Merlin has an eye ulcer, not as bad as last time but not good. Long weekend though, I've finished work early and I'm sitting with him watching old movies. Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep (currently), maybe Casablanca next. Maybe some Orson Welles. It keeps him settled anyway so other than getting up to feed and medicate him we're staying put to promote getting well.
It has given me some time and space to think, hence me writing…
I played again with Steve and Jack on Wednesday. No looping at all, I'd prepped the SY-1000 and was experimenting to see if I could get by with just that. The answer is yes, easily and resoundingly. We always record these sessions and listening back, I can hear things I want to tweak (like adding a limiter in to control where delays go too far, or limiting the levels in the delay block). I thought it would be interesting to pick a few of the better improvisations and edit them to see what the base level is. If you want, you can have a listen. Steve is wanting to perform in front of people, which I'm in favour of. I think Jack is less keen, he isn't really a bass player he tells us regularly. I think he'd prefer to be playing acoustic guitar.
So if you are a bass player in the Nottingham area and want to join in with this, let me know…
Other than playing with people, which I'd like to do more of, I'd like to do more solo performances. I can't imagine doing that without looping. Instead of having a seperate set up, I'm thinking a sperate looping board that gets the sub-outputs from the SY so I can mix the two individually. Then there's the question of audience. I'm not finding a local ambient or experimental venue. I could probably put one on, still not sure if I could get people to come to it though. Plus this sort of thing really begs for visuals or lights which is more to sort out. Given how much or an introvert I am, I do like the idea of both ‘silent’ gigs and streaming online. Interaction is reduced but it's still a communal experience. So I might explore that a little.
Speaking of solo performances, the podcast got a spike in viewers on YouTube last week. I have no idea why and doubt it will happen again. Season 3 is actually all recorded and complete so I've got a break until next year to decide if I want to do more or change. I'm leaning towards change. I don't think I want to use YouTube or streaming services anymore. I'm not even sure I want to do much more on BandCamp. I really like owning my own stuff. Moving to my own Mastodon instance was pretty easy. Taking back control of my email is on my list. But I'm also considering using PeerTube instead of YouTube and Owncast for streaming.
I do like Mastodon and social interaction. But playing with Steve and Jack has made me realise again how much I prefer to communicate without words. Social Media for me would involve me playing guitar rather than writing or talking. Even better than that is playing IRL, and with other musicians. Maybe I need to focus on that for a while, maybe explore a bit the rest of this year and then move into a new era next year?
One last thing I'm thinking about would be my last BandCamp release - the last 20 minutes or so of each episode of season 3 uses beats, and I've been surprised at how well they came out. But most people don't get to that part of the episode. I could edit my favourite parts and put it out. Probably not a big job, maybe even just keeping me occupied instead of worrying over Merlin. No rush though, maybe get him well first then concentrate on that.
Cheers all, catch you later!