Get Trackin’

Unlike using analog multi-track recording equipment (or even digital that ends up going to tape), recording digital audio through software has a gross number of nuances. With a hardware-based solution, like the good ol’ mixing board and reel-to-reel, it either works — or it doesn’t. With a software-based solution, it either works, or you have to find a workaround.

Now, I’m all for tinkering. But there a few rules that need to be followed when you do recordings with software:
1. Save, save, save. And save. Basically, your app might crash now and again,
and you don’t want to lose your work.
2. Save, exit, restart application, apply effects, save, apply effects, save, etc. While applying effects to a track that’s final is a Good Thing for your CPU, you have to make sure — at the same time — that you don’t overburden your resources while you’re churning away at your tracks to add the effects. In the end, you’ll have to save your project any number of times.
3. Optimize, optimize, optimize. All is great for the first 16-24 tracks … if you’re recording everything dry. Once you add effects, you’ll need to apply them or figure out a way to track so that you save CPU/memory.

Oh, and I’m able to get up to 38 tracks by following the above. Or, 34, if I don’t want my CPU/memory usage to peak at 95%. Once I find a place to store these songs (I pay for bandwidth usage now), I’ll put them up.

So, I guess that this entry was pretty boring. Alas, I’m tapped. 2 dates in 2 days makes me tapped. Happy, but tapped.

Music Picks & Pans (1)

I hadn’t gone on a music-buying spree in some time — until last Friday. There was something about last Friday that made it a “music” day. Dunno what it was — maybe gloom and doom — that made it seem appropriate.

Here’s the list of what I got, and my grades from 0.0 – 4.0 (yes, just like in college).

1. Peter Gabriel – “Up”. Grade: 4.0. Previously, I’d shamlessly grabbed chunks of this from Limewire. Now, far be it from me to ever truly disklike a Peter Gabriel album, but “Us” (1992) wasn’t all that I’d hoped. The songs were kind of bland and long-winded. Further, “Rolling Stone” had really panned “Up”, suggesting that it was “out of touch”, or similar. “Out of touch” with what, exactly? Was Peter not doing a reasonable immitation of Limp Bizkit? Was he not lamenting about this time “back in the day”? I wasn’t sure what to expect from “Up”, really. But buying it was truly worth it. This album has a little bit of everything from that old Genesis sound to some throwbacks to “So”, plus a lot of new and boomy (synth) dance/drum sounds that are totally UP and catchy. The musicianship is excellent. The songs have variety. The singing is great. What else could I want?

2. Coldplay – “Rush of Blood to the Head”. Grade: 3.5. When I’d first heard Coldplay a few years ago, a couple of things really stuck out at me. First, it reminded me of the college (”alternative”) rock that I’d really enjoyed in the 1980’s. Second, Coldplay’s music captured a certain “sadness in candy-coating” like you’d find on a Radiohead album. While the songs all employ an ultra-simple construction, the delivery has a warm ambience to it. And the album has enough variety that it’s interesting to listen to over and over.

3. Disturbed – “Believe”. Grade: 1.0. After hearing the kickoff track, “Prayer”, I was convinced that this one was going to be a “rokker”. Alas, no, it’s not. It’s really disappointing, actually. My main complaint is that — despite the power and hooks of the music — it’s very repetitive, boring, and over-produced. It’s the typical industry fare for heavy music; that is, everything sounds nice and large, but it lacks any kind of sincerity. And such music precisely illustrates why free services like Napster became so popular. I’m irritated that I wasted a second of time listening to it at all. There isn’t much more to say, except that the first taker (@ $10 for the CD) gets it.

4. Foo Fighters – “One by One”. Grade: 3.0. Dave Grohl is really awesome. It’s not a bad disc on the whole, although I still like “Colour & The Shape” better. Lyrically, this album is very good, as is Dave Grohl’s voice. Worth a listen.

5. Chevelle – “Wonder What’s Next”. Grade: 3.0. For a full-length album, on a major label, the first thing that struck me about this disc was that it only cost $9. I double checked the label to make sure that I’d hadn’t bought another Fugazi. Chevelle kind of reminds me of Helmet + Tool + <your indy band name here>. It’s not really anything new, actually, but it’s got a rough sound (Chevelle is a trio), the vocals are excellent, and there’s something really driving and attractive about it. Besides, it’s always great when bands embrace metal-related cliches like muscle cars and name their bands in kind. Yay for embracing cliche.

J looks like … ?

I went out and bought a bass guitar today. After listening to days’ worth of recording work, I decided that the bass (synthesizer) lacked depth and “punch”. Since I’ve been going to great lengths to make the (synthesized) drums sound like real drums by splitting the kits onto separate tracks and diddling the sound of each and every drum with effects, the bass just didn’t match. When I listened to the recordings on a CD player, and turned up the volume, the bass sound failed to “move air” from the speakers. It needed badly to be replaced.

Due to some general suckyness, like Mars Music going out of business, and not knowing of any good music stores in NH, I was forced to go to “Daddy’s Junky Music”. It wasn’t a great experience. Well, that’s not exactly true.

Shortly after I found a bass that I’d liked (at Daddy’s), I sat down and played it. Not a bad rig, actually. Nice neck and feel. Really nice sound. As I sat there and played, I could swear that I heard:

“Jesus”

I stopped playing for a second and listened. Nothing.

“Jesus”

I stopped playing again and listened. Again, nothing.

“Jesus *whisper* *whisper*

I turned down the volume on the bass, and listened to see if the amp was getting any intereference. Nope.

(Although it would be a story to tell you, had Jesus been interfering with my amplifier.)

Was I playing a Christian/Anti-Christian bass? Well, uh, no.

I shrugged and started playing the bass again.

And then it got louder:

“Jesus looks like me!”

“Jesus looks like me!”

“Jesus looks like meeeeeeee!”

I stopped playing the bass entirely.

What?!

“Jesus looks like meeeeeeee!”

I saw someone singing really loudly in the other room.

Jesus wore a Jack Daniels’ shirt? Who knew?

All I Wanted was Another Pepsi … *squawk*

I ran into the tar-talking gal again yesterday afternoon.

Now that you know where this story is headed? The End.

Actually, not quite. Every time I speak with her, I learn something new about her life as a chain-smoking bird lover. Sure, there’s undoubtedly more to her, but since she’s wont to speak of only of birds and air anti-purification (and she’s into physical comedy, like jumping as high as she can to touch the asbestos-coated beams in the garage then informing us that she’s a touch or two away from a malignant tumor), I go with that.

Her newest bits involved her bird and its soda consumption. Not only does the bird drink soda from the cap of a 3-liter bottle, but making matters worse, the bird is hooked on Pepsi.

Now, as a 250-pound man, when I drink a glass or two of Pepsi, I feel kind of giddy and woozy. I can only imagine what Pepsi does to a 10-pound bird.

Feeding on my bird phobia was the thought of her parrot getting jacked on cola then digging its talons into my scalp, (it) speaking of “crackers” and “Mommy” all the while. And then my phobia even realized the absurdity of it all when it pictured the parrot convulsing in the corner, being unable to fly straight. Finally “Institutionalized” by Suicidal Tendencies came to mind, and I started laughing uncontrollably. I must’ve laughed for 5 minutes straight.

The tar-talking gal was left unfazed, and she continued. I, after awhile, needed a soda: a Mountain Dew.

Give Me Some Credit.

I bought a new house a few months back, a process that was somewhat well-documented here.

Like the first time I bought a house (and upon its subsequent re-financing), buying a house leaves one pretty broke, cash “reserves” taken into consideration and all. It took me about a year to regroup financially, and not feel like a pauper who was living in a nice house.

At some point along the way, it occurred to me, probably wrongly, that I “needed” a credit line increase on one of my credit cards. Regardless of my reasoning to get such an increase, I applied for such, and was denied. This was an understandable conclusion on the part of my credit card company, actually, because “new credit” (the act of mortgaging a new property) isn’t a positive thing in the mind of creditors, as I’ve experienced.

Strangely, yesterday I noticed that they’d given me an additional increase in credit, even more than I’d originally requested. But why?

Summary:
Me: Can I have this?
They: No.
Me: Okay, I understand.
They: Take this. It’s more, although your original request is still denied.
Me: *boggle*

Bottom Feeding Slap, Slap, Slap!

As I’ve been recording the Jarvik-11 songs, a few things have really occurred to me. First, I’ve realized that I can only sing in the keys of D & B, unless I’m singing high and falsetto, in which case I can sing in anything. Sad that the kickoff track is in E. Second, I’ve really taken a liking to the bass guitar.

I mean, sure, when you think of wild bass playing, you think of Geddy Lee and Les Claypool, and maybe even Michael Anthony (no, not really, but thanks for reading carefully). Oh, and Billy Sheehan. Yes, Geddy, Billy, and Les can play the bass stunningly well, but for me — that’s just not my kind of delivery. I can admire, but not always relate.

So, I’d dismissed the bass as being a niche instrument a few years ago. I’d thought that unless one essentially overplayed their bandmates, the bass was just there for the accents. Boy, was I wrong!

The one thing to be said about one writing / recording all of one’s own music? One, without question, will find all of the flaws in the music, recording technique, and musicianship. One will also become acutely aware of where/how things fit into the mix. For me, my ears really opened up when I realized that my bass playing was on the “wrong” beats. Now, in rock music, bass playing can be a lot of slop… if the notes are played with the tempo, that’s sometimes the goal of having a bass. But when notes (on the bass) are played with the kick (for 4/4, that’s beats 1 & 3), the low end of the song is so full and strong, and songs will develop a nice and natural groove.

So, I’m going to buy my own bass one of these days, probably in a couple of weeks. If I ever choose to get into the band thing again, I’m sure that I’ll never be unemployed.

The Rub

Somewhere, in the bowels of Americana, I’m sure that there’s a meaning for “the rub”.

You know, “ah, but that’s the rub…”

Given who’s rubbing, and what’s been rubbed, I should think that “the rub” could have a positive meaning.

“Ah, but that’s the rub”, I said, when she touched me after I gave her a few dollars.

[NOTE: Skadz just pointed out that "the rub" is from Shakespeare. Fine. But I'm trying to get at the meaning of "the rub". That is, is Shakespeare talking about things that go bump in the night, or what happens when one's underwear is too tight?]