What is Attenuator?
An weekly occasional newsletter filled with thoughts about music, movies, video games, books, and other things I’ve recently recently read, listened to, watched, or experienced. It’s a place (safely removed from various rapidly deteriorating social networks) to share some of my writing and pretend that I’m the editor of my own magazine — just imagine that you’re flipping through pages as you scroll.
Attenuator takes its name from a bit of terminology I became familiar with through playing synthesizers. When you run a signal through an attenuator, you can reduce its volume while preserving its tone and shape. I like the idea of limiting the volume (or more accurately, the length) of what I write without losing detail and information. Plus, I thought it sounded like a cool name.
If you have room in your inbox, I’d love for you to subscribe. All posts are currently free, so there’s no need to whip out the credit card.
Who is writing this?
I’m Zach Long, a former editor of Time Out Chicago, occasional freelance writer, and current editorial specialist for a ticketing company whose name rhymes with “cement mite.” I grew up in Ohio, but I now live in Chicago (a city that I’ve called home for more than a decade) with my wife, our cat, and a bunch of records that I pray I don’t have to move anytime soon.
I’ve spent time working as a college radio music director, I’ve shipped LPs in mailrooms at indie record labels, I’ve interviewed J-pop stars and German composers, and I’ve assigned a decimal point numerical rating to a record. But I haven’t written a newsletter before, so now I’m giving that a try, too.
What’s this all about?
I spent a while thinking about this and finally realized that I was wasting time waiting for a newsletter concept to fully crystalize. I love writing about music, so I know that Attenuator will be a place for musings on new-ish electronic music, contemporary jazz, and classic prog rock records. Ditto with movies, especially things I’m able to see at the Music Box Theatre or Chicago Film Society screenings. Inevitably, I’m also going to write about comics that I’m reading, anime I watch late at night, and concerts I’ve recently attended. Maybe there’ll be some recurring columns? A letter section? Crossword puzzles? Classified ads?
One thing I do know: If you’ve come here for think pieces and expansive essays, I’d urge you go find (and read!) the talented folks who “go long.” Staying true to my service journalism roots, my goal is to keep this newsletter utilitarian and relatively succinct — I named this thing after a device that reduces a signal, after all.
If you like what you read here, please share it with someone who might also like it. If you disagree with something you read here, you can drop me a line and (politely) tell me why I’m wrong.
