Thursday, July 16, 2009
Fear and Loathing in Ft. Lauderdale
So I called the guy who sold the car, flew out to Ft. Lauderdale, picked up the car, and drove 23 straight hrs back to Texas.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Fear and Loathing in Fort Lauderdale
"We were somewhere over Miramar, when the Citalopram withdrawal began to take hold..."
Backstory:
My jeep starting being hard to start and began choking out at low rpms about a month ago. The problem got progressively worse until 2 weeks ago when it took me over 1/2 an hour just to get it started. I asked my dad, brother, and uncle what they thought the problem was, and since they all agreed that the symptoms were pretty general, I decided to take it into the dealership to get a sure diagnosis. They told me it was the timing chain, and quoted me $900 to replace it. I called my mechanic, who is an awesome guy who I've used several times before and he quoted me $300 for the timing chain. The dealership charged me $100 for the diagnosis and I took it back to my house. My mechanic bought the parts and came over. I was standing behind him when he took the cover off of the timing chain and even I could tell immediately that there was nothing wrong with it. Fuckingcocksuckingdicklickingshiteatingcuntass dealership motherfuckers lied to me and stole $100.
Over the next few weeks, my mechanic came over every day and worked in 100+ degree heat trying to figure out what the problem was. In the meantime, I'm without wheels, relying on the gf for rides to and from work and pretty much f'ed if I wanted to go anywhere else.
The jeep has 150k miles on it, so I knew the time was coming to get a new car anyway. I'd been looking on craigslist, cars.com, and the like. Last week, I saw a Hyundai Azera on cars.com. I'd never even heard of that model before, but it looked cool, so I started doing research. The more I learned, the better the deal looked. I called on it, then test drove it 2 thursdays ago. I liked it. I knew it was a good deal. I told the dealer I'd think about it over the weekend (just to not buy on impules and make sure it was "meant to be"). I decided on Saturday morning that I was for sure going to buy it. I called him first thing monday morning. Of course, he had sold it about 8pm sunday night. Fuckingcocksuckingdicklickingshiteating powers that be fucked me and stole my new car.
So here I am, no leads on any good deals, no clue as to what's wrong with my jeep and how long it will take to fix and how much it will cost.
I don't know why, but for some reason I snapped. There was a lot of other stressful shit in my life to go along with this situation, so maybe that had something to do with it. Regardless, I proceeded to go on ebay and bid on 37 cars. At one point I was the leader in $76,000 worth of auctions. I wasn't even really looking at what I was bidding on. It was ridiculous. This was on Wednesday during the day at work.
That night I got home and monitored the auctions while watching UT get spanked by LSU in the college world series. In the end, I ended up getting outbid on all but one automobile: a 2006 Hyundai Elantra GT in Miramar, FL with 50,000 miles on it. I had won it for $5000.
To Be Continued...
Backstory:
My jeep starting being hard to start and began choking out at low rpms about a month ago. The problem got progressively worse until 2 weeks ago when it took me over 1/2 an hour just to get it started. I asked my dad, brother, and uncle what they thought the problem was, and since they all agreed that the symptoms were pretty general, I decided to take it into the dealership to get a sure diagnosis. They told me it was the timing chain, and quoted me $900 to replace it. I called my mechanic, who is an awesome guy who I've used several times before and he quoted me $300 for the timing chain. The dealership charged me $100 for the diagnosis and I took it back to my house. My mechanic bought the parts and came over. I was standing behind him when he took the cover off of the timing chain and even I could tell immediately that there was nothing wrong with it. Fuckingcocksuckingdicklickingshiteatingcuntass dealership motherfuckers lied to me and stole $100.
Over the next few weeks, my mechanic came over every day and worked in 100+ degree heat trying to figure out what the problem was. In the meantime, I'm without wheels, relying on the gf for rides to and from work and pretty much f'ed if I wanted to go anywhere else.
The jeep has 150k miles on it, so I knew the time was coming to get a new car anyway. I'd been looking on craigslist, cars.com, and the like. Last week, I saw a Hyundai Azera on cars.com. I'd never even heard of that model before, but it looked cool, so I started doing research. The more I learned, the better the deal looked. I called on it, then test drove it 2 thursdays ago. I liked it. I knew it was a good deal. I told the dealer I'd think about it over the weekend (just to not buy on impules and make sure it was "meant to be"). I decided on Saturday morning that I was for sure going to buy it. I called him first thing monday morning. Of course, he had sold it about 8pm sunday night. Fuckingcocksuckingdicklickingshiteating powers that be fucked me and stole my new car.
So here I am, no leads on any good deals, no clue as to what's wrong with my jeep and how long it will take to fix and how much it will cost.
I don't know why, but for some reason I snapped. There was a lot of other stressful shit in my life to go along with this situation, so maybe that had something to do with it. Regardless, I proceeded to go on ebay and bid on 37 cars. At one point I was the leader in $76,000 worth of auctions. I wasn't even really looking at what I was bidding on. It was ridiculous. This was on Wednesday during the day at work.
That night I got home and monitored the auctions while watching UT get spanked by LSU in the college world series. In the end, I ended up getting outbid on all but one automobile: a 2006 Hyundai Elantra GT in Miramar, FL with 50,000 miles on it. I had won it for $5000.
To Be Continued...
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Stock Picks
1. Ivanhoe Energy (IVAN) - I'm heavily invested in this beaten down oil small cap. Their schtick is that they have technology which makes refining heavy (dirty) oil cheap. They have deals in place in Ecuador, Canada, China, and Iraq. Most of the oil in the world cannot be used right now because it is too heavy. If this company has the answer to that problem, hello retirement for Jakey. Warning: don't gamble with $ you can't afford to lose.
2. Qwest Communications (Q) - They've been beaton down over the last 10 years because of their 2001 corporate fraud scandal, but they are paying a ridiculous 8% dividend and are one of the only companies keeping AT&T from an antitrust suit.
3. General Electric (GE) - The financial crisis beat them down, but the stock price took a much worse dive than it deserved. They are one of the most stable companies in the world. They're not going anywhere.
4. Duke Energy (DUK) - Doing a lot to be out front on the alternative energy tip while simultaneously profiting from carbon energy. Pays a steady, spectacular 6% dividend.
5. AT&T (T) - Their financials are very healthy and they pay a high dividend (6.8%).
Grain of salt. Don't ask me why after a 2 month blogging hiatus I decided to post this. No news on the music tip.
2. Qwest Communications (Q) - They've been beaton down over the last 10 years because of their 2001 corporate fraud scandal, but they are paying a ridiculous 8% dividend and are one of the only companies keeping AT&T from an antitrust suit.
3. General Electric (GE) - The financial crisis beat them down, but the stock price took a much worse dive than it deserved. They are one of the most stable companies in the world. They're not going anywhere.
4. Duke Energy (DUK) - Doing a lot to be out front on the alternative energy tip while simultaneously profiting from carbon energy. Pays a steady, spectacular 6% dividend.
5. AT&T (T) - Their financials are very healthy and they pay a high dividend (6.8%).
Grain of salt. Don't ask me why after a 2 month blogging hiatus I decided to post this. No news on the music tip.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
All I want to do is drink beer and smoke cigarettes...
As most of you know, I worked in Iraq for 19 months, from October 2005 through May 2007. I saved $150,000 while I was there. I thought that by making the short term sacrifice of spending a year and a half working 84 hour workweeks in a war zone thousands of miles away from home I'd grant myself freedom from the rat race forever. I was wrong. Or was I?
"I got a cousin, he's broke, don't do shit." -Lawrence from Office Space
I filled up with gas today at a station near Rundberg and I35. This intersection is pretty much the heart of the Austin ghetto now that downtown east Austin has been cleaned up. Anyway, while I was filling up, a crackhead approached me and asked me for money. I've had a particularly rough week at work, and today was the worst day yet, so I was in no mood for his schtick. I exploded on him. I won't give details on what I told him but I will say that I was yelling, and ended up chasing him after he ran away.
I got off track.
When I first got back in the US in June of 2007, I got a job at Hula Hut working 3 shifts per week. For the six months that followed, I was happy for the only extended period of time in my adult life. I didn't work weekends. I never had to get up early. I had plenty of money to buy beer.
I don't have expensive tastes. I drive a Jeep Wrangler with over 150,000 miles. I take pride in buying my clothes from WalMart and Target. I'm cool with drinking Keystone Light and Bud Ice. I live in a modest home. So why can't I live my current lifestyle while only working 3 days per week at a restaurant? Is this too much to ask?
In my office, I have a spreadsheet with a formula that refreshes every time you press enter. It calculates the amount of time, to the second, until my (average) life span runs out. So, I literally sit in my cube and watch myself die.
I don't know what the point of this post is, other than to vent on the depression tip. But the question remains: would I be happier as a vagrant?
"I got a cousin, he's broke, don't do shit." -Lawrence from Office Space
I filled up with gas today at a station near Rundberg and I35. This intersection is pretty much the heart of the Austin ghetto now that downtown east Austin has been cleaned up. Anyway, while I was filling up, a crackhead approached me and asked me for money. I've had a particularly rough week at work, and today was the worst day yet, so I was in no mood for his schtick. I exploded on him. I won't give details on what I told him but I will say that I was yelling, and ended up chasing him after he ran away.
I got off track.
When I first got back in the US in June of 2007, I got a job at Hula Hut working 3 shifts per week. For the six months that followed, I was happy for the only extended period of time in my adult life. I didn't work weekends. I never had to get up early. I had plenty of money to buy beer.
I don't have expensive tastes. I drive a Jeep Wrangler with over 150,000 miles. I take pride in buying my clothes from WalMart and Target. I'm cool with drinking Keystone Light and Bud Ice. I live in a modest home. So why can't I live my current lifestyle while only working 3 days per week at a restaurant? Is this too much to ask?
In my office, I have a spreadsheet with a formula that refreshes every time you press enter. It calculates the amount of time, to the second, until my (average) life span runs out. So, I literally sit in my cube and watch myself die.
I don't know what the point of this post is, other than to vent on the depression tip. But the question remains: would I be happier as a vagrant?
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Ask and Ye Shall Be Brutalized
Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Not much (at all) has been happening with the band, and I was pretty determined not to let this blog turn into drivel about my personal life.
So anyway, I see a wave of creativity forming in the near future, so hopefully there'll be some action round here soon.
As soon as I get my tax refund (should be in the next couple of weeks), I'm going to pull the trigger on the rest of the recording gear I want. My goal after that is to record one song per week, be it a polished song with Keith or a 'scratchpad' type deal by myself.
But I need help. Does anyone know how I could take an Mp3 file and load it somewhere, paste the html and have it up on this site? I can't seem to find out how to make that happen. What I'd like to be able to do is record a song at home, convert the file to Mp3, then load it on this blog for y'all to critique. Anybody have any insight into how to do this (easily and for free)?
Keith and I haven't practiced in a couple of weeks. We've both just been really busy. May not happen this week either as I'm going to see Rhett Miller at Shady Grove tonight (our usual practice night), and I have a pretty busy weekend. Hopefully we can get together sometime this weekend and jam. I'm becoming more open to the idea of adding people to the band, if for no other reason than for motivation to practice and/or gig more frequently.
Anyway, thanks for reading, check back soon for new audio (hopefully)!
So anyway, I see a wave of creativity forming in the near future, so hopefully there'll be some action round here soon.
As soon as I get my tax refund (should be in the next couple of weeks), I'm going to pull the trigger on the rest of the recording gear I want. My goal after that is to record one song per week, be it a polished song with Keith or a 'scratchpad' type deal by myself.
But I need help. Does anyone know how I could take an Mp3 file and load it somewhere, paste the html and have it up on this site? I can't seem to find out how to make that happen. What I'd like to be able to do is record a song at home, convert the file to Mp3, then load it on this blog for y'all to critique. Anybody have any insight into how to do this (easily and for free)?
Keith and I haven't practiced in a couple of weeks. We've both just been really busy. May not happen this week either as I'm going to see Rhett Miller at Shady Grove tonight (our usual practice night), and I have a pretty busy weekend. Hopefully we can get together sometime this weekend and jam. I'm becoming more open to the idea of adding people to the band, if for no other reason than for motivation to practice and/or gig more frequently.
Anyway, thanks for reading, check back soon for new audio (hopefully)!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
The Big Mo
No motivation to blog.
Will update when something happens. Could be soon, could be never.
Thanks for reading.
Will update when something happens. Could be soon, could be never.
Thanks for reading.
Monday, February 23, 2009
That's My Dog(us Balbay)
The Band: We had our usual practice on Thursday. We spent a good amount of time jamming without drums (Keith on bass, me on guitar). It was really nice.
The Studio: Can I have $3000?
Miscellany: Went to the Texas-OU basketball game on Saturday. It was awesome. Our team is very very inconsistent, but bloody fun to watch. I've been hatin on Balbay and Abrams all year, but they were the $ in that game. Balbay's range ends well before the free throw line, but he must have a 40" vert and is an excellent passer and defender. Abrams shoots way too much and should in no way be our main offensive weapon, but he has the quickest release I've ever seen and when he gets hot, look out. That said, UT will lose in the 2nd round of the tourney this year.
The coolest thing about the game was that my seat was directly behind the main ESPN cameras (half-court, 1st row of upper deck). It was neat seeing all the things that go into the broadcast. There were 3 cameras, and each operator had a headset where they were getting directions from the production team and a cheat sheet with all the players pics and notes. Some of the notes were like "people to show during downtime: Colt McCoy, Blake Griffin's parents, Mack Brown and Duane Akina". How did they know Colt and Mack were going to be there? I had a moment of awesome during the game; once, when the camera directly in front of me was live (there was a light telling you when each camera was the one on TV, plus you'd see the cameraman perk up and get all careful)...anyway, once, when the camera directly in front of me was live, he was panning the band. I leaned forward (pretty much right in his ear), and go "More chicky, less bandy." He then panned over to the pom girls. I felt badass.
The Studio: Can I have $3000?
Miscellany: Went to the Texas-OU basketball game on Saturday. It was awesome. Our team is very very inconsistent, but bloody fun to watch. I've been hatin on Balbay and Abrams all year, but they were the $ in that game. Balbay's range ends well before the free throw line, but he must have a 40" vert and is an excellent passer and defender. Abrams shoots way too much and should in no way be our main offensive weapon, but he has the quickest release I've ever seen and when he gets hot, look out. That said, UT will lose in the 2nd round of the tourney this year.
The coolest thing about the game was that my seat was directly behind the main ESPN cameras (half-court, 1st row of upper deck). It was neat seeing all the things that go into the broadcast. There were 3 cameras, and each operator had a headset where they were getting directions from the production team and a cheat sheet with all the players pics and notes. Some of the notes were like "people to show during downtime: Colt McCoy, Blake Griffin's parents, Mack Brown and Duane Akina". How did they know Colt and Mack were going to be there? I had a moment of awesome during the game; once, when the camera directly in front of me was live (there was a light telling you when each camera was the one on TV, plus you'd see the cameraman perk up and get all careful)...anyway, once, when the camera directly in front of me was live, he was panning the band. I leaned forward (pretty much right in his ear), and go "More chicky, less bandy." He then panned over to the pom girls. I felt badass.
Monday, February 16, 2009
3 Piece Brutality?
Band: Keith invited a bassist to join the band. Supposedly he's a cool guy. His last band was Christian Rock. I'm anxious about this for many reasons, the biggest being that I'm not exactly stoked about dividing my creative input by another factor, I'm not excited about another personality in the mix, and I ain't thrilled about having my technical deficiencies exposed even further. *Sigh*. Oh well, we'll roll on and see what happens. No word from Hanover's about a future gig.
Studio: I found a sweet glass top desk at Big Lot's for a hunerd bucks. There is VERY little left to do in the studio. Anticipate being ready to self-record in the next 30 days.
Miscellany: Not much going down on the rant tip. Work sucks.
Studio: I found a sweet glass top desk at Big Lot's for a hunerd bucks. There is VERY little left to do in the studio. Anticipate being ready to self-record in the next 30 days.
Miscellany: Not much going down on the rant tip. Work sucks.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Ten Feet Tall
Despite the fact that I don't think it's very good, I'm putting this song on here for a few reasons:
1. I'm tired of promising something and not having anything for anyone to listen to.
2. I want to give y'all some reference to what I've been blogging about for the last few weeks.
3. I want feedback.
Download the track here (got tired of it autoplaying whenever anyone looks at the blog):
http://www.audiostreet.net//artist.aspx?artistid=61310
So, as I said before, I'm not all that pleased with the way the 4 songs we recorded turned out. I knew it wasn't going to be professional quality, so I was hoping for something just good enough to send out to the people who book shows at bars in order to secure some gigs.
There a couple of good things about this song. First, I really like the way the guitar sounds. To me, it's a perfect cross between Old 97's "Jagged" and the main guitar on the Counting Crows 2nd albums. Second, I like the way the drums sound. They were miced correctly with quality equipment. They get soloed at the right times and Keith did a great job. Kenny did a really good job mixing the instruments.
My main problems are with the vocals. They ruin the song. For one, it sounds like the same effects as are used for Down Here Together; they're too tinny and clanging sounding to me. Also, I didn't get to record until I got the perfect take because we were rushing. Maybe my voice just sucks so bad the only way to make it bearable is to pile on those fx. That is certainly plausible.
The worst thing about it is the background vocals. I think Kenny went for a sort of punk, off-key equal volume chorus thing. I wanted the background vocals a lot further in the background and more synched in and subdued. He deleted the harmony background I sang, which was good because it sucked, but I would like to go back and take the time to do it right.
Considering how much time he spent (a few days), he did a great job, but all in all, I think we should re-do this and couple of other songs before we pound the pavement trying to get gigs.
1. I'm tired of promising something and not having anything for anyone to listen to.
2. I want to give y'all some reference to what I've been blogging about for the last few weeks.
3. I want feedback.
Download the track here (got tired of it autoplaying whenever anyone looks at the blog):
http://www.audiostreet.net//artist.aspx?artistid=61310
So, as I said before, I'm not all that pleased with the way the 4 songs we recorded turned out. I knew it wasn't going to be professional quality, so I was hoping for something just good enough to send out to the people who book shows at bars in order to secure some gigs.
There a couple of good things about this song. First, I really like the way the guitar sounds. To me, it's a perfect cross between Old 97's "Jagged" and the main guitar on the Counting Crows 2nd albums. Second, I like the way the drums sound. They were miced correctly with quality equipment. They get soloed at the right times and Keith did a great job. Kenny did a really good job mixing the instruments.
My main problems are with the vocals. They ruin the song. For one, it sounds like the same effects as are used for Down Here Together; they're too tinny and clanging sounding to me. Also, I didn't get to record until I got the perfect take because we were rushing. Maybe my voice just sucks so bad the only way to make it bearable is to pile on those fx. That is certainly plausible.
The worst thing about it is the background vocals. I think Kenny went for a sort of punk, off-key equal volume chorus thing. I wanted the background vocals a lot further in the background and more synched in and subdued. He deleted the harmony background I sang, which was good because it sucked, but I would like to go back and take the time to do it right.
Considering how much time he spent (a few days), he did a great job, but all in all, I think we should re-do this and couple of other songs before we pound the pavement trying to get gigs.
Monday, February 2, 2009
What an awesome day
Seems like I've gotten into a rhythm with this blog thing; first a blurb about the band, then the studio, then I post about whatever it is I feel like talking about. So, here goes:
The Band:
I recorded vocals for the demo on Thursday. I re-did "How Do You Like Me Now" and "Ten Feet Tall". Keith had re-recorded the drums and went over my guitar a couple of weeks ago and also added a bass guitar track using my Danelectro Longhorn with the PA as an amp. I'm not all that excited about how it turned out, but no matter what, I think we'll try and use it to get some gigs. Once the studio is done I'm definitely going to try and re-do it all ourselves, because, simply put, I'm not proud of what I've heard so far.
Kenny added the same effects on my voice to all 4 songs (a ton of reverb and some sort of chorus that makes it sound pretty tinny). It sounds pretty good for all the choruses, but in slower, more mellow parts, it doesn't fit. He did let me record an echo track and some background harmonies and staggered choruses on Ten Feet Tall.
Anyway, he's going to give us his finalized 4 song mix on Thursday, so if nothing else I'll post at least a clip up here so you can hear what I've been babbling aboot.
The Studio:
I built a stage to get Keith's drums off the ground, and while it doesn't do a $&%^$&#&%*ing thing for soundproofing, it looks sweet and adds some good storage underneath. I also received the 6 Star Wars movie posters I plan to hang on the walls. I've gotta get off my ass and go get the filing cabinets I need to hold the remaining gear I have to buy to get completely ready to record.
Miscellany:
If you lived in Austin, how f'n AWESOME was Sunday? It was one of the best days I've had in months. I woke up next to a beautiful girl, went home and had a good breakfast, then went up to Reagan High School and played touch football for a couple of hours. It was absolutely GEORGEOUS outside (upper 60s, slight breeze, sunshine). After that, I went and had an awesome sushi lunch at Maki. Then I went to Home Depot and bought some stuff for my yard (some fruit trees and Rosemary bushes). I got home and planted it all, then cracked a beer just as the Super Bowl started. I sat out on my patio and watched the first half, then, after a great enchilada plate at La Palapa, went over to a friend's for the 2nd half. I got home at like 10 and crashed out. What a day. Hope yours was the same.
The Band:
I recorded vocals for the demo on Thursday. I re-did "How Do You Like Me Now" and "Ten Feet Tall". Keith had re-recorded the drums and went over my guitar a couple of weeks ago and also added a bass guitar track using my Danelectro Longhorn with the PA as an amp. I'm not all that excited about how it turned out, but no matter what, I think we'll try and use it to get some gigs. Once the studio is done I'm definitely going to try and re-do it all ourselves, because, simply put, I'm not proud of what I've heard so far.
Kenny added the same effects on my voice to all 4 songs (a ton of reverb and some sort of chorus that makes it sound pretty tinny). It sounds pretty good for all the choruses, but in slower, more mellow parts, it doesn't fit. He did let me record an echo track and some background harmonies and staggered choruses on Ten Feet Tall.
Anyway, he's going to give us his finalized 4 song mix on Thursday, so if nothing else I'll post at least a clip up here so you can hear what I've been babbling aboot.
The Studio:
I built a stage to get Keith's drums off the ground, and while it doesn't do a $&%^$&#&%*ing thing for soundproofing, it looks sweet and adds some good storage underneath. I also received the 6 Star Wars movie posters I plan to hang on the walls. I've gotta get off my ass and go get the filing cabinets I need to hold the remaining gear I have to buy to get completely ready to record.
Miscellany:
If you lived in Austin, how f'n AWESOME was Sunday? It was one of the best days I've had in months. I woke up next to a beautiful girl, went home and had a good breakfast, then went up to Reagan High School and played touch football for a couple of hours. It was absolutely GEORGEOUS outside (upper 60s, slight breeze, sunshine). After that, I went and had an awesome sushi lunch at Maki. Then I went to Home Depot and bought some stuff for my yard (some fruit trees and Rosemary bushes). I got home and planted it all, then cracked a beer just as the Super Bowl started. I sat out on my patio and watched the first half, then, after a great enchilada plate at La Palapa, went over to a friend's for the 2nd half. I got home at like 10 and crashed out. What a day. Hope yours was the same.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Out of boredom and unwarranted sense of obligation
So, Keith (and Sarah) have been sick all weekend; here's hoping they get to feeling better.
I installed an 18" stage in the studio to get Keith's drums off the ground.
My oldest brother turned me on to the Dilbert Blog ( http://dilbert.com/blog ). Scott Adams has a unique way of looking at things (reminds me of Freakonomics). I've been reading it daily and it caused me to have a pretty long daydream about the direction of the entertainment industry, and in particular the way the music industry is changing.
Geoff Emerick (the guy who recorded the Beatles, whose book I recently finished) said a lot of interesting things about how music has changed since the dawn of digital technology. The one thing he said that stood out most was that basically, the music industry has become flooded with mediocre product. Because, for around $2500, anyone can get ahold of the equipment necessary to make a record, tons of people who otherwise would never have recorded music have been able to record and market their songs virtually the same way as anyone with a record deal. (Emerick's main complaint about this was that there will never be another Beatles because the record labels are forced to get immediate returns on their investments, which prevents them from developing promising acts over multiple albums. These days, if a band doesn't blow up on their first major release, they're tossed aside for the next big thing.)
Think about this: after I get off work today, I can go home, go into my studio, and record an acoustic song. Within a couple of hours, I can edit out the silences and mistakes, add various vocal effects and have a finished "product". It would take me about 30 seconds to compress that to an MP3 file and have it posted on the internet, where anyone in the world can access it instantly for free. This is great for mediocre choades like me, but bad for lower tier professionals and REALLY bad for the major labels.
Music is, at it's core, simple math. There are a finite combination of notes and tones that you can put together to make music. When you filter it down to the combination of notes and sounds that the average person would find appealling, you get down to a pretty limited set. When you filter that down to the very few instruments that people are used to hearing, and into the genre that the paying public wants to hear, and you're talking a VERY small package of ways you box up music and sell it.
If you had a giant database of every hit song ever written, and had them broken down into what chord progressions they were made up of, I bet you could take any new song that hits the radio, plug it into the database, and get multiple songs that have the exact same combination of basic melody and rhythm. What I'm getting at is that there are no new songs. Music, and rock music in particular, is a mature industry. You're not going to make improvements on the existing products. All you're going to do is re-package the stuff that's already out there and do a better job of selling it. (This is one reason I've always been so infatuated with vocal quality--the human voice is, imo, the only popular instrument in modern music that is incredibly unique to the person playing it.)
Anyway, these are mainly just a serious of fairly obvious and exhausted observations. But one thing I've taken from them is that I think that in the future, the demand dollars allocated to the music industry will continue to gravitate toward concerts and away from recordings. I think what you'll see because of this is an increase of middle-tier acts and a decrease in the number of bands doing world and national tours. It's just too expensive for the labels to promote these bands nationally to sell out medium sized venues like Stubb's, when a guy like Bob Schneider, with virtually no advertising expenses, can sell out that place once a month for eternity.
I installed an 18" stage in the studio to get Keith's drums off the ground.
My oldest brother turned me on to the Dilbert Blog ( http://dilbert.com/blog ). Scott Adams has a unique way of looking at things (reminds me of Freakonomics). I've been reading it daily and it caused me to have a pretty long daydream about the direction of the entertainment industry, and in particular the way the music industry is changing.
Geoff Emerick (the guy who recorded the Beatles, whose book I recently finished) said a lot of interesting things about how music has changed since the dawn of digital technology. The one thing he said that stood out most was that basically, the music industry has become flooded with mediocre product. Because, for around $2500, anyone can get ahold of the equipment necessary to make a record, tons of people who otherwise would never have recorded music have been able to record and market their songs virtually the same way as anyone with a record deal. (Emerick's main complaint about this was that there will never be another Beatles because the record labels are forced to get immediate returns on their investments, which prevents them from developing promising acts over multiple albums. These days, if a band doesn't blow up on their first major release, they're tossed aside for the next big thing.)
Think about this: after I get off work today, I can go home, go into my studio, and record an acoustic song. Within a couple of hours, I can edit out the silences and mistakes, add various vocal effects and have a finished "product". It would take me about 30 seconds to compress that to an MP3 file and have it posted on the internet, where anyone in the world can access it instantly for free. This is great for mediocre choades like me, but bad for lower tier professionals and REALLY bad for the major labels.
Music is, at it's core, simple math. There are a finite combination of notes and tones that you can put together to make music. When you filter it down to the combination of notes and sounds that the average person would find appealling, you get down to a pretty limited set. When you filter that down to the very few instruments that people are used to hearing, and into the genre that the paying public wants to hear, and you're talking a VERY small package of ways you box up music and sell it.
If you had a giant database of every hit song ever written, and had them broken down into what chord progressions they were made up of, I bet you could take any new song that hits the radio, plug it into the database, and get multiple songs that have the exact same combination of basic melody and rhythm. What I'm getting at is that there are no new songs. Music, and rock music in particular, is a mature industry. You're not going to make improvements on the existing products. All you're going to do is re-package the stuff that's already out there and do a better job of selling it. (This is one reason I've always been so infatuated with vocal quality--the human voice is, imo, the only popular instrument in modern music that is incredibly unique to the person playing it.)
Anyway, these are mainly just a serious of fairly obvious and exhausted observations. But one thing I've taken from them is that I think that in the future, the demand dollars allocated to the music industry will continue to gravitate toward concerts and away from recordings. I think what you'll see because of this is an increase of middle-tier acts and a decrease in the number of bands doing world and national tours. It's just too expensive for the labels to promote these bands nationally to sell out medium sized venues like Stubb's, when a guy like Bob Schneider, with virtually no advertising expenses, can sell out that place once a month for eternity.
Monday, January 19, 2009
On Various Topics
The Band: Kenny is gonna come over this Thursday and we're supposed to re-record the vocals for the 4 demo tracks.
The Studio: I put up the trim and some guitar wall mounts yesterday. Tomorrow I'm going to install a stage in the back of the room to get Keith's drumset off the ground so it's not so loud outside. I'm in the process of acquiring filing cabinets to store mics, cables, etc. and to make a desk for the recording console.
Miscellany: Every day I go to work, there's a bum on the corner of Braker and 35. Not the same one, but there's always one there. I made a vow after I got back from Iraq that I would give food or money to every homeless person I saw. Well, they finally broke me. I just can't do it anymore. I've always tried to sympathize with homeless people because I look back on my own life and think that there were a few crucial moments where if things had gone just a little differently, I'd be right where they are. I'm a very lazy person; quite possibly the laziest in Travis County, which puts me in the running for laziest worldwide. I often wonder what a bum's life is like. Sometimes I daydream about being a bum; wandering from town to town, getting in adventures, no responsibilities...the ultimate "living in the moment". I'm pretty sure that's not really how it is.
Somewhere I read that like 85% of bums are either severely mentally ill, addicted to drugs, or both. The remaining 15% are the folks who totally opted out of society. Those are the bums whose lives I romanticize. But this weekend, I think I lived just like they live, except I was inside instead of outside. I slept 15 hours on Saturday and another 13 on Sunday. Not only did I not leave my house, I wasn't even standing up for more than 2 hours between Saturday and Sunday. I would imagine bums lives are pretty routine. You sleep, eat, and find ways to entertain yourself. I would bet a typical Austin bum sleeps an average of 12 hours per day. For the 12 hours they're awake, their time is spent eating, begging, or entertaining themselves. Some might argue that bums spend a lot of time travelling, but those aren't bums; those are called hobos. I don't know what the point of this is. Maybe it's just to get it off my chest that I daydream about being a homeless person.
I'm reading a book I got for christmas about Geoff Emerick, the sound engineer for the Beatles. It's awesome. First of all, I love biographies. Second, I love music. Third, I'm starting to get really interested in the art of recording. I'm far from a voracious reader, so a book really has to be down my alley for me to finish it, much less devour 300 pages in less than 2 days.
I've read a biography of the Beatles before. I've sort of ignored the Beatles for a long time, for various reasons. First, they were way before my time. Second, my parents didn't listen to a lot of Beatles while I was growing up. They had the Imagine soundtrack, which features 20 excellent Beatles' selections, but other than that, they weren't big fans. Lastly, the Beatles were just too big for my tastes. I was always kind of scared I'd get into the Beatles really heavy and realize that most of my favorite bands are just copycats.
Anyway, this guy Geoff Emerick did a pretty good job of describing what it was like recording the Beatles. He also does a very good job explaining many of the common recording processes and terms so that anybody can understand them. Many of the methods he used are totally obsolete now due to digital technology, but the art of capturing and mixing sound hasn't changed. The book's not perfect; he is totally on his own and Paul McCartney's nuts, and really dogs pretty much everyone else. Personally, here are my thoughts on the Beatles: Paul McCartney was the true musical genius behind them, but Lennon was crucial because he provided balance. Harrison was a decent musician, but nowhere near the songwriter the other two were. That being said, "Here Comes the Sun" ranks in my top 10 Beatles songs. Ringo is a humongous douche and from all acounts was not as nice or easygoing as he fashioned his image to be. Generally, John Lennon, as much as I love him, was overrated and McCartney was underrated--at least in terms of contribution to the Beatles' quality of music. Yoko Ono did not break up the Beatles; being way too big for too long broke them up. It's only a matter of time before a machine running at that velocity breaks down. Now, that being said, I'm pretty sure Yoko Ono was a crazy voodoo style bitch. No one could survive being that famous for that long--shit, look at Michael Jackson, and divide that by 4, and that's what happened to the Beatles. The same things destroyed them that end many a good thing: drugs, women, and money (basically, greed).
Anyway, there are some things I've taken from this book that I plan to use once I start recording. First, I've decided that I only need one electric guitar, one acoustic guitar, and one amp. Having a signature sound is not only cool, but cheap. Second, pretty much every song I record, I'd like to have some kind of vocal harmony. This is constantly mentioned in the book as one of the things that set the Beatles apart.
I had a laundry list of non-Stevenson Road related topics I was going to blog about today, but it looks like this post is already starting to drag on, so we'll save those for another time.
Thanks for reading, have a great week.
--Jake
The Studio: I put up the trim and some guitar wall mounts yesterday. Tomorrow I'm going to install a stage in the back of the room to get Keith's drumset off the ground so it's not so loud outside. I'm in the process of acquiring filing cabinets to store mics, cables, etc. and to make a desk for the recording console.
Miscellany: Every day I go to work, there's a bum on the corner of Braker and 35. Not the same one, but there's always one there. I made a vow after I got back from Iraq that I would give food or money to every homeless person I saw. Well, they finally broke me. I just can't do it anymore. I've always tried to sympathize with homeless people because I look back on my own life and think that there were a few crucial moments where if things had gone just a little differently, I'd be right where they are. I'm a very lazy person; quite possibly the laziest in Travis County, which puts me in the running for laziest worldwide. I often wonder what a bum's life is like. Sometimes I daydream about being a bum; wandering from town to town, getting in adventures, no responsibilities...the ultimate "living in the moment". I'm pretty sure that's not really how it is.
Somewhere I read that like 85% of bums are either severely mentally ill, addicted to drugs, or both. The remaining 15% are the folks who totally opted out of society. Those are the bums whose lives I romanticize. But this weekend, I think I lived just like they live, except I was inside instead of outside. I slept 15 hours on Saturday and another 13 on Sunday. Not only did I not leave my house, I wasn't even standing up for more than 2 hours between Saturday and Sunday. I would imagine bums lives are pretty routine. You sleep, eat, and find ways to entertain yourself. I would bet a typical Austin bum sleeps an average of 12 hours per day. For the 12 hours they're awake, their time is spent eating, begging, or entertaining themselves. Some might argue that bums spend a lot of time travelling, but those aren't bums; those are called hobos. I don't know what the point of this is. Maybe it's just to get it off my chest that I daydream about being a homeless person.
I'm reading a book I got for christmas about Geoff Emerick, the sound engineer for the Beatles. It's awesome. First of all, I love biographies. Second, I love music. Third, I'm starting to get really interested in the art of recording. I'm far from a voracious reader, so a book really has to be down my alley for me to finish it, much less devour 300 pages in less than 2 days.
I've read a biography of the Beatles before. I've sort of ignored the Beatles for a long time, for various reasons. First, they were way before my time. Second, my parents didn't listen to a lot of Beatles while I was growing up. They had the Imagine soundtrack, which features 20 excellent Beatles' selections, but other than that, they weren't big fans. Lastly, the Beatles were just too big for my tastes. I was always kind of scared I'd get into the Beatles really heavy and realize that most of my favorite bands are just copycats.
Anyway, this guy Geoff Emerick did a pretty good job of describing what it was like recording the Beatles. He also does a very good job explaining many of the common recording processes and terms so that anybody can understand them. Many of the methods he used are totally obsolete now due to digital technology, but the art of capturing and mixing sound hasn't changed. The book's not perfect; he is totally on his own and Paul McCartney's nuts, and really dogs pretty much everyone else. Personally, here are my thoughts on the Beatles: Paul McCartney was the true musical genius behind them, but Lennon was crucial because he provided balance. Harrison was a decent musician, but nowhere near the songwriter the other two were. That being said, "Here Comes the Sun" ranks in my top 10 Beatles songs. Ringo is a humongous douche and from all acounts was not as nice or easygoing as he fashioned his image to be. Generally, John Lennon, as much as I love him, was overrated and McCartney was underrated--at least in terms of contribution to the Beatles' quality of music. Yoko Ono did not break up the Beatles; being way too big for too long broke them up. It's only a matter of time before a machine running at that velocity breaks down. Now, that being said, I'm pretty sure Yoko Ono was a crazy voodoo style bitch. No one could survive being that famous for that long--shit, look at Michael Jackson, and divide that by 4, and that's what happened to the Beatles. The same things destroyed them that end many a good thing: drugs, women, and money (basically, greed).
Anyway, there are some things I've taken from this book that I plan to use once I start recording. First, I've decided that I only need one electric guitar, one acoustic guitar, and one amp. Having a signature sound is not only cool, but cheap. Second, pretty much every song I record, I'd like to have some kind of vocal harmony. This is constantly mentioned in the book as one of the things that set the Beatles apart.
I had a laundry list of non-Stevenson Road related topics I was going to blog about today, but it looks like this post is already starting to drag on, so we'll save those for another time.
Thanks for reading, have a great week.
--Jake
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