mmd

The new mmd_as album has made its way around the wide world of web 2.0 and made its sounds available for free where it went. Probably only two places of note are mmd_as – last.fm and here on the Renoise Forum where some people have given comment. Everything else out there is either too minor or so messy that it’s un-presentable. However, if any discussion of note appears I shall share it here. If I were more the virtual-social-butterfly my reach may have generated more of an impact, but no use in pretending to be something I’m not. One place that I’ll be endeavouring to polish up for networking purposes is a new Facebook Page that at the moment just barely features the mmd_as material.

The good news is that I’ve added the new album to the mmd shop, available as a high quality FLAC download for a realistic $10AUD via paypal. Again, we wish that this could be a physical copy of a CD with cool artwork and such, but for now a FLAC version will have to do. Think of your purchase as a ’show of support’ as any donations are halved between Alex and I. I don’t expect a heap of interested (my last album only sold about 5-6 copies), but we’ll put the option there for you just in case.

And of course, any comments and reactions from yourselves to the album would be most welcome to us. Please lets us know what you think of what we have done!

Over two years in the making it is finally here! Alex Strain and I have finished our album and it is up and ready to go! Visit this page:

mmd_as

Above are some images of my new Yamaha HS80M Monitors and myself in my new Renoise T-shirt. No need for comment on the latter, but the new speakers have been absolutely wonderful and I’ve been kicking myself for not investing in them earlier. As you can see from the pictures I’ve adjusted the position of the desk (thus the speaks on them) by moved the entire set-up off the wall by about 2 feet. The reason for doing this? Well, apart from being able to better access the growing mess of cables back there, the aim was to improve the speakers bass response. Monitors this big (8″ woofers) get quite boomy against a wall due to bass harmonics getting emphasised – having them out in the middle of the room helps the frequencies “breathe” better and you get a much more natural response. This means that I do not have to deal with the HS80Ms ‘room control’ switches being at anything other than ‘flat’. This equates to a fantastic sound reproduction that I can be very confident in using the speakers as a tool to make mixes that translate well on other speaker systems.

Already an album project has been mastered on this set-up that is due for release now very, very soon. So watch this space…

Download mp3: Nullarbor

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I thought I’d get back into the swing of things by putting myself to the test of trying to best use my new monitors to re-mix/mastered an older song I was unhappy with. The rising maximalism of “Nullarbor” seemed appropriate for the task and was quite the challenge! With much complicated juggling I think I’ve come up with a good result, but at a guess I still think I am a long way from sonic mastery.

This is where you can possibly help me with feedback (especially you audio geeks out there). How does this sound to you? Any points that are too harsh or too muddy sounding? Could this sit alongside your favourite big name artist and sound like it belongs in the same sonic world? Let me know what you think.

Upon reading an excellent book regarding the improvement of assertiveness and empathetic communication I’ve come to some realizations that relate to music production. I have had and still have a problem with assertiveness – too easily saying ‘yes’ to projects, jobs, performances and collaborations against my better judgment and sometimes completely against my personal desire. As the years have gone on I’ve realized clearer goals and intentions with my own projects and have needed more time to properly fulfill those projects. Most of my own major projects still remain incomplete, and I have serious album ideas that have been in slow evolution since 2001! Talk about albatrosses…

This situation of course is due to my own lack of assertion and not the fault at all of other people who make requests of my time, ideas and energy. That’s worth repeating: it’s not your fault I’m behind in what I want to do, that’s something I have caused myself. With that point being clear I can now express intention to be more assertive and create workable compromises to attain my goal. I’ve already stated recently here that I intend to finish off existing collaborative project in the next few months freeing my time in the studio for my own work, but assertions need to be made to prevent future complications. This comes from acknowledgment of personal rights, in this case my rights as a composer and creative music-person. This could work for any musician or creator, and could apply to yourself. So…

An assertive bill of rights:

1. We have the right to turn down invitations for working collaboratively. No matter how small and ‘temporary’ the project may be, we do not have to squeeze it in.
2. We have the right to be in a collaboration but choose and be clear about our level of engagement, which includes a clear and flexible statement of when the projects ends.
3. We have the right to not play live if we do not want to, irrespective of how much others want to play live for whatever reason.
4. We have the right to say we are not interested in helping or paying attention to another person’s project.
5. We have the right to pull out of a project if we feel it is a necessary priority, either in deferral or permanently.
6. We have the right to not accept work even if it is of a commercial nature, as money and worry about money poisons creative intentions if allowed to dominate.
7. We have the right to work on our own projects at whatever level of our choosing without guilt or acceptance of vilification or manipulation (via guilt) from others.
8. We have the right to our own leisure time and time for recuperation outside of music in whatever amount we see fit without accepting guilt projected from others.
9. We have the right to not work on music at all, even for no apparent reason.
10. We have the right to honor the natural expression of our inspiration and work as best we can to enjoy creation to ensure the best possible expression of it, and therefore we have the right to nurture that process with or without other people involved as we see fit.

If the above rights were completely asserted and attained that would be an ideal situation – and ideals are rarely completely reached. Practical experience shows that people will come up and put pressure on you, sometimes irrespective or your assertive position being clear. Depending on the situation this is where it is pragmatic to make a ‘workable compromise’ via empathetic communication. This still retains yourself as being the only judge of what you will do with your time and allows you to negotiate it relative to your desires and rights. An example of this may be: “I can do my album, but for fun I might go play live improv with xyz every now and then”, or similar. You still retain the right to change your mind and give as much as you want to expressed via assertion to the people attempting to ask things of you (either in open friendly way or right to way that are downright maliciously manipulative). You can retain your friendships, networked associates, clientele, peers and so on as much as you like if you assert what you want and clearly set up with empathy a workable compromise that attempt to keep both parties in a state of mutual understanding.

I want to do this now.