Good Song - Regina Spektor "One Little Soldier"

Saw this a few months ago on YouTube, and just came across it again.  A good song (IMO).



One thing that impresses me is that the chorus packs a lot of punch, relative to the verse -- but it's more than just "loud/soft" -- and it doesn't rely on distorted guitars for its power.  So:  good arranging, and mixing; congrats.  :)


--GG

A new realm

I know a reasonable amount about recording audio, based on about twenty-five years of reading and experience -- but for the last few months I've been also been watching YouTube tutorials about various aspects of film-making.

I think I'm starting to get the notion (I haven't actually tried applying my knowledge, yet) -- but it's interesting to me how much I don't know -- in terms of both technique and terminology.

Some of it has interesting parallels to recording:  for example, choosing a lens is a little like selecting the right microphone; lighting is a little like room treatments and reverb; color temperature is a little like EQ.  But these are only approximations.

Am considering buying a "decent" camera (i.e. one where you can swap out the lenses).  Maybe for Christmas...


--GG

The world is my oyster

So:  today is the first day of two weeks' vacation:  I return to work after New Year's Day.  The horizon stretches before me...


I have two weeks -- and no particular commitments.  So, one way or another, I'll get "creative things" done.  It's just a matter of in which realm:  woodworking, or recording some songs.


My brother in law fixed my woodworking lathe for me, so I can now make cylindrical things.  So I might make my first, simple footstool:  just a plank plus four cylindrical legs, which I'll turn from some of my "found"/"rescued" wood.

Or, I could try to finish my "micro drumkit" that I've been working on during weekends for the last month or so:  a fully-functional drumkit that fits into a small "flight attendant"-sized rolling suitcase.

Or, maybe turn some other things on the lathe -- like some drumsticks made out of exotic wood.

If I make a bunch of drumsticks, or a bunch of stools, it's likely that I'll start to give them away.  My paternal grandfather used to enjoy making things out of wood -- but then would end up giving away most of the items, because the interesting bit is the designing and executing (the making).  Once you've made them -- well, how many cutting boards, footstools, and etc. do you really need...?   ;)  So I suspect I'll be the same way.


I've been meaning to record a song that I wrote a few weeks ago, about people going back to college, taking up exercising, and etc., in an effort to make their lives better.  Plus, a few nights ago I finally sat down and noodled around on the electric guitar -- and came up with a chord sequence that would make a good song (energetic, but slightly loose and sloppy).

I'm planning to do my first recording with real drums:  all of my existing recordings either use a drum machine, or are drum-less.  So first I need to figure out which is my preferred pair of room mics for drums (my inexpensive USB recording interface only has two inputs), then record both drum tracks for the two songs in parallel (i.e. "in the same session"), and then go back and forth between the other tracks for the pair of songs.

The recording process keeps getting delayed because we've been having nice weather, so on weekends I keep thinking, "Well, I'll do woodworking during the day, with the natural light, and do recording at night."  But by the time of nightfall, then having dinner, and doing things with the kids, and then checking e-mail -- well, it's time for bed!  ;)


Also, I have some yardwork types of tasks that I could do this week:  maybe finish tidying that pile of bricks at the end of the yard, and cut up some fallen branches for firewood.  Maybe pick up the various piles of miscellaneous (e.g. stashes of "found" wood) and consolidating them somewhere.


In the end, it'll be a balance between "going whichever way my mood takes me" and "being careful to NOT start 'yet another project', before finishing the ones I'm already working on".


And:  the family will probably catch a few movies.  For fun, we might try to catch two movies in a single day.


Regardless:  as long as I keep busy doing things that I like to do -- that's a well-spent vacation.  :)


--GG

Bored bored bored bored bored

So, my shoulder's feeling better -- a lot better -- so I'm trying to be cautious and wary and not be over-ambitious.

That means that I'm trying to not try to do physically active things on weekends, like woodworking or yardwork, or recording (e.g. playing guitar, re-arranging microphones).  And Monday-through-Friday I've been typing two-handed at work, which does make my shoulder a little sore by the end of the day -- so I really shouldn't do much computer work on the weekend.

And it's physically difficult to hold a book with just one hand -- so that means I can't really sit around reading.

So, that leaves:  watching t.v. and DVDs during the weekend.  Which I can do for a while.  But I'd much rather be doing woodworking or yardwork or music.

So I'm getting kinda bored.

But!  In two weeks I get to go back to the doctor's, and see if I can ditch the sling and start doing physical therapy.  We'll see.


--GG

I want this someday

I read about Tweed brand mixing consoles (from the '70s?) in a magazine article.

My web search led me to this page, including a catalog of Tweed mixers (see the link on that page).

I particularly like the one that I've linked to (see photo to the left).  Someday...  [sigh...]


There was also an article on that website about the "original" 4-track cassette recorders.  This one is very similar to the model that I had.

Or, rather -- I still do have it.  It's in a box somewhere.


--GG

Crunchbang

Sorry -- haven't posted for a while.

About two weeks ago, the laptop that I bought used, about five(?) years ago, for AU$230, finally bit the dust.

For the last year or so the keyboard had not been working properly, so I had to use an external, USB keyboard:  not too bad.  But recently I think the "up-arrow" key was stuck in a "pressed" position, because the cursor would keep moving to the top of text windows (and lists of files, within folders).  This made the computer awkward to use (although I figured out that tapping the "down-arrow" key would over-ride the "up-arrow" tendency).

But finally:  it just wouldn't boot.

Luckily, I had backed everything up just two sessions before -- so I'd only lost some notes to myself, plus one or two webpages that I'd saved to HD.


Browsed the local online classifieds (gumtree.com.au), for a replacement.  This time I'm going back to desktop units:  they're modular, so if the screen, keyboard, etc. goes wonky -- you can swap it out with ease.  I found a local guy who had a range of business-surplus Dell desktop PCs for sale.  All of them came with a keyboard, mouse, and a flat-screen monitor.

I was deciding between a AU$50, AU$80, and AU$100 machine.  The difference between the $50 and the $80 choices was that the $80 machine had twice the RAM (2GB vs. 1GB).  The difference between the $80 and $100 machine was the processor speed:  I think it was 2.4GHz versus 2.6GHz.  So I went with the $80 machine:  I'd pay $20 for the bump up in RAM, but not bother with the proportionately small increase in speed.

Took it home, and -- for something different -- installed Crunchbang, which is a bare-bones version of Linux that's designed for older, lower-spec machines.  It intentionally omits a lot of guff:  the fancy bells-and-whistles, fancy desktop thingies, and the like.  I'd recently read a comparison of five low-impact Linux distros, and this one was in the top two (based on my criteria:  straightforward to install, straightforward installation of new software, and can play YouTube videos).

The other option was a Ubuntu-related distro, called Bohdi Linux -- but I figured I'd give the non-Ubuntu flavor a chance:  Ubuntu already has enough market share.  :)


So far I like Crunchbang well enough -- although I've actually had to dabble with the "terminal" (basically, like working in DOS instead of a Windows environment) to install some additional (free!!!) software (graphics, recording, and video editing software).  And unlike Mint Linux -- which I had on my laptop -- which lets you browse by software category (e.g. "games") -- with Crunchbang you have to already know the name of the software.

But, some websearches, and some notes to myself, let me achieve what I needed to achieve.  So, sure.


Also:  Crunchbang seems to have a quirk where if you're trying to save a folder with the same name as an existing folder, instead of automatically saving a copy and calling it "copy of ____" -- it appears to just re-save the contents back into the original folder.  Huh.


Other than that, though, it's working well:  I've just finished a session of doing some audio editing of some audio files of two hours of interviewing that I did of my late grandfather.


Also -- for you newbie Linux users -- I've noticed with both my Mint Linux laptop, and my Crunchbang Linux desktop machine -- that you have to turn on the router after starting up the web browser.  If the router is already on, and then you turn on the computer -- it says you're connected, but your web browser still can't figure it out.  So you have to go turn off the router, then turn it back on again.  Easy enough -- but a bit of a nuisance.


Also, Crunchbang doesn't seem to have a "check the integrity of your USB flashdrive" app -- whereas Windows and (I believe) other Linux distros do.  Yeah, it has fsck -- which I believe stands for "file system check" -- but that's only through the terminal, and I haven't taught myself how to use it properly.  I was hoping for something where I just right-click on the USB flashdrive icon and choose a "scan the disk for errors" option.

Ah well.  It's free.  And interesting to use.


Oh:  and I tried to use the laptop again, just to see if I could salvage those extra two days' worth of work.  And it started up!  But now I don't trust it:  I don't want an un-reliable computer.  So:  never mind.

But I did grab the additional files from it, and copied them to my "new" computer.


--GG

Idyllic morning

This morning the kids Tae Kwon Do class had a special "Saturday session":  an optional class where all the various branches met at the same place and had a three-hour training session, with a potluck afterwards.

During that session I sat in the car, with the windows rolled down, and read recording magazines.  It was a warm, but not hot, morning, with fairly consistent breeze -- so it wasn't at all hot while sitting in the car.  I'd brought along a "fake beer" (non-alcoholic), and after I finished that I walked to the 7-11 less than a block away and picked up a large slushie.  Then, back to reading.

It was the nicest morning I'd had in a long time!  When I win the lottery, I aim to spend most mornings like that...


--GG

Geeky diversity

I have a lot of interests, and not a lot of time.  Which, I suppose, means that I desperately need to win the lottery so I can work half-time (I don't think I'd **quit** work -- just scale back my hours) and actually indulge in my various interests.

One of my dad's bits of wisdom is that ''you can only spend money once''.  In other words, it's zero-sum:  you can buy five lattes **or** a CD.  So, I try to prioritize my purchases, based on what would be the most fun, useful, interesting; what would actually be used immediately, rather than purchased and then sit in the queue, **waiting** to be used.

So, **normal** people have one main hobby, and that's what they throw their disposible income at:  football tickets and fan paraphernalia; golfing gear; fishing gear; car stuff...

I have ''battling interests''.  Should I buy a AU-to-U.S. voltage converter, so that I can use my American-voltage recording gear -- or should I buy a decent, rest-of-my-life lathe (see left)?  Should I buy a basic (single-trace) oscilloscope from Jaycar for around $150 -- or an entry-level (but of adequate quality) drill press?  I could attend the local Black Crane style of kung fu, twice a week -- or I could devote the same time to recording my songs, and spend three months' of class fees on a ribbon microphone.

And there's a pretty groovy vocoder-synth I've had my eye on.  Although it's equivalent to a year's worth of slushies.


At the moment, the answer is ''none of the above'' -- because I'm having a hard enough time just squeeing some some guitar time, and I haven't recorded with the few tools I **have** for a few months, now.  And I don't have the time to install a lathe, let alone a drill press.

Time, time, time.


--GG

Oddball pedal

While intonating the Hanna Montana guitar that I keep at work (doesn't everyone???), the bolt that adjusts one of the saddles got stuck:  cheap hardware.  So, I'm going to replace it with a Les Paul-style bridge.

Since I'll be modding it anyhow, I decided to do some funky things with the electronics (which I'll describe when I actually **do** it).  So I had to dig though my pile of boxes to find the box (about the size of a shoebox) of electronics parts that I haven't used in three years.

Managed to find it!  And, in doing so, came across this oddball effects pedal.

I don't actually remember buying it -- but, clearly I did.  Likely off of eBay, around 2002 or 2003, in Seattle.  Presumably I tested it, to make sure it worked...


Guitarists will, at first glance, think it's a wah-wah pedal.  The rest of you can do a YouTube search for wah pedals; I'm sure there's a few videos there.

BUT -- note that it has an XLR output (microphone output) on the side.  The other side has a mic input.

As indicated by the instructions on the back (click photo to enlarge), you set a minimum and maximum volume level with the two knobs on the side.  Then you use the foot pedal to sweep between those two settings.

Kind of like a guitarists volume pedal -- except that it's for micing the amp for recording or PA work.


My immediate thought is that this pedal is clever -- but wrong-headed. Seems like you could just use a distortion, boost or overdrive pedal (with the level of distortion set to minimum) to get a louder or quieter volume ''on the fly''.  Or, just use a volume pedal (although, it wouldn't have the pre-set volume levels).

But my second thought was that if you leave the mic at the same level and reduce the guitar signal, then the room noise (and amp hum) will still exist, and may overshadow the ''good'' (guitar) signal that you want.  So having a way of keeping the guitar output volume at the same relative level to the room noise and the amp hum actually makes a lot of sense.


Still, I don't think I'll actually use it:  when recording, I don't tend to turn my effects on and off.  So everything for that pass is supposed to be at a fairly consistent volume.

So, oddball -- and I'll probably never use it.  But perhaps it's collectable.


Certainly, it's interesting.  :)

--GG


P.S.  For the Google search robots:  it's a Jim Dunlop ''Lead Master'' pedal, model SL-50.

Additional fun with AutoTune

More fun with AutoTune!


1) Another infomercial, set to music:




2) Auto-Tune the News (one out of the series):




--GG

Congrats on Guitar Cousin's album

Guitar Cousin has released an album! He wrote and arranged the songs, did all the instrumentation and vocals, laid down the tracks and mixed it, and did all the graphics and layout. I think the only thing that he outsourced is the "mastering" process (and, the actual physical printing of the CD sleeve and the CD).

This is actually a belated announcement, as he released it around November 17th, 2011.

I appreciate that he included the lyrics in the CD sleeve: not everyone does that.


It's a long slog to create a CD. Particularly in the "recorded" arts (audio recording, film making -- and **especially** animation) -- the ratio between time invested and a final product is just wretched. For me, it takes about 8 hrs. for a three minute rock song -- so about a 160-to-1 ratio. Urgh.


Anyhow: tastes vary, but I think it's a good album. Depending on the song, it reminds me of bits of Rush, Evanescence, goth music. Also Metallica and Maiden influneces (not surprising, given his musical background).


So: band name is NilSonance, and it's available at his website -- http://www.nilsonance.com -- as well as Amazon and iTunes and CD Baby.


--GG

Song backlog

For a week or so, I was doing pretty well with recording: spending an hour or two an evening, a few times a week. But I seem to have stalled out: busy with other stuff in the evening. So, the song for which I've been laying down tracks is still only about one-third completed.

And yet, while helping with the weekly grocery shopping this weekend, I accidentally wrote another song. Had a bassline and a drum beat going through my head, as I pushed the shopping cart up and down the aisles. Figured I should add some lyrics. At the end of the second line of the first verse, I took a left turn and followed the concept to its logical conclusion.

The song is about about a guy who decides to break up with his girlfriend and date a mime instead. I'm fairly confident that this doesn't mean that my subconscious thinks The Lady talks too much.


It's good that I wrote another song -- but, frustrating in that it's yet **another** song that I have in the queue, that I can't managed to get to. A week ago I had three songs in the "hot" queue. Now I have four.

But, better than **not** having songs in the queue.


--GG

No sleep is less music

I guess I'm old enough that I'm starting to repeat myself. Was gonna do a blog entry on how productive I'd be if I didn't need to sleep. But a quick Google search of "gye greene sleep superman" returned my earlier blog entry on essentially the same topic.

But, to elaborate: I haven't been able to get much recording done, as late. For a while I was squeezing in an hour or two an evening -- mostly after everyone else had gone to bed. But for the last few days The Lady has been trying to finish up a work project, so I've been getting the kids to sleep -- and accidentally falling asleep myself in the process.

But, if I didn't need sleep: man! I could record about a song a night. Talk about productivity!!!


--GG

Reasonably productive weekend

Had a pretty good weekend -- and by "good", I apparently mean "productive".

Made substantial progress on the luggage rack for the garage: it's a place to put misc. boxes, suitcases, and such which are currently haphazardly piled on the floor in the middle of the garage. It's more efficient to make use of vertical space: right now the pile is only about waist height; I want to move it to ankle-through-forehead height, and against the wall.

I have yet to put two more horizontal braces, plus a diagonal, on the main framework. And I need to cut and install all the slats for the platform: right now there's nothing to the shelves, just the framework. I'll post a photo when it's completed.


AND -- I mangage to get some recording done!!! Sunday night, spent about two hours with a song I haven't recorded on since May(!!!). Played back the existing tracks (most of them "scratch" tracks, but three were intended to be keepers) -- and realized that I'd recorded it at the wrong tempo! Sang a track just vocals, no instruments, just to see the inherent speed. Ayep -- noticeably off.

So, had to dump all of the existing tracks, and start over. Ah well: good experience. And the existing tracks didn't line up very well, anyhow. It had been so long since I'd recorded that I'd forgotten my basic approach, so I hadn't laid down a reference vocal track (i.e., to keep track of where I am in the song -- verse, chorus, etc.).

So: I now have a click track (a wooden metronome, which may remain in the final mix as an unusual percussion track), and a scratch vocal track. Onwards and upwards!

BTW -- the metronome had an unpleasant buzzing sound with every click. Turned out that the sides of the case were buzzing: when I pinched the sides with my fingers, the tone improved. So, held the sides in with a woodworking clamp before recording it.


--GG

Even better

Well, I **had** planned to use the one-and-a-half hour window between the kids' bedtime and when **I** try to go to bed to get some recording done. But, I forgot that tonight was The Lady's online tutorial (or "quiz section", at some universities), for the "distance learning" students. So, it was up to me to wrangle the kids.

The two boys fell asleep partway through the bedtime story -- an Irish folk tale. The Girl stayed awake.

The folk tale featured a boy who kindly shared his food with a stranger, who turned out to be the king of the fairies in disguise. It reminded me of a fairy tale from my big blue book of fairy tales (My World of Fairy Tales: Stories from Grimm, Perrault and Andersen, retold by Jane Carruth) that I've had since I was a kid. I told the girl that a lot of fairy tales involve a nice person who has a meagre lunch but shares it with a stranger, and a mean person with a big lunch who doesn't share -- and the generous person gets rewarded.

Managed to find it in just a few minutes. Read The Girl the story I was thinking of. Then noted that a lot of fairy tales have two sisters: a nice one, and a mean one; the nice one does something nice, and gets rewarded with gold (or gems) falling from her mouth with every word, while the mean one gets curses with toads or snakes falling from her mouth. Found -- and read -- a similar story from the big blue fairy tale book.

Then I read Puss-in-Boots -- just 'cause it's a good story.

And then The Lady came in, and wondered why The Girl was up so late past her bed time. (No matter: she's on school holidays.)


So: I read The Girl Bedtime stories for an hour and a half, rather than recording part of a song. Okay. That works.


--GG

My tastes

Because I dislike having to wait around without anything to read (if I have something decent to read, I don't mind waiting), I keep a few half-read magazines in the map pocket of the car.


Over the last week, I've noticed that none of the woodworking magazine ads make me go "Oooh..." Example:

This is probably because I've reached a stage where I've amassed enough (used) woodworking hand tools to do what I need to do. (Still need a lathe and a bandsaw, though.) Now I need to clean them up and start **using** them, and developing my skills. I don't need to buy any more of 'em.


Some of the guitar magazine ads (guitars; guitar amps; effects pedals) make me go "Oooh..." Example:


I can always use another effects pedal. ;) And one of these days it'd be nice to have a tube amp...


But, the recording magazines. Yowza!!! I mean, check **this** out:Or this:


Yowwww-zaaaa...!!!


Sadly, these things ain't cheap -- so I'll probably never bring myself to actually get one of these. But if someone gave me a choice between some $3,000 flat-screen t.v., and one o' those blue things (above), I know which one **I'd** choose.

Partly 'cause it's a **tool**: you can do useful things with it. And partly -- dunno. Aesthetics, I guess. And it has lots of knobs and switches.


Different tastes. Whenever I show my wife ads for effects pedals or recording gear, she just shrugs. ;)


--GG

Girl intuitive recording

I thought this was pretty neat.

My 5yo daughter likes playing around with my Asus eee netbook. I let her, because unlike on a Windows machine, most of the settings are hidden away -- so when she thrashes about trying to do something, it's unlikely that she'll change any of my settings (or delete any important files).

Usually she just uses the children's paint program. Today, she was making funny faces in the webcam.

Then, later, I walked by and she was using the sound recorder to record herself. She especially liked singing and yelling loud enough to push the level meter into the red.

I went to her room and fetched her harmonica (each of my kids has a harmonica; doesn't everyone's?) and a maraca (yeah, they each have their own maraca, too). She then started alternating between playing the harmonica, and singing.

Here's the good part: when playing back her recordings, she started shaking the maraca along to her recorded music. Doing that is the basis of multitrack recording: you play back what you already have, then play along with it to record a new track (technical term: overdubbing).

Ahhh -- if only I had my computer set up for recording...

I think she'd have a lot of fun with that. Highly supervised, of course.


--GG

If I had a million dollars

Oddly, if I had a million dollars, my day-to-day life wouldn't change much. I'd still only be having the boys in daycare two days a week, because we're trying to minimize that. And I actually kinda enjoy my job -- so I'd still keep working. But maybe ten hours a week instead of twenty.

But once the kids were in school full-time, I'd go up to twenty hours a week -- rather than full time. And I'd take martial arts classes; exercise more; record music a few times a week, probably in three-hour blocks; and do more woodworking.


The biggest change: have Indian or Middle Eastern food -- take-out, from a restaurant -- a **lot** more! :)

Oh: and buy maybe two funky synthesizers. And a really fancy fuzz pedal.


--GG

Future plans

We have three children under six, so it's a whole lot easier if both parents wrangle the kids on evenings and weekends.

But eventually (??!!) the kids will be a little more self-contained, such that they won't need constant supervision in the evenings, and one adult can wrangle them for the weekly grocery trip.


Given that future state of affairs, here's my plan:

-Back when I was actually recording music, I could record, and mix, an entire song in almost exactly eight hours.

-This "eight hours" did not include working out the lyrics, chords, or various instrumental parts; that is, I had to already have a clear sense of all the parts.

-I'll have my music gear set up, such that I can be powered-up and playing (or recording) within just a few minutes.

-Most weeknights I'll play music for a half hour to an hour. Much of this will be songwriting related (e.g. finalizing lyrics; working out the various instrumental parts). Some of this will end up recorded.

-Spent part of a day (i.e., around 4 hours) on the weekend recording and/or mixing.

-THEREFORE, I should have a song recorded every fortnight (i.e., every two weeks). Post a rough mix to my blog; live with it for a few days, and possibly create (and post) a "revised mix" a few days later.

-Try to produce catchy enough tunes that they go semi-viral; try to provide new content with enough frequency that people actually check back.

-Aspire to -- not fame, per se; not fortune -- but that lots of people have my music on their mp3 players.

-ALTHOUGH -- if I get enough of a following, split my releases between the free downloads on my blog, and purchased ones on some mp3-sales site.


All this, of course, is in the future. :)


--GG

Music equipment of the Pacific Northwest

Over the last half-year I've discovered that there's a fair number of music equipment manufacturers in the Pacific Northwest -- some of them directly in the Seattle area.

A shame that I didn't know this back when I was temp-ing, or I would've tried to get hooked up with them folks: much more useful (to me) employee discounts than working at a clothing store, a hospital billing department, or a sun-protective clothing mail-order place.


GUITAR/BASS EFFECTS PEDALS:

Devi Ever: Portland, OR; lotsa nifty-looking fuzz pedals

Tortuga Effects: Seattle, WA; Pacific NW-themed effects pedals, including "Rain Delay" echo/delay pedal, and the Sasquatch fuzz pedal (photo above); plus non-Pac. N.W. themed, as well


GUITAR/BASS PICKUPS:

Lollar Guitars: Vashon Island, WA

T.V. Jones:m Poulsbo, WA; custom electric guitars, too

Guitar Cousin: Seattle-ish, WA; hand-wound his own, for his grandson's science fair project


OTHER:

Mackie: Woodinville, WA; mixers, plus various studio monitors and recording gear

Cascade Microphones: Olympia, WA ; ribbon mics



Groovy.


--GG