Sound Became Color

@TimothyPizza: I just backed King Leaves The Kingdom on @Kickstarter http://t.co/4eVQF1ZN @sfbikelawyer

2012-02-06T12:41:00.001-08:00

http://twitter.com/TimothyPizza

Titan, Saturn's sixth moon. Dense atmosphere and oceans of something like water. #wishiwasthere

2012-02-02T18:31:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/nV16y/

Battle Duck Gull Quacktica

2012-02-02T08:18:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/nKw41/

Canary nest in blue with five eggs

2012-02-02T08:01:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/nKtrC/

Blue Monday Synth Lullaby for 30 January 2012

2012-01-29T19:22:00.000-08:00

Blue Monday Synth Lullaby for 30 January 2012 by Sound Became Color

Mind Spores (revisited)

on SoundCloud http://soundcloud.com/soundbecamecolor/blue-monday-synth-lullaby-for

UNFNSHDHOUSES

2012-01-27T00:37:00.001-08:00

UNFNSHDHOUSES by Sound Became Color

dorking out w/ stolen Arturia VTS. RAD!

on SoundCloud http://soundcloud.com/soundbecamecolor/unfnshdhouses

2012-01-25T14:02:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/kmgWj/

The shape of things to come.

2012-01-24T20:00:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/kaCI9/

2012-01-20T12:30:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/i63Z5/

Sea Lion Party

2012-01-20T09:45:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/i4oBD/

China, Mongolia and Russia are actually Sam Elliot

2012-01-17T23:00:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/iOm2Z/

Synth Closet

2012-01-16T20:16:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/h7PgH/

Tonight's Subject.

2012-01-14T21:01:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/hSmL_/

2012-01-10T20:01:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/gJF7c/

@TimothyPizza: One of the greatest moments in music history #dandeacon http://t.co/SF3bAisX

2012-01-09T12:14:00.001-08:00

http://twitter.com/TimothyPizza

Eggs.

2012-01-08T17:46:00.000-08:00

Oh dear.

2012-01-07T22:08:00.003-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/fXxgT/

The temporary room.

2012-01-07T22:08:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/fXnSr/

@TimothyPizza: Psychedelic Pop! http://t.co/W6TBcXpq

2012-01-07T13:09:00.001-08:00

http://twitter.com/TimothyPizza

Cannetella on eggs.

2012-01-04T16:00:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/eeBiL/

2012-01-04T15:16:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/edWk9/

2012-01-02T19:54:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/eBtth/

2012-01-01T20:38:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/dwg4F/

Rosemary infused Tot

2011-12-31T21:01:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/dbmE4/

Sploxo on swingin

2011-12-30T21:31:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/dGDTp/

Mini-Chirpy

2011-12-30T16:16:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/dBJEV/

Mini-Chirpy

2011-12-30T16:02:00.000-08:00

We have some new Canaries under way.

2011-12-29T14:31:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/ctrmF/

Sploxo guards the nest.

2011-12-27T22:31:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/cS2lJ/

My Telecastet Ukulele. '56 Humber replica and kills witch

2011-12-27T19:46:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/cQoNQ/

2011-12-26T16:31:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/b9ohN/

2011-12-20T17:49:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/aZKtI/

Rearranging Furniure.

2011-12-18T12:01:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/Z7-ie/

2011-12-18T10:47:00.000-08:00

@TimothyPizza: @Menomena Czech out my cover of 'Oahu' http://t.co/dOvMJICK @patch615

2011-12-16T11:55:00.001-08:00

http://twitter.com/TimothyPizza

@TimothyPizza: All that we are is who we become http://t.co/A06AE0Ep @patch615

2011-12-16T10:55:00.003-08:00

http://twitter.com/TimothyPizza

@TimothyPizza: Where sunlight bends to grey http://t.co/cHFPPl00 @patch615

2011-12-16T10:55:00.001-08:00

http://twitter.com/TimothyPizza

@TimothyPizza: http://t.co/XcX2fvd8 - This little butterfly just wouldn't leave me alone. It went on for 15 min. Cool. @sfbikelawyer

2011-12-15T23:39:00.001-08:00

http://twitter.com/TimothyPizza

Canetella

2011-12-15T23:34:00.001-08:00

Farfalla

2011-12-15T23:30:00.001-08:00

Jelly

2011-12-15T23:28:00.000-08:00

La la la la la

2011-12-11T01:15:00.000-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/Yg4Zm/

Canetella vs Zach. Frosted flakes will change everything.

2011-12-09T20:31:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/YQFkn/

The almighty Guard

2011-12-09T18:01:00.001-08:00

via Instagram http://instagr.am/p/YOjpz/

Turning in 3/4 (w/ sound sorry) #micromoog at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

2011-12-08T21:52:00.001-08:00

Turning in 3/4 (w/ sound sorry) #micromoog at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by Sound Became Color. Uploaded with SoundCloud iPhone

on SoundCloud http://soundcloud.com/soundbecamecolor/turning-in-3-4-w-sound-sorry

Turning In 3/4 #micromoog at Northgate High School

2011-12-08T21:37:00.000-08:00

Turning In 3/4 #micromoog at Northgate High School by Sound Became Color. Uploaded with SoundCloud iPhone

on SoundCloud http://soundcloud.com/soundbecamecolor/turning-in-3-4-micromoog-at

It's Chirpy time, all the time...

2011-12-08T10:32:00.001-08:00

Cheepy! I have a pair of these birds and am trying to get them to breed. So far, they just play with nesting supplies. Maybe they are too young to breed, being only about a year old. I'll post any pics/video if they start to nest and lay eggs. I'd be stoked to have a nest full of Canaries at my house. It's trippy when they sing along to whatever music I'm playing. When I recorded "Life is a Gift Horse" I managed to record a pair of my bosses birds on "Nintendo Beak." They do rock out. Hear for yourself; http://soundbecamecolor.bandcamp.com/track/nintendo-beak Later my boss got me my birds, which I think are related to the birds on this recording because when my birds hear the song they go bonkers. It's funny to see an animal that loves music so much.

It's freezing around here.

2011-12-07T21:22:00.001-08:00

Time to hide indoors with all my gear? Synthy weather. I'm tempted to re-score 'The Dark Crystal' with my Moog and a broken xylophone. Would be most amazing

@TimothyPizza: I can't hide where fault lines run. http://t.co/VjXCrOO2 @patch615

2011-12-07T16:10:00.001-08:00

http://twitter.com/TimothyPizza

@TimothyPizza: Life is a Gift Horse @patch615 http://t.co/W6TBcXpq

2011-12-05T01:38:00.001-08:00

http://twitter.com/TimothyPizza

Finally, here it is

2011-09-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

Life is a Gift Horse, A Collection of Short Stories From the Wizard in the Grid by Sound Became Color

Blue Monday Synth Lullaby for 7-18-11

2011-07-17T14:37:00.000-07:00

Purplexed by Moog Yet Again

2011-06-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

I was watching a documentary on the atom bomb the day when I noticed that some knob on a controller for the atom bomb looked identical to the ones old Moog synthesizers. It was uncanny, it had the lights surrounding the knob and everything. You can see one in the new Moog iphone app. Anyhow, I thought maybe Bob Moog secretly made weapons or something. So I started googling about it. Turns out, Bill Moog, Bob's cousin builds gear US weapons and NASA etc. Those Moog's know their stuff.

Release Date

2011-05-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

Greetings. Sound Became Color has decided to yet again post pone the release date of 'Life is a Gift Horse' in order to send it through to promotion without any rush. I'm very excited, I hope it gets heard. I'm looking into releasing it on Soundcloud so folks can hear it in full. See you soon.

-Timothy

updates etc...

2011-05-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

there is no record release party as of now/looking for new venue/await orders/Daly City Records Sacramento?/new songs on soundcloud/on twitter @timothypizza

2011-04-19T11:23:00.001-07:00

Life is Gift Horse (Sampler) by Sound Became Color

Czech out the version w/ Mousepad!

2011-04-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the Sun Shines Through the Rain (Featuring Joe Mousepad) by Sound Became Color

So ill...

Blue Monday Synth Lullaby for 4-3-11

2011-04-05T02:13:00.001-07:00

Finally!

2011-04-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

We had to push back the release date for Sound Became Color's 'Life is a Gif Horse' to May 13th. This is also the date for the record release party in Sacramento.

Friday May 13th

Venue:

$6 cover -All Ages
$5 - Hub club members

Daly City Records Presents:

Sound Became Color -
BLOODYSNOWMAN
Illusion of Self

The Hub
1819 23rd street
Sacramento, CA 95816

Austin Texas - 16 march

2011-03-10T04:58:00.001-08:00

Were Playing Austin an we can not wait to get there!

It'll be:

March 16th - Deseo - 3rd and Congress - After 8pm

We'll have Mousepad rhyming on a few of my songs, and plenty of other neat surprises.

Come on out! After the show, who wants to drink beer on the high school football field from that movie Dazed and Confused and pretend like were those kids and you can persuade me to go for varsity next year? That may be where I end up... ...Varsity. It's a good thing.

Timothy

Sometimes the Sun Shines Through the Rain by Sound Became Color

2011-03-10T04:57:00.000-08:00

Friday February 25 Sound Became Color w/ Young Mings

2011-02-20T11:39:00.000-08:00

We're trying the set out at the Hub this Friday, our first gig ever, getting ready for SXSW! Should be very fun.

The HUB
1819 23rd Street
Sacramento CA 8:30pm $6 all ages

2011-01-15T12:48:00.000-08:00

Merry Xmas to all

2010-12-25T08:35:00.000-08:00

Greetings,

This is my first Xmas in a hostel, the euros think it's drinking holiday, dancing on tables etc. Maybe it is, I don't know, anyhow it's almost gone, Xmas that is. I still don't get it. New song up on the blog, an events list, look around...

All is Well.

2010-08-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

Greetings folks. A few weeks there w/out the internet. Things are changing, Sound Became Color is in Sacramento. I like this place. I live in the Grid and also have have workshop close to cool things on J. Let the fun begin, A new album is in the works, a second one, the first one is still in mixing, this new one is still being tracked, a different approach. I'll post some clips soon. The people here are really cool, I can't wait to see what happens here.

The Grid; An Introduction.

2010-08-01T10:44:00.001-07:00

Jamming with Shaffer.

2010-07-30T16:23:00.001-07:00

Part two. Koa's Revenge.

2010-07-23T01:52:00.000-07:00

Writing a song from scratch, literally. - Part - 01

2010-07-21T03:57:00.000-07:00

Finally.

2010-07-18T19:04:00.001-07:00

It's done.

Life is A Gift Horse, A Collection of Short Stories From the Wizard in the Grid

2010-07-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

Hey there, it's been a while. I'm finishing up my record which is why I've been MIA on the whole blogging thing. I'm wrapping up all the tracking over the next few days and will send the new album off to mixing and then mastering. That means you'll have my full length album soon. I'll keep you posted. When it goes off to mixing I'll be building guitars and posting all that stuff too. I'll see you all soon =)

Blue Monday Soprano.

2010-06-21T18:13:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite things about recording; sitting around on a Saturday listening to horns and drinking coffee as the day starts. It doesn't happen as often as I'd like it to but it does happen often enough. We've been working night and day and the record is coming along better than we could have imagined. Stick around.

2010-06-16T06:23:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been slacking on you guys. My full length album is nearing the end of its recording process and I'll be pretty busy until then. I've been doing some cool stuff. I built a vocal booth and have been playing with Moog analog oscillators. Owls sounds sound great through them. I'll blog some of that today maybe. see you soon.

We're out on Itunes Today!

2010-05-25T02:39:00.000-07:00

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/gave-you-easy-ep/id371501146

Meet Delilah.

2010-05-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

Quel received this Squire Stratocaster that has a tragic history. She was given as a gift to a young kid somewhere on the east coast, whoever he was he left the guitar with his high school band class. Some other kid stole it from band class, sanded of the front of it and spray painted it gold. Then he put a coat of deck lacquer on it. When the original owner (Quel's friend) hunted the thief down and got it back he tried to get most of the gold paint off but pretty much gave on it. After years he finally gave the strat to Quel. It was so ugly I couldn't deal with it for the first month I had it. It took me three weeks to get the paint and deck lacquer off of it. I didn't get any pictures of until the paint was off, nobody wants to see that.

I used many methods to try removing the paint and lacquer. I tried lacquer thinner and a then heat gun but I had to just sand it. I left some specks of red and white here and there. Now they make her look kind sexy instead of like a total freak, poor girl.

I hammered a bent piece of guitar string underneath where the bridge lays, the other end of the guitar string will be soldered to the tremolo harness (this is how it was when I took it apart so I'm not sure why).

I had never installed on of these before. It was easy and fun. I'm all about the buckles and straps.

You can the burn marks on her from a fire that came about accidently while using lacquer thinner and not paying attention. It looks good so I'll just say I did it on purpose.

I spent a good six hours trying to learn how to solder and wire this thing properly but I had to give up and take her to Gary Brawer Stringed Instrument Repair where Gary, Tim and Trevor helped me out the rest of the way. Those guys are are so good it freaks me out at times.

We took the scenic route to Gary's.

They got her all figured out and now she's quite the looker. Delilah and her second chance, ugliness to total beauty, good luck there in the world of rocking Delilah, The Quel will take good care of you.

Delilah and I talked all night about what she should expect out there and what her new job will be. She's well equipped and has all the know how. Good luck to you Delilah.

Support The Sound! (if you missed the DCR email blast)

2010-05-19T03:02:00.000-07:00

Greetings Daly City Records family,

I write on behalf of Sound Became Color asking for your support.

Please join me at San Francisco's Crissy Field for the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA)Walk4Hearing on Saturday May 22. I will be walking for the Cochlear Americas Team. Come out and walk with me, it’s free and you get a free Cochlear Americas T-shirt for participation.

Cochlear Americas just recently gave me hearing in my left ear. Their technology has greatly affected my life in the most positive of ways that I couldn’t have imagined. I feel an eagerness to reach out and help these folks so that some other person like me can experience the gifts of sound. (read more about that if you wish so here;SoundBecameColor.com)

For more information about Walk4Hearing and to register for the Cochlear Americas team, go to the official website at: www.walk4hearing.org

Find the tabs for walk locations and select the San Francisco walk. Then select "Join a Team" and look for the Cochlear Americas team.

I look forward to seeing you there on May 22.

Timothy Renato Pizza

Sound Became Color

Daly City Records

Part One

2010-05-19T02:56:00.000-07:00

Sound Became Color

Part One

I guess I can finally write this story in its entirety, all into one piece. At least this way, I can find it for myself maybe years from now so that I can remember the story once again. I compare my story ato possibly; the race for remembering dreams that are awoken from rested, smiling and then soon forgotten with the first steps of day. Honestly, I’m not sure how all of this works but I’ll try to include everything that led me here.

I am Timothy. I am Thirty years old and I live in San Francisco. I used to be completely deaf on my left side. I was told that I could hear as well as anyone else except I’d never be able to tell where sound comes from. I believe now that this is entirely impossible. By using a few different methods of injecting sounds into my head, I found that sounds had been hiding from me in plain sight. I was able to hear it all at once for the first time in my life and the more beautiful they became the sadder it made me. When sound became color I learned how to hear and that simply changed who I am, what I am and everything from here until and so on. The process made me feel something magical and more importantly it helped me be fascinated with sounds and all the life that they contain.

About two years ago I started a project producing a record at home and also at Different Fur Recording Studios. I would work from 0600 to 1300 crunching numbers at an office job and then go home and record. I had an FTP and a few friends, Quel and Anton on the east coast with a drum kit in a practice space that Anton also runs as a recording studio under the name of the Kill Room. I’d record guitars and ukuleles to a click and bounce them over the FTP to Brooklyn. They would come back sounding good. I’d replay my parts to the drums and bass instead of a click until I got the feel right. Then I’d go down to Different Fur and replay it again there in quick four hours through all the amps that are just warm with reverb through tubes, years of care and work put into making them certain to sound as good as they did when they were made however many decades ago. I had set a time line of three years for the project and was taking it slower then because I was learning.

One weekend during the Holidays I was out in the East Bay with a girl I was into then. We were helping my friend pack her house up because she was moving to Vermont. They are both swimmers and got into conversation about it. She pulled out these headphones that were for swimming underwater out of one of the many half stuffed boxes. They were basically weird swimming goggles. She held them up to my temple and I heard bits and pieces of Pink Floyd’s, Wish You Were Here. Then she put them back in the box and that was the end of it because we all had places to go it being the Holidays and all.

I was curious a few days later and found some information on them. They didn’t work with the eardrums; they are worn over the temples. The sound is conducted through the skull. They compared the headphones to a story about Beethoven and how he used to bite a metal rod extending from his piano in order to hear his pieces because he was deaf. The sounds vibrated through the rod and into his bones allowing Beethoven to hear himself play. I was into it. I printed out the article and gave it to my mom because the Holiday was around the corner and she had been asking me what I wanted. I usually don’t get this into presents but I had to try them. They meant hope. Hope that I could one day hear full stereo.

During the Holiday is a good time for recording and I was busy then working with Miles on mixes, or watching him and taking notes. We’d work on the levels of the instruments and effects for a while and then when I would listen back I wouldn’t be able to hear the left channel so I would call Miles and bug him about it only to realize to my own embarrassment that if I’d turned the headphones around I would have heard the missing parts. Even though I had been deaf my whole life things like this would happen too regularly. I had to plan constantly in social situations so that I could hear to my benefit, orchestrating seating arrangements and so forth. I didn’t clearly see how much being deaf in one ear really effected my life until I could hear on my left side and discover how much less work is spent and how much more time is spent enjoying the moments that take place in crowded rooms at venues or even on a walk at the park that doesn’t involve me explaining that I have to be on certain side of a person in order to hear them properly.

{I’ll continue soon.}

I like my Baha Because...

2010-05-11T19:46:00.000-07:00

Today I was doing the dishes. I wore big dj headphones over both ears with my BP100 turned up really loud on it's everyday setting which has minimal lows and mids and bright highs blended between two directional microphones which aim in front of and behind me. At first I found it odd being able to hear everything in the room with the DJ headphones at full blast because I associate those headphones with a sense of isolation from the world but then I realized I could hear my phone ringing and possibly other important sounds that may come up during this usually intensely isolated sort of listening. It's kind of hard listen to both a conversation on the television set with my BAHA and a Drum N' Bass Record through headphones simultaneously while doing the dishes. Multi tasking. …And I had the child mode activated at my last visit with my audiologist; this means I have a bright blue LED always lit on the left side of my head. It freaks people out on dance floors; most dudes think its some new blue tooth. But all in all, it’s pretty awesome.

All of My Demons Go It Alone

2010-05-11T02:17:00.000-07:00

All of My Demons Go It Alone by Sound Became Color

Light Up Ukulele!

2010-04-26T02:04:00.001-07:00

Sound Became Color on KTVU News

2010-04-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

http://www.ktvu.com/video/23203690/

Session Panorama

2010-04-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

Wallet - Music Video

2010-04-16T22:50:00.000-07:00

Created by Sound Became Color with Garrett Poortinga

I like my Baha Because...

2010-04-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

... now it is part of me, I kept thinking that it was off or that it was on a different setting but it was always there working perfectly. Then I realized that I was just getting adjusted to it at first, which I think is the fun part, and now I guess it made itself at home in my head because I don't think about it, my BP100 just works hard, well and quietly. I'm honestly thankful that I was born deaf, otherwise I would never have gotten to experience this.

Keep coming back over the next four days, I'll be living at Different Fur Recording Studios working on my upcoming full length. I've planned a small and private event for some folks from Cochlear to come and hang out with Sound Became Color as we work in a professional sound studio. We'll be blogging photos and video as well through out the four days of recording. If you watch KTVU Monday morning you'll see us there too. Thanks for all your support everyone.

BP100 works well using a wooden box to amplify.

2010-04-15T01:18:00.000-07:00

Podcast - Daly City Records - Sound Became Color - April 2010

2010-04-13T22:42:00.000-07:00

01 The Number Thirty-Four. (Podcast) by Sound Became Color

You can Download this Podcast by clicking on the downward arrow in the soundcloud player interface.

This Podcast was created by Sound Became Color, Daly City Records' latest addition.

Songs from this Podcast include

Wallet by Sound Became Color

Gave You Easy by Sound Became Color

Oahu by Menomena from the album 'I am the Fun Blame Monster.'

The Great Gig in the Sky by The Flaming lips with Stardeath and the White Dwarves, Henry Rollins and Peaches from the album 'Dark Side of the Moon.'

Samples From -

Imperial Turkey Blister by Critters Buggin from the album 'Amoeba.'

On these recordings Sound Became Color is:

Audio Angel - Vocals and Clarinet

Shaffer Salisbury - Saxophones and Keys

Timothy Renato Pizza - Vocals, Guitar, Ukulele, Electric Bass on Wallet and Upright Bass on Gave You Easy

Quel - Drums

Released by: Daly City Records

Release date: Apr 13, 1910

2010-03-25T13:21:00.001-07:00

Well well well, I have tons of video and audio to sift through. Things will be lively here soon I promise. Good things.

~Timothy

Meet Steven.

2010-03-12T21:49:00.000-08:00

It's been a hectic and rewarding few days here at Sound Became Color. I'm celebrating. On Monday I snuck onto Craig's List at the office and sent out a quick post offering $25 dollars a week for four weeks to do a survey testing headphones. The applicant must be deaf in one ear. A response came in five minutes later. A man named Steven who is completely deaf in right ear and a bit deaf in his left ear as well. I met with him at Real Guitars in the mission a few hours later. One of the guys was cool enough to lend me their ipod for a couple minutes so that I could try out my new Audio Bone headphones on steven. He could hear things through them. I told him that he had to wait a week before he could hear out of them because I wanted him to listen to a couple of my favorite albums with his natural hearing so that he could recognize change and help me document the metamorphosis as sound becomes color to the human mind. I wanted to find out how he hears naturally so that I could build questions to capture which sounds hide from the deaf as he makes his confusing journey from however he heard before today to letting himself hear stereo for the FIRST time. This morning Steven rode his bicycle 19.1 miles in the rain to go to Audio Bone's office to pick up his own pair of head phones. This is sort of funny because they are lending me the headphones to do this test. I was back at Steven's place by fourteen-thirty this afternoon discussing the situation. He was back at my house at nineteen-thirty this evening somewhat electric and covered in a mixture of happiness and shock. Today something happened. Tomorrow I'm going to film it happening again. Thanks everybody! Now were going somewhere.

Timothy, Shaffer and Quel discuss the economy. Part Two - The View From Quel

2010-03-09T17:52:00.001-08:00

2010-03-08T22:55:00.000-08:00

Instead of going to the east bay and interviewing a worker for the deaf and hard of hearing, I'll be on muni because my car was stolen. It takes so long to get everywhere. I hope they find my car soon. I have a bunch of things I want to write about, mainly making sound visible. I've been recording a bunch too. Soon.

Duck and Shaffer rock it like it's marble.

2010-03-03T21:41:00.000-08:00

Timothy, Shaffer and Quel discuss the Economy (Part 1)

2010-03-03T14:46:00.001-08:00

Coming Soon

2010-03-03T11:26:00.000-08:00

I have a tentative interview with worker for the deaf and hard of hearing to talk about what I've been going through and why sounds disappear for people like me. It should be pretty interesting. I'm going to put the audio up on the blog.

Also, I'm trying to organize an event at Different Fur with the band, engineers, doctors, audiologist and hopefully some people who know a lot about my hearing aid.

I've also hired an editor to come in here and grammar check. She can hear out of both ears. I'm going to introduce her to bone conduction hearing and we'll see if she notices anything significant about sound when she tries it out for a few weeks. She'll be posting whatever happens in the process. I don't think too much will happen in terms of her hearing changes in tones or melody lines but I'm interested none the less.

Also, If you have SSD and have never used bone conduction please email me. I want to lend you my headphones to see if the same things occur. When I was buying the domain name the dude on the phone told me about his friend who had SSD. I think his name is Sue, I remember because we were joking about the Johnny Cash song. So Sue, if you're out there. Please contact me. If you're interested anyways...

I had a really great jam session yesterday with Quell (drum machine) and Schaffer (keys) and I'll post a clip later today.

Time for an experiment.

2010-02-28T15:08:00.000-08:00

OK, forget it. Craig's list keeps flagging me for removal. I've got other plans.

Hey there,

The way I used to hear music compared to how I hear it now is far too different for me to not try and discover what exactly is happening (or not happening). I'm looking for another person who is and has been deaf in one ear for their entire life. I want to show them stereo and document what they hear and how sound changes with the help of bone conduction. If you know anyone who is near the age of thirty who meets this profile then please send them this link.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/crg/1622240345.html

Thanks, I hope we get some calls. This could be interesting. Stick around.

It's not you, it's me.

2010-02-24T19:02:00.000-08:00

I've been wasting a lot of time. Let's get this right. 'Been trying to find a way to capture how I heard songs before I could hear the full spectrum of sound in both ears. When I first became able to hear in stereo I heard a whole bunch of new things. Every time I played a record I noticed a new pitch or effect or shimmering tone, and tracking the evolution of my ability to hear was a thrill. The one part of the whole process I failed to examine was the process itself. I didn't pay attention to why it took me three weeks before I could hear everything. I never even questioned it. Until now.

So, I've been trying to show you music in my ears. Not going to happen. I have spent a good amount of hours going through all the kinds of music I own, transferring it to mono, then being totally confused because I can hear everything, it just sounds a little less interesting. I expected sections to vanish. They didn't. I was wrong every time.

I'll never be able to hear like I did ever again. Lately, I've been noticing that the more I use the bone conduction head phones, the more sound I've become aware of. I can't just transfer something into mono expecting half the sounds to disappear. I knew this was true when I began to hear what I thought was stereo in the car.

When I began to hear more and more sounds without the headphones, I looked back over the past few weeks. I remembered that on the box that the bone conductors arrived in stated that it took about two to three weeks for them to work in full. It all became simple then.

(I am not happy about this)

The brain has tons of memory, it uses its memory to develop auto responses. There are many things we don't think about because we simply don't have to. The sub-conscience can do a good amount of work while our perception of the situation remains else where. I don't think about it before I open a door, I just open the door. My sub-conscience knew about the door and sent out a dispatch that told my arm to open the door when I got to it. Meanwhile, I was humming a tune trying to decide what I wanted to eat for lunch.

This is a little hard for me to stare in the face; my sub-conscience is/was a lazy fool. He basically gets his panties in a bunch when he hears cool effects, then he decides that the sounds are too much work for him to deal with. Then the little rat hides them from me. That slacker has been trashing all the sound that was too lazy to process.

So, I stormed into his office and slapped him around with bone conduction, he jumped up off his ass, cleaned his office and started filing all his work where it belongs. It took him three weeks to get his act together.

This so explains the rush of discovering new sound.

Why was it so intense learning how to hear all these sounds? Why would I get so emotional? Why did it take three weeks? Why are the sounds that weren't there before present everywhere without the headphones? My left ear didn't magically repair itself, impossible. UGH!

(My poor undeveloped mind, sigh.)

It was always possible for me to hear this way. I just had to realize that it was possible for me to hear those sounds. That is why I can them anywhere now.

I have always said that the best place to hide is in plain sight.

I asked my audiologist about it in an email.

Your theory is pretty good. The brain is constantly assessing sounds as "important/dangerous to me" versus "environmental sounds that I don't need to pay attention to" such as the computer humming or the fans turning. If it's not an important sound to the brain, you won't necessarily be aware of it until you make a conscious effort to listen for it or if it changes in some way that the brain thinks is important and focuses on. Since you've spent so much time thinking about sound and the different ways you are hearing monaurally versus with bone conduction headphones, your brain is hypervigilant to new sounds.Possibly you are becoming more cognizant of sounds since we've started paying attention to your hearing over the past few months and you're more consistently using the bone conducted headphones. It will be interesting to see the benefits you experience when we hook up the processor and give your brain back the sensation of binaural hearing.

I'm a little shocked. Sounds were always there. I didn't know how to hear them.

Does anybody out there know anything more about this?

Tell me.

I don't know if what I'm currently hearing now is stereo anymore.

Audio Angel Tracking Clarinet for "Gave You Easy"

2010-02-24T14:30:00.001-08:00

02-23-2010

2010-02-23T23:44:00.001-08:00

02-22-2010

2010-02-23T20:48:00.000-08:00

This stuff is way trickier than I'd thought but I learned some stuff. The guys and I got together and decided to take a deeper look into this whole thing.

First, PU2273 and I tried setting up a small set of computer speakers and recording it with one microphone that would represent my good ear. If I face the mic to the right, mimicking where my ear is, maybe sections of music will vanish, resembling how I've heard music for the past thirty years. I'm basing these dimensions roughly on how my stereo set-up used to be at the office. The computer moniter having a speaker on each side, right where they are supposed to go for all you normals (now I keep both of them five feet way from me on my right). Hopefully, this will show how a lot of music disappears when you can only hear with one ear.

I don't really have any real knowledge of what sound is. I'm just sort of trying to figure it out on my own I guess. I should maybe do some actual research, I will I swear, but I'm gonna have a little fun for the time being. Anyhoo, St. Vincent has some amazing stereo on her first release Marry Me, I'll share a small clip with you in both stereo and what I recorded from her song; Landmines.

(I want to make a point that what I am looking is for the lifelessness in music that I knew)

Clips for Mono Experiment - St Vincent - Landmines by Timothy Renato Pizza

{Nothing really disappeared. Totally not what I expected to happen at all.}

Afterward, we were a bit perplexed, we were not yet entirely defeated, so we decided to kick back and rock a quick jam.

After that, we sat around scouring through my music looking for something really cool but we got really frustrated because we couldn't find a neat enough example for you. PU2273 was so flustered that he felt it proper to pull his old "Speak & Math," that he himself personally bent. And I decided to play the Fish-mas Tree and
"Thing-a-ma-goop."

(We thought it went well. Sorry neighbors)

Afterward, we tried doing a few more stereo to mono transfers. I learned some stuff about phase cancellation. That was happening to the song when I rerecorded it this way. Why is nothing that try working?

Quell showed up right when we learned that during the transfers this phase cancellation thing was happening to some effects. He brought up a very

valuable point.

At that point it was really late and we'd had a pretty good time trying to figure this stuff out. In a few day's we'll talk about Binaural sound.

Oh, and Audio Angel, we would have loved to invite you Dearie, but you know the rules:

Maybe I've figured it out...

2010-02-22T12:59:00.000-08:00

I was saying something in a previous post about losing mono and wishing I could find a way to show all of you how a single sided deaf guy hears music. I'm going to conduct an experiment this evening involving several speakers and a microphone. I think this idea will most definitely work. So, please do check back tonight or tomorrow. I'll have diagrams, pictures and most importantly; answers.

02-16-2010

2010-02-16T17:39:00.000-08:00

Sometime soon, hopefully this week I'll be planning out the big day. Experiments have always been entertaining and educating so I figured that it would be the best way to approach the BP100. This devise is now part of me. I want to know it. I want to know everything there is to find out about the super-cool sound machine that makes me normal (audibly). And so, I thought it would be fascinating to have a small get-together in the studio. I'll have my team of engineers, musicians, physicians and technicians assembled to travel through a series simulated scenarios involving recording, live sound, and mixing. This is a good thing. I have many questions, which will all be posted and maybe even answered here on this blog. I've started Sound Became Color so that I can keep records of everything I do while I learn how to hear correctly over the next year or however long it may take to develop properly. This unexpected adventure has been amazing so far but has yet to be complete. Everyday things change. I get the unit soon. The implant is healing. Waiting really is worse than the surgery.