Free at last.  I just composed this little piano + synth ditty last night.  I used to make these little sketches often, but haven't lately so I'm making an effort to experiment more and write little quick tracks.  Many times, these sketches lead to elements that end up in more composed pieces.  I wrote this in one take per each of the three tracks.

It was so much fun to make something that I had no expectations or self-imposed pressure with.  Enjoy this glimpse into my sketch book.   

 
 

So I'm getting way into sound design lately and learning as much as I can about digital sound. 

The following files are made from a file I recorded of Larry the poet at the poetry slam. 

The first one is me toying with loop point values, the second haunting ambient pad sound is from a granulated reverb with 30 voices or something like that.  The sound grains are programmed to go backwards and I think they're between 100ms - 300ms.  The grains going backwards gives it a soft ambience.

The third sample is generated by radomized loop values being patched through the granulated reverb. 

The last one is more randomization of the poet going backwards and in different speeds and stuff.   

I was manipulating the parameters as I went with a lot of variables so I don't totally remember what I did.  These samples come from a recording of real time manipulations. 

 
 

I'm not a big fan of cats for the most part.  They make my face get all snotty and my eyes water.  They poop in the house and they don't really care about people.  If you were to drop dead, and the cat were hungry, it would eat you with out remembering all the nice things you did for it. 

That being said, when I met my wife Anna, she came with some cat baggage.  "Beastly" and "Lucy".  Beastly was a big black tom cat.  His head was like a bowling ball and his eyes were tough, tender and full of personality.  He was a special cat and we ended up getting really tight. 

About two years ago Beastly was freed from this mortal coil by a pack of coyotes up by Bidwell Park.  He even managed to gouge one of their eyes out before he went down.  Knowing Beastly like I did, this was the most appropriate and noble way for him to die.  Yes, I cried. 

Last night I listened to a sample I recorded of his purr about 3 years ago.  I had been working on my 3rd ambient piece for a few hours and was over it.  It was really late at night and I thought maybe if I listened closely enough, and dissected the audio enough, I could hear messages from Beastly on "the other side".  Well I didn't, but I did end up with a cool little sound design piece.