although

my guitar

noreply@blogger.com (although) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:23:00 +0000

Here's a new addition to my collection that I recently found in a Newtown pawn shop. I am guessing that it's a 1960's (japanese-made) copy of the Gibson E-335. Despite the cool mimicked ancestory of the guitar, it was the brand that caught my eye. Jason!

Cheap reproductions from the 1960's aren't as bad as you may imagine. In my collection I have the Jason guitar and a Winston bass (copy of the Gibson SG). Both are project guitars and need a bit of work to make them truly playable, however there were some facets I liked when I first played both guitars.

The pickups are cheap and there's not much to them, though the tone they produce is unique and pleasant. The body wood is laminated, though with almost 50 years to dry out, resonance would be improved and the guitar much lighter in weight. The Jason guitar in particular is a semi-hollow bodied guitar with a great acoustic tone that is woody and quite loud. The necks aren't very wide and feature: string trees that apply even pressure to all strings; and my favourite the zero fret. A zero fret ensures the same tone for open and fretted notes.

To make one of these guitars playable you would need to: clean it; resolder all connections; potentially replace some electronics; redress, replace or remove the fretwork; replace the strings; and ideally replace all screws. Be careful when tightening old screws - I once sheared a neck plate screw, leaving half embedded in the guitar. Doh!

I do enjoy tinkering and cheap guitars are an ideal way to learn and practice on. I do also enjoy a guitar branded with my name - maybe my first born should be named Gibson? Which reminds me, my dream acoustic guitar is a Taylor!

what a party!

noreply@blogger.com (although) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:30:00 +0000

We had our all-day end of Financial Year party for Atlassian last Friday (4th July). Well done to Robyn and a huge thanks to Mike and Scott as this particular party would have to be one of the best internal events I've ever attended.

Yes, we celebrate the end of financial year at Atlassian, and yes we get a whole day out of the office! This year was themed the 'Atlassian Brothers Circus' and we all got to learn some essential circus tricks (in case we really decide to run away and join the circus).

Pictured here is my team for the day taking their well-deserved accolades for their re-enactment of a scene from the "Great Escape" (to the "Karate Kid" team note the word scene). Photo credit to Lachlan Hardy and pictured from left-to-right are: Dmitry; Kate; Lea; Dushan; James; Andrew; Tim (Steve McQueen); Miroslav; and Jeff. Nice t-shirts guys!

Speaking of which I have uploaded some of the graphics created for the day in the illustration section.

Been busy on the homefront and have added a couple of new t-shirt designs at RedBubble.

By the way, if the idea of working at Atlassian seems like a good one, we're always hiring.

bubble cloud

noreply@blogger.com (although) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:53:00 +0000

Been quiet for far too long! Mostly due to an inundation of projects at work, however, on the home front I have been uploading artwork to RedBubble. Check it out! I created the store so I could wear my own designs - my first order is due soon, so I will let you know how it goes.

On another front I recorded a new track over the last (rainy) weekend - Storm Cloud.

beople valley

noreply@blogger.com (although) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:13:00 +0000

Heading back to my roots and dusting off the ink pens and coloured pencils for this update to the illustration section. I'd like to push this idea and create a series of images that will develop the history and culture of the bird people - that's not what they call themselves.

lonely cloud blues

noreply@blogger.com (although) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:50:00 +0000

Spent one day this weekend backing up my computer and inevitably, listening to some old tracks. Most recent of these was a track I created while illustrating the Cloud Series (red, black and white scribbly images of clouds in the illustration section).

Lonely cloud blues is my first attempt at recording the blues.

scooter song

noreply@blogger.com (although) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:22:00 +0000

Instead of spending another weekend on work projects, I decided to spend time on my own projects...

I've had this F Major melody going round in my head for months now! Looking for the missing bits that would make it all stick together. Thanks to Scooter - my crazy cat - I came up with the final pieces while watching him play. I spent about a day recording to get the track to its current state...Scooter Song.

Updated the illustration section with a Java Posse t-shirt illustration I did for work.

why music?

noreply@blogger.com (although) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 09:46:00 +0000

I've always actively sketched and created characters as a hobby and a passion. During the years just after high school through to my first job, I produced a large volume of drawings and ideas. Soon after this period I crashed into a creative brick wall at about 100 miles an hour. It took me a while - and a stack of empty sketch books - to realise something wasn't quite right. As any boy does, I played console games excessively and occasionally rode my skateboard (or bmx). I needed a way to focus my creative energy, that also provided the same feeling in return that drawing once offered.

I chose the electric bass - for reasons I can't recall - and what a discovery I made. Music I had grown up with, music born and bred in the Motor City, was so heavily influenced by the bass and a bassist that defined the electric bass - thank you James Jamerson. Incidentally, my first bass was a Precision copy, which was bought about a week before I learned of James Jamerson (the Fender Precision was used by James). Starting out on the bass and learning Motown tracks was not to be described as jumping into the deep end - it was more akin to base-jumping in a cyclone. It didn't matter, I was hooked. I totally sucked, but I was hooked.

Four years into my musical journey and I am still hooked. Along the way I picked up guitar, harmonica, bongos, a little bit of keyboard and a lot of percussion (tambourine baby!). My guitar playing has improved since joining Atlassian - some of the guys I work with have over 20 years experience in music - though I still maintain my key focus on bass. Playing other instruments helps me to understand where the bass resides and to be empathetic towards other instruments and players. I would love to play the drums to improve my understanding of groove! Although that would definitely cause a few domestic issues.

I guess it's also important to note that I record and mix my own material. My experience in that area is very limited, however, I find it a valuable method for analysing my playing abilities. I also like to use design analogies to make sense of music theory and technique, however, that's for a future post.

To get to the point of this post - Why music? I wrote this to explain my history in music - if you happen to come across a track on although.net.au, you can then place it in context with my experience.

PS. A couple of months after I started playing bass, my sketch books were dusted off and new ideas formed. My style had grown, though the feeling remained the same. Although one thing was different, I'd rather play music - it's how I like to sketch my ideas these days. Thanks for listening.

to flickr (or not)

noreply@blogger.com (although) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 04:06:00 +0000

It's taken some time, however, I now have a bunch of photos (photography) up on Flickr. I've always resisted doing this as I'm not really sure why anyone would wish to wade through reams of abstract images. I like shooting textures, architecture and the sky.

After a berating (not really) from a fresh design team member, Lachlan Hardy - who while new to photography, is a passionate photographer and has over 1000 photos on Flickr. In comparison, I have just over 300 - on Flickr - with the majority of my photos being shot on film and sitting in photo boxes. It's probably where they'll stay - I freak out enough at the thought of scanning in all my artwork!

My photography experience is traditional and includes developing and printing my own photos. I've been taking photos for well over 15 years with a minimum of commercial experience. Unfortunately I haven't taken any images in a while due to broken equipment.

gettin' around

noreply@blogger.com (although) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 07:26:00 +0000

Added to all sections...

Link to this blog
Link to photography on Flickr

www.although.net.au
www.flickr.com/photos/although/

Added to the About section...

gettin' around.mp3

www.although.net.au/about.html

intonation sketchy

noreply@blogger.com (although) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:55:00 +0000

Added to the About section...

intonation sketchy.mp3 (may rename to 'lead foot' due to an exuberant use of wah)
archive of old sites, versions 1 to 5
link button to my Linkedin Profile (gooey)

http://www.although.net.au/about.html

welcome to the world

noreply@blogger.com (although) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Howdy!

My name is Jason Taylor. I'm a user interface designer born and raised in Sydney Australia. During the day I work for Atlassian, a software engineering company producing tools for development and collaboration. During the night (and over the weekends) I create music, illustration and an occasional Fimo sculpture.

Blogging is an integral part of the Atlassian workplace culture and after a year of service I too thought it would be interesting to impart to the general public my opinions, thoughts and most importantly, updates to my personal site - www.although.net.au.

Content on this blog will revolve around: my personal experiences in user interface design; commentary on my personal site; design work that may not make it to my personal site; and potentially, our two cats Jay and Scooter.

Despite being my first personal blog post, I am no stranger to the practice...in fact, here's a couple of posts that made it to the Atlassian Developer Blog.

Welcome again! Hope to see you again soonish!