music - others

"That Seventies Song 2"

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"That Seventies Song 2" [4.5 MB .mp3]

Another song made with Tracktion Software's Waveform digital audio workstation, running on Ubuntu Studio.
Sound sources include:
Tracktion's Collective synth/sampler;
Snippets from 1970s vinyl (which may or may not have been uploaded to YouTube by record companies pretending to be "street");
Recordings of a "live" Eurorack synth sync-ed to the DAW via midi-to-cv; and
Beats from the Driven Machine Drums sample pack, playing in Waveform's sampler rack plugin.

Update: A "safe" variation of this track is on Bandcamp.

lazy YT-jaying: Zap Carnivorous

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Eddie Jefferson, "Zap! Carnivorous" [YouTube]

Inimitable practitioner of jazz vocalese Jefferson adds lyrics about inner city dangers to a fairly melodic, mellow, obscure 1973 Fender Rhodes workout by The New Heritage Keyboard Quartet (Roland Hanna, Mickey Tucker plus drummer and bassist)

New Heritage Keyboard Quartet "full album" (with crackles, worn grooves -- "Zap Carnivorous" is the first song) [YouTube]

Ardour's Paul Davis speaks at Linux audio event

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Paul Davis, a Linux luminary who developed the JACK streaming protocol and currently works on the Ardour DAW (digital audio workstation), speaks at a conference here (video embed -- start at 2:22:32).

Worth a watch, even if it's pessimistic overall about Linux audio. On the one hand he offers a necessary reality check to open source boosterism, but on the other, he needs to insulate himself from ordinary bonehead users on forums, they are clearly wearing him down. (He's even testier on the forums.)

He makes a good point about certain types of software only being viable in the commercial realm, as opposed to the open source model. His example is Elastique Audio, a proprietary timestretching algorithm. He admits that neither Linux nor anyone else offers anything as good. It excels, he argues, because the creators spent ten years "polishing and polishing" the code. You need a promise of return, and not just the love of your peers, to do something that numbing.

At one point he muses on the types of audio users who might be drawn to Linux environment. An impetus he missed is people fleeing Apple and Windows for political and aesthetic reasons. Getting away from computer companies that trick you, spy on you, and bleed you for additional services is a strong motivator.

Moondog, "Voices of Spring," "Down is Up" lyrics

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Moondog 2 (1971) was Columbia's follow-up to the better-known Moondog. The second installment features Louis Hardin and his daughter singing rounds, with simple percussion, keyboard, and woodwind accompaniment, and what sounds to me like quite a bit of overtracking and stereo-mixing.

Each little song (26 in all) is charming and minimal, reminiscent of the Carl Orff gassenhauer (street song) for children. I couldn't make out all the words but this blog transcribed them. I made some tweaks to a couple of my favorites:

Voices of Spring

voices of spring were in chorus
each voice was bringing a song
i couldn't sing in the chorus until i wrote a new song
i wrote my song and joined the throng

voices of spring were in chorus
each voice was singing a song
i couldn't sing in the chorus until i wrote my new song
i wrote my song and joined the throng

Down is Up

down is up, and so up is down
because the earth is round
there is no such a thing as up or down

cutting and pressing records

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Audio Geography Studios mini-documentary on lathe cutting records: [YouTube]

Audio Geography is a US-based business that offers small runs of lathe cut vinyl records to musicians. The owner acquired vintage cutting equipment used by radio stations in the '40s and '50s and employs it to cut grooved vinyl, without any further steps in the pressing process.

OFM Vinyl mini-documentary on transforming a lathe cut acetate into a nickel master and pressing the vinyl: [YouTube]

OFM Vinyl, a small record-pressing company based in France, appears to be out of business. The 2012 video shows James S. Taylor (ex-Swayzak, recording here under the name Lugano Fell), working on an ambient composition using a turntable, mixer, and (presumably) looper. The live output of his sound process is recorded directly to an acetate disc (called a "lacquer" in the video) using a lathe cutter. The rest of the video shows the labor- and equipment-intensive process of turning the lacquer into a nickel-plated master and pressing a vinyl record from the master.