iOS Journal App & Sound

A soft opening with potential

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

A few thoughts on the iOS Journal app that debuted with the latest update of the software, 17.2:

1: Limited Tool Kit: It’s nice to see a sound recording option in there right from day one (so to speak). That said, it will be nicer still when there are helpful additional audio tools, such as editing, noise reduction, effects, maybe even music, and so forth as time proceeds.

2: Speech-to-Text Next: Unless I’m doing something very wrong, the existing audio notes in the Journal app don’t even automatically provide transcription, even though that is built elsewhere into iOS.

3: Blog Platform: As a blog advocate, I think it’d be cool if at some point one could publish some of one’s journaling to the public — not all of it, but have the option to post material online.

4: Social Opportunity: I could easily see this Journal tool, as well, becoming the foundation of an Apple social network, one that is the opposite of Threads (from Meta / Facebook) in terms of how it initially engages people — rather than blankly drawing them over from another platform (Instagram, as Threads does), it builds up from personal activity.

5: Sound Diagnosis: Right now, the main bell/whistle of the Journal app is how it nudges users to scribble down bits of their lives. This approach seems closer to Apple’s health and fitness operations than it does to any other existing Apple products. The Journal ping to write something is akin to the reminder to get your steps in or to take a deep breath. The existence of these prompts opens the door to a broader range of meditative cues, in particular — for my interests — ones that encourage the user to think about what they hear, to record sound, and to do things with sound.

6: Leaving Files Behind: For the time being, I’m just toying with Apple’s Journal app. I’m a longtime journaler, meaning I already have an idiosyncratic system that works well for me: one markdown file for each month, each day beginning as a preset list of fields (e.g., sleep, health, family, music, reading, TV, etc.) that I fill in (or erase at the day’s end if the given field ends up with nothing applicable in it). It would take something special for me to ditch my habit — all the more ingrained due to it having evolved over time — for an app, but you never know.

If you try Journal, please share your experience. Thanks.

Disquiet Junto Project 0624: Fresh Pair

The Assignment: Combine two influences, however disparate they may be.

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Each Thursday in the Disquiet Junto music community, a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just under five days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate. (A SoundCloud account is helpful but not required.) There’s no pressure to do every project. It’s weekly so that you know it’s there, every Thursday through Monday, when you have the time and interest.

Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, December 18, 2023, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, December 14, 2023.

Tracks are added to the SoundCloud playlist for the duration of the project. Additional (non-SoundCloud) tracks appear in the lllllll.co discussion thread.

These following instructions went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto). Note that this service will change shortly, likely to Substack, due to Tinyletter shutting down.

Disquiet Junto Project 0624: Fresh Pair
The Assignment: Combine two influences, however disparate they may be.

Yesterday, the 13th of December, marked the 27th anniversary of Disquiet.com, and I figured it makes sense for this week’s Disquiet Junto to pay tribute to two cultural figures who have informed it.

Step 1: Think of two cultural figures who have made unique and strong impressions on you.

Step 2: Rather than think of what they have in common, think about the individual impact they have had on you.

Step 3: Record a piece of music that expresses the two, distinct forms of impact you arrived at in Step 2.

Seven Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:

Step 1: Include “disquiet0624” (no spaces or quotation marks) in the name of your tracks.

Step 2: If your audio-hosting platform allows for tags, be sure to also include the project tag “disquiet0624” (no spaces or quotation marks). If you’re posting on SoundCloud in particular, this is essential to subsequent location of tracks for the creation of a project playlist.

Step 3: Upload your tracks. It is helpful but not essential that you use SoundCloud to host your tracks.

Step 4: Post your track in the following discussion thread at llllllll.co:

https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0624-fresh-pair/

Step 5: Annotate your track with a brief explanation of your approach and process.

Step 6: If posting on social media, please consider using the hashtag #DisquietJunto so fellow participants are more likely to locate your communication.

Step 7: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

Note: Please post one track for this weekly Junto project. If you choose to post more than one, and do so on SoundCloud, please let me know which you’d like added to the playlist. Thanks.

Additional Details:

Length: The length is up to you. 

Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, December 18, 2023, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, December 14, 2023.

Upload: When participating in this project, be sure to include a description of your process in planning, composing, and recording it. This description is an essential element of the communicative process inherent in the Disquiet Junto. Photos, video, and lists of equipment are always appreciated.

Download: It is always best to set your track as downloadable and allowing for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution, allowing for derivatives).

For context, when posting the track online, please be sure to include this following information:

More on this 624th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Fresh Pair (The Assignment: Combine two influences, however disparate they may be), at: https://disquiet.com/0624/

About the Disquiet Junto: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0624-fresh-pair/

The photo of the painting, by Joseph Siffrein Duplessis, of Benjamin Franklin is in the public domain. The photo of Fernando Pessoa in the public domain.

27 Years of Disquiet.com

Keep on bloggin'

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Today, December 13, 2023, marks the 27th anniversary of when I started Disquiet.com (topic: ambient/electronic music, and more broadly the intersection of sound, culture, and technology). The website is so old that it predates the word “blog” by several years. I can’t imagine my past three decades — or the future, for that matter — without Disquiet. If you don’t have a blog as of today, then there’s no better day than today to start one. And if doing so is of interest, then here are two lengthier posts I’ve written about the benefits and process of blogging:

“Q: Why Blog? A: Blogs Are Great.” (2021)

“Bring Out Your Blogs” (2019)

For additional background, there’s a post I wrote two years ago, on the occasion of the site’s 25th anniversary, and ones on the 26th and 11th anniversaries. There are others, as well, on different anniversaries, all stabs at my memory of this website.

And that screenshot up top is what Disquiet.com looked like a year or so into its existence.

Another 30 Seconds

An ongoing series cross-posted from instagram.com/dsqt

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

I posted another 30-second recording on my Instagram account, @dsqt. Above is simply a still from it. Instagram’s interface can be a bit inscrutable, but it’s stored as a “highlight” called “30s,” where each entry is a half minute of straight audio/video. I recorded this on my phone while going for a walk in Daly City at night. Half a minute is a long time when you’re recording in public. It’s hard not to look untrustworthy. There were plenty of other places I would have liked to record, plenty of spots where a bright light quickly dimmed into the urban darkness. But to do so was to submit oneself to the suspicions of those around you. Recording can easily be misconstrued as an intrusion, as a challenge.

The Story of The Overstory

Who talks for the trees? Powers does.

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

It is safe to say I have enjoyed reading Richard Powers’ The Overstory so far. I’m almost done. There’s a lot of listening in the book — some metaphysical, some naturalist, some as hampered by language or by health concerns, with a lot of variations and overlaps in between.