Reckoner (paper&tape remix)

I finally finished my remix for Radiohead’s “Reckoner.” I think it turned out decently. Let me know what you think. Vote for it if you like.

Reckoner (paper&tape remix)

I did lean away from the general trend of making a dance remix…I’m not sure why that seems to be so popular, but nothing about Radiohead leads me toward bad techno. It seems to lead some people in that direction, at least based on the number of dance versions of Reckoner on radioheadremix.com. To each their own, I guess.

Most of the remix I did was done using the original Radiohead tracks, cut up and tweaked with some effects applied in Logic. There are a few tracks that were given some additional treatment through a Squarewave Parade Pollen. There are also some tracks of Pollen produced noise, some of which was processed by a Boss RE-20 Space Echo. Both are pretty cool devices, especially the Pollen. I will probably post a review and some samples of the Pollen sometime in the near future.

Reckoner

There was a little bit of a lapse there, but hopefully posting will continue at a more regular pace from here on…work was keeping me busy. A quick note for any interested in this type of thing…I assume most people interested already know, but Radiohead is doing another remix contest for the song Reckoner from In Rainbows. It’s the same basic deal as the Nude remix contest…you buy the stems from iTunes and then post to radioheadremix.com or add a widget to your Facebook, Myspace etc, to get votes. The one difference that I can see is that all the stems cost $0.99 instead of $0.99 a piece. That’s a good thing. Once I finish mine…I’ll post it here. Probably via the voting widget.

the|squarewave|parade: safeplace – minm

safeplace - minm

Steven of the|squarewave|parade builds some pretty fantastic music making devices; things that not many other companies are making. Things that get me excited. Being that Steven designs and builds all of the TSP products himself, it can be difficult to get a hold of his stuff at times. I was finally in the right place at the right time (with money!) and picked up his newest electric shaker, the safeplace – minm. I think the minm is the third or fourth safeplace design so far and it’s a simple but extremely creative little instrument. As you can see in the picture, it’s pretty small (that is a normal sized coffee mug) and comes with a pretty cool hand painted design. I have scuffed it up already…that’s no fault of the safeplace’s though. TSP products always look great, I just hit it with some metal objects and something had to give.

The basic idea is that of a shaker, much like any other shaker; it’s a metal box with some BBs and marbles inside, that produces a percussive sound when you, that’s right, shake it. What sets it apart from other shakers is that inside the metal case with the BBs and marbles is a piezo element that picks up the vibrations from the BBs and marbles striking the case. Piezo elements work much like microphones except that they pick up actual physical vibrations vs. displaced air caused by sound waves as microphones do (very basic and possible incomplete understanding alert!). The piezo element is connected to a 1/4 in. jack so that the sounds can be run through any number of devices. The sound of the minm is a bit more abrasive than a conventional acoustic shaker. Steven mentions on his website that they were not meant to take the place of an acoustic shaker and that they are more for the noise enthusiast. Which is where things really get fun. I have run the safeplace – minm through a number of effects pedals and did a little bit of tweaking in Logic and produced some really nice, interesting textures. The piezo element is mounted near the top of the case and will also pick up vibrations from outside of the case. Rubbing, scratching, striking, etc. all get picked up in different ways. Scratching right over the piezo element and further away produce different results! I’ve found the safeplace – minm to be an even more versatile instrument than I expected and great for creating some nice lo-fi textures.

You can listen to some of the textural experiments below. I recorded a couple tracks of the safeplace for use in a piece that I’m currently taking way to long to finish. Keep in mind the audio isn’t straight safeplace…I ran it through some effects and did some tweaking. I just wanted to give you an idea of what kind of results this thing can produce with some experimentation…everybody already knows what a shaker sounds like anyway, right?

safeplace – minm demo

…of tropical storms and art sales

It’s been a little while since I posted anything…we had a rough week last week with tropical storm Fay.  No power for 3+ days.  There is another storm, hurricane Hanna, on the way for this weekend.  Hopefully all the trees that wanted to fall on my power lines did that last time.  Anyway, I posted a couple more paintings online at my Etsy shop.  

 

Towers of the Modern Babylon (detail)

Etsy store

Arboretum (detail)

I have finally posted some works of art on my new Etsy shop.  If you are interested you can find my Etsy shop at paperandtape. I will be adding more items this evening and probably fairly regularly. Occasional updates will probably be posted here.

player piano

I thought I would post a recently finished mixed media painting that makes use of a lot of texture, real and implied.  The piano keys and wooden pieces are from an old Farfisa MicrOrgan that I purchased on eBay a few years back.  It turned out to be the worst sounding instrument that I have ever heard (not in a good way) and for the price I paid I figured I would use it for art instead of music, as its musical viability was dependent upon a lot of repairs.  I also used some hinges from an old door, some old guitar strings and pages from a 1950′s encyclopedia.  I have a hard time with naming art, so I’m just going to call this one “player piano.”