Live on Mixlr (and a bit of ‘geeking-out’)

As you possibly know, I’ve been considering playing some of my stuff live in order to give me (and hopefully, listeners) a new perspective on my music and to promote my tunes a bit more. I also said that I was going to document the process, as I learn and/or make mistakes….so here it is (be warned: this post contains some really mundane info about my…ahem…’equipment’). I’m not sure I’m any closer to actually taking my stuff out to venues yet, but I have, at least, found a way to play my music as a performance.

I’ve recently spent a few days trying to work out some practicalities: how to recreate sequenced parts (about 80% of the music) for instance; without just sitting there and pressing ‘play’. Ableton Live is now my chosen method of recording and, as its name suggests, it is equally adept at facilitating some forms of live performance. That was its whole selling-point back in the day. Another issue was how to route the computer and the live instrumentation (such as Monotrons, my synth and bass guitar) in order to use the multiple effects my tracks rely on whilst being able to retain ‘hands-on’ control for live tweaking. Then there was the issue of streaming the audio to Mixlr.com.

Well I seem to have worked it out. The more technical adept amongst you would probably have a solution to all of this instantly. It took me a bit longer. Two days of re-arranging, trying-out and occasional frustration. But the set-up is now complete, I think. Well, except for a decent clip controller such as the Launchpad (I bought an app for the iPad which purportedly does the same, but its reliability is really erratic….not exactly what you want for a live situation). Anyway, I can’t afford to spend anything at the moment, so the Launchpad will have to wait.

So, this is the primitive and Heath-Robinson-style set-up:

• iMac running Live (if I ever need to do a gig, I’ll use the MacBook instead, but for streaming from home, I need the laptop to connect to Mixlr at the moment). With clips triggered manually on the fly.
• Keyboard controller connected to iMac.
• Monotrons chained together.
• Alesis Fusion as a stand-alone synth/sampler and for some sequencing duties.
• Bass guitars fed through the mixer.
• Multi-fx connected to the mixer’s sends.
• iPad for Korg MS20 sounds.

All of this is fed through my tiny Behringer mixer and then routed into the Macbook via a Tascam i/o interface. The only issue I’ve encountered is a bit of interference from the Mac (or it could be my wireless router) when using the multi-fx.

So, this gives me the means to use Live and to tweak effects settings/clips and the mix using the mouse (at the moment, though I’ll use the controllers when I get the Launchpad or similar). There’s probably easier, more straight-forward ways of doing this, but it works for me.
This is what it all looks like at present:

The mixer is full to capacity! But this layout does make it easy to twiddle, tweak and play everything from the same spot (while maintaining a degree of tidiness!).

As for Mixlr….I recommend it. At first it seemed a little bit awkward to stream using their dedicated free software (you have to download this if you wish to broadcast. It didn’t display correctly and I couldn’t make head nor tail of it. Then I realised I had some system fonts missing on my computer. Once I’d installed these, the text appeared correctly and it was easy. Not exactly rocket-science….or even GCSE Science…..but it challenged me! The site itself looks very slick and I get the impression there’s quite a bit of beta testing going on, but it works ok. It’d be nice to have more of my networking friends on there, but I hope that’ll come in time.

So, the plan is to present a series of hour-long ‘gigs’ on Mixlr with a different tracklist from my albums for each gig, also some cover versions of my favourite music and anything else I fancy doing…..synthy improv (‘Symprov?’), noise, radiophonic-style stuff, that kind of thing. I am sincerely hoping people tune-in to listen, or I’m gonna feel like a complete dick.

I did a little test (three tracks) which you can listen to HERE. A few mistakes, a bit of sound-balancing needed; but I’m quite happy with the sound quality in general.

 

 

*This* is Independent Music…

I don’t know what it is about Spring/Summer here in the UK (besides it’s utter crapness, that is! Rain, bloody rain….it’s like living in Blade Runner!), but people have been releasing quality independent music recently, particularly in June! I’m not referring to myself here, of course…..I just do what I do and hope people like it.

No, I’m referring to these little gems of sound (actually that’s misrepresenting them, ‘cos some of these sound MASSIVE!)

The Fierce & The Dead – ‘On VHS’ (‘kin awesome)

Pulco – ‘Man Of Lists’ (bloody lovely)

Jewellers – ‘Lakeswimmer’ (Gareth’s & Gareth’s new one)

Do you like my new, succinct, reviewing style?! Seriously though, it’s best to let the music to do the talking and these are very good releases indeed.

Ennui? Oui…

Hello again. It’s great liking music, isn’t it? I certainly do like the sounds made by some of our very best popular beat combos, especially those managed by Simon Cowell. Bands such as ‘The Cockers’ and solo artists like Cynthia Razzle and her hit “Razzle Vajazzle”. Hope you like it too.

As you can tell, I’m a tad bored. Well, not exactly bored as such. I’m actually quite active mentally and, sort of, creatively. The fact is that I’m listening to lots of old and new music, trying to get some inspiration for new tracks. Influence, inspiration, whatever. I’ve hit a bit of a wall for the time being. Apart from loads of loops I’ve made and uploaded for people to use (On Soundcloud) and a few experiments, I’ve not really made anything new. This will change, of course; and I do acknowledge that the playing about with loops and ‘experiments’ is exactly what will lead me to making new tracks.

What I do take solace from is that I have a small but loyal and supportive fan-base (far better and nicer than a ‘large but casual and fairly apathetic’ fan-base) who are willing to listen to and share my music because they like it.

After a fairly decent first response to the ‘Crash St’ album, the downloads have (inevitably) tailed-off for the time being. It’s difficult to pique people’s interest in a release they’ve never heard, from an artist they’ve never heard of, promotion not being my strong point. In fact, if I keep tweeting/posting about the album ad infinitum, people are going to get pissed-off (if they’re not already). So, the promotion of the album lies with listeners sharing and word-of-mouth. Some of you have been excellent at doing that already; many thanks for that.

All I can ask is that you keep tweeting/posting/sharing/torrenting and encourage other people to do the same. Also, I have embeddable players on Bandcamp and Soundcloud which I’d love you to include in blogs, etc if you can.

For instance:

As per usual, many, many thanks for all you do….including reading this blog!

Cheers, Paul

Loops and Stuff

Besides some experiments with Ableton and some demo tracks; and with no new releases planned as such; I’ve been busy recording and uploading some loops to Soundcloud. Some of them have been sitting on my hard-drive for ages and rarely get used when I record. Some are new loops which I’ve recorded in order to learn Ableton. So I thought I’d share them.

So, anyway, to cut a long story short, I’m putting them ‘out there’ for anyone to download and use as they see fit. The loops are all copyright-free and have an open Creative Commons license. If people want to use them for CC or commercial releases, that’s fine; I don’t want credit and am happy for the loops to be in the public domain.

They cover a few genres I guess, though they’re mainly electronic, having been produced on an Alesis Fusion and Korg Monotrons. A few of the drumloops were made using Propellerhead Rebirth mods on my old Mac. Anyway, I’ll shut the hell up now.

The loops are at http://soundcloud.com/dementio-loops

A Local (ish) Discovery – Pulco – ‘Sketchbook Season EP’

“Formula” is not a word which I think should ever be applied to music production. In fact, the music I find most edifying and interesting eschews formula, if not all together, then through a willingness to open new sonic or emotional doorways with each listen. Such is the music of  Pulco. Ash Cooke (for that is his name), weaves intricate and ever-changing sonic and emotional landscapes in his songs; exemplified in the five-track EP ‘Sketchbook Season’.

With me, comparisons are inevitable: there are elements of Beta Band, early Simian and the quirky near-spoken-word adult electro nursery rhymes of John Callaghan. But the music is by no means derivative. With their constantly changing instrumentation and structures, their occasionally odd neo-folk stylings, samples and 8-bit layers; these songs offer ‘interest’ in the least beard-stroking way possible. There is also a mild euphoria to these songs, a wistfulness and a breeziness which lends itself to summer listening. All tied together with Cooke’s tuneful tenor vocal. The opening track ‘Whistle Frog Finds A Way’ sets a whimsical tone with its speeded-up vocal sample and spoken-word intro which echoes those lovely introductions to many a children’s TV classic by Oliver Postgate or Eric Thompson; before it bursts into life as a slightly overdriven folk-pop song. Personal favourite ‘Don’t Stand Down’ is achingly beautiful, with mellotron-esque choir, gently plucked guitar and vocal harmonies.

While this all makes for an essentially pleasant listen, Cooke throws the occasional curve-ball; ‘formula’ is disregarded and the music shifts and ebbs, against the flow.

As I type this, I’m also listening to Pulco’s “Small Thoughts” album which offers more variety but is equally accomplished and appealing.

Highly recommended.

February Mailout – ‘Crash St’ Imminent

“Hello again. This is just a reminder to tell you that my new album ‘Crash St’ is available from Thursday 1st March (ie. next Thursday) at http://dementio13.com . I’m really pleased with it and hope you can share in the music.

It’s a pay-what-you-want download, with no minimum price, so you could have it for free. All I ask is that, if you decide to download it and like it, please share links on Twitter and/or Facebook; your recommendations help it reach a wider audience.

Bloggers/DJs have been very complimentary in their reviews:

“…electronic, programmed machine music, bursting at the seams with humanity and soul, imprinted with the traces of its creator…….Dementio13 has mastered the art of creating human music, organic music that breathes, while capitalising on the power and impact of the machine.” (Jan 26, 2012)
Oliver Arditi – oliverarditi.com

Full review at oliverarditi.com/2012/01/26/dementio-13-crash-st

“…his forthcoming Crash St album reveals him to be still moving forward in invigorating and never predictable directions, his exploratory electronica more varied in texture and mood than pretty much any of his contemporaries.” (Jan 31 2012)
Unwashed Territories – unwashedterritories.blogspot.com

Also, there’s a free album of my older stuff over at http://cutmatrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/alt-delete, so help yourself. You don’t even need to join a mailing list to download….no strings.

CRASH ST. PREVIEW:

Thanks,

Paul”

What’s Been Happening and What’s Coming Up

Yep….. time is marching on. I’ve been extra busy doing the dayjob, which I expected, it’s always a bit manic after Christmas. So I’m glad I got a bit obsessive, writing and recording new tracks between September and December. It seems like all the hard work is done on that front. The new album’s been uploaded to Bandcamp for quite a while. Preview links were sent to a few selected people; people who have supported and encouraged me over the past few years.

Over on Dementio13.com I’ve been experimenting with pre-orders, with mixed results. So, the experiment has paid-off in enabling me to realise that pre-orders are fairly pointless in my case. There’s no real benefit for listeners or for me. That’s not a universal truth though…… some bands/artists may find it works for them, particularly if they’re taking physical orders such as CDs or USB drives.

So, here’s where I repeat myself from previous posts. The album, ‘Crash St’ will be available on 1st March as a pay-what-you-want download (pre-orders are still available in the meantime for an ultra-low price). As way of celebration, I’ve got another live mix on Dandelion Radio, on Pete Jackson’s show throughout March from the 1st.

I’m also currently working (rather slowly) on a remix for Marie Craven’s project with Canadian DJ/producer Crimson Death.

In 9 days (20th Feb), Pinklogik releases her album of remixes of her track ‘Playing With Sticks’. My remix is track 12. Here’s a little preview of the whole album in bitesize chunks:

And here are four preview tracks from ‘Crash St’:

Musician/writer Oliver Arditi said this about the album:

“I listen to a lot of entirely electronic music, but most of it is either of a relatively superficial, energetic nature, or it deliberately exploits the coldness and impersonality of synthetic sound. Dementio 13 has mastered the art of creating human music, organic music that breathes, while capitalising on the power and impact of the machine. It’s not dance music, though it utilises a lot of dance music vocabulary, and it isn’t rock, although it likewise employs its language. It’s just what it is: music that challenges, stimulates and entertains, and while it’s like a lot of other things, there’s nothing else that’s quite like it.”

While Dandelion Radio DJ Mark Whitby writes:

“a sneak peak of his forthcoming Crash St album (due on 1 March) reveals him to be still moving forward in invigorating and never predictable directions, his exploratory electronica more varied in texture and mood than pretty much any of his contemporaries.”

So, there you are. Am excited, enthused and very happy about it all. That’s all that’s fit to print at the moment. Enjoy your weekend.

The Last Post – New News

Well, it’s the last post of this weekend, anyway. It’s been a productive two days, but my posting (somewhat fervent this weekend, I’ll admit) will go on hold as the trials and tribulations of the workplace take hold during the week.

Anyway, as I sip my wine in a most civilized way, I just want to tell you about a little pre-new-release present I have uploaded today. As you may know, I tend to delete older releases. But I deleted one album that is a personal favourite of mine, a favourite for sentimental reasons and because it sounds quite different to nearly all of my other releases. I also know that some regular listeners of mine really quite liked the album from their comments.

“Sub Urbian” was recorded in the Autumn of 2006 in my old house during a time when my old eMac was returned to Apple to fix a dodgy CRT screen. So, the album was recorded on an ancient Pentium PC with a Soundblaster Awe64 soundcard with home-made soundfonts, a Yamaha SU10 and a Bontempi reed organ using Cubase 3.5 to sequence everything. A minimal and lo-fi set-up, to say the least.

I’ve put it on Dementio13.com as a free download. It’s a straightforward album of sampladelic melodic instrumental stuff. Help yourself….go on, knock yerself out. Have a great week…..