Category Archives: Music

Mississippi (Founders Mix)

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AudioCookbook.org has been featured today on ccMixter, “ccMixter is a community music site featuring remixes licensed under Creative Commons where you can listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in whatever way you want.” Along with the announcement, the ccMixter artist, Victor (aka fourstones) posted a remix called Mississippi (Founders Mix) using several recordings from AudioCookbook.org. Samples used include, Roof Racket, Piano Mallet Loop, Pro-One Dub, AM Radio Static, Time Expanded Radio Static, vocals by Kristin Hersh and several others. Checkout the mix on ccMixter for more information. Since the track uses several samples from AudioCookbook.org I am posting it here as today’s entry into the “One Sound Every Day” project. This marks the first time that I have not directly produced the daily sound, however, I feel this is an excellent example. If you like the track, head over to ccMixter and give some love to Victor for this tasty mashup.

Mississippi (Founders Mix)

Ultraviolet Amphibian Live Segment

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This segment of Ultraviolet Amphibian was recorded during a live performance at the Nomad in Minneapolis on June 10, 2008. I’m including it as today’s sound to give you an idea how Keston and Westdal’s live performances sound compared to our studio recordings. There’s more improvisation during our live shows as well as the addition of live drums. This performance features Graham O’Brien.

Unfortunately board mixes like this one are rarely balanced because the sound is being mixed for the room. Anything loud or amplified on stage like bass guitar or drums don’t come through very well. Since the laptops, Rhodes and synth are going direct they are much louder in the board mix. I ran the recording through some pretty complex equalization and compression to try and bring out the bass guitar, but it still lacks the luster of the mastered studio version.

Tonight we are playing at the Kitty Cat Klub in Minneapolis. Tuesday, September 2nd we are performing at Peavey Plaza in downtown Minneapolis for a pro-art and political progress rally put on by TheUnConvention.com, and held during the Republican National Convention. For more information please visit our shows page on unearthedmusic.com.

Ultra Violet Amphibian Live Segment

Studio Version of Ultraviolet Amphibian

Zhiguly

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I stumbled across this gem, that was recorded during a jam session between myself on Rhodes, Nils Westdal on bass, and Kyle Herskovitz (DJ Zenrock) on turntables. This session happened more than four years ago on March 11, 2004.

I couldn’t stop myself from messing about with it until I got this simple 0:22 second arrangement. I automated a filter on the Rhodes as well as running it through an amp modeling plugin and then topped it off with a touch of ping pong delay.

The main thing that attracted me to this archive was the skillful turntablism of Mr. Herskovitz. I have been fortunate to work with him off an on for more than a decade. Kyle is the most talented, creative and dedicated DJ and turntablist I have ever heard or worked with, so I have included a solo snippet of his track from this session so you can hear some of his magic on its own.

By the way, the photo is from a video installation we produced. It was performed during a show at the convention center in Minneapolis on a co-bill with Keston and Westdal and Zenrock last year.

Zhiguly

Zhiguly Scratch

Internet Radio

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Nova PlanetNovaplanet.com is a broadcast radio station out of Paris that also streams their programming over the internet. This radio station was made for me. Their broad programming is eclectic, funky, never repetitive and even on occasion delves into the avant-garde. One minute they’ll be playing Boards of Canada, and then the next their onto some Pharoah Sanders.

One reason why Novaplanet.com is so good is because of the time difference between Minneapolis and Paris. I’m rarely listening during peak hours. On the few occasions that this has happened I have noticed more advertising, news, interviews and French top 40. If that’s not your thing just check the time in Paris. The good shit starts happening after midnight.

 

 

 

From Your Kitchen to ABC

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I have to admit it, I like comfort. I’ve always loved working on a track while sipping some good Port, enjoying all the nuances of a perpetual loop. Unfortunately, this is not a luxury that a composer/producer can always enjoy. This one time I was desperately trying to deliver a track on time for a submission, yet-another ‘maybe it will go through’ situation. I had to catch a flight to LA a few hours later and was really looking forward to this trip, since I had never been to California! I really almost refused to work on this submission this time, I still had to pack and get ready for some gigs I had there with Kirsten Price. But it happens often: you get the call, they need a track, but NOW! You end up working impossible hours to make the deadline and…’Sorry, they loved it but it didn’t make the cut’.

I really had no time to run back to the studio to work on this track, so sitting in my girlfriend’s kitchen, I decided to give it a shot using all I had there: MacBook, MOTU Ultralite audio interface, Korg K USB controller and a pair of cheap ear-buds. Talk about basic! For the sounds, I used a couple of Virtual Instruments: Spectrasonics Trilogy, Stylus RMX and the Korg synth bundle that came with the K controller. In the end the track was done, mixed and uploaded via FTP to the production company within an hour total, all the time I had. I made it to the airport in time.

One whole year later, to our surprise, this one made the movie, that turned out to be ‘A Raisin In The Sun‘, a pretty major TV event that aired on ABC. The lesson I’ve learned: never get too comfortable, always be ready to deliver in a professional manner -even when working from your kitchen- and your music will take care of the rest.