We’ve all been there. Stuck in traffic, running late, woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Caught a mood from somebody else. Barista didn’t quite get your morning coffee right. And what started as a crap moment begins to seem like a crap day, a crap week, a crap life. You. Are. Spiraling. You know you might pull other people in with you. What happens next? In this minisode, Kimi and Lou share their secret inner sages’ insights into pulling out of emotional tailspins before minor mood changes become major meltdowns. But most importantly — if you take nothing else away from listening — remember never, ever to get in the way of Lou and his morning latte. And also, don’t give Kimi too much espresso.
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If you look at map of Los Angeles, you’ll see where I used to live on Kittyhawk Avenue is close proximity the airport. There was a hide-a-key near the back door. If you knew me, or knew some one who knew me, you were welcome to stay—on the couch if I was in town, or in the bedroom if I was out of town.
If you stayed more than two nights, compensation was a bottle of wine or bourbon. That included epic breakfasts if I didn’t have an early call time on any given morning.
Another quality of my place was the lack of street cleaning restrictions. Many of my friends would plan their departure and arrival times around my schedule so they could park their car in front of my place (free) and have a short visit before traveling. I was always happy to do an airport run which took no more than fifteen minutes round trip.
With all people in and out, Kittyhawk, or Lou’s LAX Lounge as it was often affectionately called, morphed into a spontaneous gathering hub. I’d throw together last-minute dinner parties at long tables thrown up in a backyard that abutted La Tijera boulevard.
In this episode of Chaos & Creativity Kimi and I remember the Kittyhawk days and how those spontaneous gatherings would lead to creative conversations and ideas that would inspire music, videos, and photos. We also go deep on why AI will never replicate or replace the simple act of getting together.
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It’s three o’clock in the afternoon. I’ve just arrived home from another sophomore day at a new high school I started attending only a few weeks earlier. Melding into this new society as an outsider isn’t going poorly, but it has its challenges. On the turntable of my father’s hi-fi is the just released album Moving Pictures from Rush.
The opening song Tom Sawyer, a song about individualism, personal autonomy, and refusing to conform to society’s expectations becomes my guide and my light during this awkward time of transition. It encourages me to hold onto my integrity and keep things on my terms as I integrate into the new school. I could’ve never guessed this experience would ultimately become a template for my life.
I’ve often wondered if Tom Sawyer would have had the same emotional resonance if I listened to it on sonically inferior ear buds. Given my recent experience into the audiophile space, I don’t think so.
The word audiophile conjures a sense of elitism. A rarefied club for obsessive people with healthy bank accounts who have arcane knowledge of specialized audio gear.
Our next guest thinks that’s the wrong way to look at things. He believes anyone who loves music and cares how it sounds is an audiophile. Through his YouTube channel, A British Audiophile, Tarun offers expert advice in a remarkably approachable way. He conveys guidance to people like me who are just starting their audiophile journey but have a limited budget. That said he also appeals to the fanatics who do invest in top end components. The stuff that will make you drool with envy, but also admiration owing to the exquisite engineering driven by a fervor for sonic purity.
In a phrase: Tarun’s passion is for maximizing the listener’s experience through a combination of practical advice and knowledgeable guidance about gear. He believes that sometimes listening to music is a spiritual experience, as it was, however unknowingly, to me back in high school. An experience that shaped my life as I’m sure music in someway does for everyone reading this.
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In this week’s minisode: Lou offers to write a treatment for a screenplay with a spectacular premise and a really good story. Kimi randomly gets cast in a short film and is relieved when it gets canceled. Drawing on decades of experience as creative professionals, Kimi and Lou share how to ask the right questions when given the “opportunity” to work for free, when trade feels like a valuable exchange, when saying yes is stupid, and how to say no when it needs to be said.
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Until I met three time academy award nominee Tom Myers, it never crossed my mind that a blank page to a writer is total silence to a sound designer. That something as subtle as a dog barking in the distance in a movie is as intentional a choice as the more conspicuous murmuring of a populated cafe underneath the dialog of actors in a scene. The deeper Myers and I dug into what he does for a living at Skywalker Sound, the more I realized that sound design and sound mixing are forms of aural magic performed by wizards. Subtlety is art, ethos and praxis in this enchanting world. A world where the latitude between not enough and too much is shockingly narrow and requires good ears, a rich imagination and clever, clever instinct.
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Close your eyes. Listen. Which sounds are soothing? Which ones drive you up a tree? Currently, outside my house there’s a mocking bird that’s making me a little crazy. But in the distance the sound of a freight train whistle is eliciting feelings of happiness. No doubt because of an experience I had around trains when I was 12. Bring that train sound two miles closer, it would probably annoy me to no end. Close, far, types of birds, types of trains, all of nature—this is Dr. Stéphane Pigeon’s world. And he’s built a way to bring it to the public on his site MyNoise.net.
From his days as an eighteen-year-old sound engineer for Roland synthesizers to recording the subtle voices of the natural world, Dr. Pigeon reflects on the art of crafting complex soundscapes, the beauty of silence, and how his work can invite you into the deeply personal search for the perfect sound.
Big changes are afoot at Chaos & Creativity, as our long time producer and good friend Claire Duncan moseys down the road of life to her next big thing. We wish her nothing but the best.
Lest Kimi and Lou be left alone too long without supervision, we’re excited to announce the arrival of our new producer Cheramie “CJ” Johnson. We’re also thrilled to welcome Alexandra Covey to the podcast editing bay. She’ll be cutting together Chaos & Creativity as well as our sister podcast Mothers of Creativity.
In this episode: Everything Feels Legit—everything ends up on the nose as Kimi and Lou utilize an outline to attempt episode cohesion. What results is an extra dose of chaos, with Kimi and Lou covering everything from fellating a lightsaber to Y2K fashion and Facebook regrets to the reflecting pool and beyond. Come for the disastrous segues, stay for the synergy, and listen closely for hints of a 2-part series on the art of sound, coming soon.
In the latest minisode of Chaos & Creativity Kimi and I talk about my failed attempt at making a sound booth in my office closet. It turns out acoustics ain’t just about sound absorbing panels and quaint spaces. We also debate if new ancillary creative skills are worth learning versus delegating them to experts. Personally I’ve always been a delegator—not sure if that’s cleverness or laziness.
We finish up with a with a preview of our first limited series. A two parter inspired by my sound booth debacle: First I’m off to Skywalker Sound in Marin County to talk to a multi Academy Award nominated sound designer about how he creates the aural world of major motion pictures. Then I talk to a signal processing engineer in Belgium who spends his free time recording the sounds of nature. He has a clever app that allows you to mix and match his recorded tracks to create a unique listening experience for yourself.
You’d think before launching this site we would’ve thought to have some content ready. A little something to read apart from an about page.
Nope.
Not mentioning any names and despite repeatedly being reminded of the deadline, our principal writer had a little tantrum and ran out of the office for a coffee. He hasn’t been seen since. His location tracking is turned off.
Romantic idealism would have us believe he’s in a park, feeling guilty, scratching out a little something for us to post. No one is holding their breath.
So, we’re cutting out early to grab some early bird sushi and catch a 6:45 showing of The Devil Wears Prada 2.
