My contribution to the Self Portrait Day event held on Facebook. 

For 8 years now, artists form all over the planet take time to do a self portrait on Nov 1st and to post it online in an event of strange beauty and amazing impact. The self exploration is linked with a connectivity among artists from all over the world.

Self Portrait '13

This album contains songs in the process of being developed and all-out jams with two of my musical comrades. The audio was extracted from video footage that I shot of the whole rehearsal. You can see the videos (of mainly Ozzy & Ed) here: bit.ly/m6y73k

Slow Groove Funk Song by John, Ozzy & Ed

Synth Bass Guitar Solo & Beatbox by John, Ozzy & Ed

Beginning Jam by John, Ozzy & Ed

Fast Grease Funk Song by John, Ozzy & Ed

Beginning Jam 030809 by John, Ozzy & Ed

***This piece of music is Copyright © Matthew Boyle 2010. 
The piece was uploaded with the composer's permission.***

I wish to make it plain that in this piece I merely lend my voice to this piece and contributed almost nothing creatively to the final work. This is a piece of Sonic Art called 'Insania' and is by Matthew Boyle. 

In it I play the Doctor; discussing the patient's condition out loud (supposedly to a group of colleagues & the patient him/herself) and I am also the originator of most of the sounds that the patient makes.

Insania by Matthew Boyle (feat. John David Smith)

This piece was written as my contribution to an event held every year on the website www.conceptart.org During this international event artists from all over the world do their Self Portraits (in whichever medium they choose) and submit them all to the forum on the aforementioned website. 

I was late in submitting my entry because at the time of composition I wanted to create visuals to set the audio to. I couldn't find a program of sufficient quality to create those visuals so, instead, I am releasing it with album art for a free download. 

The album art visualises the concept of how I managed to do self portrait aurally. I 'drew' my name in sound. It's quite difficult to make out (go easy on me - I wrote my name across the frequency spectrum) so I've highlighted the word 'John' on both the top (left audio channel) and bottom (right channel) here: bit.ly/eFlhMN 

This piece also contains snippets of other songs and compositions so as to create the atmosphere of how my foray into the world of music has evolved across across time. A kind of medley, with pieces like 'I Can't Hide' from my first album, through to some glass rubbing sounds from my piece of Sonic Art piece called 'Inner Fragility' ending up in a final chaotic climax of new material that ultimately explodes and fades away. This also, I think, is what makes this piece an apt Self Portrait. In person, if not in appearance.

Self Portrait

Initially just a guitar loop that I recorded in 2008; now with some synth tones and wind noise to try to create a mood.

The Green Pedal

To continue the trend I have set up for myself of revisiting old recordings and then releasing them in a new form - this piece is taken from a segment of a jam between Ozzy and myself, recorded in November 2008. 

I used Grainmill to create the granulated water sounds and looped samples of Ozzy's Bass to impose a drone onto the piece. I also used the NLog Synth app to add a soft Tone Organ and Lead Distorted Organ for the climax of the piece.

Remnants, by John David Smith and Ozzy Stone

Things people say about John David Smith:

Guitar maestro, soulful singer and all-round lovely chap, John will sooth your sore ears with his silky soundwaves. A musician of diverse talent, his recorded work ranges from straight pop to ambient soundscaping.
~ Luke Fewtrell- Bowers of Refuse To Lose: Music News and Reviews

johndavidsmith