Music of Sound

One day I am going to actually finish & release some music & I swear its going to be this year… Accordingly I keep an eye out for interesting theories as to how best to develop an audience, especially as I have no intention of performing live which is the traditional method. So if you have a similar interest then have a read of this article: What successful Internet marketers know and what musician marketers don’t

As with many opinionated articles on the interweb, please also read the comments as they provide interesting counter arguments, perspectives and a few other approaches that have worked for the individuals involved….

There is of course, no one right method to getting your music head, but gaining insight from other peoples experiences is a valuable resource.

Via notcot Swedish musician Moto Boy has released a musicbox with the melody to one of his songs on it – what a lovely idea! Downlaod the actual song

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

& buy the album and/or the music box here

I don’t quite see the point of the photos people post of unboxing their new synth/toy/whatever… at best they are crappy cardboard boxes and at worst an environmental hazard (i especially hate those polystyrene beads!) and at least big chunks of polystyrene can serve a sonic purpose: if you want to isolate something resonant so it can ‘ring’ when hit, then polystyrene is perfect. I discovered this when I went to an exhibition ages ago & the (sound) artist had built a playable sculpture using those rods builders use to reinforce concrete. He had cut them to different lengths so they were tuned, and he provided little drum sticks with piano hammers on the end of them to play with, but I noticed how all the metal rods were lieing on blocks of polystyrene… and the rods rang like bells! I’ve tried the exact same with many things, including metal pipes too big & heavy to lift…

Anyway, back to the subject; I came across this beautiful packing for a hearing aid, check it out:

Widex hearing aid packing found here

Which lets me segue into a joke I read on the ableton forum:

An old couple are in church singing hymns. The old man says to the old lady “Oh no, I just let out a silent but very very smelly fart… what should I do?” The old lady says “Get new batteries for your hearing aid.”

Sphere Music is a UK based auction website specifically dealing in vintage electric music instrument auctions; VEIMA and they currently have an auction with a fantastic selection of vintage gear (including many synths) from the sale of a private studio…
The two items that struck me as VERY unique were these two:

The Schlumberger Solartron JM1861 Pseudo Random Signal Generator:

And even rarer, the Korg MS20 Blackboard Edition:

“Here’s probably a unique chance to get one of the rarest synth ever made ! This is a Blackboard KORG MS20 made by KORG in 1978 , for synthesis education. This one was sent by the Japanese KORG Firm for Mr Francis RIMBERT (JM JARRE’s well known musician) for a French synthesiser school. Less than 40 examples were made !! It has been serviced last year by a professional in France, so everything has been checked, and cosmetically is really in very good condition. The keyboard can be replaced into the main panel if you decide you want, but it looks very good like that and it’s great to use like it, and it was made in wood in 1978 as soon as it arrived in France. Big dimensions (1 meter x 0.70 m x 0.12 m for the panel)”

Also in the current auction, theres an MS10, MS20, SQ10, MS02 and the ultimate in the range; the MS50. You better have deep pockets if you want to collect the whole set! Happy bidding!