I’m making a note of these free plugins so I can download them when I get home:
All for now…maybe more later. I hear there are thousands of useful, free VST plugins floating around.
Steve Hogarth of Marillion says in the Register:
“Instead of gigging round toilets for ten years trying to get a record deal, gig around toilets for ten years and ask people for their email addresses. If what you’re doing strikes a chord, you’ll be financially better off while remaining pure and free to do what you want.”
So, what does this mean for the music industry? Steve sees the writing on the wall: “History will see it as a funny little anomaly that happened between 1950 and 2010,” he says. “While technology made it possible, advances in technology will also make it impossible.”
Right on. Anyone interested in music should read this. Then go get your marbles.
The studio computer is finally running normally. It turns out I had forgotten to install the chipset drivers. Ummmm, yeah.
*shrek_voice* At’ll do, Donkey. At’ll do.
So from here it’s…make music! Get proficient at USING (as opposed to configuring) Sonar. Record stuff. Edit stuff. Mix stuff. Master stuff. Release stuff. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
I’ve found myself attuned to energy cycles around me in my community. People are reconnecting. Awakening from their long winters nap. Mmmmm…stretch
A beautiful thunderstorm blew through here last night. I love thunderstorms. They are much more common in the midwest than here. I miss them. But when they do come, the ocean air, combined with the ozone after a storm, smells amazing.
I just started writing again for the first time in a while; writing, that is, apart from the somewhat light blogging I’ve been doing over the past few months. I often use writing or journalling to help me process things. I can always improve my understanding of my current situation when I write about it. I just have to be careful about showing it to others; I have learned from a mistake in the past. I can’t show this writing without providing a proper context. ;-)
There is lots of energy moving in me and around me. My reality is in flux, and this flux is manifesting on several levels. Change is in the air–an appropriate thing for spring.
I realize this is very vague and doesn’t say much, but I don’t really want to give voice to much more than that just now. But don’t worry. I fully believe much of the change is in the form of release; energy blockages are clearing out. I often think about what effects these clearings will have as they settle in, both within myself and my community.
I know these changes are good, because I’ve been feeling a tremendous amount of joy and gratitude on many levels. My heart chakra is just overflowing with energy right now, and it feels wonderful. :-)
I am so blessed. There are some amazing people and amazing things in my reality. This is the prime source of my gratitude. My prayer is that I, and my community, will be able to use this energy in fruitful ways.
My daughter came up to me with pen and paper and asked me to write this down:
“Energy is plain; energy is not mean or good. It comes to you as it is, but you choose what to make it into. You carve it.”
I just wanted to record that here. I thought it was really cool.
Well, we have a dog. Here he is:
His name is Edgar. Mo named him. He’s the one on the right with the chocolate brown fur and the white on his chest and throat. Some funny stories about him.
When we first conceived of meta-dog we opted for the other one, Edgar’s brother. But that dog was almost twice the size of Edgar and very high strung. Edgar had a nice, chilled vibe. So we got him. Mo bonded with him the entire way home. He did great in the car.
He’s doing much better with whining tonight, and responding quite well to operant conditioning. He’s gonna be fine. He brings a wonderful energy. He’s so tiny, 3lbs currently, 6-9 when grown. Very fragile. I’m trying very hard to resist the appetizer jokes. At least he’s not the least bit annoying.
Oh, and get this. When we got home, we found a picture Mo had drawn of the meta-dog. It was folded up, and had been on our altar for weeks. He was, of course, colored brown. And some liquid had spilled on the drawing, so that the brown faded to white…on his chest and throat. No wonder we picked Edgar…
I am continuing to ride the learning curve of Sonar and the new computer. I am at least able to record audio now. The latency is still a bit pokey; but I have several ways to tweak that. I suspect a new video card, and a new hard drive just for audio data, will help tremendously.
But progress is made every time I go over there. It’s largely just a matter of time spent in front of the machine. So of course, I want to spend more of my abundant free time there. Yeah. Right.
I just don’t know what to say about this one. Entropy in action? Natural selection? The Will of the Divine? who knows…
The new marillion album, marbles, arrived the other day. I’ve got it on now, and it’s my 3rd time through.
It’s very atmospheric, and yet groovy in spots. Marillion are known for beautiful, lush music (or pompous and grandiose music, you judge), and this album is very nuanced and mature in that genre. The interplay between the drums and the bass is stunning, providing a great foundation for the guitars and keyboards to drift in and out. Gorgeous. Steve Rothery’s sense of space and texture, with his tasty little riffs and flourishes here and there, is sublime.
Steve Hogarth is oddly restrained throughout much of the album. There’s usually one or two tracks on each album where he lets loose and belts it, but nothing like that jumps out at me on this album. However, Hogarth is one of the absolute best singers in music today; his harmonically thick tenor is so distinctive. No one out there sounds quite like him. Though he’s restrained, the music suits it. If the singer is somewhat of an actor, then the roles on this album demanded some restraint. He still manages some of his most powerful singing, even if slightly understated.
There are 4 tracks called “marbles’ on the album (conveniently numbered for your reference). They are, strangely enough, the odd tracks out. They almost don’t sound like they belong on the album. They’re all short little tracks, 2 minutes or less, and I don’t quite get their role in the story this album tells. They almost sound underdeveloped compared to the rest of the album. The exception is Marbles III, which sounds like it belongs exactly where it is, opening disc 2.
There are several standout tracks. The opener, “The Invisible Man”, is wonderful. The dynamics in the song are sweet. “The Only Unforgiveable Thing” is stepping forward as a favorite.
“You’re Gone” is also the first single from the album. It’s got a nice drum loop, again understated so there is still plenty of sonic room for the boys to put their sounds on top of.
“Ocean Cloud” is the traditional epic track. Not that it matters, but it is quite length and has several movements. Total track length is nearly 18 minutes. The guitars and drums on this one are very powerful. Ian Moseley is a master of the hi hat, that’s all I have to say.
The album ends with “Neverland,” which I need to listen to again a time or three.
The album was expertly produced by Dave Meegan, and he had engineering help from Rod Bunton. Steve Wilson and Michael Hunter helped with the mixing. Though I don’t know for sure (I’d love to know), my suspicion is that Steve Wilson had a hand in mixing Ocean Cloud. The samples are totally his style, as well as the dynamic range of the electic guitars in the heavier section. The vocal harmonies are also his style; you can hear all of these elements in the Porcupine Tree albums.
This is gonna be one of those albums that really grow on you. In its somewhat melancholy tone, and thematic threads that run throughout the album, stylistic comparisons to their 1993 album, Brave, are inevitable. And while I love Brave, I always thought it was too long. There were 3 or 4 songs from that album that shouldn’t have been on it (I’ll name them if you ask). There are no such tracks that jump out on marbles, with the odd possible exception of the title tracks themselves. It’s a sonically dense album, there are many layers to it. Production is impeccable. Kudos to Dave Meegan.
I wonder if Mr. Meegan would be interested in producing a Freakwitch album? :-)