Each week, I first summarize my adventures in making music. Lately, I have been composing tracks for the Disquiet Junto, the Naviar Records Haiku Music Challenge and, this year for the first time, Weekly Beats. I also have other projects and collaborations I will share occasionally.
I also bring together the perspective I shared in posts on social media (currently Mastodon) about the music industry in the section: Music + Tech + Law. These thoughts are intended to come from me as a consumer of, and participant in, the entertainment business. However, I cannot completely separate the thoughts I generate from the part of my brain I use for my day job as a lawyer experienced in technology contracts and intellectual property.*
My Music
I have a template set in Ableton that I use to start my tracks. I have been using it for a while and I have been meaning to update it with more settings and sounds. Specifically, one of the things I wanted to do was load multiple sounds of a certain type that I like so I have a limited number to choose from. I started doing that for this track by picking four different kick drum sounds, but I liked them all so much that I abandoned the template idea and just used them together in different parts of the track.
I built out a beat that I liked on my Push 2 and then migrated over to my MIDI keyboard to write a bass line. I found a plucky bass sound and started jamming on a pattern I liked. I played it on different parts of the keyboard, but it sounded best when I only used the black keys. I have very limited music theory training, so I do not know what key that left me in, but I built out the stabs, pads and arpeggiated textures using the same method.
I could not for the life of me get the arpeggiator built into the lead synth device preset to do what I wanted it to do. What you’re hearing is the best approximation of what I heard in my head. It is a nice sound, but I was hoping to have it bounce around more.
Being honest, this was a hard one to come back to. I wasn’t feeling it on my second or even third visit to the project. But by the fourth time I sat down with it, I was nodding my head again. That showed me how easy it is to lose interest in a track and give up prematurely. I would easily have given up on this one if not for the arbitrary Sunday deadline and 7-week streak on the line.
Music + Tech + Law
This ad for a crowd-sourced portable music player makes me immediately nostalgic for my original iPod. I am always impressed when I see one still in good condition and even more impressed by some of the modded versions I have seen. As for this device, I do have to wonder whether and how Apple’s trade dress on the iPod design will come into play. (See the image below). It also looks like there are unexpired patents on some of the components, namely the click wheel, but it seems like the makers have taken measures to design around them.
I have explored some generative AI music tools, but only on websites or within software. This device - which looks like a combination of a vinyl turntable and a pad-based MIDI controller - is not much more than a controller for those types of applications, but conceptually I find it very interesting. I applaud the designer for taking the prompting process out of the computer and away from a screen and keyboard. It honestly makes me excited for the future of computer-based music peripherals like keyboards and controllers and what they will be able to do.
*My opinions are not my employer’s and this material does not create an attorney-client relationship, is not intended to convey legal or ethics advice, and does not guarantee the same or similar results in all cases.
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