for the orchestral works (inri072). the sound font on the strings was modified to sound less synthetic and the live guitars from the original mix were worked in at the slower tempo.
written late 2000 & early 2001. rearranged, rendered and faded out on apr 27, 2014. live guitars were layered into the final version over may 2014. further remixed for the ambient works on may 19, 2015 and again for the orchestral works on may 22, 2015.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/stuck-with-a-guitar-in-the-middle-of-a-slow-electronic-orchestra-playing-on-all-sides
Friday, May 22, 2015
yeah. i've got a five track, 76 minute comp of orchestral music that is coming up as inri049, i just need to make some adjustments to "stuck". it wasn't in my initial list because it's kind of a punk song, but it turns out "spin" meets my requirements of "orchestral". and i've made an exception for the ambient mix of reflections, which is like....if it wasn't there, the disc would be 50 minutes instead, and who prefers that? it's basically bonus. it doesn't have reed, wind or horn parts but the synth bass sounds sort of like a horn and the choir, when it comes in, is pretty epic. i'm going to experiment a little with adding some parts in, but i don't expect any to stick...
the thing is that there's nothing approaching "orchestral music" in the discography after 2003 until at least 2006. i was more interested in trying to find a drummer in order to start a rock band. some of the stuff may have picked up string parts and whatnot had they developed further, and a few still might, but there's just not anything to put aside the tracks for. if i don't put it together for april, 2003 it will probably never get put together at all.
the other two tracks are the mushroom symphony and the guitar concerto.
first things first: let me take a look at "stuck".
the thing is that there's nothing approaching "orchestral music" in the discography after 2003 until at least 2006. i was more interested in trying to find a drummer in order to start a rock band. some of the stuff may have picked up string parts and whatnot had they developed further, and a few still might, but there's just not anything to put aside the tracks for. if i don't put it together for april, 2003 it will probably never get put together at all.
the other two tracks are the mushroom symphony and the guitar concerto.
first things first: let me take a look at "stuck".
Thursday, May 21, 2015
i've been wanting to do an "orchestral works" for a while, it's just that i need to be strict about how i'm defining an orchestral work - because otherwise i end up with almost everything.
i'm going to lean towards horn-heavy tracks as being "jazz" and string heavy tracks as being "chamber". that's going to let me put both of those ideas off until the end of period 3.
an orchestral work needs to have horns, strings, reeds and winds - it's gotta actually be a full orchestra. it also helps if it's a concerto.
i've got two pieces that fit this definition cleanly, and two i want to remix mildly to get closer to the point. i'm thinking this will probably get done for an inri049 release, which will put reflections up to 50 - or 51, if that guitar disc gets built, as i think it will.
so, there's still some ideas to work through with this.
i'm going to lean towards horn-heavy tracks as being "jazz" and string heavy tracks as being "chamber". that's going to let me put both of those ideas off until the end of period 3.
an orchestral work needs to have horns, strings, reeds and winds - it's gotta actually be a full orchestra. it also helps if it's a concerto.
i've got two pieces that fit this definition cleanly, and two i want to remix mildly to get closer to the point. i'm thinking this will probably get done for an inri049 release, which will put reflections up to 50 - or 51, if that guitar disc gets built, as i think it will.
so, there's still some ideas to work through with this.
publishing ambient works vol 0-2 (inri071 + inri035)
i've got the mix tape up which means inri048 is now done...
i've got a number of snippets after about 1999 that i'm not sure what to do with. i'm probably going to just forget about most of it, but some of it will no doubt end up on volume 3, which will be somewhere in the 60s or 70s. so i'll just put it aside for later.
i put aside a number of compilation ideas as i was sorting through the material. i wasn't expecting anything to get a release in this space, but i'm now questioning that. it's largely a process of elimination. but right now it'slooking like inri050 is actually going to be a similarly epic guitar-focused disc.
that said, there's plenty of guitars on this disc, especially in the mix tape. i'll post it when i figure it out...
===
i've taken to splitting my discography into phases, and my hitch-hiking trip to british columbia is a very important separation point - both in terms of the nature of the material that came out afterwards and what is now a substantial body of work that came before it. that makes it a natural point to look backwards and build compilations of intersecting ideas.
a characteristic of my work is that it does not conform well to genre norms. this is not an accident; when compiling a record, i'm guided more by the late beatles' philosophy of vast diversity in a small space than i am by any kind of desire to collect together nice singles, or by some kind of compulsive organizing into categories or concepts. i write psychedelic music. that means something different in 2015 than it did in 1966, but the commonality is that it's necessarily challenging. i want all of my records to do everything at once, and accomplish everything by their end point. that makes compilations of this sort inherently difficult, because every song touches on every compilation idea at the same time. the jazz record would have the same tracklisting as the punk record, the classical record and the folk record - and none would really be what they're claimed to be.
the one exception to this conundrum is how i interacted with ambient music in this period. i very regularly utilized ideas from the genre, but i tended to interpret ambience as something that is necessarily obscure. in this period, ambient pieces are almost always outtakes or b sides. i tended to interpret covers and remixes as ambient pieces, probably because that was unexpected. when ambient ideas make it on to the record, they're almost always for effect: introductions, endings, connecting passages, that sort of thing.
when i began reconstructing my discography in early 2014, i came across a handful of songs i'd written out into midi format and put aside for later. a number of these ended up reworked into ambient pieces, and released as b sides. i also ended up converting some of the material i wrote in this period into ambient sound collages that are more in the style of music i created after 2003.
the end result is enough bsides and remixes to put together two full cds of ambient music. none of the tracks on volumes one or two are on any official record as they appear here; this is technically a collection of remixes and outtakes.
initially written and recorded between 2000-2003 and remixed between 2014-2015. sequenced over mid may, 2015. final compilation date is may 21, 2015,. as always, please use headphones.
credits:
j - guitars (acoustic, electric, nylon), effects & treatments, bass, synthesizers, electric air reed organ, orchestral & other sequencing, drum & other programming, generative programming (sounder), "projectile synthesis" (audiomulch), granular synthesis (granulab), sound design, electronic and conventional drum kits, sampling, loops, films, voice, digital wave editing, composition, production.
sean - vocal ideas (tracks 4 & 7, disc 1), ring modulator (track 9, disc 1)
jon - background guitar performance (track 4, disc 1)
greg - drum performance sample source (track 5, disc 1)
the various rendered electronic orchestras include synth bass, electric bass, acoustic bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, nylon guitar, guitar effects, guitar noises (fret noises, pick scrapes, knocks), synthesizer, synth pads, mellotron, choir, violin, viola, cello, contrabass, string section, pizzicato strings, french horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, oboe, english horn, bassoon, clarinet, flute, piccolo, mallet, piano, woodblock, music box, xylophone, tubular bells, other bells, orchestra hit, electronic drum kit, melodic toms, drum machine and orchestral drum kit.
released april 28, 2003
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/ambient-works-vol-0-2
i've got a number of snippets after about 1999 that i'm not sure what to do with. i'm probably going to just forget about most of it, but some of it will no doubt end up on volume 3, which will be somewhere in the 60s or 70s. so i'll just put it aside for later.
i put aside a number of compilation ideas as i was sorting through the material. i wasn't expecting anything to get a release in this space, but i'm now questioning that. it's largely a process of elimination. but right now it'slooking like inri050 is actually going to be a similarly epic guitar-focused disc.
that said, there's plenty of guitars on this disc, especially in the mix tape. i'll post it when i figure it out...
===
i've taken to splitting my discography into phases, and my hitch-hiking trip to british columbia is a very important separation point - both in terms of the nature of the material that came out afterwards and what is now a substantial body of work that came before it. that makes it a natural point to look backwards and build compilations of intersecting ideas.
a characteristic of my work is that it does not conform well to genre norms. this is not an accident; when compiling a record, i'm guided more by the late beatles' philosophy of vast diversity in a small space than i am by any kind of desire to collect together nice singles, or by some kind of compulsive organizing into categories or concepts. i write psychedelic music. that means something different in 2015 than it did in 1966, but the commonality is that it's necessarily challenging. i want all of my records to do everything at once, and accomplish everything by their end point. that makes compilations of this sort inherently difficult, because every song touches on every compilation idea at the same time. the jazz record would have the same tracklisting as the punk record, the classical record and the folk record - and none would really be what they're claimed to be.
the one exception to this conundrum is how i interacted with ambient music in this period. i very regularly utilized ideas from the genre, but i tended to interpret ambience as something that is necessarily obscure. in this period, ambient pieces are almost always outtakes or b sides. i tended to interpret covers and remixes as ambient pieces, probably because that was unexpected. when ambient ideas make it on to the record, they're almost always for effect: introductions, endings, connecting passages, that sort of thing.
when i began reconstructing my discography in early 2014, i came across a handful of songs i'd written out into midi format and put aside for later. a number of these ended up reworked into ambient pieces, and released as b sides. i also ended up converting some of the material i wrote in this period into ambient sound collages that are more in the style of music i created after 2003.
the end result is enough bsides and remixes to put together two full cds of ambient music. none of the tracks on volumes one or two are on any official record as they appear here; this is technically a collection of remixes and outtakes.
initially written and recorded between 2000-2003 and remixed between 2014-2015. sequenced over mid may, 2015. final compilation date is may 21, 2015,. as always, please use headphones.
credits:
j - guitars (acoustic, electric, nylon), effects & treatments, bass, synthesizers, electric air reed organ, orchestral & other sequencing, drum & other programming, generative programming (sounder), "projectile synthesis" (audiomulch), granular synthesis (granulab), sound design, electronic and conventional drum kits, sampling, loops, films, voice, digital wave editing, composition, production.
sean - vocal ideas (tracks 4 & 7, disc 1), ring modulator (track 9, disc 1)
jon - background guitar performance (track 4, disc 1)
greg - drum performance sample source (track 5, disc 1)
the various rendered electronic orchestras include synth bass, electric bass, acoustic bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, nylon guitar, guitar effects, guitar noises (fret noises, pick scrapes, knocks), synthesizer, synth pads, mellotron, choir, violin, viola, cello, contrabass, string section, pizzicato strings, french horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, oboe, english horn, bassoon, clarinet, flute, piccolo, mallet, piano, woodblock, music box, xylophone, tubular bells, other bells, orchestra hit, electronic drum kit, melodic toms, drum machine and orchestral drum kit.
released april 28, 2003
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/ambient-works-vol-0-2
ambient works vol 0, side b
side b mixes various ambient sections from period 1.2 and period 1.3, which, here, is all over 1999. mix created on may 21, 2015.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/side-b
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/side-b
ambient works vol 0, side a
side a mixes various noise and ambient sections from period 1.1 and period 1.2, which is 1996-1999. mix created on may 21, 2015.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/side-a
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/side-a
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
ambient works vol 1
my liner credits are often ridiculous, and this is the near the top of the list in ridiculousness.
j - guitars (acoustic, electric, nylon), effects & treatments, bass, synthesizers, electric air reed organ, orchestral & other sequencing, drum & other programming, generative programming, granular synthesis, "projectile synthesis" (audiomulch), sound design, electronic and conventional drum kits, sampling, loops, films, voice, digital wave editing, composition, production.
the various rendered electronic orchestras include synth bass, electric bass, acoustic bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, nylon guitar, guitar effects, guitar noises (fret noises, pick scrapes, knocks), synthesizer, mellotron, choir, violin, viola, cello, contrabass, string section, french horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, oboe, english horn, bassoon, clarinet, flute, piccolo, mallet, piano, woodblock, music box, xylophone, tubular bells, other bells, orchestra hit, electronic drum kit, melodic toms, drum machine and orchestral drum kit.
i'm tempted to convert the kitchen sink into an instrument, just so i can put it in there.
vol 1 is done. these discs are both over 79 minutes, so you're in for a lengthy listen.
vol 0 will be the spliced together mixed tape and will be what i'll be doing after lunch. it should hopefully be up the morning.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/ambient-works-vol-0-2
j - guitars (acoustic, electric, nylon), effects & treatments, bass, synthesizers, electric air reed organ, orchestral & other sequencing, drum & other programming, generative programming, granular synthesis, "projectile synthesis" (audiomulch), sound design, electronic and conventional drum kits, sampling, loops, films, voice, digital wave editing, composition, production.
the various rendered electronic orchestras include synth bass, electric bass, acoustic bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, nylon guitar, guitar effects, guitar noises (fret noises, pick scrapes, knocks), synthesizer, mellotron, choir, violin, viola, cello, contrabass, string section, french horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, oboe, english horn, bassoon, clarinet, flute, piccolo, mallet, piano, woodblock, music box, xylophone, tubular bells, other bells, orchestra hit, electronic drum kit, melodic toms, drum machine and orchestral drum kit.
i'm tempted to convert the kitchen sink into an instrument, just so i can put it in there.
vol 1 is done. these discs are both over 79 minutes, so you're in for a lengthy listen.
vol 0 will be the spliced together mixed tape and will be what i'll be doing after lunch. it should hopefully be up the morning.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/ambient-works-vol-0-2
ambient works vol 2
volume 2 is up. wait a few hours if you want it with volume 1.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/ambient-works-vol-0-2
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/ambient-works-vol-0-2
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
bird's eye view (sounder mix)
this is a sounder sequence, which was rendered some time in late 2002. i've dated the file to december 25, 2002. published on may 19, 2015.
i will not be appending a mix to inri027. volumes 1 & 2 are done, and should be available to stream within a few hours
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/stuck-in-the-middle-of-an-alley-closing-in-on-all-sides
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/stuck-in-the-middle-of-an-alley-closing-in-on-all-sides
stuck in the middle of a slow electronic orchestra playing on all sides
so, i've appended a mix to inri024.
written late 2000 & early 2001. rearranged, rendered and faded out on apr 27, 2014. further remixed for the ambient works on may 19, 2015.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/stuck-in-the-middle-of-a-slow-electronic-orchestra-playing-on-all-sides
written late 2000 & early 2001. rearranged, rendered and faded out on apr 27, 2014. further remixed for the ambient works on may 19, 2015.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/stuck-in-the-middle-of-a-slow-electronic-orchestra-playing-on-all-sides
i've also decided that i need to prioritize getting over the final "not smoking" hump. i've been in this transitory state with this for...years...where i'll quit for a month, go back for a month, cut down, quit, pick up...
a lot of it has to do with focusing. nicotine increases alertness. that's well understood.
i'm convinced the swallowing issues i'm having are not exactly from smoking, but are probably the beginning symptoms of ms. but, if you have ms, the worst thing you can do is smoke.
so, i'm going to the doctor tomorrow or the next day to get the ball rolling on that. i've done enough experiments with not smoking, not drinking coffee, increasing water, etc to conclude it's the rational next step.
ironically, it will also help my financial situation if i can get diagnosed with it. that's permanent. capitalism: that system where you hope you get auto-immune disorders as a path to economic freedom.
there's two ways i can get over that week hump: (1) get sick and (2) focus on reading/writing. just about anything else requires that focus.
so, the next thing i'm going to do - before i start the lost symphony - is to migrate all of this into a new website.
i've been trying to get off facebook for quite some time. it's going to take a while to get off of it. but, it's what i need to do next.
this isn't just going to go quiet, it's going to more or less disappear. i'm going to need a more open journal interface to embed in my appspot site. facebook is just awful in every way. livejournal, maybe. tumblr. even blogspot. i'll have to see what works best. or i may even just hardcode it...
this will be reduced to a sort of cv, that uses the timeline in a minimal manner. you'll be able to scroll through and see major releases. but, i won't be posting here much longer.
a lot of it has to do with focusing. nicotine increases alertness. that's well understood.
i'm convinced the swallowing issues i'm having are not exactly from smoking, but are probably the beginning symptoms of ms. but, if you have ms, the worst thing you can do is smoke.
so, i'm going to the doctor tomorrow or the next day to get the ball rolling on that. i've done enough experiments with not smoking, not drinking coffee, increasing water, etc to conclude it's the rational next step.
ironically, it will also help my financial situation if i can get diagnosed with it. that's permanent. capitalism: that system where you hope you get auto-immune disorders as a path to economic freedom.
there's two ways i can get over that week hump: (1) get sick and (2) focus on reading/writing. just about anything else requires that focus.
so, the next thing i'm going to do - before i start the lost symphony - is to migrate all of this into a new website.
i've been trying to get off facebook for quite some time. it's going to take a while to get off of it. but, it's what i need to do next.
this isn't just going to go quiet, it's going to more or less disappear. i'm going to need a more open journal interface to embed in my appspot site. facebook is just awful in every way. livejournal, maybe. tumblr. even blogspot. i'll have to see what works best. or i may even just hardcode it...
this will be reduced to a sort of cv, that uses the timeline in a minimal manner. you'll be able to scroll through and see major releases. but, i won't be posting here much longer.
i have more than enough material to fill three discs, but i'm prioritizing the concepts of each of the discs and it's leading me to a likely recreation of two ambient versions: one for stuck in the middle of an alley closing in on all sides, and one for the psilocybin symphony. that would make the second volume of the ambient collection a triplet of the thru concept, which is what i was aiming for, with the exception that the ambient collection contains a reflections period track in replace of the walk.
i have versions of both of the tracks that i was planning on substituting, but they're just not "ambient" enough. i may convince myself otherwise.
if i go through with this, it will mean updates to inri024 and inri027. i'm going to start with "stuck" first, and go from there.
after lunch, that is.
it's consequently going to be a day or two....
volume one is done up to the continuity mixing. and volume 0 hasn't been started yet.
i have versions of both of the tracks that i was planning on substituting, but they're just not "ambient" enough. i may convince myself otherwise.
if i go through with this, it will mean updates to inri024 and inri027. i'm going to start with "stuck" first, and go from there.
after lunch, that is.
it's consequently going to be a day or two....
volume one is done up to the continuity mixing. and volume 0 hasn't been started yet.
Monday, May 18, 2015
this is a slow process. i think i've got it worked down to a three-cd set (with a possibly download-only "cd 0"), but i don't want to upload this on a track-by-track basis. maybe before the next sleep.
the zeroth disc is going to be a "mix tape" of spliced together ambient sections, the first is going to be made of material that is (mostly) sourced from live instruments and the second is going to be an all-sequenced record. these three approaches are substantially sonically different - the sequenced material is very ordered, whereas the mixtape is likely to be pretty messy and jarre-ing (sorry.).
for vols 1-2, i'm trying to avoid overlap with the other official and unofficial recordings - i want this to be made up of b-sides, mostly. as a "mix tape", the 0th is a different thing...
the zeroth disc is going to be a "mix tape" of spliced together ambient sections, the first is going to be made of material that is (mostly) sourced from live instruments and the second is going to be an all-sequenced record. these three approaches are substantially sonically different - the sequenced material is very ordered, whereas the mixtape is likely to be pretty messy and jarre-ing (sorry.).
for vols 1-2, i'm trying to avoid overlap with the other official and unofficial recordings - i want this to be made up of b-sides, mostly. as a "mix tape", the 0th is a different thing...
consequence of impulse
this is an instrumental/ambient remix of a section of "me, myself and the time i thought this was a good idea". i did not initially reclaim this track from rabit is wolf because the source file for the bass and vocals are in the same wave file (making them inseparable) and i felt that redoing the bass would destroy the track's rough, lo-fi feel. i created this mix for this collection by removing both the bass and vocals via phase inversion and then reconstructing the bass via loops and strategic editing. i then faded the track out before the "chorus". it works in this context, but wouldn't work in any other, so this is an exclusive mix to this collection.
written and recorded in the fall of 2001. remixed on may 19, 2015.
written and recorded in the fall of 2001. remixed on may 19, 2015.
trepanation nation (ambient mix)
written over 2001 and rethought repeatedly over 2002, again in 2007, a third time in 2009 and one last time in late 2014. this mix was initially completed on december 5, 2014 and augmented to include some further effects work on may 18, 2015.
Saturday, May 16, 2015
i'm going to be compiling, mixing and finalizing things for the next few days, but when that's done i'll have to start work on what is my lost symphony. that will take me all the way to the end of 2003 - which was a year with what seems like a big dip in output compared to 1999-2002, but is really defined by larger pieces. instead of ten releases cycled around 8 minute songs, i've got three cycled around 30 minute ones. that might end up forcing double releases...
i'm remembering that this was supposed to follow the isomorphism symphony, but when i sat down to record it in late 2004 (i finished the isomorphism symphony in august, 2004), i ended up writing a new symphony instead, the xenophanes symphony. this period was defined by a lack of studio access (or a place to sleep....), so i didn't have the time or ability to record much, which created this backlog. the beginning of this exists as the end of xenophanes. xenophanes was actually just meant to be an intro, and in the end it sort of will be, but it's a 33 minute intro and consequently kind of needs it's own space. it also kind of lost itself in a wave of ambience.
i specifically remember trying to jam on this - as it is recorded, here, in this 2007 demo - in sarah's apartment, in the fall of 2003, meaning that is the proper place to sequence it. i also have a tape demo from 2003 of part of it, so i'm going to have to go through that and see what i can get out...
in the end, i'm going to have to find a way to splice it with xenophanes, which is not uploaded anywhere yet for public listening. it will eventually end up as the final part of the four full side composition trivial group 2xlp. but, as i did with symphony 4, i think the best way to approach this for now is how it was originally written, which means attacking this from scratch.
so, this is my next major project, and it could very well occupy me until the fall.
i'm remembering that this was supposed to follow the isomorphism symphony, but when i sat down to record it in late 2004 (i finished the isomorphism symphony in august, 2004), i ended up writing a new symphony instead, the xenophanes symphony. this period was defined by a lack of studio access (or a place to sleep....), so i didn't have the time or ability to record much, which created this backlog. the beginning of this exists as the end of xenophanes. xenophanes was actually just meant to be an intro, and in the end it sort of will be, but it's a 33 minute intro and consequently kind of needs it's own space. it also kind of lost itself in a wave of ambience.
i specifically remember trying to jam on this - as it is recorded, here, in this 2007 demo - in sarah's apartment, in the fall of 2003, meaning that is the proper place to sequence it. i also have a tape demo from 2003 of part of it, so i'm going to have to go through that and see what i can get out...
in the end, i'm going to have to find a way to splice it with xenophanes, which is not uploaded anywhere yet for public listening. it will eventually end up as the final part of the four full side composition trivial group 2xlp. but, as i did with symphony 4, i think the best way to approach this for now is how it was originally written, which means attacking this from scratch.
so, this is my next major project, and it could very well occupy me until the fall.
publishing refractions (inri065)
inri046.
the just uploaded ambient mix is track 11. you might want to sit down for this, it's something else.
--
some time in late 2002, sean sent me a message over msn or icq requesting that we begin a song based on looped birds chirping. i thought his idea was kind of cliched, but i took to working around his suggestions by converting them into something more musically expressive. i didn't want to write a song that literally climaxes around birds chirping, but i was willing to write something tonal that evoked the feeling of birds chirping.
at the time, i had my sister's electronic piano downstairs. she had a miniature grand upstairs. it was initially written on the keyboard with a very strange timing, which the scorewriter had difficulties capturing - partly because i was inconsistent in performing it. the piece was greatly simplified as it was arranged.
however, i believe the piece sat for a long time before the second section was added to it.
sean and i didn't talk much over the next few months, and the truth is that i just never brought this piece up to him. by the time it was finished, i had firmly placed it in my successor project, the trivial group. it was initially dedicated to sean as a part of the going away disc, but that's really as close as this ever got to being a rabit tune.
i don't have clear memories around composing it, although circumstantial evidence makes it very likely that this happened in the late winter and early spring of 2003. i vaguely recall playing it on the grand upstairs, which could have only happened after sarah moved home to the outer suburbs to get ready for the trip. this was around march. i do remember recording the guitar parts and percussion parts, and am convinced this was in the spring due to memories of the spring sun hitting the bowls. the april 25th date may be a little late, but i have every reason to believe that this was not finished until after exams that year.
the percussion sections in the track are notable. the metallic sounds were created by smashing cutlery into a metal bowl, whereas the woody sounds were created by "playing" a pen on a desk. the track also includes hand claps.
these percussion parts were not notated until 2015. this was a careful, lengthy process that required a lot of careful listening, and a bit of napkin math. notating the percussion allowed for a more comprehensive exploration of the track over midi.
this is sequenced for indefinite looping.
i've included the midi files of the original composition, if you'd like to mess with it on your own.
written and recorded in early 2003. transcribed, slightly rearranged, remixed repeatedly and re-rendered repeatedly over may, 2015. all renders finalized on may 16, 2015. as always, please use headphones.
credits:
j - guitars, effects, bass, synth, voice, bowls, claps, tables, ebow, orchestral sequencing, drum & other programming, loops, digital wave editing, composition, production.
the various rendered electronic orchestras include synth pad, synth bass, synthesizer, mellotron, fingered bass guitar, picked electric guitar, bowed electric guitar, guitar noises (fret noises, knocks, pick scrapes), violin, viola, contrabass, cello, string section, piano, celesta, xylophone, marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel, tubular bells, woodblock, mallet, electronic drum kit, jazz drum kit, orchestral drum kit and choir.
released april 25, 2003
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/refractions
the just uploaded ambient mix is track 11. you might want to sit down for this, it's something else.
--
some time in late 2002, sean sent me a message over msn or icq requesting that we begin a song based on looped birds chirping. i thought his idea was kind of cliched, but i took to working around his suggestions by converting them into something more musically expressive. i didn't want to write a song that literally climaxes around birds chirping, but i was willing to write something tonal that evoked the feeling of birds chirping.
at the time, i had my sister's electronic piano downstairs. she had a miniature grand upstairs. it was initially written on the keyboard with a very strange timing, which the scorewriter had difficulties capturing - partly because i was inconsistent in performing it. the piece was greatly simplified as it was arranged.
however, i believe the piece sat for a long time before the second section was added to it.
sean and i didn't talk much over the next few months, and the truth is that i just never brought this piece up to him. by the time it was finished, i had firmly placed it in my successor project, the trivial group. it was initially dedicated to sean as a part of the going away disc, but that's really as close as this ever got to being a rabit tune.
i don't have clear memories around composing it, although circumstantial evidence makes it very likely that this happened in the late winter and early spring of 2003. i vaguely recall playing it on the grand upstairs, which could have only happened after sarah moved home to the outer suburbs to get ready for the trip. this was around march. i do remember recording the guitar parts and percussion parts, and am convinced this was in the spring due to memories of the spring sun hitting the bowls. the april 25th date may be a little late, but i have every reason to believe that this was not finished until after exams that year.
the percussion sections in the track are notable. the metallic sounds were created by smashing cutlery into a metal bowl, whereas the woody sounds were created by "playing" a pen on a desk. the track also includes hand claps.
these percussion parts were not notated until 2015. this was a careful, lengthy process that required a lot of careful listening, and a bit of napkin math. notating the percussion allowed for a more comprehensive exploration of the track over midi.
this is sequenced for indefinite looping.
i've included the midi files of the original composition, if you'd like to mess with it on your own.
written and recorded in early 2003. transcribed, slightly rearranged, remixed repeatedly and re-rendered repeatedly over may, 2015. all renders finalized on may 16, 2015. as always, please use headphones.
credits:
j - guitars, effects, bass, synth, voice, bowls, claps, tables, ebow, orchestral sequencing, drum & other programming, loops, digital wave editing, composition, production.
the various rendered electronic orchestras include synth pad, synth bass, synthesizer, mellotron, fingered bass guitar, picked electric guitar, bowed electric guitar, guitar noises (fret noises, knocks, pick scrapes), violin, viola, contrabass, cello, string section, piano, celesta, xylophone, marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel, tubular bells, woodblock, mallet, electronic drum kit, jazz drum kit, orchestral drum kit and choir.
released april 25, 2003
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/refractions
reflections (ambient mix)
i wanted a longer version, but i went a little overboard on the ambient mix, and got a twenty-five minute head cave that sounds like the climax to a sentimental film.
there's a level of randomness to the mix, so i need to listen to a few different renders. as it's 25 minutes, that's a lengthy process. but it will be up before the sun is.
and that closes the period. i just need to go over the last 25 records i finished to try and separate out compilation material.
--
this is the ambient mix, created by slowing the track down, running it through some cut/paste algorithms and putting it through an array of arpeggiators and delay effects.
render from may 16, 2015.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/reflections-ambient-mix
there's a level of randomness to the mix, so i need to listen to a few different renders. as it's 25 minutes, that's a lengthy process. but it will be up before the sun is.
and that closes the period. i just need to go over the last 25 records i finished to try and separate out compilation material.
--
this is the ambient mix, created by slowing the track down, running it through some cut/paste algorithms and putting it through an array of arpeggiators and delay effects.
render from may 16, 2015.
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/reflections-ambient-mix
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