I'm starting a new series called XPLRR.
Maker's Dawn is the first in this new series that has it's roots in Season Two of the podcast. I wanted to explore some new sounds and approaches a bit, because change and experiment are pretty much core to me staying interested in what I'm doing. I've experimented before with synthetic sounds, but things have moved on a lot since then.
So I picked up a new guitar synth and started to explore what I could do with it. New textures certainly. Also I moved on a bit in terms of melody I think. All still improvised, but more shaped as I go and also more free from constriction. I left a longer gap between recording the podcast episodes and editing them to make this, and I'm surprised by the result.
Probably not surprising is that because of the different sound source, my usual mixing tricks didn't work. While you can't hear problems (much) creeping in during the longform performance (because it moves slowly and is internally self-consistent), editing makes things jump out at you - lots of resonance in this case that needed identifying and taming. I thought it might not work out at all for a while.
The things is, I can hear a significant difference (I'm not sure anyone else will) in my creating that I'm really happy about. We'll see how the rest of the series turns out - I have a little head start in knowing what happens and I'm looking forward to seeing how the next parts come together.
So, I hope you enjoy another relaxing, ambient guitar record that sounds less guitar and maybe a little less ambient too, in a good way.
