- Feb 6
2025 was a huge year for me in music! I'll be the first to admit I've been slacking on my social media, but my live show has come a LONG way in the last few months. It's hard to believe that a year ago I was still playing in Nafan's Freakshow at The Outpost 😅 ! I really appreciated that experience- because it gave me so many chances to learn and grow as a performer. Frankly, I think everyone who wants to make live music has to accept that they need to spend a healthy amount of time sucking for one reason or another- then figuring out what those reasons are, and fixing them <3 that's part of maturing as an artist, and I can think of no better place to have (hopefully) moved through that experience than the stage Nafan provides at The Freakshow. Last Summer I started experimenting with a livecoding platform called Strudel! I became aware of it at the perfect time for me- after I had just spent a few weeks making (long overdue) written transcriptions of some of my songs that I thought had potential to be good live.
As I learned Strudel, I realized I could actually showcase so much more of the digital stuff I do in a way that was honest and presentable, and that changed EVERYTHING. Thanks to Strudel's highlight feature, suddenly had a way to showcase a MIX as it was happening in real time. I could finally embrace "backtracking" in a way that doesn't feel as cheap and disconnected as it has always looked to me.
So I made a big move- and bought a projector, a screen, and couple REALLY BIG speakers. This made all the difference. Suddenly, I could actually practice my own live sound and figure out what worked and what didn't! Balancing volume and EQ in real space is a tricky thing! It changes the sound quite a bit, and I do not envy the job of actual live-sound-engineers at all 😅 But having the right tools allowed me to practice *preforming* in a way that was previously impossible. Once I realized the potential for Strudel to handle nearly all the electronic sounds in a way that felt satisfying and took them out of my hands- I realized I was free to play and not worry about constructing the song so much. I took out my electric guitar and started writing parts that would feel exciting to listen to, and give me a tool to express. There's a reason rockstars mostly play lead guitar and vocal. It just works. You can do a lot with those tools- they feel very human, they have a large variety of sonic capabilities, and they look good. I told a couple friends I wanted to maybe do a live show and they offered to let me set something up at their new house- so I spent a few months practicing my butt off, and making a live set with strudel and electric guitar that I could feel satisfied with... and it went well! Not the best show of all time- but overall I'm really proud of what I was able to do! I feel so excited to keep performing- I have so much momentum! So a few months later, I did another little show for some friends at new years, and that went well too! I was talking about this live music adventure I've been on with some friends at a party around Christmas, and my friend Devin floated the idea that I might be able to open for their band sometime- Of course I said yes! ... and now it's really happening! I'm officially opening for The Village Bicycle at The Little Rose in Cleveland on April 4th - and I'm beyond excited! In other news, I've made HUGE progress on the Tarot deck in the last year! The card illustrations and backs are DONE! ❤️ I should be releasing it sometime in 2026! I'm so excited to have this project nearly complete and ready to share with the world. It was a huge undertaking, and it's been a hell of a journey, artistically. I feel like I've grown a lot in a new direction as an image-maker, and I'm excited about the future of my art! I hope to have the a section on my website about this project, soon, too! So stay tuned for that! Marn Labs and the custom knobs project has been going well too! I got a new synth for Christmas (called the Studiologic Sledge) with a larger front panel that has TONS of room for fancy knobs and stuff. I've spent the last few weeks diving deep into sketchup and making elaborate gear systems that allow for different axes of movement as control. It's really cool stuff! I hope to make another post in more detail soon! 🥰
That new synth has also given me fantastic new options for visualization in Touchdesigner! I've embarked on the painstaking process of re-mapping the synths controls 1-1 in a way that ties every aspect of the sound to a satisfying visual effect. It's going well, but there's still a long way to go. More updates on that sometime this year, too.
I've been writing a lot of music over the last year, but most of my energy has been spent getting things ready for live-shows rather than recording and mixing new songs. I've definitely fallen behind on my recording, but I feel more capable than ever as a technical musician, and that makes the recording process much easier. I'm excited to start recording and mixing again once I get the chance, but that's probably not my main priority at the moment. 2026 is shaping up to be another big year for me creatively/professionally. I have a lot to look forward to, and things are really picking up! I'm so excited 🥰
- Feb 13, 2025
My focus for the last several months has been continuing to work on live show material. There have been many ups and downs, and the concept of a show continues to evolve.
I've switched from Reaper to Ableton Live for running things on stage. So far, the experience has been much smoother. The MIDI interface of Live is especially convenient for routing multiple devices and synthesizers with external effects, etc... All these things can be done with Reaper, but it's been much faster and more obvious to find solutions in Ableton. It feels more deliberately designed for you to use MIDI in the way I am currently exploring.
I've also started learning TouchDesigner to work on new types of motion/light to visualize synth controls. MIDI CC data can be mapped to various parameters inside TouchDesigner to modulate a visual output. The application seems very robust... and I've barely scratched the surface, but my experimenting has gone well! I hope to bring something from TouchDesigner with me to my next show.
As much as I love the idea of making physical devices that work with CV signals, working with MIDI + light/ projectors via my computer seems like a much less expensive and perhaps equally natural, obvious way to visualize the modulation of sound sources. Ultimately, I hope to use this as a way to learn/ experiment with different types of movement that I might someday translate into a physical device.
I've spent a lot of time on all of this over the last few months. Sometimes, I find myself drifting away from the point a bit. As much fun as it can be to dive into wonky technical problems, I need to remember that such problems can be as endless as they are superfluous. The goal of any live show should be to create an experience that supports and presents the music- not distracts. As much as I aspire to create something interesting and new to show, the artistic, aesthetic, and emotional experience that the totality of the work creates for the audience is what matters. The tools I create are useless (even if they technically work) if they don't mean something in the context they are used.
- Dec 27, 2024
It's been a year!
I've been through a lot in 2024. Some of it great, some of it not-so-great, but I've grown and learned a lot from it.
I have mixed and produced fewer tracks this year, but I've been writing almost as much as ever. And, I've been working on performing and presenting my music a lot more. I knew that the album would open doors for me, and it has- I couldn't have dreamed of getting into any kind of show before I had something publicly released to show. I've met so many amazing people through this experience, and I'm truly grateful for everyone that this project has brought into my life. I'm nowhere close the musician I hope to be someday, but you must start somewhere and grow from there.
A large portion of my efforts in music this year have gone toward figuring out how to put together a live show. I've worked through a few types of live-show with varying success and varying levels of live-ness... Through it all, I've had some moments that felt rough, and a few moments that felt pretty good. I still have much to learn, and I expect to spend more time and energy moving in that direction in 2025. I think I'm learning a lot from each experience, and someday, I know, I'll look back at these early (sometimes objectively awful) shows and have stories to tell about them.
I spent a lot of time working on little gadgets and interesting modular synth tools this past year (with the intent to someday bring these things to a live show). Progress has been slow and updates have been sparse, but when you're in the creative thick of it- you often don't know when something is complete enough to show. I aim to try to be better about updates in 2025, especially with those sorts of things.
I recently acquired several pieces of new gear that I've incorporated into my workflow at home. It's nice to have a place where everything is always set up and hooked up so I don't have to re-learn and re-connect everything each time I want to use my drum machine.
The tarot deck is also coming along quite well, too! I have more than 2/3rds of the cards finished on for an initial draft, and I think some of them are among the most thoughtful and successful compositions I've ever made. That project continues to challenge me as an artist in a very good way.
This have been happening! I know I've been neglecting social media posts and blog updates for the last few months, but rest assured progress has been made in the mean time. <3