what is going on in your musical life

Thanks! It was a wild week of horn recording, many revisions, and not much sleep, but I'm proud of what we came up with in the end.

I definitely wouldn't want to do this on the regular, given the amount of work vs the demo fee and presumably very stiff competition. But it was a great challenge. Apparently it's getting presented to the client today (can't say who of course), so cross all your fingers for us!

Fingers crossed!

How did it go?

It was submitted and presented, but we haven't heard anything yet. Not sure if no news is good, bad, or just no news, but we're trying not to get our hopes up since I'm sure the competition is very fierce. It must take some real mental gymnastics to do this frequently -- to work as hard as you can on something, and then instantly detach from it.

So I'm back to prosaic concerns like drum technique, which I'm pursuing more systematically than I have before. Now that I can feel a real difference in my hands after applying some things from that lesson, I started a daily practice where I'm doing continuous 16th notes with my non-dominant hand (straight and accented) for a minimum of 1 minute. Started at 72 bpm and I'm trying to go up 1 bpm per day, I've got a spreadsheet and everything. It's amazing how much more valuable 5 minutes of super-mindful 'micropractice' is than just messing around for much longer, and only playing what feels comfortable. It really feels like a weightlifting program (or I imagine it does, having never done one).

The practice diary thing I'm sure is boring to everyone besides me, but the "do it continuously for 1 minute" thing has been revelatory. You can get away with bad technique for shorter bursts, letting tension creep in at the end, but doing it for that long really reveals any flaws in the motion. So cool to actually see improvement.

I like this idea!

I’ve been doing that for years!! My practice diary is a notebook in the basement. I could be more diligent about it for sure but I love my routine. Feels like home!

That's great! I've never been that systematic about it, lol. Practicing rudiments, sure. Turning on the metronome sometimes, sure. I would do 4s/8s/16s per hand, but never made it time-based or did the daily tempo thing (or wrote anything down).

I had to get up to a passable speed quickly as a late starter and the routine helped me get there. Without the luxury of time, diligence is the best accelerant :)

This is really good reinforcement, from both of you! recently i started doing a similar thing -- one or two minute bursts of playing guitar scales with a metronome, gradually increasing the tempo, and then keeping track of progress (i use a spreadsheet because i like making silly homemade charts for myself).

i started doing it, for maybe 4 days, and then i stopped. this is a good reminder to keep going with it! i was already seeing improvements after only a few days and it was very satisfying.

Technically it's my friends doing the music, but I am the star of their new, professionally shot music video.

It doesn't become accessible until 3:30 PM tomorrow (Eastern time)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2ChDo3l94I

It's up!

Good luck, Jordan!

Well we didn't get the Big Gig, but it was always going to be a long shot (it was the new theme for an American professional sp0rts organization). Still learned a lot about mixing, horns, collaboration, and deadlines.

Back to practicing and full editorial control. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-uSWAJd9GE

...

(I showed that video to my wife, and now it's in her head and she sings it constantly, which means it's in my head constantly and it's a feedback loop)

sorry

Ha not your fault, this has been going on for weeks

-I got up to 82 bpm in my practice routine and hit the inevitable wall that exposed all the flaws in my technique, which is great. Now I've made some improvements and I'm taking the tempo way down, until it hopefully feels super relaxed and consistent.

-I started a label! Even though my interest in promoting music is at an all-time low. But it's been germinating for months, and I'll be much more excited to release and promote other people's music starting with the second release.

Link didn't work https://limitedresourceslabel.bandcamp.com/releases

hit the inevitable wall that exposed all the flaws in my technique

fucking love it

related: been learning a lot of songs by playing them at .75 speed on youtube

Way to avoid dealing with the ASD! Is there a looping function as well?

Brad, my latest revelation on this topic is that it's not about developing speed or endurance really, instead I've gone back to purely focusing on the stroke for my weak hand. If I can get a full stroke (ie where you're letting the stick bounce back up to full height) that's controlled, integrates both the wrist and middle/third/pinky fingers in the same circular-feeling motion, and free of any unnecessary tension, then the speed is just there if you need it.

It sounds like "duh" to say it, but my hand wasn't getting the message. Basically I'm finally getting that sensation where it feels like you're bouncing a ball.

when i'm playing punk songs slowed down by .75 it really refocuses me on obtaining an evenness (and relaxedness) in my stroke and trying to fight against how much my hand/arm/entire body is tensing up when i'm playing fast, so: yes, otm

the ball bouncing analogy is good and one i haven't heard before. man it's just dribbling

Yes, great discussion all around.

man it's just dribbling

It really is! I'd often heard it described this way, but if your stroke is fucked up, then the dribbling effect doesn't happen and you need to figure out how to force it in order to play. Which leads to limits on what you can play, pain, etc.

Not saying I've mastered it all of a sudden, but the physical feeling of it was immediately exciting, like "ohhh, this is what they were talking about."

You start watching Art Blakey, Kenny Clarke, Joe Morello or Buddy Rich videos on the tube and it is just freaking voodoo how those guys seem to have infinite speed out of that match gripped snare hand.

Drums are the instrument I've let slide the most over the years to the point where I just can't play anymore, but this thread has inspired me to crack open my Buddy Rich rudiments book, get a metronome app, and start doing a bit of work on my practice pad.

That's great!

It's always 1 step back, 2 steps forward with this technique stuff. One thing will click into place and reveal what else isn't working properly, like I realized I wasn't letting the stick move enough within my grip, I needed to allow it to have more of a vertical angle. Hard to explain but I was missing out on a bunch of kinetic energy, and things are feeling holistically much better now.

Had a nice day yesterday mixing down a new dance music single, and going over to the practice pad whenever files were rendering.

It's always 1 step back, 2 steps forward
This seems to be the rule with everything, any kind of real learning. The trick or challenge is find to the, um, zone where one is pushing forward but not so much that one is overwhelmed and can't remember anything.

my main problem is taking 2 steps backward and one step sideways, first as a mistake and then as the only familiar way that i can use the stairs of life

I believe our old pal Momus has something to say about this last:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIfdtkE6UBY

here's a fun little tune built from minibrute, modular, pigments, roland tr-8s and more

https://soundcloud.com/moodlesmix/moodle-melodie

happy house techno. nice one!

thanks! is major key techno even a thing? I was a bit stumped what to call it

happy not-so-hardcore

slow gabber

lol, sounds about right, happy mildcore

Latest weak-hand technique breakthrough is that I got bogged down focusing on the minutiae of the hand itself, I started concentrating on keeping the tip of the stick at the same (high) point even as I speed up, and all of a sudden that gave me the hand motion I've been after. Still haven't crossed the 82 bpm barrier (ie 16ths for a minute), but doing 8s and 16s on a hand feels relaxed and proper.

I was talking to a jazz bassist in town who felt similarly about not being a 'natural' and still trying to figure out things that others had together in high school, and he's one of the first-call bass players in town and is on plenty of recordings, so that was reassuring.

Can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but my mate created a drum practice app called Beat Balance - there's a free version and a subscription version, would be interested to see if you drummers over here found it useful.

Intending to check out your label stuff soon, Jordan - I loved that Chants album from last year and I also love "freedom through limitation" projects.

Aw thanks Emily. <3 Looking forward to getting other people's records out on the label, next month there's a classical guitar + breakbeats album that I'm excited about.

That app looks insane, I will check it out.

New practice routine: practice 8th notes to LCD Soundsystem's 45:33. Now that my stroke is finally feeling good, this is great for locking it in and building endurance while staying relaxed and keeping me honest with slower tempos (113 - 135).

Practice diary: a work trip brought the revelation that practicing with a *mirror* is exactly what I needed. It's insane how different your hand & stroke look from above than from the front, and a mirror will tell no lies about the differences between your hands. Can't believe what a massive effect it's had in a couple days (just in time to play some serious snare drum at a brass band festival in Asheville).

Also expecting to get the masters back on a dance single that a label is putting out. I think it has the most of my own drumming of anything so far, which is satisfying.

I recently upload this to the IA along with a lot of other stuff https://archive.org/details/organic-beats-mike-hanley

I ordered a Korg Opsix during that big sale. Came out of the box with a dead screen (was pretty common in this batch). Finally got it back from the shop (fixed under warranty).

this thing is cool to play with, but i'm having trouble getting sounds that are actually usable not just wacky knob twisting, so many different parameters i don't understand.

Cool! Let me know when you eventually decide to sell it! ;)

Haha will do

How beginner are you with synths? Envelopes are the most important thing to understand when starting IMO

Pretty beginner, I have synths but only really used the presets