stephen! @makingarecord@friend.camp

Hi! I'm Stephen. I have over a decade of experience in criminal justice, civil legal aid, government service delivery, and the role of data/technology in all of that. I've done litigation, research, tech projects, and organizing. Always trying to get better at all of it.

I also sometimes make music, go on hikes, go birdwatching, and hang out with my cat. I think that's basically it! #introductions #intro

Mostly made on the Circuit, but then sequencing the Volca Keys for the lead synth.

#looptober number twenty-two: "what's the weather outside?"

Drums are all Drumbrute Impact, manually controlled pitch on the kick to simulate 808s, all synths different patches on the Model D app.

#looptober number twenty one: "catastrophe"

So named because it's all I could salvage from yesterday's Audacity crash (complete with unedited take of me noticing my cat was staring at me as I poked at my phone)

Spent an hour with a looper pedal and drum machine, then with Model D app, recorded something layered and weird but subdued, then lost it all. Did this fast in frustration, but will probably use two of these tricks again in the future (recording the synth octave bass as two lines so I can bend only one of them AND bit-crushing a vintage electric piano sound).

#looptober number twenty: "computers get older too"

(so named because my Macbook decided to hiccup and delete everything while I was doing today's loop in Audacity, so I had to quickly do this one as a backup in Garage Band)

I don't believe in god, but if I had a theology, this is pretty much what it would be.

Ok here it is. I cannot express how much it means to me to hear my music playing as a close friend reads this text: "There, where we expect to meet monsters, we meet god instead."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AmQAAlfSPk

He also used "spellcasting" as bed music, which I am so thrilled about, because it's one that I am exceptionally happy with how it turned out. https://friend.camp/@makingarecord/105052204204909821

I vacillated up until this exact moment between two versions with different drum processing, then I just heard my friend used this one in his show, so this is now officially the "final" version.

The reason I have done this is that a friend said he wanted to use it for his YouTube series on theology and social justice, and I said "oh in that case let me finish it" haha

Ok I didn't like how hollow this looptober sounded so I took another pass at "mastering" it. Now it sounds much more like what I hear in my head.

All made on the PO-33. Sample from Radiohead's "Reckoner," synth sampled from the trusty Model D app on my phone.

#looptober number nineteen: "bittersweet distractors"

Made entirely on my phone with GarageBand for iOS, using the Model D app, an 808 app, and Mellowsound. When you're only playing iOS instruments, GarageBand just works really well.

#looptober number eighteen: "strolling"

Sharing video this time because I can't really figure out how to share the sound from my phone, plus I spent too long on trying to make this loop properly with the music.

A real leafy spot right outside of Concord, Mass

Just used this stuff.

#looptober number seventeen: "spellcasting"

I don't think I shared it here, but the reason I felt compelled to go in to the restaurant in person was that I got this note with my Grubhub order last week.