October 31, 2012 The latest mp3 by Midnight production: Grave Digger's Ball

October 28, 2012 Here's some great tunes to play on your stereo console- a podcast called Mook's Swingin' 60's

October 26, 2012 Ranch for Kids Beccy was here with Jeff Hostetter and Bruce Campbell on Wednesday to record tracks to be used in a documentary film about a ranch where kids suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome are given help. I'll have more information about the film as things progress, but it was fun recording the tracks, including some instrumental jams to be used as a "bed" for the soundtrack. Bruce and Jeff jamming a bit.mp3 Thanks, sponsors, for helping make this possible.

October 23, 2012 Willie Marble brought in some singers to help him out on his latest record. Counting Willie, choirmaster A.J. and myself we had thirteen in the studio for a few hours on Sunday evening. Turns out it was a lucky number!

October 20, 2012 Grave Digger's Ball I've been waiting all week for this. It had to be the right moment, and last night around midnight it finally happened. I still have some mixing to do- and I still have to write the lyrics! But things are shaping up... formica guitar and banjo demo.mp3

October 16, 2012 It's Linzi modeling the latest in monkey wear. She was part of this choral group yesterday, working on Dr. Mo's latest thing, Let's Put Rush on Rushmore! Big fun, natch.

October 10, 2012 Grave Digger's Ball Olds was over and played his grandfather's banjo on Grave Digger's Ball... I'm not sure I will sleep well tonight...

October 09, 2012 It's taken a while, but there is now a page up for the Blame. Sponsors can hear tracks from a live set...

October 08, 2012 playing live Many years have passed since I had my first keyboard rig. That consisted of a Uni-Vox electronic piano and a tweed Peavey 2-12 tube amp. The only thing positive I can say about that combination is that it was loud. It sounded like crap, but it got loud. I've tried many combinations since then- Hammond organ (too bulky), Leslie speaker (not loud enough), Farfisa organ with Wurlitzer electric piano and various synthesizers (great, but too complicated to set up), an Ampeg 4-ten amp (all midrange)- but this is the shizzle right here: a Kurzweil synth, a Morley volume pedal, and a Traynor Bass Master tube amp. It makes me smile to play this.

October 04, 2012 madness... From John Stump, author of Faeries Aire and Death Waltz, comes this little ditty. Be sure to click through for all of it, as well as the immortal Prelude and the Last Hope in C and C# minor.

October 02, 2012 Mixing Thieves The front of half of my mixing desk is covered with these pieces of tape which get stuck under the console faders to tell me what's on each channel for different songs. I used to think that I'd be able to always assign my tracks in some reasonable order, and thus avoid having to write all this stuff down- well, it ain't necessarily so. For instance, the Summer Thieves track Cut went from having 2 rhythm guitar tracks to having six (plus two "riff" guitar tracks and one labeled "chunk" which I'm not too sure about, but I think is another important guitar track). It's best to write these things down, and on tape that can go on and come off again many, many times. But we're getting near the end now...

October 01, 2012 Ludwig Von Trappset My search for a studio drumkit has ended- for the moment, at least. Like some 14 year old kid I've got a starter set. Cheap shells, but good hardware and new-ish heads. I picked up an interesting used Zildjian ZBT ride and a pie-pan crash at Drums, etc to complete the thing. Made a few little repairs and now it's playable. A couple days later, and what should appear on Craig's but a Samson 7-piece drum mic set. So now that's clipped on to Ludwig. These are not the greatest mics in the world, nor is this the greatest drum set, but any mic'd up drum kit is better than no mic'd up drum kit when it's time to record some drums right now! Here is an mp3 of the first recording of the thing- it's a song I'm working on called Grave Digger's Ball. Guitar part is optional at this point, but I think the drums will stay. This is the raw drum sound, no "tweeking" or compression or reverb added.