KORM PLASTICS 25 year jubilee

Having a very bad memory I don't recall exactly how Frans De Waard and I came to meet each other. I only remember that I was immediately impressed by his dedication to music. Writing, publishing, producing, talking about it, networking; Frans did it all and very much on his own conditions. There was (and still is) no one telling Frans how to do his stuff. He is like a locomotive rolling on his own track at full speed.

And suddenly it's been 25 years since Korm Plastics, De Waard's record label has started. That's worth a celebration and of course a record label celebrates by issuing a release that contains a selection of the label's stable. Frans has released a lot of my work and so I gladly help him out with a composition of 2'50". I don't know when it's to be released but I'm sure looking forward to it.

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Writing a CD with cue sheet.....

Today I finished the new Franz Fjödor CD. Been polishing, upgrading the sound and done some suggestions for different arrangements. Lots of work but really fun. Editing the cue sheet was a different matter. I really like it when in my car stereo I can see the track title instead of "track 01".
I had  been using Nero for years to burn discs but that old version didn't produce cd text so I started looking for open source software that could provide me with the right material. In the end it was Burrrn, that did the trick.

Read about the new release [ here ].

In the mean time I got new requests from Frans de Waard to master his personal material (for Entr'acte) and the forthcoming Tobacconist release (Tourette Records). I listened to the latter sound material and really like it. Much better than I expected, actually (sorry for lack of confidence, there). Will do my best to produce an excellent sound.

My own material is of course lagging a bit. No worries. By the end of the year I will do a sprint and present you with niceties.

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A slippery slope slides the best

I have so many things going on at the moment that I don't know where to begin. I am working on soundmaterial by Roel Meelkop, Tore Honore Boe, Howard Stelzer and Wouter Jaspers, plus my own stuff ánd a contribution to an upcoming 25th anniversary compilation for Korm Plastics. And all of the material is tumbling one over the other. Let's see if I can walk you through:

Roel Meelkop
Roel presented a Reaper project with recordings from Helsinki which he had already structured and layered but which sounded too dull (his words). Actually I liked the basic structure which was formed by some kind of big organ sounds that played a short melody. As if the organ was placed outside on the streets. It had a dreamy atmosphere and so the 'dull' sound was actually appropriate. I touched this up by adding an extra layer (duplicating the original ongoing street sounds track) and eq-ing that so that the high frequencies got more power at some places. I also filtered other tracks so that they didn't get in each other's way. Roel was enthousiastic about it.

Tore Honore Boe
Tore sent me four old tracks that have been recorded from a live performance. The idea is that I enhance the sound. Difficult. I haven't really decided about the approach. I can simply polish it or try to deconstruct the frequencies and go deeper....

Howard Stelzer

Howard sent me the original file of "This Map Is A Gift" (2006). This, too, needs remastering. Same doubts. I have already given it a go, though. I have dissected the file and am working on the dynamics and eq. The work is quite dense so it's impossible to work on the individual sounds that are produced. But it's definitely getting in the right direction. I will finish this one on Wednesday, latest.

Wouter Jaspers
This is the most extensive commission. Wouter has given me the mixes plus the original tracks of his new -to be released- cd. There's a dead line, here. So I'll have to work fast. Hope I'll make it in time..... The original tracks are beautiful and I think I can make this into something special, but it needs Love Tenderness and Care. I hope I'll be able to give enough of that....

My own stuff
Have finished two tracks and am working for Korm Plastics compilation.To show you the variation of stuff that's under my hands here two extracts:

[ 4 loopers ]
[ cellogo ]

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Loads of work underway!

I skipped a week of reporting. Which doesn´t mean nothing happened! On the contrary: I've been very busy. First thing: I updated the discography and added a lot of my musical archive. Go check this out [ here ]. There's more to come but for the time being I think this will keep you entertained.

Next I have sent some personal invitations to people with an offer to do mixing and mastering work for them. This resulted in a few acceptances. I have been doing a mix of a composition (violin, trumpet, saxophone, synths) by Arturas Bumsteinas, and a work by Roel Meelkop. Wouter Jaspers (Franz Fjödor) announced a series of mixes and asked me to prepare them for a master. That job will take a while the next couple of weeks. A bunch of other composers have replied with enthousiasm and announced that they will make use of my services. I will keep you updated of any interesting progress, of course.

Otherwise I have worked out a composition based on a single cello sample. Am satisfied with it and will upload a version soon.

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German art - Art in Germany

Thursday we took off to Germany for an art fest. First day we visited the Isle of Hombroich and the Langen Foundation (in Neuss, near Dusseldorf). We had been there before, and were impressed by what we had seen. This time we were surrounded by students on a trip. This made things a bit noisier and the experience was less than before. Still, the architecture and the art itself in a natural environment was quite good.

The day after we went to Wuppertal, where we visited a sculpture park dedicated to the works of Tony Cragg. Astounding work in a wonderful environment again. Cragg has a very strong personal style and total control over the material. There was a temporal exhibition with material by John Chamberlain in preparation so we got to see his work as well.

The third day (Saturday) we were in Dusseldorf again, where we visited an exhibition by Per Kirkeby. Although his style ticks all the right boxes (abstract, large brush strokes, at times quite colorful) I couldn't connect to the work. That was strange. We had several discussions about this and we even went back to look at it again a couple of hours later but it didn't work out.

The last day was an unexpected surprise. We went to Duisburg to visit the Küppersmühle Museum. We had never heard of it before but read nice reviews. The museum is located in an old  (industrial) mill looking over a harbour.

The collection (a private one) was overwhelming. The collector specialized in German art from 1960's to 2000. So there were Lüpertz, Baselitz, Beuys, Kiefer, Penck. The exhibition halls were big, big, big. So the large material by Kiefer and Penck (5 meters high) fit in quite nicely. I was blown away, something that didn't happen to me for years. Sitting and watching these works really captured me and I had to take a break from it all before being able to drive the way back home, taking the catalogue of the entire collection with me.
I will definitely visit this museum again next year when they have doubled the exhibition space so that the stuff that is now in their depots will also be displayed. When you're in the neighbourhood, treat yourself to a visit!

A weekend well spent!!

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THU20, third session

Sunday, October 4, THU20 once again visited the EARLabs studio. Aside from catching up with friends it was a great musical experience. After the previous session I had made some alternative mixes of the first part of the composition which were closely scrutinized. The first 15 seconds were slightly changed and was then left for the time being. We worked on the second part which was already half way through (more harmonic, rhythmical), and made some modifications there (of course).  The middle/second part consists of loop-like sounds and back up with a.o. some bass guitar sounds (since Jacques/DMDN is now playing bass in metal band Bünkür, we were pleased with his contribution). Next it was important to get an idea about the finale. That would give us a sense of the length and forced us to decide about structure.

After some deliberations (see picture) we decided to do a tape cut up session. I rigged up my old Akai reel-to-reel. We recorded the first 5 minutes of the piece and then spliced the tape into five different sections, which in themselves were spliced into pieces of various length. Next was the recombining part. Purposely we worked quite roughly with blanks and overlaps. Unfortunately the result was a bit disappointing (not quite the Williams Mix all of us had in mind) so, after we transfered everything back into the computer we had to do some extensive extra editing. Still, it provided us with material to let the piece go out with a bang :). And it really bangs, I tells ya.

The current version takes approximately 12.5 minutes. We then decided to call it a day and go get some good Chinese meal. We exchanged discs and tapes and had a good laugh. That's what it's actually all about: having a good time together.

As usual I got some good ideas for the piece the day after, so our next session (to be scheduled) I'll have my proposal ready. Perhaps I'll upload some sketches this week, since I'll be gone next weekend for a trip into Germany, visiting no less than seven museums in the neighbourhood of Essen, Duisburg and Dusseldorf. If anyone wants to meet up: mail me.

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New gear, phase 2

Well, yesterday was the big day. I deconstructed the old rig (which was not bad but a little oldfashioned (AMD athlon, with ddr RAM) and built the new motherboard with Core2 processor and monstrous cooler into it. I had to run to the store to get two strips of ddr2 (oops!) and fired it up with my original sata harddrive. The 2 terabyte drives are already installed but not yet functional since we need to study a bit more on how to rig up the Raid system. All in due time. This week I will slowly build up the software part of things so we can get going next weekend, when THU20 will be in the studio.

In the meantime, [ here's ] a bite for you to chew on. I really like it.

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