simonsound

Great news. The full series of The Tone Generation is now available to download in MP3 format or as a podcast. The series has come to an end now and it was a real pleasure to work with Ian Helliwell putting each episode together. A mixture of fun and education as I discovered a huge amount of music I’d never had the opportunity to listen to before.

As we prepare for the broadcast of the final Tone Generation episode on Resonance FM tomorrow at 19.30 GMT I am still unable to upload show 9 and it looks like I am going to have problems getting the final show available for online listeners. Odeo are still having technical problems and not offering any kind of explanation as to why. If anyone does know whats going on please feel free to let me know.

The end of the series has been a bit bumpy on the scheduling side with Resonance broadcasting the wrong show and then celebrating their birthday and changing their Friday evening line up. This means that there has been a 2 week gap in new shows being available and the Odeo technical problem is only going to increase the wait for online listeners.

Please hang in there as the last two shows are well worth checking out. We will probably take a little break once the series is over and then come back with something in the Autumn. In the meantime shows 1 through 8 are available here.

UPDATE - I have now had a chance to speak with Eric at Odeo. He explained that they are currently migrating all of their shows to a new system and this has caused the problems that have stopped us getting the final shows online. I had expected it to be sorted by now but I’m sad to say I still can’t get shows 9 and 10 online. Also apologies to podcast subscribers who have had duplicate shows downloaded. I imagine this was caused by Odeo’s migration procedure. 

I’m pleased to announce that the Odeo technical problems that were holding us up are now fixed. Show 8 of The Tone Generation is now online and available as podcast or MP3 download.

This show is packed and to be honest we couldn’t even scratch the surface. I know Ian has enough material to do a whole series on American composers. Who knows? Maybe we might just do that!

Thanks for your patience in waiting on this latest episode and of course part 9 will go live tomorrow.

Just as soon as Odeo sort their problems out. I have spent all weekend trying to upload the latest show and I’m still getting error and invalid file messages. I hope that come Monday the Odeo team will fix what ever is causing the problem. Thank you for your patience.

UPDATE - Apparently Odeo are aware of the problem, caused by fixing a related issue with uploads. No idea how long it will take to sort but I am keeping my fingers crosses. USA is a damned good show too!

in the Noisy Matchbox/simonsound studio. Can’t say that much about this project but it launches next week so we’ll spill the beans then. It was a lot of fun.

Preparation gathers pace for the Welcome to Mars live performance at Interesting 2008 in June. Find out more here and see the video.

Show 4 was broadcast on Resonance on Friday and is now available as a podcast alongside the first 3 episodes or you can download an MP3 here. The show is proving really popular and thanks to everyone who has commented. Its a pleasure to explore the early days of electronic music and Ian Helliwell is introducing me to lots of composers I’d never heard before.

My Noisy Matchbox is the name of a new company that I have set up with my brother Curtis. We have both worked closely on sound and music projects in the past and we thought it made sense to bring our offering under one roof. The focus is pretty much the same; sound and music consultation, composition and production for brands and companies. We want to grow on the successes we’ve already had with clients such as Heineken, Turner, BBC, Baby Cow and Discovery Networks. Check out the website and blog for more info.

So what about simonsound? Well it will continue to exist as an outlet for the less commercial work I like to be involved in such as The Tone Generation, Welcome to Mars and the upcoming SAN Expo electronic ensemble. These projects are equally important because they feed into my commercial work, keeping it fresh and original. There is also the simonsound album that is nearing completion and I’ll use this website to keep you updated as the release date nears.

There may well be some crossover with the Noisy Matchbox website and I’ll no doubt be posting about what we are up to here.

The Tone Generation show 3 was broadcast on Friday evening and is now available to download.  Ian visits Germany and plays music by Stockhausen, Kraftwerk, Walter Ruttmann and Gyorgy Ligeti. We are getting good feedback on the series and enjoying making it. With a number of pioneering composers passing away recently it seems like the right time to reflect on their work and consider how it has, mostly subconsciously, inspired current production techniques and music.

Next weeks show focusses on Italy and is broadcast on Resonance FM at 19.30 GMT. Podcast and download will be available shortly after.

Last year I made ‘Expo 67 - A Radiophonic collage’ with Ian Helliwell. The programme celebrated the anniversary of the Montreal Worlds Fair, and we dedicated it to Tristram Cary who featured heavily and also helped out by supplying material. Tristram went spirit side last week so now seems a good time to make the Radiophonic collage available to download. It has already been broadcast around the world in Paris, New York and London but in case you missed it here it is.

You can find out more about Expo 67 at Ian’s web site and lots of Tristram coverage here.  Tristram was an experimental composer who worked at EMS studio co-designing the legendary VCS3 (Putney) synthesizer. He wrote music for films including Quatermass and the Pit, The Ladykillers and composed music for early Dr.Who episodes. He composed all of the music for the British Pavilion  at Expo 67 and you can hear lots of this in our montage.  He was a true pioneer creating fantastic sounds using hand built equipment left over from WWII. His music is stunning, sometimes challenging but always original and his experimentation paved the way for the current electronic music scene.