what is going on in your musical life

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

Congrats; good mastering is a species of wizardry.

In my musical life I think I might be sitting in on bass for a rockabilly outfit next week. Which makes perfect sense, because the things I am good at are: (1) sorta punky drumming, (2) mostly folky guitar-playing, (3) sometimes playing New Wave covers with a mandolin on my porch.

I'm singing in a concert full of Bach family music on Sunday. I'm the soloist in the following Johann Michael Bach piece, which means I get to be Jesus:

https://youtu.be/NCzA8F_S510

wait you weren't already Jesus?

Djesus

Now it's official!

I had never heard of Johann Michael Bach. That link is a pretty good recording.

After listening to that link, I feel a bit dirty posting my bands new riffage.

https://trunnionrecords.bandcamp.com/album/heavy-elements

sounds good!

I'll post a recording from our concert once I get it and verify that I don't sound terrible.

Collaborated on a spacey, funk/jazz tune with my friend who included it on his album which was released today. Very happy with how it turned out:

https://jasonamullinax.bandcamp.com/track/outbreak-monkey

Enjoying this. What did you play?

Thanks! We passed the song back and forth. He sent me two drum loops and I added the bass, autoharp, and most of the keyboard sounds. I sent it back to him and he had vibes and sax added by some other friends

i'm painting all the zeros in a book of million digits, and i made the accompanying music out of a few older tracks from 2012/13, one a kind of simple chance-based synth sequence, the other a collage of orchestra warm-up noise loops. it's 50 minutes long but it really flies by because that's about how long each page of zeros takes. an intense ambient race to the finish!

https://soundcloud.com/weinventyou/painting-zeros

Approximately once a month I sing solo at an evening service as part of my church gig. I did that this Wednesday; the organist was coming from another service in Cambridge that ran late and didn't make it to the church until about 3 minutes after our service was supposed to begin, so we didn't get a chance to rehearse. Fortunately, we discussed this possibility earlier and chose a piece I know backwards and forwards that we had done together before, so the whole thing went smoothly. Perhaps the most gratifying thing was a couple of tourists who came in for the beginning of the service and started to sneak out after the sermon, only to stop at the door when I started singing and stay for most of my song.

(I sang an excerpt from Mendelssohn's Elijah; here is a recording of a performance I did last year.)

Also, the Mountain Goats album I contributed to was released today:

https://themountaingoats.bandcamp.com/album/goths

Well, the NEWEST mountain goats album you've contributed to, right?

ha yes, that is more accurate

I have been taking long lenghts of dialouge from my favourite movies and making stupid eGarbage garageband backings for them. very good to listen to in the car!

So a while back I attached myself to a new band that had a singer and a drummer. I told them I would be happy to play guitar, bass, mandolin, or whatever. They said they needed bass most, so I became the bass player. I am enjoying this.

They added a guitar player who could play lead (which I don't really do). But I have this nagging sense that there's a difference between "lead guitarist" and "only guitarist." I feel like the sound gets thin when he solos, but it is a bit "samey" when he just plays chords. I keep finding myself wanting to add a rhythm guitar part, an acoustic guitar, or a mandolin part. Whenever I do so that helps vary the texture, but then the bass is gone.

In my ideal world, the band would add another multi-instrumentalist who is willing to switch off at least some of the time. Pass the bass around, do rock-paper-scissors.

ha, i am starting to understand why people prefer the leanest band possible now that i am trying to wrangle >2 adults at a time.

lots of things going on in my musical world but mostly i am excited because i am going on tour for the first time. we leave 2 weeks from yesterday. goal #1 is to make this a good experience. i have reasonable expectations and there are only 2 of us, and we get along/communicate well. it should be really fun!! i am only playing snare and floor tom too, which reduces the hassle.

That rules, enjoy!

Good luck LL, break a stick (or whatever)

Yay! have a fun tour.

Thanks! I am so eagerly anticipating this that I'm trying to be cool and control myself so I don't wig :)
We are only going out Wed-Sun so it's not super long, and I am playing my hometown but at the end when we will be relaxed and able to have a good time. I think that is what is giving me the most potential to freak out -- hometown show?! What is even happening

Hey that's great LL, hope it'll be a great experience for you!

Is there decent a tour van? :)

Just a car, we jam econo
Lol