|
|
|
March 31, 2009
I've been selecting samples of each of the songs in the catalogue so that one day folks will be able to hear a bit
of what's available. Before they, you know, commit to a download or something.
It's a lot of work that I thought I'd rather not have to do, until I started discovering stuff that I'd forgotten about.
See, I never actually had a complete list of all the songs I've recorded here, or remixed here, or released on the site.
And it's been 8 or so years. I've been making some happy discoveries.
The latest one is an old Big Red song called I Won't Be Here. The recording is a little wavery because of
the tape, but I remember this one from places like Grandma's Attic, and Redcay rips an amazing signature Redcay lead
on it... somehow I never got around to posting it up. We'll end the month with it- number #139.
There's quite a few more like that- at least four from the Gadjo Playboys' last release, a Death Clowns
live track, a fine drunken version of Halloween (written by Kenny Gross) performed by Dave Crossley,
and more. Stay tuned.
|
|
|
March 29, 2009
OK, kids, now you can see how the pros do it! Joe Ellis will never play the electric guitar again
without the Humm-Sukka! It reduces annoying hum and buzz by an amazing (something) percent! GET YOURS TODAY!
We did actually track Joe on about 5 songs today, so that's a major step forward in the Gadjo Playboys project.
Not even tornado warnings could stop us!
And on top of all that, welcome Mike, our newest sponsor!
|
|
|
March 28, 2009
I remixed the last two tracks from J Mundok's Tape Germ reel tonight. This is something Jason had recorded
on a Fostex 8-track a while back, which he has allowed me to remix.
There are six tracks. I hope he likes them, because I'm excited to share them with you.
They are basically loops of drums and stuff that he tracked vocals and guitars and stuff along with. I don't know
how to describe it. It's Surf Music for Goths, maybe. It's sort of ambiant, sort of late 20th century hip-hop,
but no, not really. Let's just say that there are no hum-able melodys... no, there really are some of those... It's
a little like Radio Head at times...
I just burned an EP length CD of the mixes and it sounds pretty good... more to come.
|
|
|
March 27, 2009
The Sporting Hill Ramblers had a lot of fun at McCleary's last week- some photos just came in...
|
|
|
March 25, 2009
Here's a new featured song, this one from Big Red's Poolroom Tape.
Mighty fine, mighty fine...
|
|
|
March 22, 2009
Over at Tape Op, some astute soul suggested that it would be nice if I provided 15 second samples of the songs
available here on the catalogue page. Wow! It's so obviously the right thing to do, I completely overlooked it.
That's me all over- I am capable of creating a fine, subtle mix sometimes with the snare drum about twice as loud as it should be... people, you've got to let me know!
Anyway, samples... I used to do that, several hosts ago. It's a boatload of work, but it's got to be. See ya
in a couple of weeks (grumble... 290 15 second samples...)
|
|
|
March 20, 2009
|
|
|
March 18, 2009
Oh Danny, oh boy, the pipes were out at McCleary's last night. If anyone has pics, my
addy is steampowered@yahoo.com.
|
|
|
March 15, 2009
I've been doing more rewriting for web pages- I hope to have everything ship-shape by the 20th,
when I send out the next Steam Powered newsletter.
Tonight I rewrote the page explaining sponsorships,
and also a page explaining about why songs are only generally available to sponsors.
It's hard to find the right way to explain these things. Still, I'm convinced of two
things- sponsorship is a better way to pay for recorded music than other ways are,
and that it really works.
(oh- I've also rewritten the stokers page,
which has pictures of lots of the folks who play here, and a sample
catalogue page, which lists the songs we've done.)
|
|
|
March 14, 2009
I've chopped up the
about page into smaller chunks, so
now maybe it will load into my mobile? Yeah!
So be sure to check that page out again- hit "refresh" in your browser to make sure you get the new stuff.
Now I'm fixing broken links, and writing fresh pages- it's all about spring, you know... and so
here's a fresh featured song to go with that idea.
|
|
|
March 11, 2009
This came while I was sleeping, I guess...
All the way from China. It's a lil' bitty microphone for the i-Pod Touch. With some cheap and easy
software it's the latest recording device at the studio. It doesn't sound too bad, actually...
|
|
|
March 10, 2009
I've been formulating the idea of rewriting the
about page for a while. By Sunday I could
see it- it sort of looked like a Wikipedia page.
Yesterday I took some photos for it- since then it evolved into something a little different.
Until I learn more better programming, it's one big graphic file. Sorry if you're on dial-up.
Anyway, I think it's amusing- let me know how you like it.
|
|
|
March 06, 2009
Jeff Gibble sent me some lead guitar tracks for something called Say Wen by The Stokers tonight.
I wuz trying to import them to my recorder, but I gotz nothing but problems...
Technology iz hard.
On the other hand, in the process of trying to get this working, I revisit the song Northern Lights by
Kregger (which you probably haven't heard yet) and decide to re-track the drums for that, and that turned out
pretty good. So technology iz gut!
Anyway, I hope to have a new mix of Northern Lights before the weather gets too very warm...
|
|
|
March 05, 2009
The Sporting Hill Ramblers had a rehearsal last night. We're working up a set or two of music for a St.
Patrick's Day gig. I got interested in the origins of some of the older tunes.
Turns out that we owe much of what survives to one Francis James Child who collected
and published somewhere over 300 old folk songs (with variants) back in the 1800's. They're a lot of fun to
read (here's an online source) just for the stories they
tell. I'm not the first to be struck by how awful (in the sense of gory, tragic, perverse) they are. They're great!
I'll bet there were ten times as many pretty love songs written in the old days, just as now, but the survivors are
few, and generally
have some twist to them- the lovers die, or are turned into trees or something. Happily ever after songs don't
seem to last as long- I wonder why?
Here's another link for the Google challenged, but be
warned! It features MIDI versions of the old melodies which play continually in the background (didn't they make
this illegal back around '98?) It is possible to glean something of the melodies for the songs there, but
I prefer just reading the lyrics out loud. Be sure to speak lines like "He’s taen his sister doun to her father’s
deer park" with sufficient brogue to get a sense of what "taen" means.
|
|
|
March 02, 2009
Another mix of The Rest of my Days from last weekend. There's more cowbell!
Craig_Wise_Rest_Of_My_Days04.mp3
As often sometimes happens, a song (well, actually, the name of a band) just popped into my head, and when I googled
it to find out if I was right about the band/song connection, I found this amazing
write-up on Wikipedia. Come on... but at least
I know now where the TKO Horns come from.
|
|
|
|
|
Featured Song:
#139
Big Red
I Won't Be Here
mp3
or
ogg
5:51
|
|
|
Spons-O-Meter
|
|
|
Support the Studio via:
Or write us for other arrangements...
Steampowered
|
|
|
|
|
|
Features:
Repairing a Kurzweil piano key.
Repairing a Tascam Porta-Two.
rant03:
the End of an Era.
|
|
|
Steam Powered Videos:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Studio Archives:
February, 2009
January, 2009
December, 2008
November, 2008
October, 2008
September, 2008
August, 2008
July, 2008
June, 2008
May, 2008
April, 2008
March, 2008
February, 2008
January, 2008
|
|
|
Steam Powered Swag:
|
|
|
