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March 29th, 2012
The RPM Challenge tasks musicians to write and record an entire album's worth of music (35+ minutes) in the month of February. Dream State is the successful completion of that challenge. This post recounts my thoughts on the album and the process in which it was created.
It is weird. I listen to this album only a month after I posted it to the world, and it really doesn't even feel like something I made. Usually I spend months agonizing over parts of a track or sit on something so long it is ingrained into my unconscious. But with the frenzy of creation for this album, I almost feel like someone else under my name created it and I simply awoke after it's completion.
The process was so hurried and raw, which was the opposite of how I usually function. I remember sitting down some nights, getting frustrated after an hour's worth of trying to get something to work and just giving up and playing a game. Then other nights I sat down and hammer out entire iterations with no problem at all.
Grouping the song into iterations was a very interesting and fun way for me to manage the album's evolution. I wanted the album as a whole to have a distinct sense of slow progression and movement throughout. I really enjoyed taking bits and pieces of the prior 2 minutes and melding it into something completely different. I'm really proud of that distorted screechy pad nearing the end of Unlikely Landscape, which began as the guitar lead at the beginning of the same song. Layer upon layer of filters and manipulations changed it into something unrecognizable to its original.
My biggest realization is that I need to relinquish the reins of my creativity more often. Being in such a hurry I said "screw it, it is rough, but that's good enough" several times during the making of this album. Going back and listening to these parts, all but one really resonates with me as quality work. Theta Rhythm is by far the jewel of the album for me personally, but it also took less than a week to create simply because I just put down whatever came to me at the time.
One thing that really astounds me about this whole process is how quickly it came about. In late January I was waffling about whether I should participate in the RPM Challenge. During my daily excursions through the Internet, I came across a forum post that used the phrase "dream state". I can't even remember what it was talking about at all, but those two words just really resonated with me.
I spent maybe 15 minutes on Wikipedia looking up information about dreaming and coming up with track titles. Suddenly I had an entire concept album in a text file, with descriptions of how the tracks should sound, what kind of samples I might use and even what the album art could look like. Granted, a lot of that changed during the creation process, but having the groundwork done really helped motivated me and keep me on track while the album gestated and grew.
The idea of 35+ minutes of original music in a 29 day month was absolutely insurmountable for me. In late January I chewed and chewed on that ratio for the whole week before February started and I just couldn't picture being able to make that. I am someone who feels accomplished by making 45 seconds of music in an evening. I needed to create almost double that. Every day. For a month.
My first attempt was to create some music more in the Drone Ambient genre. I got 5 minutes of music really quickly over the course of an evening and I just wasn't happy. Partially because I felt that I was taking the "easy" route and not really applying myself. I wanted this challenge to be an actual challenge. Plus I just didn't like how it sounded. I did reuse some of the pads I made (me throat singing badly with lots of effects over it) through the album, notably near the end of Drifting.
Another thing that I did differently with this album was that I never exported it and I never shared it. Usually I am very promiscuous with my music while it is still being worked on. I want people to listen and offer feedback so I can refine it and make it more what other people might like. That is the way I've been writing music since I began. Back in the late 90's, I used my father as a sounding board. Then afterward I was on MP3.com and sectionz.com. Always surrounded by people willing to encourage and suggest better methods and sounds. I wanted to see what it would be like to make something with no external feedback.
Working in a complete vacuum was a really incredible experience for me. Partially because I knew that I was the only one with a say on what this will sound like. That sounds weird, but I never realized how much control of my own creative works I relinquished in the past. I'm not entirely sure why I do that, maybe I simply wanted to have an out if people didn't like it, so I could say "oh, well that was this guy's suggestion".
Really though, it was also the strange knowledge that I was listening to something that no other person had ever heard before. Not just a melody or song, but an entire album of music that only I knew about. It was like walking around with a big secret.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with Dream State. Yes, it could be better in places, but it also feels whole and complete. I have received a fairly positive reception to the album as a whole as well, which is a great feeling. I hope I can participate in the RPM Challenge again in 2013!
Comments
It is weird. I listen to this album only a month after I posted it to the world, and it really doesn't even feel like something I made. Usually I spend months agonizing over parts of a track or sit on something so long it is ingrained into my unconscious. But with the frenzy of creation for this album, I almost feel like someone else under my name created it and I simply awoke after it's completion.
The process was so hurried and raw, which was the opposite of how I usually function. I remember sitting down some nights, getting frustrated after an hour's worth of trying to get something to work and just giving up and playing a game. Then other nights I sat down and hammer out entire iterations with no problem at all.
Grouping the song into iterations was a very interesting and fun way for me to manage the album's evolution. I wanted the album as a whole to have a distinct sense of slow progression and movement throughout. I really enjoyed taking bits and pieces of the prior 2 minutes and melding it into something completely different. I'm really proud of that distorted screechy pad nearing the end of Unlikely Landscape, which began as the guitar lead at the beginning of the same song. Layer upon layer of filters and manipulations changed it into something unrecognizable to its original.
My biggest realization is that I need to relinquish the reins of my creativity more often. Being in such a hurry I said "screw it, it is rough, but that's good enough" several times during the making of this album. Going back and listening to these parts, all but one really resonates with me as quality work. Theta Rhythm is by far the jewel of the album for me personally, but it also took less than a week to create simply because I just put down whatever came to me at the time.
One thing that really astounds me about this whole process is how quickly it came about. In late January I was waffling about whether I should participate in the RPM Challenge. During my daily excursions through the Internet, I came across a forum post that used the phrase "dream state". I can't even remember what it was talking about at all, but those two words just really resonated with me.
I spent maybe 15 minutes on Wikipedia looking up information about dreaming and coming up with track titles. Suddenly I had an entire concept album in a text file, with descriptions of how the tracks should sound, what kind of samples I might use and even what the album art could look like. Granted, a lot of that changed during the creation process, but having the groundwork done really helped motivated me and keep me on track while the album gestated and grew.
The idea of 35+ minutes of original music in a 29 day month was absolutely insurmountable for me. In late January I chewed and chewed on that ratio for the whole week before February started and I just couldn't picture being able to make that. I am someone who feels accomplished by making 45 seconds of music in an evening. I needed to create almost double that. Every day. For a month.
My first attempt was to create some music more in the Drone Ambient genre. I got 5 minutes of music really quickly over the course of an evening and I just wasn't happy. Partially because I felt that I was taking the "easy" route and not really applying myself. I wanted this challenge to be an actual challenge. Plus I just didn't like how it sounded. I did reuse some of the pads I made (me throat singing badly with lots of effects over it) through the album, notably near the end of Drifting.
Another thing that I did differently with this album was that I never exported it and I never shared it. Usually I am very promiscuous with my music while it is still being worked on. I want people to listen and offer feedback so I can refine it and make it more what other people might like. That is the way I've been writing music since I began. Back in the late 90's, I used my father as a sounding board. Then afterward I was on MP3.com and sectionz.com. Always surrounded by people willing to encourage and suggest better methods and sounds. I wanted to see what it would be like to make something with no external feedback.
Working in a complete vacuum was a really incredible experience for me. Partially because I knew that I was the only one with a say on what this will sound like. That sounds weird, but I never realized how much control of my own creative works I relinquished in the past. I'm not entirely sure why I do that, maybe I simply wanted to have an out if people didn't like it, so I could say "oh, well that was this guy's suggestion".
Really though, it was also the strange knowledge that I was listening to something that no other person had ever heard before. Not just a melody or song, but an entire album of music that only I knew about. It was like walking around with a big secret.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with Dream State. Yes, it could be better in places, but it also feels whole and complete. I have received a fairly positive reception to the album as a whole as well, which is a great feeling. I hope I can participate in the RPM Challenge again in 2013!
Comments
January 31st, 2012
I figured I should post this here. I don't have a good system for getting people on my mailing list yet, but I certainly want to get more communication going with people who enjoy what I do. The message I sent out is after the jump!
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Read more...
CommentsJanuary 11th, 2012
I haven't posted anything in too long. This is a new one I started working on last night.
Abstraction - Untitled Song (WIP) by Abstraction
Comments
Abstraction - Untitled Song (WIP) by Abstraction
Comments
November 30th, 2011
Excited to already be working on something new. This is still in the rough stages, but I really wanted to share it :D
Comments
Comments
August 1st, 2011
This is the final render of the song. For the time being anyway. I think I'm going to use SoundCloud from now on to link my music, it's pretty damn slick.
Thirteen is my Favorite Prime by Abstraction
Comments
Thirteen is my Favorite Prime by Abstraction
Comments