notes

Making progress

2008-10-12T12:37:00.001-07:00

Building a Vari-mu compressor in my garage.

My loyal steed

2008-03-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

Getting her ready for summer........

VROOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!

Manfreds Mirror, Now easier than ever!

2008-02-06T17:18:00.001-08:00

The humming wires of destiny

2007-12-29T18:59:00.001-08:00

Soaring off the rocky precipiece of Art.

He relinguishes himself to the desires of the fates.

Manfred knows all to well how often his guitar

Has broken his heart.

But he loves it so.

Manfred's Mirror music

late night doodlin'

2007-12-28T20:54:00.000-08:00

SSL Stereo Compresser (clone)

2007-12-11T18:14:00.000-08:00

Second unit down from top.

Dig the DYMO labeling!

Sounds good too.

Made in the garage, U.S.A.

I made this...... 1176LN clone.

2007-12-11T18:08:00.000-08:00

Late night french fry run....

2007-11-04T21:35:00.000-08:00

Manfred has a new sound painting
"Instant Coffee Dilemma"

Still lost in space...

2007-10-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

Manfred finally got back in the studio and made some new sounds with his new toys.......

Manfreds Rainy Night

Some new toys

2007-10-03T09:35:00.001-07:00

Nacht

2007-06-09T18:54:00.000-07:00

Manfred returns to the studio and emerges with a new sound painting. "Night"

Psychedelic Woodsaw Experience

2007-05-14T05:01:00.000-07:00

This is what my guitar sounds like when I go to 11.

Soundpainting

2007-04-23T05:07:00.000-07:00

125th of a second.
A tone poem.

Mo music.....

2007-03-26T06:28:00.000-07:00

Lets record!

2007-03-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

Soooo... Manfred shows up with a sax.

"I want to try it out" he says.

Several sweaty hours later:

Impromptu for Brass and Trio "Manfred Surfs"

Be weightless, have a drink

2007-03-05T04:49:00.000-08:00

Some galactic music for chillin.....

Interstellar Lounge

http://soundclick.com/manfredsmirror

Pass the Ouzo please.......

2007-02-25T16:35:00.000-08:00

From the mailbox

2007-01-21T09:37:00.000-08:00

I received a cassette the other day. It was dated April 1974.
I thought Manfred told me everything......hmmmm.

http://soundclick.com/manfredsmirror

A visit from Manfred

2007-01-01T13:22:00.000-08:00

Manfred stopped by to check out the new addition to the studio.

We did some recording to celebrate....

"Dream within a dream"
"Last word in the language"

http://soundclick.com/manfredsmirror

What I did over vacation.....

2007-01-01T12:11:00.000-08:00

Teletronix LA2A (homemade)

2006-11-19T15:06:00.000-08:00

Manfred in the studio

2006-11-05T18:14:00.000-08:00

Videos by vMix Member:Manfreds mirror

Jus' sum blues

2006-10-26T05:58:00.000-07:00

The amplifier moans to the crowd who
gaze at each other dreamily over sweaty beer bottles.
Manfred plays the blues.

http://soundclick.com/manfredsmirror

Studioscape

2006-10-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

"The Small Room"
"Test"
Two new concoctions at.......
http://soundclick.com/manfredsmirror

Our New Big Screen TV!!! Black n' White Baby!!!

2006-10-08T17:38:00.000-07:00

Wow! Check out Gunther basking in the glow
of our new BIG SCREEN TV!!! Drink in hand
she cheers on the Jags. Let the yelling begin..........

Music Of The Spheres

2006-10-02T03:27:00.000-07:00

Videos by vMix Member:Manfreds mirror

The Sound Of Excited Electrons

2006-09-25T10:13:00.001-07:00

Videos by vMix Member:Manfreds mirror

Blatant Marketing Scheme

2006-09-20T09:04:00.000-07:00

On the road in the U.S.A.

2006-09-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

Sometimes Manfred will perform for food........

A bump in the road

2006-09-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

Wandering among the peaks
The desolation of doubt
Is a wind
As merciless to the soul,
As a razor to flesh.

http://soundclick.com/manfredsmirror

Manfred On Tour

2006-09-05T06:53:00.000-07:00

Manfred Lives!

2006-09-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

Hello to you.....

2006-08-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

Peace, Love, Understanding...
Manfred's Mirror channels all these great ideas into an offering for you.
It's called "The Veil"

Enjoy with a friend!

http://soundclick.com/manfredsmirror

Remodeling

2006-08-20T06:03:00.000-07:00

Blue Flower is closed for a couple of days for remodeling. During the hiatus Manfred is in Europe working for French TV. He beamed this over to me last night, it is called "Le Beat Street".

Meanwhile the studio is a shambles.....

http://soundclick.com/manfredsmirror

Manfred plays a record

2006-08-14T07:59:00.000-07:00


Concept proposed by DVDguy. Thanks!

Ah, bliss......

2006-08-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

I like records.
A lot.
Finally got my Dual 1249 into a complete state of health.
She is a beauty.

Manfred Returns

2006-08-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

Videos by vMix Member:Manfreds mirror

The end of the day

2006-08-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

A little Handel on the turntable.
A cup of tea in my hand.
I could stay up all night.

Vacation

2006-07-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

Hello all.
Manfred has taken a break this weekend for some creative recapitulation. Meanwhile I am tinkering in the studio trying to make it more comfortable for our little broadcast.

Manfred July 22, 2006

2006-07-24T11:12:00.000-07:00

Videos by vMix Member:
Manfreds mirror

Manfred at Blue Flower

2006-07-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

Manfred came ready to play Saturday and filled the studio with his latest sonic brew from outer space. The exclusive video will be posted soon. The studio crew finally got their technical act together and is pleased to present the audio with much improved sonics. It is titled "2 Lightyears in 20 minutes" and can be obtained at Manfred's site @ soundclick.com. Peace from Blue Flower studio.

P.S Manfred suggest turning the lights down low.

Friday

2006-07-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

The Piper At The Gates of Dawn

2006-07-12T07:16:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Syd.

One dose a week

2006-07-12T04:20:00.000-07:00

Encouraged by the previous test, Manfred of "Manfred's Mirror" has agreed to a weekly concertcast from Novalis's Blue Flower studio. He and I hope you will join us in our sonic explorations of freeform musical pathways.

Peace!

Manfred in the studio

2006-07-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

Friday

2006-07-08T18:30:00.000-07:00

Just some guitar and bass.
Noise for noise sake.

http://www.soundclick.com/manfredsmirror

One more for the road

2006-07-02T18:31:00.000-07:00

Manfred almost never appears in the studio on a Sunday.
However since tomorrow is sorta like a holiday he showed up and tossed this off.
Man, the kid is getting kinda heavy.
So is his mellotron........

www.soundclick.com/manfredsmirror

Journal entry # ________

2006-07-02T05:06:00.000-07:00

Outside
A train echoing thru the trees
Harmonizes with the slowing turning radio dial.
A strange language hisses from the ether
And directs me.
Makin' coffee at 2:17 am,
I return to the small room
Where the electrons sing.

http://www.soundclick.com/manfredsmirror

Another Day On The Westside

2006-06-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

Its nice to see that in these troubled times a man's home is still his castle.

Way to go!

A Grimy One

2006-05-29T17:41:00.000-07:00

Verse-Chorus-Verse Chorus. Death. A frayed tapestry of dark sound. Electronic howls in the dim room. The voice of the alchemist, the vibration of the strings....rumbling in the underbelly.
The Garrett.

http://www.soundclick.com/manfredsmirror

Fresh from the oven!! MMMMMMMM!

2006-05-22T06:34:00.000-07:00

Manfred had a productive weekend.
Two new pieces:

Horrormovie: creepy soundtrack to forgotton mid-sixties scareflick.

Nova: OH MY GOD, the guitar is EXPLODING!!

Enjoy!

http://www.soundclick.com/manfredsmirror

New sounds

2006-05-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

A quick note from Manfred of "Manfred's Mirror".....

Hey kids! 2 new sound confections just out of the oven! Just right for late night snacking.
PEACE!

http://www.soundclick.com/manfredsmirror

Hello to all my fans........

2006-04-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Hey check out the NEW SOUNDS from the band that is taking the world by storm!

MANFRED'S MIRROR : free music for everyone! TRIP OUT!

http://www.soundclick.com/manfredsmirror

The Classical Past

2006-04-25T04:30:00.000-07:00

I has always loved classical music. The first album I ever bought was the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey. I will never forget hearing Gustav Mahlers 9th symphony for the first time. I had just started college (FCCJ) and was repairing sewing machines for income. I was at work and heard it on WJCT, I enrolled in my first art class soon after. Thus began the Classical Period. Every night after work and school I would eat, make coffee and listen to music long into the night. My favorite composer? Mahler of course. Who better to feed the angst of a ideological young artist. Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, Schubert, Wagner, all were my nightly visitors. Then came the the CD. I moved out, my roommate didn't like classical, life got in the way, blah blah blah. Anyway, records are back! And they are 50 cents each! ( at the thrift store) So I have been going gangbusters lately buying them up. So my ritual is back, I have come full circle. I listen every night once the signifigant other and the dogs are asleep. The pictured album is one of my favorite finds, a tone poem by Hector Berlioz. It was recorded in the early Fifties. Gotta go, coffee is ready.

Untitled

2006-03-20T06:04:00.000-08:00

From the studio........

steppin out of the shadows.....

2006-01-24T05:13:00.000-08:00

Life goes on in the studio..... Someday an intrepid explorer might happen upon my recordings and exclaim " This stuff makes me drowsy". I recorded two tracks of AM radio, then I re-recorded them backwards. I call it "Instant Russian". I added some bass and guitar(backwards)
for the backing tracks. My playing really comes alive in reverse...... I also did a piece inspired by the recent launch of the Nasa Pluto probe. In keeping with the space theme it's got some "spacy" delayed Moog stuff, with bass and a wrenchingly melancholy guitar improv. SIGH....
My other activities include currently reading a book on the history of the Soviet Gulag penal system. Its like a slowly unfolding nightmare. I am available to discuss it any time. I also finished the painting I have been fighting with. Still have to frame it though......
To my patron: Its almost finished!

Novalis

Doctor Who rocks man!!!

2005-10-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

I remember the first time I was introduced to Dr. Who courtesy of my signifigant other. My reaction was "What in the _____ am I looking at??!!" However, my inner geek rapidly rose to the surface.

Now to business I got to:
Finish my film.
Finish my painting.
Do some music.

Tom Baker as The Doctor and Elisabeth Sladen
as Sarah Jane Smith. ( I think this is from "The Seeds of Doom")

Hello, my name is_______and I have a problem...

2005-08-14T18:14:00.000-07:00

Um, the flea market is a dangerous place.
I had to rescue it. Dual 1009sk circa. 1969
Steve Miller Anthology spinning in the studio.
Good night friends, think I'll have a beer.....

portrait

2005-08-10T12:14:00.000-07:00

of Novalis
Resides in Wiederstedt
Germany
In the house where he was born.
Now the Novalis museum.

We are near awakening when we dream that we are dreaming. Novalis

spaced out (again)

2005-08-06T22:41:00.000-07:00

I am done for the evening. I recorded some music that was inspired by the Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper belt is a region of space beyond Pluto's orbit that has been referred to as "the junkyard of space" It is composed of a cloud of countless billions of rocky fragments. There is also a small planet recently discovered there that has been named "Sedna". It takes Sedna 12,260 years to complete one orbit. This evening's fun was produced with bass, moog, and guitar. I might add some percussion tomorrow. Good night. I'm dreaming of Sedna..........

Who the heck is?

2005-08-04T04:22:00.000-07:00

Novalis (1772-1801) - PSEUDONYM FOR FRIEDRICH LEOPOLD, BARON VON HARDENBERG

German poet who influenced later Romantic thought, sometimes called 'the prophet of Romanticism'. Novalis took his pseudonym from "de Novali", a name his family had formerly used. The central image of Novalis' visions, a blue flower, became later a symbol of longing among Romantics. The 'blue flower' in unattainable and is to remain unattainable. Romantics expressed a longing for home and a longing for what is far off; Schiller called the romantics 'exiles pining for a homeland'.
"The imagination places the world of the future either far above us, or far below, or in a relation of metempsychosis to ourselves. We dream of traveling through the universe - but is not the universe within ourselves? The depths of our spirit are unknown to us - the mysterious way leads inwards. Eternity with its worlds - the past and future - is in ourselves or nowhere. The external world is the world of shadows - it throws its shadow into the realm of light. At present this realm certainly seems to us so dark inside, lonely. shapeless. But how entirely different it will seem to us - when this gloom is past, and the body of shadows has moved away. We will experience greater enjoyment than ever, for our spirit has been deprived." (from 'Miscellaneous Observations', 1798)

2005-08-02T18:44:00.000-07:00

a few years old.
(detail)

More fun with tape

2005-08-01T04:03:00.000-07:00

I had a pleasant evening in the studio. I started with recording some faux rain (shower onto a pizza pan) I then flipped the reels and rerecorded the "rain" as it played in reverse thru some reverb. Over this moist background I added some wandering bass and some sparce guitar meanderings. I finished up with some touches of percussion ( cymbals). I will try to get it posted soon. World Tour to follow.

Here we go again

2005-07-28T14:22:00.000-07:00

Hope something creative happens in the studio this weekend. Wish me luck.

This is a pic from the Altec Lansing factory from the early 70s. Sigh.......

Sounds

2005-07-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

One
Two
Three

a humble offering from the studio.........

For all my loyal fans......

2005-07-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

If I only knew who you were.......

Some are reaching for the gun,
Some are searching for the sun.

Randy California

from the studio

2005-07-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

Hey a picture......

2005-07-13T03:43:00.000-07:00

I found this on the web, a rack of vintage Universal Audio stuff. I am drooling.

My Friend Dimitri

2005-07-11T09:21:00.000-07:00

More cutting this weekend. I am getting more ideas for the film as I work on it. Mainly in the images I want for the montage sequences. I had some Shostakovich ( Dimitri) roaring in the background as I edited. It put me in a mood. I tried to imagine I was Dziga Vertov making " Man With A Movie Camera", working in some dark freezing basement hellhole in Russia in the Twenties. Those were the days. I'm feeling all Utopian Socialist now.
I also did some more music with piano, e-bow guitar and bass with some soft cymbals in the background. I love the guitar, but man do I have mental issues playing it. Maybe someday I will figure out what do with it. I tend to play to many notes with too little meaning behind each one. Empty notes I call them. I need private funding to explore this aesthetic dilemma in detail.

The modern day composer refuses to die!
Edgar Varese

Deeper into the past

2005-07-05T10:20:00.000-07:00

After finally collecting all the stuff necessary, I finally started to edit my first film. It was very satisfying and all went well, once I jumped in and got up the courage to cut up the precious footage. I'm saving all the junk stuff and randomly splicing it together on a reel. I still need to shoot some titles ( just ordered a vintage title kit ) and some montage elements, so maybe this weekend I can finish up the shooting. I also did some recording. I did a piece with piano and bass, and one in which the background layer was a randomly selected reel of tape played backwards on a flea-market refugee tape deck with serious speed control issues. It was a glorious sound. I turned it up loud and re-recorded it with Moog/piano/ebowed-delayed guitar overdubs. It has its moments. I wish I was as good a musician as the tape deck.

The Outcast

2005-04-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

Thats me. After being tortured by my PC's mysterious ailment this weekend I have relieved it from its role as creative partner. Computers suck, ( the crowd reacts with horror at the blasphemy...) There I said it. Tape is good, Digital is the work of creativity hating demonic time suckers. I did three improvs with guitar and bass on the reel to reel yesterday and mixed down to cassette. Anybody with a cassette deck is welcome to check them out.
I got some film (8mm) back from the lab. They were right, they pretty much ruined it. There was enough left on the film to see a little bit though. It was pretty cool. They sent me 2 rolls of film to make up, so I will be shooting them as soon as I can. It was a lift for me to record something decent yesterday, I have been in a slump. My signifigant other says its because I have been trying to play like other people. I hate it when she is right. Its the computers fault.

NOVALIS

2005-02-25T08:20:00.000-08:00

2005-02-25T07:03:00.000-08:00

The mixer

2005-02-25T06:57:00.000-08:00

In the studio

Recording in Reverse

2005-02-15T13:32:00.000-08:00

More backwards taping in the studio. It is always amazing to me what happens when I flip the reels. I dumped 14 minutes of reversed guitar on track 1, and improvised over it on 3. Then I did bass and tone generator overdubs on 2 and 4. I have almost an "album" worth of material now. I rearranged the studio again, I finally found a place for the piano. It was making me angry taking up so much space. Scott is still interested in the website idea, so we shall see if it comes to pass. I would like to see it happen, I like the idea of putting the music out to anyone who wants it. For free of course... I got a day job.

The modern day composer refuses to die!
Edgar Varese

waiting...waiting

2005-02-03T10:49:00.000-08:00

I had a good weekend in the lab. I overdubbed some bass and organ over Scott's improv, and also came up with a decent spaced out piece on my own on Monday morning. Sometimes I worry about the validity of what I am doing because of the "lack" of a more formal structure. The problem is that when I attempt to "compose'' I end up making a boring mess that is only suitable for the erase head. I wish I could spend a solid month in the lab, I would like to see what could happen in a good period of uninterrupted time.
I got my reel to reel back up, I also have been playing with my music software, so if the weekend would just arrive.
Rules! They stand in the middle of the path that leads to beauty!

What! O.K. everythings fine now......

2005-01-28T13:19:00.000-08:00

I had a scare the other day whenI read that the only producer of recording tape went belly up. However that has resolved. One of my co-workers also surprised me with 5 reels of new tape he found while cleaning his studio. I have resolved to learn to work on my computer, I love tape but I shouldn't limit myself. My sometime jamming buddy Scott brought me a disc of some improv that I am going to do some overdubs on. It is Friday so maybe I can get some time in the lab tonight............been listening to a lot of Todd Rundgren.

click you're dead

2005-01-18T04:25:00.000-08:00

Once again I was lured into recording onto the computer, and once again I wasted hours because of a dysfunctional sound card. Back to the reel to reel.

After noodling most of the day I come up with nothing. I am trying to hard. Just a bunch of meaningless notes.

Finally in the last 20 minutes of my studio time I start getting a sound, I have to be exausted to the point of not thinking to play with any feeling. Trying to "plan" is the kiss of creative death. At least for me.

I am ready to tape!

2005-01-14T07:32:00.000-08:00

I cleaned the lab. There are no clothes on the piano now.