I recorded all of these tracks toward the end of winter, prior to our current circumstances (with the exception of the last, which is a re-recording of my Lines Community Stream patch). I intended to release it earlier, but found myself so mired in work (largely emotionally) that I had stopped working on finalizing the tracks. Last Sunday, I set a goal of releasing something by this Sunday and, despite a few setbacks (two days ago I found that my mastering had caused all of the tracks to clip terribly), I’m happy to have posted this a day ahead of my self-imposed deadline.
I wanted this material to sound a bit burnt out. I guess I intended for it to be a summer album - slow, hazy, and a bit drenched.
The final result is a bit quieter than I’d hoped since mastering is not one of my strengths.
I made a pandemic resolution to finish everything I started in winter 2019. This is part 2 of 3 towards that end.
The first three tracks on this album were the precursor to the title track of the first post above (Swimwear Nation). They represent my attempt to patch together a harmonic oscillator by-ear using a mixer and four or five sine waves. Clearly, it failed at being a proper harmonic oscillator, but I liked the result.
What else to say? The sound at the beginning of under current is a brick of dry ice (in which my vegan chicken nuggets were shipped), dropped into a pot of water and recorded using my cellphone mic. Does that constitute a field recording?
A few recent experiments yielded results causing a divergence from my above-stated resolution (to finish everything I started in winter 2019). The album I released today was created entirely between August and October.
Some process notes, by track: NLC processing schema for consumer dishwashing machines: This was my first attempt at integrating Norns MLR with my larger modular. It’s also my second use of MLR. The Cicadas were recorded outside my window on a noisy late summer morning.
Prepared overtures for unprepared dishes and synthesizer: Another MLR/modular integration attempt. I had a dishwasher which was way past due to be emptied and decided to “field record” the wonderful experience.
Cycle(s): this was my first attempt to feel my way through Norns MLR. It was recorded directly to a tape in Norns, so it’s a tad rougher than the other fully multi-tracked recordings. Features a field recording of a Saturday afternoon, mid-summer, in the Woodlands Cemetery.
Related interlude; Unrelated interlude; & User guide to concentric stacking: these tracks were all built with identical tapes in Oooooo and the same patch on my modular running three different sequences. User guide’s sequence was created using Orca’s Heart for Ansible. The two interlude tracks used more deterministic sequences.