Jumping Back In

Here I sit at my downtown Starbucks typing my first blog entry since early this year. Maybe it's this cold, grey, rainy day in Boston and the transition to Autumn that makes me want to type it. Or maybe it's that I'm feeling a stronger desire to create than I've felt in some time. Or maybe, on the third hand, it's that I'm beginning to see a personal creative method emerging. The three are no doubt interrelated!

Earlier this year I moved my project studio from Salem down to a small unit in a rehearsal space in Charlestown...about a 10 minute drive from the city apartment. I used the move as an opportunity to configure/reconfigure some equioment that I'd been accumulating but hadn't really integrated into my overall rig: a handful of synths and a couple of effects boxes. The challenges here were how to physically organize it all and how to deal with the significant number of audio and MIDI I/O channels I now needed. Seemingly a simple equation, but it's amazing how many iterations of trial and error (and buying cool-but-obsolete hardware through eBay, Amazon and mailing lists) it takes to get something that works. Somewhere in early summer I landed on a configuration that works...and that I'm happy with. I should tidy the place a bit and snap some shots one of these days.

I'm finding that the Charlestown space is quite a bit different as a creative space than the Salem space had been. Since it's a space established for sound and music (which is to say, loud volumes are tolerated and taste is not a factor) it's easier to experiment with sound. I can construct deep bass patches, experimental timbres and loop endlessly repeating motifs as much as I want. It makes it easier to stand in front of the big modular and just let go. But on the other hand I find that I don't really do much in the way of composing material there. It's not an "intimate" space; one can have a sonic collision with anything from death metal (I have a neighbor band that plays at brutal volumes when they're in) to a cover band working on "Hit Me With Your Best Shot". Don't get me wrong, being surrounded by that raw creativity (well, not so raw or creative in the cover band case!) is a wonderful thing. And the industrial nature of the rehearsal space is great. But I don't find myself sitting tinkering with the actual music as much. It's much more of a focus on synthesis and sound when I'm there. And things that hit you in the gut.

So here's a pattern I've naturally begun to fall into: On days like today, I feel like staying at the apartment and working on musical motifs on my MacBook...primarily using Numerology and Ableton Live. And on nights like last night I feel like going to the studio to be surrounded by the machines, and work on sound in a more physical way. Perhaps that represents a nice balance...the quiet and thoughtful with a focus on theory and structure, and the more visceral with a focus on sound and impact. So, today I'm thinking of the workflow that will allow me to pour the results of one into the hopper of the other. And I think I'm close...