Welcome to the first newsletter of the year! While things did not change on the job front (booo!), I decided to roll up my sleeves, pull up my big-boy pants, and get on with creating things again, so here we go!
Concerning Bud the Fish...
I finished one track in December: a little sumthin'-sumthin' I cooked up over Xmas Eve, a perfectly lazy day I was able to plop my caboose into my one comfy chair with the iPad and get lost.
I recorded multiple sequences from Figure directly into Loopy Pro, changing the key and sequence pattern, then using the MoogerFoogers and Bleass effects to mutate the sound in LP. For those without Loopy Pro -- if you want to stick them into Koala Sampler, for example -- an alternative approach to recording direct would be to export the sequences as WAV files, then import them into the app of your choice. A bit of a workaround, but it does work. The MoogerFoogers are warm and twitchy and add all kinds of character to the sound, while Bleass effects are sonically more utilitarian in nature; I find they compliment each other nicely. I have a cartload of other, very expensive software synthesizers and effects to choose from, yet I keep coming back to these guys. If it ain't broke...
(I suppose I could make a New Year's resolution to play around with those other apps more, but resolutions are the work of the devil...)
Meanwhile, the EP remains a moving target. I've had a chance to review the tracks I originally thought I would record for it, and while two of them are solid and complete for the most part, the others are...well, less interesting -- it seems time was not kind to them. In retrospect, I suppose it was a tall ask to create an EP out of songs that didn't yet exist; more prudent would be to make the songs first, and then decide which ones would make to the EP. No, I'm not my mother's smartest son (don't tell my brother I said that because it will go straight to his head and I'll never hear the end of it). So, let's just say the EP is, um, in a state of flux. I have a stable of other finished tracks I like a lot, and I may look to them to create this first EP. More to come.
Concerning Roadkill Puppy...
The last couple of times I posted a doodle dump, Substack got pissy and said my files are too large, the newsletter is too big, whine whine whine, complain complain complain... yeah, well, umm, maybe they have a point? For now, I'm going to try this: post one or two doodles in the letter, plus any big projects I'm doing, and then -- this is the yucky part -- direct your attention to my Facebook page for more-frequent doodle updates. No, I don't enjoy giving Zucker-douche any more business than he already has, but I think the majority of the Roadkill Puppy fans who subscribe to the letter still loiter around Facebook, so it might make sense to post the doodles there? The other option is to make the doodles much smaller and go back to a twice-monthly letter, with music news and big Roadkill projects in one letter and doodle dumps in the other. A bit more work, but it gets you out of having to touch that dead skunk. Something I'll have to think about. Anyway, these were the doodle highlights for December:
Bits and Bobs...
I'm about to start reading Hugh Howey's Silo series, and after that I'm moving on to Dune Messiah. Weird that I haven’t read Messiah yet, but whatever. That's the plan. I may get distracted, though, soooo...
Speaking of distractions, season 4 of "True Detective" will be out on HBO mid-month, and I'm looking forward to it, especially after season 3. Hurray for murder-kill shows!
That's it for this month. Northern hemisphere people, dress in layers; southern hemisphere, use lots of sunscreen. Peace, my friends...
Dan