Stepmother In Chains (disquiet0696)

Edited, mixed & mastered on 01 May 2025 by Jim Lemanowicz at Blissville Electro-Magnetic Laboratories of Massapequa, USA. Layered guitar synth This piece evolved through three distinct passes with the last having three of its own: 1 - Almost every day, I record something. On April 13, I recorded about 20 minutes of guitar synth with a voice sound using a cheap SX guitar as the controller. I recorded with DAW effects but for this piece, I used the raw recording without effects. The synth has some built-in though. 2 - On May 1, I spread this recording across 15 tracks, stretching some to fit the same duration and adding leftover bits throughout. I panned them across the sound field. Though I created a wall of sound and did a rough mix, I felt this arrangement wasn't working for me. 3 - Inspired by fabric patterns and metal chains, I drew a subtractive volume automation on one track, moving down and diagonally, bouncing off the side and back until reaching the 15th track. I then drew another pattern at the beginning of the last track, moving up diagonally. As the piece took shape, I added a third pattern in untouched spots where it felt right. These patterns began precise but became organic—like a handmade garment rather than a machine-made one. The final run evoked an old painting shirt, and that's when I knew it was complete. Photography/Art - Jim Lemanowicz, Aug 2019, Massapequa, NY, USA - at the time, an in-progress painting I called “Injury Or Suffocation.” ©2019, 2025 Jim Lemanowicz --- This original version of “Stepmother In Chains” was submitted as part of Disquiet Junto Project 0696: Chain of Layers. The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers. More on the Disquiet Junto at: disquiet.com/junto/ More on the 696th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Chain of Layers — The Assignment: Make music change by altering its layers — at https://disquiet.com/0696