ambient

Mare Tranquillitatis

Having finished yesterday’s track relatively early in the day, and with just one song left in the month, I decided to take the night off and enjoy the evening with Mary. As a result, this is the first day all month that I’ve woken up and still had a blank slate in front of me. After asking Mary for any final genre requests, I decided to do the final ambient piece for the Lunar Mare series. I hadn’t planned this series out prior to start of the month, which is … Continue reading

Mare Nectaris

As I’ve mentioned previously this month, I do worry about these ambient pieces being unenjoyable for others, but two comments on the Song-A-Day site made me feel a lot better about it.  I think my favorite track this year is Mare Imbrium. What could be more beautiful, more emotionally satisfying? I wish I had written that one. Derek Greenberg I think I’ve listened to “Mare Insularum” like five times in a row now. Wesley Thompson These are both people whose work I respect greatly, so getting feedback like this is one of the most valuable external things about Song-A-Day.1The main … Continue reading

Mare Frigoris

Today’s piece is the type I often agonize over posting to Song-A-Day. It will become one of my collection of deep ambient works that I love to listen to while flying, meditating, or relaxing, but I always worry about boring my fellow participants. That should never be a fundamental concern, of course. Creativity is a strange beast, though it’s not always what people think it is. Here one of the most eye-opening statements regarding it I ever came across: “Creativity is not a talent; it is a way of operating.” John Cleese This is far deeper than it seems on … Continue reading

Lapis

After finishing up Laska’s Dream in the early afternoon, I had both the time and motivation to get today’s track written and recorded before a reasonable bedtime. I’ve definitely been fading a bit with the reduced sleep schedule so far this month. I didn’t rush back into the studio, instead doing a bit of housework, watching a little TV, having a relaxed dinner. It was around 6:00 PM when I got started. This one only took about 90 minutes to get into near-final shape, and much of that was listening to specific bits to get the balance between the various … Continue reading

Mare Imbrium

If you’ve read past entries covering some of my ambient tracks and how I go about producing them, you’ve learned some of my tricks. Things like drawing in periodic oscillations for moving faders and filters, or copying and pasting tracks between different instruments and finding fun ways to make them interact. And all of that was my plan for the evening, especially after I found the primary sound that would anchor this track. I quickly loaded up the various sounds and zoned out for about an hour just letting the relatively long loop play. While the main chord progression is … Continue reading