If you’re unfamiliar with who John Peel was, here’s a good place to start. As a BBC DJ and journalist, he was a prolific supporter of new music in England when nobody else on the planet would touch it.

This documentary doesn’t dig too deep on things, but it’s a real pleasure to watch. His character and his genuine interest are readily apparent throughout, and there’s some really good music too…

I wrote a brief article about Harry Partch some time ago… This video from the Prelinger Archives at the Internet Archive is a newsreel clip from what I’m guessing is sometime in the 1950s, showing part of a performance of Mills College students playing Partch’s instruments.

It’s a short video and it’s really pretty fascinating…

This film is brilliant. It has a certain spirit to it, and it’s really inspiring to see it executed so well.

This timelapse is about a year in the making. I started sometime in June of 2010 and finished it on August 19, 2011. It wasn’t constant work of course, just working on it every now and then. I’d estimate I have invested anywhere between 250 and 300 hours on it. Most of this was time I spent walking, biking, or riding the bus to locations I was shooting. There are very few locations I used a car to get to. Total frame count is about 28,000 frames and 85 different shots. All the frames weren’t used in the final product as I edited down the clips. You will notice that some of the shots were shaky. San Francisco is a very windy city and even my heavy tripod couldn’t remain still. In hindsight I should have bought a different head. All photos were shot in JPEG and then some light editing in Lightroom. Compiled into .mov clips in Quicktime Pro and then all brought together in Final Cut Pro.

I started this project because there are so many people photographing the city that I wanted to capture it in a different way that most were not. Between the time I started and the time I finished, timelapses have become huge. It’s amazing to see what fellow artists can make with even the most basic equipment.

This is the link to the video on Vimeo, and you can watch it right here:

I’m working on some more content, but enjoy this Can video in the meantime!

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

Hey folks,

I took some time off, as I mentioned in my last post. It’s been good for me, and I’m gearing up to get back in the swing of things here in the coming week.

Much of the past two weeks was spent getting in touch with my creative identity. Creatively, I feel like I’m at either a threshold or crossroads, where I feel like I’ve nailed the technical aspects but I’m struggling a little, figuring out where to go with this knowledge. I had a great period of creativity this summer and fall but nothing I’m doing lately is satisfying me all that much. Maybe you know the feeling? It’s really frustrating. I’m putting energy into other projects now, and I’m spending whatever downtime I have experimenting with new musical ideas. My creative blocks typically don’t last too long, so I’m sure I’ll break out with something new and exciting sometime soon.

I found a refuge in reading and listening these last two weeks. One video was particularly inspiring. It really helped me get through the brief creative dark spot. So here it is:

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Some time ago, I got my hands on a copy of the Conet Project set, and since then I’ve been quite obsessed with shortwave radio, or at least the idea of getting a shortwave radio and using it as a novel, ever-changing sound source.

Specifically, I’ve been wanting to find a vacuum tube-based radio because of the interesting sounds produced while tuning between stations. It’s a familiar sound from 1950s era science fiction movies, and a similar effect can be heard beginning around 0:35 in this little recording I made back in July:

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This sound was created by sending a very high frequency, somewhere between 500 and 600kHz on my Hewlett-Packard tube oscillator, to a cassette recorder. Signals at such frequencies corrupt the recorder’s bias signal and cause interesting distortions.

Right, shortwave radio. I occasionally search eBay and Craigslist for shortwave radios but it’s difficult to find a tube radio in good condition that also has a line out, or to find a solid state radio with a line out for that matter. When I do find one I like, though, I’m usually tight on cash and put the idea off. I’ll have to remember to look when I have an extra fifty bucks.

In the meantime, I enjoy finding videos on YouTube which feature some of the more unusual sounds and signals being sent through the air. A common finding are what are called “Numbers Stations“, which transmit information – ostensibly spy information or reconnaissance findings – encoded in arbitrary alphanumeric codes and often prepended by a chime, gong, or tune. Here’s one of the better examples from YouTube:

Other than that, there’s a few other things which pique my curiosity. I really like this next video. Who knows what’s generating this sound, or how, and for what purpose, but I enjoy it simply for what it is:

Some things give me very clear ideas for future audio pieces:

Anyway. I’ll search again for radios when I have some cash to blow. I can see myself recording what I find onto cassettes and just playing them as interesting background noise around the apartment.

Mission Of Burma has been one of my favorite groups for quite some time. Formed in Boston in 1979, the group was relatively short-lived but had a tremendous impact. The group reunited in 2002 and since then has released new records and has also remastered its old catalog. Whether you’re a fan of the band or not, this series of videos gives a pretty no-nonsense account of the mastering process and how mastering for vinyl is done with the tools and techniques that are specific to this artform. It’s recommended for anyone who has an interest in analog audio production, and I think you’ll find it a special joy to watch.

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Running a little dry here at the moment. I’m working on material for new articles, but they’re not ready yet. I write this blog at the speed of life and, well, I’m doing laundry tonight.

Please enjoy this video in the interim. I promise bountiful blogness in the pending days.

Salvador Dali on “What’s My Line?” He’s a delightful pain in the ass as always. Some people can make a career doing the things that get others in trouble. Remember that the next time you step onto a BART car at 7:30AM.