Spent this weekend recording up at Z's house, somewhere in New York that is not the city. This means new recordings fairly soon, the first that are not being produced for a video game in about 10 months. This is the first time I've enjoyed the combination of being able to use real drums, a good-sounding room to record in, and being able to take my time with the process. In high school I had the first and third. In most of college I had the second and third. During the two all-nighters in my dorm's music practise room when I recorded "Sleepynotes," I had the first and second. Since college ended I've had only the third, and that just wouldn't do anymore. Having someone else there to provide a break from my own mind and musical tendencies (and several songs of his own) is something I've mostly done without before. Very excited about the results of these sessions, although what exactly will happen to the songs once they are done is uncertain as always. To make the transition to something like a real band, we need what has always eluded me--a drummer who can really play our songs properly, and is not myself.

We took a break from recording to spend an evening with a couple who seemed to show the only signs of life in the area, and how lively they were. The way they talked recalled the dialogue of a certain kind of movie--fast-paced, constantly telling bits and pieces of stories with no context nor explanation given to the audience. Somewhere in there, there was a bit I understood about a student who, asked what he wanted to do when he grew up, wrote that he felt he couldn't possibly know yet, and received a failing grade on the assignment. When they recited their phone number and started with 5, I for a moment expected them to continue "5-5-5..." The movielike atmosphere was only enhanced when we went to a bizarre hotel and cabaret, then left after two songs when we were asked to pay the $15 admission despite the lack of seating available and our drink orders. On the way out, we stocked up on the foyer's supply of candies that looked like peppermints but were actually fruit-flavoured, a wonderful surprise.

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I finally finished my Ring Modulator pedal. I had planned a series of photos showing the construction, but they got erased in a not-properly-ejecting-the-device accident. Then I lost momentum and stopped working on it for a few weeks. Amazingly, it's actually still not finished--I await a closed-circuit stereo jack for the expression pedal that will control the frequency knob when plugged in, and a 3PDT switch to allow the presence of an LED without sacrificing true bypass. But, for visual purposes:

It is definitely the kind of pedal that one must build a song around, rather than apply as an enhancement to an existing song, due to its atonal and abrasive sounds. But for those purposes, it will do just fine.