Morning earworm: Vicarious, Tool. That'll get you going - lol.
The deed is done. "Arecibo" was taken off line and deleted at 9:07 yesterday. Not the easiest choice in the world, but a necessary one. I suspect that it is not entirely coincidental that yesterday was one of my most productive and creative days in a long time - housework and chores done, and not one but two song fragments appeared. As if that weren't enough, the two ideas are about as different as they can possibly be, to the point that they might not even belong on the same CD. One is sort of an experimental vocal piece, coming from some other listening over the weekend; the other, a strangely odd-metered tribal instrumental, which is evolving some Tool overtones, possibly resulting in this morning's earworm.
Continuing on yesterday's discussion of unusual listening - I quite by chance caught a piece on NPR Sunday morning discussing a new album by Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble, featuring a capella arrangements of early Armenian folk songs and church hymns with sax improvisations over the top. I can't help it, I just find this sort of thing so unspeakably cool. It almost immediately brought to mind the Bulgarian Women's Choir and pop chanteuse Imogen Heap, with their dense harmonies and Eastern European influence. Naturally, I thought this would be something cool to explore, and soon remembered that I have a stack of lyrics buried somewhere in the Bunker awaiting music - not mine, of course, but from an old collaborator / writing partner. One of these immediately suggested itself for such an application. While I do have the tech to pull it off, it is so far outside both my experience and comfort zone that the challenge is too great to pass up.
The downside is purely of a practical nature -work on both of these is revealing shortcomings in the current studio set-up, admittedly still under construction; which means I'm looking at at least a half-day of physically rearranging and rewiring stuff. The continuous upgrade - a necessary evil. It needs doing, but can potentially disrupt the creative momentum, even though it involves a measure of creativity all its own. Oh, the challenges I face - lol.
And somewhere in there I have to make dinner, too. Sure hope we aren't rehearsing tonight - there are a couple of songs I need to learn for the band, and that would prove a significant disruption :)
Be very careful about the beginning.
Then, be very careful about the end.
Then, be very careful about the middle.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
The Next Chapter
Morning earworm: Honey Sweating, Polytown. I couldn't even begin to describe this - fallout from some odd listening over the weekend. Found some cool new stuff, which led associatively to some cool old stuff, bringing all manner of inspiration - one can ask for little more.
Music, I think, is no different than any other specialized craft or trade. There are some things that everyone can do, and times when you need to call in an expert - lol. Part of my job as an "expert" is researching and learning deeper and further afield than the average lay person, finding and exploring the exotic, unusual, and sometimes just plain weird which goes unnoticed by the mainstream. Some of this is exactly that - research. You hear something cool, and ask Who is that? What else have they done? The aforementioned Polytown was that sort of find. A mid-nineties project done by David Torn with Mick Karn and Terry Bozzio. I've long been a fan of Torn, and was familiar with Bozzio's work with Jeff Beck and Frank Zappa; Karn was an unknown to me, so a little digging was done. Turns out he was the bassist with Japan, a moderately successful art-pop act from the eighties. Naturally, I had to check them out - it is some pretty cool and cutting-edge stuff, especially for eighties pop. The band also featured vocalist David Sylvian, who has gone on to a respectable solo career, and keyboardist Richard Barbieri, another favorite of mine from his subsequent work with Porcupine Tree. After awhile it almost becomes a six-degrees type game, because it seems like everybody has played with everybody else somewhere along the way.
To completely change the subject, this is a little odd. After 2½ years at the other venue, this is going to take a bit of getting used to - but I'll manage :D There are a couple of major advantages to being here which immediately present themselves - I don't need to be quite as discreet, and I can now post links. Who know, you might even be able to hear some of these earworms for yourself before long, and find out just what I've been babbling about all this time.
Listening is a craft.
Hearing is an art.
Music, I think, is no different than any other specialized craft or trade. There are some things that everyone can do, and times when you need to call in an expert - lol. Part of my job as an "expert" is researching and learning deeper and further afield than the average lay person, finding and exploring the exotic, unusual, and sometimes just plain weird which goes unnoticed by the mainstream. Some of this is exactly that - research. You hear something cool, and ask Who is that? What else have they done? The aforementioned Polytown was that sort of find. A mid-nineties project done by David Torn with Mick Karn and Terry Bozzio. I've long been a fan of Torn, and was familiar with Bozzio's work with Jeff Beck and Frank Zappa; Karn was an unknown to me, so a little digging was done. Turns out he was the bassist with Japan, a moderately successful art-pop act from the eighties. Naturally, I had to check them out - it is some pretty cool and cutting-edge stuff, especially for eighties pop. The band also featured vocalist David Sylvian, who has gone on to a respectable solo career, and keyboardist Richard Barbieri, another favorite of mine from his subsequent work with Porcupine Tree. After awhile it almost becomes a six-degrees type game, because it seems like everybody has played with everybody else somewhere along the way.
To completely change the subject, this is a little odd. After 2½ years at the other venue, this is going to take a bit of getting used to - but I'll manage :D There are a couple of major advantages to being here which immediately present themselves - I don't need to be quite as discreet, and I can now post links. Who know, you might even be able to hear some of these earworms for yourself before long, and find out just what I've been babbling about all this time.
Listening is a craft.
Hearing is an art.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Place Holder
Yes, this is it :D
Just blowing the dust off and tidying up a bit, after letting this sit idle for six months. Semi-regular posting to commence next week ... probably.
Just blowing the dust off and tidying up a bit, after letting this sit idle for six months. Semi-regular posting to commence next week ... probably.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Recapping
It has been a rather busy and tense couple of weeks here. Those who follow my other blogs are by now familiar with - and probably sick of hearing about - the ongoing fiasco of the studio project. This has had me wound a little tight, to say the least; additional factors have only added unnecessary stress to the mix - a tight cash week, car repairs, property taxes, and surprise dental work, to name a few. Tension began rising to a fever pitch, and finally broke this week. During the intervening time, the band neither played nor practiced at all, and had not even decided which songs to do for the studio project. A desperate last-minute rehearsal was scheduled for Tuesday night, then canceled on Monday. No reason given. For once, I didn't mind, as I was at the dentist first thing Tuesday morning, having two teeth pulled. This alone went a long way to improving my outlook on life, even without the meds.
Last night, the moment of truth. We finally entered the studio, and things went surprisingly well. A considerable amount of what I had gotten myself worked into a tizzy over did not materialize, though largely because my biggest concern was finally addressed and recognized to be right - we went in without the click track, and had everything tracked in two or three takes. Smooth sailing for there. My few overdubbed solos were all first and second takes, and we even made it to the vocals on two of the five songs. Despite my initial misgivings, this should turn out pretty good. Yes, I am publicly admitting I was wrong in many of my assumptions, realizing that they were exactly that - I assumed, I projected, I jumped to conclusions. I'm an idiot. Even though I was partly right ;-)
And so, the weight of the world has been lifted for the moment. Next to be addressed - work on the car, and a gig Friday. Business as usual, in short.
Last night, the moment of truth. We finally entered the studio, and things went surprisingly well. A considerable amount of what I had gotten myself worked into a tizzy over did not materialize, though largely because my biggest concern was finally addressed and recognized to be right - we went in without the click track, and had everything tracked in two or three takes. Smooth sailing for there. My few overdubbed solos were all first and second takes, and we even made it to the vocals on two of the five songs. Despite my initial misgivings, this should turn out pretty good. Yes, I am publicly admitting I was wrong in many of my assumptions, realizing that they were exactly that - I assumed, I projected, I jumped to conclusions. I'm an idiot. Even though I was partly right ;-)
And so, the weight of the world has been lifted for the moment. Next to be addressed - work on the car, and a gig Friday. Business as usual, in short.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Wound a Little Tight
Moodiness, angst and frustration are the order of the day. The band is preparing to go into the studio and record a demo. Next week. Last night was the first of two rehearsals for this project. And I'm here to tell you they are going about it all wrong. This is going to be such a freaking trainwreck that I don't even know where to begin describing it.
It is the classic scenario of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing. Our other guitarist, who is an expert on every aspect of the music business, is pushing this through with his usual end-gaining haste. He's been in the studio twice before, and knows how things are done there. I, on the other hand, know nothing, in spite of the stack of CD's sitting here with my name on them as producer and / or engineer from the ten-plus years I spent as owner / operator of a studio. But, you can't tell him anything, so I just shake my head and try to get on with it.
This whole thing is a recipe for disaster. He is planning for failure, and doing everything possible to assure that outcome. Change everything at the last minute, practice it once or twice, then go in and rush through the first parts and go back to fix them later. I have only briefly met the engineer, and he seems like a good guy, and is by all reports knowledgeable, but I find myself a little leery of his insistence that we use a click track, especially given his reasoning. We have never played with a click before, and this is no time to start. It didn't go particularly well last night. And there is no faster way to suck the life out of a song than to lock it in to a click track. The whole line of thinking is that if we have one, it will make it easier to go in and fix our mistakes on the computer. It is already assumed we are going to screw up, and so we take steps to guarantee it. Rule number one: we aren't there to make his job easier, he's there to make us sound good.
I could go on for days about this, but it would only bore you and frustrate me more - lol. I'm hoping that I am reading into this, and it doesn't prove to be a case of somebody who is so enamored / addicted to Pro Tools that they forget the nuts and bolts of how to do things. The computer should not be what dictates how the session is run. It is easy sometimes to get so wrapped up in how to do things that we forget why we do them, and that sometimes a different approach is needed.
I really hope I'm just being paranoid, but I kind of doubt it.
It is the classic scenario of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing. Our other guitarist, who is an expert on every aspect of the music business, is pushing this through with his usual end-gaining haste. He's been in the studio twice before, and knows how things are done there. I, on the other hand, know nothing, in spite of the stack of CD's sitting here with my name on them as producer and / or engineer from the ten-plus years I spent as owner / operator of a studio. But, you can't tell him anything, so I just shake my head and try to get on with it.
This whole thing is a recipe for disaster. He is planning for failure, and doing everything possible to assure that outcome. Change everything at the last minute, practice it once or twice, then go in and rush through the first parts and go back to fix them later. I have only briefly met the engineer, and he seems like a good guy, and is by all reports knowledgeable, but I find myself a little leery of his insistence that we use a click track, especially given his reasoning. We have never played with a click before, and this is no time to start. It didn't go particularly well last night. And there is no faster way to suck the life out of a song than to lock it in to a click track. The whole line of thinking is that if we have one, it will make it easier to go in and fix our mistakes on the computer. It is already assumed we are going to screw up, and so we take steps to guarantee it. Rule number one: we aren't there to make his job easier, he's there to make us sound good.
I could go on for days about this, but it would only bore you and frustrate me more - lol. I'm hoping that I am reading into this, and it doesn't prove to be a case of somebody who is so enamored / addicted to Pro Tools that they forget the nuts and bolts of how to do things. The computer should not be what dictates how the session is run. It is easy sometimes to get so wrapped up in how to do things that we forget why we do them, and that sometimes a different approach is needed.
I really hope I'm just being paranoid, but I kind of doubt it.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Just Passing Through
It has been a long and trying week, with my Mother-in-law visiting. On line access restricted, and that's the least of it. She is a decent person and all, but I have learned a great deal about my wife's family dynamics these last few days, and it is more than a little disturbing. More later, when time permits.
Just letting you know I'm still alive - lol.
Just letting you know I'm still alive - lol.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Catching Up
It is taking a little time getting used to a third blog - lol.
Let's see - the NYC trip fell through, but the opportunity remains open for future excursions.
Had quite a weekend - at Friday night's gig I recognized the bartender from the (cough) other site (cough). We had exchanged emails about a year ago, but it never went anywhere. Not sure if she recognized me or not; nothing was said either way. On Sunday I went up to DC for the monthly get-together with my acoustic group. We met at another of the players' house; while there, the neighbor across the street backed into my van, putting a sizable dent in the driver side door. Insurance was exchanged, and one more thing I have to mess with on the vehicle - I already need to replace the windshield for state inspection this month.
Hopefully things will look up this week - next week is already half shot, with my mother-in-law visiting from WI. She's not a bad person or anything, but it's a pretty small house even without an extra body to entertain for five days.
Let's see - the NYC trip fell through, but the opportunity remains open for future excursions.
Had quite a weekend - at Friday night's gig I recognized the bartender from the (cough) other site (cough). We had exchanged emails about a year ago, but it never went anywhere. Not sure if she recognized me or not; nothing was said either way. On Sunday I went up to DC for the monthly get-together with my acoustic group. We met at another of the players' house; while there, the neighbor across the street backed into my van, putting a sizable dent in the driver side door. Insurance was exchanged, and one more thing I have to mess with on the vehicle - I already need to replace the windshield for state inspection this month.
Hopefully things will look up this week - next week is already half shot, with my mother-in-law visiting from WI. She's not a bad person or anything, but it's a pretty small house even without an extra body to entertain for five days.
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