Computer Music is just the coolest mag! Best part of it is the CD full of software that comes with it - yoiu can build a whole PC studio with the software.

The mag is not well known in the US - Border's Books imports it and sells it at a pretty hefty markup (not a slam on Border's - I'm sure it's expensive to sell it this way). I bought about 5 issues in a row, then decided to subscribe. Never once regretted it, but now they've stopped their Cubase 5.x tutorials in favor of Cubase SX, which requires an XP upgrade in addition to the Cubase upgrade. And an XP upgrade would cause my version of Encore to stop working, which would require an Encore upgrade...

Five Faves of the Day

Five favorite CDs of 2002

5. Natalia King - Milagro
4. Joshua Redman - Elastic
3. Delbert McClinton - Room to Breathe
2. Angelique Kidjou - Black Ivory Soul
1. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Honorable Mention
Medeski, Martin, and Wood - Uninvisible
Beck - Sea Change
Les McCann - Pump It Up
Shelby Lynne - Love, Shelby
Joshua Redman - Yaya3
Moby - 18

Here's a more or less finished product of Song Eighteen. It's a 7.2mb file, so if you don't have the bandwidth try the lo-fi version instead. It's about 2.4 mb.

We've already established that it's got too much bass and the vocals are too low (thanks to the guys and the occasional gal at the Home Recording BBS). But I'd love it if you'd drop me a note and let me know what you think. Links will go away in a week or two - only so much space at blogspot plus...

Update, eff. 1/31 or so - Hifi link is still there, but points to an improved mix (watch this space for another update - we've retracked the vocal, much more feeling!!!). Lofi link is gone.

Updating my listened-to-list to the right, but nothing much to say here - two canceled band rehearsals in a row.

Finished up my first pass through the studio work on "Song Eighteen". Band is uninvolved in this recording. Singer, my pal Caroline, has great voice, but phrasing was a litle too "square" (am I showing my age or what?). And my background vocs sound lousy. I hope to give Caroline another stab at the song, but overall, I'm pleased with it as it is - just gotta fix my vocs. Sennheiser 421 was brighter than I expected, I may try a 57 instead.

Also installed a second hard drive, an 80gb Western Digital Ultra-ATA 100. Then I moved my audio files and docs. That really hoses up Cubase!!! Learned more about the Audio Pool than I ever wanted to know. Things were worse because my part files all had the same names, they were just kept in different subfolders. Got through it without any permanent damage, though.

My Acid files weren't as fortunate, but the backup versions were retained, so we're okay, I think...

Guitar Shopping?

You won't want to miss THIS! LMAO!!!

My C-1 Is Here!!!

A 2002 deduction after all! Good thing, won't be much 2003 Schedule C (where my music income goes) income.

Married

Jay: I want it, I want it, I want it...

Kim: You CAN'T have it!

Apologies to Pete, Roger, 'n the boys who've passed on.

Five Faves of the Day

Five Happy-beat Songs with Somewhat Darker Messages

Ball of Confusion - Temptations
Life During Wartime - Talking Heads
Runaround - Blues Traveler
She's So Cold - Stones
Hard Knock Life - Jay-Z

Honorable Mention to:
Shattered - Stones
Forgot About Dre - Eminem
Feelin' All Right - Joe Cocker (the Dave Mason & Traffic original doesn't hold a candle...)
Panic in Detroit - Bowie
Talk to Ya Later - Tubes
Papa Was a Rolling Stone - Temptations
Highway 61 Revisited - Dylan (or check out Johnny Winter's hard rocking all-but-forgotten cover)

Have a BKHoliday!

Pinnacle Systems - Press Releases - Pinnacle Systems Agrees To Acquire Steinberg Media Technologies AG

Oh oh. Steinberg's been pretty good to deal with. Don't know much about Pinnacle - I think they're video guys?

I bought Acoustic stuff, they bit the dust, then Sequential Circuits, then Passport, then Alesis - now Steinberg. Rrrrr...

Santa was Done

She even showed me my gift (an 80mb Western Digital EIDE drive) to make sure it was the right thing.

Which is okay, 'cos a closer look at the Prodikeys shows it's got mini-keys, not full-size. It's never mentioned in the literature, and I had trouble telling from the pictures, but a demo video at the Prodikeys site made it pretty clear.

So I'll wait for them to come out with something cooler - full size keys, and maybe USB (only does PS/2 now). Still a really good idea.

Harmony Central®: One Keyboard to Control Them All

Oo! Oo! I want this:


Ninety-nine bucks! What a great idea! A pad goes over the keys for a wristrest when not playing. Wonder if Santa's done shopping yet?

Five Faves of the Day

Foods I Obsess Over

5. Egg Nog
I always liked home made, but the whole raw egg / salmonella thing killed that. It's chronic - each year I lose track of which brands I like, but Borden's is a good bet, and Berger's. Try the custard-style if you can find it. OMG!

4. Bratwurst
I love Kowalski for most things, but their brats are just so-so. Nietsche's were good, but it's been years. Best I've had recently are Johnsonville's Sheboygan brand. But even bad bratwurst is pretty darn good! Just boil it in beer first.

3. Mince Pie
From the jar (Crosse and Blackwell) or the dry kit (Crosse and Blackwell) is fine, though I'm sure I'd like homemade. Brandy sauce optional.

2. Lamb
Old fashioned chops, please, not the butterfly (though they're okay). Rub in garlic or don't, just give me my mint sauce (Crosse and Blackwell again) and I'm happy.

1. Spaghetti
My dad's recipe for Spaghetti was the best - took him a whole weekend to make, definitely worth waiting. For store brands, Prego's pretty good, but Kim usually fixes it up some more.

Honorable mention: plum pudding with hard sauce, smoked turkey, prime rib, Yorkshire pudding, popovers, gyros, buttermilk, yogurt, hard salami, italian sausage, most cheeses, maple syrup, marmalade, apple butter.

No wonder I'm 50 lbs. overweight!

Found out today my last mic, the StudioProjects C1...



... is on back order. Shipping strike or something. So, maybe January? Could mess up my taxes a little.

Five Faves of the Day

New* Stuff I discovered in 2002

Wilco,
Uncut Magazine,
Michelob Amber Bock,
The Sound Room, and...
...
...Blogging!

* - i.e., new to ME.

Five Faves of the Day

Five Favorite Female R&B/Soul/Gospel Singers

LaVerna Mason (check her out at mp3.com)
Mavis Staples
Aretha Franklin
Chaka Khan
Gladys Knight

Note that these ladies are all altos, except maybe Chaka. Lotsa sopranos I like, too, but these are the women that move me. Honorable mention to Yolanda Adams, Helen Baylor, Babbie Mason, Tina Marie, CeCe Winans, Vicki Winans, and Kim Rutherford.

It's Not A-L-L Spam

Christmas gift from Propellerhead Software

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A gift from Propellerhead Software and PrimeSounds.com:

FREE SAMPLES FOR NOTHING, FREE OF CHARGE!

It's the gift giving season again, and as a way to say that
we are really glad that you are using Reason, we have teamed
up with the on-line sample library PrimeSounds.com to give
all Reason users a gift of things that you can never get too
much of: Samples!

As a registered user, you will receive a download account on
PrimeSounds.com that will allow you to download 100MB of
samples. Primesounds has more than 48000 samples available
for instant download. The samples are categorized based on
styles, instruments, format, key, tempo etc and the easy to
use search engine lets you find what you need in this
massive collection of sounds.

Starting today, we will begin sending out the instructions
and registration codes needed to get access to the
PrimeSounds web site. We're not sending out the codes to all
registered users at the same time, since we don't want to
stall PrimeSound's servers. You will receive your personal
code via email within a few days.

We hope you will enjoy this offer and find good use for your
samples.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Propellerhead Software

Crap!

BPMmusic just sent me a note - my StudioProjects C1 won't ship until 12/15. I have a recording session this week, doggone it! The C1 was one of my two guesses for the best mic for my pal Caroline, with her gorgeous soprano voice. We'll try the Baby Bottle instead, with the MK-319 as backup.

Oo! Oo!
Sarah, author of "all feathered up", sez she'll link me* once she has the proper motivation. I'm guessing that's more about getting some sleep after finals (right there witcha, gurl - my last final's tomorrow) than about me finding her PayPal button.

So, Sarah Crabtree, if you read this while seeking motivation to link me*, don't forget my split-schiz alter ego, St. Cecilia Was Here, where I blather about church music, Catholicism in general, and try to figure out what the heck possessed me to go back to school for a church music degree at age 47.

* correction - Sarah HAS linked me, just hasn't come up with a description yet. That's me, indescribably, uh, something...

Here's Craig, another one in our long string of bass players. I think he was after Larry. Not sure anymore...