Category: Music

Daily Loop #17

Don’t discount yourself. That’s something I struggle with a lot these days. “Oh, I just ran a mile today,” is something that came out my mouth recently, when just 4-ish years ago I couldn’t run a mile without being in pain for a week afterwards.

I’m tempted to discount this loop today, as there’s so much more that could be done here. Better arrangement, better mix, more vocals, more sizzle, more pop… the list goes on and will never end.

But this baby got out today, and that’s all that matters. This is the public facing audio treat, and that’s final. It’s not the final mix, and frankly no one cares.

LIKES

“blasting shoegaze while driving means turning it down every five seconds to make sure that the weird noises in the song aren’t coming from your car,” @dniellechelosky

“I’m not one for ‘told ya so’s but in 1989 when David Duke won the state House seat in Louisiana, some of us said this was an inflection point in American politics. This wasn’t just the logical result of Reaganesque racial dog whistling. It was something different,” @timjacobwise

“I’m just thinking again about how many lives would have been saved had the US had competent — or even vaguely interested — national leadership when the pandemic hit,” @AstroKatie

Video by Anthony from Pexels

Daily Loop #16

Today’s Daily Loop gets a little raunchy, featuring a vocal sample and a mish-mash of other sounds and debris. Still getting the hang of the APC40 but woo, I love it.

LIKES:

“I love @YouTube and put a music video on there the other day… how can this be happening? I don’t want my fans or anyone to be funding hate or violence,” @selenagomez

https://twitter.com/Ang_Ramm/status/1350308428569337856

Daily Loop #16 Video by C Technical from Pexels

Daily Loop #15

“I’m mentoring a young African photographer that does all his edits on his phone. Does anyone have a laptop they aren’t using?” @aundrelarrow

“The gentlest people I know are full of rage and grief.” @alexanderchee

“Happy to have cut my teeth in an industry that was more about supporting art and adding something beautiful to the world than being an “entrepreneur” and being cool and not understanding what it truly means to invest in something you believe in.” @misslujo

Video by Stef from Pexels

Daily Loop #14

Just beeps and boops, bass-line and loops. Late night jamming, but loving the work. Head down, crank it out. And heck, this isn’t #14, this is like #114 if we’re counting all the files on my computer. This is where it’s at because I’m been messing with Abelton Live since 2017, which is probably the longest I’ve messed with a single piece of software since ScreenFlow.

One poem, one photograph, one beat can change someone’s life. Make your thing and ship it.

Video by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels

Daily Loop #13

“There’s only so much trauma one single human brain can process, and Twitter is like an always-on trauma machine,” Brown said in an email. “It takes a huge mental toll to consume this content, day in and day out.”

‘Always on trauma machine’: Social media managers grapple with burnout, leaving the industry

My eyeballs are singed by Twitter lately, so tonight I struck back. I scrolled, found the first video I could I find, ripped the audio and chopped it up into a sample, which you can hear in today’s Daily Loop.

Video by Nazim Zafri from Pexels

Daily Loop #12

On a day with too many video calls, a crappy run, and force-feeding my eyeballs with way too much Capitol-siege footage, we get to here. By 8am I had most of this loop done, so when I sat down at about 7pm it was ready to bake.

I can go for a run without thinking of winning a race, which is a mindset I need to apply to this project. A steady practice of running got me here, nearing five years of running. Do I have trophies and winnings to show for it? Nope.

This daily practice of loop making, then, is not for press coverage or the myriad of other random goals that music makers could hope for. In the late 80s I just wanted to be shredder and travel in a rock and roll band. Priorities (and markets) change, so I’m okay with not holding out hope for that.

Sure, there are 100 different articles I could link to and discuss here tonight. Lord knows I read 1000 Tweets, streamed a few hours of news coverage. But tonight, right here, this is for a Daily Loop. A soft place, an open invitation… permission, I guess. Make the thing, do the thing, ship the thing (as Seth Godin says). To hold back is to withhold our magic from the world.

Video by Athena from Pexels

Daily Loop #10

Sit down, do the work. That’s the running theme throughout ‘Turning Pro‘ by Steven Pressfield. Don’t wait for inspiration to strike. Get your ass in the chair and work.

Sure, I’ve been playing bass since 1991, but the past TWO DECADES have seen me doing everything but making music. Several stops and starts, of course, but I’m trying.

These Daily Loops are a by-product of sitting down and doing the work. I’ve been showing up, opening up Abelton Live damn near every day the past few months, and just trying to crank out something.

Sure, the goal is to someday release an album on Bandcamp, but I don’t even know what that would sound like. In the meantime, I’m going to ship. If I wait, it dies. If I hesitate, I’m gonna fall right back to sleep.

It’s like writing. Best to do it every day. Stretch, eat well, drink water, floss. The every day thing adds up. That’s my Daily Loop. My work.

Is it my job? My career? No, but why else am I here? To update Google Docs and answer emails?

Our work is to delight, bring joy, create goodness. It’s 10 days in and I feel pretty good about this.

Video by Madam M.A (Akari M.) from Pexels

Goodnight, Metal Friend Mix 11

I believe this my longest mix yet, at almost 49 minutes. A mix of older material like Mortem Obire from 2017 and Demian Johnston from 2010, to just release this week, like Andrew Everington and exit eternity.

I’m an absolute new-comer to everything about dark-ambient, but I know what I like, and these mixes are a reflection of that. I hope you enjoy.

All music sourced and purchased via Bandcamp. Browse my Bandcamp collection and find something nice for yourself.

Daily Loop #9

After the week we’ve had it was time for some beeps, boops, and coffee. Saturday morning sampling, some vocal tracks – this was a fun one.

Seeing (and hearing) how so much of this stuff is just layers – build them up, remove them, build an entire scene from just a few ideas.

Photo by Stas Knop from Pexels

Daily Loop #8

Nearing 10pm at night and I’m just now getting up this Daily Loop. I figure since it’ll be months until thing ever get back to even 10% of normal, and since I spend so much time in front of my computer anyways, there’s really no reason why I can’t keep getting these posted.

Lost some audio in Abelton today, which is a bummer. A minor file management snafu, just being too quick and careless. It’s okay, since I wanted to redo it at some point. Lesson learned.

Tape video via Pixabay.