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Back from the Desert + Sound and Design Podcasts?
I recently took my ipad air and all my shiny new audio apps I've purchased over the last several months out into the desert around San Luis Potosi, Mexico while traveling around the country for almost 7 weeks.
The time in the desert is partly to force myself to be disconnected from the internet for awhile, get healthy with mostly a fruit and veggie diet, focus thought on a few ideas, read a couple books, and a few peyote trips to sort of facilitate some good concentration (among other pleasant effects) 
It was awesome playing with the audio apps alone in a small adobe room. Sometimes with my mind somewhat altered, but more often not.
What I learned is that I'm really mostly interested in making interesting soundscape compositions. I'm not really all that interested in classic song structure, melody, or anything like that. I'm guessing a much higher percentage of folks here are the opposite, in that they dig making tunes, writing songs, playing traditionally, jamming, etc.
I listened mostly to experimental electronic stuff, and loads of classic stuff like the Beatles, Doors, Hendrix, etc. What I gathered was, that it's perfectly ok to just stumble around stringing sounds together until you come up with a composition that sounds good. That it's not really all that vital, at least to me, to know anything about proper traditional song structure.
What's really weird is that I was completely ok not recording anything at all. I'd sit there, often with a vague idea, then start playing. Sometimes it would evolve into something quite satisfying, and sometimes I'd start to get something good going, then end up destroying it into chaos. In either situation, I was completely cool with not recording anything at all. I think that's because it removed the pressure of trying to "get it right". I also learned that more often than not, less is more.
While I was also catching up on some podcasts, I discovered 2 really terrific ones that are strictly about the nature of sound. Not so much about music or anything, but the reality of pure raw sounds and how it effects us as humans and how we interact with it.
One is called "The World According to Sound" and my favorite of the 2 is called "Sound Matters"
The first one has short 60sec recordings intended to get you interested in a particular sound idea and go research it more. Some of them are longer and collections of episodes, but mostly very short and to the point. The second one is more of a sound designer's take on the science of sound. Both really terrific.
Do any of you who share my interest in sound as design, soundscapes, the science of sound, etc. have any suggestions for other podcasts you'd recommend? Specifically related to sound design for cinema, artistic soundscapes, and anything scientifically sound related?
Comments
Not had same experience as you (desert setting at least!). But I think I know where you are coming from - my flat backs onto the beach and I can sit in solitude just watching the sea and the sky, calm or stormy for hours - it's inspiring. Although I still do the more melodic stuff I also often myself drifting into just making Soundscapes and kinda dissolving into them, then you find 3 hours have gone by. Rarely record this stuff but just go with it - shame in a way as I can never produce the same thing twice but this also a blessing. It allows you to just be creative and enjoy the sounds / textures and vibe of the piece - forget all the technical stuff and perfection. I make music (well noise) for my own enjoyment, doesn't matter if no one else hears it.
I just read back what I have written and am now concerned I maybe regressing into a hippy. Any cure out there before it's too late?
I think there has been a lot of good "hippy stuff" that got thrown out with the bathwater when all the general disdain came down on hippies over the last several years.
Wouldn't consider myself so much of a hippy, but there have been ideas and philosophies I could certainly appreciate when they are actually practiced and not just paying lip service.
I think some of the stuff you're describing, that I too can obviously relate to, is basically just being a human capable of tuning out all the BS in favor of giving your attention to the stuff that really matters.
Not me, sir. I'm doing what sounds good to my ears, and working in ways that might not be approved of by more traditional musicians.
I have tremendous respect for what has gone before, I just see no point in trying to ape it. So, I'm taking a little inspiration from here, a pinch from there, and seeing what sound design ideas occur as I wander along the coast near my home.
At the end of the day - the end of the album - if it pleases me, I'm winning. If by some chance it pleases a few others, then that's a bonus.
This doesn't relate to sound... but here's a better/longer description of the environment I just referenced, that was my patreon report/dispatch from that place:
Full Wirikuta Desert Report Dispatch (Part One)
Published Aug 11, 2016
I've been here in this desert for twelve nights now. It's strange how it feels like I've been here half a lifetime already. Time creeps along so very slow here. It's one of the reasons I come to this place the Huichole Indians call Wirikuta, to slow down the passage of time for a little while to catch my breath. The town I rent a small adobe room in is called Estacion Wadley. The state is San Luis Potosí, Mexico and I'm below the sacred mountain the Huichol Indians call Quemado, which is near a mountain pueblo called Real de Catorce.
Real de Catorce is an interesting old ghost town that was mined primarily for silver many years ago. Today, it's more of a tourist destination with a handful of religious festivals that locals of the region flock to. There are also many foreigners who've also set up shop there over the last few years. I hear they're even hosting an international Jazz festival later this month. Not my scene. I much prefer the rustic solitude on the desert in Wadley.
Not entirely sure why Wadley exists. The desert is full of the hallucinogenic peyote cactus the Huichol call Jikuri or "medicina". It's a sacred plant for them, but its also used by gypsy backpackers who wander here from all over the world. Though, I don't think the numbers are significant enough to justify a town to support it. They do farm nopale cactus at the small desert ranchos. Other than that, I don't know how the people subsist here.
The Mexicans who live here in this desert are earnest, hard, poor, and resilient. My guess is that life can be very hard here and the elements can be brutal. Still, there's a timeless quality and energy in this region that feels biblical. Nothing changes much here. The sun is harsh, the cactus unforgiving, and the storms intense, but there's a sense you get that you're in a place that has a different kind of power. A higher power. It's not hard to imagine why the Huichol call this place, Wirikuta, sacred.
The manner in which the days have drifted by makes it difficult to remember exactly why I came here and everything that's occurred here during my stay. My thoughts have mostly inverted internally after long scorching hikes in the desert, quiet nights dreaming below the Milky Way, and during the three separate days I spent eating peyote cactus out in the desert.
The place I tend to go for my personal desert pilgrimage is about a 45 minute hike out of Wadley into the desert in the direction of Quemado. There's a goat trail I've followed for nearly 22 years now. In the spot that I rest for the day, there is a mesquite tree that provides a little shade during the most intense heat of the day. Just a few meters from this tree that I call my "Boddhi Tree" there is a large peace sign made of stones. It was started back in 2009 I believe, and completed in 2012. I started it because I was very angry at the time because of all the war for profit and violence in the world. There wasn't really any particular reason I made it, but I used it as sort of a waking meditation on peace. That maybe if I concentrated hard enough on the idea of peace, perhaps it would eventually radiate far enough outward into the ether have some meager impact. It was also something to do while I was daydreaming out in the desert.
A Mexican friend of mine from Mexico City, Mauricio, has lived here in this town off and on for many years. Nearly as long as I've been coming here. He tells me my peace sign of stone is becoming somewhat of a tourist attraction, and that he's been seeing photos of it pop up on Facebook from time to time. Sometimes I find offerings left to the peace sign and I'm surprised somehow it remains in tact.
Now I simply reinforce the defining outlines with fresh stones, and the middle portions I've filled with small white Quartz stones. Each time I pull the few weeds that push through and add more sparkling-white Quartz star-stuff. This time I noticed that my Boddhi tree's branches were just barely spread out enough over a dry arroyo to support my hammock. This discovery is spectacular as the desert floor can be full of cactus and mesquite thorns. To be able to now rest quietly swaying in the shade aloft under a blue sky is an incredible blessing. Though, it's a good thing I didn't discover this earlier, or that peace sign may have never been finished.
Full Wirikuta Desert Report Dispatch (Part Two)
Published Aug 11, 2016
It always takes a few days to acclimate to this place. When I first arrive it's difficult to remember why I chose to come here. It's poor, dry, dusty, and hot. There's also a train track that runs through the middle of town blasting its horn and violently shaking everything within a few dozen meters. I'm told that the only reason this place exist was originally for the train depot to pick up the materials from the mines. Now, the train rarely even stops here anymore.
The old man I rent a room from, is Don Tomas. There are other folks who rent rooms, but I've always stayed with Don Tomas out of loyalty I suppose. He was the first who took me out into the desert to show me the way. And, he always seems to have my best interest at heart. At this point, after all these years, I can easily call him my amigo.
Sometimes I'm completely alone here like I am now. But other days there are others here with me in the additional 6 rooms surrounding a dirt courtyard and adobe-wall contained compound. There's a primitive shared toilet that you have to flush by pouring a bucket of water into, and a shared cocina (kitchen) that has a table and a beat up old gas table stove.
There have been others come and go while I've been here this time. Most have been Mexicans who will stay for a night, then go out into the desert. There have been a couple here with me the entire time. A young woman with dreadlocks from Portugal who appears to be about 6 months pregnant, and her little long-haired Nicaraguan companion. I think he fancies himself some kind of self-styled Indian shaman, and likes to bang a small drum at night while singing, chanting, or sort of playing his flute, if you could all it that. I've also heard him attempting to play a stringed instrument of some sort, but thankfully he's mostly been going out into the desert to get is magic mojo workin'.
They are really a nice couple with such beautiful souls.
I asked the woman, Evelyn, if they planned on going to the beach after the desert, which is common. I wanted to warn her know that the Zika virus is spreading much faster than was expected and the effected infants with small heads is on the rise.
She told me she lost her first baby to the Zika virus a couple of months ago. She said they claimed it was due to Zika, that his skull didn't form right and that his brain was crushed as it grew. She went into their adobe room to get a photo of her baby to show me. He looked mostly normal, but his head did look a bit small to me.
Evelyn didn't seem to believe it was Zika that caused it. She said her baby's head was a little small, but mostly everything was proportional and she said she never had any symptoms of Zika. I didn't want to argue the point because it was already a bit awkward because the pain she was obviously feeling was palpable. But I did tell her that I believed that I endured the Zika virus just a couple weeks prior. Although I hadn't had it confirmed with tests yet, all the symptoms matched up. Told her that I read that many inflicted don't get any symptoms at all.
She said that there were 3 other women with Zika babies in Tulum, Mexico at the beach where they live, but that the locals were trying to keep it quiet to protect the tourist industry. Though, she also had suspicion that it wasn't the Zika causing the deformities, and more likely the chemicals they're freely spraying to kill the mosquitos. I agreed this was a definite possibility.
Still, days later when I was forced out of the desert to seek shelter from an intense oncoming dark storm, I saw Evelyn coming out of the shared bathroom. There was a lot of lightning coming down all around and ominous black clouds. I stayed inside my doorway because getting struck by lightning here isn't as uncommon as one might think. Evelyn just stood there with her dreadlocks piled artfully atop her head like some Mayan mother diety. Her face leaning back and facing the storm. Rain covered her for a few seconds and she smiled as she looked back down toward me and said, "The rain is coming so that it can grow the corn." I also smiled to see a little of this woman's pain being washed away.
Evelyn and her Nicaraguan medicine man Ariel, left a couple of days ago to carry the ashes of their first baby boy to Real de Catorce and up to the top of sacred Quemado as an offering. I'm leaving tomorrow morning, but I hope I get to see them one more time to say goodbye and wish them well.
Don Tomas has stopped by almost daily to visit with me. I was very worried that he wouldn't be around this time. He's 76 years old and had ongoing health issues over the last few years. The last time I was here a couple years ago, he had to be taken to the hospital in Matehuala for various lung and prostate issues.
This time he looks perfectly healthy and even stronger than he has looked in years. I asked him what accounted for the dramatic improvement. He said they did surgery on his prostate that helped, but still makes it a little difficult to urinate. They also gave him an asthma inhaler that he says helps. But, the biggest improvement came as a result of stopping drinking Coca-Cola. He said it was completely dragging him down, making his whole body ache, and robbing him of all his energy. Radical change. I know he used to drink the stuff like water, and I love me some Mexican Coke too, but seeing how much is health has improved, I stopped drinking it too after having one last cold bottle for old times sake.
A couple days ago during a morning visit from Don Tomas, I was still wearing my sleeping shorts, sipping a coffee with no shirt on yet. Don Tomas came up to me and grabbed some of my chest hair that's white. He asked me if I knew what the white color meant. I told him that it meant I'm getting older. He said no, it's from witches flying through me in the desert. Said they fly right through you, turns you hair white, and they suck and steal some of your blood. I asked, "Like Cupacabra?" He said no. There's no such thing as Chupacabra, it's desert witches.
I laughed and asked if he really believed that. He said he did, that there a lots of white witches out there, and you can see them flying as balls of light in the evening near the ranchos, and especially on the mountain.
Quien sabe? (Who knows?)
The solitude is starting to get to me a little. I'm finding myself pacing back and forth while talking to myself out loud. I know I'll come back here again, but I think it's just about time to leave for now. The reason I came here was to get a new vision and clues as to what I should do next with my life. Whether I should continue on this same path or do something completely different.
The peyote helps me concentrate and I sincerely believe it also has healing power. I always feel healthier when I leave here than when I arrived. Ailments dissolve away or are forgotten. There's good reason the Indians call this plant "medicina". As for a vision, I only had two thoughts.
One, that people keep asking me if I've written my stories down. I tell them I haven't but that I've been trying to write some of them into screenplays. They always say I should write them down in book form. Maybe I will. Words are much less expensive and far less complicated than trying to make a movie. Besides, perhaps once I get them written down, someone will see the value in helping me get them to the big screen. Or, perhaps that's not really all that important to me anymore.
The second thing I kept thinking out in the desert, between all the time I spent reflecting on my life up until now, was this: "It's not about you. It's never been about you. You're nothing. Make yourself into a vessel to allow great things to flow though and keep your soul open to the world. When you dwell on yourself, all the doors will be closed and you become trapped within your small irrelevant self."
That's all I got, but I think it'll do.
Keep it coming, loving your experiences, ok bit Castenada in feel but I loved that too. Have many sacraments in greenhouse but after years of loving and caring for them I could never cut them. Your stories are sparking my imagination in I directions not traveled in years and I can feel a soundscape session coming on.....
Don't worry.
All of the good stuff associated with hippies came from the Beats anyway.
Skip, it sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing your experiences and reflections.
Got back last night. The reflections are just a little from the 13 days in the desert, out of 7 weeks in Mexico traveling around. Some of it was pretty challenging, but overall fairly spectacular.
Glad to be home though.
The main point is that I think I got confused about what I wanted to do with audio. Spent way too much time reading posts about music making I suppose, and got off track.
Hoping to get refocused to learn more about sound design, soundscapes, and sound design for moving images. Those podcasts I referenced in my original post are a good start I think, but looking for more in the same vein.
Congratulations on getting through your trip without being ransomed or beheaded.
Guess I wasn't worth the effort.
Ha ha ha!
Palo Mayombe has to keep it pretty much on the down low after that unpleasantness in Matamoros.
Not really an adventure if there's no risk. Otherwise, you're better off going to an all-inclusive resort and riding the tram to the all-night buffet.
Ok, well if there's a handful of peeps here who dig the same kind of sound design that I described above and are interested in cool podcasts about the nature and science of sound, and less about music-making, check out those 2 podcasts I gave links to and listen to a few episodes. They're pretty cool.
I will definitely check out those 2 podcasts. I like both songmaking and soundmaking. And also the sometimes beautiful mutant child of the two.
They often reproduce; my friend Buck was nominated for an Oscar for the score of The Hurt Locker. The score consisted of about 18 minutes or so of "sounds"
Many of the apps I have and have played extensively with at this point, seem very well suited to this sort of work. I read that the Borderlands app was used for much of the sound design in the Helen Miren flick Eye in the Sky from earlier this year.
I haven't found any great iPad tools for viewing motion picture while designing the sound, so I think it'll be better to just use the iPad run into Logic Pro or maybe playing right into FinalCutPro via lightning cable.
I've tried Auria's optional video import module, but it's pretty clumsy. Sort of need a second device to play into the primary device running Auria as its playing the video. It's doable, but like I said, pretty clumsy and likely better to just use the iPad as an instrument to play directly into a desktop/laptop video setup instead.
We have definitely come a long way since the days when the Musicians Union wouldn't let the Barrons have a composer's credit for Forbidden Planet.
@skiphunt Nice to have you back, although you never really left the forum - LOL. I've enjoyed your updates, especially some really great photos. It's cool that you are finding your musical direction, as it were. I'm into both camps I guess: soundscapes, and structure, but I found it doesn't matter which flavor I want to pursue, as long as whatever I'm doing...I'm actually doing it and not just thinking about it.
Hey Toz, thanks! We should meet up sometime here in Austin. I dig the collaborations you've done with Doug.
I normally switch to wifi only when I'm traveling to save $ and force myself off the internet a bit more but my new carrier Cricket-wireless has Mexico/Canada coverage if I upgraded to their mid-tier plan for an extra $10/mo. I figured I'd upgrade to save on Internet cafe fees, and having to buy expensive coffees in order to use the free wifi. That meant I wasn't as disconnected as I usually am when traveling. Except in the desert I didn't have cell signals, wifi, or Internet cafes. VERY remote, so I did at least get a good 2 weeks off the grid so to speak.
Glad I checked in though, because I picked up Droneo from someone's recommendation here, and strangely played with it more than anything else. Shoom was a lot of fun with peyote too. Though often terrifying. lol
BTW, another post someone is asking about CrystalXT. I remember grabbing that one a few months ago when you stated it was the most underrated synth. Agree completely.
I think one of the points I was trying to make was that when I stopped trying to follow rules, and stopped trying to figure out/learn how to make traditional structure compositions... I started getting better results. And, I also realized I was spending way too much time on reading about apps, buying apps, and then trying to force myself into convention... when all I ever really wanted to do was the soundscape/sound design for moving images stuff. So, it was good to wake myself up from the app consumerism and get more focused on my original goals.
Me!
I subscribed in Downcast, will listen soon. Thank you for the recommendations.
About your account, I have two questions:
1) When you said "gypsy backpackers", did you mean Romany, or more sort of like hippie-ish nomadic?
2) I had a hard time getting a sense of scale from the photo of your peace stone creation. Can you describe its size in comparison with your height lying down in/next to it?
Also after reading your account with pictures, I feel enriched. Thank you muchly.
I had a lot of time to kill riding buses and ended up listening to ALL of the episodes for both of the podcasts I listed, so my overall impression was based on that. I think all of the Sound Matters podcasts were great, but the world according to sound was hit-n-miss, with more hits than misses.
I usually refer to this sort of backpacker as "nomads" or "bohemian pacpackers", but the Nicaraguan fellow referred to the Mexican backpackers as "gypsy backpackers". This was likely due to the fact he didn't speak fluent English, but I liked the sound of it so that's what I called them too.
I would say the diameter is approximately 13 feet or approximately 4 meters.
Happy you think so. Thank you
In respect of your worrying hippy tendencies may I suggest a course of listening to B A Robertsons cool in the kaftan.
@skiphunt Yes, I'm ready for an Austin music meetup...and thank you; I am still humbled and honored to have had those collaborations.
Let's see what we can do about gathering our AB forum masses together here in Central Texas. I'm up north, @JohnnyGoodyear is south of the river (when he is actually in town...second jib at him today), so as they say around here, "where you at?"
And what of the two or three others?