This recording was made at the Audubon Zoo while on a trip with my kids. While we were walking through the Central America section of the zoo I stumbled upon this crazy noise coming from some bushes. The speaker, and its "weatherproof" box were sort damaged and cracked open, and had obviously been soaked during a recent rain. I love the way the beat sounded, seeming like some sort of crazy Autechre thing, and tried to get a section of the loop that sounded neat.

Water Logged Speaker Drums @ Audubon Zoo (Spring 2010)

This recording was done the at 6am the morning after Mardi Gras Day in the warehouse of the production company where I am employed. It is a standard large warehouse, with a metal roof. I've always been amazed at how loud the warehouse is inside during a hard rain. Obviously, the recording kind of just sounds like white noise, but its important to note that the sound was so loud inside that the guy I was working with and I could not hear each other speak, even at a yell.

Rain @ Bernard Productions Warehouse (March 10th, 2011)

bk+ts 2

bk+ts #1

During my fall 2003 & spring 2004 semesters at UT, I was taking a series of Electronic/Computer Music courses. These courses were some of the first to really force me to challenge myself compositionally, and a number of other creative ways. I think, during my time in those classes, I had a lot of arrogance and naivety kicked out of me. What was left was a small body of work that I really wasn't very proud of, but a significantly better understanding of how to pre-conceive, and then construct sounds and compositions in a way that was significant. Before that time everything I did was exploration for explorations sack. Afterwards, everything I did met with a specific purpose.

This piece was an attempt at using strictly a modular synthesizer to compose a piece of music. The UT electronic music lab offered both a massive Emu Modular, and a large collection of Serge panels. Each presented a different method of synthesis. I was initially drawn to the Emu for its size and comprehendablility. For that reason this piece is comprised of Emu entirely. 

Listening to this piece now I hear all of the hallmarks of most any modular synthesizer music of the 70s, especially the frequency spectrum in use. Based simply on Timbre, and overall Textural quality, I love listening to this piece. Beyond that, it is very primitive for me, exploring really just a simple thought, though I do think it does that successfully.

Space Is Not The Place (2004)

More modular synthesizer composition. This was a direct attempt at mimicking my morning wake-up ritual. During the peer review involved in this, many of the folks in my class pretty much nailed that sentiment without any explanation from me. I guess that had to do with snoring sound at the end.

Early Morning Construction of Self (2004)

This piece was created as a sound portrait of my good friend Will Russell. At this time everything my whole working method revolved around crafting sounds that I enjoyed as step 1, and then mixing and affecting those sounds via multitrack Pro Tools or Cool Edit Pro sessions through a manner of intuitive composition. The end result was often clumsy, but frequently resulted in moments of immensely pure & beautiful expression. 
For this particular piece I focused on computer glitch sounds, mic handling noises, some recordings of Will talking (made while getting high), as well as an out of tune melody, and some eBow drones, played on the crappy plywood/plastic guitar I used for Music for Organization & Cows. I've always held a fondess for this piece because it is one of the only things I've ever done that actually feels, and is structured like, a real song. 

Wialm (2002)

There are three pieces of "music" (33, Machine's Choke & Now Here, in chronological order) that constitute the start of my whole the whole electronic music path over the last 9 years. They were born of the working method described on the post for Wialm. An initial phase of sound design based on sample (field recordings, instruments, speech, anything really) manipulation. Frequently this step would involve endless processing down to a single sound, and its subsequent, effected generation, till I reached a sound that was either interesting or pleasing. It was from that process that I learned the how/what/why of effects & effects pedals. 
Once I compiled an arbitrarily sufficient bank of sounds I would begin constructing little pieces or sound narratives that would start at one place and journey through to some end point. For me this process was entirely intuitive, as i carried with me not pre-conceptions about musical theory or narrative arch. It was merely a matter of picking sounds that made sense together, while moving in a forward motion. 
This working method was very fruitful for me for a number of months, but much of the output of that time period has been lost to failed harddrives. However, I did recently discover the CD that contained those first three pieces, the first two of which I would like to share, so here we are. 
Finally, I need to mention that these pieces were originally created to score a series of 8mm shorts I was working under a similar working method. Which is to say a series of pleasing or interesting images, strung to together in a way that makes sense. 


33 (2001)

There are three pieces of "music" (33, Machine's Choke &amp; Now Here, in chronological order) that constitute the start of my whole the whole electronic music path over the last 9 years. They were born of the working method described on the post for Wialm. An initial phase of sound design based on sample (field recordings, instruments, speech, anything really) manipulation. Frequently this step would involve endless processing down to a single sound, and its subsequent, effected generation, till I reached a sound that was either interesting or pleasing. It was from that process that I learned the how/what/why of effects &amp; effects pedals.
Once I compiled an arbitrarily sufficient bank of sounds I would begin constructing little pieces or sound narratives that would start at one place and journey through to some end point. For me this process was entirely intuitive, as i carried with me not pre-conceptions about musical theory or narrative arch. It was merely a matter of picking sounds that made sense together, while moving in a forward motion.
This working method was very fruitful for me for a number of months, but much of the output of that time period has been lost to failed harddrives. However, I did recently discover the CD that contained those first three pieces, the first two of which I would like to share, so here we are.
Finally, I need to mention that these pieces were originally created to score a series of 8mm shorts I was working under a similar working method. Which is to say a series of pleasing or interesting images, strung to together in a way that makes sense.

Machine's Choke (2001)

Organization & Cows was a dance that my friend Errin Delperdang was choreographing in the Fall of 2001. Music for Organization & Cows is the piece of music she asked me to make for it.
She and I both had been listening to Rafael Toral's "Sound Mind Sound Body" a lot. She really liked the droned out guitar tones, and micro variations in texture, at felt that something similar would suit the vibe of her dance piece. I was just beginning to explore listening to drone, predominately through that Toral record, as well as Phill Niblock's "Young Persons Guide To..." I had no functional experience in either making drone, or composing music for dance, but I was eager to face both challenges simultaneously. 
Ultimately, I opted for a very simple path. I did four recordings of room-mic-ed acoustic guitar drone (via an e-Bow and a really crappy/cheap acoustic guitar). The pure drone, mixed with the various artifact noises from the guitar itself, sounded interesting, but I felt that there need to be a more rhythmic (though not continuous) second texture. I then added some heavily processed room recordings of various rhythmic noises (the opening and closing of a zippo, the creak of my bedroom door, etc). 
The end result was something I really enjoyed. Most importantly Errin was extremely pleased with how it fit with her piece. 

Music for Organization & Cows (2002)

I make music for myself. Sometimes, I make music for other people too. I recently lost almost all back-ups of the music I made over the last ten years, so I am slowly tracking down bits & pieces to post here for posterity, and to share.

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