Sample Size: 1

A podcast about unrepeatable experiment in music and art. PRESS: "Then there’s “Sample Size: 1,“ which bills itself as being “about unrepeatable experiments in music and art,” hitting a lot of words that we enjoy (“unrepeatable,” “experiments,” “music,” “art”) in one fell swoop. Hosted by Dave Hilowitz, the show’s first episode follows his attempt to remotely re-record one of his band’s songs, using only collaborators he finds on quick-gig site Fiverr — an endeavor entertaining and fascinating enough for even non-musicians to dig." – The Huffington Post "What I'm loving about this new podcast (aside from how well it's made) is how drastically different episodes one and two are. I have no idea what to expect from the show's third episode or even when it'll drop, but I know I'm really excited to hear it. If you haven't already, I'd highly recommend checking out Sample Size: 1. It's definitely a new favorite of mine." – Between Two Earbuds

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Episodes

Episode 4: Dolgeville

In upstate New York, about an hour and a half northwest of Albany, sits the small town of Dolgeville: population 2,000. The scenery is beautiful: nestled in a valley surrounded by gentle green hills, forests of elm trees, and a rushing river that further downstream turns into a series of picturesque waterfalls. The town itself is somewhat less remarkable. To anyone passing through, it looks like a typical northeastern mill town: a few stores, a high school, a vacant former mill. In fact, there’s...

Dec 18, 2017•30 min

Episode 3: The People's Instrument

If you flip through any musical instrument catalog, one fact will become blindingly clear: the guitar is by far the most popular instrument in America. But that wasn’t always the case, and I’ve often wondered: if the electric guitar hadn't gotten so popular, what would we be playing instead? To answer this question, I take a trip back in time by means of the 1903 Sears Roebuck catalog and a series of Philadelphia junk shops. In the process, I discover a type of instrument that used to be hugely ...

Jun 01, 2016•32 min

Episode 2: Zombie Nightmare

My grandmother was a lot of things: an abstract expressionist painter, a social worker, a collector of antiques. But as far as the internet is concerned, she had just one real claim to fame: she was the associate producer of Zombie Nightmare (1987), a movie so bad it's featured on the IMDb's "Bottom 100" list. Strangely, it stars Adam West and Tia Carrere. In this episode, I do a deep dive into this extremely minor footnote in my family’s history. I rewatch the movie and try to get to bottom of ...

Feb 09, 2016•33 min

Episode 1: The Fiverr Song Project

In this episode, I explore the bizarre world of Fiverr, a website that lets you purchase services for five dollars. As an experiment in online music collaboration with strangers, I take one of my own songs and replace each instrument track with a new recording made by a Fiverr session musician. The episode chronicles the process and culminates in a version of the song produced entirely by the Internet.

Nov 24, 2015•27 min

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