This track is a summation of the entire year's output, rendered by iTunes Signature Maker. It examines a group of files, extracts what's similar and combines them into a single audio file.

If you want to stream all 366 tracks, here's an MP3 Playlist.

This has been quite a project - at this point I can't believe it's finished. I'm not sure what comes next. I'll take a bit of time off, then plan the next project. I've really learned a great deal from creating in this fashion, and it's not something I want to give up. I will probably continue to create on a regular basic like this because it's a good way to stay on form.

I'll let you in on a little secret. Because I've been doing a lot of traveling in the last two months, I've had to work ahead in order to be able to publish daily. The 365th track was recorded on the 28th of January, so I met my goal of completing the project within a one year period, despite the 16 day hiatus.

Thanks to everyone who has offered encouragement and support, particularly my wife, Lauren Amazeen.

Vi ses,

-John

2006-02-13

We're in the home stretch now. Only one week left. Now might be a good time to consider a donation.

This now marks one year since the project began, but since it was suspended for two weeks following the death of my father, it has not yet reached 365 songs. So, I will continue for another 15 days to make a grand total of 366. That's a year plus one to grow on.

The thing is, it's an Audio Unit plugin and doesn't work with Cubase, which I use. However, thanks to Soundflower and RAX, I have been able to integrate it with Cubase. It took me all day to figure out how to get it working, and this little piece is the result of that work. I'm too tired to do any more.

2006-01-27

We are now in the final month. There are only 30 more tracks to go.

By the way - Happy New Year!

I'm using my oldest didj today - I bought it almost exactly seven years ago on Charing Cross Road. It's mouthpiece is in need of more beeswax and until it's warmed up it's almost unplayable. Still, I like what I can do with it and it's got sentimental value as well. 2005-12-27

Now it's time to take the next step. I thought it would be interesting to put a static track on top of a fairly active funk backing. This is the first result. 2005-12-18

By the way, this is track number 300. Only 66 more to go.

With the exception of the drum track, I played everything myself. As I move along with these funk tracks, I'll build the drum tracks myself as well. 2005-12-04

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but I used to have a funk band in New York in the late 80s - early 90s called, "Your Monkey's Not Funny."

I'm having a lot of fun getting away from using a standard keyboard to control MIDI. 2005-11-19

My Odeo Channel (odeo/76284a9ae40e4668)

This is also a totally "pure" mix - no compressors, limiters, reverb, etc. Just the synth patches themselves and a little dither on the mixdown.

2005-11-15

I've reached the 3/4 point today. There's only 92 more tracks to go. Now would be a good time to consider a donation.

I like it very much. 2005-11-10

I also dug out another old piece of gear - my SansAmp. I have the very first model, from when they were being built in the back room of Rogue Music on 30th St. in NYC. I used it to thicken the guitar sound a bit. 2005-10-22

Almost all of the effects I'm using are freeware - some of them are quite amazing. The C3 multiband compressor from Slim Slow Slider and ApluSoft is a must-have. I'm using it for both limiting and maximizing on this track. I'm also using the mda Looplex and ExSIMultitap - both freeware as well.

One important lesson I've learned from this track - no matter how tight your budget, using a 15 year old guitar cable is probably never a good idea. 2005-10-21

By the way, if you use iTunes, I strongly recommend that you go into "Preferences" and under the "Playback" settings, turn the effect called "Soundcheck" off. It will balance out the volume levels, but it does not work well for dense classical music and lots of ambient tracks like these.

2005-10-16
2005-10-17
2005-10-18
2005-10-19
2005-10-20

By the way, this marks the 2/3 point of this project. There have been 244 songs so far, adding up to 21 hours of music. I've only got 122 more to go.

Also, by doing five of these, I've broken the symmetry with the "Symmetry" series, so this is truly asymmetrical.

This is the same technique that is used to apply the sampled acoustics of a space to a sound source, which, as you know, I do quite a bit. 2005-10-07

An audio-specific explanation of convolution can be found at Barry Truax's webpage.

This is a looping piece, sort of. There are loops, buy they're slightly different each time they show up. There's also lots of simulated tape saturation in this to give it a bit of a 1970's sound. The Wurlitzer on this is a sample, unfortunately. Mine is currently buried in a storage space in Södermalm.

To me, this has a definite autumnal feeling. 2005-10-04

2005-10-01

All that aside, I think it sound pretty, and there are some nice combinations of pitches here. 2005-09-30