no tune for today, spent most of my free time fixing a bungle i made while soldering a module, only for it to be lifeless after its all put together. im still enjoying the process, it feels kinda good to hit some roadblocks.
but i did zone out with the drone synth and the s-1. i know people always rag on built in speakers but i love that i can sit on the floor and plug a buddy into the ds-2 to get a little self contained setup moving fast.
got a tune out today! first i went to Troll Knoll Park by the Fremont Troll but its really new and there wasnt really anywhere that looked comfy. and i had to piss like crazy and there was no bathroom. so i went to Wallingford Playfield instead.
this park is kinda busted at this point but there is still a nice wooded alcove area that is very pleasant. i sat on a bench near that area and droned out this tune with the s1 and RoAT, recorded into the m8. then i ran it through the 404 at home. im hyped for drone day this month, i’ll be dronin and zonin
got out to Licton Springs Park today. i brought the sh-4d along in honor of the new update. its definitely easier to make a track on now but i dont think ill be using it that way all too often.
this park is a little underwhelming, its a cool natural reserve space more than a park i think. some cool bridges, but the areas where you can actually walk are mostly just grass. sat at a bench and made this sloppy tune. not a favorite but im glad i gave it a good ol college try. i think its nearly the same chords as I Remember by Deadmau5
well music may hasnt really been as successful as last year but im still out here having fun, im not looking to add any stress.
i went to Edith Moulton Park out in Kirkland, WA this past weekend. its a very chill park, theres a cool stream that i sat by while i made this tune on the m8. i even ran into a coworker and their family there, people are often saying they see me in random places and its definitely because of the park tunes project.
i like this tune! it originally had an acapella on it but im glad i took it off because its way better without it. i like the melody lines in here.
got out into the world today despite the cloudy skies and managed to snag some sunny spots in four different parks.
started off in the Porcelain Garden down by Substation in Frellard. this was a cute little spot with some nifty statues that appear to have been made back in my birth year 1995. i whipped up this tune on the m8.
next i went over to Meadowbrook Pond in northeast Seattle. this place rules, im gonna try to come back here on a field trip. the pond is beautiful, apparently theres some beavers around but i didnt see them. one of my favorite spots so far.
made this tune on the s-1 and p-6 combo, easily my favorite tune i’ve made on the combo. its so dank i was surprised that it was coming out of those two little boxes. a banger for sure
next i went out to Lyon Creek Waterfront Preserve in Lake Forest Park. one of my best boys used to live right next door. his dad sold the property to the city and they are going to expand the preserve area into their old property. i found out that they are keeping their old house up and renovating it to be used for public uses, im hyped. it was really cool to see the property after a long time away. we used to party pretty hard over there.
made this tune on the m8 and got a real nice photoshoot on the bench i was sitting on. the soulja boy acapella goes hard on this imvho
finally i ended at Richmond Beach Community Park. there was a birthday party going on and i thought it was some kids from my class at first but it ended up being some other goobers. i posted up on a bench and sequenced the s-1 with the m8. i recorded a few 8 bar phrases and mixed and matched them together.
took my class on a field trip to one of the parks that i made a tune at last summer and i played the tune for them while they ate lunch. it was awesome seeing one of the more challenging kids get up and start doing a silly pee wee herman type dance to the song. that kid always struggles to successfully join group activities so i was hyped to see him put himself out there like that. the rest of my group started gigging with him too. a nice way to close the loop on that park tune.
i’ve got a grip of tunes from the past few days. im honestly not sure if i lined up the right tunes with the right parks, at least the five i did today are right. my brain is empty after two days of lots of weed and caffeine, and three hours of running 10 tracks through the 404. so just gonna dump these down below, gotta be better at finishing these the same day i do them, or at least writing some notes down! edit: turns out a bunch of these are too bassy, thats what i get for using the ep133 speaker so often. gonna fix one of them but the rest are gonna have to be that way!
while i did not post a track every day, since the beginning of the month i have posted more tracks than there are days in the month of May, so i’d say this Music May was still successful
went out to Raye Field this evening with the sh-4d and ep-133 to give the sh-4d a last chance. im a sucker because literally the first sound i played had me hooked. this is a fun tune, parts of it sound lots like other tunes ive made but im probably the only one whos heard every single tune of mine so some repeat sounds aint a big deal
Raye Field is nice, i used to go there all the time as a kid. played many baseball games there. as a teen there was a little hideaway spot in the woods where someone left a bubbler for community use. pretty gross! i dont think i ever actually smoked from it tgod. i have a vivid memory of getting super motion sick on this merry go round as a little kid, it was all rusty brown color back then.
got a couple here
went to Northcrest Park in Shoreline a couple days ago. there was a bad review on google maps from four months ago that said this park sucked but it was not bad at all when i went there. it has a cool little ropes course for little kids as a playground too. i sat in a sunny grassy area and made a tune on the ep133. i didnt like it and ended up just making an ambient loop. today i ran it through the 404 ringer and got something way more interesting.
today i went to Seward Park bright and early. i didnt technically go into the park because there was a 5k going on and it felt kinda overwhelming so i hung out in this little rock garden area near the entrance. it was a very chill spot. made this tune on the s1 and p6.
went to a few parks today
started off the morning at a street end beach near the seattle tennis club. it was a nice little spot, very private and quiet. i made this tune on the m8 using some samples from the wingie2 in blippoo mode. its weird and i had a bunch of fun with it. eminem even laid a verse down. pitched it down on the 404 to get real strange
next i went to the Arboretum. i went here with my class on a field trip a few weeks back. i hadnt actually explored this park before, so i scoped out a spot for a tune and i made this tune in that spot. i used the s1 and p6 for this one, chilling by the frog pond. i saw the frog too, its a big guy.
finally i went to Point Shilshole Beach in Ballard. this beach is cool, theres a better more private beach right by this, i think i prefer the other one. a new crab restaurant looks to be opening up near the secret beach, hoping they dont blow up the spot. i made this on the m8 after realizing i didnt have a good enough set up to use the ep133 safely on the beach. the m8 was way easier to manage. this is an unusual tune for me but i really like it.
and a bonus one, this was just at my local nearby park. i went to my cousins grad party and a guy there said i looked exactly like some goofball on SNL. looked him up and did not enjoy the comparison. but on my way home i was bumping tunes at a stop sign and a guy came up to my window to tell me “i see your vibe.” so the universe restored balance.
this tune was from the ep133 and s1, i sampled all of the s1 lines pitched up at double tempo and pitched em down. its fun and got me into some new places but i dont see myself doing a ton of sampling full lines.
this had to happen eventually! i accidentally did a repeat. i was heading to Loyal Heights Park but there was a little kid birthday party there and it was a small park without any picnic tables and i had brought a whole grip of equipment so i left and went to Salmon Bay Park nearby. google maps was still showing a route so it wasnt showing my tags and i thought i hadnt done this one yet. when i finished and pulled out my map to mark the spot i realized my goof. but its a fun enough tune anyhow. not gonna add it to the official playlist, trying to keep that for unique visits.
made this with the tt-78, sh-4d and ep133. sampled a few loops off the tt-78 and sampled some chords and organ sounds from the sh-4d’s new engines. i dont really get what step is doing yet from going in blind but it sounds thick. i also like the UI for the organ engine. so far im glad i didnt sell this one. did the rest on the ep133
Great stuff as usual!
I took some inspiration from you and this thread and head out to a state park with the DN and a battery pack. Once I got there, sky made way to rain! Begrudgingly headed home only to realize I forgot headphones anyways! What an asshole!
Off to the bar to day drink instead!
haha hey man i wish i had made a list of all the times i headed out to a park with a bag full of gear intending to make a tune only to smoke a black & mild and a bowl and decide to head home. it comes with the territory, hopefully the sun pulls you out there again soon!
@Kegeratorz and wouldnt you know it, it happened to me. super sunny all day long, super drained from a long field trip to a park with the class, get off work, smoke a bowl, go to the gas station and get a black&mild and seltzer water, look for a park on google maps for five minutes and then i looked up and clouds had rolled in. took that as my cue to switch it up and drive around and bump some tunes. as fred durst says, its just one of those days.
this tune marks number 125 and a potential wind-down on the project. i’ll definitely still do more but i probably wont be going crazy bananas on the weekends once i start my masters program. but i will be doing tunes at the zoo!
this tune was done at Coleman Park Beach this morning on the p-6 solo. i sold my other p-6 to my buddy who borrowed it for a few weeks. yesterday we did a tutorial session, it was pretty fun teaching another person a piece of gear. i feel like it went pretty well. it inspired me to do some single p-6 stuff again, its fun.
this beach was real chill, there was a great little cliff spot for me to chill on and i had so much space all to myself. and the hot hot sun felt so good on my tweaked back muscles. very nice morning tune time
snuck in a couple park tunes today before i go over to my dad’s place for fathers day. we’re making him some halibut and greek salad. except he’s gonna grill the halibut because he is the grill master.
first i went out to Lynnwood to go to Martha’s Lake Park. this spot was nice, i liked the variety of dock space. lots of nice lily pads too. i posted up on a blanket near the beach, it was a little too eaerly because it was still pretty chilly. i experimented a bit with this one, i made a melodic loop on the m8 first and then sampled and chopped it on the ep133. im gonna keep trying this method, its pretty fun.
next i went to Log Boom Park out in Kenmore. i really liked this spot, parking was tough but i got lucky. i didnt explore as much here but i did find a sunny spot with a bench and a water view. i got cookin on the ep133 and used my m8 as a big ol sample library to pull some loops and vocal samples from. i had fun with this one, the back half is wiggly.
bada bing bada boom, more park tune.
went to Kelsey Creek Park out in Bellevue yesterday and it rules so hard. easily in the top 5, this park has a farm and animals just out for the public to look at. theres some of those crazy fluffy chickens, a great pig, some cool goats, some classic sheep, a weird duck. its awesome. and like 150 acres of open park space. this place rules, definitely going back sometime.
i made this tune on the ep133. i sampled some chords and synth sounds off the casio before heading out. i found some patches that the last owner must have made on the casio, gonna have to figure out how to enter synth mode on there.
weathers been pretty bunk recently so i havent been getting out to many parks, but a few days ago it was nice enough after work to walk to a tiny park near my apartment. i actually really liked it, very cozy in a triangle between three streets. hung out on a bench while the sun set and made this tune with the m8 and s1. i made some chord chains and a couple multisamples of some sounds off the s1. i realized i rarely sample like this on the m8 and it was a really productive method for me.
also, unrelated but i just saw that i have 138 hours of audio uploaded to soundcloud. thats a ton of tunes.
got a bunch of tunes done today! it was the first really nice day after a bunch of boring overcast days, so i got out to five different parks.
first i went up to Edmonds to Picnic Point Park. this was a really neat little beach, a bunch like Carkeek Park but much smaller and quieter. i sat on a big piece of concrete on the beach and made this tune on the p-6. i sampled some sounds off the s-1, i like how speedy it gets in the back half.
next i went to Lake Tye out in Monroe. this spot was cool too but i kind of remember nothing about it. it was kinda bland if im remembering right, one of those weirdly developed lakes. i made this tune on the ep133 and sampled some sounds off the s1. i was digging the sloppy melodic lines in here, kept em loosey goosey
next i went to Blyth Park in Bothell. i whipped out the modular rack and wingie2 and droned around for half an hour, recorded that into the m8 and brought it home. sampled some snippets onto the 404 and then swirled them together on there. this is a dark drone
next i went to Ferrel-McWhirter Park. this park rules, theres a little farm there with a handful of animals to see. the pigs were great, easily the best pigs ive seen in a long time. very active too, they were actually rolling in the mud and scratching their bellies on everything. top tier pigs, top tier park. this is my favorite tune of the bunch, made it on the ep133, the chords samples are from an old monte booker pack.
finally i ended at Grace Cole Nature Park. this was mostly a trail system but there was a really nice river to hang out by with a bench. there was a tree that was creaking so loudly the whole time i was there, i was hoping i’d get to see it fall over but no luck today. i made this tune on the m8 and i used the ep133 to record some of the parts in via midi. im still getting used to this workflow so this one took way longer than usual and ended up not as good as i wanted. makes sense for the last in the bunch!
welcome to Post #100 in Schoolbaby’s Parks Department. thanks for joining, five more jams!
yesterday was a weird day. took the day off work, i dropped off my car at the shop early in the morning and walked around Ballard for a while. i made this first tune at this tiny park called A Salish Welcome. its got a cool Salish statue and some nice info about the Salish people. i sat on a bench and made this tune on the M8 alone. lots of the tunes i made this day were more ambient and soundscapey, this got the ball rolling.
next i walked to Ballard Playground. this was kind of a bust, it was basically just a playground and a baseball field, and the field was closed to let the grass grow. so i sat on the bleachers and made this little intermission tune with the M8, S-1 and my harmonica. i recorded some loops off the S-1 onto the M8 and then recorded some harmonica lines using the M8’s mic. now that we can play back samples while recording a sample on the M8 i gotta be doing this way more often, get my old OP-1f + harmonica mojo flowing again.
next i went to Ballard Commons Park. this park is right by my gym and i see it often. this place has been a struggling park for many years. a couple years ago it was a non-stop hell hole because its close to the Ballard library where some pretty rough encampments constantly pop up. but you can tell the parks department has been trying really really hard to get it back to a usable state. this is the first time ive been in there since it hit hard times. its alright! they have a ton of public activities like a big chess board, a bowl for skaters, a nice updated playground and a water spraying feature. nice park, glad its not a hell hole any more. i made this tune on the ep133, i think i sampled some chords from my sample library on the M8.
then i walked all the way home to hide my propane tank before my property manager showed up with plumbers. then the shop called and said my car was finished up, so i walked all the way back. i walked like 10 miles total yesterday. once i got my car i rolled over to Bellevue because i wanted to pick up an order from the electrical component store over there. that wasnt ready so i ended up back at Watershed Park. my previous tag on my map didnt show up when i was scouting parks and i didnt realize i had been there already until i got all the way to the same spot i went to last time. it was a cool location though, so i had a nice time. theres this weird giant pit in the middle of the sitting area, i should have read the signs around there to see what it originally was. i made this tune on the p6 solo, its probably my favorite of the bunch. used a bunch of baille funk samples in here.
my order still wasnt ready so i headed over to Bridle Trails Corner Park. i had tried to go to Bridle Trails State Park but i always forget that i need to pay for parking at those spots so i rolled over to this free adjacent city park. i should reallly just get a discover pass so i can park at all the state parks. i started making this tune with the S-1 and P-6 and M8. i recorded one loop from the S-1, put it in the granular engine on the P-6 and recorded one short pattern from that. i recorded these loops to the M8 and then the M8 started going crazy and crashed twice in a row. i was getting tired and annoyed that my order wasnt ready yet, 20 minutes before they closed, so i just accepted that i was only getting two short loops out of that session and headed home. i threw them together on the 404 today. another little intermission tune.
then i had a very weird and stressful night back in Seattle. im taking care of my parents cats at their last minute request and when i went over to their place i couldnt find the cats’ litterbox or food anywhere. i started getting all worked up because one of the cats peed by the backdoor, so im over here thinking that my parents accidentally brought their stuff with them when they left. so i go to the pet store and buy them all new stuff because i cant get ahold of my parents and think the cats are just struggling. so i spend $70 on new cat stuff, run back to the house and then one of the cats leads me to the garage, directly to their litterbox and food and water. i was so incredibly frustrated, it hungover into today. but thankfully everything was fine, i was just wildin’ out for no reason.
SHEESH. quite a day. im excited for the holiday weekend. got the sonicware liven evoke rolling in in a couple days, im gonna zone out hard with that mfer.