Some great photos up on Melissa's blog from the gig in Andrew's Lane the other night. Loved the gig itself. Such genuine energy and engagement from both band and audience. Haven't been going to as many bands over the last few years as I would like so am making a bit more of a conscious effort to get along. More nights like this and you wouldn't be able to stop me.
Fyodor has included one of my tracks on the latest installment of Square Waves. Quality selection as always with a more beat orientated strand of music this time around. Full tracklist here (my track is second in). This track should be making an appearance on a release somewhere soon, will put up details when I know them...
We're planning on launching a series on the SSTN site about different approaches to guitar playing, both in terms of compositional approach and differing methods of extracting sound using extended playing techniques or effects processing.
This reminded me of a piece I wrote while studying in Trinity so I dug it out for some bloggy goodness.
Below are a few wee extracts from the spiel I had to write for it (leaving out, hopefully, the more boring technical aspects).
In order to generate the material for my piece I used a process similar to that used in Terry Riley’s ‘In C’. I wrote a number of different figures that were to be played together. However, it was of no importance that they were played in sequence. I wrote two sections, and within each section there was a number of parts which the performers were allowed to choose, at their own disgression, which of them to play and for how long to repeat each one. They were also encouraged to stop playing if they wanted, as long as it was for the duration of a phrase, or a multiple of that duration, so that they would still be in sync when they came back in. The only restriction to what they played was that they had to fill up approximately two minutes of time. Therefore, similar to ‘In C’ there is an element of improvisation, but it is improvisation within a pre-defined framework of pre-written parts. Each of the the players performed their part in isolation to each other, never hearing what anyone else was playing. The only sound available to the guitarist was a steady simple 4/4 beat played with a kick, snare and high-hat combination, which I later removed.
I edited their parts so that there was more of a linear build in the dynamic in section one, going more or less from quiet to loud. However, section two was left exactly as performed by the players with no rearrangement by me in post-production. This section has a much more constant pulse and therefore lent itself quite easily to the nature of the collaborative playing of the players.
In post-production I also added in some percussion parts. The original source sounds were obtained by recording myself striking the body of the guitar and scraping or plucking muted strings.
I collaborated with the players regarding the ‘sound’ of the guitar. I encouraged them to be adventurous with the different types of sound manipulation they had at their disposal through their selection of pedals and the capabilities of tonal adjustment on their guitars. If I thought it was wildly not in keeping with the tone of the piece I would tell them, or else we would just go with it.
The president acknowledged that the debate had been wrenching.
One of his chief messages was that if Republicans are so strongly opposed to the legislation, could it really be true that Democrats will suffer politically if they adopt it?
“I notice that there has been a lot of friendly advice offered all across town,” he said. “Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Karl Rove — they are all warning you of the horrendous impact if you support this legislation.”
He continued, “Now, it could be that they are suddenly having a change of heart, and they are deeply concerned about their democratic friends. They are giving you the best possible advice in order to ensure that Nancy Pelosi remains speaker and Harry Reid remains leader and all of you keep your seats — that’s a possibility.”
Mr. Obama chuckled at himself, and lawmakers in the audience laughed.
“But it may also be possible that they realize that after health reform passes and I sign that legislation into law, it’s going to be a little harder to mischaracterize what this legislation has been all about,” he said.
In a very strange and unexpected twist I have been (not so) shortlisted for the Irish Blog Awards. Very nice to get nominated, though a little disappointed that SSTN didn't get the nod. Just wondering is it too late to start putting up a raft of amazing posts in order to sway the judges...
While there is a lot of interesting and useful information on sites such as Smashing Magazine and Noupe, lately I've come to the conclusion that you can't beat the personal blogs of professional designers who, aswell as being adept at their profession, are also able to write articulately on the subject with insight and passion. The single voice of these blogs provides a distinctive tone that lends itself to a more personal relationship with the readership and consequently, for me, makes them much more enjoyable to read.
Here's a couple that I currently have loaded into my RSS Reader.
Some of these I've been following for awhile and others I recently found in the list of design resources at the end of the excellent Logo Design Love book.
I recently designed the album cover artwork for Ed Devane's 'Molten Membrane'. Got some copies in the house today, pretty happy with how it came out. Album launch gig is this Saturday in Kennedy's. Free copy of the album included in the cover charge of €10. Ed's set promises to be huge & I am also really looking forward to checking out Kachanski's first live venture in awhile. With further support from quality DJs Eomac, Noid the Droid and Thatboytim it should be a good one. More details here.
The original creepy-ass drawings are by Kev Largey. Loads more deadly stuff at his website.
