The Boatman

First off, I should say that this tune is pretty dark and noisy. On the one hand, I think it makes some interesting changes from the kind of music I generally post. On the other, I tend to think of the Binaural Banjo as an outlet for my more melodic and light offerings and this tune just doesn't go there. Not for lack of trying - part of the delay in getting a tune up here is the fact that everything I produce lately turns out dark, regardless of how it starts out.

But for all that I like the tune, and it may be relaxing enough in its own way. It comes with a 2Hz binaural beat, which is way down in the mix (the droning you hear is ebowed banjo, not the binaural beat track). At low volume and with headphones it makes an interesting trip.

Next time will be something lighter, I promise.

The Boatman (with embedded artwork!)

Sunstroke

I mentioned in my last post about the end of the lossless site that I was working on a lot of new ideas, and of course true to form here I am posting an episode that doesn't really incorporate any of them. But I got stuck on this new wave psychedelic guitar riff a couple weeks ago and decided to see how well I could mix it into a Binaural Banjo tune.

There are some new things in here, actually. I've been wanting to work a rhythm section into more of what I do, which may not be the best choice for this podcast overall but for this tune I think it sounds okay. Because it's a bit more of a pop song and could stand to be listened to at regular volume I included a 30Hz binaural beat that should work with more active listening.

The only thing to watch out for is the high droney parts, which have a kind of delay that I couldn't get rid of. It doesn't take away too much, but maybe should have reduced the gain a bit. Of course you're all welcome to comment.

Includes artwork!

Sunstroke

Lossless Site Offline

For multiple reasons I have decided to no longer maintain my own domain, so the lossless site is no longer available as of today.

I do have every intention of maintaining this podcast indefinitely. From what I read online there does seem to be some doubt about the future of Feedburner and possibly podcasting in general, but we'll have to work through those issues as they arise. At the very least this blog will remain as the front page, regardless of how the music content gets syndicated.

And since I'm posting general info and updates, I know it's been pretty quiet here lately but I had some other musical commitments that I had to fulfill. All good fun but time consuming. That's done with now, and I'm in the studio working hard on a bunch of new tunes and new ideas. So stay tuned and thanks as always for hanging in there!

Brothers

Don't think I've done this before, but I went with a 1Hz binaural beat on this one after I saw somewhere that it is supposed to cause euphoria and endorphin release. Sounds good to me! After Tuesday I'm sure most of us here in the States will be ready for some endorphins. I'm ready now.

This is also a long one - about 15 minutes. It may be too long to sustain such a simple arrangement and melody, but not for a lack of trying. I did the guitar and banjo parts and experimented with several counter melodies, harmonies, bridges, etc. but found that everything else just got in the way.So I ended up making the intro and outro longer, which was probably the best thing anyway.

Includes embedded artwork, lossless version to be posted soon. Enjoy!

Brothers

Ultima

After some delay, a new tune. I hadn't done a drone piece in a while, so that's what I went for here. Experimentally, I also added quite a bit of high end harmonics. I tend to stay away from the upper ranges but this time it seemed like it might work. I hope it did.

Binaural beat of 10Hz this time, good for alert listening.

Includes artwork! The lossless version will be posted later today at Binaural Banjo Lossless.

Ultima

Rehab, sort of...

I know I'm a little behind my usual schedule for new tunes, and wanted to post quickly to let folks know the podcast is still alive and a couple songs are on the way. We recently had a run in between banjo and child, and the banjo got the worst of it. The pickup on the electric banjo quit working around the same time, so there was not much for me to do but wait on the repairman.

But the banjo is back from the shop and it looks and sounds great. Hopefully within a week or two I can post some new music. Thanks for listening!

Cat's Eyes

Back in February we experienced another move and the start of a new job. One of many perks in this arrangement is I now have a dedicated home studio space - the day we moved in I sat down and just recorded a chord thing on the guitar, which ultimately evolved into the tune featured today.

Hopefully it sounds okay. This time around there's a lot of carpet to deal with, and the studio is also fairly small, so everything sounded different to me.

In any case, there's an 8Hz beat on this one. I know I tend to favor the 4-8Hz range, but that's just my favorite. Hopefully others like it, too. The mp3 also has "cover art" already attached, which is no big deal but should look nice on little devices.

I haven't uploaded the lossless version yet, but check http://www.petalmusic.org/beats/ in a couple days and it will be there.

Cat's Eyes