lonely fire

Just wanted to touch base with a somewhat related post to the Soundseer post I made last summer. Today two articles came to my attention related to the visual aspect/properties of sound. First, by using modern technologies, sound engineers and researchers have managed to “play” a phonautograph of a person singing made in 1860, as the NYTimes and LATimes report. This is significant, because this “recording” predates Edison’s work with wax cylinders by nearly 30 years. I say “recording” because phonautographs were never intended to be heard- they were merely supposed to be a visualization of a voice or sound, an aural autograph or signature, if you will. Here’s a rendition of the device:

Not surprisingly, the sound that the audio historians managed to elicit from the recording is not impressive by today’s sound quality standards (read this article about overcompression in CD’s/mainstream recordings, or this blog post for more info about the volume wars in the music industry). Nonetheless, the fact that this aural document exists, and may be the first such document created by humans, is quite significant. The latest example of this significance being the music software/digital audio workstation Melodyne, which updates the 19th century concept of sound visualization with 21st century perspective/technological advancements.

If you watch the Melodyne video on the Celemony homepage, you’ll find out what advancements I’m referring to- namely, the ability to pick out the different notes that occupy a static waveform/chunk of polyphonous recorded sound, and being able to manipulate each note however you like- change pitch, rhythm, etc. Pretty neat, huh?

Who knows what kind of implications this will have for composition of music. No doubt, professional recording engineers have been using fancy recording technology (esp MIDI) to polish thousands of turds for years now; but software like this may even preclude the need for studio musicians. I don’t know, its a double-edged sword- the implications of this kind of technology (if it becomes widespread), used in conjunction with MIDI instruments, etc, seem to remove the necessity of people playing instruments at all. At least in my most simplistic and backwards of minds. But on the other hand, the compositional possibilities this software enables are kind of endless, and utterly fascinating. I’d like to get my hands on it someday, that’s for sure.

Hey all-

Long time, no type, eh? Well, I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things with this here blog. What better way to do so than by sharing a mix of music I made, yes? If you want more info on how Muxtape works, you can check out Schleep’s blog post (and mix); though get in soon, because as this article indicates, there may not be a substantial legal footing for sites like Muxtape and Mixwit to stick around…. (which kind of doesn’t surprise me, even if you’re not able to download songs from either of these sites…) Seems like Mixwit may be the winner of the two, as that news article explains, since it doesn’t require users to upload songs from their hard disks to their servers, but instead takes advantage of an mp3 search engine to find songs that are already out there on the internet to pull from to create your mix; though, of course, this means that the ultra-rare Wicked Sceptre b-side that you need to make your mix perfect may not be so readily available with such a set-up. (CAUTION- Wicked Sceptre link is NSFW).

All this talk of mixtapes brings two things to mind: the book Mix Tape that was compiled by Thurston Moore a few years ago (more info on it here and here), and the short-lived Gentleman’s Dining Club of Southwestern Pennsylvania (a mixtape & supper club some folks put together), which I managed to wrangle my way into, and made some pretty outlandish tape “cases” for- including some weird box for Q and a crucifix for Rick Gribenas; a creative streak that led me to make an epic 4-tape, 8-sided, travel photograph-hot glue-gunned, hinged wooden triangle contraption for someone I had feelings for at the time.

While Muxtape, et al, is a pretty amazing idea/design, infinitely fascinating in the possibilities of sharing and discovering, you still miss that human element that goes into writing out the setlist, choosing a photo or making a collage (or carved, painted wooden triangles) to accompany the music; just that lack of personalization that the giver goes into great detail for the receiver. But, if you’re sharing the music with the whole internet anyway, how personal can you really get? Hm?

Anywho, more posts soon, I promise

So, during the times that I’ve been able to travel in the past few years, I’ve always made a point to do something outdoorsy and camper-like; be it bummin around Arches, drinking beers on the Craters of the Moon, sleeping under the stars in Spearfish, hiking around Rainier, or chillin with ponies at Assateague, etc. But I hardly ever manage to do these types of things around Pittsburgh…..

So I’ve been planning this massive post with info on all the local hiking trails just outside of town, to kind of spur along my own intentions of seeing many of these places for myself… And whilst doing some internetting for good sites, lo and behold, at the beginning of June, our good friends at the Carnegie Library already went ahead and compiled a comprehensive list of hiking trails in Western PA…. So dig in! Who knows, maybe you’ll even run into Brangelina pettin the wild cthulu’s mane at Ohiopyle….

And one last note about summertime and tunes- gotta say, this time of year makes me want to listen to nothing but CCR and the Rolling Stones (Exile on Main St. in particular). When I was 13, Chronicle was one of the first albums I ever bought with my own money (on cassette no less!), so all the green & humidity of Pgh in the summer just gets me all nostalgic….

Stumbled upon this gem of a website last night, a source of reviews for psych and prog rock bands worldwide. It is especially worth noting the amount of info they have on one of their pages about Ya Ho Wa 13, the mothergod ur-root of hippie-commune-cult-worshipping-wack-job rock outfits for all eternity, as the following album sleeve and live photo will testify:

And King Fiery Jaguar Paw had yet another casually miraculous touchdown the other night:

sandy bull e pluribus unim electric blend

Xhol Caravan motherfuckers live side 1, first day (excerpt)

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band doc at the radar station sheriff of hong kong

Vladimir Ussachevsky Electronic and Acoustic Works 1957-1972 metamorphosis

Fire could you understand me jedan divian den

Juan de la Cruz band shake yr brains i wanna say yeah

Sir Lord Baltimore s/t hell hound

SRC s/t daystar

Kraftwerk 4 heavy metal kids

Adam Bohman & Roger Smith Reality Fandango the first question

Nels Cline/Chris Corsano/Carlos Giffoni Graduation side a, excerpt

Midnite Snake Shaving the Angel sacred mist

carlos santana/john mclaughlin love devotion surrender the life divine

Les Razilles Denudes high or die heatwave (excerpt)

Robbie Basho Venus In Cancer venus in cancer

gunter schickert Samtvogel kreigmaschinen, fahrt zer holle