SYNTH-O-RAMA

Playing around with some varied synth voices on a new project. The recipe cards that come with the Arturia Microbrute-- those perforated orange sheets behind the keyboard in one of the images (you put them over the console, and they’re marked up to direct knob-twiddling for the creation of certain timbres)-- allow for templates I can tweak for further editing of unique voices. Pretty cool. I’ve also looked up some patches on mbpatches.com, and originally I was noting each URL I cribbed from for recall, but I wound up tweaking them all so much that eventually I didn’t even bother with that. Instead, the photo documentation of knob settings (plus post-it note to remind me of modulation actions) in the other image depicts the high-tech method I’m using in case I ever have to recall any of those. And of course, none of this is just an excuse to mess around with my synth. No siree Bob. Not a chance.

EARL CASSORLA, 1956 - 2019

I wanted to take a moment to honor the passing of Earl Cassorla, co-proprietor (with his brother Steven) of Battle Mountain, NV’s Roller Coaster Fireworks and subject of the short documentary “Boomtown”, which I had the pleasure of working on a while back.

I got to meet Earl when the film screened at the Minneapolis-St Paul International Film Festival in 2017. It’s always great to meet people in person after staring at them on my computer screen during weeks of postproduction work— especially documentary subjects— and Earl turned out to be the same softspoken, endearing presence I’d expected.

I’m happy that the film is here to commemorate Earl and Steven’s obsession and dedication. Below I’m posting the completed short, for which I provided sound edit, mix, and a couple of original musical compositions. Rest in peace, Earl.

WORK IN PROGRESS: CHUG-A-CHUG

Excerpt of a recent music composition I'm developing for Birds of the Future, an experimental performance piece by Skewed Visions. It’ll possibly appear in various iterations throughout the show. A version or two might feature live accordion performance, and/ or the original audio flipped around backwards. Hey-o.

Though it might seem a slam dunk, the final title of this piece may not in fact eventually be “Chug-A-Chug”. There’s an argument to be made that somewhere in the vast recesses of the English language, there may lurk a better title.

More music by Mike Hallenbeck