08 09 08

[Seren]

First day back at work after two weeks holiday.....brain definitely not in work mode.

Musically things were quiet for a few months. As I was preparing to leave my last job I was working every night and weekends (all unpaid of course) for about three months, creativity went into deep hibernation - I just kept checking in with imagination everynow and then to make sure the ideas had not slipped away.. Once in my new job I found there was a LOT to learn so again, creativity was very slow.

Since release of 'The Quiet Labyrinth' I've been working (with the above mentioned gap) on a solo project that i just got back into last weekend. Had great fun rustling strange sounds up out of a variety of things. My wife is away this weekend so looking forward to an intense and productive session in the studio.

there are 2 collaberation projects on the go and I recently sent off the latest batch of sounds to my friends for those. Looking forward to hearing how these develop, just have to wait and allow the creative process to expand.

Finally getting these things on the go again has released a bit of a dam, not so much in the amount of music but in my own mental limits and boundaries. Just feeling the fun of creating without knowing what direction the sounds will take, especially in the collaberation which may involve hand made flutes from Heron leg bones. Not made them before and sure the tuning will end up unusual if i can make them work at all.

15 11 08
well due to rain and other things not yet finished making the bone flutes - have taken the ends off but need a dry day outside to cook the marrow out and clean them (my wife, Glenys, won't like the smell inside the house) so still waiting to see how they end up sounding.

Solo and joint projects are going well, just taking their own time as they should.

Recently bought a 16 track mixer and working out how to do some live music....Some of my equipment does not do exactly what I would like to do what I want. I had hoped my Korg D16 would be able to route different sounds through monitor and master Jacks but the routing is not changeable. Been playing around a bit with sounds, listening to see how full or simple to make the sources to mix together.

Also thinking about visuals and if I get into that will most probably have to get some video editing software and learn how to use that as well.

[Seren]

Child protection.....The judges take things very, very seriously and will chastise in no uncertain terms any professional that does not get everything correct. The job is a very heavy emotional drain and it's difficult to find people willing to do it. Even now I am in a different team I still think the child protection workers should get higher wages and work with lower case loads as thats the only way to get a stable team and help develop the service so it actually does the job well. There is nothing like going home in fear of a child's life to affect sleep and creativity.....

Will let you know if the Heron bone flute experiment works.

[John Koch-Northrup]

Interesting that bit about "getting pulled up in front of a judge to explain why..." - ok - you've got me curious... what are/were you working on? (if it's possible to discuss it).

Maybe I'll start a "what we do for a living" thread...

"flutes from Heron leg bones" - that sounds interesting to say the least!

[Seren]

Unfortunately the work was not boring but needed full concentration at high speed to get as much done as possible. To be honest the work load and content was known to burn people out very quickly and I was changing jobs to avoid that - however i needed to get as much done as possible to prevent getting called back to do stuff (as other colleagues had experienced) or getting pulled up in front of a judge to explain why I had not done things properly. Not particularly conducive to creativity...but sometimes a break is good to, allowing me to restart and look at things with new eyes.

[SAVO]

when doing a long shift where I used to work i feel as if my creativity only blossomed due to how boring the job was so my imagination only floated away and turned more vivid to the point of daydreaming in my own world so that when I did get back to my computer I made something great. So it depends how u see it when in a period of not doing any creative stuff.