Preface 1.0
The original preface as it appeared in the 2015 edition of Drone, Glitch, and Noise
Preface to the preface
The original text appears between the horizontal divider bars below. Once that’s all done, there’s another section at the end where I’ll add thoughts and updates.
Where I can’t possibly wait until the end to interject, I’ll drop in a little block like this one:
Hold on just a minute, past self. I got words to say.
I’ll follow this basic convention throughout the re-posting process. Now, on to the original text:
I always wanted to write a book, but that’s not your problem. Or at least it wasn’t until now.
Should you read it? If you made it past the title and read this far, I say go for it!
Seriously though, experimental music is important - probably more important than non-experimental music. Theoretically, the human race could survive indefinitely without one more pop song ever being written. There are enough existing works on the planet to keep a music lover in discovery mode for the rest of their life. Of course, the hits will keep on coming, so we definitely won’t starve from lack of new sensory stimuli.
However, experimental music is about furthering the human experience. The purpose of experimental music is to expand the potential of what can be created, to question and redefine the very nature and meaning of music itself. That’s pretty important stuff in my book (and this is my book).
The goal of this book isn’t to evangelize experimental music. By reading the preface you’ve established that you have more than a passing interest in actually creating experimental music, so we’re going to talk about that instead.
Ultimately, art transcends medium. It’s been my experience that many experimental musicians at least dabble in other forms of experimental art, often even combining them. Visual art - be it image, video, fashion, or typography - also has an important part in the presentation of music. Personally, I do all of my own album art, and much of the art for other artists on my label. I also make a good number of videos. For all of these reasons and more, you’ll find that I may blur the lines a bit here and there, and I’m more likely than not to use the word art when talking about music.
You may ask, “Who the hell are you and what makes you qualified to write a book like this?” I know I did. Several times.
The answer is that I am an experimental artist and musician, and an extremely prolific one. As I write this, I have produced over 50 albums of music (or sound art). That’s not just me bragging; in my opinion, steady output and exploration of other mediums are critical parts of being an experimental artist. Hopefully you’ll get some benefit out of my direct experiences as an artist, and maybe even find something to build upon yourself.
I create all of my music and art on iPads, which makes me a purist I suppose. However, I understand that most electronic music producers are just discovering the power of iOS music apps, and many of those already using iPads or iPhones to make music also use desktop software, hardware, and/or other instruments in conjunction with their devices. So, I make every effort to keep content relevant to all types of producers whenever possible.
The last thing I’ll mention before getting on with the actual book is this: I own thousands of music apps and know dozens of developers. I do cover quite a few apps, but there’s no way I can cram a comprehensive list into one book. While I have direct relationships with many of the developers mentioned on the following pages, there are plenty I don’t know, and there are many developers I know and respect that aren’t mentioned. My goal was to focus on the most relevant apps for this book, so hopefully none of my developer friends feel slighted for not being mentioned. I promise to write more books if you buy this one.
Thanks, and enjoy!
This preface still stands pretty well. Of course, I’ve produced a lot more music since I wrote that, so I’m currently up to 121 albums of iOS-produced music on Bandcamp (the Echo Root albums are pre-iOS, but they’re still cool). And I’m still completely obsessed with making experimental music on iPads.
iOS music production was still pretty young when I wrote this book. Over the past 8 years, the community of musicians using iPads or iPhones as part of their process has grown exponentially, but it’s still much less common or widely accepted compared to laptop or desktop DAW-based production. However, the release of Logic Pro for iPad just this month has already resulted in a huge influx of folks hungry to learn what the platform can do. The projected impact and implications of this move by Apple is a huge ongoing discussion in online forums, but I personally see only a bright future ahead.
As for writing more books, I did write one other book called iPad Music School. That book is most certainly obsolete, as the technical aspects of iOS-music have become incredibly more advanced since I wrote it. Apple’s decision not to support Inter-App Audio in Logic Pro for iPad (in favor of the more fully-featured AUV3 plugin model) means that the IAA and Audiobus frameworks covered in that book are likely on the way to obsolescence themselves. I’m sure I’ll have to account for this many more times as the book progresses.
