0107

I’ve been writing and experimenting a lot since I last posted a Music update.

In fact, when I originally wrote this new bass part (below), I didn’t expect to turn it into something I was going to post online (hence the strange title “0107″). I’ve never done a bass sound using the effects I put on this one, but the appeal was very compelling and the song came together relatively easily.

The sound of the overall piece is very ‘ominous’, I suppose, but I really love the feeling of it, especially while playing it. Not quite sure about the drum fills as they are, but I did want to get one of them to be done in triplets, which helped me learn some more of Renoise.  I’m working on actively pushing myself to develop different sounds with each piece. Learning, growing, pushing, experimenting.

This piece is short but sounds relatively complete. I’m not sure if I’ll be fleshing this one out much besides upgrading the sound, mixing, mastering, etc.

I really like how it builds…

I’ve also recently signed up for Bandcamp: http://jsohlander.bandcamp.com

The Bandcamp backend is very slick and minimal…just my style. Soon I’ll be making a flash-based player that I can slap on the front of this site to make it easy to get a brief overview of my work thus far. Not sure if it will be using the Bandcamp player, as there are so many options.

Not sure where this project is all heading, but I have some very definite ideas on how it will turn out.

~ JS

Random Posts

• The Biggest Mistake People Make When Trying to Get Organized – Extreme Cleaning Update 2
• Becoming Conscious of Possessions
• Juice Feasting Day 6 and The Beginning of Everything.
• Writing Has Started – Plans – Public Album Update
• Tools and Equipment Part 1 – Public Album Update

What Do You Actually Own?

In my continuing effort to become more Minimal and pare my life down to the Essentials, I recently decided to start a spreadsheet of every physical thing I own.

Years ago, Heidi was inspired to attempt a list of everything we owned to see if we could live with 1000 things. After she spent a couple of nights on it, she realized how annoying and unnecessary it was and promptly stopped the project. She wondered what value she would get if she even decided to finish it.

Since then there are a slew of Minimalism bloggers who are listing what they own and seeing if they can get what they own down to 100 or even 50 things. Most of these lists are just for their personal items and these bloggers are not counting family or shared items. For example, they are not listing each and every fork or pen but will list their personal laptop or clothes. In my opinion, this is a bit of a cop-out. If getting control of your stuff is so important, why not make all of it important and not just your ‘personal’ possessions?

Either way, I’ve become inspired myself to attempt this ridiculous task only because I believe it will help me become fully conscious of my possessions.

It’s one thing to see your possessions sitting in your house or just even know you own something, but it’s another thing to see it all listed on paper that you entered with your own hands and on your own time.

Why Bother Making a List in the First Place?

My personal philosophy behind doing this is, if I’m investing this much of my life in acquiring, owning, storing, etc. all these things, I may as well know what I own.

Seems kind of annoying, doesn’t it? Part of the reason I’m doing this is because it is very annoying. Just as many of my possessions have wasted my time over the years, I’m now reclaiming my dominion over them…and not one of them will escape my list. If it’s annoying to enter this data, I won’t want to do it. Hence, I will think twice (or thrice) about buying that next that I ‘must’ have.

My rule is simple: if I want to own something, it goes on the list. I have to consciously think about putting it on the list and then answer certain questions about why I even own it.

I’m not just listing every single thing I own in some sort of flat, one page list. I want to really dig into the reasons I’ve decided to own something.

So here are my current columns that I need to fill out for each item on my spreadsheet:

• Item Name
• Do I need it or want it? It’s perfectly OK to own something simply because I want it. But I better damn well really enjoy it.
• What do I use it for? In order to become fully conscious of my possessions, I need to know what the heck I actually use it for.
• Can I live without it? I’ve found filling out this column to be extremely enlightening. It’s not whether I enjoy it or not, but can I actually live my life without it?
• What other options are there? In other words, is there some other option, or something smaller or better I can own. I’m not about getting rid of everything I own.

I’ve also recently added a “Does this serve my life or not?” column. Big question to ask, right? If I took all the time, mental energy, and effort to acquire and bring something into my life and am going to take care of it like a pet, shouldn’t I know if it is truly serving my life?

If nothing else, this whole OCD-like process will really hone my ability to quickly determine whether or not something will truly serve me.

What do I expect to accomplish by this?

In the end, I’m not really sure how useful this list will be or whether I will keep it up. I just know that I need to do it at least once. I’m hoping that I’ll be hyper-aware of what I own and have very valid reasons for owning something that is Essential and will truly contribute to my life instead of just taking up space or plan to keep around ‘just in case’.

One more thing to mention is that I do have certain goals and desires in my life. Each and every item is now questioned in regards to those desires.

Now that I’m on a roll, I’m actually beginning to enjoy this.

——————————–

Brief Music update: I will be posting an audio snippet or two this week as well as integrating a better audio player and Music section into the site. Personally, I like the new piece I’m working on. Learning more about my software and like nothing I’ve done before.

~ JS

Photo credit

Related Posts:

• Who Are You Without Your Stuff?
• What Minimalism Means to Me

“Being a minimalist isn’t just about what you carry with you. It’s your entire engagement with the world.” – Everett Bogue

What I Really Learned by Going to College

After keeping my college papers and notes for years, I finally went through every single page to see if I wanted to keep any of it.

As I went through each and every page, I asked myself, “Is there any value in keeping this?”

When I started this Minimalism sub-project, I knew I wanted to eventually tackle my college papers. Mostly because there were drawers full of them. I figured it would be fairly easy and that I’d end up scanning and keeping maybe 25-50% of it.

Well, it was a lot easier than I thought. I probably dumped 95+% of it.

What I wasn’t expecting, is a strange feeling I started getting while going through this stuff.

I asked myself why I was keeping it all these years. I couldn’t come up with a good answer.  Eventually, I realized that by keeping all of my college material, I was somehow ‘proving’ to myself that I went to college (and graduated) and that all the time, money, student loans, etc. had been worth it.  Even though I don’t technically or directly use my college degree in my professional or personal life, it did have a large impact on me and I learned a lot in the process.

Once I finally stripped all of this stuff out of my life and knew that I’d never see it again, I realized the strong association that most of us put into defining ourselves by our stuff. It was almost as if my college papers somehow defined part of Who I Am.

Now, I always thought I was very good at being myself and knowing who I am, but by taking this Minimalism experiment to further levels I’m realizing how much deeper it goes.  I would even go as far to say that I’m discovering who I really am for the first time.

Without all our stuff, who are we really?

What You Own Defines You

Every piece of everything around you is part of who you are.  And that’s not a bad thing.  Some of the things I own or information I store is definitely part of who I am, and I’m proud of it.  But when you get really serious about stripping your life down to the Essentials and only allowing the best of what life has to offer fill your space, you will begin to get a larger sense of yourself and your place in the Universe.

Most people think that life happens to them and their past is their story.  When in fact it’s totally optional.  I could move to a different country, burn and erase everything from my past that has anything to do with me and completely start over.  If I did this, no one would have any idea I ever went to college unless I told them or they dug the information up somehow.  If someone asked me to prove I went to college, it would be a little more difficult than just showing them my papers.

As an example, for all the amazing pieces of music Beethoven wrote, how much garbage did he toss?  It’s been said that he re-worked his material relentlessly and tossed old revisions. He could have kept it all.  He could have kept everything he’d written, terrible or not, and then we’d have the ‘Beethoven Terrible’ collection.  But he choose not to define himself by it and only bring into his life his most beautiful pieces.

You are your own biographer, historian, and biggest fan.  What does your stuff say about you?  And if you choose to keep it, what will it say about you once you’re gone?

Will your progeny really give a rip about your college papers?

This is all very interesting to me.  As with most personal growth explorations in life (dietary changes, career moves, new friendships), Minimalism is a road of self-discovery.  And I’m projecting that, for me personally, it will be a sort of Rebirth.

Related Posts:

• Becoming Conscious of Possessions
• What Minimalism Means to Me

My History with Minimalism Thus Far

Since the year 2000 I have been on a quest to clean-up all the things in my life in order to get down to the Essentials. My desire was (and is!) so strong because I knew that I needed to do this to truly live life!  This desire was initially aimed at cleaning up physical stuff: all the junk I had accumulated over my life thus far. At the time I made the decision in 2000, I had a clear vision of what that looked and felt like.  It was a strong vision that filled me with a sense of freedom, expansion, and deep satisfaction.

I wasn’t sure exactly how to go about it, but I knew one thing: to take action and just get started.  I started cleaning my stuff up.

Now, I’ve never been a hoarder or a messy person. I have always been known to be pretty simple in my possessions. In fact, I would say I was just a notch or two below “average” in the amount of stuff I owned for one person, even back in 2000.  But to me, I’m not even close to where I want to be.  Even today when I say “I have too much stuff,” people still scoff at me.

In 2003 I got married to an incredible woman (no, the most incredible woman)…which instantly doubled my stuff.  Ouch.  This put me into a tricky situation where I could no longer make all of my cleaning and organizing decisions based solely on my desires alone.  There were now two people involved.  (I have no children and can only imagine how this would further complicate/challenge this path.)

Why ‘Your Stuff Owns You’ is Absolutely True

I’ve come a long, long way over the years the deeper I’ve gone into this quest.  The biggest lesson I’ve learned through all of this is this:  it’s amazing how much time stuff takes.

Even the good stuff.  Every little thing.  Every scrap of paper, rubber band, email, website, laptop, or car…it doesn’t matter, it must all be:

• Organized
• Cleaned
• Stored/Filed
• Thought about
• Used
• Packed
• Fixed
• Replaced
• Sold/Traded
• Given
• Displayed
• Admired/Hated/Whatever

The list goes on and on and on.

Each time you even look at what you own, that thing has stolen a part of your life away.

Ok, maybe ‘stolen’ is a harsh word to use.  But is it really?  Now, if something in your life gives you great enjoy, excellent!  You have spent your life energy (your focus and attention) in appreciating and/or using that item you love.

But if it’s something you only tolerate, hate, or just keep around to use ‘someday’, or just don’t know what to do with it, it literally owns you.

A lot of people will read past this and be like, “Yeah, I hear that!”  But they won’t truly grasp that incredible concept and probably won’t make any changes in their life.  I would even go as far to say that this very concept is essential to the core of life itself on this planet.

We live in an incredible world of abundance.  Literally almost anything we want is cheap to acquire or instantly at our fingertips (especially when it comes to knowledge).  The old ways no longer work.  We are no longer in ‘survival’ mode where hoarding, owning, and protecting our stuff is essential to survival.

We’re now in a society where the future will belong to those who are experts at Personal Discernment.  They will be able to take a massive amount of input (physical stuff, electronic information, etc.) and be able to quickly and easily determine not only what stays, but what is truly essential and important, now.

The goal is to be left with only those things in your life that truly contribute to your overall joy, needs, and supports your vision of Personal Freedom.

I’ve touched on this topic quite a bit on this site, originally calling this quest Extreme Cleaning.  To some of those who know me in the raw food movement, I’m well-known for talking about Extreme Cleaning and have already inspired a handful of people who wish to delve further into paring their stuff down to the Essential.

Speaking of the raw food movement, I find it equally fascinating how the world of inner cleansing seems to inspire a change in external cleansing.  And vice-versa.  Many in the health movement have told me that just taking a simple fast, cleanse, or even a colon cleanse have prompted them to clean their physical stuff up to an even deeper level.  I have found this profoundly true as well.  Clean on the inside, clean on the outside.  It’s all very beautifully connected.

The Next Step

As I begin to write about this next phase of my journey, I’m taking a bit of a different approach.  I’m not focusing much on ‘minimalism’ as most people think they understand it. A lot of minimalist bloggers are known for their goal to own less than 100 personal items. In my definition, a true Minimalist is actually an Essentialist. It means being ruthless about the things you bring into your life and the things you choose to have around you. This includes digital ‘junk’ as well, which I would argue is probably a worse problem than physical junk.

I’m sure most of these incredible bloggers would agree with me.  Talking about owning less than 100 or 50 things is probably going to turn the majority of people off.  I can’t blame them.  When I was in high school, owning a 100-CD changer was considered extremely cool!  Hey, I wanted the 100-CD changer too…

I briefly touched on this concept in a post a couple years ago called Baseline Your Life, in which I essentially defined what Minimalism is and means to me without using the term ‘minimalism’.

Since that post there have been a slew of amazing bloggers out there who are exploring the cutting-edge of minimalism, which I only recently discovered in the last year or so.  These blogs have had a major impact on me, such as Far Beyond the Stars and Mnmlist.  There are a lot of other quality Minimalism and Simplicity blogs and sites out there as well.  I became fascinated that there is even a group of people out there who are that into Minimalism, and I’m certainly inspired and have learned a great deal myself from them.

Part of that inspiration has taken me to move this site more into exploring and educating about Minimalism along with blogging about my Music and other personal topics.

What I hope to accomplish with this is not only to further my journey on this path, but to help inspire and/or educate those out there who are interested in opting-out of the consumption/storage cycle and opting-in to the discernment/freedom cycle.

————————

So, what exactly does Minimalism mean to me in the simplest words possible?  Essentialism.

The nice thing about this concept of Minimalism/Essentialism, is that Minimalism can mean a great deal of different things to a wide variety of people.

And they are all correct.

Let’s see where this goes…

Related Posts:

• Becoming Conscious of Possessions
• Who Are You Without Your Stuff?

• Stopped the Public Album project.

Instead I will be focusing on just creating music.  I still plan on publishing my music as I create it here.  Just music for music’s sake…no need to package things into ‘albums’ for now, although that may change.

• Stripped the site down to a more minimal theme and look.

I’m not going to settle on just white, but for now it helps keep me focused on what’s truly important and why I’m doing this site in the first place.  I will be building things back up as I go along, but aim to keep the site uncluttered and clean.

In addition, I:

• Have added a new Musical Collaboration project to my life this year.

I don’t have any details to share for now but it’s been really fun and has helped to expand and hone my writing ability.

• Will be writing more content about Minimalism and Simplicity.

This has been a major theme in my life in the last few years and has sort of come to a culmination where my efforts are beginning to pay off.  More focus, creativity, less stress, etc.  I hope that what I have to share in this regard is valuable and if things go well, I may make this a major theme on this site in addition to my music.

• Will be refocusing and refining my vision for my music.

With the current underlying theme of minimalism in my life right now, I am aiming to see what it can do for my music.  Musicians have an incredibly complicated set of variables to juggle when creating and performing.  Music equipment and software is infinitely varied and complex.  Add to that touring, websites, marketing, fan maintenance, the business side, writing, performance, writer’s block, design, distribution, egos…the list goes on and on.  And to compound on that complexity, each time you add a member to your band or group, it seems to increase exponentially.  Going solo has been a major relief in some ways for me personally, and has added some opportunities to grow in other areas.

• Updated my About page.

I’ve got some new music parts that I’ll be loading to the site soon as well as fleshing out a new Music page that will better organize what I am sharing so far.

I’m feeling great about where things are heading as my Vision clears and simplifies…

Random Posts

• Public Album Update 11 – New Track – 005 – VST synths and Octave Effects
• Baseline Your Life.
• Extreme Cleaning FAQ
• Juice Feasting Day 15 and Public Album Update
• Public Album Update 10 – New Track – Changes to 001

Been a Little While

It can be way too easy to let a few weeks slip by in the middle of a project.

Now that I’m actually consciously aware of it, I can re-dedicate myself to this project in order to stay on track from now on.  If I spend too much time away (even a few days), things start slipping away.  It’s all about momentum and I’ve noticed that anymore than 2-3 days away has a large effect on my momentum for this project.

Cassette Tape Digitization Project – JS Audio History

In the meantime, I’ve recently started a very large undertaking for a very personal music-related project.  I’ve got a slew of old cassette tapes with hours of music from my past bands, personal experiments, and other music related projects from my past.  For years I’ve wanted to get these tapes digitized to MP3 for not only digital backup but also personal preservation.  I take my musical past very seriously and even though it wasn’t always the best music I could write, I love every second of what I wrote in the past.

It’s helped to make me the musician I am today.

I’ve been using a pretty cool device that allows you to convert your old cassette tapes to MP3 files via USB.  It’s easy to work with and I’m pleased so far.

I’ve tested the machine already and used it to go through each and every one of my cassettes to see what’s on them.  I’m still missing a few tapes that I’m unable to find, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find a ton of music and audio that I didn’t even knew still existed!

This project has been very nostalgic and deeply emotional for me so far.  Part of the reason I’m doing this project is to take stock of where I’ve been and make peace with the past to fully allow myself to move forward with this new music project and the rest of my music career.

Expect updates and many audio samples from this project in the coming months.  It’s a large undertaking and I have no idea how it’s all going to turn out…

007

This is the last short piece I wrote a few weeks ago.  This piece works again with the bass octave/distortion effect, but what I really wanted to do is experiment with some drum kit type samples.  I programmed some pretty standard drum “kit” beats into this piece where I have one bass riff repeated over and over.  I’m not sure how percussion/drums is going to work into my sound as I develop it, but I wanted to experiment either way.

Octave/distortion with drum kit experimentation…

……

In addition to the tape project, I’ve got a few other important and time-sensitive projects on my plate to get completed by the end of the year.  But I am making writing a top priority.

More soon…

~ JS

Related Posts:

• Public Album Update 11 – New Track – 005 – VST synths and Octave Effects
• Public Album Update 10 – New Track – Changes to 001
• Public Album Update 9 – First Sample Up! – Renoise Registration – Thoughts
• Writing Has Started – Plans – Public Album Update
• Tools and Equipment Part 2 – Tracking Software – Public Album Update

Coming Together

It’s amazing to watch even my own work as things start flowing more and more effortlessly.  It’s like the old metaphor of peeling the onion layers away…each time I peel a new layer, a new world opens to me.

With that, I’m still in the early learning/experimenting stages of all of my equipment, but each time I work on a new piece (or an old piece), I’m learning new tools.  These tools are developing into skills that I will not have to relearn, only hone as they get more sophisticated.

Damn, that feels good.

The last few weeks I’ve been experimenting more with VST instruments.  VSTs are a tool I’ve been working with for a few years, so I am no stranger to the power and quality of VST plugins.  However, I’m finding out that Renoise has even finer controls and greater flexibility when working with VSTs.

Bass vs. Electronics

I’m still in the heavy bass-writing phase, as I’m trying to work more with the instrument to break old patterns and integrate new ones so they become second nature.  This is allowing me to pound through many different bass parts which I can easily add a bass drum to in Renoise and build a track from there.

For now, this procedure works just fine.

I’ve also discovered that my bass effects board (which I’ll talk more about in an upcoming ‘tools and equipment’ post) has an octave effect on it, which I’ve been wanting to experiment with for years.  I’m loving the effect and in the new track below, you can hear how different my bass sounds with it.

I’m planning on experimenting with as many different effects and effect pedals as possible.  I really want to dial-in as many incredible sounds as I can.

005

So, what happened to 003 and 004?  Well, they exist and I will post them next time, but I wanted to get this one up because it shows some significant growth.

Octave/distortion, VSTs synths, and more…

I’m also getting more into melody, which is something I didn’t work with very much in my noise rock days.  Like I’ve said before, I have no idea where my sound is heading with this project.  I’m just along for the ride…

More soon…

~ JS

Related Posts:

• Public Album Update 12 – New Track – 007 – More octave effect and playing with drums
• Public Album Update 10 – New Track – Changes to 001
• Public Album Update 9 – First Sample Up! – Renoise Registration – Thoughts
• Writing Has Started – Plans – Public Album Update
• Tools and Equipment Part 2 – Tracking Software – Public Album Update

A Lot to Learn

I’ve been working a lot in the past few weeks behind the scenes.  Renoise is so feature-rich and I have a quite a lot to learn, but I’m very blessed to be learning by doing.  I can guarantee that the stuff I am writing now will sound so amateur and weak compared to what I will be writing and what it will sound like months from now.  I learn extremely quickly and I’m excited to see what more I will discover with this program, which is fast turning into a literal dream music program/system for me.  I’m trying to justify using other music programs, but for now Renoise is fulfilling my every need perfectly.

002

First is a new piece that I’ve started working on.  Warning:  this can be quite abrasive, so turn your speakers down and prepare:

I realized that I recorded the bass parts extremely loud and may have to re-record them, but maybe I should just keep it over-the-top as it is now.

This track is very disjointed and each ‘part’ may eventually be turned into its own track, or I may just smooth this one out and keep these all in this track somewhere.

I really love the feeling of this piece so far.  I especially love the way I feel when I play it on my bass.

001

Here is a quick update to 001.  I threw in a better, more smooth sounding bass drum, which rounds the track out nicely.

I’m not sure where I’m quite going with this track yet.  I love the way it sounds now, but when I try and work on furthering it nothing else is coming to mind.

Thoughts for Update 10

This whole project has been exactly what I needed to get me started writing again.  What I’ve always been looking for in my entire music career is not only something I can truly believe in, but something I can do for life.  Each time I’ve worked with or started bands in the past, there was always a feeling that this could end at any time.  I wanted something I could build and do for the rest of my life.  And now I have it.  I will never ‘break up’ with myself, I’m not going anywhere, I’m not going to form a new band…

Going ‘solo’ is the best thing I’ve ever done.

I have no idea where my sound, style, and direction is heading…and I love it.  I don’t have a firm ‘sound vision’ in mind, but I have a firm and strong feeling about how this will all end up.

~ JS

Related Posts:

• Public Album Update 9 – First Sample Up! – Renoise Registration – Thoughts
• Public Album Update 12 – New Track – 007 – More octave effect and playing with drums
• Public Album Update 11 – New Track – 005 – VST synths and Octave Effects
• Writing Has Started – Plans – Public Album Update
• Tools and Equipment Part 2 – Tracking Software – Public Album Update

Renoise Has Been Registered!

As you can see from the above image, I’ve finally registered Renoise.  This will allow me to export my tracks to WAV format, which I can convert to MP3 and post up for you to hear.

First Official Sample of ‘Public Album’ is Here

Alright, the wait has been long enough.  Posted below is the very first sample of the ‘Public Album’ project.  The player you see below is how all the samples for this project will be posted.  Give it a listen and then I’ll explain more about how things are going below.

001

How Writing Will Work

So, let me explain things.  The above track sample is called “001″ because this is the first track I have written for this project.  If I work on this track more, it will still be called “001″ and when I create the next new track, it will be called “002″.  I will be adding tags to each post where I work on each track.  So if you want to hear the development of “001″, for example, you can click on the tag “001″ and start from the beginning.

What you’re hearing is a few bass lines I wrote, recorded, and added to the tracker on top of some simple drum tracks.  Until further notice, this is how I will be creating my tracks: writing bass lines and putting them to drum parts.  While I am writing this way over the coming weeks, I have a very big project ahead of me – organize and go through all of the thousands of instrument samples I have installed.  Once I go through and organize all the samples, I will be able to start fleshing the tracks out with more instrumentation.  Thus, the songs will (and this project), will grow.

~ JS

Related Posts:

• Public Album Update 10 – New Track – Changes to 001
• Tools and Equipment Part 2 – Tracking Software – Public Album Update
• Public Album Update 12 – New Track – 007 – More octave effect and playing with drums
• Public Album Update 11 – New Track – 005 – VST synths and Octave Effects
• Writing Has Started – Plans – Public Album Update

The Writing Process Has Begun

I’ve officially started the writing process for Public Album this week and it’s going extremely well.

My approach for this project in regards to writing the actual music, is something that I’ve never quite done before.  The way I used to write was to spend a lot of time tinkering around on the bass and/or my computer in order to come up with a part that really spoke to me.  Once I came up with that part, I’d either bring it to a band, or I would work it in my tracking or other music program and try to take that into an existing song or create a new track altogether.

I’ll be honest: that old process was always stressful and difficult for me and led to a lot of “dry periods” in my musical life.

This new approach is a complete 180 for me.

What is that approach?

Simple:  I’m writing songs instead of parts. It’s extremely refreshing and has taken the pressure off of me to create.

It sounds like a simple change, but it’s a completely new way of writing for me.  Let me explain how this works…

Now when I’m writing, I’ll either do one of two things:  I will still tinker around or I’ll make a song or part in my head come alive.  It doesn’t take me long to find something that something “hooks”.  Once I get there, I’ll record it and work it into its own song starting with just that part.

That’s it, really.

I’m not concerned at this point in the writing stage about whether or not the song is “good”.  I’m just creating tracks/songs.  That’s it.  I can feel free later to dump the track, take it apart, or further refine it into a complete song.

I’m sure a lot of other musicians write this way, but for me, it’s been a complete revelation and 180 from my previous creation style.  I can’t say for sure if it’s going to hold up for the entire duration of this project or in the future, but for now, it’s one of the best changes I’ve ever made to my writing.

I’ve always wondered how some musicians would book time in a studio for weeks to “go write a record.”  That always boggled my mind because I never approached songwriting with just “writing songs” and then dumping the 20-50 that aren’t as good as the 10-12 that get released.  Maybe those  musicians were on to something…

The other benefit of this style of creation, is that I get to learn Renoise by doing.  Instead of pouring through documentation and testing each and every effect and feature of the program (like I used to do), I’m now writing as I figure out all the ins-and-outs of Renoise.  One of the side benefits is that my learning curve is much smaller and my retention of how the program works is much higher.

Actual Audio Up Next Week!

Yes, that’s right.  All this Public Album stuff isn’t just talk.

As I mentioned in my last post, Tools and Equipment Part 2, Renoise needs to be registered in order for me export my work into a WAV file for posting on this site.  I’ll be registering Renoise this week and I’ll put up my first audio track shortly thereafter.

So far, I’m only working on one song but I may have more to post by then.  As with the nature of this project, you’ll get to see some of these tracks grow larger, and others will get dumped and probably never worked on again.

This project should prove to be very interesting for me and for you, my readers, to see how a song is created from scratch…or at least how it’s created by me.

What’s Next for Public Album?

Besides the continual writing process using Renoise and my bass, my theme for this project is Exploration.  Even though I know that Renoise will be my main tool, I want to experiment with as many different music programs that I’ve never bothered to try as possible.  Who knows…one of these programs may really work for me.

In addition, I’m going to explore as many other musical and related, but non-musical avenues as I can.  I want variety.  I want as much stimulation going into, through, and out of this project as humanly possible…in every regard.  I may work with different people, different ways of doing things, new programs (like I mentioned), new dietary and health habits, different equipment…virtually a cornucopia of input and experimentation.

~ JS

Related Posts:

• Public Album Update 12 – New Track – 007 – More octave effect and playing with drums
• Public Album Update 11 – New Track – 005 – VST synths and Octave Effects
• Public Album Update 10 – New Track – Changes to 001
• Public Album Update 9 – First Sample Up! – Renoise Registration – Thoughts
• Tools and Equipment Part 2 – Tracking Software – Public Album Update