Monthly Archives: December 2016

CHOB, Cool stuff, Hozpitality, Music Sound Noise Audio, WMOM

CeMeGo… It Alone (First Solo Album)

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CeMeGo... It Alone

Well, here it is. This really isn’t a new album exactly. It’s more of a collection of things, doodles, and some seriously intentional music that I had made all by my little self. Most of this stuff is posted on this blog, but NOT ALL OF IT. This album compiles everything I’ve done on my own that I found worthy to put together in an album offering. The interesting part is some of this stuff dates back to 2013. I have acquired a lot more equipment, moved a lot, learned a lot, repaired a lot, failed a lot, but at least had fun along the way (with frequent backups).  I just bought another piece of equipment that may change everything a bit (Novation Launchpad) and I wanted to compile everything I did personally up to this point and put it in an album.

Credits? Well, ALL ME!!!! I PLAYED AND DID EVERYTHING HERE.

Song List and commentary (Also known as “liner notes” because I miss the day of vinyl record album sleeves):

  1. Charging Ahead, Blindly (1:56)  This was formerly named wowneewow project.  I have no idea why.
  2. Red Box Hotty (3:33)  I have always loved this track and it managed to slip off of all the CHOB and Hozpitality albums.  It’s a drum loop from the Kaossilator tortured lovingly through the Mini KP (red box) effects unit.  This is reminiscent of Brian Eno’s Over Fire Island track (in my opinion at least).
  3. Blinkin Asteroid (3:48) This was inspired by Brian Eno and Karl Hyde’s song The Satellites.
  4. Arpeggiate Your Ass Off 1 (3:30) Behold the power of the MicroKorg Arpeggiator.
  5. Rain Keys (2:49) Someone left the Harold Budd record in the oven and it melted.
  6. Funkola (4:33) Inspired by a million repeated listens to Kamasi Washington’s, “The Epic” album.
  7. Arpeggiate Your Ass Off 2 (4:09) Because one of these was simply not enough for me.  You get to decide which you like better (or not).
  8. I’m Keeping This (This One is Mine) (4:14) Selfish little robot voice.
  9. Out of Sync (5:25) Rhythm was never my strong suit but I try.
  10. The Stinky Finger Boogie (4:59) This was paired with an animated GIF of Donald Trump pointing his finger nearly rhythmically in time.  Inspired by the GIF not by the “man” himself.
  11. Out of Time (6:48) Companion piece to Out of Sync.  Pick a winner.
  12. Volca Waves (11:40) I feel that this is one of my best stabs at doing something melodic and “mellow”.  It is one of my favorite experiment results.  Love this.
  13. The One Measure Masturbatory Jam (3:38) This one barely made the cut.  It is a bunch of instruments piled on one 16 beat measure then subtly (or not) altered throughout its’ repetition.  Patience and a keen ear are required to understand its’ purpose and existence.
  14. Bruford Gives Up (0:43) A silly tribute to one of the best drummers in music, Bill Bruford, who was always really great with the tuned percussion.   This sounds like him just flailing about and saying “to hell with it”.  It makes me laugh.
  15. Fugue U (10:54) A fugue piled up like a mile high jenga tower.  Collapse eminent.
  16. Wooda Womp El Grande (9:27) This title came from the sound of this song.  Part march, part hat dance, part goose step.
  17. The Black Keys Thing (12:23) Played on all the black keys because, why not.
  18. Jamola Number Three (14:23) Obviously Jamola Number One and Two just weren’t worth it.
  19. Those Three Notes (9:26) An experiment built on three notes.
  20. Behringer Mixer’s Last Stand (So Long Sucker) (0:16)  This may be the very last recording done on my old Behringer mixer.  At this point it had become so caked with dust, it had to warm up a good 10 minutes after power up.  It became an investment of frustration and canned air.  The hiss and uncontrollable distortion were a disaster at the end.  New Audio Interface now in operation (THANK GOD!).

Here’s the 110 meg zip file of all the tracks and the cover!  Enjoy!

And as always, like Todd Rundgren said, “Yer gonna wanna get out yer headphones, cause they’re really gonna help ya on this one.”

CHOB, Cool stuff, Hozpitality, Music Sound Noise Audio, WMOM

UPDATED!!! Novation LaunchPad Pro + Ableton + Rush = High Mystic Water Rhythms

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Rush Cartoon
So I bought a Novation Launchpad Pro for Christmas (From me to me). This is a controller for digital audio software (mostly Ableton). I have always complained about the learning curve in Ableton and how it does things differently. Well, seeing that it IS an industry standard in an industry I lovingly call my “hobby”, I decided to invest in the software and force myself to learn it. This device helps that learning and makes understanding of it a lot easier.

Novation LaunchPad Pro

I have started stealing drum sounds from Neil Peart (from Rush) and using them as my drum foundations on this project. These drum sounds and the riff are respectfully sampled from the song by Rush titled “High Water” (from the album “Hold Your Fire”). Admittedly, the groove/shuffle of the original drum pattern are lost a bit as I quantized it. It made it more robotic and less human which I think adds to it in an odd way. I called my version “High Water Pants” “High Mystic Water Rhythms”.

This is my first second stab at this, so be gentle. I am amazed at the simplicity and power of all of this technology and my mind has been blown multiple times in the past 48 hours. I’m in love with this stuff.

Check out my first  second shot at a LaunchPad Pro mix with Ableton. Not too shabby. Take special note of the groovy drum solo break in the middle. I’m so nifty! 🙂

UPDATED!!!

I have decided that one Rush song was not enough to destroy, so I also diced up Mystic Rhythms and added a whole new segment mixing the drums from this song along with the song mentioned above (High Water).

I’m sure Neil Peart will be completely pissed, but I am learning a lot and having fun!  Let’s face it.  The man’s drum sounds, sound awesome! I basically sampled each of his drum sounds separately (to a very short wav file), then assigned each drum (wav file) to a button, then wailed away on the pads and tried to make my own drum patterns out of HIS sounds. I  put another nifty drum solo type break near the end.  THIS IS JUST TOO MUCH POWWWWWERRRRR! I’m blowing myself away here!