tag:hedflux.com,2005:/blogs/the-biog-blog?p=3Blog2022-03-16T14:21:04+00:00Hedfluxfalsetag:hedflux.com,2005:Post/69226042022-03-16T14:21:04+00:002024-01-22T10:44:06+00:00Sine, Sin and Medi-sin<p>In music and mathematics, it is understood that all sounds are composed of combinations of frequencies known as Sine Waves. <br><br>Every sound can be represented as a waveform, and every waveform no matter how jagged or distorted can always be reduced to a series of perfectly smooth and curvy sine wave components (a process called Fourier Analysis). <br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/473653/d1b5647566c3f55a7194776e2ebf5d8ba02c0552/original/3-3-characteristics-of-sinusoidal-signals1.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>Any repeating pattern can be expressed as a series of sinusoidal (sin) waves added together in this way. <br><br>Circular or cyclical motion is the beating heart of all things and processes, it is one of the most important concepts to grasp in understanding all fields of knowledge. </p>
<p>Known as the 'pure tone', the sine wave is the mother of all waves. Symbolically it represents the divine mother, or the <em>motherless mother</em>, since all waves are born from it, but it is not born from any other wave. </p>
<p>Let that sink in. </p>
<p>It gives birth to all waveforms (by dividing itself), but there are no waveforms that can give birth to it. </p>
<p>It is irreducible, inimitable, the only wave shape that cannot be decomposed into anything more fundamental. </p>
<p>It is a singular frequency, a perfect resonance. <br><br>The curves of the sine wave are expressed all throughout nature, and are particularly strong in the feminine form, whereas the masculine form is more straight, like the axis around which the sine wave moves. </p>
<p>Any kind of movement or vibration, colour or sound, even smell, can be decomposed into these sinusoidal units of frequency. </p>
<p>"All is Vibration" - Hermetic axiom. <br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/473653/a44ed8905f9ab176c0c86485f01bce87ae04d0b1/original/sines-in-sand.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_none" alt="" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Desert sines</em><br> </p>
<p>The sine wave is the very essence of action and reaction. </p>
<p>Consider a snake, a fish, or a bird, it is clear to see how it's movement is driven by wiggling sine wave motions on different axes of the body.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/473653/90b92b74f4fae2369165234ebb44387d39939025/original/snake-sand.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /> </p>
<p>This is the mechanism by which spirit acts on matter, it's how living bodies are moved, with sustained wave motion. </p>
<p>When we hear a sine wave it is the sound of purity and innocence, the toy-box or the baby's mobile, the whistle of human lips or a Blackbird's melodies. </p>
<p>Hidden within the pure tone lies the potential for all of creation, because encoded inside of it is the endless non-repeating digits of the number known as Pi (3.141592...). </p>
<p>Being naturally occurring, and containing an unending string of numbers that never repeats, it must thus contain all the necessary codes for creation. <br><br>In other words, the whole manifest universe, with it's ability to produce infinite change and novelty, can be attributed to the properties of the sine wave, and the transcendental nature of Pi. <br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/473653/fff1a4761fbbd05503b055b9d5ec0d1505790cef/original/pi-visual.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Visualisation of first 10,000 digits of Pi</em></p>
<p><br>The sine wave is also key to understanding the religious concept of sin. <br><br>Though modern search engines will tell you that the word sin means "to violate a religious law", this is actually dogma. Deeper investigation reveals that it comes from the Hebrew word <em>Hata </em>and the Greek <em>Hamartia, </em>meaning "to miss the mark". <br><br>Sin is a measure of how far we have missed the mark or the intended target. In this context sin is a mistake (with consequences). <br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/473653/3ca5182c0aa46d187d107ce86344ad6a4c179080/original/sine-wave-2.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_center border_none" alt="" /><br>As the old saying goes "x marks the spot".<br><br>Here, x represents the mark, the spot, the middle way, the straight and narrow, the path of no sin.<br><br>sin(x) represents the deviation from that path. It goes to a maximum deviation of 1 or -1. It is equal parts positive and negative. <br><br>A deviation in one direction will produce an equal and opposite deviation in the other direction. This is the nature of sin, you reap what you sow, what goes around comes around. <br><br>Or, as Newton described it "every action has an equal and opposite reaction". <br><br>This is what it means to be <em>born into sin</em>, we are imperfect human beings who regularly 'miss the mark', we make mistakes and suffer the consequences, that's life.<br><br>Sin is also the great unacknowledged cause of disease.<br><br>Dis-ease is a measure of sin, of how far we are away from 'ease'. We suffer for our own sins and the sins of others (ancestors, parents, colleagues, countrymen etc). Acknowledging this is a key to self-healing. <br><br>Medicine, or 'medi-sin', is the art and practice of <em>mediating sin. </em><br><br>Medi means 'in the midst of' or to 'bring toward the centre'. <br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/473653/cb5c0de514988bd2a0d84d4bd5d92bf848e65c50/original/decaying-sine.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_thin" alt="" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Medi-sin reduces dis-ease intensity and restores ease (centre line)</em></p>
<p><br>When medicine is proper, it brings the patient back to the centre line of stable health and normative body functioning, it is restorative and neutralising, saving them from suffering the full duration of the sins. <br><br>When medicine is improper, it creates more sin, more problems, exacerbates suffering and makes us more dependent on the physician. </p>
<p>This function of medicine to 'save people from their sins' can lead us to an idolatrous or addictive relationship to physicians, health authorities, drugs and even needles, seeing them as some kind of saviour or necessity for life.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/473653/1c7a8628b6a5bf4cd92c7bcfd4262f09cca998c7/original/paracelsus.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>But as the great alchemist and physician Paracelsus (above) points out, there are really only three main types of disease:<br><br>1. Occasional disease. When the body is eliminating toxins that have built up over time (cold, flu, fever etc)<br><br>2. Chronic disease. When the body is being continually or habitually poisoned, starved or traumatised (smoking, bad diet, radiation etc).<br><br>3. Affliction from God(s). When you're being made to suffer for your actions in this life or another. <br><br>In the first case, occasional disease from natural causes can be healed with natural medicine, there are thousands of plants with specific functions that help the body to eliminate toxins and restore balance. <br><br>To heal chronic disease, something has to be changed at the soul level; giving up a bad habit, perhaps a bad relationship, a job, or even just an old story we keep telling ourselves.<br><br>Crucially, <em>we must stop taking the action that is causing the disease</em>.<br><br>Shamanic or alchemical medicine can help with healing at the soul level, but modern allopathic medicine isn't much use here, it fails to recognise the soul, or to properly account for the causes of disease. <br><br>If we are suffering due to God's will, then no amount of physicians or shaman can help us, we must endure until the penance is paid, or until we are liberated by death. <br><br>Death of course is the end point of the sine wave of life, but it is also the beginning point of the next journey, whatever that may be.<br><br>In some cultures people would offer sacrifices to the Gods as an exchange to save an afflicted life.<br><br>Certain compromised and opportunistic churches would offer people "indulgences" where they could pay the priest to 'have a word with God' to have their sins reduced. <br><br>But sin, for the most part, is not a punishment from God, it is the process of <em>cycles of energy playing out to their natural conclusion</em>. <br><br>We can sin against our own body, or sin against another, or sin against God, there are many ways to make a mistake, but we always pay for it one way or another. <br><br>To allay suffering with medicine, music, prayer or therapies, is the nature of healing work. And it is <strong>work</strong>. There must be some energetic consequence to the wrong actions taken, the energy must be transmuted or channeled elsewhere in order for healing to take place. <br><br>There is much more that can be said about sin and the nature of disease and healing, but we will leave this for a future post. <br><br>In conclusion, the sine wave is the most fundamental dynamic form in nature, it is the living structure of light, sound and matter, the essence of music, language and medicine.</p>
<p>Everything we do and everything we are can be reduced to sine waves. </p>
<p>"In the wave lies the secrets of creation" ~Walter Russel</p>
<p>For more regular video content, updates and access to a private telegram chat group, consider <a contents="subscribing" data-link-label="Join/Login" data-link-type="page" href="/join-login" target="_blank">subscribing</a>. </p>Hedfluxtag:hedflux.com,2005:Post/65195822021-01-13T09:24:31+00:002023-11-30T20:24:27+00:00Thoughts on Truth<p>Artists and philosophers have for millennia contemplated the nature of Truth and sought beautiful and enduring ways to express it, while the ruling classes have worked to hide, obscure and distort it, preferring to keep the public divided in ignorance.</p><p>For many people, speaking truth means losing something; a job, a friend, a loved one, a life even. Truth is no joke, it's not for the feint hearted. </p><p>These are a short collection of thoughts on the nature of truth, from an obsessive seeker. </p><p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/473653/388671c17086dd014546bb074d5250a8b3567ab7/original/sunset-mandala.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p><p style="text-align:center;">Seeking truth is killer </p><p style="text-align:center;">To accept truth is to allow a part of us to die </p><p style="text-align:center;">Truth is symbolised as a sword </p><p style="text-align:center;">It can be severe, cold and unemotional </p><p style="text-align:center;">It severs our attachment to false beliefs </p><p style="text-align:center;">And the lies and illusions we cling to for comfort </p><p style="text-align:center;">Truth hurts, as the sayings go, but it also sets you free </p><p style="text-align:center;">Truth humbles us and exposes our ignorance </p><p style="text-align:center;">But as the wounded ego heals it leaves us stronger and more self aware </p><p style="text-align:center;">Truth must be sought with a willing and readiness to give up everything you believe </p><p style="text-align:center;">A beginners mind primes us to receive truth </p><p style="text-align:center;">A prideful mind repels truth like water off a ducks back </p><p style="text-align:center;">A corrupt heart is blind to truth </p><p style="text-align:center;">Truth illuminates the darkness within us </p><p style="text-align:center;">Truth is a fire, but it doesn't burn you, it burns what you are not </p><p style="text-align:center;">~S</p>Hedfluxtag:hedflux.com,2005:Post/64417792020-09-24T14:40:08+01:002021-06-27T02:39:26+01:00Interview with Mister Mime World<p>"Sonic Alchemist Steve Young aka Hedflux is an artist who combines quantum physical and spiritual knowledge with ancient wisdom in a way that has projected him in a unique trajectory as an artist. Equally in tune with the fast paced modalities of modern life as well as the gentle pulse of mother nature, he can command his listeners and audience with the same ease and depth, be it from at home in the studio or out at a festival, to make sure they groove responsibly. The Philosopher’s Tone is an absolutely quintessential piece of electronica from one of the finest producers out there right now."</p>
<p>Thank you to Sanjay for those kind words, and putting together this interview, and lots of other great interviews on his new blog Mister Mime World, go <a contents="check it out" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.mistermime.world/innerviews/hedflux" target="_blank">check it out</a></p>
<p>This interview was also published on <a contents="Psybient.org" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.psybient.org/love/interview-with-hedflux/" target="_blank">Psybient.org</a> - always an invaluable resource for seekers of psychedelic chill out music</p>
<p>Props all the good people who keep the music culture alive for the love of the music <3 </p>Hedfluxtag:hedflux.com,2005:Post/64217622020-09-01T12:32:35+01:002022-01-28T21:25:43+00:00Audio Alchemy - A Deeper Dive<p>A long long time ago, on a volcano far away ... there were a series of life changing events called the Audio Alchemy Retreats. </p>
<p>This was a collaborative project between myself and Andy Freeland aka <a contents="Opulence" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://soundcloud.com/opulencemusic" target="_blank">Opulence</a>, a DJ and events promoter based on the Big Island of Hawaii at the time. </p>
<p>Andy reached out to me in 2013, following the release of the Wanderlust EP, and we began having regular Skype calls, supporting each other in business and creativity, loosely based on the idea of a "mastermind group". </p>
<p>I had long been intending on applying for a 3-year visa for the USA, and we often discussed the possibility of doing some kind of music educational event in Hawaii. <br> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/473653/8bdad53380882bcbe444fdcd41f2ede954af4641/original/img-3583.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Audio Alchemy Retreat Class of 2018</em></p>
<p>In the fall of 2015, I left the UK for Honduras, and spent 6 months diving into the world of shamanic ritual healing and plant medicines, something that had become a growing interest over the years, since my first experiences with Ayahuasca in 2007. </p>
<p>Being literally indoctrinated with scientism until age 25, I was particularly fascinated by shamanism, as there are simply no mechanisms or concepts in modern science that can explain the visionary experiences people have or the miraculous healings that are commonplace. </p>
<p>So it represented for me a source of new learning and understanding, and perhaps even a doorway to new kind of science, a science of consciousness.</p>
<p>In my attempts to find scientific explanations for the shamanic experience, I was finally led toward the ancient art of Alchemy. </p>
<p>Alchemy was the missing link between the opposing worldview's of the scientific and the spiritual, and it helped me to understand that music production, and indeed all true arts and sciences, are essentially modern forms of Alchemy. </p>
<p>I travelled to Hawaii in Spring of 2016 to take part in the first Audio Alchemy Retreat, and over the subsequent two years worked with Andy to produce a series of excellent events, and further develop some of the core concepts and ideas coming from this. See my <a contents="earlier post" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://hedflux.com/blog/blog/audio-alchemy-introduction">earlier post</a> introducing the topic.</p>
<p>The central idea is the 7 Stages of Transformation, from which we can derive a 7-step process for any creative discipline.</p>
<p>I did it for music production, but you can do it for anything! </p>
<p>In summer of 2018, I travelled to Boom festival in Portugal, and gave a presentation of this alchemical knowledge and how it relates to music and life. </p>
<p>For anyone who wishes to <a contents="learn from me" data-link-label="Knowledge " data-link-type="page" href="/knowledge">learn from me</a> this is *essential* viewing - perhaps the most condensed knowledge bomb I've ever dropped. </p>
<p>I hope you enjoy ... </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe class="justify_inline" data-video-type="youtube" data-video-id="BW_KJuIArdo" data-video-thumb-url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/BW_KJuIArdo/mqdefault.jpg" type="text/html" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BW_KJuIArdo?rel=0&wmode=transparent&enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Hedflux Audio Alchemy Presentation at Boom 2018</em></p>Hedfluxtag:hedflux.com,2005:Post/63916892020-07-24T07:40:46+01:002022-02-20T13:18:00+00:00The Philosopher's Tone<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/473653/f8b5405275d3466db4823460957811cff0ddf1e3/original/hedflux-the-philosophers-tone-1440px.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>I am thrilled to announce that my new album is now available! </p>
<p>Continuing with the exploration of alchemical themes in music, The Philosopher's Tone consists of 7 tracks corresponding with the 7 stages of transformation. </p>
<p>For those who buy direct from this site, there is an 8th bonus track: Mystic Physics (2020 Mix) </p>
<p>I'll have much more to say about the knowledge and inspiration behind this album in the coming weeks, but for now, go <a contents="grab" data-link-label="" data-link-type="album" href="/album/1663138/the-philosopher-s-tone">grab</a> it, turn it up LOUD and have a right good boogie :) </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>Hedfluxtag:hedflux.com,2005:Post/63689892020-07-17T09:52:21+01:002023-12-10T17:02:40+00:00Kin Review by AKV Acoustics<p>When I started getting deep into music production, around the mid-late 90s, it was driven by an obsession to make music that pushes high fidelity sound systems to their limits. </p>
<p>I didn't just want to make "good songs", I wanted to blow minds with frequencies.</p>
<p>I wanted music that would richly reward those who have invested in quality sound systems, and those who come out for the big events. Music with interesting layers, levels and perspectives that are revealed on repeated listens. </p>
<p>Stoked therefore I am, to learn that a high-end hi-fi company based in London - <a contents="AKV Acoustics" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.akvacoustics.com/" target="_blank">AKV Acoustics</a> - has been using my music to test and demo their equipment. </p>
<p>I have no affiliation to this company, I'm not getting paid or any free gear (booo), this is just a proud moment shared.</p>
<p>They wrote a glowing review of the Kin album for their website: </p>
<p><em>"It is rare to come across an album in which every track has the ability to draw the listener in; each track has its own unique flavour, yet all gel together to create the wonderful and addictive album, Kin. Kin has been a longstanding personal favourite of mine, and here at AKV Acoustics, it is used in demo sessions frequently, and for good reason - read on for our detailed review of Kin."</em></p>
<p>Read the full review <a contents="here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.akvacoustics.com/akvtalks/hedflux-kin-review">here</a>. </p>
<p>Thank you to Ajay @ AKV.</p>
<p>If I ever get down to London again, I'll pop in for a demo session :) </p>
<p> </p>Hedfluxtag:hedflux.com,2005:Post/63011462020-06-11T14:14:33+01:002022-05-10T19:25:51+01:00How We Relate Online<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/473653/b1b8b4a61dd754dc917a08fadc07ba6e1ce7430a/original/img-0688.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Times they are a changin'</p>
<p>The recent stay-at-home orders have given us the opportunity to review our lives, what works and what doesn't, and implement the necessary changes.</p>
<p>Traditionally I have related with fans through social media networks, however this is no longer working.</p>
<p>I and many others are waking up to the fact that these companies are harvesting our data, spying on us, mining for our money and attention, controlling what people think, what types of content they can share, and what they can and can't speak about.</p>
<p>Many a silicon valley insider has confessed the truth of how these things work, so I'll refrain from deep diving into the evils of the technocracy, but needless to say, they feed on our attention and data, and have used it to amass more wealth and control than your average king, queen or country. <br><br>“People just submitted it. I don't know why. They trust me. Dumb fucks” -- Mark Zuckerberg</p>
<p>As I progressed through my career, social media became increasingly distracting, an enemy of peace, clear thought and honest self expression. I also felt it was stifling my business and creativity, and causing me to spend way to much time thinking about other peoples thoughts, and way too much money trying to get noticed. <br><br>Now don't misunderstand me, it's not about the people, it's about the platform. Most of the people I am connected to, I have enjoyed their company in real life, and would consider a friend or at least a friendly acquaintance. </p>
<p>But relating in physical reality, with smiles and body language, tone of voice, perhaps at a pub, club or festival, out in nature, at work or school, these kinds of interactions create a "social fabric" which is tangible and builds strong relationships like muscle.</p>
<p>It is this fabric which has been undermined and torn apart by social media, to where now people live in their own little filter bubbles, separate in space, split into subcultures based on common interests, scrolling through an endless feed of random thoughts, fake news and virtue signalling. </p>
<p>Coasting post to post, each new item triggering a different response; envy, judgement, lust, anger, despair, hilarity ... it's like a never ending tabloid newspaper featuring everybody you ever met. </p>
<p>From a musicians perspective, fan/follower counts mean absolutely nothing since you can't reach even 10% of them with a single post, and if you make more than 1 post in a day, you can expect the ominous 'algorithm' to demote you for spamming. </p>
<p>These days social media is a breeding ground for identity politics, spreading division and polarising people along every conceivable axis, left/right, rich/poor, black/white, male/female, tearing shreds out of peoples relationships due to differences in perspective or preference. </p>
<p>What promised to bring us together, is now being used to turn us against each other. </p>
<p>For these reasons and many more, I no longer wish to share knowledge and document my life on those platforms, and I don't want my business to depend on them. </p>
<p>I'm bringing it all home, to this website right here. </p>
<p>My life is pretty set now, I work on music and I read and learn every single day, and you can be a part of that through this site. </p>
<p>I've never been much motivated by fame and money, but I do strive to be fiercely independent, true to my heart, and to always honour my commitment to the art.</p>
<p>I'm not part of any group, organisation, cult, corporation or religion, I have no affiliations or associations, I'm in no secret or magical societies. </p>
<p>I don't belong to one particular scene, sound or subculture. I don't have a boss, or a sponsor, or anybody telling me what I can or can't say. </p>
<p>My team consists of my <a contents="booking agent" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://feellifemusic.com/">booking agent</a>, my wife, and my 3 beautiful children. </p>
<p>My heart is my compass. </p>
<p>If you are a fan and want to be part of my life, my inner circle, to support me and access music before anyone else, to receive writings and videos, or to pick my brain and learn what I know, then <a contents="join the site" data-link-label="Members" data-link-type="page" href="/members">join the site</a>, it's cheap as chips too :)</p>
<p>~S<br> </p>Hedfluxtag:hedflux.com,2005:Post/63035032020-06-11T14:14:03+01:002024-01-22T10:44:06+00:00A Brief History of Me<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/473653/ccccd664199c1110fcdae78eab0b16ed20f76c4d/original/img-0416.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" />I've always been super curious about everything, my brain is like a sponge, knowledge fuels my creative engines. </p>
<p>At school my main interest was maths and physics, I was fascinated by numbers, equations and fundamental science. </p>
<p>At home I was getting into computers, turntables and electronic music, I was born the same year as the home computer, I'm a generation X/Y crossover kid, an early digital native; bleeps, bloops and glitches are the soundtrack to my life. </p>
<p>I took the education as far as I could go, leaving school in 1996 and getting an MSci (Master of Science) from the University of St Andrews and a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) from the University of Surrey, while deejaying, producing and geeking out on computers at every available opportunity.</p>
<p>After graduating, the prospect of a lifetime spent in the dusty halls of academia working on obscure scientific problems that few can comprehend was tempting, nevertheless I went for the money and got into IT consultancy. </p>
<p>Corporate office life drove me kinda mad but turned out to be the catalyst to realising my true purpose, forcing the life lessons I needed in order to claim my independence, go self employed and start making music every day.</p>
<p>I took the leap in April of 2010, and for the last 10 years I have been flying out to random far off places every couple of weeks to play music to hundreds or thousands of people. </p>
<p>I've done 7 tours of Australia, I lived in Honduras for 6 months and toured Central America, then lived in Hawaii for 2.5 years while gigging in the USA and Canada. I've performed throughout Europe and the UK many times, and also got out to Israel, South Africa, and Russia on a few occasions. </p>
<p>There has barely been a time when I didn't have a whole calendar of travels lined up ahead of me, but at the time of writing this, I've not left home for more than 7 months, and like everybody else, I haven't got any plans anymore.</p>
<p>I gotta say, it feels pretty good though. For sure I do get stressed and depressed about the world sometimes, but generally being home bound has turned out to be quite beneficial, every day feels like I'm waking up a little more.</p>
<p>I'm getting grounded, rooted, I'm letting go of things that are no longer necessary, and getting shit done! Everything that I've wanted to do but never quite had the time and energy for. </p>
<p>Creativity has come back in a big way. I'm finding my centre again. </p>
<p>I'm realising the extent to which the DJ lifestyle has been detrimental to my progress in other areas.</p>
<p>It's like you get some inspiration, you get going with something, and then wooosh you're off on a plane somewhere for a wild weekend at a music festival.</p>
<p>You play your sets, party with everyone, get back to the airport with barely a wink of sleep, arrive home totally worn-out and broken, questioning everything, veg out on the sofa for a couple of days to recover, then get gradually get back to work, almost catching up with the backlog, before doing it all over again!</p>
<p>I'm not complaining about it though, I have a great time, most of the time, I chose this life and got into it with full faith and complete self responsibility, I have my struggles but I am always grateful.</p>
<p>I spent my entire 20s in office cubicles crunching numbers, writing tech specs, increasingly embittered by my lack of personal freedom, but I sure did make up for it in my 30s!</p>
<p>I quit my job, committed to making music every day and said yes to every opportunity that came from it. </p>
<p>I put my complete and total trust in all returns from my musical transmissions, I went everywhere I could, I trusted everybody.</p>
<p>Walking that path has been the greatest education of them all, a self-directed initiation of sorts. </p>
<p>But this whole time, from school days through until the present, my glorious wife and mother of my 3 children has been with me, supporting me from the time I got my very first set of turntables. </p>
<p>It would be disingenuous of me to take undue credit for my life's work, arguably I couldn't have done any of it without her love and support. </p>
<p>Really, the music is a product of transmuting the love <3</p>Hedfluxtag:hedflux.com,2005:Post/63485162020-06-10T13:22:35+01:002022-05-06T07:50:03+01:00Introduction to Audio Alchemy<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/473653/18ef0974e46e782757b3d6939c658450c1dc64ea/original/azoth.jpg/!!/b:W10=.jpg" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Audio Alchemy is a living synthesis of knowledge; an ongoing investigation into the correspondances between ancient natural science and modern music production. </p>
<p>These fields of knowledge may not seem to be connected at first, but when we understand that alchemy is a science of transformation, and that music production is a transformative process, the parallels start to reveal themselves. </p>
<p>Though musical performance can definitely be considered a form of alchemy, in that it transforms the mind of the listener, when we talk about Audio Alchemy here we are specifically referring to music <em>production</em>. </p>
<p>The difference between a musician and producer is that a musician plays music, a producer makes audio products. </p>
<p>A musician isn't even necessarily a composer, there are many who are very proficient at playing from sheet music or memory, but have never written a single melody of their own expression. </p>
<p>Likewise, not every producer is a musician, some are more engineers, DJs, sound enthusiasts and just straight-up music lovers. </p>
<p>These days it's not so compartmentalised, we can be composer, musician and producer, and all the other roles that were done by specialist people (mixing engineer, mastering etc). It's all now super accessible in software, the knowledge is at our fingertips, and a quality music studio can be constructed simply and on a modest budget. </p>
<p>If this is what you want to do with your life, you really have no excuse not to get on with it. You don't even need record labels any more. It's all on you. </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>Creation is Transformation</strong></span> </p>
<p>Alchemy is worthy of deep study and careful contemplation, it is a key to great knowledge and wisdom, providing the conceptual basis for modern materials science, as well as the hidden knowledge at the heart of all spiritual traditions. </p>
<p>Alchemists understood that all creation is transformation, of material elements, and of mind. So the alchemical symbols and concepts, when properly understood, are applicable to all arts and crafts, as well the preparation of food and medicine and much more. </p>
<p>As the kitchen is a food alchemy lab, so the studio is an audio alchemy lab. </p>
<p>Alchemy is a creative process involving the measured synthesis of different elements, and the laboured refinement of substances toward some idealised vision of perfection, potency or utility. </p>
<p>It’s a labour that draws on the full intellectual and imaginative capacity of the artist, requiring complete attention and dedication, transforming their emotional and mental condition in the process. </p>
<p><strong><span class="font_large">Ears to Hear </span></strong></p>
<p>'Audio' is not traditionally considered a substance, however it is more tangible than ‘sound’ as it refers exclusively to recorded, reproduced and transmitted sound. </p>
<p>More specifically, Audio is a band of vibrations that represent sound, it can be pressed into a physical medium such as vinyl or tape, or encoded into tables of numbers and stored on a disk. When an audio source is connected to a loudspeaker or physical resonator, the sound is reproduced. </p>
<p>The art of capturing, processing and transmitting sound, is a relatively recent development in human history, especially in comparison to Alchemy and traditional arts like painting and sculpture. </p>
<p>Since the first warbled recordings scratched into wax in the 1860s, there has been a steady increase in quality, fidelity and liquidity of audio, as the technology has progressed through four distinct eras: </p>
<p>Acoustic (1877 - 1925) <br>Electric (1925 - 1945) <br>Magnetic (1945 - 1975) <br>Digital (1975 - present) </p>
<p>We are well into the digital age now and with just a modest home computer and speakers, or even a tablet and some headphones, we can access a whole universe of tools and technologies for ultra-high precision audio generation, manipulation and reproduction. </p>
<p>Audio has given birth to a thriving creative industry where mind merges with machines through numbers and code to produce ever more interesting, detailed and refined sonic expressions. </p>
<p>It is a tool of communication, and also alteration, a waveform signal that has been optimised, compressed and modulated to slip pleasantly into the ear canals, pique and maintain ones attention, and deposit to the brain some information, feeling or sensation encoded within. </p>
<p><span class="font_large"><strong>Audio is Mind Altering </strong></span></p>
<p>To say that Audio plays a transformative role within human consciousness is a great understatement. The truth is that we act primarily based on what we hear, and the ability to hear other people via audio has transformed the human world, connecting individuals like cells in a neural network, and enriching the collective consciousness rapidly. </p>
<p>It is common knowledge that music greatly affects mood and human behaviour; the sound of a few notes or chords from a song, a groovy drum beat and we are almost instantly elevated to a new, more enlivened state of being. </p>
<p>All musical instruments, including human and animal voices, and loud speakers, are designed to manipulate Air into geometric wave patterns detectable by the ear as sound. </p>
<p>In Alchemy, the element of Air corresponds to the mental plane of our inner landscape, so how we condition the Air around us, the sounds and smells, is how we condition our mind. </p>
<p>That is to say, choosing the right music is important for one’s mental health. </p>
<p>Ancient alchemists, in the days before electricity or recorded music, would burn incense, play instruments and sing words of prayer and reverence to elevate their consciousness and protect themselves from dark thoughts, like a spiritual shield. </p>
<p>Music can make the difference between blissful solitude and stark loneliness, enlightenment or insanity. It can function as a protective shroud of consciousness, enveloping the soul with sweet-feeling vibrations of beauty and perfection, like an invisible sonic womb. </p>
<p>In the sense that words are spell-casting, music is spell-binding; holding the attention of the listener, as if by magic, entrancing them and affecting their behaviour for the duration. </p>
<p>When good music and meaningful words are combined into a song and well produced, the resulting audio is a powerful transformative force, an elixir of sound, immortalised in a material medium </p>
<p>“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music” Fredrick Nietzsche</p>
<p>For access to ongoing research, technical deep dives into alchemy and music theory, <a contents="subscribe to the Producer tier." data-link-label="Members" data-link-type="page" href="/members">subscribe to the Producer tier.</a><br><br>~S</p>Hedflux