Another reason to quit Spotify, how to organize your song ideas, don't stress about quantizing

Hey folks,

Welcome back to another edition of Sharing Notes! Read online here.

Another reason to quit Spotify et al

Users have reported ICE recruitment ads showing up not just on Spotify, but on several other digital media platforms, like Instagram, TikTok, and even Pandora. One such ICE propaganda ad makes the asinine, xenophobic claim, "Millions of dangerous illegals are rampaging the streets." In this age of increasing fascism and techno-surveillance, we must be vigilant about the media we consume. The saying applies: "You are not immune to propaganda." Moving beyond simple boycott, it behooves us to engage with art that resists the violence of the state, not enables it. You likely won't find that kind of art from the media conglomerates.

How to organize your song ideas with tags

If you don't have one, you might benefit from having a system for revisiting all those phone demos accrued. I've been playing catch up on organizing all mine. (I was way out of practice with this when recording my album.) As I prep for my next album, I'm giving them proper names, using my tagging system, trying to find inspiring material for new songs. If you wanna learn about my tagging system for keeping and finishing song ideas, I wrote about it here.

Don't stress about quantizing

Recently finished the first mix of a new track I produced with Ramsey Lee. I'm really happy with how the drums turned out. This is our second time doing double drums (drum machine and live drums) on a track. (First time yielded this track, which was also the first client project I did entirely on Linux.) I intentionally kept things unaligned for the most part while editing because the flams were so groovy (save for a few strays). Don't let anyone stress you out about quantizing or gridding or even aligning all your drum hits. Groove and pocket comes from the space between the notes, allowing your players to be fashionably late or early to the beat.

ICYMI

• Buy my latest, The Tower of Babel Falls, on CD or digital
• My interview with Linux Audio Development
• New music from Paul Deiss Smith II (mixed by me!)
• New music from The Brothers Landau (mixed and mastered by me!)

Peace,
Arend

Listen to my music

Make a record with me

Take lessons with me