Dan Hewins: The Deck » instrumental

Ten of Diamonds: First Snow

hewins — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:39:04 +0000

The Ten of Diamonds was made last week, just before the first snow of the year here in Brooklyn. But the mood is right and since I mixed it tonight, I'll call it First Snow.

The first snow, as any of you on the Eastern Seaboard already know, was a big one. It's the most snow I've seen in the city in quite a long time.

This is another of the instrumental acoustic guitar pieces. Enjoy!

Three of Diamonds: Knuckles

hewins — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:43:27 +0000

The Three of Diamonds is based mostly on the percussive part of it. The percussive part is made entirely of sounds of my knuckles cracking (aside from the two handclap samples and two cough samples, which are both me as well).

Two of Diamonds: Nothing Will Assuage The Birthers

hewins — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:05:58 +0000

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that "nothing will assuage" the Birthers. I've emailed back and forth with one and I believe that to be a true statement. I think this will continue to waste everyone's time until the end of Obama's Presidency. Maybe we can just ignore them. I hope so.

Anyway, on to the music. This is another home piece. I made it in Pro Tools but it's mostly a Reason thing. I did have a keyboard attached to Reason so I actually played some of the organ parts but I programmed the piano and vibes and drums.

This piece reveals my love for things that drone as well as Steve Reich. Eno rules too. Enjoy it!

Ace of Diamonds: Buzz Of Fahey

hewins — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:01:37 +0000

Back in action! After a couple weeks' rest and some much needed R and R, here is the next installment of The Deck.

This is some "electronic" "music" and is a product of my recording a couple of old John Fahey LPs into my computer so I can listen to them all digital-style. This is built of samples of the empty space before, after, and between songs on the record. There was a nasty 60Hz hum on it so I used EQ to focus that energy into notes. There is a little Mozart quote in the middle.

Note: This is a Diamond and it's not a cover song. I thought, at the beginning that I wold have more time to do covers as well as originals but that was not "in the cards" for me. If I end up doing any more covers, I'll make them Jokers. So, now I'll fill in all the diamonds and hearts with new originals for the rest of the year. Enjoy!

Joker: End of May, Part 2 (synthesizer)

hewins — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:28:31 +0000

This is not a Joker like the other two have been but I guess I'll file it here becuase it's not really one of the 52 songs, it's more of an extra bonus. So, Jokers are all the extra bonuses. Check it!

This is another version of the "End of May" piece but instead of a guitar as the "sound generation device," I used a MicroKorg synthesizer. Other than that I used the same setup with four guitar amplifiers and a bunch of pedals.

Enjoy--on headphones!

Eight of Clubs: End of May, Part 1 (guitar)

hewins — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:24:25 +0000

The last day of May has come and gone. And with its passing comes this piece of ambient fun. I used four guitar amps and a bunch of pedals to create this.

Keep your eyes and ears peeled later this week when I'll post another version using the same setup. In part 2, instead of a guitar I used a synth.

Three of Clubs: After A Day At Coney Island

hewins — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:39:24 +0000

It was a beautiful day. It felt like Summer had come ahead of schedule this year. I spent the day in Coney Island with my fiancée and some friends from Boston. I've been living in Brooklyn for about 9.5 years now but I'd never ridden on the Wonder Wheel until today. I am glad we did it. And of course we took a ride on the Cyclone; that is not to be missed. After a Nathan's dog we came back to my part of town.

This 'song' was made all in one take. There are no overdubs at all. I did it at the space this evening. I've been into Robert Fripp and his "frippertronics" in the last several months and this is influenced by that in part. Also, if you've seen Up The Empire you might have seen me do something similar to parts of this at points in the set with my bass. Things that I would recommend checking out if you like this: Brian Eno: Discreet Music, Fripp & Eno: No Pussyfooting and Evening Star. Those are all excellent albums.

(the crackling you will hear on the left side at about 8:10 is the signal coming in too hot. I could choose live with it or do the whole thing over again. I chose to live with it.)

Queen of Spades: Darn These Walls

hewins — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:00:55 +0000

Here is another acoustic guitar based instrumental. I like the drone music. I added a few more ambient parts on top of the two acoustic guitar parts with electric guitar and a bunch of effects. One ambient track is a cymbal with the mic real close.

The name is derived from the "soundproof" walls that we have at the space. That premise (promise) is false. It's hard to record an acoustic guitar in a room next to one of the louder bands around. They were covering a Pavement song for some of the time, so I have to give points to that. So, with those points, they are at negative 25. I just gotta live with it. Serendipitously, they ended a song right after I had ended mine so there was a little bow tied on the end of that noise gift.

Jack of Spades: A Man A Plan A Canal Panama

hewins — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:11:15 +0000

Face Card! That means I've made it to week eleven.

This song is another instrumental but instead of acoustic guitar, I went with electric. There are three guitar parts on here and some percussion tracks as well. This started with the original riff on the first guitar and I added a couple other parts. This may be one of the ones that could be built upon at another time to make something more out of it. But I do also like it how it is. I did this at the space on Saturday.

Five of Spades

hewins — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 19:46:40 +0000

The Five of Spades is an instrumental track. It's mostly an acoustic guitar piece but I've added a bunch more acoustic and electric guitar tracks near the end. This is getting closer to being something that I actually would like to listen to myself. If that sounds weird, I understand. I really like droning and repetitive acoustic guitar stuff. And, while I don't have the skills that I love in John Fahey, Elizabeth Cotten and Doug Keith and nor am I playing in that fingerpicking style, I really like where this is going.