Re: John Watts, "The Iceberg Model"
MB> What does it sounds like?
Very contemporary for its time.  Kinda like He Said, if you've ever
heard of that.  I could make a copy of it for you on VHS HiFi tape if
you have a VHS HiFi VCR.
MB> Why are you putting that on VHS anyway?
Vastly superior sound quality when compared to standard audiotape,
accurate pitch during playback, and 6-hour playing time.  Plus, I can
take advantage of the fact that there is a video capability inherent
with the medium even though I will not be releasing it as primarily a
video product.
MB> And isn't a 6-hour cassette a low-quality thing (SLP) ?
Video quality always suffers in SLP mode and well as audio recorded on
the monophonic, linear audio track of a VHS tape.  However, I am
recording to VHS in stereo on the HiFi track.  SLP mode does not affect
the frequency response of HiFi VHS *audio*.  Whether you record in SP,
LP, or SLP mode, the response is always 20-20,000 Hz.  It is the finest
consumer-grade analog audio medium available.  And because of the
tracking feature built into all VCRs, there is never a problem with
incorrect pitch during playback.
I'm surprised more people these days are not aware of the advantages of
using HiFi VHS tape as an audio recording medium.  I recently made a
set of Pink Floyd tapes which features their entire recorded career
(from "Piper..." to "Pulse") dubbed entirely from CDs in chronological
order with several full-length concert bootlegs thrown in for good
measure.  All of this fits on only 4 tapes recorded in SLP mode and
they sound fantastic.  If I couldn't get great fidelity from the VHS
HiFi medium, I'd have never bothered to build this anthology!
MB> It isn't rhythmic nor rich in tonality, then why is it interesting?
It probably isn't to many.  That will have to be determined once it's
released.  I don't expect much fanfare from it, nor am I seeking any.
I'm just a guy who likes to create original music and/or soundscape art
recordings, if such a term can be appropriately applied.  Some would
call it "musique concrete".
MB> Are you innovating musically,
Innovating or innovative?  I try to believe that what I do can be
called innovative.  Aesthetics is another matter.
MB> do you have lyrics (optional but interesting),
Lyrics are currently my weakest point as an artist.  I also am still
trying to master the use of my equipment, so lyrics have definitely
taken a back seat to the instrumentation in my work at this point in my
development.
I am not offended by the thought of attempting to record good, melodic
pop music in the future.  I'm just not there yet right now.
MB> do you use strange sounds,
Strange sounds are my specialty.  I was inspired early on by the
experimental works of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.  After hearing what
they did on "Life With the Lions" and "Two Virgins" when I was a
teenager, I set out to create my own cassette library of noises and
things.  I did a pretty good job of it too I think.  I still have all
my tapes from back then (I'm 30 now) and frequently use them as source
material for completely original and very bizarre samples.  When I was
making the tapes in the first place, I didn't know about digital
sampling.  I never dreamed that they'd ever be as useful to me as they
are today.  I was just trying to have an original kind of fun then.
Once I have a sample onboard, I can really work some weird magic with
it using some of the sound-manipulating features built into my EPS-16
Plus.
MB> What do you think makes your music intersting?
I really hate hearing songs on the radio which feature obvious samples
from other familiar sources.  One thing I like to do is use sampling in
a way that makes it difficult to tell that I'm using samples at all!
Unfortunately, for listeners who don't know music from the production
side of things, this really means nothing.  They have a tendency to
judge music purely by its aesthetic appeal and my work generally does
not satisfy in that sense.  I love controlled feedback.
What exactly is a CoCo?  I've heard of them a lot but have never seen
one.
MB> What does your music editor looks like?..
I edit all of my music directly on my keyboard right now.  I have
hardware and software for editing music on my Commodore but no
instructions to get me started with all of it.
--- (C) 1996
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