what is going on in your musical life

it went better than I expected.

excellent to hear, sorry you had that specific occasion to play

yeah, there were some press people there, which I hadn't even thought about when I volunteered to play, but when I saw them with their cameras, I said to myself, "Of course." Pretty much whenever I saw someone come up to me hauling pro camera gear, I turned my back to them. Fortunately, my instrument was conducive to that.

glad it worked out; it's a tough situation all the way around

on my end of things, I sang in our annual "half-hour Messiah" recital where a quartet from my church choir sings several Messiah arias and then does a Hallelujah chorus singalong with the audience; it went well and my wife's Rejoice Greatly was pretty good considering she has a massive cold and this was her first big solo sing post-surgery and post-chemo

this is happening

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C0TiNVdUQAAdu7f.jpg

xp - your wife is amazing.

hey Sarah you performance looked/sounded so rad from what I saw
hey Shakey I'll be at that show

I came out with a new free EP of weirdo lo-fi Chaki funk http://chaki.bandcamp.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DmhRMcE53Y

xp Shakey that rocks. And that poster is amazing btw.

all shakey's band posters look like that.

looks great shakes, is there going to be a bootleg of it?

Terrifying cover art Chaki

I've been struggling lately to master L Cohen's fingerpicking on The Partisan.

I upgraded to Live 9 Suite
now I just need a laptop to run it on
and to set up the rest of the gear in my new basement
oh and buy some gear

really that's more "what is going on in your consumerist life"

I'm in one of those phases rn where I just feel like selling all my gear bc I've had no creative impulse at all for months now.

I thought that was when you were supposed to buy new stuff, so you feel obligated to use it

It'll come back, Nick.

I am getting a new EP mastered and feeling very positive about the production end of things, although starting again with a blank slate is always both freeing and scary.

I also was feeling very positive about starting to dj, until I realized that using a controller is very different from using CDJs and that beatmatching by ear is a drag.

i dont know how i'm going to perform my new ep live. i think im going to use a roland sp 404 + live bass guitar + one of those korg monologues.

What kind of EP, Jordan?

Someone asked me to write a 10-string guitar piece for his 2018 Master's recital, which should be fun. I'm planning to start getting a new electric piece together over this holiday and maybe start writing another string quartet movement.

xp - your wife is amazing.

:-) she really is

Sund4r, have I asked you if you know of these guys? i was friends with the guitarist when he lived here and i figure the new music guitar world must be relatively small.

My new EP is more experimental club music on the same label as the last one, very physical found-sound drums and synths mostly made from sampling audio and running it through my ES2 pedal.

where is the master spreadsheet of y'alls links and bands and labels and stuff

That's really a thing?

nah (unless...jaymc.xls?)

I don't know them, Jordan. I should get better at that networking thing. I'll check out more of their stuff. Cool that they did Ferneyhough! And the EP sounds cool.

house-sat for my parents for the week after christmas, was bored out of my mind cept for taking the odyssey, a couple pedals and my zoom recorder with me - this is the best of what I did

Yesterday, I participated in a workshop about how to create grassroots new music scenes and organize concerts. I took a bathroom break and was informed by text that Future was asking for clearance to sample one of my songs. Today I am scoring a commercial for Wal-Mart. Interesting times.

:)

do you still live in mtl? i'm afraid our few remaining diy spaces are about to go the way of toronto's :( saw some stuff on fb recently about strange ppl taking photos around some of the van h0rne/beaub1en area spaces... i was p devastated when cops shut down 'the cove', took a while for people to rebuild

i was asked to play drums in a band then the guy who asked me to join disbanded the band and then i asked the remaining members if they wanted to start a new thing w/o him, and they all agreed, and now i'm playing guitar and so far it's going REALLY well

I lived in L.A. last year but moved back to Toronto for a scoring job that never got past the demoing stage. I do not understand why DIY spaces are being shut down.

the Oakland fire inspired an alt-right/4chan campaign to snitch on diy spaces, which they think are loci for the 'radical left'

Oh I see. Hmm. Maybe we could take some time to focus on historically what happens to fascists and Nazis once their power structures are overthrown

Yesterday, I participated in a workshop about how to create grassroots new music scenes and organize concerts.

curious about this! (the workshop and context)

Yesterday, I participated in a workshop about how to create grassroots new music scenes and organize concerts. I took a bathroom break and was informed by text that Future was asking for clearance to sample one of my songs. Today I am scoring a commercial for Wal-Mart. Interesting times.

― fgti

"I am not afraid," ze said
~ skrrt skrrt skrrt ~
"Of the non-believer within me"
~ Thought it was a drought, thought it, thought it was a drought ~

(seriously, you had a good day fgti <3)

I bought a relatively cheap iRig 2 thing to connect a guitar to my laptop and I'm trying out demos of the modeling software that's out - Amplitube and Bias and etc.. Playing through headphones isn't as satisfying as the few times I've played through a bigger amp turned up but compared to a 5W tube amp at bedroom or living room levels it's pretty sweet. If I ever moved back to a small apartment I think I'd be content to just use something like this or the expensive Kemper Profiling thing with studio monitors.

Amplitube is a helluva scam, though - $149 for the basic package then they sell you amps at $35 each or in bundles and pedals are $5-10 each.

the Oakland fire inspired an alt-right/4chan campaign to snitch on diy spaces, which they think are loci for the 'radical left'

there's a pretty great iOS amp modelling/multitrack recording thing called ToneStack, by a company called Yonac. Price for the basic app is modest and the additional amps and pedals are only a few bucks each, with good bundle pricing. The built in 4 track recorder is a paid upgrade that IIRC was less than 10 bucks. If you have an iPad it is more than capable of handling your guitar adventures. IDK though if that particular iRig works on iOS in addition to desktop. I think the one I have is specifically for iOS.

on desktop, some of the amps that come with Garageband are pretty good too.

organized/hosted, performed, recorded 2 completely different jams within a 7 day period, lost one set of recordings, but have two shows with my other band coming up, an EP on the way, and maybe a tour in june if all goes well. i'm coming up on 4 year anniversary and i'm not counting thousands of hours, but i'm getting there.

related plea for assistance: does anyone have a recommendation for a recording device that:
-- has usb input
-- can export (via USB?) in a variety of formats
-- easy to use; does not require acquisition of a large vocabulary in order to operate/troubleshoot
-- is less than $200
-- is not a piece of garbage

i will be recording in a basement, probably some other places too but definitely there.

I think the Zoom H4N would work for your needs.

what do you want to record? Do you want just a decent room mic situation, or do you want direct ins? Both?

the H4N is nice, in that it has both direct ins and a built in mic. You can get it for less than $200 in some places.

I want to do both -- I've got some microphones that I want to use to record at home and I want to be able to take it elsewhere to record on the fly as well. This sounds like what I'm looking for, thanks y'all!

I have a Sony D50 which is similar, but doesn't have the same inputs. I think the Sony is easier to use, but the Zoom H4N is more versatile, and I don't think the "learning curve" is particularly steep.

That's important to me -- I'm ok learning some stuff to use the device but my #1 concern is it being more complicated than I know what to do with and that will inhibit my use of the recorder, which is counterproductive for my goal of recording things. I don't want to lose anything again either, and ease of use helps me not make stupid mistakes.

It's easier than learning to record in Ableton or other audio software

Zoom H4N thirded. Mrs. Redd even got a Zoom camera recently to record kid's piano recital.

does anyone have the Zoom H1? Is it useful?

It is useful if you want to record things using the built in mic and then transfer them to your computer for editing. The Sony that I have is pretty comparable. It's what I use to record gigs and also sample things.

I have an H1. Mainly I use it for sampling and also recording acoustic instruments away from the computer, but it can also be used as a USB mic. The sound quality is good, but it does pick up a lot of room tone. There's one 3m x 3m room that I record vocals in that by way of makeshift acoustic treatment has a fully stocked bookshelf along one wall and thick curtains along another. Vocals with an SM57 sounds fine, but with the H1 it sounds like I'm recording in a concrete bunker. Also the built-in mics are very sensitive. Even with something like an acoustic guitar I'm adjusting the input level way down, so it might be tricky to use for recording a drum kit.

Listening and being kinda blown away on the mastered tracks my band just got back from Carl Saff is what I got going on right now. I think it all turned out pretty good.

that dude stays busy