15ips

I’ve been struggling to create new, exciting material for the record that Alex and I are putting out. We pushed the due date back because we were both having difficulties with our projects.

This has to be the single most challenging creative project that I have ever undertaken. I had no idea that it would be so difficult to put together a 20-minute collection of completed work. Most of the recordings I made before this project were just clever demos, some more “complete” than others, and the stuff I’m working on now totally surpasses my old material in terms of complexity. It feels like I’m in totally new, alien territory here.

I’m trying to make something which truly represents where I’m at as an artist, and my perfectionist tendency sometimes gets in the way of honestly evaluating the pieces I’m creating. I’m learning to manage this, and conversations I’ve had with some close friends about this have been very encouraging. I think it will get easier as I do more work, and hopefully whatever I do after this record won’t be such a big stress-out. I HOPE. I’m going to be very happy when this is finished.

On another topic, I’ve been rearranging mental furniture lately, and so I haven’t felt much like writing. I’m OK with this, but I will write more when I feel the urge.

Hello readers,

I’ve been very busy lately! I wish I had more time for this blog but I’ve been distracted with other things.

First, I’m composing approximately 20 minutes of new material for a split LP that I’m putting out with my friend Alex.

Second, I recently received some artwork from Paul that I will scan and arrange into a new layout for this blog.

Third, I haven’t been repairing or restoring any equipment lately. Although, I will be restoring some items to sell later to offset the cost of my upcoming release. Stay tuned.

Fourth, I’ve been spending whatever remaining spare time writing in journals and catching up on reading. I’m about to finish John Clellon Holmes’ Go. After that I’m going to dive in to Ginsberg’s writings to catch up on what I’ve been missing.

More content will come soon.

It’s been difficult to think of single, individual post ideas for 15ips this week because there is so much that I want to do, and so much that I want to say. The sheer volume of it has, ironically, prevented me from sitting down to write about anything at all. Maybe it’s best, then, to just dump it all out into one long post.

1. The studio and the now less-encumbered creative process

I’m at a point where most of my essential music-making/recording gear is working. Last week, I did a lot of planning for future projects and occasionally made new music. I started on a new, large, complicated piece today with lots of layering and overdubbing. I’m glad I’m finally able to do this sort of big, ambitious project; a few months ago, I simply didn’t have the means or equipment to make it work. It’s why I originally set out to build a more robust music studio, and to see the cumulation of so many months of work makes me feel very proud. It’s great being able to focus on the art itself instead of the machinery beneath it. I just couldn’t do my best work when I was constantly distracted by failing gear and signal routing issues. There’s still tons of improvements still to be made, but I am freer to make bold decisions in the creative process without having to worry too much about whether I had the technical ability (personally and in terms of assets/equipment) to make them work.

2. Equipment improvements

I have a couple projects underway to streamline the workflow of the recording process as it is in my studio. One major improvement is a patchbay that I am building from scratch, to eliminate a couple of poorly laid-out patchbays that I am currently using. It should drastically reduce clutter and make it easier to route signals during production and mixdown. I’ll post an article on this when it’s closer to completion.

I also want, to get the Otari half-track machine running so I can do better mixdowns and bounces, which should provide an overall improvement in sound quality.

3. Making a record

At the beginning of the year, I decided I would spend six months putting together a complete album, and release it on my own record label. I realized that giving myself less time to do this would make me work harder, and it would force me to make tough decisions during the recording / creative process. So, I decided that I would do it in two months instead.

I am a big fan of my friend Alex Cruse’s music. I really admire her intellectual approach to making music and I appreciate that she has done a lot of her own research on the kind of music that we make. We’ve talked about releasing some of her work, and so it seemed natural to me to ask her to contribute to my first venture into record-making. We agreed to do a split LP, with her work on one side and mine on the other, and we’ve set a deadline of early April for completed work. There will be design considerations to be made after that, and of course mastering and record-pressing, so I’m not sure when the finished product will be for sale. Hopefully, it will be for sale by the beginning of Summer.

I’m very excited about this. It will be a major accomplishment for me, and it will take me into a new phase of development as an experimental artist.

4. Blog and streaming audio

I have big plans for this blog. I’ll be writing lengthier, more in-depth articles once my equipment situation stabilizes. A brand-new design is in the works, with my friend Paul Solis providing original artwork. Jonah Strauss, another friend of mine and owner of Shipwreck Studio in Oakland, California, will write articles on Ampex MM-1200 maintenance and other studio equipment-related topics. Eventually, I will have a good balance of content between the history of modern experimental music, analog audio technology, and current electroacoustic / acousmatic / experimental works and artists.

Also, I am putting up an Internet radio station, to stream audio from this site. The focus is on 1980s and 1990s experimental artists, from out of print, limited-edition cassette releases. There is a wealth of this kind of music on the Web between several different blogs (Mutant Sounds and No Longer Forgotten Music being two of the most notable), and I will rotate a set of 10 or 12 albums for streaming every ten days. This is something that I want to have for myself, and I think that many other people will enjoy it as well. I would like to build a database of information on the albums being streamed, so listeners can learn more about the music they are listening to and perhaps find other releases that are in print and for sale.

And, of course, I hope that it will revive popular interest in this genre of music, but that’s my altruistic side speaking.

5. Record label

Finally, I am starting a record label. It’s the best way to promote my music and the music of artists whose music I deem to be important. I’ve wanted to start a record label since as long as I can remember but I haven’t had the time, money, resources, and social infrastructure in place until now. Now is the best time imaginable to present this music to the public and promote the crap out of it; I see a tremendous need for new music that defies convention and categorization and I want to do my part to make it happen. There’s too much music that is either too “out there”, too academic, or too traditional; experimental and electronic music shouldn’t be as alienating as it is to most people, and I want to bring a new form of it to a wider audience.

Other than the initial release with Alex and I, the rest is still being planned. More work will be done on this as the album gets close to completion.

- – -

I’ll be writing more this week, mostly on these topics.

Tascam 48 Amp Cards

Things are coming together slowly, equipment-wise. I wanted to use my 1/2″ 8-track, a Tascam 48-OB, so I hooked it up to the mixer and went at it. Something was really wrong, though. I recorded something onto track 1 of the tape, and on playback, the VU meter on the deck looked OK but I was getting hardly any signal on my mixer. After running through the cabling and checking everything on the mixer, the cause of the problem appeared to be in the tape deck, but I had no idea what it was.

I posted a thread on homerecording.com and a few people suggested that it might be the relays on the amplifier cards. To be specific, there’s two relays on each amplifier card that control signal output. The 48 runs at either +4dB or -10dB, and these relays switch between the two sets of inputs and outputs. When they fail, they’ll often they fail simultanously, breaking on multiple channels. This made sense, as the problem soon spread to 4 of the 8 channels on the deck.

To make sure that its was the relays, I plugged the +4dB balanced outputs into a firewire interface and played a MRL testing/calibration tape several times, going from channel to channel each time. They all worked. This confirmed that it was indeed a problem with bad/dead relays.

After asking several more questions, I found out that the bad relays were the ones labeled “K003″ on the amplifier card. These relays are used when using the deck’s -10dB unbalanced outputs. The stock relay is an NEC component that is no longer manufactured, but a company called Hamlin makes a perfect replacement. It’s the HE721A2400, and it can be found at DigiKey for cheap.

Hamlin HE721A2400 Relays

Replacing the relays isn’t difficult but it requires some basic soldering skills. You will need a solder sucker; most decent electronics or hobby supply shops sell a basic model for $15-$20. Knowing how to use it is also important: I didn’t know how to use one and carelessly assumed that I could figure it out, and ended up damaging one of the cards (I repaired the damage, though). To remove a component from a circuit board, apply the soldering iron tip to the lead of the component on the “top” side of the board, while applying the solder sucker tip to the bottom of the lead on the “bottom” side of the board. When the solder appears to have melted, click the solder sucker and the molten solder gets sucked out of the drilled PCB hole and into the sucker. I wish I had a picture to demonstrate this, but reread the last sentence and ask any questions if it’s unclear.

After removing all of the K003 relays, I soldered IC sockets to the holes where the relays had been. I did this in case the relays need to be replaced in the future… saving myself or someone else some work. The relays snapped into the sockets easily. Here’s a picture of one of the replacement relays, in its socket:

Closeup of New Relay

I put the cards back into the deck, put the MRL tape on again, and everything worked just fine. I was so relieved to have it working again, and I was proud to have fixed it myself… with a lot of help, of course.

Notes:

• The Tascam 42, 44, and 48 share the same amp card design. This repair will work for any of these models.
• A full calibration should be done on the deck after replacing the relays. The relay’s performance seems to degrade over a period of weeks before completely breaking, and it might have been compensated for in different ways as it worsened over time. Bringing the deck to a solid, accurate state is definitely recommended.

OK, so I haven’t shown any pictures of my equipment and my setup/studio/whatever. There’s a lot of ground to cover here, and many articles will be written about the restoration, repair and upgrade of my equipment. So to start, here is a list, followed by a whole gaggle of pictures.

It’s a total mess right now, because a lot of stuff is being repaired.

Continue reading ‘Studio Inventory, Photos, Project List’ »

I reworked the demo from the last post. I like this version a lot better.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Reel motor from Tascam 34b

Demo Clip Demo Clip Demo Clip:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

It’s been nearly two weeks since I last wrote. I’m a bit bogged down in projects right now and I haven’t had much opportunity to make music.

A few technical issues have sprung up and I’m taking care of them as best I can. I was really hoping that I’d be out of the woods by now, equipment-wise, but it looks like I’m not there yet.

After eliminating most of the hums and buzzes from my studio, I hooked up my Tascam 48 eight track machine to the console and started recording. On playback, however, I noticed that four of the eight channels were producing weak signals. The needles on the VU meters looked right, and it wasn’t an issue with the mixing console. Something is happening in the amplification stage in the tape deck.

I opened up the machine and removed the amp cards to clean and inspect them. After putting them back in, the problem was still there and it appeared to follow the cards. That means that there’s something wrong with those individual amp cards. Maybe. I’m waiting to pick up a calibration tape, and I’ll start from the top and work to the bottom to find the problem and (hopefully) its solution.

Also, with my secondary Tascam 34b quarter-inch four track machine, I noticed problems with the reel motors on playback, fast forward, and rewind. When a tape is loaded, the motors will run at normal speed and then grind to a halt. So, I opened the deck, removed the motors, and gave them a full cleaning. I will also replace the bearings once I find a bearing puller to remove the old ones. I also replaced the belt, which I was going to do anyway.

Guts from Tascam 34b reel motor

This doesn’t touch on the issues that I’ve had with other equipment, but I should fix these two things before I move on to other projects. The eight-track is my primary multitrack, and the four-track machine will be very important for editing loops and for doing echo and delay. I kind of need them to work. You know.

- – -

I had a loop sitting on the bench, which I left there after I discovered that my eight track was broken. I put it on the working four-track deck and recorded it into Audacity. The original sound is a guitar chord, and I cut off the attack and made a loop from the remainder. This is one of my favorite techniques because the sounds that it produces are very glassy, and often sound like chimes. This was recorded in my bedroom, and I purposely EQed it to bring out the room sounds: my dehumidifier, street traffic, and general environmental white noise. It’s great as a demo, and I will eventually do it again in a proper studio for a more polished result.

- – -

I have a couple of building and design projects on my plate, too. I’m designing a loft bed for my bedroom. Underneath the bed will be a workspace, which means that I can get all of my broken tape decks off of the dining room table and into my personal space. I am also designing a shelf to go over the meter bridge of my mixer, which will hold a couple of lamps and my monitors. Finally, I’m designing a normaling RCA patchbay to handle the accessory send/receive jacks on my console. I will be writing a few posts about that later. Let me just say that it’s going to make this thing a LOT less messy:

Messy Patchbay

Anyway. Enjoy the clip. I’ve got some stuff to do.

My friend Alex posted this on Facebook. It was released on tape in 1987 by a German group called Cranioclast. I don’t have any other information on this group but I will definitely write more when I find some.

This piece is hauntingly beautiful. Let the video play and listen closely.

Edit: A Cranioclast album can be downloaded through this blog post.

I found myself slightly bored after work today. To kill some time, I made a cut-up loop.

Random segments of tape

I do this sometimes for fun, sometimes to create something interesting. This time, I took a recording from NPR and used it as source material. Here’s the loop all spliced together, shot with my crappy digital camera:

See that thing on the mic stand? I’ll write about that later. Anyway. If you’re familiar with Steve Reich then you might know something about “Phasing”. From the Wikipedia article on Phasing:

… The same part (a repetitive phrase) is played on two musical instruments, in steady but not identical tempo. Thus, the two instruments gradually shift out of unison, creating first a slight echo as one instrument plays a little behind the other, then a doubling with each note heard twice, then a complex ringing effect, and eventually coming back through doubling and echo into unison.

In the following sound clip, I took the most obvious example of this concept, and looped the particular passage:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I took this even further, and doubled up the tracks until I hit four stereo pairs. I mixed that down to two tracks, and then recorded them onto my 1/4″ four-track machine. I repeated this once more, and ended up with a recording of 16 stereo pairs of the initial recording. It’s chaotic and it sounds… interesting, maybe? After a while I thought it sounded absolutely irritating.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This experiment yielded nothing valuable. Here’s one, though, that I liked. I put this together in November last year.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

My ears are fatigued now, so I’m going to kill this boredom with Chinese delivery and Netflix.

It turns out the solution was as simple as replacing a fuse:

Hey Jeff,
Sorry it took me a bit. Luckily, the problem was just the fuse connected to the transport section of the machine. Replacing that also fixed the weird timer problems i was having.

That’s all there was to it. I could have used a multimeter to check for continuity on the fuses, saving everyone some time and money. Learning curve? Right here.

I’ll post more pictures of this thing when I get a chance.