Category Archives: music - Page 11

whistling in the dark

Posted by on January 24, 2009 No comments

wayne henderson is a brilliant luthier and guitarist. i was lucky enough to see him at kent state university a million years ago (i think i was in high school at the time). the bill included tal farlow and a pile of greats like that. he’s an amazing showman and builds some beautiful guitars. i highly recommend Clapton’s Guitar by allen st. john as it’s a great look inside how wonderful instruments get made and henderson’s story is a hoot. yeah, i said “a hoot.” there’s no other way to describe it. you can also dig on some henderson in the current issue of the fretboard journal.

why all the talk of henderson? he has a bit of a reputation for really taking his time with getting his orders filled. building a guitar or any instrument is a process. it’s something that, once it has begun, has to be completed in once long run. at least that’s how i see it. it’s really tough when you stall out or get distracted. i’m in that place right now with some instruments i’m building and honestly my attention has turned to churning out piles of electronica. it’s a lot of fun but it feels like the instruments are being neglected. i suppose it’s more about following what’s working and getting back to other things when there is time but it would feel really good to finish them.

time is a precious thing these days. in my position i feel like i need to go with what’s working and right now that’s weird stuff. in that vein, i have some more to share. this tune is based on some samples i captured a long time ago and some public domain items. i will figure out the precise references soon enough and post them. for now, please enjoy and drop me a comment. i’m really enjoying the feedback i’m getting lately. thanks!

whistling-in-the-dark

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whistling in the dark by j.c. wilson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.othertime.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://othertime.com.

more electronic messing around

Posted by on January 21, 2009 No comments

a little more messing around in the studio with hard time limits. posting sketches like this hold me accountable in a way. it really is less for anyone out there who has the inclination to download and listen to the track and more for me to put my work and process out in front of even a potential audience. any feedback i get is greatly appreciated so don’t hesitate to drop me a line if you dig it or can’t stand it.

besides, now that lost is back on, i have some time to kill. the score for that show drives me insane. i can’t tell if it’s the key or the irritatingly trite content that makes me crazy but i can’t even sit in the same room with it. i should be in my studio during that time anyway so it makes for a good motivator.

have a listen, if you don’t mind, and drop me a note. i’ll go back to my banjo now.

missed-it

Creative Commons License
missed it by j.c. wilson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.othertime.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://othertime.com.

an electronica break

Posted by on January 20, 2009 No comments

i was up really early last sunday and while the dude was sleeping i got a little extra time in the studio. since he was asleep and i didn’t want to take any chances with waking him before my coffee was brewed, i plugged in the headphones and started messing around. i dug out some old field recordings and started stretching and processing them. it was interesting, so i kept at it until i had something that was listenable.

this definitely falls under the category of compositional exercises as i had only about 45 minutes and i wanted to have something that could be considered “done” at the end of that time. short bursts are sometimes a great inspiration. it silences the inner critic and makes some of the decisions that might be debatable under other circumstances very black and white. i should do more of these.

i leave the origin of the samples as an exercise to the listener.

babies-and-bats

Creative Commons License
babies and bats by j.c. wilson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.othertime.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://othertime.com.

progress report

Posted by on January 5, 2009 No comments

it’s been a long time since i was in a really good studio groove. i blame a lot of that on ike and the very precarious place i was in with regard to the level of productivity i’d had up to that point. long story short, the storm and it’s 10 long days without power really did a number on my routine. and yeah, that sounds a lot like a cop out and i wouldn’t buy it either.

i was off for most of the last two weeks and it seems like now is as good a time as any to get back into the groove. it wouldn’t be fair to say that i haven’t accomplished anything creative during this time. much progress has been made on the construction of a lute and a guitar. there has also been a lot of reviewing of the material that i have to date and what needs to be changed and where before i can begin moving with what i’ve got. i have some pretty good ideas but there is still a lot of fleshing out to be done. lots of work.

as for getting back in the groove, well, i replaced the table in my studio with a nice mixing desk and put my monitors up on stands that i whipped together out of some scrap lumber. the entire room has been rearranged to allow for more comfortable working and a lot of the stuff that was out and available to small hands has been stowed. in the very little recording that i did tonight it felt like a completely new space in a very good way. all in all, it seems like the way forward has opened up.

i am hoping to have something in the way of a sketch for a new tune available by the end of the week. that’s pretty much going to be my weekly goal: a new sketch or mix by friday and a blog update once or twice a week. i find that talking to myself on the internet motivates me.

more instrument pictures will be up soon. let’s say that i’m not even novice quality in the luthier department but i’m having fun. also of note: i will not use plastic bindings ever again. it’s wood or nothing from here on out. scratches suck and i don’t feel good about plastic in general anyway.

it’s a new year. i have high expectations for myself. let’s see if i can’t hold myself accountable. happy new year!

too much slacking

Posted by on December 4, 2008 1 comment

ok.  wow.  november disappeared!  some things happened.  i remember having a birthday and going to oklahoma for thanksgiving.  i’m pretty sure we went on vacation to west texas and did a lot of hiking aroud the davis mountains and enchanted rock but i know there was very little time spent in the studio doing the things that need doing.  creative work is sometimes the victim of trade-offs.  it happens.

the world has finally cooled off enough temperature-wise to allow me to get out and use my new birthday drillpress.  i’m back to building instruments.  i whipped together a ukulele from a kit that i’ve had lying around for a couple of years and i started a flat backed lute. 

i’m going to test my french polish skills on the both of these so that i won’t screw up my guitar that i’m also building in the background.  moving my production for gluing and simple work inside allows me to get stuff done during the week.  i can’t really sand in the house but with the few hours i can sneak off into the garage on the weekend i’ve been making some real progress.  i also get a lot of help from the dude and that makes it double fun.

my album has been simmering.  i’m listening and re-listening to tracks that i thought were in the can and deciding that they still need work.  better now than after a release, but it is still frustrating.

i spent some time in the studio working on some music for a theater production up in the great white north.  who knew that covering stevie wonder could be so much fun?  certainly not i!  of course i cut my finger rather badly while cooking tonight and as a result didn’t get things done up as neatly as i would have liked, but this is the way of things.  i got a lot of help from my new production assistant.  he’s really good at finding keyboard shortcuts in applications and discovering midi functionality that i didn’t know existed in logic.

more frequent posts will be forthcoming.  i’m actually back to doing things again, so let’s see if i can’t make a go of this blog.