My Errant Mind

OK, today’s Song Of The Day is by the band who had the honor of being the band I chose to kick off this feature. All hell…err, hail, The Bastard Fairies.

I thought with my previous post about the soldier getting in trouble for shooting a copy of the Quran, it was appropriate. Enjoy We’re All Going To Hell by The Bastard Fairies!

I’m more a fan of the movie Death Proof than the song. Hey, Quentin Tarantino makes good movies in my opinion…

Why the song Down In Mexico by The Coasters? So I could share video footage of Vanessa Ferlito performing a sexy lap dance–why else? Check out her website if you like what you see.

A special thanks to the lady who has my errant mind wandering about in this general direction this morning. This Song Of The Day is for you.

Nothing like some old-school hardcore from NYC to get the blood pumping. One of my favorite bands, kicking out some slamming riffs with more energy than ten pep squads drowning in Red Bull. It’s also a hell of a lot of fun, this song.

Check out the Sick Of It All website and get acquainted with the band if you aren’t already. For two decades these guys have been at it, and they own the term hardcore.

And if you’re one of those silly people who is even dreaming about posting some stupid comment about the pits of today versus the ones of yesteryear or some such nonsense, forget it. If people aren’t getting knocked out by Jack Daniels bottles (You gotta admit, John—that was kinda funny!) and bodies aren’t flying about in your pits because you think such people are “ruining the art of pitting” or some other ridiculously lame sentiment, go whine to your Emo therapist at your Emo-core therapy group.

Never fear, though. If you’re Emo, it should be safe enough for you in the forums on the band’s website…

Todays song is Open Your Eyes by Guano Apes. I used to set this song as the first in my playlist to wake me up in the morning (another good reason to have a Linux desktop), though I rotate songs through these days.

Sandra Nasic (who is Croatian and German) was a powerful vocalist and draped their songs with emotion—as well as in-your-face attitude. She is also incredibly sexy.

The German band truly rocked and I am saddened that they split up and went their separate ways. Still, the members have moved on with other projects and I hope they find as much success and have as much as they did in Guano Apes.

I hope you will enjoy the video…

Great song by a great band that I have enjoyed since the ’80s. Billy Duffy is one of the best guitarists/songwriters in the world of rock. Ian Astbury is the nearest thing to Jim Morrison going. I picked this one because I had to rise early this morning.

Enjoy…

You know, this video just makes you think about the movie American Pie and “This one time, at band camp…” The song is now called Destination Calabria, after having started out as a track named Destination Unknown (not sure why the name change, but hey, strange stuff happens with dance music) in 2003. It features singer Crystal Waters.

If this doesn’t get a man’s blood pumping, he’s probably a corpse.

You can download a high quality version of the actual video (28 megs in size) here: http://steepmedia.net/backstage/adestinationcala.html

I promise you that you won’t regret downloading it. Just imagine the video in full-screen high quality glory. It’s better by, like, a factor of ten.

Here’s a look behind the scenes at the making of the video…

For absolutely no good reason that I know of, I decided finally that I will keep this blog going despite the horrible new dashboard brought about with WordPress 2.5. I figure, why waste the hard work I’ve put into it? I don’t want to disenfranchise any readers out there either.

What better way to blow off the poor usability that WordPress.com users are now forced to endure, by saying “Whatever” and just continuing on? So, to celebrate continuing the blog, I thought that a song by one of my favorite bands, The Bastard Fairies, would be perfectly appropriate.

Then, I decided, since I love music so much, why not just start sharing some of the cool bands and music I like with readers? Never hurts to expand one’s horizons, after all. So, a new regular feature is born.

Enjoy…

[Note: I decided to continue developing and running one of my websites off WordPress just to stay abreast of the platform since I invested so much time in it over the past year. However, I will also be changing other sites that were in the works over to other, more robust Content Management Systems.]

Just a short and sweet post to point out a great article on EQ Magazine’s website that makes a great introduction to mastering. The article offers a lot of tips on what is often considered an arcane art and is an excellent primer for the recording musician.

Even if you have no intention of attempting it yourself, understanding the mastering process will help you as a musician, especially if you consider your songs in a sonic context. If you’ve wondered how to turn your rough mix into a finished masterpiece, this article will tell you what you need to do it and how to do it.

I’m not going to say you will be mastering before the night is over or that it’s really easy, but after reading Mastering For Musicians, I was sure encouraged!

There are a lot of tips on mastering strategies, how to get increased loudness without over-compressing, tips on EQ, and creating a good album flow with your songs.

Update 1, 03-27-2008: There is another great article that is worth a read on the topic of mastering on EQ Mag’s site. Check out The 12 Step Mastering Program for some thoughts to keep in mind as you approach mastering a song.

Also, you might be interested in Tape Op: The Creative Recording Magazine, which offers a free subscription and is chock full of some of the best how-to information, gear reviews, interviews with pro sound engineers and recording musicians. The gear advertisements alone are worth looking at it, and I bet the articles will inspire your next recording session in some way or another. Hurry now…

Well, as usual, the big players in the music industry lag behind the reality on the ground. Sort of like politicians. a recent article on Ars Technica by Nate Anderson takes a look at the recent roundhouse kick to the head that killed the music industry in its first incarnation.

Music exec: “Music 1.0 is dead” is a great article. Indie musicians have been changing the industry in ways that even the corporate giants cannot ignore, and—as the article points out—they have finally grasped that the old model is an untenable position.

Of course the talk is about Music 2.0 (is anyone else getting tired of the old model of versioning, by the way?) and new models. All good stuff, and focusing largely on technology and digital delivery.

They’re still missing the point. Knock the stupid versioning technology away, it is about music and that means it is about interaction. Call it Music 3.0 if you are stuck in that particular paradigm and you like to feel comfortable, but the model that needs to be embraced is still to come, and I have a pretty good idea what it will be.

In the meantime, enjoy how the realization that sometimes you can’t fight the tide and instead get swept along with it is impacting even the major record labels.

Props to The Kings of A & R, a great site that ought to be in your bookmarks, for leading me to both those great stories.

The New York Giants put an end the the New England Patriots’ quest for a perfect season. I am elated. While I am no huge fan of the Giants, I can’t stand the Patriots.

More importantly, it just wouldn’t have done to have the best team at the end of the season with a perfect record stealing some of the magic from the legendary Dolphins team when that team cheats. And to any other pro sports team out there cheating—grow the hell up. You are not children any longer, yet you are paid ridiculous salaries to play a children’s game. There’s no need to cheat.

It is no wonder that athletes are less and less cited as hero-figures to both younger and older generations. So many sports have become the over-paid home to idiots and punks with no class—or outright criminals and human trash. Take the dog-fighting and Michael Vick. That’s enough stomach turning cruelty to animals to make anyone sick.

Even the executives and management of sports figures and teams get in on the act of stupidity now. The lack of integrity and class has become pandemic throughout American sports culture and is in dire need of fixing.

Tonight the underdog prevailed.

Tonight, the cheaters had their just dessert.

Tonight, a good team showed some heart and played the best they could. Without cheating, they became a great team…even with losses on their record.

Congratulations to the New York Giants. That last drive will go down as one of the best comebacks in the history of the sport, I am sure!

Interesting to note: there seems to be a lot of positive response to Tom Petty’s halftime performance. Comments have ranged from “it’s nice to see them have a band where you can actually understand the words they’re singing…” to my own thoughts—that real musicians and rock and roll belong in the Superbowl halftime show. Not lip-syncing pop singers, moronic boy bands (or their decidedly unmanly former members); when you have actual musicians churning out driving rock music it mirrors the excitement of the game which is about performance and excitement and struggle.

Which is why I don’t like seeing country music at halftime either. Country music just puts me to sleep or makes me want to go to the rest room anyway.

Chalk one up for a rock icon and putting on a show all ages could enjoy. And we thankfully won’t have to listen to the media go on for weeks about some singers’ tits. You’d think some broadcasters haven’t ever seen any…

I thought I would post something short and hopefully helpful to any fellow musicians (and guitarists in particular) out there who stumble upon my blog. There are two great VST plugins that I use for adding some character to guitar tracks that I think are outstanding.

Even moreso when you consider that they are free.

FreeAmp by Fretted Synth Audio

This is a modeled guitar rig by Fretted Synth Audio, complete with an amp that allows you to model all sorts of sounds. It also comes with a huge…and I mean HUGE array of presets to give you all kinds of great starting points.

One of the things guitarists will love is the intuitive way it is all laid out. The many effects you can add on are presented as effects pedals you can activate. Great touches include the ability to model compression pre and post and simulated noise gating on the amp that works pretty decently.

If you’re looking at something like Native’s Guitar Rig but are like many musicians…strapped for cash…then this is what you’ve been looking for. This also presents an affordable alternative to those who aren’t able to shell out for a reamplifier!

Simply record a clean guitar track and then duplicate it. Next, apply the FreeAmp VST plugin to the clean track and turn it into a distorted crunchfest…or add some dreamy reverb and a touch of compression. I find this cool little plugin can inspire creativity and let’s me look for unique approaches to arrangements. I hope you’ll give it a try!

Here’s a screenshot of it running in Cubasis vst 3.0. Yes, I’m still using it and have been since 2002. The newer Cubase products have changed the DAW interface and made it uncomfortable to work in, and Cubasis is so much more pleasant than ProTools, Cakewalk apps, and many others I have tried (and I’ve tried dozens of them…).

Click on the thumbnail to see a full-size image…

[NOTE: version 3 is out now, but I haven't had a chance to check it out and I am using version 2.1.1]

British Valve Custom by Studio Devil

The British Valve Custom plugin by Studio Devil is fantastic. It will take a recorded track and make it sound like you used a tube amp with EL84’s to record it—or close enough when you’re talking about using digital modeling.

While it is doubtful any plugin will sound just like tubes many do a great job of coming close these days. Speaking as a guitarist that loves the presence of glowing tubes, I find the British Valve Custom plugin very likable. It’s good enough to use in professional mixes. Really, it’s that good!

I find that if I record a guitar track with just a mild crunch to it, copying that track and adding this plugin to the duplicate track can add a really cool presence and bit of edge to it that I like. Doing so allows you to pan two exact takes hard left and right and get a good stereo image with clarity. The differences this plugin creates really make this possible, whereas a lot of plugins simply won’t handle nuances well enough to create audible separation without making your duplicate track sound like it was recorded at another tempo.

Studio Devil has a full-blown version available as well as the British Valve Custom plugin. Try out the free BVC version and you might find yourself splurging for the full Studio Devil Virtual Guitar Amp.

Here’s a screenshot. Again, click on the thumbnail to see the full-size graphic.

Oh, and I found both of these while checking out the downloads at HitSquad.com, which is a must-visit site for any musician recording digitally!

Update 1, 04-06-2008: For some vocal plugins, check out the post over on HomeTracked entitled Great FREE vocal plugin chain.

OK, so this is the first time I’ve done the whole embedding a video in a blog post thing. Actually this is the first time I have been inspired to do so.

This performance by Richard Hart at Inside The Bungalow in Mesa, Arizona was just really moving for so many reasons. I like his guitar tone, his voice reminds me of Bob Dylan—only clearer and more pleasant to listen to—and his tasty slide work adds such a distinctive vibe to the song. Just check it out for yourself and see what you think.

There are other reasons I like the song. I find empathy easy enough with this one…