Mare Undarum – Ray Toler

Well. This is it. This is the day I finally can’t do it. The day that I don’t write or post anything entirely because I have nothing in me, instead of because of some extenuating circumstance. Well, ok, that obviously didn’t happen, because there’s a post that you’re reading and a new track right below this paragraph, but it almost happened.

Mare Undarum Ray Toler 7:22

I’m finally on schedule and have time to do something and… nothing. Well, that’s not true. I actually started 5-6 different things, dug through my idea sketches from December and January, recorded several individual tracks, deleted them all, got frustrated, started again, got frustrated again. Finally, it was past midnight and I decided to call it. Maybe something will appear in the morning.

A Return to the Moon

There aren’t a whole lot of people participating this year, and traffic has seemed light. As I’ve mentioned many times, the point of Song-A-Day is entirely to just exercise, but there’s still that extra layer of motivation that comes from accountability and knowing that someone is listening. Caring about that is about the same (in theory) as caring if someone is watching you jog every day, but that doesn’t stop me from thinking about it.

That can be a positive and a negative. On the positive, I want to do well and create something cool for someone in addition to myself¹ but on the negative side, I sometimes censor myself. I don’t post something because I’m worried it’s not good or because I’m afraid I’ll be boring people to tears. That’s always been my hangup with posting ambient tracks.

A few years ago, when I first started a loosely-connected set of ambient stuff that I named after lunar seas, I worried about this a lot, until I got some very nice compliments on them. Not only were people listening, but they were appreciating some of the things that I thought were invisible details. That encouraged me to keep going with them and, in fact, I have a three-album release schedule planned for later this year. Two of them are done, but I need to write the third.

With most of the previous ones, I wrote the music, then selected which of the seas it seemed to fit. Well, I did that the second year. The first year, I didn’t think I’d be doing this many, and just chose pretty names, while trying to avoid Serenity and Tranquility unless the pieces really were.

This time, however, I decided on the name about halfway through production because both the chords and the sounds I was using already had a wave-like pulse and pattern to them. As I added controller data, it became even more pronounced and became similar to when you see footage or simulation of wave interference patterns. Some things cancelling, others amplifying.

One of the big differences with this one is that I used two decidedly percussive elements. Others have had tempo and rhythm, but it’s always been within the instruments, not something sharp. These are mostly understated and very in-step with the piece, so I don’t think they’ll detract from an “ambient” album, but then again, I’m re-invigorated that I’m making music I like, and if there are others who like it also, well, that’s the actual audience I need, right?

I’m not sure if today’s track will end up on album two or three. I’ll have to see where it fits and what else gets written this month and what, if anything, is left to do in March.

A Short Diversion

I had a lovely opportunity to meet two other participants in person today: Darin Wilson and Lizzi. We had coffee and a great conversation for about an hour and a half in the afternoon, talking origin stories, DAW and hardware choices, shared traumas, and remarking on how beneficial Song-A-Day has been to us. I’ve only met a few other people in person, so this was a rare gift.

Colophon

Instruments & Samples

Primaries / Woods, Primaries / Strings, Cycles, Choreographs, Landforms, Spectres

Effects, Mixing, & Mastering

Valhalla, FabFilter, Gullfoss, PanMan, UAD ATR-102

Notes

1
I love my stuff, most of the time, and listen to it a lot.N