Suzanne Jenne was kind enough to interview and post this article in our local monthly newsletter, the Perry Park Sentinel.  She makes it sound like I’m doing this all the time; I wish I could be that busy with music!  LOL!  For those that wanted to read the article, here it is.  Thanks to Suzanne and the folks at the Sentinel for their support!!! –dave

All About Art-March 2012

Happy New Year to all and by the time you read this, Chinese New Year celebration will have come and gone so a belated Gung Hey Fat Choy to you!

After being absent for several months, I’m taking up the pen again and have decided to feature local artists in this year’s “ All About Art”  segment so that you may learn more about the genius that surrounds us here in Perry Park.

Dave Alexander

This month’s article focuses on Dave Alexander who is a fascinating electronics wizard, computer programming expert, musician and producer.  One of Larkspur’s best kept secrets, Dave is known internationally in the electronic music world in places such as England, Japan and especially Germany.  His projects and interests are diverse and eclectic. I think you’ll see why.

Dave began his college study in engineering, but, knew early on that computer device design wasn’t for him.  He segued into business management and realized that human interaction was an important component to his happiness.  Cycle forward a few years and Dave found his forte in consulting in the PeopleSoft software arena.  Somewhere along the way Dave was a DJ at KUCB 1190 AM and resident at several clubs in Boulder 4-5 nights a week, where he met his wife Erin, the business manager at the station.  A few years later and Dave finds his career has taken him to Children’s Hospital in Denver as a PeopleSoft applications consultant.  Mix the passion for music with a real gift for “things technical”, add a flair for design and marketing and you are looking at Dave Alexander!

Dave has developed a clever process for making music.  He tends to look at his music work in terms of “projects”.  He defines a “project” as a “stream of consciousness”: a certain type of sound, the perfect sound.  Dave is actually a member of 5 different collaborations or “projects” as he calls them.  “Obliq Recordings”, “Multicast”, “Replicast”, “Freq Modif” and “Ted Sturgeon” are all  joint partnerships with other musicians in, distinctly different music styles.  Equuicast is a collaboration of long time Denver pioneering electronic bands Equulei and Multicast.

While he plays “keyboards and technology” he is largely responsible for producing recordings on CDs and, yes, records.  He started in the ‘90s, working with his college roommate, then moved on to evolve this project-oriented style of production.  That’s how ”Freq Modif” a funky electronic style (check out the single inspired by our community, “Larkspur”), started out. The “Multicast” project is a bit more “down tempo”.  “Replicast” has more jazz influence.  “Ted Sturgeon” yet, another project, is decidedly acoustic. .  At any given time he is running 5 or 6 different music production projects…this is one VERY busy guy.

Dave and Erin have 2 children, Hunter (11) and Daphne (7), and he works full time so has limited hours to make music.  When he collaborates with the various project musicians, he tends to set up a play “date” and then they all jam for 4 to 6 hours straight.  Next he goes back and edits that content down to 1 hour highlights of the session.  Then the fun begins as he resamples or redoes tracks, and then produces them, primarily as records.  He’s intrigued by the mystique of records.  Besides collecting historical records, he focuses his spare time innovating in the processes of record production, packaging and distribution.

The challenge for an artist as busy as Dave is that he continually has to manage his time by asking himself, “what do I want to do today? do I want to play music, or edit and produce it?”

His love for technology has driven him to build his own studio, an impressive enclave full of analog and digital production equipment.  He used to begin his search at 5:00 am each morning scouring newspaper ads for used synthesizers to add to his extensive collection.  Thank God the internet came along and made that job easier!  His favorite medium for electronic expression is analog, which produces “big, thick, fat sound”.  Dave feels there is a “warmness” to analog sound that digitally produced sound just doesn’t have, but enjoys working digitally as well for his ability to manipulate the output.  “It’s like working with puzzles” Dave says.

Dave recently did a 6 channel surround sound engineering project for “First Friday” on Santa Fe Ave in Denver and another on Platte, the art event where galleries open their doors for the first Friday evening of the month.  Another recent project is with the Aurora History Museum and Regis University Department of War History honoring the heroes of our wars!  Dave is also working on a project to collaborate with Denver International Airport for “Everything Art”.  The annual CMKY Festival in April of 2012 in Boulder is also on Dave’s radar screen. The festival brings in electronic musicians from all over the world.  Laurie Anderson, the renowned performance artist is a headliner at the event, so Dave will be in esteemed company!

Dave has an interesting point of view relative to making, producing and listening to music.  He believes the next few years should prove an interesting passage for those who get their music through the internet and for those who make music.  All of his music is available for free download at his website!  While we live in challenging economic times, it’s an incredible time to be a musician, an artist or a writer with the changes in technology and platforms available to us.  It’s exciting to see the wave of innovation that is occurring again. Dave is a great example of a musician who’s determined to collaborate on music-making, but also passionate about producing and distributing his music without the help of a large music company.

Round about this time in our interview, I am wondering if Dave ever sleeps!

He then starts talking about his personal interests.  He chases storms every spring!  He is an avid Rock Hound!  He is a fish breeder!  He collects historic record memorabilia!  Dave and his son have developed an IPAD application to redirect surround sound!

If you’d like to learn more about this amazingly talented musician, sound technician and producer, check out the following web sites:

http://davealex.com

http://obliq.net

http://youtube.com/obliqrecordings

http://soundcloud.com/davealex/sets