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The Main Thing And Its Peripherals
The main thing is the thing that needs to get done before everything else in a track—the part that every other part depends on, the part from which everything else flows. Here’s an example: for practice, I’ve been working on a series of pieces built around mid-tempo Afrobeats-style beats. Afrobeats–not to be confused with Afrobeat–is… Continue reading
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Running, Tempo, and Time
As a runner, I often think about running’s relationship to time and how we inhabit time differently while in motion. Time seems to pass more slowly—or not pass at all—when you’re running. Your mind floats: past becomes present, and future scenarios play themselves out—perhaps because you’re grounded in the tactile stepping of your stride. When… Continue reading
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Resonant Thoughts: Christopher Alexander on Dynamic Structures
“Things that are good have a certain kind of structure. You can’t get that structure except dynamically. Period. In nature you’ve got continuous very-small-feedback-loop adaptation going on, which is why things get to be harmonious. That’s why they have the qualities that we value. If it wasn’t for the time dimension, its wouldn’t happen.” Christopher… Continue reading
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Arrows Of Attention: A Musical Phenomenology
A musical phenomenology: a writing that sings its analysis, generates its lexicon, and blooms its concepts from the sounds it encounters. Writing that follows the paths of melodies and rhythm cycles, feels the textures of sounds, connects the substance with the style. Writing that describes, evokes, conjures, summons, and elicits music’s affective presence. Writing that… Continue reading
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Database: SG Lewis on Samplers
“Those old samplers…the audio quality would be degraded through dithering of the audio in the sample, in the sampler, or there’s a natural built-in bit crushing element to a lot of those samplers. Those distortion elements are introduced by feeding audio into a new piece of kit. So the next couple of [production] steps were… Continue reading
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