Just a little Philip Glass to break up the silence here. I’m working on more content, including a good amount of original material.

My trip through BBC Radiophonic Workshop history turned up this documentary film, called “The Alchemists of Sound”. I’ll follow up on this post with more information and some reflections, but for now I’m excited to watch this film as I settle in on this peaceful Sunday evening and prepare for the week…. Enjoy.

(The show is split into six YouTube videos, posted here in the full article)

I love learning about the physics of sound. One thing that really interests me is phase – two or more signals can be out of phase with each other, which causes distortion that can be either a nuisance or an artistic device. On a guitar that’s out of tune, you’ll see that the strings vibrate unevenly with each other and the sound is kind of muddy or muffled. Tuning a guitar adjusts the strings so that they’re tuned to whatever key, but also so that they vibrate “in phase” with each other, producing the clearest possible sound.

In music, phase distortion can be used to alter the timbre of sounds, and it also creates a sort of vibrato / tremelo effect. Both of these are demonstrated in this piece. “Reflection I”. Play the piece here or download it here.

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 should be played on good headphones or on a decent speaker configuration.

Did you ever learn to play an instrument, and then struggle to find your voice with it? I’m turning a corner, creatively. I feel like something’s changing but I don’t feel like calling it anything… it just is, and I’m happy to have it.

Here’s an experiment that turned out well. I love Allen Ginsberg and this is my interpretation of his poem, Psalm III. It’s not mastered yet but I’m really pleased with it so far. I hope you enjoy it.

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.

Here’s a direct link.

I’m working on a couple of things. In the meantime, please enjoy this nice television programme.

I want to thank everyone who read my previous post, re: Experimental Music and the Ego. The link was passed around the Web (Facebook in particular) and it elicited a number of responses, a few of which were added here as comments.

I plan on writing a followup post, put together from various comments and my reactions, but until then please take a look at the comments on the previous article. The responses were quite apt and I think they add a lot of value to the discussion.

Thanks!