Hi there -

Thanks for stopping by to read these notes.

How “The Cambrian Sky” Came to Be:

The music on this CD came about completely by accident. Along with making music I also enjoy doing just about anything outdoors. Bicycling, day-hiking, motorcycling, barbecuing. Several years ago I also took up sea kayaking. As I was looking for other people in the area who shared this interest, I signed up on a Yahoo sea kayaking email list. A few weeks after subscribing I noticed the name of someone I knew from Michigan as a member of the list, so I wrote him to become reaquainted. We exchanged a number of email messages, and he mentioned that he had taken up tai-chi and was having some difficulty finding music to listen to while he was doing the exercises. I had just completed my CD “When the Wind is High” at the time and I sent him a copy. He wrote back to say that some of the ideas would work, but that he needed the pieces to be longer - about 20 minutes - and that there should be no rhythm to the music.

So, I took his ideas and came up with the music that is contained in this CD.

A few months before releasing “The Cambrian Sky” I shared some of the early mixes with some friends - one of whom owns a winery near Sacramento. One thing led to another and I was invited to the winery to perform the music. What a great opportunity it is to be able to play live - it had been a number of years since I'd done this.

This music has been quite well received, and I've since had a number of other opportunities to perform. It's great to be doing this again, and I look forward to continuing to do so.

Some Personal Information:

When I first started working on this music, I was living in a 2-bedroom apartment in Sacramento. During the process I was fortunate to be able to purchase a house. This was a great thing for a number of reasons, one of which is the fact that I can now record at any hour of the day or night without worrying about disturbing anyone. At the time I moved there was also a problem with a new neighbor who liked to yell at the top of his lungs randomly. That racket bleeding into my tracks wasn't exactly compatible with music being created for relaxation, yoga, meditation or tai-chi.

Some Technical Information:

While living in the apartment I was doing all my recording with a Yamaha AW16G dedicated DAW. I very much enjoyed working with this unit, though it had a number of limitations - hard drive storage space, only 16 available tracks, number of usable effects and slow editing were all issues.

A few months before I moved into my house I purchased a new computer and installed Reaper, which is a software DAW. I've been very pleased with Reaper, and I'm finding that work goes much faster and more efficiently with it. The license for Reaper is extremely reasonable - $60.00 if you're not making more than $20,000.00/year from its use.

I recorded everything with my Oktava MC 012 microphones. I think they're perfect for the flutes especially.

I recently also purchased Ableton for use with live performances, but I haven't learned much about how to use it yet.

Ambiloop is a freeware looper that I've been playing with some too. It's great fun and a good, simple tool. Unfortunately it doesn't support VST effects, and I don't think I'll be using it for live performances until (or unless) it does in a future release.

Instruments Used:

The background drones on this CD were all created using loops of “real” instruments (as opposed to synthesizers). It's not that I have anything against synths, it's that I just felt that this method was best way for me to get a “natural” feel to the drones. Electric bass, acoustic guitar and vocals were used, and most of the loops were created either with an outboard effects unit (Digitech TSR-24), or with the VST effects that come with Reaper.

I play several different kinds of flutes. Native American flutes, recorders, pennywhistles, sulings and transverse flutes. Recently I've been making my own transvers flutes out of 3/4” P.V.C. pipe. I also have several of these that are made from bamboo, but I find the P.V.C. is more stable and changes in atmospheric conditions don't detune them.

Thanks!

To Kris Barkley for the jacket design and to numerous friends and family members who have been very supportive in all these endeavors.

So -

I guess that's about it.

Thanks again for your interest in my music and this CD. I hope you enjoy it.

Gregory A. Cain - November, 2009