AMBIcon 2013 Update

[jeff pearce]

thanks for the kind words, Poaalpina!  And, yes, I certainly remember this guy from Russia- quite a long way to travel to listen to music.  I know ALL of the artists appreciated his presence.

[Poaalpina]

It was my friend Anton. He said me that the only russian electronic musician the americans familiar is Edward Artemyev. 
 That's too bad. We have great musicians. I tell you a secret  Anton is a most professional russian electronic musician. His latest album is a collaboration work with his friend Mattias Grassow. Please read Richard Gurtler's rewiew there http://www.hypnos.com/smf/index.php?topic=5973.0 Amazing album!
By the way, Anton was a close friend of Klause Wiese.

You and Anton.


And thank you once again for your music! It was really fantastic playing!

And everyone were amazing! I was really shocked. For the first time I saw a Steve Roach live performance.

[ffcal]

it was great meeting you, too, Forrest- and there certainly was a lot of music this past weekend!  Forrest is too kind to mention this, but he had the rare "honor" of sitting next to me during Stephan Micus' (incredible beyond words) set and, halfway through, watching me weep like a disgraced televangelist.  I've been an admirer of the guy's music for tens of years, and knew a little of what to expect, but he went WAY beyond that. 

Jeff, you’re right, Stephan’s set was really special.  His playing on two flutes was mesmerizing.  The only thing I could imagine would have been ever better is if he had whipped out his flower pots or played those deeply resonant stones from his “Music of Stones” CD.

Jeff didn’t mention that he also pulled double duty by playing some sterling e-bowed and glissandoed electric guitar during the second half of Tim Story’s set.  It was great to hear Tim’s music in a live setting, too.  Jeff’s own set was great, too—wall o’ sound BIG guitar through his arsenal of effects and looping devices.  Steve and Robert were at the top of their game, too.  Pleasant dreams, Jeff!

Hats off to Stephen and Leyla for a memorable event and for coming through with a live webcast as well.

Forrest

[LNerell]

Forrest, I can't believe we were at the same event again and didn't manage to run into each other. I even asked Robert and others if they had seen you around. I should have known Jeff Pearce was holding out on me. 

Yes everyone played amazingly well, at the top of each of their games. Just an amazing series of concerts. And the after parties were fun too! It was great meeting so many wonderful people. Oh and I knew of the Russian composer Sven Grünberg decades ago, I bought a couple of his albums back in the 1980s, so I hope that counts for something.  I have to say Anton is a very nice guy, it was a great pleasure meeting him.

Biggest surprise to me was meeting Archie Paterson of Eurock whom I bought many great albums from over the years, including those Sven Grünberg LPs. And who was he with when I meet him? Another artist who's recordings I had bought from him years ago, Michel Huygen of Neuronium who just sold his house the week before and decided at the last minute to treat himself to Ambicon. He told some wonderful stories of Vangelis and Klaus Schulze from back in the day at the little party Robert Rich had in his hotel room Saturday night. More later.

[ffcal]

That’s funny, Loren.  I had no idea you were there.  Two missed opportunities to meet over a 24-year period, that must be some kind of record.  Well, I only went to 3 of the 4 concerts and missed the other fun stuff, so that’s probably why we didn’t see each other.  Can’t believe I missed seeing Archie, too—with his height, he’s kind of hard to miss.  Without him, I might not have gone into music at all.  I owe a great deal of thanks to him for taking a chance on my first album back in 1980 at a time when no-one else seemed to be biting.

Forrest

[Poaalpina]

Thank you Loren but to tell the truth Sven Grünberg is not a russian. He is from Estonia. 

[jeff pearce]

Loren- I wish I knew that you were looking for Forrest; I would have told you EXACTLY where he was! 

Poaalpina- Anton briefly mentioned he was a musician, but would not elaborate.  He's clearly a humble guy and, based on sounds clips, a pretty talented one as well.

As Forrest wrote, I also added some parts to Tim Story's set, which was an honor and a half; I've known the guy since 1988, and he has a way with melody and atmospheres that really resonates with my odd takes on those things.

I did a bit of a write-up of my experience at AMBIcon 2013- it is LONG, but a whole lot happened in those three days.  You can read it on my blog here:

http://www.jeffpearcemusic.com/blog/ambicon_2013_post_show_reflections/

[Scott M2]

Well, everything sound like it was as wonderful as hoped for. Congratulations Stephen!     

I was at a rehearsal and arrived home in time to watch Steve Roach tear down. Awesome strike! 
Have I also missed the video replays?

Enjoyed your blog post Jeff. You conveyed the nice vibes and doubled my sense of wishing I was there!

[LNerell]

If anyone missed AMBIcon in person or via the live feed, the first of the videos from AMBIcon is now up on youtube. First up is the Artist Panel discussion before the concerts began on Saturday.



I understand they will be released in order they occurred so next up will be Jeff Pearce's concert which was very good. 

[drone on]

Yay!!!  Thanks so much for posting this!

[LNerell]

Glad you liked it. 

I just saw the next video is up, Jeff Pearce live in concert, here you go.

[Stephen Hill]

Our videographer DAN DRASIN has been working on preparing the videos of AMBIcon for YouTube. He recorded everything in 1080p HD with three fixed cameras and one operated camera, and we will use all these as well as the 24 track digital audio recordings to make the final edits of the concerts and any highlight reels we create.

But this will take some time. So in the interest of getting them out much sooner and keeping the interest high, we're doing an initial release of a simple fixed camera version with stereo sound — similar to the live stream but with higher video quality (720p HiDef instead of 480p Standard Def).

We will be releasing them in order of performance over the next two weeks or so. Up now are the opening artists panel discussion and Jeff Pearce's concert:

   ARTISTS PANEL DISCUSSION : http://youtu.be/T5LC5Y6boTU

   JEFF PEARCE CONCERT : http://youtu.be/jbgZ9n1PToo

Search YouTube for "ambicon 2013" to find the rest of the concert videos as they are released.

Every one of these performances was stellar, and though the videos can't compare to the experience of being there with full surround sound and lighting, they are all documents of great Ambient musicians at their best.

:: SH

[petekelly]

Just watched the intro piece in Jeff's concert. Great stuff ! - not many people play the ebow (I'm presuming it was an ebow !) so cleanly and tastefully.

Will watch the rest soonest.

[jeff pearce]

I'd like to thank Loren for posting the link to my AMBIcon 2013 set- and I'd like to thank Pete for the kind words (especially since I associate "clean and tasty" ebow playing with his music!)

The warm-up piece is a fun thing to do, but it serves a practical purpose, especially at an event like AMBIcon- it gave the sound guys a chance to balance the room mics (nothing like having an audience humming a one note drone to let them set some levels) to the sound of the performer on stage.  A nice "hummed drone", coming from all parts of the room, allowed for decent "spatial" adjustments for the room mics.  It also gave them a last minute chance to make a quick adjustment to the sound coming off the stage, which, I found out later, was something they were thankful to have the chance to do. 

The rest of the set was fun to play, and for anyone who was wondering, everything was played live, with no backing tracks (the exception being some pre-recorded rain that I had on my iPad- it gave me a chance to do one of my recent tracks that had rain in the background, but also served as a good way to transition from piano back to guitar without too much "dead air on stage".)

.... and for those bugged that I used pre-recorded rain, I tried REALLY hard to pack a rain-cloud in my carry-on, but Southwest is REALLY anti-raincloud carry-on these days.  On the other hand, I didn't have to worry about mic'ing a raincloud, and that saved some time.... 

[phobos]

Come to the UK you can have "Live" rain whenever you want

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Brilliant way to begin the concert series with the discussion panel.....the only person Ive heard talk before was Robert Rich so it is special to listen to these musicians express their "core" in a verbal sense. 

It is HOS that has been the touch bearer all these years for this deep listening music we love so much.....Thank you!  Glad to see that HOS was also acknowledged in the discussion for the "creative" and I image challenging task of producing an hour show and what goes on behind the sense to make it happen.

[drone on]

Hmmm, thought there would be more posts about this.  Did Mike and Lena go?  If not, did you guys watch the broadcasts or YouTube videos?

[Robert Logan]

I've so enjoyed watching all these concerts (and the panel discussion) over here in rainy England. Thank you Stephen Hill and everyone who has made it possible to view them online. I want to fly over and experience it 'in person' if there is another one, though (thankfully I have a wife who actually likes this kind of music!)

[Castleview]

Wow, I wish I could have been there. Seemed like an awesome convention.

Thanks for posting the videos!

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Here's 2 more performances well worth posting.

What one man can do with acoustic instruments and a looper.....and singing bowls to open the performance!




I have not really listen to Michael Strearns much over the years though Planetary unfolding it a favorite.....this is an incredible performance.