This post is intended to be about how and why i recorded Least Wanted Cat and what it is, why it is, how it is.
This will involve trying to explain the kind of thing i do and why, as well as explaining some of my production "process", as much as i have one. It's probably going to be a rambling journey. Most things are with me.
I have some future posts in the pipeline more specifically about my gear and how i use it, my workflow, so stay tuned for more if you're interested in how the audio sausage is made. i want to share how i do this thing i do, if i can.
Get On With It Please!
Okay! First, a bit about what i (am trying to) do usually, then the track from @stayten and then mine.
What I Do(n't Do), And Some Theory Stuff(?)
So i'm a turntablist, i play turntables (or equivalent controllers, in this case). You can call me a dj but it's a little bit more than that. I don't simply play tracks, I like to sample and remix and mash up and freestyle and scratch and all kinds of other fun things.
I also play samplers and use midi controllers with Ableton Live. This means i can take samples of something and manipulate them endlessly, shaping them into entirely new sounds if i want.
Sometimes what i do is what is obviously a remix of something. Sometimes i sample only a tiny piece of something to use.
I prefer to play LIVE, realtime flow, a healthy amount of freestyling. It's like how jam bands are. I jam.
I have some routines i've done enough times for them to become sort of "songs" i do in my jam sessions. They're a little different every time.
Usually though i'm exploring audioscapes and playing with the puzzle that is realtime manipulatable audio. I'm trying to reform things, their shape and texture and viscosity and luminescence and so on.
Making things fit together in new and interesting ways.
Seeing what something can be rather than simply what it is.
My music thing is a very tactile thing for me. I fondle some sound and shape it and move it like working with clay and tinker toys and paint and marble.
I have more to say on this stuff in my next music post, so check back if you wanna find out with me where that ramble goes. 💜
Okay What About the Track(s)
So, recently @stayten posted this awesome track
Most Wanted Rabbit
It's a great track and it's the kind of thing that inspires me, motivates me, musically. Not only the "feel" i guess of it, that "darkness" (or rather "dankness" maybe?), that "grittiness", but the movement. It makes me move, immediately. Head nodding, foot tapping, hand flapping, whatever. It has momentum, movement, e n e r g y.
That's a thing i'm drawn to and want to make myself.
I love when i'm messing around on the turntables and something comes together that makes me move.
I love it even more when it makes other people move.
That's the motivation/inspiration/etc @stayten gives me, he makes music that makes me move, music that i feel, in my being and in my body, and music that makes me want to make music, either fully original or sampling him, which he approves of!! I'm extremely grateful to have his approval both in a permission way and in an approval of the product way. Thanks for your support stayten! 💜
So What Happened Next, Cat? Get On With It Already
Okay so there's a few bits in the above track i sampled to make a "sample track" that i then used to make a new thing. I do this generational sampling thing where i sample things and make a track that i then sample again. If you're familiar with battle records in the dj world, it's sort of like that. Collections of samples arranged for use on a turntable and whatnot. I make my own battle records all the time.
And....?
After i made my "sample track", i freestyled. Heavy manipulation of the samples i took, reverb, delay, the usual. After about 10 or 15 minutes of freestyling, i had found some interesting patterns that i liked to play.
More on that idea in another post soon! i want to tell you about how i "feel" stuff when i'm freestyling and hunting for feels in the soundscapes, how i let the tactile sensations influence what i'm doing...
After exploring those new patterns and discovering patterns of the patterns and some extra bits, things naturally built up and my patterns and metapatterns and various bits collected themselves into a series and arrangement of sounds that some might call a song.
How Does Recording Go?
So i record things live usually, all in one take.
- press record
- jam until i don't
- stop recording
Usually i check the levels afterward in Audacity, maybe boost the gain a bit or (poorly) add a bit of compression.
Okay But What About The Video Part
The video part of this is also done live. I have a visualizer made from a combination of layers and layers and layers of stuff in OBS and a VU meter courtesy of a custom Rainmeter thing. The VU meter and layers of stuff in OBS are then messed up more by a few layers of video feedback, like when you point a camera back at its own output.
This results in a clunky but kinda interesting live visualizer for recording OR streaming.
I have several overall schemes or images or whatnot for my visualizer setup, the one in this track is not the only one. Some of the ones I've made have different "feels", like dreamy or faster and so on. This one doesn't "fit" with the track in my opinion, but that's my bad, because I wasn't expecting to make this track when i had that visualizer active and i didn't think to change it. A side effect of being live and in a flow state i suppose.
So Where Is It?
I posted it on YouTube then accidentally deleted it, but i reposted it, so it's okay.
I should put it on Soundcloud too, but i haven't made my account there yet. i will do that soon 👍
Here ya go, one freestyled Least Wanted Cat sketch, made with some bits of Most Wanted Rabbit.
The intro is like an orientation/direct reference/callout thing, musically pointing to the other track.
...and?
And that's about it really. This is my first music post here (or anywhere) so it's rough, i'm sorry about that.
I want to post many more though. I want to share my music with you but i also want to share my thoughts, my process, my 'technique', my 'theory', my reasonings, all of the stuff that goes into my noise.
Please let me share this stuff with you, if that's okay 💜
I'll be making more posts here and also I plan on streaming on YouTube more often, so if you're interested in that maybe come check meowt over here
You're Done?
Yeah, I'm done for now i guess, and ending on a big shoutout to @stayten and @brittandjosie and @mondoshawan and @wesphilbin and everybody else that has been so supportive and inspirational and motivational and encouraging and just all around awesome, and also a big shoutout to you, whoever you are, for reading this. You're awesome too.
Here's an image from the stream of Least Wanted Cat.
all content in this post is mine unless otherwise noted (as with Most Wanted Rabbit, which is by @stayten)
