Randomness and Probability

Hey all you synth enthusiasts and Chicago nearby-ers! 

I will be speaking at this year's Knobcon on 'Randomness and Probability Applications in Electronic Music"!

Should be a blast - as always!

for more information, please visit www.knobcon.com

Solutions for Recording Studio Ground Hum and Noise

Noise and hum can be issues whenever you have multiple pieces of gear and cables connecting them across rooms.  There are many products to help reduce this and a lot of advice on how to connect things to avoid these types of problems.  I recently was discussing this with a friend, Brian Stoller, and he had a solution that I tried and it worked with minimal time and cost!!!

In the new space, I had wired up everything and found that there was a loud, noticeable hum on the speakers when I turned everything on.  The 60 Hz hum is caused by “ground loops” where there are different grounds coming together through a cable from one piece of equipment to another.  In my case, it was the ground from the mixing console to the power amp.  If I unplugged the outputs on the mixer, my hum went away.  
For large areas that cover multiple rooms, there are many write-ups on star-point grounding.  These methods can also be applied to multiple cabinets and equipment within a room. 

I remembered from a recent email chain from my friend Brian where he had mentioned that in his multi-cabinet modular setup, he actually measured voltage differences between the chassis/case/rails of his different cabinets, sometimes upwards of a few volts!!!  He ran some copper wire between the different cases and his power issues were solved. 

I ended up putting a wire in between the screw and equipment on each and every rack rail and connecting/chaining these together so all the rails of my various rack mounts were at the same potential/voltage.  This made all the chassis grounds in all of my rack mount equipment (including the power supply to my mixing console) tie together.  I have never heard my studio sound this quiet!  This approach solved many of my noise issues that I had ignored and lived with and only cost a spool of wire.  I used stranded, tinned, 14 gauge copper wire.

the reason for lack of posts

Please know that there is a reason for my lack of posting lately. 

I got married and moved into a new house!!!! The entire studio is in a new, larger space!  I am just finishing some final wiring and should have it all up in another week or two. 

I have only moved the studio a few times.  It always takes MONTHS to setup, wire, and get back to a routine.  I will be posting some photos of the new space as well as some information about some newly acquired equipment...

I will write more soon.

New Digital Release of 'The Noise is only Temporary'!

I am proud to announce that my album, 'The Noise is only Temporary' is now available on Bandcamp!

https://artoftravelogue.bandcamp.com/album/the-noise-is-only-temporary

please check it out if you have not heard it before!  or if you have, please listen again :)

New Digital release of 'Fireworks'!

Not a new release, but NOW FIREWORKS IS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD!!!!

https://artoftravelogue.bandcamp.com/album/fireworks

Bonus tracks include the 7" versions of Aside and Beside!

Originally released on vinyl in 2012 from Holiday Records.  The concept for this album was simple: make rhythm tracks from the most powerfully compelling sound I know of - the sound of fireworks - and write songs around these patterns.

Critics have called this album "beautifully crafted" and "an instant classic".  It has inspired artists to create and dreamers to dream.  Now it is your turn to be inspired.

Please give it a listen and hear for yourself!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

Thank you for reading my blog.  Please be sure to check out the Soundcloud links as well as the Youtube links.  Also, please note that my email was hijacked a few months ago - and although I immediately corrected this issue, I have been blacklisted by numerous entities, including gmail.  I have wanted to migrate over to my gmail account anyway, so please update your records and know that if you want to send me a personal email, I will be reading them on my old account, but not sending... whereas, I can read AND send from my gmail acount.  what is it?  you might ask...

art of travelogue, of course - but all one word and followed by the "at" sign and you know the rest.  :)

I have been very much obsessed with the idea of a hybrid instrument of strings and chimes.  I am experimenting with some things regarding this and will share if anything interesting comes out of it.

in the meantime, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

cheers!

far between posts

I apologize for not posting much lately.  The fact is, there are lots of things that I would like to share...

The Roli Seaboard Rise49 has become one of my favorite controllers.  I haven't even gone beyond the software that it came with - I have plans of controlling my Emulator E4xt ultra with it, along with all analog synths through the Encore Expressionist.

In addition to this, I did get a Korg Monologue, which I have been using live and really enjoying. 

I have been working through various designs of a portativ organ.  I don't seem to get the action right.  Every time I put it together, it is either too hard to play, or the keys are getting stuck.  I have abandoned the piano size keyboard for small, round buttons - still in the same order and still in black and white - which are more direct to the springs and action in the wind chamber of the organ. Hopefully this fixes the problems with it and I can post videos soon.

I am pretty much done mixing Ronnie Martin's new Said Fantasy record.  He was over a few days ago to listen to what I had done and make some final decisions on details.  I am happy with it and I hope that his fans will like it too.

My album, 'the death of conversation', is closer and closer to being complete.  I really love the direction of this record and I think that fans of 'the noise is only temporary' will not be disappointed.

Finally, I am moving in a few months - across the same town, but to a new home.  I will have more space to spread out the studio - which I am terribly excited about.  I will try and post pictures of the process.

This all to say - I hope to get a lot finished before the move!