Sunday, March 9, 2014
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Friday, March 7, 2014
uploading footage of an occupy fundraiser from last year to youtube
shredding a little at an occupy ottawa fundraiser, in the summer of 2012. this is the most stripped down version possible of the second and third movements of symphony #9. which is an "industrial grunge opera".
recorded first movement of the piece:
http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/proverbs
full version of fundraiser:
https://vimeo.com/45641874
the most important things i learned from occupy are:
1) people that share a dissatisfaction with the world as it is do not necessarily form a shared vision of how they'd like to see the world.
2) capitalist indoctrination is far deeper than many anti-capitalists consciously realize.
3) a tendency to throw temper tantrums is not necessarily something people grow out of.
4) at the end of the day, the revolution can only ever be in the mode of production.
5) hippies don't like challenging music
but, despite the substantial challenges ahead of all of us, it's important that we continue to take the time to speak out against fucking bullshit.
recorded first movement of the piece:
http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/proverbs
full version of fundraiser:
https://vimeo.com/45641874
the most important things i learned from occupy are:
1) people that share a dissatisfaction with the world as it is do not necessarily form a shared vision of how they'd like to see the world.
2) capitalist indoctrination is far deeper than many anti-capitalists consciously realize.
3) a tendency to throw temper tantrums is not necessarily something people grow out of.
4) at the end of the day, the revolution can only ever be in the mode of production.
5) hippies don't like challenging music
but, despite the substantial challenges ahead of all of us, it's important that we continue to take the time to speak out against fucking bullshit.
i'm just remembering the precise reason i didn't do this before.
i don't have any formatting! i lost the nwc file, leaving an unwieldy midi file that sounds 'right' on playback but is an annoyance to read. it's a linear scroll. and it's not even barred right. it starts with an artificial slur an eighth off the one and runs forward horrifically....
tactics...
i think if i can get each staff out to a pdf file and take it down to the library to print it, i can mark it up by hand. so, that's tomorrow's goal.
grargh. well, i need to do this. and once i get going it'll be more fun.
i don't have any formatting! i lost the nwc file, leaving an unwieldy midi file that sounds 'right' on playback but is an annoyance to read. it's a linear scroll. and it's not even barred right. it starts with an artificial slur an eighth off the one and runs forward horrifically....
tactics...
i think if i can get each staff out to a pdf file and take it down to the library to print it, i can mark it up by hand. so, that's tomorrow's goal.
grargh. well, i need to do this. and once i get going it'll be more fun.
stuck in the middle of an alley closing in on all sides (vst mix) (original upload)
written in early 2001. initially rendered mar 6, 2014. corrected on mar 7, 2014.
http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/vst-mix
http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/vst-mix
Thursday, March 6, 2014
yeah, i'm fixing some panning issues i previously missed altogether and going to just double that last guitar to get some more definition.
on the one hand, i want to get the backing tracks right because i'm going to export it to wave when i build the guitar parts up. i don't want to deal with trying to get the equipment to play back midi and audio at the same time with decent latency. the external mixer i bought was designed for audio, and can handle a heavy load of it at low latency, but isn't responding well to a stack of 30 vst instruments running sequences. if it was a different project and i cared more, i'd dump the load off to external hardware. i have an extra head (for an electronic kit) that can function as a drum machine. but i know it'll just be easier *and more stable* if i bounce the midi into one audio track and build fresh from it. that means i want to get it right. i mean, i can always go back and redo it but....
on the other hand, i don't really care a lot about what the guitars in this version sound like. it's more of an experiment for me, for future reference, to see what i can actually do with the technology nowadays.
'cause the reality for years was that you could get pretty good pianos and flutes and violins out of synths but there was simply no way to get a guitar to sound good at all except to play it through an amp. then there were amp simulators. and now they've got giant databases of samples that you can hook the sequencer right into and that sound relatively good.
the acoustic sound is better than it used to be, but still not so good. i'm getting the impression, though, that plugging a sampled paul into guitar rig and triggering it with a sequencer has the potential to provide some otherwise unattainable sounds, simply by the nature of what a staff of music is vs what a fretboard is. where the possibilities get really fun is mixing that approach with live playing...
so, i got what i wanted out of that. but this track needs live playing and that's what i'm more interested in.
on the one hand, i want to get the backing tracks right because i'm going to export it to wave when i build the guitar parts up. i don't want to deal with trying to get the equipment to play back midi and audio at the same time with decent latency. the external mixer i bought was designed for audio, and can handle a heavy load of it at low latency, but isn't responding well to a stack of 30 vst instruments running sequences. if it was a different project and i cared more, i'd dump the load off to external hardware. i have an extra head (for an electronic kit) that can function as a drum machine. but i know it'll just be easier *and more stable* if i bounce the midi into one audio track and build fresh from it. that means i want to get it right. i mean, i can always go back and redo it but....
on the other hand, i don't really care a lot about what the guitars in this version sound like. it's more of an experiment for me, for future reference, to see what i can actually do with the technology nowadays.
'cause the reality for years was that you could get pretty good pianos and flutes and violins out of synths but there was simply no way to get a guitar to sound good at all except to play it through an amp. then there were amp simulators. and now they've got giant databases of samples that you can hook the sequencer right into and that sound relatively good.
the acoustic sound is better than it used to be, but still not so good. i'm getting the impression, though, that plugging a sampled paul into guitar rig and triggering it with a sequencer has the potential to provide some otherwise unattainable sounds, simply by the nature of what a staff of music is vs what a fretboard is. where the possibilities get really fun is mixing that approach with live playing...
so, i got what i wanted out of that. but this track needs live playing and that's what i'm more interested in.
uploading a tentative vst version of stuck in the middle of an alley closing in on all sides
i'll probably revisit this, but i'm uploading it as is for now.
in addition to being the core of what will be the finished track, it's interesting to point out just how good computer music can sound nowadays. excluding the introduction, i didn't play a single note in this song. the guitars are all played through midi-based vst instruments and put into digital amp models and digital effects emulators. it's really rather remarkable how far the technology has come....
written in early 2001. initially rendered mar 6, 2014.
http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/vst-mix
in addition to being the core of what will be the finished track, it's interesting to point out just how good computer music can sound nowadays. excluding the introduction, i didn't play a single note in this song. the guitars are all played through midi-based vst instruments and put into digital amp models and digital effects emulators. it's really rather remarkable how far the technology has come....
written in early 2001. initially rendered mar 6, 2014.
http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/vst-mix
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
spoke too soon. the drums sounded good, but the latency got really bad with more tracks...
i have a dozen drivers to try. i'm going to hope that the problem is that they're windows 7 drivers. they advertise these things as xp/7, but there's a big difference. a few tracks, it would sound fine, but do anything complicated...
so i think i need to find a middle point.
i have a dozen drivers to try. i'm going to hope that the problem is that they're windows 7 drivers. they advertise these things as xp/7, but there's a big difference. a few tracks, it would sound fine, but do anything complicated...
so i think i need to find a middle point.
fuck you, cubase.
changing your soundcard out doesn't mean deleting all the tracks that are attached to the previous soundcard. and, no, i didn't think to back it up or check that all the tracks were there before i saved it. honestly. what the fuck?
that's a lot of work that just disappeared. not happy about it.
i was in the process of building the track back up from scratch, anyways. i didn't lose any notes. and i'm not sure what i would have kept and what i would have replaced. it's just sound font info.
but, damn it, that reference was nice to have.
ugh.
need cigarettes.
at the least the vst instruments are still there. but, now i need to write out thirty vst settings by hand before i start again...
this track is actually straining the card. i mean, that's a lot of vst instruments running all at once, which is why i switched the card from the m-audio to the alesis in the first place.
grargh. a lost day, nothing worse.
it's all the guitar tracks that are just killing it. they each need their own instrument. it should be less of a problem once i get the guitars played out manually.
changing your soundcard out doesn't mean deleting all the tracks that are attached to the previous soundcard. and, no, i didn't think to back it up or check that all the tracks were there before i saved it. honestly. what the fuck?
that's a lot of work that just disappeared. not happy about it.
i was in the process of building the track back up from scratch, anyways. i didn't lose any notes. and i'm not sure what i would have kept and what i would have replaced. it's just sound font info.
but, damn it, that reference was nice to have.
ugh.
need cigarettes.
at the least the vst instruments are still there. but, now i need to write out thirty vst settings by hand before i start again...
this track is actually straining the card. i mean, that's a lot of vst instruments running all at once, which is why i switched the card from the m-audio to the alesis in the first place.
grargh. a lost day, nothing worse.
it's all the guitar tracks that are just killing it. they each need their own instrument. it should be less of a problem once i get the guitars played out manually.
i'm closing off my second-phase playlist as existing between my zeroth and second symphony.
phase three was a short serious music phase, whereas phase four was a psychedelic folk project that got a little out of hand. to be properly contemporary, i'd have to label it as 'freak-folk' (although i had no idea such a thing existed at the time). four should up quick but three needs some love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C65VadHnXN4&list=PL3JSjmqp0cbtYmywctLw8KaXgXG3A2ZOF
actually, that's premature - there's two further tracks to add, that i'm working on right now.
headstart on the serious phase (all overlap right now):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ-2_duUjaw&list=PL3JSjmqp0cbuMnSLyxGUzsdB_vip3GPbH
it looks like the phases are going to be roughly 3-5 hour chunks. the number of tracks and track lengths are going to vary substantially, but that's going to remain roughly constant. there's also going to consistently be some overlap. that's a time length that allows an idea to be fully developed over a few "albums".
phase five is the trivial group phase, which ran from about '03 to about '06. after that, there's actually not much that i've completed. the proverbs project i started in '06 is only about a quarter finished.
and that's a long time, actually. eight years. yikes.
getting there...
i'm really hoping there's not another eight year black hole, but life's a funny thing.
phase three was a short serious music phase, whereas phase four was a psychedelic folk project that got a little out of hand. to be properly contemporary, i'd have to label it as 'freak-folk' (although i had no idea such a thing existed at the time). four should up quick but three needs some love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C65VadHnXN4&list=PL3JSjmqp0cbtYmywctLw8KaXgXG3A2ZOF
actually, that's premature - there's two further tracks to add, that i'm working on right now.
headstart on the serious phase (all overlap right now):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ-2_duUjaw&list=PL3JSjmqp0cbuMnSLyxGUzsdB_vip3GPbH
it looks like the phases are going to be roughly 3-5 hour chunks. the number of tracks and track lengths are going to vary substantially, but that's going to remain roughly constant. there's also going to consistently be some overlap. that's a time length that allows an idea to be fully developed over a few "albums".
phase five is the trivial group phase, which ran from about '03 to about '06. after that, there's actually not much that i've completed. the proverbs project i started in '06 is only about a quarter finished.
and that's a long time, actually. eight years. yikes.
getting there...
i'm really hoping there's not another eight year black hole, but life's a funny thing.
Monday, March 3, 2014
uploading symphony 5 to youtube
i skipped ahead one ep to get this up. this is the ep i'll be finishing after i finish the ep i'm finishing. but this is the completed version...
===========
the core of this was written in my parent's basement in the spring of 2001. planning on going to a rave that weekend, i had previously purchased a large amount of drugs; i was, however, forced to stay in due to having a calculus test that sunday (the rave was out of town). well, my parents were gone for the weekend, most of my friends were out of town and i had a massive stash of drugs...
it is quite literally a symphony of psilocybin induced madness, written directly into an ancient, hacked score-writing program while i was tripping.
in the spring semester of 2006, i took a course in electronic music design that had a recorded component and pulled the score off of my hard drive with the intent of finally recording it properly. all guitars were played live, while the sequenced sections were played on better equipment than i had available at home. the ambient sections at the beginning and end of the track were also written in 2006.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXD4R9R0UNI
===========
the core of this was written in my parent's basement in the spring of 2001. planning on going to a rave that weekend, i had previously purchased a large amount of drugs; i was, however, forced to stay in due to having a calculus test that sunday (the rave was out of town). well, my parents were gone for the weekend, most of my friends were out of town and i had a massive stash of drugs...
it is quite literally a symphony of psilocybin induced madness, written directly into an ancient, hacked score-writing program while i was tripping.
in the spring semester of 2006, i took a course in electronic music design that had a recorded component and pulled the score off of my hard drive with the intent of finally recording it properly. all guitars were played live, while the sequenced sections were played on better equipment than i had available at home. the ambient sections at the beginning and end of the track were also written in 2006.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXD4R9R0UNI
re-uploading inrisampled to avoid the false copyright claim
re-upped this to get around it. assholes...
======
this is a collage of a bunch of primitive sample art experimentation i did in the late 90s, using the ridiculous piece of software they called the windows sound recorder on win 9x machines, along with cool edit as a tone generator. os tools and shareware available to a 16 year-old. in hindsight, i think it's a sort of bizarre masterpiece.
i had to cut off a few seconds of the bambi-like symphonic introduction because a parasitic bourgeois entity known as 'adrev' wished to put an ad on the video. it's true that the piece is composed of samples, but they weren't able to identify the sample they were claiming. rather, i think their claim was bullshit, but they wouldn't budge with it.
this is my art, not anybody else's. fuck those guys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeRFfBTqlEQ
======
this is a collage of a bunch of primitive sample art experimentation i did in the late 90s, using the ridiculous piece of software they called the windows sound recorder on win 9x machines, along with cool edit as a tone generator. os tools and shareware available to a 16 year-old. in hindsight, i think it's a sort of bizarre masterpiece.
i had to cut off a few seconds of the bambi-like symphonic introduction because a parasitic bourgeois entity known as 'adrev' wished to put an ad on the video. it's true that the piece is composed of samples, but they weren't able to identify the sample they were claiming. rather, i think their claim was bullshit, but they wouldn't budge with it.
this is my art, not anybody else's. fuck those guys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeRFfBTqlEQ
Sunday, March 2, 2014
two coats of epoxy. one to bond, one to fill cracks. seems to have been successful. but i'm letting it sit a few more days because i basically give up if it doesn't hold.
hugely messy, too. going to need to sand it....
what happened was a little piece of plastic broke off the headband on my phones. they're modular. meaning the ear muff parts hook into an adjustable roller type idea. it's the roller that snapped a piece off.
the phones work and everything. really, if my head wasn't absurdly small..
...but, as i have the cranial circumference of an eight year old, i have to adjust it to it's tightest setting, which means the phones are continually falling off.
i'll test it in the morning. when it's back together, i'm going to spend a good month solely on the sound.
hugely messy, too. going to need to sand it....
what happened was a little piece of plastic broke off the headband on my phones. they're modular. meaning the ear muff parts hook into an adjustable roller type idea. it's the roller that snapped a piece off.
the phones work and everything. really, if my head wasn't absurdly small..
...but, as i have the cranial circumference of an eight year old, i have to adjust it to it's tightest setting, which means the phones are continually falling off.
i'll test it in the morning. when it's back together, i'm going to spend a good month solely on the sound.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
deathtokoalas
it's funny how many things jump out immediately when listening to this.
- my generation
- smoke on the water
- born to be wild
somebody else could probably list a dozen more. aleph document...
Bernhardt Glock
are you related to pete townshend? the similarities are overwhelming :-)
deathtokoalas
i'm a little hungover in the shot...
"a young pete townshend" is one of a handful of rock stars that people suggested i looked a little like when i was a lot younger, but it's actually something i haven't heard in a really long time. like, since i was about 14.
since then, it's been other rock stars, but i'm not giving you any ideas.
it's funny how many things jump out immediately when listening to this.
- my generation
- smoke on the water
- born to be wild
somebody else could probably list a dozen more. aleph document...
Bernhardt Glock
are you related to pete townshend? the similarities are overwhelming :-)
deathtokoalas
i'm a little hungover in the shot...
"a young pete townshend" is one of a handful of rock stars that people suggested i looked a little like when i was a lot younger, but it's actually something i haven't heard in a really long time. like, since i was about 14.
since then, it's been other rock stars, but i'm not giving you any ideas.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)