July 30, 2013 Delving into those old tapes, I found, as I said, some ok versions of live stuff by the Blame. But if you're wondering what I mean when I say I don't have the really good stuff, here's a sample of the really good stuff I found, left over on the end of a tape which was used for something else. Oh, the humanity! Psycho Killer, live portion Now why don't I have the rest of that night on tape? Yes, dear friends, sometimes it really was as good as you remember it being...

July 29, 2013 I was digging through boxes of these the other day, looking for live recordings of the band the Blame, and I found one I didn't know existed before. It's the third set of an evening somewhere, probably the Back Room/Chameleon, and while it wasn't necessarily the best night we ever played, it wasn't the worst. I have a tape of one of those too, and it's painful to hear it because it was near the end and attitudes were bad. I'd much rather remember the best times, of which there are no recordings, because we didn't know they were the best times. Now my philosophy is record everything!. (later) You may notice that those tapes are all different grades of Maxell. Nobody cares now, but back in the day it really made a difference which brand, and which grade of that brand you bought. I found that of the consumer level tapes available locally, Maxell was the most consistant. (tapes used to be a big investment, something like $10 to $15 each, which, in dog years, is a lot) Weirdly, industry leader Scotch tapes always suffered from drop-outs and shedding. (It's OK if you don't know what the terms "drop-outs" and "shedding" mean- "epic fail" might be the term to use now) Those Maxell tapes sure impress me- they sound good 32 years after they were recorded, and there's no obvious physical degradation. I have long been a Maxell fanboy because of this. However, times change, and so do companies. I've been having trouble for the past year or so making back-ups using Maxell brand CD-Rs, which always used to work fine. I attributed this problem to aging CD burners, but maybe I should have considered the media. Today I tried some Sony blank disks, and so far their CD-Rs work just fine. Bastards at Maxell probably cheaped out their product- it's an old story...

July 26, 2013 I completed the soundtrack mix for Sand Dial this morning.

July 25, 2013 This is a banjo string. Here's a sample of what it sounds like- banjo string demo Could be the latest mystery sound! I've got things all set up for producing the soundtrack for Sand Dial. I have 16 tracks of beach (and other) sounds on the Yami, and I'll be able to playback the video on the computer and mix to it while it runs. So much fun! Anybody want to try their hand at this, let me know. It's the best!

July 23, 2013 Vacation isn't the same when you're not employed. It's more of being unemployed, just in a different place. However, I did allow myself to not think about finding work for an entire week. (please don't tell on me!) I had taken some recording gear along, just in case, but spending entire days on a beach seemed more productive, somehow... and of course, the evenings were "shot". One day I recorded raw video for this mess. A little slice of life- if you live on a beach, I guess.

July 10, 2013 Users of the Explorer browser (and maybe others?) should be able to see the pictures in this section of the page again. Sorry, I didn't know they weren't coming through until good old Dr Mo pointed this out to me last night. See, I use the Firefox browser, and it automatically corrects for some simple coding errors. Like the fact that there was no "equals" sign between the "height" parameter and the numeric value which follows it in the "image" command. Because I cut and paste chunks of code (like the "insert image" command), and because both Firefox and whatever my tablet uses as a browser and my i-phone browser all figure out that a "height" parameter is generally followed immediately by a value, even if the "equals" sign is missing, I didn't realize that there was a problem, and that I was copying it to new entries. Leave it to the boffins at Micro$oft to insist on having that equals sign! Turns out it's been going on here for about a month and a half. Be sure to check the archives page to see what you've been missing!

July 09, 2013 The band Brethren has been here recording It's No Use. In two days we quickly ran up more than 16 tracks of audio, which I managed to stack using virtual tracks and stems, or submixes. But tomorrow we take vocals, and this is a band capable of 4-part harmony, so we need some more tracks. Hence, It took some searching to find the secret to syncing up two recorders- the clock is carried through the digital stereo output, while the machine control is via MIDI. Thanks, Phil O'Keefe, for having this figured out and posting it online! I'll be recording all the new audio to virtual tracks on the machine on the left, and using the machine on the right to play back mostly guitar tracks from last weekend (every guitar was taken using two mics, and there are quite a few guitar tracks so far). This will allow a backup of the left machine to contain all of the recorded tracks, and a restore to the second machine will allow me to pick which tracks get played back from it. Gee, I wonder if I could chain a third one in there? I think the desk is wide enough...

July 05, 2013 Those folks out in Simi Valley are always having fun with rockets! Once upon a time I wrote a song about it... Simi Valley Rocket Club

July 04, 2013 Independence Day. Do some independent thinking today. You missed how the mdf got attached and holes cut through for the wheel supports, but there's what the gobo looks like with the Sonex applied. I attached the mdf (you also missed how it got painted white) to the frame with silicone adhesive. Took a whole tube. I figure it will be plenty strong once it's cured, and may provide some additional acoustic damping. If the mdf panel boinks, I can always treat the non-Sonex side with something. The silicone is also gap-filling. The foam was attached with Scotch Spray 90. I may have gone overboard with it- it took an entire can to do these 16 panels. But I bet they're not dropping off anytime soon... (later) There's a drumset behind that thing. You can still hear it, but the direct sound of it is reduced a bunch. Here's the business side. Turns out there is a pronounced "boink" down in the low end, so I'll be adding some bracing to the other side. The second one is coming along. Going faster...

July 03, 2013 Spanky was a guy I used to work with who came out with some funny stuff sometimes. Like, when defending some bone-headed mistake he'd made, saying "I'm only told what I'm supposed to be told," and things like that. Came across a Spanky-ism in a guy's sig on a discussion site about gobos last night. "I feel more like I did when I came in here than I do right now." Maybe it's from Yogi, I don't know. You learn things, making gobos... (later) The frame is on wheels...

July 02, 2013 Things in gobo-land are moving right along. I was stumped when it came to getting 4' square panels here, but fortunately Dr. Doug loaned me his vehicle (I promise never to make fun of it again!). The thing is, this is MDF, which stands for Medium Density Fiberboard. As such, it's heavy, but not really strong, particularly if force is applied to an edge or a corner. This won't be a problem once these panels are attached to frames, but in the meantime they have to be handled carefully or they will get all booggered up. And the other thing is that they are like big sponges, and when they get near water they soak it up and expand in very ugly ways. Again, not a problem when they are in the studio, but they will absorb moisture right out of the air, so paint is called for. Especially along the cut edges, where the raw fibre is exposed. Especially during this Florida-like weather we are having. So this is a photo of the edges having been painted with auto-body primer. Any latex paint is bad, they say... it's got water in it! It was funny, because I went to a real lumberyard for this, and I ordered 3 4 by 4 foot panels, and he wrote me up for 4. Because they get cut from 4 by 8 panels, and they don't have the time to bother with off-cuts. And I'm OK with that- one of my gobos will simply be double-sided...

July 01, 2013 Here's an idea. I'm going to be making some gobos for sound control in the studio. Fancy name for a movable padded wall. I have some materials (thanks, Bob! Thanks Doug!) for three of them, and I'm designing them in Sketch-up, because free. I was going to make them tall enough for a glass panel at the top- basically to block cymbal crashes but still allow visual contact between drummers and musicians. But how about making it big enough for a video wall? Then I could have TCM anywhere in the place!