The Party Tape

Recording Diary v48

We entered the studio and had a fresh listen to "Nothing's" chorus, which sounded murky and too dark to me. So we set our tiny minds thinking on how to make it more unique and interesting.

Our first thought was to try to record the Autoharp playing the chords, but sadly my Autoharp is in the wrong key and the chords just don't work. Next.

We then set up the ADK mic and I played some acoustic parts on the Hummingbird. We doubled the main part and a harmony was added. Starting to sound nice.

Next up I added a simple Mandolin melody via Reason which added a nice texture to the previously recorded guitars.

Then Craig added a counter point melody on his 8 string bass. Sweet.

We then started reducing the other previously recorded elements and the chorus came to life. It sounds best with just the new stuff and the drums, a little of the previously recorded distorted Rhodes is nice as well...

Next up Jeff and I sang a back ground vocal which we then doubled. I then added two more tracks of a harmony. These sound "OK" but Im not sure the chorus will need em? Mixing will tell.

We then added a few tracks of hand claps and another track of Tambourines.

The chorus is saved.

Here's the golden rule of recording. If it doesn't sound good at all times, then re-do it or move on. Otherwise you will pay for it in the mix stage...Chances are the recording doesnt sound right for very good reasons. Bad recordings, bad playing, bad arrangements, or you may just have a suck ass song on your hands.

I then went home, leaving Craig and Jeff placing cymbal crashes. Those poor bastards.

Zakir Hussain

Harajuku

One of the best things to do in the world is to go to Harajuku in Tokyo and look at the kids.

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Albert Hofmann Is Dead

The creator of LSD is dead at 102 years old.

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Voodoo Funk

Via Shakki

A website sampling of West African Funk. Cool shit.

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Recording Diary v47

Saturday. We set up the mics on the drums and recorded two new songs "Cause & Effect" and "Sodom Says, Sodom Does".

"Cause & Effect" is an older tune that we tried before and abandoned due to poor writing and arrangement. So now I reworked it yet again and we are giving it another go. Jeff played expertly, with me showing him the arrangement via headphones, and nailed it after a few takes.

"Sodom" is also an older tune that we are creating in sections. The the drum parts were done via separate parts (play double-time rim shots, ok, now play a straight beat, ok now lets try 30 syncopated fills) This will be all edited together in the near future. Eno's "Thrid Uncle" is a inspiration on this one. "Yes" is also an inspiration as they would work out parts by "jamming" and then editing it all together.

After Jeff split we finished the bass on "Nothing" and experimented with some eight string bass on the chorus, which ended up making this half step descending arrangement sound a tad too "Ozzy" for me. Burrrrrrrrr.

...

Funny, this song is a lot better when played by robots. But what isn't right?

Recording Diary v46

More work on "Nothing".

We started the eve experimenting with different bass tones for the chorus, finally settling on the 12 string Von Bass that mixes nicely with the Clavinet part. This made for a huge piano like string sound, which we like. We jumped up and down and clapped and urinated.

Then our pals Brain and Melissa stopped by to say hi, so we did what we usually do and demanded that Melissa sing a little. We had her do three Queen like operatic chords at the end of the song. She recorded about 9 tracks of harmonies etc which ended up sounding insane/cool. Thanks Melissa! You rule.

After they had enough Craig and I worked on Bass tones for the end section. Craig tried the eight string bass, which sounded appropriately huge.

Then I ran out of steam..went home. Passed out. Im tired of life.

I Don't Wanna Grow Up

The Ramones doing Tom Waits as imagined by Eightball mastermind Daniel Clowes.

Guillermo del Toro to Direct The Hobbit

Looks cool to me!

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Linton Kwesi Johnson-Inglan Is A Bitch

ShuBlog

Check out my pal Jay's Blog. He draws and builds cool shit man!

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Recording Diary v45

The other night we got together at the Theosophy Center, where we took off all of our clothes, greased up our pale bodies with some year-old lard that had been fermenting behind the dumpster at the 7-11 on Mowery Ave in Fremont, made a pentagram on the floor with the blood of a meth addicted tar roofer, invoked the Prince of Lies, fucked him, and then talked about mutual bonds over a nice cup of Chamomile tea.

Well..most of that happened.

Craig tightened up his bass part (with the Jerry Jones bass) for the tune "Nothing", playing the verses and bridge. We used a pic to get that plucky McCartney sound. We think the chorus and the out sections will require a large distorted tone which we will do later.

Then we started working on more Keyboards

First we experimented with sounds for the chorus. This is the good and bad of recording with so many sound options, one is want to try them all. Before things got that silly we did manage to try out a few sounds, Melotrons, strings, Pianos etc...until we finally rested on a Rhodes, which we ran through a sick fuzz sound in Reason. We recorded this part and then added an overdub in a high octave. Thick sounding.

Next the Hog learned the bass melody that enters in near the end of the song, followed by the out section, all using the same Rhodes sound.

Then we recorded a counter melody on verse 3 using the Abby Road Celeste sound which we doubled with a Glock.

That done, we recoded a Harmonium (Abbey Road) playing chords for the first verse, also laying down the 3rd verse melody part using a Glock.

Sounding fabo.

Then we went home, still covered in shells of hardened human excrement.

I Heart Brook Benton

Hard Boiled

What I dislike about most graphic novels is usually not the writing but the illustrations/inking etc (Sandman, Dark Night, lots of the Invisibles) but " Hard Boiled" is a clear standout as the writing and graphics are equally stellar. Hell, the graphics may even be better. Geoff Darrow's stuff here is just awe inspiring work. One could spend hours staring into the world that he created.

It looks like "Hard Boiled" may become a movie with writer Frank Miller to direct.

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Motivational Music

You now have no excuse to keep slacking. Get to work.

UPDATE: Just noticed the link was dead...now it's not.

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Bill Maher NAILS it.

Bill Maher is now my personal hero. He took my feelings about the Pope right out of my brain (well..he also made them funnier).
Wait for it in the clip above..his pope rant is the last "New Rule", although they all are pretty good.

Recording diary 44

More madness at the edge of sanity.

That mutated freakish monster MIRV showed up with his Rickenbacker laptop Pedal Steel. Man those things are hard to play. MIRV did a commendable job.Particularly so because I was yelling at him...telling him to play more like Harrison. Poor MIRV.

We finished out "Anjuna" with Mirv solos and guitar treatments. Sounds delightful. Thank you for taking it like a trooper.

MIRV left and we continued on the song "Nothing". Trying two basses drenched in fuzz on the chorus which we then ran though a percussive delay. Sounded super dumb. So we sent it back to the Aeather.

Then we started sculpting bass lines. Craig and I trading the bass back and forth. Looks like we got a cool start for this fairly Beatle-esque bass approach.

I really have the specific feeling the rest of this album is going to be a complete freak show.

Then I went to work and did some design work, which is only a few block away from the Thelosophy Center. After that drudgery was over I came home and watched "Heart of Darkness". Cant sleep. So I just took an Ambien. Morpius will take me soon to the land of Nod.

Eno and Byrne Set to Tour

Man it's been years since Eno has toured in a "musical" act..so this news comes as quite the sweet surprise. The fact he's heading out supporting a bunch of new tunes with his old Bush of Ghost cohort David Byrne is even sweeter.

"The dream art-rock team of David Byrne and Brian Eno will return with new, strange fruit soon, the former Talking Heads man told NME.com recently.

Speaking at an event in New York, Byrne revealed that the duo had rekindled the relationship they formed in the late 70s/early 80s which resulted in three Talking Heads records and 1981’s classic My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.

“I’m finishing up a record with Brian Eno, a musician that I worked with 30 years ago,” Byrne said following an appearance with Paul Simon at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on the 9th of April. “We did a record together of songs, and that’ll come out.”

The NY Daily News adds:

Byrne told us he’s collaborating with their mutual friend Brian Eno “for the first time in 20 years. Brian had written a lot of music, but needed some words, which I know how to do. What’s it sound like? Electronic gospel. That’s all I’m saying.”

Sources say the album will likely be released via Nonesuch, but probably not until the end of the year.

In the meantime, David Byrne’s booking agent at William Morris Agency, Mark Geiger, has been soliciting offers from a number of different promoters around the United States for Byrne/Eno live shows, promising the set list will consist of at least 40% Eno-era Talking Heads material. Most of the tour is already booked."

Recording Diary v43

More silliness

Tonight we recorded Piano (Abbey Road Challen and Mrs Mills) for a new tune called "Nothing". Thomas had the difficult task of playing a feel that considerably slows down during the chorus...not an easy task. The Mrs Mills has a "Killer Queen" tack piano sound, while the Challen sounds warmer. We used the warm sound for the chorus. Sounds cool.

Nothing is about Atheism. Still haven written the lyrics yet. I think I'm going the Eno direction with my lyric writing on this album. Lyrics that sound good are more important than what they are saying. Whatever. Eno writes the best lyrics ever. He is right up there with Tom Waits and Morrissey for me. Both modern masters.

A classic Eno line: "You'll have to make a choice between the Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch and me!"

Folks we are making a weird record.

Anyway. after 3 hours of pounding we managed to get the foundation set.

Next up is guitar..Mirv will visit on Sat.

Im going to bed now. Gears of War is dumb. Enjoy the Boomerang. We use it oddly.

The Most Unwanted Song

"The most unwanted music is over 25 minutes long, veers wildly between loud and quiet sections, between fast and slow tempos, and features timbres of extremely high and low pitch, with each dichotomy presented in abrupt transition. The most unwanted orchestra was determined to be large, and features the accordion and bagpipe (which tie at 13% as the most unwanted instrument), banjo, flute, tuba, harp, organ, synthesizer (the only instrument that appears in both the most wanted and most unwanted ensembles). An operatic soprano raps and sings atonal music, advertising jingles, political slogans, and "elevator" music, and a children's choir sings jingles and holiday songs. The most unwanted subjects for lyrics are cowboys and holidays, and the most unwanted listening circumstances are involuntary exposure to commercials and elevator music. Therefore, it can be shown that if there is no covariance--someone who dislikes bagpipes is as likely to hate elevator music as someone who despises the organ, for example--fewer than 200 individuals of the world's total population would enjoy this piece."

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The Song

Christ Pumpo

This Rules

Recording Diary v42

Another evening at the Theosophy Center.

We started tonight by recording the Hummingbird acoustic for the B section of "armies" This was followed by a quick singing of the two verses.

Next we fired up the Ebow and played it on the Les Paul via the Pod Ground Control using a thick fuzz tone. I played 4 tracks and handed the guitar over to Craig who played two more, creating a "Here Comes The Warm Jets" texture. Eno Fantasies are being lived!

After that I pluged my old Roland SPS-808, which has a wonderful "Radio" effect (NAME DROPPING ALERT! I used the same effect on the Tom Waits tour I did a few years back..When he played "What's He Building In There"). We recorded this Short wave radio tuning sound throughout the whole tune, to be mixed later.

Then Craig played some weird fretless Bass via his Sony Reverb effects box. Neat sounding.

After that we felt the song was missing a rhythmic element so Craig and I played a very simple two chord eighth note pattern over the out section. Craig played a seriously thick fuzz bass via the Wooly Mammoth Fuzz Box and I played a Reason Piano. This was followed by a eighth note high octave on piano played by Craig.

Then I tried a few guitar melodies and harmonies that we quickly abandoned and deleted.

That's it. We just need some guitar on part A. Otherwise it's a wrap for "Armies".

Iron Man Rules

Ok. Im an Iron Man fanboy. I loved Iron Man when I was a little kid, and he totally kicks ass on Superman and Batman.

So this is one of the few Hollywood films that I wanna see.

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Rose Marie Rules

Kali and Katie Sing For Your Pleasure.

Yowza. Delightful Spumco Illustrators Kali and Katie have their very own country duo! And they are dang good to boot. Harmonies and drawings! Who could ask for anything more.

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Cat vs Theramin

Vintage

End times

Monster Mash, Bash.

Here's a cool/weird website of all sorts of Halloween Monster LP covers. I love this shit. not really for Halloween, but more because it's monsters and vinyl.

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And of course...Mr Shows take on the horrifying rites of the Monster Mash:

Ohhhhh..The Logan Vocal Synth

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Recording Diary v41

It was a beautiful Saturday, the sun was softly shining, the birds were singing sonnets in the trees, bike riders on the road seemed dazed with happiness, and what did we do? We went to a dark, hot room and recorded drums for 8 hours.

Again, dear MBO fanboy, we do it for the Ladies.

So..we managed to record drums for a new song called "Nothing". The tune is actually quite old, (I wrote it in 99 I think) and we have rehearsed various versions of it, but now we are finally recording the de-facto version.

Drums went well, as we got a real nice sound. We did have Jeff play "air Ride Cymbal" because (In our humble opinion) cymbals fuck up drum sounds. So we just recorded the kick, snare and toms, and will later have Jeff overdub the crash cymbals etc. Jeff also played a Tambourine part for the chorus. We pretty much used or normal drum mic scheme: D20 for the kick, ADK about 4 feet in-front of the kit and this time a Neuman for the Toms.

After Jeff split we managed to record a few textural/ambient tracks for the end section of "Armies". First putting down a heavily treated pump organ from the Abbey Road set and then an odd chanting digital monk from a Reason synth. Craig then placed a high end ambient texture using his 8 string bass through his Sony verb. Nice sounds.

We then went home and I finished "Assassins Creed". This is a major turning point in my life. To celebrate I fell asleep, drooling, while watching the third season of "Battlestar". I fully admit that I'm a loser. I am. So what.

Recording Diary v40

40! Man we must really like music....

More recording of "The Armies Of The Dead". Craig first recorded a Melotron/Accordion playing a simple rhythmic part. I followed that with a Melotron Choir sound (ala Genesis) for the turnaround parts of the tune. Spooky

Once this was nailed we set up an ADK and another mic that our pal Vinnie brought in for us to check out..I forget what it was. We then recored two tracks of Melodica and trumpet.

Now the song is getting sufficiently thick, so we started on the vocals, recording about 6 tracks of Craig and I singing the chorus in tandem. We then sang the outro section which is all vocals and kinda sounds the like driving down the road to Hell with stomach flu while watching 2001 monkeys smashing in skulls in the distace. Or something like that. Lots of guttural moaning the key of E. This section will be hard edited into the B section that we recorded a few weeks back

We will continue to mash more textures on Sat.

MAD Mag Fold In's

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The Tone Generation

Via Simon Sound. Cool audio series on Electronic Music....

"This Friday sees the launch of a new simonsound produced radio series looking at the history of electronic music as a worldwide phenomenon. The 10 part series called ‘The Tone Generation’ is presented by electronic musician and film-maker Ian Helliwell. Starting in Europe and finishing in the Southern Hemisphere Ian will be playing vintage tracks - some celebrated, many obscure and overlooked, to give an overview of electronic music. Part one starts with Great Britain and features music from a number of BBC Radiophonic composers including Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire."

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Recording Diary v39

Our pal Melissa came down again to say hi so we pushed a mic in her face and forced her to sing some doubled back ground harmony parts on "Anjuna." Expertly done! Sounds sweet and smooth. Thanks Melissa!!

After that we set up one tube mic in front of the drums and I sat down and played a drum track (for the part A of the new tune Army Of The Dead) with Thomas playing percussion (hitting a steel sliding door, trash can) and Craig playing a tambourine. We then overdubbed a few more takes of all of us playing different percussion elements. This created a junk yard soundtrack with a dubious meter. I requested a retarded feel and I sure got it. It sounds real cool, especially after Craig ran it through some compression and the "11" plug in.

Then Thomas played the bass part in a few takes. Wonderful! Fabo! Awards all around! We are all playing instruments that we are least comfortable on for this track. Im in luck cause Im least comfortable on everything.

Then I went home and tried to beat the last boss in Assassin's Creed. Still can't do it..mother fucker. I hate how the last Boss fights in these video games are so much more difficult than the previous bosses. Or maybe it's just that I suck? Yep. I suck.

Lynnon

This song proves that no-one can do Lennon better than Lynn.

Star Wars According To A Three Year Old.

Ill. Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) Loves Jesus.

For sometime now the political lines have been clearly drawn in the USA: Republicans openly propagate the idea of Theism and Democrats are quiet or moderate about the idea of God, or (very rarely) disagree with the concept entirely.

Here's proof that in "The Land of Lincoln" lunatic Democrats exist as well. The lines are blurring more every day...Adults grasping to childlike fantasies abound everywhere!

Via Boing Boing:

"Ill. Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) faced off against Rob Sherman of Buffalo Grove, who objected to the state of Illinois giving $1 million to the Pilgrim Baptist Church, excoriating him for not believing in God and for having the temerity to say that the Church and State should be separate. She told him that she believed it was dangerous for children to know that atheism exists. She ordered him to stop testifying and insisted that in the Land of Lincoln, "people believe in God!"

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Wackity-Schmackity Doo!

Drum Machines Rule

If your a drummer and you hate drum machines then, by default, your a dick.

Here are lots of cool old arcane drum machine samples for sale on the cheaps!

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Real Time Drum Machine Tweaking

Now you can be Plastikman

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Recording Diary v38

Anjuna is complete. Craig placed a bass line, that took some time to write-sometimes reducing is the only way out of a hole. After tracking his frettless Craig then played a Ebow part of the bridge which I soon followed with three Ebow Les Paul guitar parts. Sounds rather "Frippery" now. Nice.

All tracking is complete..just needs a solo by Mirv.

Next we set up a simple rhythmic bed for a new tune "The Armies Of The Dead" consisting of a click and Tympani drum hits. This was followed by a two chord Melotron flue progression. We then set up a mic and I sang the tune, which was quickly doubled.

Exhaustion set in. I went home to a warm bed.

Quinn Martin Productions

Found this shit on the intertubes.

Quinn Martin (Streets of san Francisco, Cannon etc) Episode names:

Perchance To Kill
See Some Evil, Do Some Evil
The Day Of The Viper
The Deadly Jinx
Rendezvous With Terror
Blueprint For A Caper
Web Of Deceit
Jeopardy For Two
Theater Of Fear
Honeymoon With Death
Dangerous Gambit
Sins Of Thy Father
Band Of Evil
Fraternity Of Thieves
The Deadly Charade
Circle Of Treachery
The Damocles Gun
Shadow Of Fear
The Devil's Handmaiden
Uninvited Peril
Nest Of Scorpions
Dance With Death
Homecoming For A Dead Man
Death Is The Punchline
Scream Of Silence
The Girl In The Electric Coffin
The Nowhere Man
Devil's Playground
Blood On The Vine
Cain's Mark
Bitter Legion
Nobody Beats The House
The Dead Samaritan
To Ride A Tiger
He Who Digs A Grave
Hounds Of Hell
Valley Of the Damned
Conspiracy Of Corruption
Arena Of Fear
Triangle Of Terror
Voice From The Grave
Coffin Corner
The Iceman
A Touch Of Venom
The Games Children Play
The Quasar Kill
Image In A Cracked Mirror
To Free My Enemy
The Plague Merchant
Passage Into Fear
Blueprint For Betrayal
Wind It Up And It Betrays You
Caesar's Wife
Conspiracy Of Silence
Antennae Of Death
Game Of Terror
The Minerva Tapes
Judas Goat
Arrangement With Terror
Escape To Nowhere
A Game Of Chess
Holiday with Terror
A Gathering Of Sharks
The Loper Gambit
The Year Of The Locusts
A Collection Of Eagles
Trail Of The Serpent
Legion Of The Lost
Winterkill
Chapel Of The Damned
A String Of Puppets
Bird Of Prey
Mister Nobody
Labyrinth
Murder By Proxy
Requiem For Murder
Clown Of Death

Vintage Vinyl

Here's a wonderful set from Vintage Vinyl featuring The Browns, The Appalachia Vagabond (Hayes Shepherd), and The Carter Family (among others).

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Master Class Drummer

Recording Diary v37

More "Anjuna"

We set up the ADK Mic and sang our sorry asses off, completing the lead vocal, Chorus and lead vocal harmonies. Took a few hours.

Craig then started working on a fretless Bass part for the tune. We threw down a few ideas and it seemed like the parts are coming together nicely. I expect we will track the final Bass on Thursday. Then all the tune needs is some guitar work by Mirv.

I want this song to be over so we can move on to the next one....But it is coming out nicely.

Good Advice

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Not My Best Picture, I Know..But I Think I Kinda Look Cute?

Tracy: The Movie

My pal Dan is making a movie called "Tracy" that's going to be pretty damn funny.

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Radiohead Remix