“Infinite Ambient: Autumn Light (For Harold Budd)” is the fourth in a series of 12 albums featuring music from the Infinite Ambient website (www.infiniteambient.com). The Infinite Ambient website and apps will be shutting Read more
“Infinite Ambient: Autumn Light (For Harold Budd)” is the fourth in a series of 12 albums featuring music from the Infinite Ambient® website (www.infiniteambient.com). The Infinite Ambient website and apps will be shutting down in January 2027, and I wanted to make the music on the site available here on Bandcamp, as one-hour albums available in CD quality.
Anyone who has spent even a little time with me has eventually experienced me going into full fan-boy mode over the music of Harold Budd. Known in the ambient music world for his unapologetically beautiful piano music, Harold’s music was a constant in my life, from when I first heard it as a college student in the mid 1980’s, to when he sadly passed away in December 2020. And, for me, there was no one’s music that captured the feeling of Autumn better than Harold’s
On the first anniversary of Harold’s passing, I wrote what became the main elements to “Autumn Light (for Harold Budd)”, and the problem I almost immediately encountered was not knowing how to end the piece. That struck me as an oddly appropriate problem to have, since a lot of Harold’s music felt like it could go on forever, and almost always ended far too soon, in my opinion.
About a year and a half later, I listened again to the piece I wrote, and had the idea of putting the main sections in the Infinite Ambient engine, and listened to what happened when the random number generator selected the track order. After a few minutes of listening, it was clear that "Autumn Light" would be a welcome addition to the Infinite Ambient site. One of the earliest- and best- bits of feedback about "Autumn Light" was from a listener who stated that the music reminded them of the main "Twin Peaks" theme. As someone who was/is a fan of "Twin Peaks"- and, especially, Angelo Badalamenti's soundtrack- i took that as the most beautiful of compliments.
When creating the “Infinite Ambient: Autumn Light (For Harold Budd)” album, I took the same approach that i did with the Infinite Ambient website, only i used the full quality WAV file piano samples that I originally recorded in my studio. The result was a very satisfying listen that has worked well with the October weather- meaning that it was a great soundtrack for a nice, warming cup of tea, or an afternoon walk in the woods.
(The walks have been a revelation with the Infinite Ambient albums so far- with the Infinite Ambient website, it was nearly impossible to listen to the music while taking a walk in the woods, or anywhere that doesn’t have cell coverage. With the album sitting on my phone? It’s simple.)
This is definitely the most “uncluttered” of any of the Infinite Ambient experiences I created- just the sound of a piano through a couple of reverbs. And unlike the other listening experiences on the Infinite Ambient site, there were only a few samples used for this one, but they were the “right” samples; hearing the song seemingly arrange and re-arrange itself, listening to the mood shift from major keys to minor keys- it took me back to that first feeling I had when composing the original track- where I didn’t know how to end the piece, because I didn’t want it to end.
Anyone who has spent even a little time with me has eventually experienced me going into full fan-boy mode over the music of Harold Budd. Known in the ambient music world for his unapologetically beautiful piano music, Harold’s music was a constant in my life, from when I first heard it as a college student in the mid 1980’s, to when he sadly passed away in December 2020. And, for me, there was no one’s music that captured the feeling of Autumn better than Harold’s
On the first anniversary of Harold’s passing, I wrote what became the main elements to “Autumn Light (for Harold Budd)”, and the problem I almost immediately encountered was not knowing how to end the piece. That struck me as an oddly appropriate problem to have, since a lot of Harold’s music felt like it could go on forever, and almost always ended far too soon, in my opinion.
About a year and a half later, I listened again to the piece I wrote, and had the idea of putting the main sections in the Infinite Ambient engine, and listened to what happened when the random number generator selected the track order. After a few minutes of listening, it was clear that "Autumn Light" would be a welcome addition to the Infinite Ambient site. One of the earliest- and best- bits of feedback about "Autumn Light" was from a listener who stated that the music reminded them of the main "Twin Peaks" theme. As someone who was/is a fan of "Twin Peaks"- and, especially, Angelo Badalamenti's soundtrack- i took that as the most beautiful of compliments.
When creating the “Infinite Ambient: Autumn Light (For Harold Budd)” album, I took the same approach that i did with the Infinite Ambient website, only i used the full quality WAV file piano samples that I originally recorded in my studio. The result was a very satisfying listen that has worked well with the October weather- meaning that it was a great soundtrack for a nice, warming cup of tea, or an afternoon walk in the woods.
(The walks have been a revelation with the Infinite Ambient albums so far- with the Infinite Ambient website, it was nearly impossible to listen to the music while taking a walk in the woods, or anywhere that doesn’t have cell coverage. With the album sitting on my phone? It’s simple.)
This is definitely the most “uncluttered” of any of the Infinite Ambient experiences I created- just the sound of a piano through a couple of reverbs. And unlike the other listening experiences on the Infinite Ambient site, there were only a few samples used for this one, but they were the “right” samples; hearing the song seemingly arrange and re-arrange itself, listening to the mood shift from major keys to minor keys- it took me back to that first feeling I had when composing the original track- where I didn’t know how to end the piece, because I didn’t want it to end.