Joshua Van Tassel

I’m headed out for 2 weeks tomorrow to the UK with a great artist named Kate Rogers, and although I’ll be recording tons of sounds of double decker buses, people making proper tea, and sodium rich foods, I won’t be able to post them all that often. I will be able to post lots of pictures and descriptions of all the weird and wonderful things I’m hearing though, thanks to my new best friend, so stay tuned…..

are what I’m working on today -

and also watching this over and over - - -

Until recently I had never in my life seen a possum before, and believe me, they’re kind of terrifying. I honestly don’t find anything cute or cuddly about them whatsoever. Here’s a tune that this little freak is helping me write this morning.

It has the tail of a rat and the face of a b-movie space monster. Do you really want to hug it and go awwwwww?? I didn’t think so.

So I know what you’re thinking: SHUT UP ABOUT YOUR IPHONE YOU NEO HIPPIE WANNABE.
I’m sorry, but I just can’t because of the brilliant minds at a company called Intua who are responsible for by far the most powerful application for the iphone yet, Beatmaker.
tech/music geek warning**
It’s a full 16 pad touch sensitive sequencer sampler, with tons and tons of built in sounds that are really really good. You can sequence beats for full songs, just make one loop, add effects, change the tempo or pitch the samples, and then export them as WAVS or mp3s to your computer. BUT the best part for a soundaphile like me is you can make your own kits with your own sounds. This means my phone is now a full on serious music making device. Here’s a loop I made within minutes of downloading this bad boy.

A few minor issues with timing/pad sensitivity, but seriously, this is a legit music tool. I’d be surprised if a Blackberry could produce a quality ring tone that didn’t sound like a drowning Atari system.
So lets review -
I can now make music, call people, check my email, update my website, take pictures, record sounds, web surf, play a bunch of really fun Brain quiz games, keep track of my non existent stocks, and GPS my way out of anywhere, all from my phone. What does this mean? I’m a big loser and Steve Jobs is really smart.

and now I’m going to clean it up.

I had a great 4 days in the studio with my good friends the Outlanders. We worked hard and came up with some stuff like this.

ok, it’s not all like that, but that was a lot of fun. Now I’m back in the real world where not washing and yelling rude remarks in a poor english accent isn’t really acceptable.

This microphone could count as a down payment on a small house. It makes me nervous.

This is what the world outside looks like for me this week. I’m recording an album with the outlanders and it’s super fun so far. Sounds tonight, I promise…….

Laugh all you want at the rust spots, the black hood, and it’s lack of ability to exceed 110kms an hour, but it only costs 30 bucks to fill my tank, and I can carry more drums then you…..

blip and zoops to distract you from the punishment you’re inflicting on yourself. For what reason? Well, all your friends are, so who are you to not?

If you’ve read this blog before, then you know I have an on going love affair with sounds of all kinds. Something I love to do is record regular everyday sounds and sneak them into my music making by flipping or reversing or destroying them. Sometimes though, I come across sounds that are just really interesting on their own. Like washing my plastic cutting board. It sounds like a combination between a thunder storm and a spaceship taking off. Today,I love it.