music theory

Laika

It’s easy for Song-A-Day to become an all-consuming thing for me, especially now that I don’t have a normal work-week gig. Working a day ahead has definitely paid off in terms of stress, but now that I’m accustomed to the schedule, I find that I’m leaving things to “finalize” the next morning, but actually end up doing a lot more than intended. With this piece, I was determined to break that cycle so that I could spend a decent amount of time writing the next track. And when I went to bed, I actually thought I had succeeded. It’s about … Continue reading

Unregistered System

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 I write music at all. Yesterday, I spent more time mixing and finalizing Transcendental Existentialism than planned, normal life went on, and I didn’t start composition until around 7 or 8 pm. Sitting down to write, I really wasn’t sure where things would go. I was just about to ask … Continue reading

The Wire Heart

An area of sound that I’ve been really enjoying for several years now are “broken” things. Normally, I do this with distortion or granular synthesis, or sometimes by adding randomness to some element of a sound. A few years ago, I bought an expansion pack called “Beautifully Broken” and many of those sounds capture exactly the character I’m talking about, even if I haven’t used the patches in many tracks that have gone beyond the sketch stage. The broken electric piano in The Wire Heart is the sound that really defined what this piece became, even though it wasn’t my … Continue reading

Locus Alienus

Occasionally during Song-A-Day, someone will throw out a challenge of some sort. The standing one is that February 22 is always cover day, where we’re challenged to cover one of the other songs that have been posted during the month. The most direct challenge I’ve received was from Derek Greenberg who challenged everyone during the wrap gathering in 2017 to get out of our comfort zones and try writing things we’d never done before. I took that on and 2018 was definitely a strong year for me. There were hits and misses, but it was definitely an inspirational assignment. But … Continue reading