One of the wonders of the modern world is the wealth of tools with which to fashion creative work. I found myself drifting into film production about 15 years ago because of these rather affordable cameras and editing programs. Finally a wistful desire to make movies was attainable for someone with limited resources. Music has been a different interest to me. I had been given several opportunities as a child to learn an instrument. There were music classes in school. I tried first with violin. Then moved to trumpet. I even bought (or, most likely, got my parents to buy) a guitar. But in every instance I just couldn’t get it. I might finally get down the fingering, but I just couldn’t keep up, and by that time all the other kids would be so far ahead of me…it seemed I could never gain that lost ground. I just told myself, it wasn’t for me. Over the years, though, I managed to get a fairly firm grasp of recording sound and editing. For film projects. And as I noticed that so few people in the DIY film world were very accomplished in the most basic elements of sound recording, I found myself volunteering for audio work on friends’ projects. As well, I usually do the sound work on my own films. One day I noticed that my then new Power Mac G4 had a copy of Garage Band already installed. I fiddled around with it some. I could see the possibilities in creating music, but the user interface was as clunky as that horrible iMovie, and so I rarely used it. But eventually I got a copy of Ableton Live and began to seriously work on understanding the program. It’s fairly easy to get into, but so deep that to really understand how to use it becomes more daunting as you dig. Each new element I’d learn, I’d realize, yet again, the enormity of my ignorance. So, on this page, I’ll link to the pieces that I compose as I struggle with the learning curve. Not quite sound collage, not quite music. Audio environments, perhaps. And clearly I’m trying to move in the direction of early influences of such artists as Coil, Zoviet France, Steven Stapleton, Lustmord, Hafler Trio, et al.
