August 3, 2007

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 7:02 am

Today is finally my last day at Amazon. Soon I can stop making that the sole content of my DRC posts. Of course, that means that my focus will shift to how annoying it is to sell a condo and move to another state and so on. Hooray!

QotD: What's the most fun you've ever had while working on a musical project?

For me it's a toss-up between the Run Faster multimix project and the incidental loop music I made for the animated error pages on my site. I think I've gotten more out of the error page music, considering each song only took me a few minutes to do and I've since used them for ringtones and so on.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 8:15 am

Congrats on the moving-on, Fluffy. YeeeHaaa

QotD: Mine would also be Run Faster. As it came together, from the helicopter traffic report sample I eventually had to extract on threat of law suit, to Abominominous' rap, to my wife's french runway announcer voice, to mixing in chickens, livestock and car crashes, and backwards guitar, I remember laughing out loud at times during production.

Previously the only project I'd say was "fun" through and through was the 1984 XMas tape, especially the Venison Sausage. Sad that there was 20 years between the two real fun projects.

EmbersOfAutumn · Post by **EmbersOfAutumn** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 8:40 am

QotD: It never got finished because of a stupid computer virus that forced me to format my hard drive, but I was working on a song for where I worked back in early 2004. I worked in the book bindary department of a specific corporation and the division was completely moving to upstate New York (I was in Brooklyn at the time). I had only been in the department for about 6 months, but I had grown really attached to the job and all of the people, so I had borrowed a friend's tape recorder and recorded everyone's thoughts on what they would miss most about Brooklyn and what they were looking forward to up in Northern NY State, and I was going to play them as .wav files over some soft acoustic guitar with a sung chorus between each verse. I was experimenting with my multi-track program for the first time at the time and was really having fun. I would overlap some comments and made it sound pretty neat. It was a pure shame that i never got to finish it.

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:38 am

EmbersOfAutumn wrote:I was in Brooklyn at the time

What part of Brooklyn? I'm a former Brooklynite as well.

There is so much going on in the Niviverse. I'm working on doing lyrics for a songfight. I would've had these lyrics done if it wasn't for my mp3 player sending the music into limbo and a ridiculous day where I was supposed to be taking my eldest child to an important doctor's appointment only to end up at the aquarium thanks to a last minute cancellation.

I've spend today doing work catch up, listening to the Seventh Son podcast and figuring out a lot of stuff in regards to my Septemberian project. The idea of doing it as an audio project, like Seventh Son, is intriguing because 1- it would save me the trouble of slow typing, 2- it would give me more practice at reading aloud (something I've been working on. I'm the type that my eyes jump ahead) and 3- it would be another way to incorporate music into the project which is something that I've wanted from the get-go. So, I'm doing a lot of thinking in that respect. One thing I'm no longer working about is art...because I've found an artist at last and I couldn't be happier.

More on my day later as I have to do some more lyric work as well as some other stuff.

Qotd: Geez, I love so many of the projects I've been involved in. I have been lucky enough to get to work with a lot of great people. Everytime I think back to all the awesome musicians who have sung words that I've written, I feel truly blessed. So I don't think I can narrow it down. But I will say that the Silent E weekend recently was pretty cool and I can't wait to work with TVIYH (and Verbatim) again.

EmbersOfAutumn · Post by **EmbersOfAutumn** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:43 am

Niveous wrote:
EmbersOfAutumn wrote:I was in Brooklyn at the time
What part of Brooklyn? I'm a former Brooklynite as well.

Right across the Brooklyn Bridge, in the Heights.

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 10:00 am

EmbersOfAutumn wrote:
Niveous wrote:
EmbersOfAutumn wrote:I was in Brooklyn at the time
What part of Brooklyn? I'm a former Brooklynite as well.
Right across the Brooklyn Bridge, in the Heights.

Ah, Roymond's part of town.

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 10:04 am

QOTD: Every day it gets more fun. Sat down with the slide guitar this week and found some phrases I'd liked, but couldn't get words to fit. The other singer came to practice last night with a lyric sheet and wham, synchronicity struck. Super fucking groovy.

Sharing the stage with Albatross, Freudian Slip, Spud, Tex Beaumont, Ken, King Arthur, Brody, JB, and bunches of the rest of y'all is a pleasure, an honor, and one helluva treat. Thank you.

jimtyrrell · Post by **jimtyrrell** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 10:34 am

1:20pm and I'm full of buffalo chicken pizza. In a few hours I'm headed up to The Balsams for Friday/Saturday shows. I might head over to Vermont during the day Saturday, because there's some big music festival happening there.

QotD: Naked Java played at The Outback in Plymouth (it's The Lucky Dog now) in 1990 or so. It was the guitarist's 21st birthday. I played bass and did most of the singing, Mike Conner was on drums, and Dan O'Leary was the birthday boy. Here's what I remember from the night:

Monkey Gone To Heaven - Pixies
In Between Days - The Cure
Mountain Song - Jane's Addiction
After Hours - Velvet Underground
Boys Don't Cry - The Cure
Is She Really Going Out With Him? - Joe Jackson
A Walk In The Park - Mark Greenleaf
Wave Of Mutilation - Pixies
I Was A Fool (To Let You Go) - Barry Manilow
Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
Country Death Song - Violent Femmes
Dream Away - Dan O'Leary
Funk Your Mother - an extremely witty and clever band original
Banana Splits Theme - The Banana Splits
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

I've got part of the show on tape somewhere.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:12 am

I really enjoy doing the collabs, but the project I find myself remembering fondly was the recording of The Goo Sessions (as Brainpipe, my band with Starfinger). We did basically an AAD before we had heard about AADs, on a weekend when he came to visit in my home studio. They were all improvs and it was a heck of a lot of fun to make.
-bill

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:25 am

EmbersOfAutumn wrote:Right across the Brooklyn Bridge, in the Heights.

And you're upstate now? Heck, I'm always wondering if locals would show up on SF. I'm on Pierrepont St.

EmbersOfAutumn · Post by **EmbersOfAutumn** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:35 am

roymond wrote:
EmbersOfAutumn wrote:Right across the Brooklyn Bridge, in the Heights.
And you're upstate now? Heck, I'm always wondering if locals would show up on SF. I'm on Pierrepont St.

I'm actually in North Florida now, I left back around 2005. I know where Pierrepont is. There's a Dallas BBQ not too far from there, right? I was on Columbia Heights, across the street from the river.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 12:19 pm

EmbersOfAutumn wrote:I know where Pierrepont is. There's a Dallas BBQ not too far from there, right? I was on Columbia Heights, across the street from the river.

I'm around the corner from your old home. Never heard of Dallas BBQ but now see it's in downtown Brooklyn, not the Heights*

*hold on, must raise my snobby Heights nose higher

king_arthur · Post by **king_arthur** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 12:22 pm

QotD: when I first moved out (to Berkeley), I hooked up with a church youth group that was in the midst of putting together a musical... I got involved in that and wound up writing the songs, recording the instrumental tracks, doing everything up to "assistant director." Looking back on it, I'm sure the show itself was even more horrible than most church youth group shows of the time, but being involved in doing it was a bunch of fun... among other things, I got to be in the caveman scene, the barbershop quartet, the big dance number... yes, it must have been truly horrible...

Another fun project was something I did about ten years ago called "Dirty Old Mannerisms" which was a bunch of songs on one of my favorite topics... the project itself has remained in my "private collection" of entirely unreleased stuff, except I think my song "Cold Passion (Blondes on Blades)" did make it onto a rec.music.makers.songwriting compilation CD...

I like to watch the figure skaters,
Making their turns, doing their twirls.
Is it the competition, the artistry
Or just a fondness for pretty young girls?

It's a cold passion, but it's alright,
I'll warm it up watching my TV tonight...

Umm, yeah. The song I wrote for the "All Tan" livefight last year would have fit right on that album, which is why I wound up not doing it...

Grand accomplishment of the day today has been that I went downtown and picked up a bunch of computers, monitors and such from a law firm that wanted to donate them to a charity group. I think I got enough stuff to put together seven complete W2000 machines that will wind up at the Wesley Community Center or in the homes of kids from Wesley who are taking computer classes there. I thought I was going to wind up going down to Queen Creek (20 miles south of here or so) to pick up a computer desk, but the latest is that somebody else is doing that... however, plans are afoot for me and maybe somebody else to make a run for the border on Monday and deliver some furniture down there to the son of the pastors of the church we support there, who is going off to college on Thursday. Our last trip down, we took him a computer, now, apparently he needs a desk to put it on. I swear, these kids today...

And I've got all of their pictures
And I know all of their names
I took a whole week off work
Just to watch these winter games...

Charles (KA)

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 12:59 pm

That's a good day, Charles - The Caveman Saint

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 2:22 pm

Got some of my lyric stuff done. And I did a lot more podcast listening too. The idea of an audio podcast is still very intriguing. But I also have to wonder how many people listen to audiobooks. I have always wanted to listen to audiobooks but going to the library and picking them up means dealing with converting from cassette or CD to MP3 and somedays I just don't have time for the hassle. And since I don't wanna pay for an Audible type service, I haven't tried. So listening to Seventh Son is about my third experience with an audio book and it's entertaining. The idea of an audiobook also saves me a bit of trouble when it comes to digital watermarking and designing a readable webpage. Does anyone on Songfight actively listen to audiobooks? If so, what do you think of them and what about voices- is it good to have one steady voice or a voice that does characters?

And is it wrong that I'm finding the ARG wannabe "LonelyGirl15 12 in 12" incredibly amusing.

Hoblit · Post by **Hoblit** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 2:34 pm

I never have any fun.

Actually... I'm going to plug the fun I'm having in another band that I'm currently working with.

<a href="http://www.ghosttowngridlock.com/misc/F ... heyRun.mp3" target="resource window">Funeral Dazies - When They Run</a>

Search myspace for more about it. It's a silly concept...but it IS for FUN.

<font size="1">Recorded and Produced at <a href="http://www.breadboxstudios.net" target="resource window">Bread Box Studios</a>. I also play bass.</font>

NatchDan · Post by **NatchDan** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 6:57 pm

The most fun I've had is actually an ongoing and secret project. Enigmatic, huh? Also, Niv: The audiobook version of "America: The Book" is amazing.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:30 pm

Niveous wrote:Does anyone on Songfight actively listen to audiobooks? If so, what do you think of them and what about voices- is it good to have one steady voice or a voice that does characters?

Definitely. I'd be way more likely to read something on audiobook in the car than on the computer. But less likely than if it was a real book. However, I love to listen to audiobooks, especially since my Prius can play mp3 CDs and even the CDRW kind so it's very easy. Different voices is good but it is also difficult and the professionals even sometimes screw it up.

That said the voices on the Lord of the Rings books were the best ever - this guy Rob Inglis is the bomb. He sang the songs so they made sense and his Gollum was freakin' fantastic.
-bill

Billy's Little Trip · Sat Aug 04, 2007 11:52 am

I think my best experience would have to be when we did our "Fourteen Stories High" album. For the first time, we had sponsorship and we recorded at Studio K with a "real" engineer/producer, which is on an Island in Long Beach CA. Studio K is Johnny K's residence and personal studio. The studio is an old 3 car garage, about 1,500 sq ft, that is a separate building from the house. On the outside, it looks like a garage, but after you pass through the first door, which is a standard looking single garage door, you immediately see a heavy metal fire door. As you enter the sound door, you enter a concrete building built inside of the garage with everything you would expect in a top notch recording studio.
We recorded the whole album in about a week, then he mixed and produced for about a week or two with a few visits to re-do or add things.
It was a great experience to work with such a pro, but at the time, he was still just a local name for being the best. Shortly after he did our CD, he got picked up by Warner Bros records, which opened much bigger doors for him. After he engineered, mixed and produced "Disturbed's" debut album, he went through the roof. Here's Johnny's latest resume.
The thing I really loved about Studio K, is that you can walk out the studio door, down a path, and you're on the beach. It was a great way to re-energize.
Unfortunately, we didn't amount to much, and we dropped of Studio K's resume, as did all of his indie label bands, as his major label bands grew. I don't blame him.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:36 pm

Speaking of audiobooks, does anyone have any recommendations for an upcoming 12-hour drive?

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:47 pm

Billy's Little Trip wrote:on an Island in Long Beach CA

Slumming in Naples, huh?

Fluffy: Old radio dramas are a good way to while away the time on long drives, I've found. Arch Obler's "Lights Out" and "The Shadow" in particular... oh, those aren't audiobooks. Never can stay within parameters, can I?

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 1:08 pm

Rabid Garfunkel wrote:
Billy's Little Trip wrote:on an Island in Long Beach CA
Slumming in Naples, huh?

edit: Ah, You're referring to Naples Island, lol.
Studio K is on the Belmont shores peninsula, which really isn't an island, even though you have to go over a bridge to get there, and water flows under the bridge. It's really more of a break water for the filthy rich residence of Naples.