Remembrance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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