[ Hypnos Forum ]

I have been looking for recordings of Harry Bertoia's works for some time without any luck. There are some available on vinyl, but that was not what I was looking for. I recently discovered this box set on importantrecords.com. I ordered it even though it was out of my usual price range and received it this week. It is an 11 cd box set with a nice booklet included. His recordings made with his handmade metal instruments in his barn in rural Pennsylvania are incredible. I've spent a lot of time listening this week and am amazed at the sounds he produces. I thought I would get bored with this many recordings of seemingly the same thing. Each piece taken from his original tapes is a journey worth taking IMO. I can only imagine what this would sound like live in his barn. The set is kind of expensive at just under $100, but I'm not regretting the purchase. There is also a digital download available in wav or mp3 for about $50 with a pdf of the booklet. I hope to be able to make the journey to his place in Pennsylvania sometime to see and hear his creations in person. If you are not familiar with his work I would recommend going to the Important Records site where they have a mix available or search youtube for examples.

Does anyone know anything about a company called Music Dealers? An old friend of mine contacted me asking. His two sons play in an electronic pop group that has some releases and success in the the Virginia area. They have been contacted by this company wanting to talk to them about a non-exclusive licensing contract. Any thoughts or information on this would be appreciated.  http://www.musicdealers.com/#/work

Some might find this interesting. I did.    https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/conduit-touch-synthesizer-delay-filter-by-folktek/x/11160042#/story

JKN posted this on facebook recently. I thought Hypnos Forum members might be interested.  "My buddy Loren Nerell will be interviewed live on KSBR's "The Morning Breeze" Sunday June 8th from 10am-11an (PST).

Sam Rosenthal (Projekt Records) posted: Join host Donna Jo Thornton for a conversation about TREE OF LIFE, Loren's new Projekt Records collaboration with Mark Seelig. Listen on the web: http://www.ksbr.org/webcast.html buy the album: http://www.projekt.com/store/product/pro00299/
KSBR Webcast
www.ksbr.org
Jazz! FM 88.5 KSBR Radio, Keeping Orange County Jazzed from Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, KSBR's primary format is contemporary jazz."

I'm hoping someone with a better memory than I have can help me. I'm looking for information on a furniture designer who also made musical sculptures out of steel rods. He is either Spanish or Italian I believe and had a barn somewhere with his sculptures in it. Sort of a musical barn. He is now decesed, but his son still has his collection. I'm kind of embarrased because I think I was the one who first posted about him on here or the Relaxed Machinery site years ago. I've tried searching on past hypnos posts, but no luck. I can't figure out how to search on the Relaxed Machinery site, but I am going to try again in a minute. I'm probably just asking the question wrong. Thanks

I received this Saturday, but due to having back surgery Friday I am just getting around to listening to it now. ( I have plenty of listening time on my hands now). First off this is a beautiful package.. The artwork and the digipack are stunning! I just finished listening to Inner Landscapes and was really impressed with this work. I can't wait to dig into Sunyata in a little while. It is reminiscent of Trances and Drones which is one of my, if not my favorite Robert Rich releases. I can't recommend this enough especially with the introductory price on it for a limited time. Great job Mike and Robert! As usual, Lena shipped it out really quickly arriving here just three days after I ordered it.

Is "Sunyata/Inner Landscapes going to be available at the Hypnos store?

Landfill Harmonic film teaser on Vimeo  This an inspiring story of kids learning to play music on instruments built from garbage in a landfill. It makes me feel pretty spoiled when at 16, I had to have a Ludwig drumset, my Sears set was just too embarrassing to take out in public.

A really big influence on me growing up.  From the New York Times: 

QuoteAndy Griffith, an actor whose folksy Southern manner charmed audiences for more than 50 years on Broadway, in movies, on records and especially on television — most notably as the small-town sheriff on the long-running situation comedy that bore his name — died on Tuesday at his home on Roanoke Island in North Carolina. He was 86./quote]

I enjoy looking at studios in odd, quirky places like boats and treehouses , etc.  I remember reading about David Gilmour's studio on a boat on the Thames some time ago and liked that idea a lot. Today I came across thishttp://www.synthgear.com/2010/artists/thomas-dolby-solar-boat-studio/ on Lloyd Kahn's blog http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.com/ .

I don't know if anyone is interested in this sort of thing, but I've been following the Tiny House Blog (tinyhouseblog.com) for quite some time now and find it fascinating.  The idea of downsizing and living more effeciently really apeals to me. I have yet to convince my better half , though.  ::)

Some of you may remember when I bought this a couple of years ago. I was warned by some on the forum that it would be too deep for me. They were right! These units are in good shape with latest software and manuals. The Capybara 320 is the basic model. I'm asking $1250 for them plus shipping. I will also throw in a heavy duty Encore flight case for the Capybara 320 if you want it. This case is heavy and will add quite a bit to the shipping cost. Let me know how you want it shipped and I will get shipping costs for it. I've tried to embed photos here with no success  :( If you want to see pics, contact me and I will email them to you.

I hope you have a good birthday. Pizza, I bet!  ;)

Hey Mike, some time ago I think I remember you picking up an Akai APC 20. I've been looking at the 20 and 40 thinking of possibly getting one. Now that you've had it awhile, what are your impressions? Still liking it?

I received Nebulae- The Path of White Clouds a week or so ago and just got Steve Brand- Avatara a few days ago. I really like both releases , but I'm especially pleased with the digipack format for new Hypnos releases. The artwork is attractive and I can read the spines easily. They look like they will hold up very well. Great job, Mike and Lena!

I don't know if anyone here will find this interesting, but I've been following this project for quite some time. John Wells was a fashion photographer in NYC who sold his house and most of what he owned and bought 40 acres of land near Terlingua, Texas. He has built a small cabin that is off the grid relying on solar and wind power and a water cachement system. His website is http://www.thefieldlab.org/. He also has a blog http://thefieldlab.blogspot.com/. There are some youtube videos as well including this one by Hewlit-Packard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOYjBu2KDtg Also a New York Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/garden/10texas.html?_r=2&src=dayp.

 I saw this on the Matrixsynth site and thought this might be of interest to some on the forum. http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-09-24T09%3A16%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=10  I would love to see and hear something like this in person.

(edited to fix link - mgriffin )

There was a thread a while back about broadcast TV alternatives and Apple TV was discussed. I don't remember if the consensus was positive or negative. I'm considering purchasing it and was hoping some of you would share their opinions on it before I make a decision.

A couple of years ago I had downloaded a release from , I think Dark Duck of her's. I don't remember the title, but I listened to it and thought it was nice. However, I never went back to it and forgot about her. Recently while looking through some sites I came upon her website and was very impressed with her artwork. I also downloaded a couple of freebies from the site. I was very impressed with what I heard. The simplicity of her music matches that of the art and is equally as beautiful. I am looking to purchase some of her music now and was hoping some of you could offer some recommendations. I notice that Hypnos has some for sale.

I thought this video tour of the space station was interesting, but a little claustrophobic. http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=H8rHarp1GEE

I know everyone has different New Years Day traditions. What do you eat New Years Day? Both Kathy and my families are southerners and we share the same basic food traditions. I've got a ham on the smoker as we speak. We'll also enjoy black-eyed peas, rice and collard greens. Also, I'll be making some jalapeno, cheddar cornbread to go with it. For dessert, a store-bought cherry pie topped with Blue Bell vanilla ice cream. Then I will take about a two day nap. ;)  Happy New Year everyone.    Harry

After picking up Komplete 5 recently , I found that it wouldn't fit on my old G4. So I picked up a Mac mini the other day (after selling a piece of gear) to run my music programs on. It looks like it is going to be great. I will probably put all of my softsynths on there as well as hardware editors and my Kyma X software . Now I own 3 working computers in the studio. I still have my Dell Pentium 4 with Windows XP for email, work, Acid Pro 4 and various programs. I was going to sell the G4 tower, but I was thinking that I probably won't get much for it. I could keep it and just run Pro Tools on it. Anyone have any good ideas or is 3 computers just overkill?     Harry (just because I have 3 computers doesn't mean I know how to use them)

This is sad. It's hard to explain to someone younger how important the show "Kung Fu" was at the time. It was definitely a "Hippie" show for us as youngsters. As corny as it was, it was an alternative to mainstream television. I always liked Gabe Kaplan's routine where he said something like, " You could do anything to Caine for 50 minutes because you knew that he would kung fu all over the place in the last five minutes. Godspeed, David.      Harry

I know some on the forum are adding to their Steve Roach collection now. It looks like there's a fairly good sale going on at Steve's website.  http://steveroach.com/store/store.php?query=sale&details=y     Harry

I know it's not spring everywhere, but it definitely is here in South Texas. Anyone else doing any gardening this year? As far as edibles, we are planting two types of tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and jalapeno, serranno and bell peppers. We are also doing a bunch of herbs ( I hope DEA isn't monitoring the list  ;D ). I want to plant some more things, such as cabbage, carrots and eggplant, but I'll have to see how ambitious I get. ( I am by nature, kind of lazy).      Harry

For those of you who haven't seen this yet.  http://www.possecrewensemble.com/as606/      Harry

I just recently recieved three new releases from Hypnos ( Thanks, Lena ). "The Glittering Domain" by Deepspace is so good , I've been playing it constantly for the past two days and haven't given the others  a fair listen. I feel that this is Mirko's best work yet! This is a perfect combination of my favorite types of ambient, desert and space music. I highly recommend this.   Harry

I'm not sure which thread this belongs in, probably both. I've been fascinated by Symbolic Sounds Kyma system for about 12 years now. I never could really afford one and I am somewhat of a "computerphobe". I have recently sold some items I wasn't using and I have been thinking about the "Do you still want to learn?" thread from awhile back and decided to take the plunge on a used one. I really haven't tried to learn much new in recent years. So I've decided to learn a new, very deep piece of gear as well as a new (to me) computer language. I mean, how hard can it be?  ;D  ::)     Harry

There is a discussion going on on the Wiard forum about what music is and if the classification music is unfair to what we do. I am oversimplifying the discussion , but I was expecially interested in a comment that film composer Gary Chang wrote because I think it hits the nail on the head about what I do. I would be interested in hearing views of those of you on this forum. Here it is quoted without Gary's permission.                 

QuoteWith all due respect, every "musician" and "composer" - electronic or
otherwise deals with the existing and prevailing opinions about what
music is. Personally, as a music pro, I can tell you that music that
you make simply grows feet and walks away and has its own life. All
that music is is folklore and mythology.

I have a metaphorical tale that I often use to illustrate this....

Composers like to stand in the middle of the stream - feeling the
currents and energy around us. This, of course, is much to the
puzzlement of those onlookers on the shore, who think that this is
quite peculiar.

Then, one day, a fish swims into our pocket. Now the onlookers think
- "oh, that's it - he's a fisherman!" And whenever they see us, they
talk about the big fish that we have caught.

But all we really want to do is to stand out in the middle of the
stream....

What music is about is excuses - excuses to spend all of our time and
money on music. Everything else is really the rhetoric of onlookers -
talking about big fish.

I know there are plenty of Mac users on this forum, so I was wondering if anyone had any comments on this sequencing software? I am fairly new to recent Mac's ( got a G4 tower I use strictly as a recording platform, now) and am interested in adding a sequencer to my system. BTW, I do have a Mac+ here in the studio circa 1985 ;D  .    Harry