The Vinyl Distortion effect - underappreciated and full of awesome

By itself, this noise isn’t necessarily very interesting. But I like to use it to seed other downstream devices. By combining effects that process this noise, I can create endless combinations of material without every having to write a note of music.

(Here’s a secret: I’m really, really lazy. I like having music get made, but I don’t always feel like making it. If I can design tools to make music for me, I get happy.)

I’ve created a Set that uses this type of working process. Download it, open it, and listen. It begins making noodly abstract machine sounds immediately and requires no user interaction.

If you’re part of the Ableton Share beta test, you can grab the Set here:
http://www.ableton.com/documents/10288ec1d39f

If you’re not using Share (but you still have a copy of Ableton Live/Suite 8), you can grab it here:
http://www.dennisdesantis.com/freebies/Automatic.als

Here are some ideas to make this Set your own:

• Turn off the Vinyl Distortion effect and use an open hardware input on your audio interface as the seed. If the input is being fed by nothing, you might need to boost the gain (often by a lot) to get any sound at all.
• Instead of an empty line input, try using a mic. This works particularly well on a laptop, for example.
• Instead of empty or noise sources, try using actual musical material as the seed. Feed clips into the device chain and see what you get.
• Tweak everything. There are lots of parameters to play with and even tiny adjustments can yield a completely different result.

The short answer is that I’m a technical writer.

(Tip: if someone asks you what you do, don’t tell them that you’re a technical writer unless you want them to go away. It’s like telling them that you’re a mortician or a Republican. You can see the interest drain from their face, and their expectation of now-it’s-gonna-get-lame is palpable.)

The longer answer (and this is where, usually, some interest comes back) is that I work for a company called Ableton. We make software for recording, live performance, composition, music production, etc. Part of my gig involves writing all of the documentation. But I’m also pretty heavily involved in things like sound design, making tutorial movies, concepts for the future of the products, etc.

I also do clinics, user workshops and sometimes one-on-one trainings or demonstrations for VIP artists in New York.

This is an immensely fun job. I get to think about ways to make better tools for musicians and to make music using those tools. I also get to hang out with and teach other passionate musicians and gearheads, as well as hang out with some of my musical heroes.

The job also takes me to Berlin several times a year, a city where I lived from 2003-2005 and which I love coming back to.

Here’s a movie I made for Ableton:

Geeking out with electronic music is basically what I’ve been doing for fun since I was about 12. Now I get paid for it.

Clip art question mark? That means I'm a professional.

No, these are things that are maybe worth a little more thought, and seem to be interesting enough to people that they keep coming up. Thus:

Q. Are you still writing concert music?
A. No, but this isn’t some kind of celibacy vow. I’m up for the right project.

Q. Why aren’t you writing concert music anymore?
A. The short answer is that the cost/benefit analysis just wasn’t working out. I found that I was spending far too long working on music I didn’t much care for.

The long answer involves a careful reassessment of the very first minute of my very first composition lesson. My teacher, Ramon Zupko, sat down at his desk, looked me straight in the eye and asked something to the effect of “Do you know what the job market is like for composers?” I said something like “I imagine it’s pretty bad.” He replied “There is no job market for composers. The only reason anyone should do this is because they can’t imagine not doing it.”

For years, I couldn’t imagine not doing it. Then, gradually, I realized that I could imagine it, and that there were other things I could imagine doing even more.

So now I do those things instead.

Q. When are you going to release another electronic record?
A. Well, “release” and “record” are kind of silly words in 2009, when all music is free and even when it isn’t, almost none of the money goes to the artists. My last two record contracts were basically just ignored by my labels after a while; they simply stopped paying me and eventually stopped replying to my emails. These days, I’m pretty happy doing things like remixes, where the money comes in advance and you never have to think about royalties.

That being said, I do plan to release more new music. But I’ll probably look for ways to do this myself, without having to worry about whether or not I’m going to get screwed by drug-addled label managers.

Q. You sound like a jaded, bitter little bitch.
A. That’s not a question.

Q. You sound like a jaded, bitter little bitch. Are you?
A. No, on the contrary. I’m happier than ever with the music I’m making, and I’m happier than ever with my career. Years ago, whenever anyone asked me what I wanted to do with my life, I told them “I want to make a living in music.” And that’s exactly what I’m doing. In fact, I’m involved with more music music now (and from more angles) than I ever was when I thought of myself principally as a composer.

Q. Why did you leave Alarm Will Sound?
A. I couldn’t figure out a way to balance the incredible time demands of practicing all of that hard music with my work at Ableton.

Q. Do you miss playing in Alarm Will Sound?
A. No. I miss the people, but I don’t miss the gig. Again, I just don’t particularly have a burning need to be part of the concert music scene. I guess I miss some of the music, but in the end I’d rather be listening to it than making it anyway.

Q. But don’t you miss performing?
A. No. I absolutely and unequivocally prefer making music in the studio over making music on stage.

Q. Ok, sure, concert music. But don’t you miss performing electronic music?
A. No.

Q. I don’t get it. That incredible moment at the end of a long breakdown, when the crowd is riding every fader and knob turn, their anticipation mounting to a frenzy…and finally, when the tension in the room has reached an unbearable peak, you finally bring the kick drum back in and are rewarded with a roar of approval, hundreds of sweating bodies fully engaged in a quasi-religious frenzy…you don’t miss that?
A. Ketamine is a tranquilizer for horses.

Q. Boy, you sure are a grumpy grandpa, huh?
A. No.

Q. Why did you quit teaching?
A. I teach pretty much all day every day. True, I don’t do it in front of a chalkboard, but I see my job at Ableton as primarily educational. My short stint in academia was pretty fun, but the Ableton opportunity was simply too good to pass up.

Q. Hey, I really like [insert name of track you like]. Can I send you some of my music?
A. Of course, I’d love to hear it. But please understand that there is almost certainly nothing I can do to help your career. I don’t run a label and even if I did, most labels won’t do much for you these days anyway (see above.) Just keep working on it, keep learning your tools, and keep ripping off good ideas from other music.

Q. Would you like room for milk?
A. Yes, please.