The Planets poster print

I thought I would share some quick updates on work on Neue, my music project. When I completed it in February, it was a fun (if time consuming) side project that I hoped people would enjoy. So far, the comments and feedback I’ve received from fans of the album though have been incredibly positive and humbling.

To publish the album, I used the services Bandcamp (for independent release) and CDBaby (for release into existing music stores). I really really like the Bandcamp service (and get a higher percentage of album sales). And unfortunately I really regret going for the home team with CDBaby. That service has been incredibly obtuse and needlessly complicated. My submissions to their partner sites was delayed by 2 weeks because of an obscure button to press, with very little feedback on the status of my submissions telling me there was something wrong. I had initially thought of using TuneCore, and think that I will try that service next time.

Now, the album is also available on iTunes, Amazon and many others.

I know nothing about music promotion, and it seems like kind of a dirty concept to me. But when I finished up the project, I quickly realized that I wanted a specific place for people to have some kind of community.So with Sarah’s help, I created a Facebook fan page for Neue. I’ll be posting Neue news and ambient music updates there.

I created a poster print of the album (shown above), available on the Bandcamp site.

And finally I just completed a new bonus track for The Planets: Pluto. The album just seems more complete with it :) Enjoy!

I’m pleased to announce the release of the completed album of The Planets. It’s been a long process squeezed into many nights and weekends. I’ve learned a lot about production, mixing, mastering, and have had to overcome a lot of technical difficulties with Logic and the various software instruments used in the making of the album. But I am pretty happy with how it’s turned out, and really excited to have completed the project.

I’ve released the album under my new project name Neue, and have created a site on Bandcamp to handle anything music release-related from now on. From there you can stream the entire album for free, or purchase a high quality version for download. In a few weeks it should also be available in iTunes and other services.

I’ve really been encouraged by the numerous positive comments and requests for an option to acquire the complete tracks. So if you’ve been a fan of the music, head on over to http://neue.bandcamp.com to download. I’m also planning on creating a print of the album artwork available for purchase from there too. Thanks to everyone who has supported the release!

Here is a free download of the track Earth: 03 Earth

We recently hung our newest print: this 1972 silkscreen by Jimmy Ernst from the Paris Review print series. Ernst  (1920 – 1984) was a German-American abstract surrealist painter. The son of pioneering surrealist Max Ernst, Jimmy established his own career in art alongside other 20th century abstract contemporaries including Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell and Mark Rothko.

We enjoyed Ernst’s abstraction of the Paris Metro system in this handmade print, which ironically seems to be one of the more representational pieces he created in his career. The treatment of the map of metro lines and their stops creates a graphic abstract composition of its own that takes the viewer a moment to realize what they are seeing.

We keep our eyes on the Paris Review print series from time to time, as it is an interesting resource for relatively accessible prints from well-known artists. They do tend to sell out quickly, especially the works from the most well known artists such as Andy Warhol and  Roy Lichtenstein. And evidently, we got one of the last of these prints as it too is now listed as sold out!

Recently, a tiny outfit called Madrona Labs released a new soft synth called Aalto that has opened the door for me into the modular synthesis technique.

The main thing I like about Aalto compared to the multitude of other modular soft synths out there is its focus on simplicity. Other software synths try to directly replicate the hardware of the giant modular synthesizers such Buchlas and Moogs, offering dozens of types of connectivity. Aalto has a refreshingly simple interface with enough connections to keep you satisfied, but still being accessible to a relative novice. However, its sound modeling algorithm is derived directly from those hardware systems, so you still get an authentic and interesting sound.

Aalto also let me finally get a handle on how the flow of signals through a modular synthesizer actually works, and what makes it “modular”.

First you set the Carrier wave. This sets the starting sound wave tone, such as a sine, a square or a triangle wave. It also establishes the primary frequency (pitch) of the tone. From here, essentially all the other things you are doing interfere, harmonize, and shape this carrier wave to get your final sound. You do this through the other “modules” by wiring (patching) the different modules together to send the output of one into the inputs of others. This is where it gets really fun.

For example, the Envelope module sets the shape of the sound. You set the attack to be shorter to form percussive sounds, or long to form pad-like sounds. You typically patch the Envelope to the output Level of the Carrier wave to create your sound. This is usually the first thing I do in Aalto.

Other tools are the Sequencer for creating rhythmic tones within the synthesizer. There is also a Delay effect to add more layers to the sound. Filters help to set the final overall set of frequencies you want in your sound. All of these modules can typically cranked to extremes to create yet more possibilities with your sound.

Overall, it’s a very fun tool that I’m looking forward to making a regular part of my compositions.

Here’s a few sound samples that I created using Aalto.

The new version of Greg Martin’s Experience The Planets project was launched this week. After working on and off over the last few months, I’ve been able to contribute 3 new tracks (plus the remastered original ‘Earth’) to  the project. Progress continues on the complete set of 8 for The Planets, which I am aiming for the end of the year. You can stream the 4 completed tracks here:

Venus

Earth

Uranus

Neptune

About the tracks

The challenge with these tracks has been extending the creative process that led to the creation of the original track for ‘Earth’ to adequately express the  beauty, mystery and hostility of our other planets. Like the Experience the Planets project itself, I am trying to interpret our modern understanding of these planets as real ‘places.’ I’ve tried to  take the music beyond the litanny of ambient music’s sci-fi tones to a more somber and cinematic interpretation of these environments, but still blending in an expression of  the mythological heritage so deeply rooted in our thinking about them.

Outside of the warm familiarity of Earth, I’ve thought about the ‘terrible beauty’ of Venus, embraced the strangeness of Uranus and the distant frigidity of Neptune. It’s been a fun challenge.

Since starting the project, I’ve upgraded to Logic Express for my primary editing software. I’ve also added some new tools with Native Instruments Kore2, and recently a set of KRK v4 monitors. All in all I couldn’t be happier with the production setup. Look for more updates soon.

When we moved into our house in Southeast Portland in March of 2007, one of the features we were most excited about was the finished attic space. We knew it would make a perfect home studio for Sarah and I. It was a bit of a blank canvas to create a custom environment suited to our prospective hobbies.

Even though this process took place over two years ago, I’ve always wanted to share the result, as well as the “design” process, even though this was a small personal project.

BEFORE
I had a home-made but impractical door-desk on sawhorses and my old iMac. The space itself is lit by two North-facing skylights. A built-in bookshelf near the stairs set the theme of finding efficient storage solutions for this limited space.

Our requirements for the studio:

• One desk area for each person
• A separate “meeting” area with table and chairs that can serve as a sewing station for Sarah
• Storage for Sarah’s fabric in her antique green drawers
• Location for my Yamaha keyboard
• Placement for my large Epson printer
• As much extra storage as possible

DESIGN PROCESS

We figured we only really had one shot at getting it right. The space could quickly become cramped with too much in it, or awkward if everything didn’t fit just right. So I decided that as part of the process I would use Sketchup to refine the design as we went.

We started by measuring the room as accurately as possible, just using a tape measure. There was some very basic trigonometry for the angled roof, made easier through Sketchup to get the volume of the space.

Next we just started to find items in the Ikea catalog that we thought might work. I would just plug in the overall dimensions, and then roughly model in any additional detail as needed.

We considered keeping the door-desk to use jointly as a work table but it didn’t seem to fit. Although we loved this one-of-a-kind table, it didn’t really fit well into the space and had to go to a new home. Amazingly, that new home ended up being right down the street at a small company whose entire office decor was doors.

Then we started thinking we could have separate L-shaped desks which would give each of us a “digital” and “analog” area on our workspace. But, this option unfairly made one person sit in the corner away from the skylights. We did find a round white table that provided a nice extra bit of work surface for big projects.

Things really got interesting when we found a few additional items from Ikea. The Alex Drawers were perfect for the numerous flat storage needs we had. And they provided a lot of extra top surface area too.

The glass countertops fit almost across the entire length of the room under the skylights. Perfect for natural light during the day. We found these storage stands (technically table legs for a different table surface) for under-desk storage. A shelf above each desk would create some additional storage.

We created a shopping list right from our SketchUp components. This was several months before the Portland Ikea opened (if you can believe it), so we were off to Seattle to pick up everything (and then some).

AFTER

Space for two

Storage areas and room for Sarah’s serger.

The design library and Sarah’s dress form.

The reading nook, with long-term storage consisting of another Ikea unit and some antique crates from Sarah’s grandparents.

It originally took about a solid week of after-work unboxing and assembling to get everything in its place. But we love continuing to improve the studio for our numerous projects.

Is there a God? Is the world going to end in 2012? Is he the one? Is the iPhone coming to Verizon? Or maybe most importantly, is Michael Jackson dead?

Since Google has updated its home page to include search suggestions as you type, I’ve been curious about how people pray to the Google gods. To understand this, I simply started a search query with “is a” and recorded what came up, then went through each letter of the alphabet, to end up with 260 of the top questions that the Google Suggest feature provides. Yes there’s lots of other ways to ask questions, but this is how I did it for now.

In our connected society, a working knowledge of virtually any subject is a search phrase away. But, I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that there is a predominance of pop culture trivia around gender uncertainty, sexual orientation, pregnancy status, or even whether someone is alive or dead. There’s also undercurrents of guilt and confession, asking questions into the void that most people probably wouldn’t even ask their doctor. And of course a bunch of ridiculous and funny nonsense I would have never thought anyone would ask.

Perhaps looking at these eternal questions helps us answer: is Google making us stupid?

My top 10:

• Is Santa real?
• Is diarrhea a sign of pregnancy?
• Is not a valid win32 application
• Is Pluto a planet?
• Is there a way to see who views your Facebook?
• Is wrestling fake?
• Is hummus good for you?
• Is fish meat?
• Is blood blue?
• Is noon am or pm?

Check out the full list here:

Update: The complete album is now available on iTunes and Bandcamp. Thanks for your support!

I meant to post this a few months ago, but earlier this year I had the opportunity to collaborate with Greg Martin to produce some original music for his Experience The Planets project.

Ultimately, my goal is to produce a unique piece for each planet. I already have a variety of sound sketches for some of the others. So we’ll see how that goes.

The music was produced in Apple Garageband with a variety of custom instruments and effects, and of course no built-in loops.

Apple Garageband - Earth - Experience The Planets

One of the things about growing up in the Northwest in the 80s and 90s is that you are indoctrinated into a lifestyle that makes you very careful about littering. Bestowed with the virtues of “reduce, reuse, recycle,” I’ve felt genuine guilt whenever I cannot find a recycle bin in which to drop a discarded plastic bottle. So when visiting my family’s cabin in remote Teton Valley, Idaho a couple years back, I had an amazing realization about the true nature of waste disposal.

There is no garbage service in the valley. Most residents have to collect and haul their own garbage to the county landfill located South of the town of Driggs. At the end of a visit to the cabin with my family, I rode out to the landfill one day with my parents to help drop off some garbage.

The landfill was simply a large depression carved into a field off the highway, dirt walls held back by a bulldozer. Trash is piled into a heap, to be eventually buried under a couple feet of dirt by heavy machinery. Recycling service for metal and glass only. We drive in, the car is weighed, drive up to the pile, get out and throw our garbage onto the heap. A plastic bottle I drank from the day before rattled across the ground. I wondered if I should pick it up, and realized it was pointless. This was it. This field is what was at the bottom of the trash can.

We got back in the car, paid a few dollars, and left. 

As innocuous as this experience may seem, I left with a very strong impression that we had proverbially swept our trash under the rug. We just put it out there in that field and they bury it? 

Looking at the things around me in the landfill, a lot of the things were designed: empty bottles of consumables, outdated consumer electronics, old furniture, shredded clothes. Small armies of designers, engineers and manufacturers had spent their time creating these things, modeling bottles in Rhino, debating color choices in Illustrator, setting up manufacturing, distribution and sales of these things. People who, just like me, probably loved the creative challenge to do what they do.

Whether a product’s life span is one day, one year, or one thousand, eventually the product will be discarded, no matter if it’s mundane or precious.  

Working in the product design field, it can be difficult to face this realization. Which means that getting in touch with the difficult reality of your product’s end-of-life (in consumer speak, this means trash disposal) makes you much more aware of your impact on the environment.

As product designers (broadly speaking), we are successful if our work has provided some genuine service and value as a tool for the user during its useful life. Minimizing the environmental impact of our work is simply another design challenge to be solved. And we even know how to do this, even if it is sometimes expensive today: design for disassembly, use of recycled and recyclable components, eliminate the use of toxic materials, minimize power consumption, etc.

As product design continues to evolve into the more holistic concept of Experience Design, we will have more opportunities to embrace these these design challenges. 

In the meantime, if you haven’t already, try to experience the landfill at the bottom of the trash can for yourself.