The Binaural Banjo

Ambient Radio Feature

2012-01-05T20:23:00.001-05:00

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

2011-12-13T17:02:00.002-05:00

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

2011-09-09T13:43:00.003-04:00

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

2011-09-08T15:23:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-29T11:53:00.002-04:00

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

Ocotillo

2011-07-19T21:19:00.002-04:00

This one is a drone piece, with a 6Hz binaural beat. There's also a bit of synthesizer in the mix, which I rarely use but in this case I wanted to bring the binaural beat more forward in the mix. The synth drone helps to blend everything together smoothly.

I think the last real droney piece I did was Advent, which was something like two and a half years ago. Normally I try to go for a bit more structure, but this time around I wanted something that could serve as a relaxation piece. I think it works, and hope you'll enjoy it. As usual, the lossless version is available at: http://www.petalmusic.org/beats

MP3 here and also available through iTunes or other RSS readers:

Ocotillo

Mirach

2011-05-15T20:00:00.002-04:00

A new episode, a mere two months after the last one. The dust is settling from the move and the new job, and it's nice to finally have some dedicated music time. I hope to be able to keep up this kind of schedule for a good long while.

8Hz beat on this one, which overall is just a laid back, simple pentatonic thing that moves from string ideas to droning ones. I admit I was hoping to add a bit more of a melody, but everything I tried just got in the way so I left it as-is. As always I hope you like it.

The lossless version is already up as well. Too big, I think, to host through iTunes but available for download at http://petalmusic.org/beats/

Get the mp3 version here:

Mirach

Lossless Versions

2011-03-27T11:56:00.002-04:00

Thanks entirely to the hard work of the Drupal folks, there is now a site for lossless versions of Binaural Banjo tunes. Right now the whole thing is totally vanilla, but Soledad is up and ready for a right click and download. Get it here:

http://www.petalmusic.org/beats/

I will be adding some older tunes to the site, but I probably won't put up everything. Evergreen for sure, along with whichever tunes are most popular by download count. If anyone has something they'd really like to get in lossless format, please leave a comment.

Also, if you do drop by the site for a listen or download, please leave a comment. I'm interested in seeing what kind of traffic I get. Aside from improving the look of the site, Drupal makes it easy to include features like forums, newsletters, etc. Depending on the uses, I'd be interested in including all that as well.

Soledad

2011-03-25T23:11:00.004-04:00

After a long hiatus, I'm very pleased to get this episode out there. This is not the tune I mentioned starting last week - that one turned out to be like math and I decided I wanted something simpler and more laid back. Soledad fits the bill perfectly, with a 4HZ binaural beat to complement the easy rhythm and straight-ahead melody of the tune. Please enjoy!

Not much else to say. I've been living in the desert for six months now, and the vibe may be creeping into my music. It will be cool to see how things move forward.

Also, coming soon, a new site for lossless versions of Binaural Banjo tunes!

Soledad

Free Full Length Ambient Release

2011-03-05T10:32:00.002-05:00

The ambient release that I've been talking about for so long is finally out, and available at the excellent Earth Mantra netlabel.

As I said in an earlier post, early mixes of several of the tunes were released as Binaural Banjo episodes. Even so, a lot was added along the way and I think the release versions will still sound fresh.

In podcast news, I started laying down tracks for the next Binaural Banjo episode yesterday. Hopefully within a week or so there will be some new music ready for download!

The full length, called Up From Here, can be downloaded from:

http://www.earthmantra.com/release-detail.php?id=166

Podcast Still Alive!

2011-01-23T12:15:00.002-05:00

This podcast still gets a lot of visitors, and download counts are pretty high. I'm glad for that, and wanted to post a quick update to explain the lack of activity over the past few months. Basically, I took a new job and moved my family cross-country back in September. That was a time intensive process in itself, but I also took a part time online job to help with the expenses, and that is something I'm still doing. So there just hasn't been much time to do anything besides practice and try to keep my chops up.

However, the part time gig will be up in another month or so. In the meantime, I was able to finish the mixing and mastering for a full length ambient release. That will be out on the Earth Mantra netlabel sometime soon - several of the tunes on the release were posted here as early versions or works in progress, but hopefully the full download will have some appeal. I'm happy with it and looking forward to getting it out there.

As always, thanks for hanging in there!

Epiphany

2010-07-01T08:26:00.002-04:00

I was working on this tune for an upcoming ambient release - it was mostly guitar and electric piano - and decided it would translate really well as an episode for the podcast, too. In fact, I like this version so much that I will probably use it rather than the piano arrangement on the full length, which will hopefully be out in another month or so.

The drone in this one is pretty dense, and a lot more forward in the mix than I've been doing for some time. I don't think it gets in the way of the melody, however, which also harkens back to earlier episodes in that it's simple, slow, and somewhat repetitive. But unlike some of those older episodes, there's a counter melody and I think the interplay works well enough to keep the song moving. So in many ways this song is a return to things I used to do a lot, only with an ear towards making the whole thing work better as a song and not simply a meditation.

Which brings us to the important detail - the binaural beat is 12Hz, which should be good for relaxation without causing drowsiness or too much zoning out. It's another SBaGen drone, and it's also more forward in the mix this time.

I hope you all enjoy it.

Epiphany

Comments

2010-06-23T10:49:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the lack of new music lately. I have two or three songs written which are all good candidates for the next podcast, just have to get the recording done. Thanks for your patience.

For now I'm just posting to let you know that the site has been inundated with comment spam recently, so I added a captcha/word verification step to the comment pages. It's an extra step, but hopefully will reduce the spamflow.

Donations are still accepted!

Solace

2010-03-23T17:10:00.002-04:00

The binaural beat in this one is 16Hz - I don't think I've done any beta wave episodes in a while. Of course, I haven't done any episodes at all since last fall, but the majority of the tunes tend to have more relaxing alpha beats or the 30Hz "marijuana" frequency. That's how it seems to me, in any case. So I figured it was time for something a little more invigorating.

Additionally, while I previously encoded the mp3's using LAME via command line, I've now opted to use Audacity encode the mp3 in stereo, rather than "joint stereo." Perhaps there will be an improvement in the entrainment experience.

Enjoy!

Solace

Donations Now Accepted

2010-01-30T12:49:00.004-05:00

Spring of this year will mark four years of Binaural Banjo podcasts - not bad. In all this time it has been my pleasure to be involved in the Creative Commons movement, and I'm pleased with the feedback I've received. The number of subscribers continues to grow - I think the direction the music has taken for the past year or two is a good one, and I hope to continue creating similar episodes.

Now, as something of an experiment, I've added a donation button. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please feel free to donate. For all who may choose to make a donation, thank you very much.

BUT - please feel free not to donate, as well. I have often toyed with the idea of accepting donations, but always rejected the idea as being contrary to the spirit of the Creative Commons music. Curiosity about e-commerce has finally won out, and donations can be made from either of my Blogspot pages, as well from my main website. However, regardless of whether anyone donates or not, I will continue to work on the Binaural Banjo and to release free music through this and other venues. Above all else I thank you for listening.

Lament

2009-11-19T07:42:00.003-05:00

I should say right away that this is a dark one, and includes some features that I typically try to avoid or minimalize in Binaural Banjo episodes. But for what it is, I think this week's tune is powerful and I'm glad to be sharing it here. It is a very good representation of what I'm working on in general these days, which is a continuation and refinement of the ideas behind my last full length release, The Last Season.

Without going into what would probably be too much detail, there's not much else to say. The tune is a very simple melody that fades into a drone and then fades back in. The binaural beat is 10Hz, and I've gone back to using SBaGen to generate the beat. I thought a moderate beta frequency would go well with the tune, and possibly make the listening experience a mellow one. There is also a synth drone, which I rarely use but in this case helps add some bottom to the more ambient section of the piece. Like I said, I think the whole thing works well - I hope you will, too.

Lament

Prussian Blue

2009-09-07T10:32:00.003-04:00

When I originally started this podcast, part of the experiment at the time was to see what could be accomplished using banjo only. For the first year or so, I would have an occasional guest instrument, but by and large every note, drone, sample, etc. was banjo derived. I don't know if anyone listening now has been with me since then, but it's enough to say the results were very hit-or-miss (with probably more misses than hits...).

Recently, someone somewhere has been avidly downloading one of those early episodes - Pthalo - and it got me wanting to try another all-banjo production. So the new episode here is once again almost all-banjo, including the binaural beat. The beat is 4Hz, and was generated using an ebow and a de-tuned banjo. Basically, I recorded two tracks with the ebow droning on the 4th string - between takes I recalibrated the tuner by 4Hz and used that to retune the banjo.

Unfortunately, I was not happy with the outcome using just banjo because there was quite a bit of pick noise. Equalization took care of a lot of that, but in the end I added a track of white noise to try and "absorb" some of the pick noise. The result works pretty well - you won't hear noticeable static - and though some pick noise still comes through, it's a big improvement. I do hope you enjoy it.

Prussian Blue

Full Length Ambient Release

2009-08-05T09:44:00.003-04:00

I mentioned in the notes for Magog that I was working at that time on some ambient material for an acoustic-drone release. That project is now finished and is available for download from the wonderful Earth Mantra netlabel. I really encourage everyone to check out some of the other releases - everything is free to download, and the music is exceptional.

The release is titled The Last Season, and can be downloaded here. There's links to the release site and a few comments at my webpage, as well.

Rose

2009-07-14T08:17:00.002-04:00

Another 30Hz episode for you this time - a return to the marijuana frequency, and musically a return to a motif based piece. I had actually hoped to do more with the spacey, droning bit at the end; bring it out sooner and keep it going longer, but after repeated listens this way worked better even though it's more repetitive. I believe it's also more relaxing.

The binaural beat is very subdued in this piece, also. I'm still using SBaGen to create the binaural beat drones, and the frequency analyzer that I use did pick up the beat in this tune but it's very faint. This is somewhat at the request of a handful of listeners who have contacted me about bringing the music out more over the drones, which I agree is a good idea and have tried to do with the last several pieces. If it's too faint, however, please feel free to email a comment. Otherwise, enjoy!

Rose

Magog

2009-04-15T09:47:00.002-04:00

This episode is not aptly named - "Magog" is a place or a demon or some such associated with the apocalypse, and this tune is about as far from apocalyptic as it could be. But the actual title was kind of long and cumbersome to attach to an mp3, so I left the working title intact.

The song is actually called "We Never Spoke of the Plans We Never Made." That's not really cheerful either, I suppose, but it's part of a new ambient project I'm working on which aims to combine songwriting with soundscaping in ways that I haven't done before (or even really heard from others). The aim is to create a lot of contrast and try to have the overall project be coherent.

But that's a work in progress, so doesn't bear much description. What does deserve mention right now is that I got a new mixer, which has been a benefit in many ways. Helps me work faster, get some high quality reverb for a decent room feel, and most importantly really reduces the noise I was getting from using a mic without a decent preamp. So the sound will hopefully be noticeably better than most of the other recordings I've put up.

The binaural beat is really subdued here - the volume is way down, and the frequency is 4Hz. But it is there - you'll be able to pick it out during pauses - and it works pretty well. I was giving it my final listen before posting last night, and it put me to sleep.

We Never Spoke of the Plans We Never Made ("Magog")

Free Full Length Ambient Releases

2009-02-22T12:17:00.003-05:00

For those who don't follow my other podcast, I wanted to post here about a new page dedicated to my dark ambient music. Under the name petal, I've put out three full length releases through a couple of netlabels.

Grad school has kept me from doing too much in terms of content, but there are links from the main page to free music, and some tidbits elsewhere for anyone interested in scoping out more information about netlabels and online music resources. For those who like the alpha and beta beat series, as well as tunes like Intermezzo and Tristeza, you might also like the dark and drone oriented stuff available here:

petal website

Victory

2009-01-22T17:10:00.005-05:00

I've listened to Snowlight a couple of times since publishing it, and I'm sorry now to say I just don't think it's that good. Nothing is really wrong with it as a song, but I just tried to do too much and the finished product seems confused and muddled. By itself that's okay - several of the songs I've posted here suffer similar faults. It's all kind of experimental. But my final semester of grad school begins this week and I'd hate to think of going four or five more months without putting up anything new, and having Snowlight be the tune that new subscribers are going to hear, or having anyone who happens on the site download or play what is probably the weakest tune in a long time.

So while hopefully it won't be four or five months before anything new is posted, I'm much more satisfied with this week's song, Victory. It's simple, the drones and reverb are way in the background, and overall it's just a more pleasant listening experience. I will say there was a high end hiss in the acoustic guitar track that I could only get rid of by means of some heavy filtering. I've listened a few times to the mp3 and I think it's okay, but if anyone out there thinks there's too much low end in the final mix or if there's any noticeable static please leave a comment and I will post a remastered version.

Thanks again to everyone who has stuck with it. This one makes for a decent payoff:

Victory

Snowlight

2008-12-23T09:49:00.002-05:00

What can I say? Six months between episodes is a lot longer than I would have liked, but while grad school was not all that difficult this past semester, the work was piled high. The tune for this episode was actually started back in September - I got the basic guitar and banjo tracks down, along with a little bit of drone treatment, and that was it until last week. It's weird to go back to a song after so much time, but all in all I think this one is a nice followup to Nodaliste.

In any case, I hope everyone likes it. I'm not sure it justifies a six month hiatus, but with a 2Hz beat underneath it should make a nice addition to the set of holiday episodes I've done in the past. That is, when things start to pile up and you've got five minutes to yourself, a good listen may help to de-stress.

Snowlight

Nodaliste

2008-06-18T10:30:00.004-04:00

First thing, I should come clean about an error in my binaural beat synthesis: I was researching the effects of some higher frequencies and I saw that, in fact, 30Hz produces alleged marijuana effects. Unfortunately, I've been publishing episodes with 20Hz beats and mistakenly claiming that 20Hz is the herbal frequency...

I realize that this all may not be exact science to begin with, but I have had listeners who hit this podcast after searching for digital drugs and I'm sorry if they were misled. Hopefully for those folks the music was worth something in itself.

So, this week's tune does indeed come with a 30Hz beat. Please enjoy, and if anyone notices a difference feel free to comment or fire off an email to let me know.

The tune itself is one that took on a life of its own. I like it, but I had something definite in mind for how I wanted it to sound and the final result is nowhere near my original plan. Somewhere along the way, this 70's style, instrumental-light-rock anthem vibe kicked in and I just ran with it. So it's kind of a fun tune, maybe not something anybody will want to calm themselves down with but hopefully entertaining and a little cheeky.

Nodaliste

Lightening

2008-04-10T16:04:00.003-04:00

I like the tune for this week's episode a lot, though I'm not very objective about it and I don't know how well it's going to come across in general.

The fast section, which is about the second half of the tune, was not something I planned for and just launched into while recording the guitar part. The reason I like this episode so much is because whatever impulse made me change the feeling of the song at that point has been preserved through the overdubbing, mixing, etc. But there's also kind of a lo-fi aspect to it all which may not work, and which may interfere with someone else's enjoyment of the music. The uptempo portion of the song also makes an odd contrast to the sweeping drones, and balancing it all was an interesting exercise in audio production. There again, though, it may not be as interesting to hear as it was to create...

But overall it's upbeat, and the drones are about the fullest I've ever done, with a lot of texture and motion. There's a 20Hz binaural beat underneath it all - I'm still using SBaGen for that - and all in all I think the piece is a nice refresher. I do hope you like it.

Lightening

Paraclete

2008-01-27T15:08:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking of this episode as the last in a series. A lot is not likely to change in terms of the overall sound, because I've been very happy with the final products over the past few months, but I do feel a need to focus on melody some more than I have been doing.

Generally, the way a tune comes together is I play around on the guitar until the background idea comes together, then I start recording and build the rest of the parts through improvisation. Because I'm intent on keeping a certain vibe going and not distracting too much from the spaciousness, I tend to end up with these very pretty but very repetitive pieces. Many of the episodes have benefitted from that approach, and this one may be the best of them - I like it a lot, but beginning with the next episode (whenever that happens!), I'm going to reverse the process and try starting with melody and building from there.

Another thing I like about this episode is the bowed banjo. I've been hearing a lot of bowed guitar lately and I decided to give it a try. So the last few minutes here are given to my first attempt at a bowed banjo loop, and it's definitely something I want to develop further. In any case, thanks again to everyone who listens for hanging in with the reduced output - subscribers and download counts are both up, so it looks like a good idea to keep going with a quality-over-quantity approach.

The beat is still courtesy of SBaGen, coming in at 6Hz this week for a relaxation trip.

Paraclete

Remembrance

2007-12-21T19:39:00.000-05:00

This is the tune that got started way back in October - hopefully, it was worth the wait. Once again there's a drone treatment, but this time I decided not to separate the drone moment from the musical moment. It was more a matter of mixing - the drone is way in front and the melody and so forth went to the background. Overall, I'm pleased.

The binaural beat this time around is 18Hz, a nice mental refresher. As usual for the past several months, the beat is SBaGen derived. I pushed it back in the mix, so it wouldn't interfere with the music. But it's there, and with headphones it should produce a nice effect.

Remembrance

Advent

2007-11-20T13:43:00.000-05:00

I was just giving this week's episode my final quality control listening, and I'm glad to say it's just what I needed. Hopefully it will have a similar effect for you - relaxation, peace, a good mental nap in a hectic time.

I do have another tune on deck - it's been there since October! I realized yesterday the chances of me finishing it before mid-December were slim, so I went ahead and put Advent together. It's a drone, and I changed the approach to how I incorporate the SBaGen sequence this time. The result is that there's a lot more volume to the binaural sequence - a lot of pulsing, with the musical elements pushed back a little. For this particular piece, I think it works well.

The binaural beat begins a 8Hz and slips down to 4Hz in the middle. Like I said, it's a nap. Enjoy.

Advent

Evergreen

2007-10-06T17:45:00.000-04:00

I was listening to Tristreza recently and decided I wanted to give another shot at something like that - a combination drone/melody piece. The result took some time to get together, but I think the result was worth the wait. I'm pleased with it, anyway.

The drone is a little more subdued this time around - behind the guitar motif at the beginning and finally getting a solo reprise near the end. In between is one of the nicer melodies I've done in a while, something almost like an actual song.

I'd like to say more, but my brain is semi-fried and the tune pretty well speaks for itself. The beat is 8Hz, and with headphones this one makes a nice relaxation piece. Enjoy, and thanks again to everyone for hanging in with my slower production schedule. So far I don't think I've lost any subscribers, and hopefully things will pick up speed come spring.

Evergreen

Impulse

2007-09-09T22:47:00.000-04:00

Better late than never...

I don't know how eagerly anyone follows the new episodes here, but the schedule may be running behind for a while. With graduate school moving ahead full steam, my goal was to keep putting episodes up every two weeks. But though Infinite Return was nice, I felt after the fact that a lot more could have been done with it if I hadn't rushed to meet my self imposed deadline. So I'm going to take a different tack and see how it works, with the focus being on pieces that are "finished" rather than simply being "on time." Hopefully that will boil down to only three or four weeks, tops, in between episodes.

And I think this week's piece is indeed an improvement over Infinite Return. It's still entirely a motif piece, but I gave a little more time to each motif as a melody before moving into the overlapping of the motifs that I enjoy so much. This comes with a 20Hz binaural beat to accentuate the buzz of the cheerful music. I hope you like it - if anyone out there has a serious Binaural Banjo itch that the new episode schedule just won't scratch, email me and we'll get a personal favorites compilation together for you. As I've said before, though I will occasionally do a full bore CD promotion, I am happy to honor CD requests at any time. So let me hear from you!

Impulse

Infinite Return

2007-08-19T11:32:00.001-04:00

I really enjoyed putting this week's tune together - it was nice to get a little more speed going and play something almost like bluegrass. I am kind of embarrassed, though, by the obvious bleed through of the click track - it's the musical equivalent of walking around with your zipper open, I guess. And it doesn't help when your rhythm is as far from perfect as mine is!

But even so, it's kind of a melancholy-conquered-by-joy thing. Starts out sad, ends up happy. And except for some equalizing and filtering out the high end hiss, there are no effects. Here I have these beautiful instruments, and I'm always trying to "layer" them with effects. Not this week. What you hear is what I hear (click track included...). Including a 6Hz SBaGen-derived binaural beat for some relaxation.

Infinite Return

The End of Time

2007-08-06T19:18:00.000-04:00

Another motif piece, but one which spreads out nicely with another 30Hz beat. Like some of its better predecessors, such as Rejoice and Alpha Three, this week's episode fills out with some decent ambience that entertains without distracting. You can latch on or just drift. Drift away.

The End of Time

Ghost Padding

2007-07-22T21:34:00.000-04:00

It probably doesn't matter to anyone but me, but if it's possible to cheat in putting up a podcast, then this week's episode if definitely a cheat. Unless you use headphones, it's not going to sound like much for the first minute or so - there's a 30Hz (that's marijuana, remember!) provided by SBaGen which is tonally deep and pretty low in the mix. But with headphones it will come across fine.

The tune is one I wrote and recorded many years ago when my writing skills were far more developed than both my playing and recording skills. Even so, it's a nice tune and I stand by it. But the cheating comes in because I have been nowhere near my banjo, or any other instrument for that matter, for several days. So I basically mixed the old recording in with the SBaGen-generated audio file. It was that or nothing, and I think the total result is definitely better than nothing. I hope you'll think so, too.

Ghost Padding

Coal Dust

2007-07-08T12:59:00.000-04:00

Back to something more experimental - this week's episode was meant to be a jam over some pentatonic motifs, but I ended up throwing the improv out for a fairly straight up rendition of Cumberland Gap. The melody and the harmony/motifs are in two different keys, though, which gives the overall a slight dissonance that comes off pretty well. That kind of harmonizing is indeed old news for jazz, but I doubt it's been done before in the rarefied field of ambient/trance bluegrass. But you know, I could be wrong - Earl gets pretty far out sometimes.

The beat is 6Hz again. Sorry if that's boring - I've been mellowing out so well to the past few episodes that it seems like a shame to change it up yet.

Coal Dust

Moonlight

2007-06-24T11:22:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been working towards synthesizing the best elements of of the different "phases" which this podcast has gone through. I'm still kind of torn over making the music too repetitive - it obviously can get boring, but typically what I want is for people to hear the melody once or twice and then just zone out with the binaural beats - 6Hz this week. I thought it worked really well with Reverence two weeks ago, so I kept things in the same vein this time. But I guess that's a long term goal, balancing entertainment value with the relaxation that I like these pieces to inspire. Feedback is always welcome.

As far as the binaural beats go, I've been really happy with SBaGen. I think the quality of the binaural experience is much higher, but the textures aren't the same as what I was getting from the ebow drones. So I combined them this week, and gave the last couple of minutes over droning. I hope everyone out there enjoys it - all around, this is another one that I've been surprisingly pleased with.

Moonlight

Reverence

2007-06-10T18:11:00.000-04:00

I really like this week's episode - like many of these tunes, it's a bit heavy on the repetition, but what I generally try to do is create something that will hold your attention for a minute and then fade into the background. But the whole experience should be relaxing, and that's certainly what this episode achieves.

It's also probably the most balanced episode so far, in terms of performance and sound quality, with very little in the way of unwanted noise and effect glitches. The acoustic and electric banjo come together well here, and for a real change I actually used synth for the melody. The 8Hz beat once again comes courtesy of SBaGen. And for all the banjo players out there, the electric banjo roll is right out of Earl Scrugg's version of Sally Goodin... That roll by itself has brought me back from the brink of frustration so many times. If you ever need a real soul booster, there's nothing like it.

Reverence

Immolation

2007-05-27T12:23:00.000-04:00

This week's episode began as a tongue-in-cheek blues jam - all that remains of the original idea is the 20 Hz alpha beat, once more courtesy of SBaGen.

Somewhere along the way, the feel changed and I decided to do a dark ambient treatment on the solo/improv section. The loops and chords which had been the base of the blues tune got wiped out, and the minimal drum track got overlayed with some delay and white noise. So we're left with a gradually swelling mass of anxious noise. I like it, but it's a different tone from what I generally do here, and about as far from Pequita and Tristeza as a tune could be. If anyone really likes it, they ought to check out my other podcast, Drone Lab - there's a link from my profile. The tendency on those episodes has always been a little more minimal and lot more darkness and noise.

Immolation

Tristeza

2007-05-14T10:11:00.000-04:00

I guess you could call this the second in a series - the SBaGen drone uses the same script as Pequita, and both episodes have their length and their diminutive Spanish names in common. But in other ways this week's tune is totally different. Unlike the "jam" in Pequita, this week I've attempted to build on a couple of musical themes for the duration of the piece. I've tried to be more subtle, too. My hope is that the transitions between the sad opening and the more hopeful ending will not seem too forced or inconsistent. The banjo and guitar duet is also something new for me - rather than synchronize them musically, since they're droning, I thought it might be better to arrange them visually by peaks. I like it, and I hope you will, too.

Once again, however, the beat is 30Hz for a little spliff buzz. My own experiences make it difficult to compare, but downloads of Pequita have quadrupled over previous episodes, even in spite of the length. So hopefully it's making somebody's day that much nicer.

I'd like to put in a word about the guitar, as well. I have no intention of deemphasizing the banjo in exchange for the guitar, though it's true this week's episode is, for all intents and purposes, a guitar solo. But the guitar featured this week and in Pequita is special indeed. It was made to my specifications by a gentleman named George Lamb, up in West Virginia. We communicated frequently during the construction of the instrument, and I got to have input regarding every detail - the size of the dot inlays, body shape, what kind of wood for which piece, etc. Better yet, while I don't know much about tone wood and probably wouldn't have picked out black walnut on my own, my father-in-law had some old pieces of black walnut that had been curing in his barn for about 30 years or so. He was saving them for something else, and ended up giving some to me for the guitar's neck. Between him and Mr. Lamb, I can't think of an instrument being made or coming into my possession in any way that would be more unique, significant, or just downright beautiful. It looks every bit as good as it sounds, and I'm only sorry that my recording and mixing abilities do not do justice to this fine instrument. And, to top off everything else, George Lamb does not charge potential buyers for his labor - the cost of each guitar is a little more than the cost of the materials that went into it. I could go on at much more length, but hopefully a link will suffice. Please be sure to check it out.

Tristeza

Pequita

2007-04-28T16:44:00.000-04:00

And now for something completely different...

This week's episode might sound familiar, but it's a departure in many ways. Most importantly for me, I decided to abandon my "banjo only" principle for a while and use whatever instrument or piece of software will make my life easier. Graduate school is coming up for me in the summer, and the only chance I think I'll have of maintaining this podcast will be to streamline production as much as possible.

So the binaural beat this week comes courtesy of SBAGEN, an excellent piece of software which has been ported to every platform and which, in my opinion, should be enough by itself to keep anyone from ever paying for binaural beat CDs. I'll add a link to it in the sidebar. Also, rather than use a lot of effects to provide texture to numerous overlapping banjo tracks, I'm going to try using more instruments and fewer effects. This week, I've added a little bit of synth way in the background, plus quite a bit of guitar. All in all, the muscal moments of this episode possess probably the highest sound quality of all the episodes thus far.

Most obvious, though, will be the change in the length. This week's episode comes with a 30Hz beat, which from my readings online is reputed to produce a marijuana effect. Well, if that's true, why stop after five minutes?! So this one is long, just short of twenty minutes, with a sizeable middle section of background loops and pings there to keep you awake. My hope is that the extended download time will pay off with a more enjoyable listening experience.

Pequita

Free CD

2007-04-17T12:54:00.000-04:00

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for listening to the Binaural Banjo and tell you about a free CD promotion.

From the beginning, one of my main interests in producing this podcast was to see how many listeners would subscribe if I simply put the music out there without any real promotion. After listing the Binaural Banjo with iTunes and a couple of other podcast directories, I let the world wide web do its thing while I focused on creating content.

And the web has done its thing. Last summer, it took four months for the Binaural Banjo to reach a thousand downloads. Now there are more than a thousand downloads per month. That's an enormous increase, but still humble by comparison with other podcasts which are downloaded several thousand times per day.

So I'd like to ask for everyone's help in spreading the word about the Binaural Banjo with a limited time offer of 50 free, custom order compact discs. Originally, I was planning on creating a “best of” compilation, but I decided it would be more fun for me to find out what your favorites are! So, for the next month, the first 50 listeners to email me at earthmaestro@gmail.com with a list of their favorite episodes will receive a free CD featuring the original .wav files of those songs.

In return, all I ask is that you will all spread the word about the Binaural Banjo. Please refer the show to anyone and everyone who you think will enjoy it, and if you get a CD, by all means make copies and share! Encourage your friends to subscribe through iTunes or other podcast directories, or else visit this site. It is my hope that, with your help, the number of downloads will increase to at least a thousand per week, or better yet per day!

Once again, thank you for listening.

Free CD Promotion

Alpha Three

2007-04-15T10:44:00.000-04:00

The final episode in the alpha beat series. The beat is 20Hz, which might actually be out of range, but it should provide a nice boost in any case.

This episode marks the return of the acoustic banjo - I've been able to throw it in here and there, but only lately managed to get the hardware issues worked out to the point that I could complete an entire episode with the acoustic. In many ways, it's also a return to the recording techniques I used when I began this podcast - "warts and all" multitracking, basic effects, and tons of ebow. Simplicity.

Alpha Three

Alpha Two

2007-03-30T19:21:00.000-04:00

With an extremely understated 18Hz beat, this week's episode is musically simple but otherwise includes a lot of experimentation. Loop-free, the whole thing was multitracked "live" and includes the first solo that I've taken on any of these podcast tunes so far. In fact, every track except the drone gets a solo moment, with the piece overall being carried by rhythmic motifs rather than melodic ones. There is a melody, but it gets pushed to the back for much of the tune. The emphasis is on texture.

Overall, I personally like it but it's hard to say how well it will hold up to repeated listenings. There is a bit of high end hiss which may detract from listening with headphones. A candidate for some remastering? Comments and criticisms welcome.

Alpha Two

Alpha One

2007-03-18T14:34:00.000-04:00

After several weeks of distractions, I was finally able to give some decent time to producing the first episode in the alpha beat series. Along with an 18Hz beat, this one comes with a nice string sound and a greater emphasis on melody - albeit a very simple melody - than the pieces from the beta series. I think this is also the first episode to use a 7/4 time signature. Hopefully, that won't be too distracting!

Alpha One

Intermezzo

2007-03-06T15:45:00.000-05:00

This tune had been intended as the first in the alpha beat series, and indeed carries a 16Hz beat. Weird week, though - it all just got away from me, and the tune I was developing simply wouldn't come together.

So I gave it a drone treatment, and it's pretty good for all that. Hang tight for a more string oriented sound, though - the last few minutes of Beta Four are meant to lead into what I want to do with the alpha beat tunes. Expect a return to motifs and themes with the next episode.

Intermezzo

Beta Four

2007-02-17T17:33:00.000-05:00

Fourth and final in the beta beat series. The beat is 10Hz, just a little higher than before and layered beneath a lot more music. The ebow loops were nice, but I thought it was past time to get a decent string sound back in. I did give the samplered harmonics one last go-round as a simple bass line, but the beat is drone derived once more.

Thanks to the folks who brought us ReZound - see the links section if you want to check it out. The final mix on this episode was plagued by clicks, but ReZound made short enough work of tidying everything up.

Beta Four

Beta Three

2007-02-03T14:00:00.000-05:00

Another go-round with the 8Hz harmonics derived "bells." For most of the tune, the beat is sparser this week while the music takes on a little more density.

I am increasingly dissatisfied with mp3's - in particular, I think the compression favors some of the higher frequencies. I spend a decent amount of time equalizing those frequencies with the banjo, because there's often a metallic quality which jars with the mellower midrange chord loops that have lately served as the foundations of the beat-series episodes. Aside from being time consuming, however, the disadvantage to uploading (and then downloading...) .wav files is that podcast delivery typically features mp3's anyway.

So I'm looking to distribute CD-R's, for free, to interested parties. It's a fairly no-frills operation, but folks will be able to hear the tunes as I made them. If you're interested in getting a CD, please email me at earthmaestro @ gmail . com and we'll work something out.

Beta Three

Beta Two

2007-01-18T19:34:00.000-05:00

A little bit ahead of schedule with this one. This week the beat is 8Hz, and rather than the standard ebow drone I've included some heavily treated, sequenced banjo harmonics. All in all, a nice piece.

As I'm able, I've been donating money to the open source products that have made my podcasting life so much easier. I encourage everyone out there to do the same - not only is each piece of software incredibly well made and user friendly, but the fact that they are available for free (...as in beer...) has helped to catalyze the grassroots media movement and brought together an enormous and generous community. Please visit the links that I'm posting and lend them whatever support you may. Thanks.

Beta Two

Beta One

2007-01-07T09:36:00.000-05:00

For the new year, a return to banjo-only pieces. It has been in my mind for some time to create several beat-oriented series of episodes. Speaking for myself, I've always used binaural beats for meditative and relaxation purposes, which is hard to do when you're listening to four and five minute pieces of music.

So here's the first installment in a beta wave sequence. Following episodes will include complimentary pieces, so that eventually listeners will be able to burn a 30-40 minute cd and enjoy the pieces together as one consecutive session. This one is a texture piece to get it all going - a 10Hz beat with some chord movement and harmonics in the background. At some points, way in the background. Enjoy.

Beta One

Minuet

2006-12-24T17:06:00.000-05:00

Something quick for the holiday - a nice 18Hz beat drone with a banjo/cello duet way in the background, out of the way when you need to refocus but audible enough to attach your ears to.

Minuet

Changes

2006-12-21T17:14:00.000-05:00

It didn't seem like I could put off moving to the new version of Blogger much longer, so I went ahead with the conversion yesterday. Then, lo and behold, I notice in iTunes that every episode was re-posted... That explains the 500% increase in downloads yesterday!

So for those of you who leave iTunes running all day, sorry. You got some duplicates.

The next episode will be up shortly. In the meantime, I'm getting a sampler together to send to NPR's Open Mic program, which is a web-only feature of All Songs Considered. They're only going to listen to one tune, most likely, so if anyone out there wants to make any suggestions as to what the strongest episode has been, please speak up. Right now, I'm leaning towards Drift.

Thanks for listening - if the changeover to the new Blogger has caused problems anywhere, please let me know.

Signal Loss

2006-12-09T21:19:00.000-05:00

A 14Hz beat to get your mind going, and another dose of Hydrogen towards the end. This week's episode reintroduces the acoustic banjo - a quarter inch jack of dubious worth has made it difficult for me to mic it for the past several months, though the sound is undeniably superior to the electric banjo. As it is, I was fortunate to get through the intro before the usual issues forced me to revert to the electric in order to complete the recording.

Overall, though, this is another of my favorites. Crashing is still a problem, however - the working title of this week's piece stuck, and just about says it all. The Binaural Banjo is and always will be free to download, copy, and distribute - but if anyone out there has some unused memory cards they could contribute to the cause, email me!

Signal Loss

Un Poco Mas

2006-11-27T12:43:00.000-05:00

The 2Hz beat is the only thing about this tune that's mellow. The opening drum hit comes courtesy of Hydrogen - a nice piece of software, so check it out. The rest is a mixed bag of banjo riffs and melody, all of it fun to put together though the mix came out kind of rough. Hence the title - I kept trying to get a little more refinement, a little less edge on the melody, a little of this and little of that...and then my PC would crash.

So take this one in the spirit in which it was written - simply a jam. A change of pace.

Un Poco Mas

Decay

2006-11-11T21:11:00.000-05:00

A tune for fall - music to rot by. The beat is 4Hz this week, and completely derived from a sampled banjo roll. For the first time there's no ebow. Enjoy.

Decay

Rejoice

2006-10-30T20:04:00.000-05:00

A few of the tunes so far have really hit the mark as far as what I'm trying to get at. This is one. The beat is 12Hz, and it's prominent - I can only analyze the source .wav files and not mp3's that get downloaded, but I do know the past few weeks have been iffy about actually containing binaural beats. Not this week, and hopefully not anymore. Enjoy.

Rejoice

Ghosts

2006-10-17T11:46:00.000-04:00

One for the season. Including a 6Hz beat and some computerized guests this week: The bass line is a convoluted sine wave blip, and the synth is... synth.

Ghosts

Technical Notes

2006-10-16T18:04:00.000-04:00

The site seems to get a decent amount of hits, so I figured I would go ahead and post regarding the delay on getting the new episode up. I am migrating my audio production from a Windows XP environment to Linux (Fedora Core 5), and while it's been fun enough in it's own way, there have also been plenty of hangups.

In fact, this week's episode is finished and will be posted ASAP - I still have to upload from Windows, however, and sample rate issues and whatnot between Linux and Windows have made it difficult to produce a decent sounding mp3. But in case anyone is checking, thanks for hanging in there. The next installment is on its way.

Murmur

2006-10-08T15:27:00.000-04:00

A 4Hz beat this week and an droning loop.

Murmur

The Rising

2006-10-01T15:43:00.000-04:00

A thought of song, but no song: The drone taking precedence. The beat is 6Hz.

The Rising

Toads

2006-09-24T12:08:00.000-04:00

Nothing conveyed the mood of the week better than swamp sounds. Enclosed please find frog noises and a 2Hz beat to mellow out with.

Toads

Chromosphere

2006-09-17T10:33:00.000-04:00

Old Joe Clark he had a mule, some heavy delay, and an 8Hz beat.

Chromosphere

There is a Gentle Hand

2006-09-10T11:11:00.000-04:00

A respite from delays and phasers, echoes and flangers. A 12Hz beat and some gospel. Simple.

There is a Gentle Hand

Drift

2006-08-31T20:16:00.000-04:00

Snow drifts, and sand. Rain drifts in windblown curtains. A 15Hz beat, a loop meandering around hidden foci. A drift adrift.

Drift

Glass

2006-08-27T15:09:00.000-04:00

Art from fire, molten flares. For the Green Man. Analysis failed to pinpoint a binaural beat this time, but the target was 11Hz. Refinements will be made. It's all banjo, folks. All banjo.

More housekeeping: For those who stream this podcast, there may have been problems with Honey Spot. These issues have been resolved and the bad link replaced. Please check it out again if you haven't already.

Glass

Honey Spot

2006-08-21T08:40:00.000-04:00

On a banjo, the honey spot is where a player places his or her right hand to evoke the most mellow tone. But the placement is unique to each instrument, the degree of desire unique to each player. Consider this an auroscope, an invitation to seek life's honey spots. The beat is 7Hz. It's another mellow, lengthy meditation which dips into musical structures without becoming strictly definable as music. Use headphones. Close your eyes. Enjoy.

Honey Spot

Parabola

2006-08-15T20:50:00.000-04:00

A return to first principles, with respect to what's been accomplished. Not simply a drone, not fully a song. A 5Hz beat and a real trance inducer - turn the volume down and let the beat work.

Housekeeping note: Sorry for the delay this week - thanks for being patient. Server maintenance at the Internet Archive resulted in upload issues, but it all works out. I feel nothing but gratitude for their hard work. Thanks to them all.

Parabola

Mythos

2006-08-06T18:28:00.000-04:00

A 4Hz beat and a guest this week: The cello, nearest of all instruments to the timbre of the human voice. The vibe? Motifs, argument, ascension. A lock step rhythm necessarily devolving into a shuffle. Then, a momentary lull, a false start, the peace of the vanquished. Finally, rhythm returned; acceptance, union, unity. Peace indeed. Thanks to Amy for the cello riff.

Mythos

Pthalo

2006-07-30T13:43:00.000-04:00

Blue: Royal blue, sky blue, feeling blue. The ambiguity of blue derives from our karmic ambivalence, the disconnect inherent in our love of life and our simultaneous desire for something more sublime, something rapturous. The beat is 6Hz this time, intended to calm.

Pthalo

Incantata

2006-07-23T09:56:00.000-04:00

A call and response: Mysteries abound. Melody rises, falls almost into place but finally remains, an unknown quantity, hovering on the edge of the aural moment. Nothing is defined. Even the beat hangs at a liminal 13Hz. Alpha or beta? Perhaps the point is not to decide, but merely to let it be.

Incantata

Quartz

2006-07-16T10:38:00.000-04:00

Opaque and elegant, quartz intensifies healing energies. This one is for clarity and calm: An easy, old-timey banjo waltz enfolding a 3hz beat. Quartal harmony sustains the whole, for another dream effect. But it's sweet dreams this time. Sweet dreams.

Quartz

The Shadowed Paths

2006-07-10T09:18:00.000-04:00

The banjo dreams down shadowed paths, through chambered spaces of melody folded in on itself until nothing remains but cumbrous remembrances, spacious harmonics. The beat is 20Hz once again; Dream and awaken.

The Shadowed Paths

Saint Andrews

2006-07-03T09:27:00.000-04:00

The first one I really like, and yes it's all banjo. The beat is 5Hz. The tune is decidely creepy - after two weeks of sun worship, it seemed good to head for the shadows. The whole thing puts me in mind of a misty day among the cathedral ruins of Saint Andrews.

Saint Andrews

Corona

2006-06-29T18:53:00.000-04:00

Another one for the sun. A 20Hz beta wave to get you out of your own head. Musically, a choppy intro and then a lolling roll that just liked being what it was.

Corona

I Bless Ra

2006-06-22T17:09:00.000-04:00

All hail the Sun god. Music over drone. The beat is around 14Hz, with an improvised, admittedly redundant, banjo melody. Some delay spices it up towards the end.

I Bless Ra

BiDrone

2006-06-16T09:16:00.000-04:00

A set of stacked banjo/ebow drones. The beat is 10Hz. Intended as the base track for an improv, they turned out to be so deep I had to leave them alone - for now.

BiDrone

Drone Two

2006-06-13T13:05:00.000-04:00

Originally, this was a second drone which was added to The Dip. Now standing alone, with a 10Hz adjustment to the right channel for the binaural beat.

Drone Two

The Dip

2006-06-13T10:05:00.000-04:00

Here's the first offering, a languid drone with a binaurally tuned banjo "drip." The ebow started bouncing around towards the end, creating a real nice pulse.

The Dip

A Past Life

2006-06-12T09:55:00.000-04:00

We lived in New York City for four wonderful years. I had at one point intended to put together an impressionistic collection of solo pieces based on my NY experiences. While that didn't work out, most of the tunes were resurrected into a lullabye project which I recorded for my daughter. These tunes are now available for free from the internet archive. See link below.

As this was my first real upload to the internet archive, I neglected an important detail: Song order! So the tunes are listed alphabetically. I don't think it makes much difference, but I did create the project with a kind of flow in mind. If there's enough interest, I will re-upload the tunes, or else post the original song order.

Another important detail: These tunes were compressed using FLAC, and will in most cases have to be decompressed prior to being listened to or burned to CD. The software is free and easy to use. Please follow the link provided over yonder in the sidebar. The advantage of using FLAC is that it is a lossless compression, which means that you get to hear the music exactly as it was recorded, as opposed to MP3's and OGG's. However, the good people at the archive have indeed provided MP3 and OGG versions for those who do not care to use FLAC. So you win either way!

Follow the link to the project site at the Internet Archive and enjoy!
Here You Are - Lullabyes for Luna