So with all the nuggets of knowledge and philosophical thoughts dropped, that was your main takeaway?
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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread
- Thread starter ttasselm
- Start date
I think so.
That and…
Rick works on things until he is personally satisfied with them, then considers them a document of that particular time and space, and moves forward.
Yeah, was just about to post on that. He's had a huge impact on my musical direction in the last 5 years.
I really liked Rick Rubin's answers and attitude. I feel the same way about making music to try to please other people... which is one reason I think I prefer doing it "unprofessionally" instead of making a career out of it. Plus the idea of self-promotion really doesn't appeal to me at all.
When I go back and listen to my old stuff and don't like it some of it that much, I have to remind myself there's a LOT of music I used to like and am not into anymore. It's not because the recording changed or the artist retroactively stopped being good.
When I go back and listen to my old stuff and don't like it some of it that much, I have to remind myself there's a LOT of music I used to like and am not into anymore. It's not because the recording changed or the artist retroactively stopped being good.
the rubin thing: i like the snapshot/diary concept and often espouse it. i wish i didn't think i looked like sh*t in a lot of those old pics. 
the interviewer was a bit odd. he tried to get rick into second-guessing territory. didn't work.
tbh, i think it's a lot easier to feel like that if you'd have success.
in terms of giants passing, rick turner dying last week hit me pretty hard. not only does pretty much everyone who uses amplified instruments owe him a bit of gratitude, but i knew him a bit and he def qualified as genius-level and was a seriously engaged, gracious and generous dude.
the interviewer was a bit odd. he tried to get rick into second-guessing territory. didn't work.
tbh, i think it's a lot easier to feel like that if you'd have success.
in terms of giants passing, rick turner dying last week hit me pretty hard. not only does pretty much everyone who uses amplified instruments owe him a bit of gratitude, but i knew him a bit and he def qualified as genius-level and was a seriously engaged, gracious and generous dude.
I only met Rick once, through Steve Lawson at NAMM. Super fascinating guy. I really wanted to interview him about all he did for the history of electronics and amplification (for work). I also played a Turner Renaissance a couple times and really liked them, though I don't really have a use for one.
I'm back on listening to new music with some more lucidity this week. So....
@steubig, I've been working my way through Ambiguity Machines. Did you already talk about the process earlier in the thread? It sounds like you made sounds with one thing, then overdubbed something else to go with it rather than playing it all in real time. Anything else you can tell us? What's all your Makenoise gear doing in it? Samples or synthesis? I like the sort of gongy "slow percussive" vibe though that also may be how I'm hearing microtonal scales if you're using them.
I'm back on listening to new music with some more lucidity this week. So....
@steubig, I've been working my way through Ambiguity Machines. Did you already talk about the process earlier in the thread? It sounds like you made sounds with one thing, then overdubbed something else to go with it rather than playing it all in real time. Anything else you can tell us? What's all your Makenoise gear doing in it? Samples or synthesis? I like the sort of gongy "slow percussive" vibe though that also may be how I'm hearing microtonal scales if you're using them.
I have been struggling with this a bit. I feel like some of the soundcloud tracks I've done here are "almost finished" and could be put together into a release, but I now have about 8 years of that stuff on my hard drive. Probably the thing to do is go forward and not backwards.
I hate self-promotion but at least in band world, I accept that it's part of it. I was reading the self-promotion thread on Lines and I was thinking maybe I should do a newsletter or blog since I'm pretty good at writing (I have a somewhat moribund personal blog but would want to keep this separate).
I might've made a choice to forego a luxury bass purchase so that I have funds to plop down for pedals and modules though the course of the year. I think this will be more fun with sound exploration than adding another bass sound to my collection (which is already a bit much).
Agreed.
So much easier saying stuff like “music is it’s own reward” and such……when you have huge success.
basement dwelling non stop work is literally soul sucking.
It crushes every part of your being some days
But if I didn’t do it, I’d be even more miserable.
Yeah. The "chase your dreams and follow your passion" stuff only works if it works. I find that advice a bit toxic. I think LOTS of people hear that advice and interpret it as "only do X, and do it at the cost of all else." I think the intent is really more that you need to give your primary focus the attention it deserves, and sometimes that means you have to have a secondary focus (Plan B) to support the primary. I'm pretty sure that if I chased a full time music profession that I'd be in a much less comfortable position in my life than I am having pursued a corporate day job that enabled me to keep my hobby going.
At least Rick's interview statement was "and get a job to support that dream if you have to."
really interesting guy. was also doing things like recording ry cooder with indian musicians.
it's all overdubs. i'm not into (and really can't do) the one-patch-piece thing. some of the parts are sequences, some are played by hand, some are hands-on manipulation of sequences. it's all modular, so at least 85% is makenoise, oscillators, the morphagene for samples and their effects. probably some of the noise engineering effects stuff in there as well. i have the wmd performance mixer with the mutes extension, so i'm muting sequence parts live. i think that's the bulk of what's on here, other than a reverb in ableton.
using rene or the o-control, i tune to taste (non-quantized pitch). i got a vector (but i don't think that's on this [?]) and i really like the microtonal scales on that. i'm *not* studious about this; i find something i like the sound of and go for it.
(i *don't* have a problem.)
thanks for listening and asking.
yep. glad you remembered that last part.
impilict in there is that, to make a living at music, you're often doing stuff that *only* pleases someone else.
Right. A big part of the "music business" is the business side. That often involves the buying and selling of goods and/or services. That means supply and demand are involved, and often your passion isn't in demand.
You can have a business that is music and a passion that is music, but that music isn't always the same music. There are plenty of folks out there gigging in cover bands and working on unrelated original material. The golden ticket is when your passion project intersects with a market desire for that material and you can get paid a living wage (or more) for making only your art.
Huh. I think I do too. Maybe.
The first application that immediately sprang to mind was having that thing set up in the middle of an ensemble, let it "listen" to the music the band is making and provide its own accompaniment...which the band can then respond to in realtime.
Or, a variation of that: Have that thing set up in the middle of my ensemble and use it in lieu of my bass; let it "listen" to the music the other guys in the band are making, and then manipulate its output via my usual stompoboxes and loopers etc.
I need to see what else Phonic Bloom makes, seems like a cool company.
I like the idea of just walking around and recording and using as a basis for compositions to add to. But those ideas are awesome, too.
Yeah, their products are similar to SOMA, in that they are definitely not traditional and definitely think outside of the box.
