Disquiet Junto Project 0544: Feedback Loop
The Assignment: Share music-in-progress for input from others.

Step 1: This project is about two things: (1) requesting feedback and (2) providing feedback. Keep that in mind.

Step 2: Upload a track you’re working on and would appreciate input on from fellow Junto members. When doing so, consider mentioning the sort of feedback you’re looking for: tone, production, development, instrumentation, etc.

Step 3: After uploading your track, and in the days following the conclusion of the project, provide feedback to other people’s tracks, either on the Lines discussion (link below) or on the website where they’ve posted their track.

Note: The Lines BBS runs on a discussion platform called Discourse, which has some built-in restrictions. Among these is that you can’t reply too many times to the same thread before someone else replies first. This is a “consecutive replies” matter. The best practice is to compile feedback to multiple tracks, and to tag reach recipient in one reply. If those instructions aren’t clear, just wait a little while after tracks begin to appear on the thread. Soon enough you’ll see examples of people doing exactly this.

. . .

Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, June 6, 2022, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, June 2, 2022.

. . .

More on this 544th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Feedback Loop (The Assignment: Share music-in-progress for input from others) — at: https://disquiet.com/0544/

More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0544-feedback-loop/

Disquiet Junto Project 0544: Feedback Loop

Click onto each one to see my detailed process notes

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

2022 May June Juntos

Between the clouds and the wind, he thought he might have seen her face...

Posthumously dedicated to Alissa Kolenovic, who died on 5/4/22 after being struck by a delivery truck driver in Morris Park, Bronx, NYC.

Recorded, mixed & mastered 05 May 2022 & 25 Jul 2018 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa.

©2022 Jim Lemanowicz

Art - captured 21 Feb 2022 with a Kodak Brownie Bullet in the backyard, where the iPad recording above was later made.

This original version of "FiveFourTenSixteen In Low" was submitted as part of ​Disquiet Junto Project 0540: 5ive 4our.  Take back 5/4 for Jedi time masters Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond.

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

Project discussion - https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0540-5ive-4our/55013 

This track was originally released under the artist name "Freedom From Polio."

FiveFourTenSixteen In Low (disquiet0540)

Having accepted the challenge, our hero walked into YouTube Woods to learn how to bake cookie-cutter cookies at a temperature not recommended for human consumption and burned the whole 
batch.

Recorded, mixed & mastered May 13/14 2022 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa.

Synths, effects

©2022 Jim Lemanowicz

This original version of "KPG Math Extinction" was submitted as part of Disquiet Junto Project 0541: 10BPM Techno. Make some snail-paced beats.
Original post on Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/blisterpop/kpg-math-extinction-disquiet0541-by-blemishes

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0541-10bpm-techno/

This track was originally released under the artist name "Blemishes."

Working title - "Fletcherargonmathcuminatmophilefarm Soup Or KPG Math Extinction FAMCAF."

KPG Math Extinction (disquiet0541)

"Shooting The Moon, 26 Times 100" by Wishbook

I rubbed the oil from my eyes, turned my head and passed to my left.  I withdrew and then reinserted the Atari 2600 cartridge.

Recorded & mixed - 11 Jan 2016, 15 Jul 2007 & 19 May 2022 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa.

©2022 Jim Lemanowicz

Art - Jim Lemanowicz, 27 Feb 2010

This original version of "Shooting The Moon, 26 Times 100" was submitted as part of ​Disquiet Junto Project 0541: 2600 Club.  Make some phreaking music.  Thanks to Alan Bland for proposing this concept for a project.

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

Project discussion takes place on https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0542-2600-club/

This track was originally released under the artist name "Wishbook."

Shooting The Moon, 26 Times 100 (disquiet0542)

Recorded, mixed & mastered May 27 2022 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa.

©2022 Jim Lemanowicz

Piano, echo

Art - captured 06 Feb 2010 with a Sony Cybershot in Massapequa, NY, USA

-----

This original version of "The Silent, Understood" was submitted as part of ​Disquiet Junto Project 0543: Disquiet Junto Project 0543: Technique Check.  The Assignment: Share a tip from your method toolbox.

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0543-technique-check

This track was originally released under the artist name "Our Quiet Fog."

The Silent, Understood (disquiet0543)

Rejected production music demo/
Composed and recorded may 2022 in Paris.

I played guitars (using last week's rhythmic delays thing) and keyboards.

Another evrsion:
https://soundcloud.com/daniel-diaz/time-lapse-vers-motorik-disquiet0545


Photo by DD

For this weekly junto joint:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0544-feedback-loop

Time Lapse (disquiet0544)

For the conceptualization, I wanted to make a piece about different perspectives - how the “same story” can be told by different people and vary slightly or a lot.

There’s a tweak on the melody line “D E G E D C D E A” and this drop to the lower A can be A, A-flat, or G interchangeably. So, the accompanying bass line “C B A G” also changes from all natural to “C B natural or flat, A natural or flat, G” as well. The bass solo in the middle is, lol, I don’t know. I just felt like it. Does it work?

The title “Heron in moonlight” comes from the zen saying 銀椀盛雪、明月蔵鷺 (ぎんわんにゆきをもり めいげつにろをかくす) - Silver bowl full of snow, white heron in clear moonlight.

It’s the juxtaposition of things that look the same and seem to blend in but that are actually different. The snow may look like a part of the silver bowl, and the bowl may look like snow itself. A white heron in the bright moonlight may look like the moonlight itself, or is it the other way around?

The philosophized perspective of the saying might infer the natural vs. the manmade coming together, different groups of people coming together in harmony, etc.

More on this 544th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Feedback Loop (The Assignment: Share music-in-progress for input from others) — at: disquiet.com/0544/

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-pr…0544-feedback-loop/

Heron in moonlight (disquiet0544)

More on this 544th weekly Disquiet Junto project – Feedback Loop (The Assignment: Share music-in-progress for input from others) – at: https://disquiet.com/0544/

More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0544-feedback-loop/

No Hook ? (disquiet0544)

Recorded 31 May 2014, mixed & mastered June 02 2022 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa.

This is a cover version of a song by Van Morrison.  ©1968 Van Morrison.  

I am looking for input on my mixing and mastering here.  Is the master too hot?  Is there enough clarity between the parts?  Do the vocals and lead guitar shine through in the mix? Is the cymbal too loud (I quite like it during the guitar solo and during the mellotron/loud parts)? Honestly, details other than "good" or "bad" for the mix or master will always be welcome.  However, I am not soliciting any comments on my performances here instrumentally or vocally.  I have enough critics of that kind living in my head, thank you.  I also have no intention of adding or removing or re-recording any of the parts here.  

What I am currently working on is a remix project whilst simultaneously learning some iZotope plugins.  The material is a covers EP I completed/released first in 2014.  This followed a serious hospital stay and in my mind represented a "stripped-down" approach similar to my cassette 4-track work in the 90s - guitar, bass, drum sounds, vocals, basic keys - and as opposed to my "kitchen sink" approach in the 00s with songs that had 50-100 tracks each at times.   This particular cover is Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks" and is dedicated to Lester Bangs and his horrific experience related to this song and album by Van, as understood by my reading of the book "Let It Blurt" by Jim Derogatis.  Lester had a sort of subconscious reach into my life as in high school I was an avid Creem reader of the period slightly before and after his death.  His shadow was all over that magazine at that time.  

Process notes - 
On this track I played a Jay Turser Mustang-inspired guitar, an Epi EB-0 bass, an M-Audio Trigger Finger (triggering some jazz-type Ableton Live drum rack), a cheap cymbal (same one from the 90s) and two tracks of GForce M-Tron string and flute sounds.  My arrangement in this 31 May 2014 version subs in a plunky angular lead guitar for the vocal ad-libs that Van originally gave us and what I tried to do with no success when I almost gave up on the project in Jan 2014. I also opted for a shorter track length than either Van's version or much of the "kitchen sink" work I was doing in the 00s.  

The plugins used were Nectar 3 Plus, Neutron 3 Advanced/Visual Mixer (and now 4), and Ozone 9 Advanced.  In a limited way, these plugins AI "assisted" me in my mix levels, my mastering treatments and my instrument and vocal effects.  I used a hybrid approach where I did not give the iZotope plugins my naked tracks but rather used most of the channel "racks" (strips) set up in 2014, originally in Ableton Live 9 32-bit and remixed here in Live 11 64-bit.  Nor did I use the Visual Mixer for panning.  Subjectively speaking, for the past year or so, my mastering has improved with the help of iZotope's Elements plugins, so I recently went and upgraded.  I then committed to learning some new tricks for these old ears.  I also tweaked some things that I felt the AI missed, but did not dwell on almost anything here for more than a minute or two.     

-----

This remixed and remastered version of "Astral Weeks" was submitted as part of ​Disquiet Junto Project 0544: Feedback Loop.  The Assignment: Share music-in-progress for input from others.

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Ongoing conversation is here - https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0544-feedback-loop/55883

This track was originally released under the artist name "Vowel Samples."

Cold Cover Calibration (2022 remix/remaster)

Astral Weeks (02 June 2022 remix/remaster - disquiet0544)

a good friend of mine painted a series of images based on descartes' "meditations on first philosophy."

https://www.lowwintersun.org/work/descartes-meditations

i took painting number 6, sliced it into five strips, fed the images into photosounder, the converted the resulting .wav files to MIDI (quantized to 16ths). i used the MIDI clips separately to trigger various samples: kick; snare; low tom; floor tom; hi-hat. i added a steady hi-hat pedal to help navigate the slightly offbeat rhythms.

finally, i layered in a live guitar piece (played through VCV rack, which i first encountered through disquiet junto, many moons ago...)

some possible questions: how can we think about the relationship between something rhythmic (the "beat") and something a-rhythmic (the "ambient" guitar)?
do they feel like two utterly separate streams, or do they somehow inform each other?
also, my track is only one minute long - can something so short be called 'ambient'?
more generally, can such a brief composition claim to establish a mood or atmosphere?

(wittgensteinian thought: i can claim to have felt sad for one minute, but not to have been depressed for one minute. certain moods or states require longer stretches of time to operate.)

all the best, htnc

- - - - - - - -

More on this 544th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Feedback Loop (The Assignment: Share music-in-progress for input from others) — at: https://disquiet.com/0544/

More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0544-feedback-loop/

[disquiet0544] cartesian drummer

My submission for
Disquiet Junto Project 0544: Feedback Loop
The Assignment: Share music-in-progress for input from others.
More on this 544th weekly Disquiet Junto project — Feedback Loop (The Assignment: Share music-in-progress for input from others) — at: https://disquiet.com/0544/

LYRICS:
Staring at the sky. Living in green. Walking my path.
Thursday, July 20, 2014
"If you think you can, you can. If you think you can't, you're right" - Henry Ford
It's a strange phenomenon to stand in the middle of the wilderness with no idea of where you are or how to get to where you are going.
It's also quite strange to feel utterly lost, yet absolutely at home.
This is one of those moments in my life. I don't know where I am, yet I feel utterly at home.
Last week I spent a long weekend hiking in the Blue Mountains. A short distance from Sydney, the Blue Mountains are the oldest mountains in the world, and the oldest living thing in the Blue Mountains is the Old Man himself, William Bradley. The Blue Mountains have been around for 200 million years and are some of the most beautiful mountains in the world.
I was lucky enough to have the company of some awesome women. The hike was not easy, but it was very rewarding.
I love that place.
This is a picture of the Old Man himself. He is standing at the top of the mountain, so close that you can almost touch him.
This is a picture of my friend and hiking companion, Katherine.
This is a picture of me and my hiking companion, Katie.
This is a picture of the Old Man.
This is a picture of the Old Man.
This is a picture of the Old Man.
This is a picture of the Old Man.
This is a picture of the Old Man.
This is a picture of the Old Man.
This is a picture of the Old Man.
This is a picture of the Old Man.
This is a picture of the Old Man.
This is a picture of the

Bradley(disquiet0544) ver2

When I was working on this it reminded me of approximately the fall of 2001, I when I was experimenting with creating loop/sequenced pieces using Fruity Loops and whatever knowledge I had of drum machines at the time.  

Recorded, mixed & mastered 18/19/20 Jun 2022 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa.

Synths & effects

©2022 Jim Lemanowicz

Artwork: Penn Station, NYC 17 Dec 2010, by Jim Lemanowicz

-------
This original version of "Father Yog-Astley" was submitted as part of ​Disquiet Junto Project 0546: Code Notes. The Assignment: Make music that includes a secret message.

More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto

Discussion took place at https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0546-code-notes

This track was originally released under the artist name "Smile Puppy."

Father Yog-Astley (disquiet0546)

Making music is about being surprised.
https://www.patreon.com/blisterpop
Linktree for more - https://linktr.ee/blisterpop

Astral Weeks (02 June 2022 remix/remaster - disquiet0544)

Jimmy Lem