Here’s the result of my late night experimental noodling with Reaktor inside Live.

I’m not usually drawn to beats at night but I was gettting mesmerised by the sound of the rain bouncing of the roof tiles and gutter.

This is how it sounded to me…

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

stream 96kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

or download
Ploaie.mp3
Ploaie 96kbps.mp3

An emotional week, with my son becoming a teenager.

As the fields around here are bursting with their harvest, I am even more aware of the speed with which time is passing. Another Summer is fading as Autumn closes in.

I felt the need to create and share a little piece that shows both my joy and my lament.

stream 320kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

stream 96kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

or download
Harvest.mp3
Harvest 96kbps.mp3

I was recently introduced via @greenwoods to ‘Sleeps with the Fishes‘ a 1987 collaboration between Pieter Nooten and Michael Brook. I’m immensly grateful to her for enlightening me. If you love ambient, this is a must have album.

One track in particular I love is Several Times II, but at just over two minutes, its beauty is all too short for me. To help me sleep last night, I stretched and layered it with a little bit of additional reverb into an 11 minute aid to allow you to drift gently off. Here is the result of that.

Only available as a stream for copyright reasons. That said, there is every chance I might be asked to remove it. I sincerely hope not.

I implore you to track the album down and buy it.

stream 320kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Here is the twenty fifth and the last of my regular zipped compilations for a while.

It’s time for me to try and spend a little more time and effort trying to make something a lot more rewarding for both my ears and hopefully yours.

I am extremely grateful for all the support that you have shown me and please don’t imagine that this blog is dead… far from it. I intend to document and share ideas as I create my next project. Having you along for the journey would be terrific. :)

There are two zip files, one for lower bitrate MP3s and the other for the rather better 320kbps files.

All of the tracks here are free for you to download and distribute.

241 to 250 – 96kbps – zip file (40Mb)
241 to 250 – 320kbps – zip file (130Mb)

So here it is. My 250th piece in 520 days. A reflective, almost ghostly sounding track that takes a while to say farewell.

Although I will continue to post here, the rate at which I do will slow somewhat. I now want to concentrate on creating something a little more complete and polished.

Thank you all for your ears, your tweets and your words of encouragement.

James x

stream 320kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

stream 96kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

or download
Valediction.mp3
Valediction 96kbps.mp3

Sleep came and went. The night sky was a blanket, heavy and warm.

This is how it sounded to me.

stream 320kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

stream 96kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

or download
Aethereal.mp3
Aethereal 96kbps.mp3

My creative juices feel like they have dried up, but taking advice from some wise Twitter friends, I’m not going to let it get to me.

I wasn’t going to post the results of last night’s noodling, but after giving it a few listens, it doesn’t seem so bad.

Made using a 0.03 second sample of Elgar’s Nimrod as a sound source.

stream 320kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

stream 96kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

or download
Esemplastic.mp3
Esemplastic 96kbps.mp3

This is a piece dedicated to Team Himalayas aka @teammera, a group of Tweeters from around the world who are going to take on Mera Peak, Himalayas next year for charity : water.

Please consider supporting them by making a donation?

To find out more… go to http://twitterteamhimalayas.com/index.html

stream 320kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

stream 96kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

or download
Mera.mp3
Mera 96kbps.mp3

This is noisy. Sorry about that, but getting a clean and clear recording from a contact mic seems to be a real challenge. That said, I have had a fun afternoon and evening creating sounds from scratch. This is made up of one sample using a contact mic and the Zoom H4n, capturing me singing down a six foot piece of plastic plumbing tube. I made it into an instrument and played it though a myriad of effects.

Why Illetas? Well, my son is there with his Mother on hoilday. It’s where we used to live when he was v.young. The piece sounds a little melancholic…

I miss him, that’s all.

stream 320kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

stream 96kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

or download
Illetas.mp3
Illetas 96kbps.mp3

I’m stuck in a dronespace right now and although it’s not the most popular sound I make, it’s a rewarding one to work on. These often fill me an inner peace. I can’t say why, but they seem to be in harmony with my innermost feelings.

I wonder if anyone can spot the excerpt of music that this piece is born from?

Lights out, headphones on, volume at 50% and gently slumber…

stream 320kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

stream 96kbps

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

or download
Frith.mp3
Frith 96kbps.mp3