new song, new recording techniques

I sat down to clean my wheelset the other day and got to thinking about what I could do for my next bike related recording project. After some experimentation, I came up with the following. All the sounds are made from things wheel related (plucked spokes for the melody, stretched out tube for the bass sound, frame pump for a variety of sounds, U-Lock just for fun), though I did cheat and use guitar sparingly. All the sounds were captured using either a contact pickup or small diaphragm condenser mic. Hours of editing and mixing later, here's "Freewheel"

Ryan

a change of scenery can make all the difference

Simplify. That was my mission this semester, and so far, so bad. In an attempt to improve biking efficiency on my commute, I've switched over to my clipless pedals and mountain shoes so that I can at least walk around a bit. Three slow, embarrassing tumbles-at-redlights later and I've decided its time to hang up the cleats for a while. Sure, I'll wear them for long rides on the weekends, but riding clipless pedals on a 4 mile commute is like using a home theater system to listen to voicemail messages - could be fun, but just superfluous.

Musically, I've managed to succeed a bit more with my goals. I've nailed down a good practice routine, have been writing much more than usual (a new bike song is on the way once I can figure out what sort of demon has taken control of my Mac's CoreAudio), and just enjoy playing more than ever before. The orchestra at my new school is a giant leap forward from my previous experience, and being able to lead a section such as mine has been great. In a cliche way, playing in a section is a lot like a good group ride. There's a great deal of nonverbal communication, everyone has fun, and (hopefully) no one gets dropped or lost. Sure, we don't all wear spandex or sit on tiny rails when we play, but maybe we could get matching bass kit or gnarly face tattoos ala David Clinger?

On a side note: I don't want to become a CD review blog or by any means try to force new, unusual bands out into the open so that I can say I listened to them first, but I feel a certain sense of responsibility as a musician and cyclist to recommend new music that might make the commute go a little more quickly. For this reason, today's ride was brought to you by the band Rudder and their latest - "Mantoring." Bombastic drumming from Keith Carlock, slick grooves from Tim Lefebvre, and fun melodies from Henry Hey and Chris Cheek make this record a must listen all day long. I'm a huge fan of Keith's playing and ability to make mind bending feel changes (listen to "Lucky Beard" twice, you'll miss it the first time) and Tim's ability to have one of the deepest pockets around.

Genius playing, fun songs, great ride. A change of scenery can make all the difference.

Ryan

Lofty Goals:Real Results

While I may be never able to reach my goal of figuring out a way to ride and play the bass, having goals of a more attainable nature has been paying off. I can't make all my climbs in the big ring, can't trackstand, can't play the 4th movement of Beethoven 9 cleanly yet, but I'm getting there. I ride a higher gearing everyday, ride better lines that let me stay clipped in the whole time, and I'm getting better at the bass. On top of all of that, I am losing weight, eating less so that I don't lose it on these rides, and just feel better overall. The same is coming true on the bass. I'm playing a lot more everyday that I had in other years and I can feel it. I can concentrate longer on detailed, organized practice opposed to my usual scatterbrained whirlwind sessions of play mixed and matched things for about an hour and then go watch videos on the internet for three times as long.

I'm not going to be playing Paganini Caprices or heading up Mont Ventoux any time soon, but if I keep my eyes toward that lonely summit and my feet on the ground, good things will continue to happen.

As I changed my tires last night using the back of my SUV as a workstand, I realized that things are changing. It's a real shame that my car just sits there for days on end, a monument to a lifestyle I'm earnestly trying to leave behind. I find it a pleasant sight pulling into school and finding no space on the railing where we all lock up. Fixies, comfort bikes, mountain bikes and road bikes all call that spot home for the day, and it really is. Hanging out around the railing has become commonplace and provides a nice escape from the drudgery of long rehearsals or frustrating hours in the practice room. Sure, the railing will thin out with the falling leaves and become barren in the dead of winter (not if I have anything to say about it), but the promise of a new riding season keeps the camaraderie that surrounds that column of welds and steel alive.

Ryan

The First Bike Song Project

Last night, after a sketchy ride home filled with pot holes, dark streets, and fast cars, I finally landed back here. I wrestled with my tires, fixed the tube that popped due the black hole in the street, and started winding down. As my mind recovered from the overwhelming frustration that follows a flat, I took a look at my bike and thought about how I could do something a little more creative than writing lofty generalizations about the similarities between biking and music. Being esoteric has its due place, but this was certainly not the night. Serendipitously, I had unpacked all my recording gear and while my bike was in my room, I decided to sample some various sounds of the bike to see what I could get. After 3 hours of experimenting, chopping, editing, sequencing, and serious head scratching as to how I could make some sort of musical sense of the clicks and whirrs, I came up with the following:

The sounds are completely unedited aside from chopping up into little usable bits and a little bumping around to make it "musical" It's amazing to me that inspiration can come at the strangest times, such as after a flat, or a bad day of practicing turning into a moment of discovering new sounds.

Ryan

The Common Link

Graduate Orientation: a great reminder of all the facts about music history and ear training skills that I have forgotten, lost, or never had at all. The only thing making Wednesday's placement exams endurable was the knowledge than I had a sweet ride ahead of me to get home. Home - I've lived here a week, in this room I rent, in a place I've never known and yet it's become a sanctuary and a welcoming sight as I turn the last corner onto our block. The mind adjusts quickly, I suppose. Sure, I miss Pittsburgh and everyone I left behind, but at the same time I've never felt more aware of my surroundings in the city.

As I left the test, I felt an urge to play and I hurried off to put in my obligatory hours of isolated practice. Scales, long tones, excerpts, solos...It all melts together eventually and just becomes playing. It's amazingly similar to riding: hills, downhills, sharp curves, pot holes, aggressive drivers...it all just becomes "the ride". It's why I can say I'm a cyclist and a bassist, not a climber and scale expert. In these moments of self-discovery, it's great to have kindred spirits, which I found, not surprisingly, at the railing where we all lock up. Upon leaving, I ran into some new friends, who at the time never struck me as the biking types, but there we were, putting away our U-locks and getting our bags squared away. After some geeky "what's your setup" talk, we rolled out together, taking almost the same route to our respective homes, and for the first time since moving, I felt connected. There's something beautiful about riding with new friends in a city where we're all strangers. Riding roads we'll ride everyday, and carry our adventures around like our bags on our back. Legs, pedals, cranks, gears, wheels, road, the globe. It's all connected.

Ryan

I've graduated, now what?

As I sat down to start this blog, I was forced to take stock of what I'm actually doing in Hartford, CT - 400 miles away from everything I've ever known. What will this new degree entail, what will it be like to start fresh in a city where no one knows who you are, how will I keep riding when all I want to do drive the 3 miles to school so that I can sleep in just a little longer? It's a chance to reinvent Ryan, to grow as an artist, and to whip myself into shape by riding even more than I was at home. With all the goals set for the next two years, it was easy to fall into an enraptured state of "just keep pushing, just one more hour of practicing, just one more mile." and in that state I realized I was missing the enjoyment and simplicity of creating music on my bass and being connected to the road on my bike. In this way, playing music and riding are natural compliments to each other. There's a certain harmony that comes from a perfectly straight chain-line and well tuned brakes, just as there is a great physical connection between my body and bass, pulling out each stroke as though my bow is clipped in to the strings. The 3 mile ride to school is getting easier, and gives me a great time to clear my head each day as I wiz past the traffic, stretch out my legs from a not-so-good night's sleep, and get my body in motion. A majority of my concept of Hartford thus far has been formed on two wheels, from short rides down to Bushnell Park or just up the street to a few nice long rides through West Hartford. I think I could get used to this place.

More than falling in love with riding and playing all over, this new experience is a time to change and start a new lifestyle. A lifestyle where I take more time to enjoy something as simple as greasing up a chain or changing strings. A lifestyle where I spend more time worrying about what line to ride than what song is on my stereo or how cold my car's AC actually gets. It's a time to live a little more simply and be more intentional about everything that I do.

Naturally, in trying to simplify and combine areas of my life, I've been looking for ways to use music and cycling together. As this blog develops, I'll post links to songs I write about my bike, things my bike reveals about music, and maybe even make a few music concrete projects from recorded bike sounds.

Keep the rubber side down,
Ryan