Ray Toler

I help people discover they can do more than they thought they could. I write music. I think Excel is the best thing Microsoft ever produced. I speak executive, nerd, finance, janitor, design, code, and process. I meditate underwater in sixty-minute sessions. I know that “I” and “We” are required at different times for different things. I’m the quiet dude you’ll tell your life story to at a party. I love finding possibilities and putting old things together in new ways. I ride a GSXR-750 when the weather’s nice.

  • Mid-brained, multi-disciplinary, servant-leader.
  • Artistic geek or geeky artist, your choice.
  • Corporate jester, experiential designer, and change agent.
  • Coach. Mentor. Mentee.
  • Perpetual student and explorer. Aspirational polymath.
  • Speaker, listener, cheerleader, and organizer.
  • Writer, editor, composer, remixer, synthesist.
  • Avid reader, gamer, and purveyor of pop-culture references.

Let’s work together on something cool.

Recent Articles

Lynn

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There is no way to write what needs to be written today, what should be written today. I have no words adequate to convey the tempest of love, grief, happiness, sorrow, gratefulness, and numbness that are all raging within me. We meet people every day. Most of these meetings are…

Relativity

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One month. Four weeks. 28 days. 40,320 minutes during which the 30-odd Song-A-Day participants that gather on any given year write music. A lot of music. More music than many of us might have thought we had in us in total, much less annually. And yet, here we are with…

Cobalt Dendrite

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The last day, the last track. Looking back, it’s one of those “it seems like I’ve been doing this forever / where did the time go?” conundrums. This year has felt like more work than previous years, though spot-reading through past entries indicates that may not be accurate, just that…

Adescential Biolith

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While veering a bit into dark ambient territory, this track is pretty chill and downtempo. You would never think that it was the result of panic and desperation. With only one or two exceptions this month, I once again had no real ideas going into the studio, and I found…

Zenith Quasar

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After yesterday’s diversion into techno, which was a ton of fun, I’m definitely tapping into the bottom of my reserves. There’s nothing inside demanding to be let out, so I’m having to go searching for it instead. After picking Mary up at the airport, I asked her if she had…

You Betta

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This is far and away the most complex and involved track I’ve done this month, and I doubt I’ll top it in the remaining three days. There are 20 tracks for the drums alone, and another 13 for the synths and samples. With all of the additional control faders, submasters,…

Worlds Apart

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We’re in the home stretch. Less than a week left, and I’m tired, but also generally pleased with the month’s progress to date. The danger now is running out of steam, either in the form of ideas or just the energy to hit the record button. The energy of this…

Unregistered System

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This is a really important track. Big thing to say, I know, but it is. Not because it’s the best composition ever, or a perfectly mixed thing, or anything like that. It’s important because this track is the exact reason I do Song-A-Day. In fact, this track is the reason…

Spicy Bee

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Ever hear a song and think, “What could possibly have made him write that? Did someone dare him?” Well, in this case, you would be right. Actually, it was half-dare and half-threat. And it all came out of a semi-drunken afternoon. The time: Early Pandemic Stupidity Era. The place: my…