Last month, PC Gamer UK ran a one-page story about my Suite for AudioSurf. Here it is.

Ever wonder what the aging electronic music pioneers sound like today? Wonder no more.

The poster at MAKE describes this as a 'Random' music box, but clearly there is some music theory in effect here. An interesting little gadget.

On May 3rd, 2007 I began my quest to upload a new piece of music on every Monday for a year. Last week, I finished that year successfully. Today, I'm looking back at some of the highlights of my year of new music.

The piece that started it all is one of my favorite compositions. I wrote it back in 2004, during the time when I was still discovering electronic music. It probably signifies the moment that I found my voice. In other words, this is probably my first composition as a mature musician. It's called Inevitable, and it's in 11/8.

Going into this project, I knew that I would have to rely on some of my alread-finished compositions. After all, the goal was to release a new mp3 every week, not write and record a new piece every week. Thankfully, I had a giant back-catalog of music. Unfortunately, I have outgrown a lot of it, so only a few pieces were right for inclusion in this year of music. I ended up uploading two songs by my former band, 6 Feet Under Sound. The first was Yellow, performed live on WPTS. The second was Drowning, a tune off our demo.

By far, the hardest part of this project was the new and original music. The tunes that I wrote and recorded one week, then uploaded just a few days, or hours, later.

There is a lot of variety in the pieces that I wrote from week to week. I wrote some solo piano pieces, some pop-oriented stuff, some more typical electronic wierdness, and some videogame-related music.

The solo piano work is probably best represented by a tune called She Said.

It's hard for me to pick a favorite pop-oriented tune that I recorded during this year. I love my version of Bluebird, a song that I wrote with my brother. I also like the ideas in Seven. Still, my favorite is probably One, a song that I wrote for Erin.

The majority of my new compositions fall into the category of 'my typical electronic wierdness'. These compositions tend to combine improvisation and electronics in some sort of interesting and unusual way. My favorite of this group is Love, but there's so much here that it's impossible to pick one piece. I certainly can't leave out the two electronic, non-videogame-related suites that I wrote this year. The most recent is called Proposal, and I wrote it to propose to Erin. I also arranged a suite of electronic christmas carols. This is something that I have always wanted to do, and I am quite proud of the results. This is my 12-bar version of Carol of the Bells.

The final category of music that I wrote during this year is videogame-related music. I have enjoyed exploring the crossover territory between the two forms. Most recently, this included a fan-made radio station for GTA games. Before that I also recorded two improvisations on Bioshock. My most successful videogame-related music, however, has to be my suite for AudioSurf, which got picked up by the game, and featured in a PC Gamer article.

Things didn't always go so smoothly over this year. When I was first getting the hang of things, I definitely had a few misfires. Afterwards is still only half finished, and is only half of a musical idea. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have uploaded it.

I started a big fractal suite called Vive, but I only finished the first two parts. It was designed to be five parts.

That's the main problem with uploading a piece every week. You have a very strict deadline. Early on, this was tough for me, but as the year progressed, it became easier and easier.

Over this year, I refined my process to a degree that was unimaginable when I started. When I started this, I didn't even have a 'process' to speak of. I wrote music as it came to me, and hoped that I was inspired enough to complete all the ideas that came to me. Of course, this is a very haphazard way of approaching things, and many projects are still left unfinished.

Today my process has distinct steps that allow me to plan and finish most of my pieces, even the more ambitious ones. And I should note that this process isn't something that I forced myself to do, rather, it's something that I was forced into while under such strict deadlines.

First, I come up with a concept for the overall piece or suite. Then I think about it. Seriously, I spend a few hours, quietly, during my daily commute, thinking about the concept. What is the best way to realize the concept? What instrumentation would work? How can I make the piece both intellectual AND beautiful?

Then I try to imagine the melodies and harmonies in my head. I don't write anything down immediately either. I hum it to myself for awhile, then if I remember it the next day, I develop it some more, and if it still sticks, then I start implementing it.

The first part of implementation is documenting my plan. I write down exactly what I want to do, from concept, to instrumentation, to melodic/harmonic sketches.

Then I sketch each piece out in my DAW. The most important part of this step is honest reflection on what I am doing. I learned that I need to be able to realize when something I am writing is crap. For most of the music that I wrote later in the year, I did a draft or two before arriving at what finally became the output. This ability to trash what I am doing and start over, with the same concept, is the biggest time saver that I learned. Avoiding red herrings is vital when you are facing deadlines.

Finally, I just refine, refine, refine. MIDI parts can never be over-edited. Mixes can never be tested on too many systems.

Overall, it was a rewarding, challenging and educational experience for me. I am proud that I got through it, and I am a better musician for it.

Will I go for two years? Not a chance!

But I am continuing in another vein. Starting in about two months, I will start a year of new source material every Friday. This will be called Free Loop Friday, and with it, I aim to create a comprehensive library of samples that is worth more than I charge for it.

So check back soon and often, because things are just getting started.

PROSTRATE YOURSELF BEFORE THE ALMIGHTY WALL OF HELLO WORLD PROGRAMS!!! BOW, NAVE!! YOU ARE NOT WORTHY!!!

Over 300 Hello, World programs are listed on that page. If you are a programmer, or a computer musician, or just a nerd, then that page is very interesting. Even in these tiny programs, it's easy to see some of what makes each of these languages unique.

BASIC
10 REM Hello World in BASIC
20 PRINT "Hello World!"

PHP
<?php
// Hello World in PHP
echo 'Hello World!';
?>

Java
// Hello World in Java
class HelloWorld {
static public void main( String args[] ) {
System.out.println( "Hello World!" );
}
}

Cool.

Of course, I noticed right away that neither Nyquist nor Pure Data are on that list. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with Turing Completeness, the mentioned condition for inclusion.

I guess there's no need to pass this information on to you. You already know that music blogs are the shit. Good music blogs can open up a world of new music to the readers. Personally, I have bought 4 or 5 CDs over the last year, simply because I heard a good tune on a music blog. What really makes music blogs great, however, is the diversity of music that they peddle. In mainstream publications, all you ever hear about is the music that teenagers listen to. To most people who take music seriously, that music is garbage. Music blogs break that barrier to show us new music that is worth listening to.

I bring this up because CNet posted an interesting story about the ascension of music blogs. From the article:

"Music blogs are nearly as old as the Web, but the past year has brought unprecedented growth, influence, and dollars to the sector as people look for help discovering new music. Now, the most popular blogs, such as Stereogum, BrooklynVegan, and Pitchfork, look less and less like Internet fanzines and more like tech start-ups."

The blogs mentioned in the story are OK, but I thought I would take this opportunity to link to the ones that I read.

My favorite music blog is called Aurgasm. Awesom blog. Awesome name. Awesome music.

The other 'music blog' that I read with regularity is actually the music section of the New York Times. A year ago, I never would have listed this as a 'music blog', but since nytimes.com went free and the music section started posting mp3s, they have pointed me to some terrific music. Their Joanna Newsom recommendation alone gets them on this list.

And the other music blog that I read every day is, of course, Wired's Listening Post. Wired's blogs, in my opinion, are almost beyond reproach, with their savvy combination of blogging sensibilities and writers who can actually write.

I didn't just post this video because it's cool. I would never do such a thing. Everything I post on this blog has artistic or intellectual motivation. Entertainment value and 'coolness' play no part in my decision making process.

I swear.

A post on Richard Shindell's blog asks an interesting question: is the internet turning musicians into buskers?

He makes the point that with the popularity of free music, internet musicians are akin to street musicians. Some people will support them, but most will not. It's a compelling analogy.

"I would argue that P2P networks are like the Paris Metro, or the choice street corner... I would no more expect every person who downloads my music on Limewire to pay for it than I would every passing commuter in that tunnel. Some are in a hurry. No doubt many agree with the station-master and just don't like what they hear. Others just don't happen to have any spare change at the moment. Is it reasonable to tell those people to cover their ears as they pass by? Does it make sense to banish them from the tunnel? Would any sane person advocate barring the doors of the Metro? Should we serve them all with subpoenas? Blow up the whole system? Of course not. And yet that is exactly what the RIAA and its lawyers would have us do.

Anyone encountering a busker in a subway tunnel knows that the music they're hearing could just as easily be heard for free as not. Why is that? Is it because the listener has found a new way to "steal" it without getting caught? No, it is because the music is - a priori, de facto - free. In the confines of the Metro, the music is soundwaves floating through a public space, offered up to the passing crowds, no strings attached. I can no more force you pay for those soundwaves than I can make you pay for the air they're floating through, or than two people standing in a crowd can charge anyone else who might have overheard their conversation."

The implications of his argument are interesting. Are all internet musicians destined to live in a state of semi-poverty? Are internet musicians this generation's equivalent to gypsies? Are internet musicians stuck on the outside of the music mainstream?

The answer to all of these questions is a resounding "maybe".

Richard Shindell's Blog [via Listening Post]

Whenever I stumble upon a good recording tutorial, I feel like it is my duty as a blogger to pass it on.

Today I stumbled on a nice text-only tutorial called The Beginners Guide to Vocal Recording. It's from a random-but-interested blog called Alex Blogs. In the article, the author recommends using more outboard processing than I would ever recommend. He recommends using a compressor, de-esser and high pass filter on the vocals on the way in. This advice is not controversial in itself; you will usually want to use these effects on most vocal tracks. Still, I don't know anyone who still records effects to tape, rather than applying them with VSTs after the fact.

Here are some snippets of advice that everyone can benefit from being reminded of.

"It’s quite common these days to filter off the low end of a vocal. Try using a high-pass filter set at about 100Hz and then play the mix and gradually turn it up until it sounds best. Even filtering off right up to 200Hz can sound pretty normal in today’s productions."

"AutoTune has complately changed the way we deal with imperfect tuning. It used to involve lots of takes and sometimes manual correction using a pitch-shifter, but now all we have to do is fire up AutoTune. All we’ll say is ‘easy does it’. It’s very easy to get carried away and autotune everything, but it should really only be used when there is a problem."

"Lastly, remember that a vocal sound is only ever as good as the weakest link in the chain. Be it a bad mic, dodgy mic amp or even a dodgy singer, you can’t get away with it for long. That said, there will always be tales of number ones recorded on a Tandy mic sellotaped to a broom handle, but they are few and far between and often feature the kind of vocal performance tha would sound great coming down the phone. Get the right gear, set the right mood and be honest with the vocalist and yourself and you’re halfway there."

Those MAKErs are always up to something interesting. This maker added some nifty bells and whistles (not literally, sadly) to one of the more interesting, yet simple kits in the maker store, The Noise Toy.

I LOVE the LED-based interface. The color of the LED actually indicated the instrument states. As this maker puts it,

"It's always fun to add some bells & whistles so I decided to enhance my new toy with a 2-channel version of Ken Stone's LED driver circuit and wired it up to an RGB LED like so - red LED indicates power, left channel switches the blue LED, and the right drives the green."