Haven’t gone into the studio to find new music for this Journal. Will go next week.
Here is the Music Repeat from May 2009: La Rosa Negra
Today’s music was recorded live in 1991. The musicians were:
OL – flamenco guitar
Jon Gagan – electric fretless bass guitar
Davo Bryant – percussion
Download the high quality audio file here.
In the Morning I get up during the hour of the rabbit. I am a dog (((and a mutt))) and our performances always start during the hour of the dog… See this post on neobohemia.
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The CDs have arrived. We had them printed on the uncoated side and it looks great. The cardboard stock for DigiPak CD packaging has two sides, one is coated and the other one is not. The coated side shows less wear and tear, but doesn’t look quite as nice and, most importantly, makes it impossible to sign the cover – even with a Sharpie. So, when we re-ordered The Scent of Light a few months ago we asked for printing on the uncoated side and that’s what we used for the new album as well. With signing in mind I made the three panels on the inside plain magenta (((Pantone 226C))) – lots of room to write.
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Tickets for the Costa Mesa performance on July 10th will go on-sale Friday, May 14th at 10:00, through this web site: OCJazzSeries.com
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Carol commented on May 14th, 2010:
What’s the name of that book about Edo?
It’s a series by Laura Joh Rowland. I began with The Concubine’s Tattoo, as that was the first one in the series that is available in ebook formats. At first I used Kindle, but later chose Apple’s iBook for other books in the series. For some strange reason Kindle still does not have a built in dictionary, but iBook, Kobo and Barnes & Noble apps do.
The series is historically quite accurate, I am told. The writing is a little soap-opera-ish at times, but I felt compelled to read the books as I find that era fascinating.
Does anyone know how to set up amazon.com to email a person when certain authors release a book? I mean it’s easy to get iTunes to send out an email when xyz releases an album – Apple calls it Artist Alert – but I haven’t found a way to do this on amazon.com. It seems so obvious, but where is it or, gasp, don’t they have that function available? I also looked for this function in iBook and Kobo, but, although it seems like a very obvious and useful thing to me, it is not available.
Any books you would recommend to me? I have to stock up for the upcoming tour. I’ll need about 8-12 books to sustain me through the six and half weeks… Thanks!
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Q & A with Sir Mick.
BBC News – Sir Mick Jagger goes back to Exile
Things have obviously changed a great deal since those sessions. What’s your feeling on technology and music?Technology and music have been together since the beginning of recording.
I’m talking about the internet.
But that’s just one facet of the technology of music. Music has been aligned with technology for a long time. The model of records and record selling is a very complex subject and quite boring, to be honest.
But your view is valid because you have a huge catalogue, which is worth a lot of money, and you’ve been in the business a long time, so you have perspective.
Well, it’s all changed in the last couple of years. We’ve gone through a period where everyone downloaded everything for nothing and we’ve gone into a grey period it’s much easier to pay for things – assuming you’ve got any money.
Are you quite relaxed about it?
I am quite relaxed about it. But, you know, it is a massive change and it does alter the fact that people don’t make as much money out of records. But I have a take on that – people only made money out of records for a very, very small time. When The Rolling Stones started out, we didn’t make any money out of records because record companies wouldn’t pay you! They didn’t pay anyone! Then, there was a small period from 1970 to 1997, where people did get paid, and they got paid very handsomely and everyone made money. But now that period has gone. So if you look at the history of recorded music from 1900 to now, there was a 25 year period where artists did very well, but the rest of the time they didn’t.
(Via Daring Fireball)
Yeah, with his networth it’s easy to be quite relaxed about it. Though there really is no other position that is sustainable. Things have changed and they might change again.
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Music Notation with HTML5 Canvas
Music Notation
(Via Slashdot)
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Retrovelo – Frame Bag
FRAME BAG – for your lunch box or laptop
(Via Popwuping)
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An Interview with Matthew Yglesias – The Future of the City – The Atlantic
Q. Asked to allocate a billion dollars in funds on anything that falls under the rubric of urban affairs, what would you prioritize?Better buses! It’s rare that you have a policy issue that can be solved by throwing more money at the problem, but the technology to make bus service more frequent and equip buses with GPS systems that provide real-time schedule updates to bus stops exists and operates in many parts of the world. We should be installing it in our major cities.
(Via Marginal Revolution)
Busses with GPS, so one can track their approach in real time. Brilliant.
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Legal experts: LimeWire likely doomed | Media Maverick – CNET News
On Wednesday, CNET broke the news that U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood granted summary judgment in favor of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which filed a copyright lawsuit against LimeWire in 2006. In her decision, Wood ruled Lime Group, parent of LimeWire software maker Lime Wire, and founder Mark Gorton committed copyright infringement, induced copyright infringement, and engaged in unfair competition.
and
While Wood’s decision won’t come close to killing online piracy–there’s still BitTorrent and plenty of other ways to share files–she likely has scuttled a peer-to-peer service used by nearly 60 percent of the people who download songs. She also may have ushered out the era of large, well-funded file-sharing services, at least the kind that help distribute mostly copyright-infringing content. By making Gorton personally liable for damages, Wood served notice that operating these kinds of businesses is now a very risky financial endeavor. If the RIAA gets its way, Gorton, Lime Wire, and Lime Group will collectively be responsible for paying damages of $450 million.
this is quaint:
The other side of the LimeWire ruling is that it could thwart the development of technologies that one day might provide legitimate benefits to media companies, said Jack Lerner, a USC law professor.
“The problem is that some of these services may be the most efficient distribution technologies ever created,” said Lerner, a former attorney with the tech-focused law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. “It may take years and years before these technologies can fully be developed because they’re being shut down. When these technologies are in their infancy you see a lot more infringement, but as they mature they may be able to be put to good use.”
Ha!
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Poll: Despite spill, support for oil drilling high – msnbc.com
Even after the recent — and highly publicized — oil spill in the Gulf Coast, that’s the overwhelming sentiment from the public, with six in 10 Americans supporting more offshore drilling, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.In addition, a majority believes that the potential economic benefits of offshore drilling outweigh its potential harm to the environment.
It’s not that people today are less intelligent, forward thinking or compassionate than earlier generations, it’s that the tools at hand have become much, much more devastating. Nowadays, if persons or entities are without scruples, or simply careless, the destruction their endeavors can bring about is terrifying. Our tools have grown exponentially more powerful, and it seems that our collective intelligence (((or education?))) simply has not kept up with that pace.
The world is utterly heartbreaking.
found on Twitter
And there is always this:
Do not despair. Your work will bear fruit in 700 years or so.
– The Dalai Lama
Thoughts about the new album:
The music will be defined as much by what was left out, or what we did not use or do, as by what we will do. The music will be recorded with 21st century recording equipment, but with a 20th century recording ethos.
a trio of musicians
a Flamenco guitar, an electric bass guitar amd a drumkit
post-genre music
contrary to common 21st century recording practices, these are methods we will not use:
no clicktrack
no quantization
no pitch-correction
no time shifting
no tempo-shifting,
no overdubs (((I am not going to avoid overdubs at all costs – if a song calls for it, I might do an overdub – as an exception)))
no (over-)compression
You might already know my thoughts about modern dynamic compression. I know, it’s very confusing, but there are two kinds of music compression. There is Audio Compression, which is a form of data compression to reduce the file size, e.g. mp3, AAC, FLAC, ALAC. And then there is Dynamic Range Compression, which is what I am talking about. I have mentioned this often before, for example here, here, here, and here. I might do a little dynamic compression, as much as I used on The Scent of Light, but am considering doing no compression for the HD version of the album. I’ll do whatever sounds best.
Jon told me that the Yamaha Subkick microphone arrived at his studio and we will check it out tomorrow during rehearsal. As you might have noticed, I generally prefer having a large, heavy kick sound (((I have often used a modified 808-type kick))) on the first beat of each measure, leaving the rest of the bar open for percussion and bass. That is something I have done since Solo Para Ti, where Davo brought in a huge marching drum we used as a kick. My plan for this album is to record Michael’s kick drum with several microphones – Jon wants to use three altogether – giving us a lot of low-end from the Yamaha Subkick and a tighter sound from the other mics. Rather than having a huge kick sound every time Michael plays the drum, my plan is to use the subkick on the one of the beat (((or wherever I want the accent))) and to mute it for the rest of each bar, leaving the tighter kick sound in those places. This will mean quite a few hours of muting, but I like that we are not overdubbing a low-low kick – it’s the natural performance as captured by the microphones. One reason I like the low-low kick is that there isn’t anything else that will deliver that sort of physical sensation, as neither the guitar nor the bass really cover that spectrum. If you listen closely, I have done several albums (((Little Wing and Innamorare come to mind))) where Jon overdubbed some synth bass, which has more low-end than a fretless bass guitar, because I wanted that physical element.
In a way this is going to be the most hybrid of my albums. I am writing and playing without considering anything external. There isn’t even an occasional look to any tradition here. It’s Post-Category music. The music is defined only by the chemistry of the trio. There is a great feeling of independence, of liberation.
PS: I didn’t end up using the subkick mic in the manner I envisioned above. We liked the sound of the subkick microphone by itself and I didn’t use the second mic we had set up – just in case. I also didn’t mute anything and went with the kick as performed. We did end up doing a few overdubs: a couple of rhythm guitar parts at the end of Backwards Firefly, the guitar soli in the verses of Future Green, Jon’s bass solo on Dancing Alone, the tambourine on Jump and the djembe on Future Green and Backwards Firefly – and that’s all.
Working with the trio is a new way to work for me. Normally I work in my laboratory by myself, arranging the guitars, playing to a click track (((usually a drumloop that has the feel I am looking for))) and by the time another musician, either Jon or a percussionist, hears the track it already has a form, a vibe, a clear definition.
Last week I was very enthusiastic, yesterday I felt it was all uninspired – at least until Jon sent me the audio files from the rehearsal, which put me in a much better mood. Luckily I have a lot of experience with the ups and downs of creative energy. I remember being alternately incredibly excited and incredibly down about the music during the recording of Nouveau Flamenco (((and most other albums I have done)))…
I forgot my camera again, so here is a shot of the Subkick with the phone. Sounds amazing. (((Michael is playing Jon’s drumkit in our rehearsals. When we start recording in a couple or three weeks, he will bring in his own)))
Well, today’s rehearsal went really well. We played through most of the music for he album and added little things here and there. In my opinion it’s always the little things, that we remember about a record – an unexpected chord change, tempo change, feel change and so on.
