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brettworks

thinking through music


  • March 29, 2018

    Lessons From Dilla 4: Use Pulsating Sounds

    Use pulsating sounds.   Continue reading

    beat programming, creative strategies, hip hop, Uncategorized
  • March 28, 2018

    Art About Music: Ed Ruscha’s “Noise” (1963)

    Continue reading

    art about music, Uncategorized
  • March 27, 2018

    From The Archives: Notes On John Berger’s “Portraits”

    “The given is a prison.” – John Berger, Portraits, p. 37. Notes on John Berger’s “Portraits” Continue reading

    from the archives, Uncategorized
  • March 26, 2018

    Playing Along

    When I’m composing I’m almost always playing along with something that’s already sounding. Pop musicians often begin with a groove, but since I don’t make beat music (at the moment) I often begin with free improvisation at the keyboard. I’m searching for something—a chord, a bit of melody—that I haven’t exactly heard before. I’m searching… Continue reading

    phenomenology, Uncategorized, working knowledge
  • March 23, 2018

    Curating The Week: Mouse On Mars, Carlos Kleiber, A Watchmaker

    • An article about Mouse On Mars. “Music is a strong anarchic force,” Mr. St. Werner said. “It’s probably our last bastion of anarchic wilderness, that trace of nature that keeps just growing, keeps crossbreeding, keeps immigrating and migrating and cross-fertilizing and expanding our perceptual apparatus. It’s also a great means for orientation and for… Continue reading

    Curating The Week, Uncategorized
  • March 22, 2018

    Lessons From Dilla 3: The Bass Can Walk Or Wander

    The bass can walk or wander from the drum rhythm.  Continue reading

    beat programming, hip hop, lessons from Dilla, Uncategorized
  • March 21, 2018

    Freestyle: Music Aphorisms 4

    There’s musical repetition that creates a groove, and repetition that stands in for having new ideas. In some musics these two functions co-exist. Electronic music instructional videos would be more inspiring if they showed emotional composing/improvising/performing in addition to problem-solving. Electronic music compensates for the lack of physicality in its production through an excess of… Continue reading

    freestyle, music aphorisms, Uncategorized
  • March 20, 2018

    Art About Music: Eno And Fripp’s Signal-Delay System (c. 1973)

    Continue reading

    art about music, Uncategorized
  • March 19, 2018

    On Click Tracks And Going Off The Grid

    If you record your music using digital audio workstation (DAW) software such Apple Logic, Garageband, Ableton Live, or Digital Performer, you’ll notice that every time you go to hit Record a metronome click synced to your file’s tempo automatically clicks into action. The default tempo is 120 bpm (the optimal electronic dance music tempo) and… Continue reading

    click tracks, grid thinking, Uncategorized
  • March 16, 2018

    Curating The Week: Film Sound Design, AI-Generated Art, African Music In Film Scores

    • A video explaining how film sound design shapes our perception. • An article about AI-generated art. “What happens in a world where effort and scarcity are no longer part of the definition of art?” • An article about incorporating African musics into Hollywood film scores. “The most difficult part is that as soon as… Continue reading

    Curating The Week, Uncategorized
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Thomas Brett is a musician and writer who holds a PhD in ethnomusicology from New York University. He is the author of Principles of Electronic Music Production and The Creative Electronic Music Producer, a book described by Sound On Sound magazine as “a deep philosophical analysis of the various creative inspirations, ideas and processes involved in producing electronic music.” His essays have appeared in the journals Popular Music and Popular Music and Society, as well as edited collections by Routledge, Oxford, and Cambridge University presses. Thomas has played percussion on Broadway since 1997 and writes about music at brettworks.com.

Recent Posts

  • Database: Arovane On Decisive Sources Of Good Musical Ideas
  • Musical Ideas
  • 2 September
  • Curating the Week: Juggling, Music Teachers, Writing, Tacit Knowledge in Research
  • 8000 Studies

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