Scale of the Day: F Pythagorean Locrian

The F Pythagorean Locrian Scale. This is a dark, 3-limit scale with the added instability of the 1024/729 diminished fifth.

Scale of the Day: E Whole-Tone mapped to the Square-root-of-2

The E Whole-Tone mapped to the Square-root-of-2 Scale... as one would find it on any conventionally tuned, equal tempered instrument. Which is an unusual quality for square-root-of-2 based scales. And it poses the additional challenge of treating the 600-cent "tritone" as a harmonic equivalent (in the same manner one treats the octave as harmonically redundant in tonal music) so it doesn't come off sounding like a typical 12-tone chromatic scale.

Scale of the Day: G Whole-Tone

The intervallic content of the G Whole-Tone Scale. This is just a straight-up, G Whole-Tone scale in all of its bland, white-bread, equal tempered ambiguity. Like the Dorian, it is symmetrical. But unlike the Dorian, the restricted variety of interval classes make this a useful harmony for transitions between otherwise "unrelated" scales.

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No more roaming Wi-Fi for HurdAudio now. This desk and chair will hopefully be home base for a little while now.

Left Coast No More

It took much longer than anticipated, but HurdAudio is officially Left Coast no more. If there's anything to be said for flyover country; there is a lot of it and it takes a long time to drive through it.

"Left Coast" has been on the profile at HurdAudio since the beginning and that geographic designation managed to withstand the move from Seattle to Los Angeles. Now I'm ready to embrace the city of Baltimore and hope the Orioles make things interesting in the AL East. Though I'll probably be rooting for the Toronto Blue Jays in that division.

I'll be taking on an exciting professional opportunity here and hope to make regular pilgrimages to the Red Room for some sonic exposure from the fringe.

Happy Ornette Coleman Day 2007

It seems that this is the year the world is starting to catch up to Ornette Coleman. With his lifetime achievement award and critical acclaim and buzz for last year's Sound Grammar, the old revolutionary is getting his due as he turns 77. The beauty of Coleman's output is clear to anyone who simply listens. And it takes time before enough sympathetic ears catch on to such an original, harmolodic soul.

Lately, my ears have renewed awe for Skies of America. It's pure Ornette at it's most ambitious, over-reaching and intoxicating state and I can't get enough of it. And it beautifully conveys the sound that makes every March 9th International Ornette Coleman Day here at HurdAudio.

Scale of the Day: E Whole-tone (2 - 1)

The E Whole-tone (2 - 1) Scale as one would find it on any conventionally tuned, equal tempered instrument. It's a straight, 6 equal-tempered-tones-to-the-octave scale with the second degree flattened to break up the steady stream of 200-cent major seconds.
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This nomadic blogging experiment comes from a hotel room in Southern California as I wind down my time in the golden state.

Scale of the Day: E Octotonic-1

The E Octotonic-1 Scale as one would find it on any conventionally tuned, equal-tempered instrument. 8-notes filling up the 2/1 octave in an alternating order of 200-cent major seconds and 100-cent minor seconds.
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Today's "Scale of the Day" is being posted via the free wi-fi of a fast food establishment in Southern California with about 38dB of James Brown pouring down from the ceiling speakers. This experiment in nomad blogging is going to be surreal.