You Are Here - Soundvyssyl

Post Christmas

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 13:03:49 -0800

This was recorded last year, December 25th, 2005 for:
out-of-tune piano,
flutes with electronics,
horns with electronics.

It was the start of a new direction for awhile. It still needs a little cleanup.

Right-Click Here And Save To Your Computer

Extremely moody, and, in some ways, meant to capture the perils of driving in the rain.

Video

Sat, 23 Dec 2006 21:26:25 -0800

This is a video of the piano roll and audio output of a piano piece with various amateur things going on.

Piano Brush (Quicktime, 176MB)

PicassoHertz

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 11:29:20 -0800

PicassoHertz

After consulting with a successful writer friend about all things creative, namely, getting out of the day-to-day drudgery of working a 9-5 job, I've started a new "public blog."

The public blog is going to be the first step in bringing some ideas on digital art and music to fruition-- either by my own hand, or by the community it will hopefully cultivate and bring together.

This will be called PicassoHertz, a journal dedicated to the interplay of "sound and vision." More specifically, to get my ideas for new digital art making hardware and software, and the merging of existing audio hardware with visual tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, as well as entirely new products.

Oblique and Sympathetic

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 10:07:04 -0800

Download: Right-click here and save
Time: 10:02
Instrumentation: Piano, effects, cello, violin, tympani [currently]
Composed: Sunday, November 12th, 2006

I'm not sure what to name this yet. I'm working on the National Solo Album Month project of making a solo album in the month of November, from scratch. So I can't use my vault of hundreds of starters that I have. So far I've outlined three or four new pieces on the piano, and this is the most promising one.

I was improvising in the backyard of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings (which is the 2nd movement from one of his string quartets). This key has some awesome power to it-- it's also used in Liszt's Pathetique Concerto, one of my very favorite pieces.

I haven't exited from it gracefully, yet, but the idea is that it will flow into another piece. The section at 7:00 will be expanded.

Additional horn and synth parts are going to be added throughout-- so far the cello is there, at least when it starts, to outline some counter melodies.

I'm very excited about this.

Angel Wings and Panoramic Kings

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 19:20:48 -0700

***Edited Version
I've been working on this one a lot. Now an updated second version (still mixing, though, so there's balance issues; the trumpets need to be brought out more in the end).
Download New: Right-click here and save-as

Download: Right-click here and save-as
Time: 8:30
Instrumentation:
Harp, Piano, Voice, French Horns, Tubas, Trumpets, Marimba, Organ

***Edited Version
I've been working on this one a lot. Now an updated second version.

This is this weekend's work. I'm astounded again. That this came from me and my process. I've changed some things about how I record and mix. Probably for the better.

This develops rather nicely, and I love the horns, especially the tuba and trumpets towards the end.

The last two pieces come from a poem/lyrics I wrote a couple of years ago:

dream of angel wings and panoramic kings
and all the little things that they will bring

sing about the lost and bothered ones,
the hierophant and the elephant, that
ring not the joy and confident cats,
wearing straw crowns and weeping bats.

Lame on its own, but makes for good musical imagery.

The Hierophant and the Elephant

Sun, 03 Sep 2006 22:53:43 -0700

** Updated: New recording. See below.
Download: Right Click and Save-As
Length: 4:39

I went out and bought a new preamp today, as the last one I bought mysteriously quit working. I also installed some new music software to stimulate the creative process.
I started with a cello, which I'm borrowing from a good friend. There are a few cello lines going here, most prominently the ostinado, and later bowed.

Next was accordion, although I've edited a lot of it out.

Next were a cloud of strings, passing over our little landscape.
Another layer of cello picking run through fun.

Two vocal parts, edited down to their necessities.

Trombones.

And a rare addition: percussion.

I've worked pretty much the whole day on this, and I'm quite pleased. I've cheated and had it fade out, since I'm not really done yet.

New
Re-recorded the cello after tuning the cello.
Added new vocals.
Edited the trombone part.
Set everything to be in time. Makes things much easier for editing.

The first part is The Elephant.
The second part is The Hierophant.

A Dying Portrait of a Piano

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 16:51:00 -0700

The track: Right-click and Save As
Duration: 5:45

I don't care for the name for this so much any more, it was to reflect the melting, pseudo-horn sounds going on in the background. If anyone can think of anything better, please let me know.

This is probably my most proud piano piece. This was recorded in 2003, I believe, before I moved to San Francisco. All of the background effects were hand tweaked through reverbs and delay processing, in lieu of being able to add the horn parts I had originally intended. But it fleshes it out nicely.

This piece has an agitated edge to it, especially towards the end. Amazingly, I somehow pulled off the most graceful closing phrases I've ever done, and it reminds me a good deal of Liszt's Etude No. 10.

This piece also shows some rare restraint. The whole recording was 20 minutes long, and I chopped it up and edited down to this 5:45. All improvised, besides the editing.

Of Things Past

Thu, 18 May 2006 23:07:06 -0700

Link: Right-Click Here and Save-As
Length: 3:55

This is acoustic guitar through an amp, as played on keyboard. Guitar ruminations in, as I was feeling, a John Fahey style. Except I don't have the same prowess, and the guitar isn't real.

Standing Upright

Wed, 03 May 2006 13:25:18 -0700

Link: Right-click here and Save As

I recently acquired some new piano sounds. Again. Finally I've found an upright piano that sounds fairly authentic, although it still is missing the sheer power of having this moving, heavy instrument shaking at your commands.

So this is the first recording I did with this. Unfortunately, in the mixdown process, there were some glitches on sample, so there are parts where the strings sound muted, as if I had put a piece of paper in between them. It's grown on me. This isn't what I played when I recorded it, but it came out as something a little different, and I like it.

I may go back and remix some older piano pieces using this piano instead. I'm much more inclined towards an upright piano than a big grand piano. Grands are too pretty, they also don't respond to the pedalling the way I'd like them to.

There are some lovely moments in this. There are some not-so-lovely moments too.

Looking - Finding - Losing - Looking

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 14:20:27 -0700

Link: (right-click, save as): Looking - Finding - Losing - Looking.mp3
Time: 19:42
Composed/performed: April 3rd, 2006

An original intent of this site was that I'd post anything and everything here, not just what may come to be a 'portfolio', so to speak. I want to feel comfortable posting my musical sketches-- almost diary entries--, without some attempt to attain accomplishment, but just to record my thoughts, moods, and expressions. But I still want people to listen to it, comment on it, offer criticisms, interpret what they get from it, even if it's annoyance.

So last night I set back on that by recording another piano improvisation. It follows some of my usual patterns, but also deviates. I'm looking for things. Sometimes I find them. Sometimes I find the wrong things! But damn it, I put the wrong things to use, anyhow. And that may as well be a life philosophy. If I didn't attain what I was trying to do, then I may as well move on from what I got and see where that leads me.

This does that. And finally, it lets me resolve.

So this is me right now. Or at least an approximation thereof.

I may make changes to this later on. But it is what it is right now.

Mozart - Fantasy in D Minor

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 15:12:27 -0800

Link: Right-Click Here And Save As
This is me performing Mozart's Fantasy in D Minor on piano.

At about 2:05 to 2:20 I improvised a new cadenza to, embarassingly, cover up for the one that I can never play properly. I like it.

This has been one of my favorite Mozart pieces since I set my eye on it at 16. Ever since then it's been on a regular rotation of pieces I practice for myself. Over the years I've taken a lot of liberties: I shift the tempo around a lot, I've come up with my own dynamics that I think things should be at.

It also exhibits a lot of my performance flaws. Lack of coherent and consistent rhythm. Little mistakes here and there. But I've developed the ending section to have a little more finality than the sheet music calls for, and I think it's better for it.

Debiliteracy

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 10:44:31 -0800

Link: Right-click here and save as

Instrumentation: Accordion, Flutes, Bassoon

This is definitely a work in progress. A few weeks back I recorded the accordion part, which I like just by itself. But I decided to flesh it out a bit more.

My favorite part of this is a peak that occurs a little of the way through. There's still a lot of editing to do, and re-recording of the bassoon and flutes. Lots of mixing to do.

But I haven't posted anything in a little while, so I wanted to get something new up here.

The title is Debiliteracy, which I came up with in the shower, like a flux capacitor. It's a play on "Debilitating Literacy," while also evoking 'decible'.

In A Sleepless Haze I Have Arisen

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 09:05:09 -0800

Download: Right-Click Here To Save
Composed/Performed: 2-25-06 - 2-26-06

It seems like I have a penchant for naming things around themes of dreaming and sleep. Last weekend I got a new kitty. The last few days of the week, into this weekend, she's been very vocal and intent on keeping me from any actual sleep. So the title for this comes from that: I've been in a sleepless haze, but there are moments-- particularly when coffee is involved-- that I arise to the challenges of the day.

Instrumentation: A gaggle of bass clarinets. Bells. Violin, and an amplified cousin. A cello section, and their plucked compatriots. Studio effects and trickery.

I actually spent a good deal of time editing this. There's still some refining to be done; I'm not entirely happy with the violin's entrances, and the cellos need more presence.

Harmonies du Suir

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 17:23:18 -0800

Track: Right-click Here and Save As
Duration: ~ 5:30
Played: 2-12-2006

I was practicing Liszt etudes last night. Not the final versions of the Transcendental Etudes, but the earlier, unrefined set. From this set I'm able to somewhat competently play what later became the stunning Mazeppa and and pastoral Paysage (I love the way the harmonies move in that).

Eventually I turn through my book and reach the final version of Etude No. 11 in Db, Harmonies du Suir (Evening Harmonies). This is absolutely one of my most favorite pieces of piano music, ever since the first time I laid eyes on it. The harmonic movement is astounding.

That said, I can only mangle that piece. There's no way that I can currently make it through the whole thing.

So, rather than record a poor performance, I just used its key and first chord as a jumping off point.
There are some definite ideas for what will be added to this. French horn, cellos, perhaps some light synth manipulations.

In addition, here's another pianist playing the Liszt etude: Right-click Here and Save As

Twins Are Born

Sun, 05 Feb 2006 15:00:05 -0800

Recorded: 11-05-2005
Link: Click Here to Download
Genre: Elements of Impressionism, Romantic-period, Modern

This is entirely a piano piece. It is rather lengthy (nearly 18 minutes). The title I gave it, before even starting, was 5-13-1980 (my birthdate, as well as my brother's).

It is, obviously, long-winded. But there's a lot going on, and it has a sort of internal logic. I don't blame anyone for giving up somewhere in the middle.
I recorded this at a much slower speed than it's played back at. If I didn't do that, it'd be 25 minutes.