A Bicycle for the Mind
RIP Steve Jobs 1955-2011
for me the ipod and the itunes playlist have been the most important technological innovation s and devices i have owned. after the first ipod came out i was finally able to study a huge variety of music on my long commute home each day without having be constantly swapping CD’s. it doesn’t sound like much but loading up the 15 different composers in a playlist to get an idea of how they all dealt with string ostinatos used to be a real pain in the ass (especially since many new music scores aren’t that available). these days still i don’t own a proper stereo and prefer to listen to music via my iphone when and wherever i want. Got my first Mac Tower in 2001 and mixed and recorded all 3 albums using your computers.
“That’s what a computer is to me: the computer is the most remarkable tool that we’ve ever come up with. It’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.”"[Y]ou can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” made with monome 64, press cafe, ableton live, and 13′ macbook pro (2011)
“That’s what a computer is to me: the computer is the most remarkable tool that we’ve ever come up with. It’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.”
“[Y]ou can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
made with monome 64, press cafe, ableton live, and 13′ macbook pro (2011)
Music for Commuters (RealNewMusic 2010)
here is the video from our (with jeremy keller, guitar) performance at the RealNewMusic 2010 show in whittier (091810)
overall i’m pretty happy with the whole shebang. the audio is a little light on the bass because the recording was made from the balcony. this piece originally was created as “music for controllers 1” which was became “music for commuters” when it became a duo and video was added.
below is the video from the show and the audio mp3′s from the show and dress rehearsal
music for commuters dress rehearsal, 091810
music for commuters live, 091810
Music for Controllers (2009)
are improvisations performed live using ableton live, korg/nanokey, buddha machine and srutibox (iphone), and korg kaossilator
Music for Controllers I
created using ableton live, buddha machine (iphone), korg kaossillator and nano-key
Music for Controllers II (coming soon)
Music for Controllers III and Music for Controllers IV
were improvised live using ableton live/ korg/nanokey, buddha machine (iphone), and the korg kaossilator
Music for Controllers V
improvisation post-whatever ableton, buddha machine (iphone), srutibox just-intonation drone
Music for Controllers VI (A Stable Job is an Oxymoron)
this track was based on a field recording i made of my last day of work before my “fall break” at CSUF (a one-week non paid work furlough). a few days later i improvised over the recording of my commute (from highland park to union station) with some materials of an earlier piece i made last spring (not getting fired is the new promotion). when it was finished i felt it was a little too minimal and forgot about it until about a week ago and when i listened to it again i realized it pretty accurately captured my dread of what this financial disaster has become in my life.
interestingly enough on that was the same day on my commute home the conductor on my amtrak route told me that she had lost about 75 daily commuters between san diego and los angeles from a year ago and it was pretty sad how so few of us were left. i know for me there aren’t many part time faculty left in the music department at CSUF and at this point it’s can get pretty depressing whenever i think about all of my friends who are out of work.
probably a little TMI, but yeah… i guess it is a bit dark.
Music for Controllers VI (A Stable Job is an Oxymoron) is spoken word piece based on twitter RSS feeds on the keywords “fired” and “job”. parts of this piece were originally contained in the piece “not getting fired is the new promotion” (2009) and was improvised/performed/composed using ableton live, novation launchpad, korg kaossilator, iphone (buddha machine, srutibox), text-2-speech, and a field recording (zoom H2) of my morning commute (metro goldline from heritage square to union station; los angeles, ca 10/15/2009 (10 min)
Music for Controllers by paul bailey
Paul Bailey: Music for Controllers VI (2009)
Paul Bailey: Music for Controllers VI (2009)
Music for Controllers VI by paul bailey
this track was based on a field recording i made of my last day of work before my “fall break” at CSUF (a one-week non paid work furlough). a few days later i improvised over the recording of my commute (from highland park to union station) with some materials of an earlier piece i made last spring (not getting fired is the new promotion). when it was finished i felt it was a little too minimal and forgot about it until about a week ago and when i listened to it again i realized it pretty accurately captured my dread of what this financial disaster has become in my life.
interestingly enough on that was the same day on my commute home the conductor on my amtrak route told me that she had lost about 75 daily commuters between san diego and los angeles from a year ago and it was pretty sad how so few of us were left. i know for me there aren’t many part time faculty left in the music department at CSUF and at this point it’s can get pretty depressing whenever i think about all of my friends who are out of work.
probably a little TMI, but yeah… i guess it is a bit dark.
spoken word piece based on twitter RSS feeds on the keywords “fired” and “job”. parts of this piece were originally contained in the piece “not getting fired is the new promotion” (2009)
made using ableton live, novation launchpad, korg kaossilator, iphone (buddha machine, srutibox), text-2-speech, and a field recording (zoom H2) of my morning commute (metro goldline from heritage square to union station; los angeles, ca 10/15/2009 (10 min)
Music for Solo Controller 1
finally getting around to making music with my launchpad and max/msp. getting the software and hardware to play nice with each other is still a challenge (the midi gets bogged down when 4 or more patterns are triggered), but overall i finally ‘get’ what all the hubub about the monome. i think my best description is that it’s bringing modular improvisation (that i’m very much into) very successfully into the a very programmable music machine that is easy for anybody to intuitively music with. (kinda like an very sophisticated orff instrument for adults)
this track was created using my novation launchpad, max/msp, nonome (monome emulator) and the polygome64 (P4/M2) inside of ableton live.
[soundcloud url="http://soundcloud.com/pbailey/music-for-solo-controller-1"]
Update: January 3, 2010
i just added a 2nd version that plays a little bit better with MIDI
Music for Controllers III and IV
still trying to get my head around live improvisation using digital sound sources and controllers. these next two tracks were improvised live using ableton live/ korg/nanokey, buddha machine (iphone), and the korg kaossilator
Steve Layton also made a nice mashup of my Music for Controllers III and Shane Cadman’s very beautiful piece: “For the Mighty Noah Bailey Dowell”. Shane’s description of the piece follows:
“I know Noah Bailey Dowell and his family from a church we all used to go to. He is known as “The Mighty” and he died on 10.3.09 after a battle with a rare form of cancer – he was not quite 8 years old. He and his family are an inspiration. They are all mighty indeed!. This piece is for Noah. I don’t know what else to say.”
Shane Cadman
100909 – For the Mighty Noah Bailey Dowell
Steve Layton
listen and come join the fun at improvfriday.ning.com
Music for Controllers I
finally getting around to joining the ImprovFriday fun. here is my first submission. Music for Controllers I created using ableton live, buddha machine (iphone), korg kaossillator and nano-key Be the first to like. Like Unlike
Bookmarks for May 19th through May 20th [del.icio.us]
These are my links for May 19th through May 20th: Eminem’s Relapse: A Timeline… – interesting timline of the marketing and promotion for eminem’s latest album. (marketing about the marketing) 15 Influential Early Works of Apocalyptic Fiction – bobgable’s posterous – Ableton Live 8’s Looper » Synthtopia – “Robosquirt demonstrates Ableton Live 8’s Looper, using [...]
iphone in the classroom
just a quick friday post on using my new iphone in the classroom. its already become indispensable for teaching music related classes and lectures. here are a few of the new apps that i’m already using on a daily basis. remote like it says its a remote in your hand. i can walk around the [...]
Post-Whatever (2008)
post-whatever, 2008 modular improvisation for laptop (macbookpro/ableton live) and two players post-whatever 1st reading/rehearsal 061208, paul bailey (macbookpro/abletonlive, trombone), bruce gallego (electric guitar) matt menaged (bass guitar) Be the first to like. Like Unlike
Not Getting Fired Is the New Promotion (2009)
financial crisis + twitter + RSS feeds + text 2 speech + ableton live
