what is going on in your musical life

I really wanna do a collaboration with LL but it sounds like you have an awful lot on your plate already!

-- while on tour the woman whose set was after us ran up to me after our set and asked if i would join her, so i said sure. we listened to a little of her music on the way to the show but it was very unstructured synth washes and no vocals. she assured me her set that night was loop based and i could just follow that. she looped mostly vocal parts and added some synth sounds. it was indeed easy to follow and i enjoyed it a lot.

sounds so neat

I really wanna do a collaboration with LL but it sounds like you have an awful lot on your plate already!
HMU October or so and we can make something dark and gnarly for the winter! i'm into it.

Ooooh, definitely! <3

omg hell yes <3

you buy enough pedals, eventually you'll find an inspiring tone.

I very much enjoyed that.

I've got a song that I've been working on and off for the last few years. Played it live with my band a bunch of times and then made a 'production' version with live and electronic instrumentation. Finally came up with lyrics that I'm happy with, but every time I try and sing over the production, it comes out not quite right, whereas it always worked well live. Wonder if it's the quality of my voice not working with the electronic backing or if I'm not adding the right production sheen to it (delay and reverb still sound weird). Not really sure if there's anything I can do about this.

I believe that skilled mixers make "room" for a particular vocal in a particular mix by EQing other instruments _out_ of a given range and bringing the vocal _in_. It is a realm of utter mystery to me so I would just get a professional to do it, but that's me.

You could also just be letting the perfectionism of careful micro-listening in a recording situation get to you. Things work live because it's fun and grooving and you're inside the soundscape. When you're just laser-focused on minute imperfections in headphones or whatever, you're going to feel differently. It could be that the problem you're perceiving isn't a problem at all.

I believe that skilled mixers make "room" for a particular vocal in a particular mix by EQing other instruments _out_ of a given range and bringing the vocal _in_. It is a realm of utter mystery to me so I would just get a professional to do it, but that's me.

That basically sounds right. A very slight notch (maybe even e.g. -0.5 dB with Q of ≈5) in the other part is often all that is needed to let the voice (or anything else you want to bring out at a frequency) cut through. I can't comment on dog latin's recording but this might be helpful wrt mixing idk - key vocal frequencies, from Ian Corbett's Mic It!:

• Bottom, weight. Below 120 Hz. Usually unnecessary in the voice track, so it can be cut. [I would cut lower than this for deeper voices. Identify the lowest fundamental in the track and cut a little below that, as a starting point, generally.]
• Boom, muddiness. 150 to 300 Hz. Too much thickness in this range can be caused by proximity effect, in which case a low or low-mid attenuation will help vocal clarity. Conversely, some singers may need a little boost here to reduce perceived thinness or scratchiness.
• Boxiness. 400 to 600 Hz. This range can often be attenuated in order to give the vocal sound more clarity and intelligibility. This range includes some fundamental frequencies of higher pitched or female vocals, so attenuating too much can make the vocal sound unnaturally thin.
• Honkiness. 600 to 800 Hz. Attenuation here can remove a bull-horn, megaphone, AM radio-like character.
• Definition, nasally. 1 to 2.5 kHz. Our ears are most sensitive to this frequency range because it contains so much important speech intelligibility and diction information. It can be reduced to make a voice less thin, or boosted (when lacking) for more clarity.
• Presence. Around 5 kHz. Can be boosted to give the singer an edge and allow them to cut through the mix – but make sure it does not make sibilance too bright and sizzly.
• Sibilance. 5 to 10 kHz (different for each singer). If a singer’s Ss and Ts stick out too much, use the boost-sweep-cut technique described in Chapter 4 to find the center of their sibilance and apply a gentle attenuation.
• Air. A wide filter above 12 KHz. A boost of a few dBs can give a vocal a sultry, breathy intimacy. If the frequency is too low, it can boost too much sibilance, or undesirable, harsh characteristics below 8 KHz.

I'm having a good and busy summer: I finished writing a piece for flute/clarinet/violin/cello a month and a half ago or so, for a likely performance by a relatively high-profile ensemble in early 2018. I finished composing a new guitar/electronics piece, to be performed next spring as well, and hopefully recorded then. I'm working on practising the solos, which I want to be more loose/improvisational. Mostly finished a short second string quartet movement and going to move on to a 10-string classical guitar piece for someone's Master's recital. At moments, I wish I had time to just focus on the guitar/electronics stuff, which might be the work I feel most excited about, but I can't complain, really.

Rock on, Sund4r.

Me, I'm playing bass in one band and drums in another; every few days I look wistfully at the guitars on the wall and wonder when I will next be in a situation where someone wants me to play guitar.

Looking forward to a recording session with the mighty Don Zientara at Inner Ear in a few weeks.

Getting a custom built Telecaster! A buddy of mine has a budding luthiery business, and mine will be No. 3.

I will post pictures as it progresses

Looking forward to a recording session with the mighty Don Zientara at Inner Ear in a few weeks.

V cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP2HXjqVGQk&feature=youtu.be

Video not working.

just saw the mixing advice upthread - thanks so much for this

Np! Btw, you might be familiar with this but:

use the boost-sweep-cut technique described in Chapter 4 to find the center of their sibilance and apply a gentle attenuation.

Without checking Ch. 4, I'm guessing that what he means is the trick of creating a 'spike' (a very steep and narrow boost, e.g. 12 dB with a Q setting of 10) and sweeping it back and forth across the problem area until you identify the frequency with the most acoustic problems (e.g. very prominent resonances, distortion, pitches on unpitched issues). Then you apply a small notch at that frequency.

(After checking, yep.)

Ooh that is a cool trick

pitches on unpitched issues instruments

Apparently Iggy Pop played the Mountain Goats song I did a vocal arrangement for on his show tonight.

And here I was excited a band I'm in put out a digital EP on bandcamp today.

if i compared myself to other people, i'd never have permission to get excited about ANYTHING
gotta take the good feelings where you can get em imo :)

i put up some new jams on bandcamp and feel pretty good about them
though i need to increase the recording level next time because it was WAY too quiet

I understand in theory but putting it into practice isn't my forte.

Anyways, here's CRUTCH FIELD. I'm very happy with my lap steel playing on the first track.

https://heplad.bandcamp.com/album/crutch-field

you have to practice it! like anything.
here are my new jams -- instrumental drums/synth/loops duo, i think we are fun. my favorite part is 3:10-3:11 of Shark Boob https://boobsweat.bandcamp.com/album/boob-sweat-demos

i also designed and delivered a super fun improvisation workshop for kids. now that it's done, i can deliver it anytime. i think my favorite part is the supplemental materials package that includes a whole section of advice, positive experiences, and inspiration as well as listening and reading recommendations.

EZ did you assemble those tracks remotely? how did that happen?

This was all done remotely. The other guy in HEP LAD is in New York. He use to be in bands with my friend Nevada in college and we've gotten close after Nevada's passing.

That improv for kids workshop sounds cool! Where did you get to do that?

girls rock! (mission statement: Building socially just community with girls, transgender youth, and gender non-conforming youth by developing leadership, fostering self-esteem, and encouraging creative expression through music.)

We are practicing to play a gig in Louisville @ the Mag Bar with a band called Dead Country Gentleman from San Francisco in a couple of weeks. Drummer f-ed up his back, so since drummer had been down for a month, I had been working on some other tracks we had cut with the guitarist. Practiced last week and got a couple more till the show.

https://youtu.be/w8lYfQXd8sY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP2HXjqVGQk

take two

i've been building my musical network on soundcloud, the platform of the future

https://soundcloud.com/weinventyou/unfollow

karl you should make a bandcamp

yeah, i guess i'll probably have to move over there pretty soon. it's probably all for the better, anyway

Put out a release

https://soundcloud.com/constantlightduo/constant-light-lie-of-the-lands

https://constantlight.bandcamp.com/album/from-the-unhip-observations-2

and stoked to be planning live shows again after a lengthy absence...

did any of you ever use mp3.com back in like 1998 when it was just open to anyone who wanted to have a band page with mp3's
those were the days

It was a cool place for electronic music at the time. I had a couple ambient tracks end up on compilations in Europe from there. I had a CDR up there for sale back then.

I joined a local dad cover band. Concept is to do lite rock stuff with a lot of vocal harmonies. It's my first time doing vocals in a band - I have a pretty good voice but never really used it.

Fun! Enjoy.

Me, I just finished a dreampop/space-rock project and I'm extremely happy with how it turned out.

This band is made up of childhood friends living on opposite coasts, so we only had a week. We emailed and dropboxed demos back and forth, but ultimately we had one rehearsal, one afternoon in the studio, and one 20-minute live set - all in about six days.

I played drums, a bit of mandolin, and contributed lyrics. Don Zientara of Inner Ear Studios, here in Arlington, made my decidedly subpar drums sound pretty good.

https://soundcloud.com/theageofairships/sets/2017a

I think "Trillion-Ton Iceberg" and "Rotary Motion" are highlights. I like the sound of the intertwined male and female vocals.

I joined a local dad cover band. Concept is to do lite rock stuff with a lot of vocal harmonies. It's my first time doing vocals in a band - I have a pretty good voice but never really used it.

Actually was just thinking of you since a bass player I know told me his son is starting at your alma mater this year.

wkiw man alive's daddy doo-wop group

finished mixing our album!

also our DX7 went completely bonkers

got replaced by a man :(
long story that i don't feel like telling but that is the gist of it. the synthpop project i was playing with changed into a rock band while i wasn't looking and my playing isn't what the project is looking for. oh well!

that sucks. i thought of you while listening to the new Trap Set ep, where Joe interviews a 105 year old woman who is a total bad-ass.

bless her forever
i need to catch up on my trap set eps - they almost always make me feel better when i feel low

ugh what bullshit! Your powers will be properly appreciated elsewhere (I mean they already are since I know you have multiple irons in the fire but you know what I mean). You don't need 'em.

it's fine
it just happens to be what's going on and i would rather not have to talk about it any more than i already have
moving on!!