Lee Barry Composition (And Photo) Diary

 6/1/1997 Dream: A tornado turned into a woman in a blue sequined dress. [Eventually became a piece of music ] 6/1/1998 The act of creating and playing music represents the mysteriousness of being human. Once machines can reproduce a mysterious experience, there’s nothing left to call “soul”—or will there be a distinction between human soul and “machine soul”?  [6/1/2025: Machines (at least at the moment) can’t listen and react in real time. Improvisation is based on this. AI music is a facsimile or simulant of music]. I think what we’ll see in the future are music mixes that are released like software, or revisions are made and re-released. I think we’re in a situation where the computer metaphor will be heavily applied to music.  It’s not so much what an individual has abilities in, but rather the state by which abilities can develop.   6/1/2011                               [6/2026: Th...

8/29/2005 Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 inundates New Orleans. They’re saying this will be the worst hurricane ever to hit the US. (More evidence of the catastrophic effects of climate change). 8/29/2015 “...no one is able to produce a great work of art without experience, nor achieve a worldly position immediately, nor be a great lover at the first attempt; and in the interval between initial failure and subsequent success, in the gap between who we wish one day to be and who we are at present, must come pain, anxiety, envy and humiliation. We suffer because we cannot spontaneously master the ingredients of fulfillment.” --Alain de Botton, The Consolations of Philosophy   8/29/2019 The history of automation was, at least partially, for the purpose of setting aside more leisure time for craft and creativity that wouldn’t be seen as “work”, and would give meaning to life. Personally, I prefer the idea of work as it relates to craft, and is the only way to get into “flow”. If worki...

December 24ths  6/24/2021 An interesting way that you could use artificial intelligence in music, specifically with meter and rhythm, is to take, for example, groups of 2 and 3—which is how polyrhythms and mixed meter and odd meter pieces are shaped, and have some randomization of that. It would continuously run in the background and then you’d listen to it and capture interesting snapshots or “stills”. This goes back to my idea of putting these things on a mixing board in a separate channel, with a “meter” channel that is constantly running and then you’d just pull up the fader and see what’s there. If there’s nothing there then you just don’t use it. It’s similar to turning on the radio at random or opening a book at random.  [6/24/2025: A “feature request” for AI music. AI music is still a listener’s tool rather than for real songwriting. Recently I tried using the Strategies as a prompt and mostly didn’t work, but as a listener I like the results for what they were]. ...

A remix of diary entries from my 11/10 diary 1998-current transformed into a lyric using a text randomizer. This isn't AI, but it's like AI in the sense that you are using an algorithm. But instead of using a pre-made one you make one of your own, which is ultimately more fun and interesting. You can use the constraints but you can change them as well. This is essentially a cut-up technique. Using the natural rhythms in the words, "get the thing" created the main motif.       The main chorus riff is 30000 Year s, with this rhythmic motif:        Get the thing Everything Rapidly Love the thing Started abandoning Hoping it was the thing

  Tableau Vivant (Orch.) (4-4-2024) by meta4s

Based on a dream on 6/1/1997 about a tornado turning into a woman in a blue sequin dress.  This is the "seed" riff: A possible lyric: Woman in a blue sequin dress Wondering what she'll do when you're next When your life is taken by the wind It's just a woman in a blue sequin dress  The Short: As a string "shortet":  Blue Sequin Dress (6-1-1997) Strings by meta4s  The video uses clips from an episode from Secrets of The Unknown. It works well with the music with almost no edits--and references tornadoes. The outro is generated by AI.

6/2/1943 (Taliesen Diary) Typed essay for box—now I have to work on plans. Fifth day of rain—and today after a beautiful orange sunrise that made me jump out of bed to see the way it gilded the valley, tho directly opposite were thick grey clouds & ominous thunder.)  Choir and strings:  6/2/1966 (Beatles Studio Diary)  George Harrison brow-beat for having no titles for his songs, or dumb ones like “Granny Smith”. It eventually became “I Don’t Know” and “I Want To Tell You”. [ The Short]   6/2/2000: Jackie Chan and John Woo films—you see them only for the action —Films don’t always have narratives, just as good songs can have nonsense lyrics. The seed on which the song is based on:   This video is a montage of chase scenes from various films, including the classic Bullet . The production is almost all synth for a 2000s vibe with a syrupy string arrangement. Only For The Action (Strings) by meta4s  Slomo Mix, same chord changes:   6/...

The other side of the year: December 21sts  6/21/1999 Lunchtime concert by Nigerian group. Summer solstice. Came and went at 2:49 p.m. while I was in a meeting.      6/21/2000 The web is about “meaningful miniatures” [Shorts]. A short video clip that’s meaningful is better than a 2-minute clip that takes 5 minutes to download and winds up being not worth the time. [6/21/2026: Meaning can be a feeling of satiety, but then there can never be enough meaning (or satiety)].         6/21/2009 Bought the iPhone. When you get one of these, they become a body organ you can’t live without. It remains to be seen if it informs life or becomes another distraction.  6/21/2012 The greatest shadows from June light around 530P:               6/21/2014, Saturday Field recording at Lurie Garden . There are three spatial layers: sound of birds (foreground 1), human voices (foreground 2); mechanical noises (background 1), w...