Check out this interview on the Glitzerstrahl project over at the Geeky Disco blog:
http://geekydisco.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/inside-music-henrik-johansson.html
Big thanks to Andrew for including me!
Interview with Glitzerstrahl
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Tag Archives: Inspiration
Off Topic: Tea vs Coffee
Ok this is going entirely off topic, but why not?
Since I arrived in Sweden I’ve become a heavy tea drinker. Just like my friends I’m taken by surprise by this since I’ve always been a heavy coffee drinker and never really ventured into the world of tea. So why now? Turns out the temporary housing I’m staying in while waiting for my apartment has no coffee maker. I know this is hard to believe in one of the heaviest coffee drinking nations on earth.
So instead of hitting the horrible instant coffee variants available I decided to give tea a try, and the results have been really interesting.
Though tea contains caffeine just like coffee, the amount of caffeine in a typical cup is much less. This mean my average caffeine consumption has fallen drastically which has made me much more sensitive to the substance in general. The result is that I actually feel the energy rush of coffee again!
As a result of consuming less caffeine I also sleep better at night and my stomach feels more relaxed. I’ve also learned to appreciate many tea sorts that I did not know about before.
In summary, the switch to tea has made me feel better, sleep better and enjoy several new tastes. It also lets me save the power boost of caffeine from coffee to when I really need it.
Have you done or tried the switch? What was your experience?
I’m not making music…
I’m not making music right now.
In fact, it’s been almost 6 months since I packed up all my gear in San Francisco, put it into a container and sent it off across the ocean.
While my gear has been on board some big ass freighter defying storms, pirates and other dangers of the high seas, I’ve been traveling back to Japan, then onwards to Sweden. (You can read about my move north here). I took a pelican case full of gear with me, also known as my portable studio but alas I have not used it as much as I expected. Not that there’s anything wrong with the gear but I’ve realized that it’s really hard for me to be productive when I’m not in the right environment. I miss my synths, my modular and just sitting down in a space that’s made for music-making.
Good news is that I’ll be moving to a more permanent place in Sweden in just a couple of days. There I’ll finally be able to set up the gear again.
While I’ve been unable to make much music on my own I have been inspired to listen to a lot of new and old stuff. Using Spotify and other online services I’ve dug up some of my old favorite artists and genres and from there branched back up in time to discover a lot of new and interesting stuff. I’m really eager to put these new impressions to use and get cranking on some new songs.
Stay tuned…
Why you should practice DJing
I’ve never really been interested in the art of DJing, but lately I’ve started lusting for a Digital DJ Controller. Why? I think the spark came when I visited one of the huge DJ stores in Tokyo a while back. They had rows and rows of beautiful controller lined up, and I have to admit that it was pure looks that pulled me in.
At the time I had only a vague idea of how they work, but I guy in the store was kind enough to give me an overview of the standard controls and he also gave me a quick intro to Traktor and Serato DJ.
As I got home that night I downloaded the demo version of both and started playing around with them. While they are limited they do contain all the basic functionality, and since then I’ve been fooling around with more and more often.
Here are some really cool takeaways, and the reasons why I’m now considering buying an actual controller:
1. Building a library of tracks to practice with has forced me to listen to and buy a lot of new music. This has ben crazy inspirational and a really good kick in the ass to explore and listen to more music! (Especially more mainstream music.)
2. Practicing mixing has taught me a ton of new details about track composition and timing. How long is a typical trance lead in? Lead out?
3. Rhythm practice and appreciation of EQ and frequency bands. Understanding what to take away, what to emphasize and how to adjust speed and tempo to seamlessly blend and mix tracks has forced me to think more about where in the frequency band certain sounds or instruments lie and why.
4. Greater appreciation for sampling. I’ve found myself not just listening to more music (remember 1 above?), but also out in record stores digging through old vinyls and CDs looking for interesting, fun or just unusual loops and sounds to sample.
I think dabbling with DJing (really, I suck but hey…) has gotten me thinking about structure, tempo and sound in new ways. Before I could talk and reason about it, but now I feel like I ‘understand’ and can appreciate it even more.
If you haven’t tried it yet, I really recommend you do!
Portable Sound System / Live Setup
I’m about to head out on the road for a couple of months or so which means I wont have access to my regular music making machines. All the keyboards, synths and the modular and other gear will be out of reach.
My wonderful modular ;-)
Naturally I can’t go for 2 months without making music, and so I was researching various ways of staying productive while on the road. I came up with 4 different alternative setups that I think would have worked for me. I’m sure there are others but those are the ones that felt viable in terms of what I was looking for.
Figuring there might be others looking for the same I decided to write up a short explanation of how and what I ended up with.
Scroll down to the end for pictures of the end result :).
First the Criteria:
- Portable
I wanted a system that I could carry or lug around without too much effort. Pocket size was not a requirement. - No Computer / DAW dependency.
I wanted to be able to set it up and jam / mess around without having a computer nearby. - New
I wanted the setup to be a new learning experience with gear and/or a workflow that I had not used before. Also, I wanted those learnings to be relevant not just to the system at hand but for other scenarios / tech / workflows as well. - Full circle
The system had to be capable of producing a full track with all parts and sounds necessary (under realistic constraints of course).
Option 1. The Groovebox
At first I was looking at various self-contained groove boxes like the Korg Electribes and the Roland MCs. They are certainly capable boxes, but the Rolands I ruled out right away as being to big for their feature sets, and having to out-dated i/o options. The MC808/909 looks like a lot of fun, and as a future addition to the studio I think they would be great, but not for on-the-road work. On the other hand the Electribes have the perfect size but felt like they were to restricted sonically (at least for the type of music I want to create). Finally, any workflow or techniques that I would learn from these boxes felt like they would be tied very closely with the particular box and not translate well to other tools.
Option 2. The Pocket Synth
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last year or two you know about the Teenage Engineering OP-1 synth. A fantastic little instrument that is kind of like a groove box on steroids, shrunk to fit in your palm. However, the hardware has gotten a lot of negative reviews/feedback as a novelty toy, and with little to no expansion options, for the price it felt like a very limited way to go. Also, the OP-1 seemed like a dead end in terms of live, cooperative jamming. I’m all for setting up constraints to explore creativity but the OP-1 was simply to far from where I’m heading with my music.
Option 3. All Software
While certainly the most portable solution, this violates the 2nd criteria. And seriously, how fun is that?? ;-)
Option 4. The Portable Studio
So finally I started asking my self what the minimum required instruments are to be able to create the music I strive for without a DAW or any of my larger modular systems or synths. What would it take to essentially shrink down the sonic palette that I want to work with into a system that would meet the 4 criteria and also be fun and inspiring to work with.
I knew I would want some kind of percussion / drum sequencer, a dedicated bass voice, at least 1 dedicated lead voice, something to experiment with for atmospheric sounds and effects, and some way of mixing all the voices together.
Looking at what I had at hand I decided that my Elektron Analog Four should have a spot in the setup, as well as the Meeblip. For effects I could bring my Eventide Space and Timefactor pedals, and to spice things up even more I ordered a Nebulophone from Bleep Labs. Next I needed some form of note / melody source so I decided to include a Doepfer Dark Time sequencer, and for percussion a Korg Volca Beats. Also, to add another voice to the mix, and because it pairs so well with the Dark Time, I’m considering throwing in a Dark Energy synth as well. Finally to mix them all together I’ve included an Allen & Heath ZED10-FX mixer which will also allow me to record the stereo mixdown over USB to a computer.
SketchUp model
I figured I could build a custom, heavy duty but portable, case that would hold all of this gear so I started looking into custom ATA cases, but a friend pointed me in the direction of the Pelican brand cases instead. Those cases come in a huge variety of sizes and colors so after some measuring and careful modeling in SketchUp I decided to go for one of those.
In the end I would agree that this setup is far from the most simple or portable solution, but it feels extremely inspiring and I can’t wait to set this rig up and start exploring it.
If you have any questions about the case or any of the gear inside it please leave a comment and I will answer as best I can.
Here’s a complete list of the gear:
- 1x Allen & Heath ZED10-FX Mixer
- 1x MeeBlip SE
- 1x Korg Volca Beats (to be added in Japan)
- 1x Elektron Analog Four
- 1x Eventide Space
- 1x Eventide TimeFactor
- 1x Doepfer Dark Time
- 1x Bleep Labs Nebulophone
- 1x Doepfer Dark Energy mkII (TBD)
- 1x Pelican Cases 1610
The Pelican 1610 Case
Inside the case. The mixer is one level down.
Jamming with the setup.
Glitzerstrahl 