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 am very excited to share that one of my songs is featured on this compilation from Naviar Records. The album features 8 tracks from various artists who recently participated in the Naviar Haiku Music Challenge, a weekly project where musicians respond to a haiku poem with music. It is truly an honor to be included in this collection of songs alongside other musicians I admire. Pay what you want. Proceeds go toward supporting this and similar projects.
My track for Weekly Beats this week has two different drum beats, the one you hear at the beginning that has some variation to the kick and hi hat patterns, and then a typical four-on-the-floor dance beat at the drops. When I was composing it, I was going back and forth whether or not I should use one or the other and I ended up using both. I was struggling with whether I was trying to add variation to the rhythm just for complexity's sake and not for any other reason. I think the song has some elements that speak to that, specifically the clavichord sound that plays on every quarter note. That was just me randomly playing notes on my Push 2 while the Part A, more complex drum beat was playing. Then I let it play over a drum beat where the kick played on every quarter note and the two sounds playing together gave the part an entirely different feel.
Music + Tech + Law
My wife and I both like a particular playlist and I put it on during dinner the other night while we ate with our young daughter. A new song came on we hadn’t heard before and let’s just say the lyrics were very… explicit. I had to jump up and turn it off! So I know there is a market for this kind of service, because otherwise we will tend to get stuck listening to children’s albums and movie soundtracks because we know they are generally “safe” to put on and let play.
I have a set of the Zildjian Low Volume Cymbals and it is true they allow for the feel of a real cymbal while also sounding decent at a quieter decibel level. They work for me while playing along to music in my headphones, but the idea of being able to trigger all different kinds of samples depending on how and where one of these new e-cymbals is hit sounds really cool. Especially because I have such limited windows of time to play my full kit because of how loud it is.
*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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