Quarantine and Beats

Since moving to Los Angeles in 2018, I've made some friends in the industry who make beats professionally. It's kind of incredible what you can do as long as you have a laptop and good recording software. My friends have introduced me to things like Ableton, Splice, and Twitch - both directly and indirectly.

It was never really on my radar before, but I started tinkering around last year to see what it's like to delve into electronic processes. Now that we're all quarantined, I've thought about it again. Here's a throwback to a sketch I made last year called "Dream Beat." It's me on vox and guitar over an ethereal loop. The full video is also available here.

 Dream Beat by Anja Wade (Excerpt)

I've always been intrigued by the concept of Musique Concrรจte in classical music. Using found sound in recording and composing... My friend Kelleia (singer/songwriter, producer, instrumentalist, dancer) does this a lot. She once showed me how she plays with frequencies, pitch, and rhythm using found sound to write beats. It was equally organic and innovative. It reminded me of the Bat for Lashes documentary in which Natasha Khan stops along the Big Sur coastline to capture ambient nature sounds.

Yes, I think I will explore more electronic processes during this time. Perhaps a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway with iPhone in hand to capture acoustic seascapes and desert sound waves. What a world we live in...