Ten Strings Attached

My Palm Pre nags me. All my fault, so I shouldn’t complain. I use a third party task tool to capture a range of ideas, not least ideas for posts in this blog. One such post was putatively an open letter to the Christian Church with a shopping list of things it needs to do in the second decade of the 21st century. I should probably abandon that grand idea, not least for the inherent presumption behind it.

But one idea has persisted which I’ll try to unravel here.

Yesterday at church during the evening service, the speaker chose to refer to a passage in the Book of Revelation. If you’re at all familiar with the text, we looked at the last of seven letters to the early Churches scattered around the Mediterranean basin and Asia Minor. Jesus’s to the Laodicean Christians is scathing, but tinged with hope. One criticism stands out – the Laodicean’s material wealth compared with spiritual poverty.

Now, as a political libertarian, I believe there is nothing wrong with being wealthy, but as long as it does not become an idol and that like any other gift, it is used for the benefit of others. To that end, it irks me that so many facets of Christian ministry, books, DVDs, audio presentations, are de facto revenue streams more than they are avenues of service. There is a fine line that must be walked as paying for a book etc. can be a valid way to support a ministry, but in my eyes, many ministries are on the wrong side of the line. Arguably this has been at the heart of the most modern of heresies, the ‘Prosperity Gospel’.

So what is the solution then? The church needs to look to the Creative Commons phenomenon.

Creative Commons is a way to licence works for free without going down the full route of making a work public domain. The author of a book could, for example, make electronic copies available for download while offering a printed version which can be paid for. Depending on the licence selected the CC version can be redistributed, used for derivative works or constrained from commercial exploitation. The copyright remains with the licensor.

Hopefully you can begin to see how this would address my concern; those who do not have the means can access the resource for free, media can be shared among a church without fear of breaching copyright, and those who are able can still support the creator through the commercially offered versions.

This model works. Authors such as Cory Doctorow (of Boing-Boing blog fame) and the Diesel Sweeties online comic enjoy success by licensing their works through Creative Commons. At risk of using a horrible business cliché, it’s win-win. So what’s stopping the church achieving its mission by doing the same?

J

• Morning peeps *yawn* #
• Some Batman and then an early night. Let's see if I can cut it as a trainer tomorrow. #
• Beddy times. 'Night mortals #
• This will be fun: complex training delivered without access to a non-live system. Mantra "I can't show you this but…" #
• It puts the lotion on its skin or it gets the hose again. #
• Mornings. Yawn. #
• So does all this BBC shenanegans mean a reduction in the licence fee? #
• Oh goody. #flashforward is coming back to Channel 5. *does a small dance* #
• Annoyed. My recording setup is picking up a click-interference of some kind. Can't find the source. Bah. #
• Daily Mash : adding some perspective to the BBC cuts furore : http://bit.ly/cPdO8p #lol #
• Dear nuclear powers of the world: Please make sure that Pineapple Dance Studios are among your first strike targets #
• Morning Planet. I think I've got my recording rig fixed. Hoping neighbours weren't put out by the strumming late last night. #
• So that's my stint as a trainer done . Four training sessions delivered. Ad hoc support for the next while. I am taking Monday off, deffo #
• Why is it that France and its artists are making some of the most interesting films of late? Taken, District 9, Martyrs, Pacte Des Loups…. #
• Of course, Pierre Morel (Taken, D13 not D9 as prev) is lined up for the Dune remake. Very exciting prospect #
• SPECIAL OFFER: Weekend…with 50% extra free! #
• The Chinese takeaway delivery bloke looks like Francis from 'Left 4 Dead'. I am easily entertained. #
• Going to write a comic for #marvel FarceMan! Mild mannered Bishop changes into beautiful Actress. Solves crime, obv. #
• Greenhouse climate effect not science: Contrary to 2nd Law of Thermodynamics http://bit.ly/YDWKy < from Int. Journal of Modern Physics #
• Laughing at the Grauniad's "Tory Madrassa" fail. The NuLab must be desperate. Cranmer (@his_grace) nails it : http://bit.ly/dCvjgE #
• Once again, I am at a near loss over what to do with my long weekend. A curse of western affluence? #
• Time for a Blockbuster visit. Standard rules apply. One blockbuster, one foreign and a clutch of B movies #
• Watching a documentary about sufferers of Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Deficiency Syndrome (c.f. http://bit.ly/cXQIPi). #

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• Installing some wonderful music making freebies: Kore Player, Kontact Player, Drumcore Free and EWQL Symphony free. Astonishing quality. #
• Crikey. I never imagined writing a 12-bar blues was so onerous. #
• Oh well. Wasn't able to get my demo recorded. Will take my laptop with me to Manchester and programme some drum and synth parts. #
• So Manchester beckons tomorrow, a four star hotel with free WiFi. A chance to catch up on some reading and some tunehacking. Woohah. #
• Morning peeps. Working rom home this morning before prepping for Manchester. #
• Watching Prescott vs. Rawnsley on Newsnight. Prescott comes across as a hotheaded boor compared to Rawnsley's measured cool. Speaks volumes. #
• It's not everyday one gets propositioned by a leading philosopher. No names, no pack drill. Yes I realise his account was haX0r'd #
• In Manchester. Uneventful journey. Didn't get much done on laptop due to lack of space for me + PC in my assigned seating. #
• Did discover one thing: I need to prep any musical ideas in detail offline as getting creative with a MIDI grid in front of me doesn't work. #
• Hotel's a bit more modest than the 4*s suggest, but it's classy and the room service is good. Pity the side salad looked like a merkin #
• Boy this course is arid. Trying not to nod off as I'll be delivering the training next week. Zzzzz… #
• Evening peeps. Gonna head off to the hotel restaurant to make the most of my per diem. #
• Seabass and renamed pannacotta and Stella. Not all at once, obv. #
• More annual results bashing in the news. Zzz. Typically, critics aren't principled enough to stop being their customers. #
• All-righty…time to train it up to chilly Jockland. Will be glad to get to bed. The sleeping arrangements in the hotel were a bit 'stiff' #
• Ah, horsedoings. My back is going into spasm again. I'll be walking like Ray Charles for a while. #
• I think I may be developing Tourettes. I can't get the phrase "battlewank!" out of my head. Complete with exclamation mark. #
• Now playing : Darwin's Radio, 'Template for a Generation' Splendid sweeping proggyness #
• We've got Gilbert Lennox at our church weekend. Bro of scientist John Lennox and father of Kirsten Getty. Hobnobbin' with a famous, me! #
• Please tell me I've not got horseradish in my eyes…*rubs* *rubs again* *stings* #
• Morning peeps. Today I are mostly being thinking. #
• One for the Old Skool PC gamers: Free download of old "Command and Conquer" games: http://www.commandandconquer.com/classic #
• Just back from seeing 'The Crazies'. Good film. Genuinely scary in parts. Now, for some training preparation for work. Bah. #
• That's my #pre updated. Now have video capability. That and a batch of *free* EA games are available showing off 3D capability. #
• Today's lesson learned. NEVER remove all the strings from a floating bridge guitar when changing them. Intonation hell. #
• It's usually not an issue 'cos guitars have truss rods and strenthening laminates. I change 1 at time on my guitar with whammy though. #

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Aah, that was good. It’s been what must be a year since I was granted permission by my increasingly penny-pinching employer to travel on business. I don’t know if this journey to Manchester is a sign of improving commercial fortunes or a recognition that some meetings — a training event in fact — can’t be satisfactorily conducted on the telephone or squinting at a flickering Webcast. I won’t hold my breath waiting for a positive trend as I don’t think anyone will be doing business the way they did even as recently as two years ago. Certainly, I don’t expect to have a silver frequent flyer card without a commensurate increase in responsibility.

Anyway back to the reason for my ejaculation of pleasure at the outset of this post: A splendid meal of sea Bass and brown shrimp followed by panna cotta. The portions were a bit haute cuisine – a smidgen on the small portion size – but they made up for their reduced plate coverage by being intensely flavoursome.

It struck me while enjoying the courses that there is a certain craft to creating a balanced dish…matching complementary flavours and textures…it’s not surprising that all the restaurant critics use the simile ‘flavour notes’ in their prognostications and pronouncements. That line of thought lead me to think about why I’ve been labouring to record music for my Digital Audio evening class. Ideally I should have had a tune recorded on my PC in order to learn the black art of mixing to produce a final product. I fear that until I learn the craft all my recordings will sound like a mismatched melange of ideas and textures that skirt dissonance.

The solution is obvious: where complexity clouds progress, it’s best to take a step or two back and embrace simplicity. I’ll record the instruments I know well — guitars and basses — before trying to learn about synthesis and sample-based virtual instruments. Of course, this does mean having to learn how to play keyboards, but this is on my long list of things to do.

Anyway, I’m tired and have a busy day of training and travel tomorrow. I may even make it in time for the next episode of the evening class as long as the gods of rail scheduling get me back to Edinburgh in good time. The journey will be a chance to let me structure the training that I, in turn, will need to deliver.

Avanti!

J

• I'm having one of my autistic/agrophobic weekends. Won't be at church today. Need some room to recharge. #
• 'morning haemoglobin shunters. Another day at the digital coalface. Does that make me an electronic canary? #
• It's funny how changing the tuning on my guitar has opened up a song entirely for me. Harrumble for double drop-D! #
• There is a blob of Blu Tac that looks like a Graeco-Roman cameo. Do you have any stationery that resembles classical art? #
• Evening planetary denizens. More Stalking tonight, but in the good sense. #
• Reindeer Flotilla! #
• Nothing like a lungful of paint fumes to start the day. Anyway must dash. The pink elephant wants me in a meeting. #
• I hadn't realised how much I missed business travel. I guess I like the space and the chance to get away from home and the normal routine. #
• So, I'll be of to Manchester next week via train. I'll fire up my laptop on the journey and create a mix of my evening class tune. #
• Hrm. Was going to sign up for Soundcloud to host my original music, but the licence is too skewed to them; irrevocable, royalty free etc. #
• I'll have to "resort" to hosting anything on my website or at the end of my broadband. Can't imagine it will trouble my quotas. #
• Woohoo! Little bro has got engaged! His missus to be is a honey. Pleased as punch for them. #
• Ten minutes into the Ong Bak sequel and it's already reached levels of Muay Thai martial arts awesomeness. #
• Wandering with my camera while the car gets serviced. Cold clear day. Apparently, sunlight makes me sneeze. Things you learn… #
• Another benefit of a weekday off: Early cinema in near-empty screens devoid of rugrats, tweens and gobby adolescents. Bliss. #
• Arg. UKP600+ for MOT and service. Let's hope the bonus fairy arrives this year #
• Final service and MOT cost UKP717. Owowbloodyow. #
• Dear Elton John: Please shut the heck up. Your theological revisionism is as credible as David Irving's grasp of history. #
• Things you don't expect to hear on the radio: Peter Alliss talking about Tiger Woods hitting his penis with a ruler. Tigers', not Peters' #
• This weekend I are mostly going to play with freebie synthesisers. WoOoOobilywooSQUEEE. #
• Whenever I hear a TV or Radio programme mention our "esteemed" PM, Gordon Brown, I feel compelled to say "…texture like sun" #
• Labour's new slogan is "a future fair for all". Oh the irony. #
• Bed tiem. Yawn. #
• Music practice prep complete. Now for some xenomorph fragging. #
• The new Doctor Who trailer didn't make a lick of sense. #
• Crap…nearly 0100h…bed 'cus I'm musicing this morning. Blast you bonus features on Black Hawk Down Blu-Ray! #

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• Watching "Pontypool", sleeper horror from 2009. Proof positive you don't need a disfigured nutjob with a garden implement to be scary! #
• G'nite planet. Sleep the sleep of the righteous. #
• Moring peeps. Busy day ahead, so I should get out of bed! #
• More on the "tell me what you think" twit I made over the weekend. Help me pick a song for my course http://bit.ly/aJYUHM #
• Nighty-Knight Rider. *does a KITT* #
• Taken with the idea of getting a Chi Rho tattoo on my arm. Nothing too bombastic. Bad idea? #
• Seriously, is there a better female vocalist than Alison Krauss? #
• OK; I have two weeks to compose, record and arrange a song for my recording course. Resurrecting the kernel of an idea from my notes. #
• Nothing says "hello weekend" like a late night change to the fibre optic cables attached to an application server. Woo etc. #
• Ah, Timecop, your future still looks like the late Eighties, but you are still a guilty pleasure. Splitskick! #
• Note to self: Think of another witty put down about Valentines Day. I can't trot out the "Horny Werewolf day" schtick three years running #
• Just finished the first time 'round in Bioshock 2. Why is it the best storytelling is in video games like this and Pixar movies? #
• Nearly got hit by a van on the way out of my estate. He wasn't looking & may have been checking his phone. Tried to lie his way out. Fool. #
• Recommended listening: Steven Wilson's 'Insurgentes'. Here's the video to the first track, 'Harmony Korine' http://bit.ly/cccr6. Ace. #
• I think I shall return to Pripyat this evening. New 'Stalker' game is out and it's discounted as i have the two prequels. #
• Great. Broadband suddenly fixes itself as I'm about to go to bed. Bah and a pint of humbug. #

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• Watching "Pontypool", sleeper horror from 2009. Proof positive you don't need a disfigured nutjob with a garden implement to be scary! #
• G'nite planet. Sleep the sleep of the righteous. #
• Moring peeps. Busy day ahead, so I should get out of bed! #
• More on the "tell me what you think" twit I made over the weekend. Help me pick a song for my course http://bit.ly/aJYUHM #
• Nighty-Knight Rider. *does a KITT* #
• Taken with the idea of getting a Chi Rho tattoo on my arm. Nothing too bombastic. Bad idea? #
• Seriously, is there a better female vocalist than Alison Krauss? #
• OK; I have two weeks to compose, record and arrange a song for my recording course. Resurrecting the kernel of an idea from my notes. #
• Nothing says "hello weekend" like a late night change to the fibre optic cables attached to an application server. Woo etc. #
• Ah, Timecop, your future still looks like the late Eighties, but you are still a guilty pleasure. Splitskick! #
• Note to self: Think of another witty put down about Valentines Day. I can't trot out the "Horny Werewolf day" schtick three years running #
• Just finished the first time 'round in Bioshock 2. Why is it the best storytelling is in video games like this and Pixar movies? #
• Nearly got hit by a van on the way out of my estate. He wasn't looking & may have been checking his phone. Tried to lie his way out. Fool. #
• Recommended listening: Steven Wilson's 'Insurgentes'. Here's the video to the first track, 'Harmony Korine' http://bit.ly/cccr6. Ace. #
• I think I shall return to Pripyat this evening. New 'Stalker' game is out and it's discounted as i have the two prequels. #
• Great. Broadband suddenly fixes itself as I'm about to go to bed. Bah and a pint of humbug. #

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In a surprising break with form, viz. dithering over whether to do an evening class right up to the point when it is too late to matriculate, I have signed up and divvied out for a place on the local college’s Digital Audio course. I’ve been dabbling with making and recording music on my computers for at least a couple of years now, but to date I’ve been very much the dilettante rather than commit any great amount of mindshare to a tool that could help further my desire to write and record songs.

So here I am, three weeks in with a deadline of sorts to meet. The first half of the course relates to creating and recording music using the Logic recording studio on Apple Macs*, the looming second half relates to skills required to mix and master a song ready for publishing or distribution. Therein, as the Bard probably never said, lies the rub. I need to get a song created/looped/recorded so that I have something to mix. This is where you come in.

I’ve short-listed three musical “concepts” that I’d like to compose and record, but I can’t quite pick one. So, over to you dear reader:

1) “Long Shadow/Sundial” : This one will be made up of loops and grooves…heavily sample based. I may record some short parts with my guitars, but this will be a cut-and-paste effort. I’m pitching for something like Endtroducing… and Private Press -era DJ Shadow with jazzy beats, film dialogue samples and anonymised segments from other songs. On the face of it, an easy thing to try, but it will take a lot of time (or a lot of luck) to find the right samples to get the effect I want. This could end up as a mess.

2) “Wire Choir” : Number two will be largely guitar based…an ambient, almost orchestral piece recorded by creating multiple layered single guitar lines that will accumulate and build into a series of lush, multi-voice chords, far beyond the voicings that one person could play on one guitar. Think of a clash between Gorecki’s 3rd, Brian Eno’s ambient works and Brian May’s harmony guitar. The main downside will be that it will take a heck of a lot of time to lay down the individual tracks…realistically I’d be recording 8- or more guitar tracks to get the chord sounds I want…and that’s before any other elements like rhythm, basslines or keyboard parts

3) “Faceless Monkey” : Number three will be a bit more traditional: I want to try a funk-rock idea that hybridises the Bass wierdness of Les Claypool (from Primus) and the angular, spiky guitar of Buckethead. It’s a much more simple proposition as I could quite happily jam away over a drum or bass-n-drum track ’till the cows start complaining. The biggest challenge of this choice will be programming the drum tracks; I can’t rely on stock MIDI grooves to suffice…I’ll have to tweak the patterns to respond to and interact with the bass and guitar like a good drummer does.

So there you have it. Which tickles your fancy? Deadline is 11th February 2010 to give me a couple of weeks to get composing. Leave your comments here, on my Facebook page (this post will be automatically imported) or throw a tweet in my direction.

J

* Spit, spit. Oh all right, barring some bizarre mouse and keyboard design quirks my first real recent exposure to Apple product has been largely positive.

• Challenging sermon at church. As always, what I needed to hear. Now to focus on chairing the evening service… #
• Oh great another headache. Soldier on though.. #
• Looks like a standing in-joke about "single transferrable vote" is about to be made redundant: http://bit.ly/agglZq #
• One week to go until Bioshock 2…wherein I shall disappear from the face of earth while I re-acquaint myself with Rapture. #
• No, no, no, no NO! http://bit.ly/aJtb2T #
• **Generic tweet of dissatisfaction at state of things** #
• I must be entering one of my obsessive-compulsive phases. I seem to have the word "battlewank" running through my head #
• I've just realised; my dreams are little more than bad, prop-based improvisation. #
• Crikey…I have three weeks to write and record a tune for the evening class…I've never completed a tune as yet…arg… #
• Evening bipeds and ex-wives of Beatles. On balance a surprisingly positive, productive week…by the grace of God, obv. #
• Everything (sort of) is in order…so what do do? I really need to re-learn how to use weekends… #
• It's almost like I slip into some kind of idle mode unless someone has something for me to do…church, work etc. #
• Evening peeps. I'm going to be tapping into your collective wisdom, dear reader, for a project I'm working on. More soon. #
• Hm. How about illuminated manuscripts as a personal art project? Been "inspired" by the Book of Kells. #
• Ok; going offline for a bit to play scary CSI game on the Xbox. Will mull some ideas about illuminated scripts. #

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• Has to be said; Fulci zombies are the scariest, despite their slow shuffle and fondness for vintage synth soundtracks. #
• I now have a triangle shaped weal on my hand from ironing. What a way to celebrate Burns night #groaner #
• migraine. couldn't sleep. arse #
• I call my migraines 'Mr Thumpy' And a right noisy bugger he is too. #
• If you get the chance, watch James Cameron's "The Abyss". Definite foreshadowings of "Avatar" not least the alien colour palette. #
• Mr Thumpy didn't leave yesterday, and he's stomping around now with stompy boots. The git. #
• Hopeful I'll get some restful sleep tonight…migraine or no migraine, I need to be in work tomorrow. #
• Another crappy nite of fractured sleep. I think I shall be taking a "nightcap" or five this evening. #
• 'It's not about your looks, it's about your awesome' #deadpoolwisdom #
• 'Eat blazing doorknobs of death, banana face!' #deadpoolwisdom #
• 'Once, my TV didn't work, so I kicked it. And it started working again' #deadpoolwisdom #
• Productivity in 11 words: 'One thing at a time. Most important thing first. Start now' (H/T @lifehacker blog) #
• Going to bed. Happy pills have got me agreeably wobbly. 12 hours' kip ahoy. #
• Slept reasonably well at last, but had the wierdest, most lucid dreams. Absolutely drained this morning. No energy. #
• *LOW BATTERY ALERT* *10% REMAINING* *RETURN CARBON BASED UNIT TO RECHARGING MATTRESS FOR CONTINUED OPERATION* #
• Another 12 hours in bed. Feeling vaguely human again. What to do with the rest of Saturday… #
• Enjoyed "Edge of Darkness" at the cinema, so much so I've picked up the original BBC series, which I don't remember seeing back in t'day. #

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