As announced earlier, I’m working on my next release. My original plan was to release it around christmas, however, I skipped this plan for several reasons.
First: There might be a very limited physical release of this record, which takes additional time for realization. Second: I do want to add some remixes of the original compositions. I’m working on different versions myself…

Oblique Texture Remix by ab-arts

If you, dear reader, are interested in remixing (and if like the original material…), just feel free to contact me.

I’ve been busy quite some time lately, different projects catched my attention and destroyed my free time. First, there’s a Capybara320/Kyma in my studio now. Wonderful sound design workstation, I must admit.
On the other hand there’ve been just enough summerdays left not to stay in doors too long, keeping me away from the Kyma a bit.

Nevertheless I’ve been working hard on two projects, first my Fairground Recordings, which I’ve been able to give a listen and further postprocessing. I’ll probably finish a sample pack this winter, if you’re interested.

Apart from this I found my bandcamp page somewhat half-empty. So I decided to work on a follow up to my imperfect objects for perfect moments EP. Have a first glance:

Also some time ago I placed this demo recording on soundcloud. A different version of this song will end up on the EP:
opaque texture by ab-arts

I’ll report when the thing is finished and released, meanwhile please also watch my soundcloud and bandcamp!

My bandcamp site is now online. Purchasing information follows as soon as the CDr’s arrive.

Two weeks have passed since my last post and in the meantime some things happened.

First: The mastered tracks arrived.
Second: I contacted the printshop who will print the CDr.
Third: I set up a bandcamp site, which is still empty.
Fourth: I did some paperwork (which is, I assume, a very german thing: No CD without paperwork)
More on this to come.
The printshop sent me an inspection copy of the CDr print, and after I had a look on that, I let them do some adjustments. The next inspection copy arrived yesterday. What’s the CDr print worth anyway? Can’t I just use Lightscribe? Said – Done.

As you can see, the contrast ist much higher on the printed CDr. This is what you get if you buy the EP at bandcamp.
So, what’s next? When the paperwork is done and all bills are paid, the CDrs will be delivered and the bandcamp site opens. I hope this to happen in two weeks from now.
Time to get my promotion running!

that’s the title of my EP. As you have seen, I’ve been working on this for weeks. Although it’s not finished yet, I can present you some results today. Have a look at the artwork:

And have a listen to a preview of the songs on soundcloud.
imperfect objects for perfect moments by ab-arts

As mentioned before, I’m still working on an EP. Meanwhile I had a first listen to the mastered material. The mastering turned out to improve the listening experience quite much – annoying frequencies are now well behaved, levels are more equal, the impression is more homogenic.
Currently, I’m working on the artwork. This depends mainly on my decision in which format I should release the music. Still undecided… Certainly I’ll try with bandcamp, but I’m really considering a physical (= CD-R) release too. Cost is a factor though:
Mastering is already payed (awaiting the master discs). I’ll consider this as “just for fun”-cost and not a “release process”-cost. I wanted to have this mastered even when not considering a release. But pressing and printing CD-Rs, packaging (Digipaks are expensive, while jewel cases boring), and packaging for delivery are costs, and then there’s the 15% for bandcamp (same fees as for topspin).
Additionally I’m trying to get a feeling for the ways of promoting. I’ve some plan on my desk for this, but again: Cost is a factor. And promotion is costly. As soon as everything is rolling out, I’ll be in need of support (= people buying the release) to reduce the loss.

…which could be called “music”. I spent the last days with mixing songs I recorded some time ago. Finally I decided to give these to a mastering engineer.
I’m still unsure what will happen to these: Shall I go the DIY way, releasing a small batch of CD-R’s? Or shall I release a (boring) download-only EP, via Bandcamp or Topspin? Or shall I look for a netlabel – or even a real label? Peter Kirn from create digital music had an interesting blog post about topspin recently.
Hopefully next week I’ll see hear how the process of mastering turned out. I’ll not decide which way to go befeore that.

… actually on several things. First, there’s my modular synthesizer. It got a cheap expansion case:

The set of modules in there works pretty well as a little mono synth, but right now I can’t make any demo because I’m working on something else: Music.
I got everything wired up in my Studio for recording. That’s why I did not post sounds lately. Music has priority now, so expect some songs soon. But where to place them? On soundcloud or maybe on bandcamp?