’ll keep you folks updated on the recordings of these next shows.

I can’t believe I’m doing any of this.

Also, be sure to check out my newest track on the Rec72/Audiovisual Theorem compilation “Of Men And Machines”, of course free for download under the CC license.

Alright, that’s all you get for now. Goodnight, world.

Creative Commons

I know I haven’t made a post in a while… there’s actually a lot that’s happened since my last, but I’ll save that for next post.

I’m sitting here on the train out to Bartlett, IL to practice with a dear friend, Whitney, who will be playing with Braydon and I at our next big show opening for The Glide at Reggie’s Rock Club… It’s an hour long train-ride so I usually get some time to think. And I’m thinking about Creative Commons.

My dream, for as long as I can remember, was to become engulfed in a music career, to get signed to a label and sell records… to work with other artists in a huge, never-ending world of creativity, of newcomers and legendary masters alike. I thought that’s what the record industry held for someone like me, or for so many others. However, as time has gone on, there is a harsh, brutish reality that I have to face: that none of this is true. The record industry has and always will be one thing: an industry. Whether it’s blossoming or failing, it’s always an industry. Industries are made up of businesses whose primary goal and function is to generate profit. Suddenly this world of creativity is cruelly narrowed down to a bottom line and I can’t tell you how frustrating and horrifying this was to me and for so long…

But then I found out about Creative Commons.

It fits the perfect description of everything I hoped the record industry was: a huge, vast, and never-ending world of creativity, full of people just like me – people who invested themselves in their art for arts’ sake. I’m sure there are many artists out there who can indentify when I say we do what we do not because we feel like it’s going to get us any closer to anything… not because we want to be “famous” or on a label and become rich or end up on MTV Cribs… but we do what we do because we have to. Because we just have no other choice, because there is a completely unique peace of mind that comes with the trial and error, the tireless effort, the rigorous practice and wild, untamed lust for perfection of your art – and for no one’s satisfaction but your own.

I feel like that’s what Creative Commons is all about, and after having made an agonizing but eye-opening reappraisal of what to do with this passion, I feel irrevocably lucky to be alive in this time, even though I sometimes feel like it isn’t the right place.

Long live Creative Commons.

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