The Ashen Light

Ahead of the usual schedule this time, with a 16Hz binaural beat. As I was getting this one together, it put me in the mood for more aware, active listening, so I went with a beta wave frequency. I should say that as a tune, this one is still pretty meditative and relaxing. Not quite as simplistic musically as I usually try to keep things, but hopefully it will be interesting without being obtrusively so. Lots of major pentatonic stuff going on, for the theory geeks out there.

Also, some folks will have noticed that I've been embedding images in the mp3 files for the past few episodes. So far the picture has always been the old Binaural Banjo banner image, but starting with this tune I'm going to try and use original art each time. I'm not much of a visual artist, so I doubt anyone will be blown away, but I think it makes for a nice additional touch.

As usual, the lossless version will soon be available at http://www.petalmusic.org/beats/. Also, since I updated the template here there's a lot of social media capabilities. Please use the buttons provided to "Like" on Facebook, or to Digg or Tweet or otherwise spread the word about the Binaural Banjo. The subscriber count has been holding for a while now and I'd like to see if we can grow the audience.

Enjoy!

The Ashen Light

Updated Template

After years of prodding by the Google and Blogger folks, I finally updated to one of the new templates. Looks good and works fine, but mainly I decided it would be nice to capitalize on the available views for mobile devices.

Additionally, there is a follower gadget. If anyone has a strong feeling against this for privacy or other reasons, please comment or send an email.

Thanks as always for listening!

Ambient Radio Feature

Zurich radio station Lora will be featuring the music of my "Petal" project in a broadcast of the "So21" art music program, hosted by Akita Yra. Several Petal tunes will be mixed in with works by acoustic ecologist Gilles Malatray of Des Arts Sonnants, whose work we highly recommend. This should be a real treat! Tune in to radio Lora at 95.7 in the Zurich area, or follow the internet stream from the station's website this Sunday, January 8th, between 21:45 and 22:30 Swiss time.

Enchantment

A little later than usual with this one. Sorry - everything was on schedule for a November release when a series of technical issues forced me to abandon multiple recording sessions and dump an entire work in progress. I'm still hoping to salvage that one, as the tune was really nice, but I'm equally pleased with the current song, Enchantment. This was a mostly improvised piece, with the chord progression and the melody just kind of falling together instantly. Very simple and spacious.

The binaural beat is 6Hz, which is right in the middle of the theta range. As usual around Christmas, I wanted to put out something relaxing and meditative. I think this fits the bill very nicely. Check out the lossless version at http://www.petalmusic.org/beats/

Enchantment

Facebook Page Created

I added a Binaural Banjo Podcast musician/band page to Facebook. Not sure right now how to link to it here, but a search in Facebook for "Binaural Banjo" will get it done. Any Facebook users out there, please spread the word by heading over and adding a "Like." Thanks!

Ivory

Still keeping to a roughly two month release schedule, here's a new tune with a 10HZ alpha beat. Nice for active listening or relaxation without getting too mellow. The lossless version will be up shortly. Never fear to check it out over at:
http://www.petalmusic.org/beats/

Also, I've been enjoying some side activity recently that I'd now like to grow, if possible. Thanks to some enthusiastic listeners I've been pleased to fill a few requests for customized Binaural Banjo releases. These include CD ready collections of tunes written and recorded solely for the buyer, along with original artwork. If anyone out there is interested in such a thing, please email for details.

In the meantime, thanks again to everyone for listening and for the positive feedback!

Ivory

Evergreen Lossless Available

It has been my intention to remaster some of the old Binaural Banjo tunes and post lossless versions up on the new site. Unfortunately, audio production has been a learning process for me and many of the available songs don't profit from remastering. I can't say right now how many will actually make it up to the lossless site.

So far, the best remix has been Evergreen, which has always been one of my favorite episodes. The lossless version features a bit more treble, so the guitar and banjo both come across more clearly while a lot of the low end noise has been cleaned up from the original. I'm pleased with it, and hope you will check it out:

Evergreen, at Binaural Banjo Lossless