u/bigtastyorange

This is a direct question to others and an organization of personal thoughts.

I've found that compelling experimenters are first and foremost compelling theorists. I don't mean that they blabber in lengthy treatises populated with big words, but they have a defined concept that is testable through the medium of music. It's not at all my intention to gatekeep the term, but it's my opinion that "experimental" implies a pursuit similar to science.

There are many faces I can point to, but one that always stands out is Brian Ferneyhough. His central concept is that of a work which is unperformable, only approachable, by human beings. The scores are crowded with hyper-specific dynamic changes, microtonal shades, shifts from inconvenient time signature to inconvenient time signature. Inevitably, due to the sheer number of demands, the performer/performers have to decide which elements to prioritize and which to disregard. A sonic product can be created, but it is always consciously off the mark of the ideal. And that concept has sustained itself in Ferneyhough's work.

I think of concepts as mannequins that are given different dressings. However, it's not necessary to have more than one concept, a single concept can carry a lifetime of experiments (Nancarrow's concept of transcending human ability may be a good example of that).

That's really the required extent of theory: to say, "this is my goal and music is the means I will show it through". In the case of Nancarrow, he demonstrated his concept by stipulating playing speeds much faster than a human can attain (in one instance, one thousand notes per second) and individual voices that far exceed the number and reach of human fingers. Those are two dressings for the mannequin.

In my own work I'm mostly occupied with the concept of maximal boredom. Excessive stasis or variation, incessant repetition, lack of meaningful direction, durations ranging from a number of hours to multiple days or years... all of these are possible dressings for boredom. Multiple dressings can be overlapped. Currently, the piece I'm making is in multiple sections which will total a length of six days. The first section will last half of that, and consists only of a distorted, swelling bass microsound. Although, with any experiment, there is a chance an intended result isn't achieved. It's not the end of all things. Archive it and try again.

To close, I really would like to know: what are you motivated to evoke in your own experiments?

I wonder what anyone's thoughts are on the mix I have so far. Equipment is very limited (using my phone to record the guitar through a derelict Marshall MS-4 Micro Stack and vocals while the drums are programmed) so much of the fixing is through the DAW. I did double track, which is something new, and bus to a reverb space, but I wonder if it's EQed too bass-heavy? And how do I increase overall loudness? I used a limiter, but it doesn't seem to be blowing out the speakers enough. Thank you for any potential feedback.