file size consideration & a good mix

When mixing music it's almost crucial that the listener/mixer is hearing the mix from multilple point of views. For example...
(1)Big stereo hi fi speakers.(2) Most importantly, reliable, true, unbiased, near fields like my favorite's, Yamaha NS 10s. (3)Last but not least, lo fi speakers via boombox or anything that's crappy that can be hooked into your current system. The listener should be able to toggle between these options, this way you can come close to covering the extremes in what is available in audio quality, from lo-fi to hi-fi, and keeping it as real as possible.
I feel the same theory should be taken into consideration when posting stuff on the internet...
Assume that what you want to make available can be accessed by anyone in some way shape or form.
Think about the person that has a weak pre-2000 computer. Can they access at least part of it? Is it impossible? Is there anything you can do to compress the space of the file so it will be easier to open on an old pc?

Kill Rock Stars

I was very curious and really wanted to hear some of these, but no luck. Hopefully by the end of class today I will know what I need to do to check this stuff out.

Kill Rock Stars

SCSU Podcast Resources

This is a local site which is a good guide to local podcast resources.
Once again had trouble getting anything to play that I checked out. Hope to get this cleared up in class.

SCSU Podcast
SCSU Podcast Resources

via podcast.net

I was having trouble finding anything that would play, this loaded and played. I can't really get into music that literally screams with a bleeding heart, "the end is soon. what about the people that are starving and dying in the wars funded by giant corporate greed etc, etc." Art/Poetry/Music says much more to me if it doesn't simply restate the obvious. Leave a little to the imagination please. This is cool though, this is what I want to be able to do, as far as broadcasting live from a location.

gallery podcast

Neil Podcast

After reading up a bit on the subject, through a yahoo site, the first podcast I decided to check out was from my favorite songwriter, Neil Young


Neil Young

What I want to be able to do

What I want to be able to do by the time this class is over in December is this:

1) Be able to have every song I've ever written and recorded available on this blog site so anyone could at anytime click on the song title and hear the song, and download for free any song they want. If there is a way so that when they click on the song, the lyrics automatically appear as the song starts to play, that would be super cool. I know this would take a lot of work, but it's something I want to do. It would be cool if somewhere on my website,
Hazzy web site You could automatically link to this blog so I could put something like, "Hear my music" and click on it and it would bring you there. I'm still pretty clueless but hope to become progressivly less clueless as the weeks pass.

2) I would also like to be able to know how to do a live podcast so that if I'm doing an upcoming solo show, anyone in the world could watch and hear it live. I have no idea at this point how to go about this, but I hope to learn how, if it's possible and I'm sure it is. If anyone has any advice I would appreiate it.

This is really a cool class and I feel really fortunate that there are only 4 kids in the class. This is my final semester at St Cloud State, consisting of 2 classes. The history of R&R, the largest class I have ever had w over 450 students and this class, the smallest class I have ever had. That's it for now.

Fat possum

Fat Possum

Creativity and inspiration during hard times

I wonder why, to me, some of my most productive periods of time writing songs were during some of the most difficult times in my life. I think it's true for many artists that some of their best material is fueled by hard times. I haven't really written any good songs as far as I'm concerned in about 2 years. The last songs that I wrote that I consider worthy of ears were written during a difficult time when I was going through a divorce from a 7 year marriage. I think inspiration for me comes in waves. The question is, would I rather be void of difficult times and not have the fuel for inspired music, or have hard times and as a consolation, great music coming to me from the sky. Well, I don't think you can think of it that way. For now, being a satisfied person void of hard times is fine. Let's just say I'm not going to look for a serious relationship and purposely sabatoge it, just so I can have some fuel for good music. Hard times come to everyone whether you like it or not. It's part of life and whatever constructive way a person uses to cope with those times with their art, music or whatever, that's a good thing. Knowing that creating a song or piece of art may help to ease someone elses pain a little, helps.

Mikes Guitar Site

Mikes Guitar Site

This blog contains links for guitar tabs from hundreds of bands, links to guitar videos, lessons, almost anything you can imagine that has anything to do with guitar

Fela Kuti, king of afro pop

Fela Kuti(1938-97)


Fela was one of the most outspoken african musicians of all time. It's amazing how few people have heard of him. His songs are very political, often exposing the corruption of the Nigerian government and in the process getting him into a lot of trouble. The tunes usually start with a bass line that repeats the same line, for sometimes up to 20 minutes while guitars, saxophones, percussion, keys and vocals build layers that lead the songs into dynamic crescendo's that leave fans spellbound. Check out this site and treat yourself to some of this hynotic music. For other sites just google Fela Kuti. Fela

Tinariwen

Tinariwen


Check out this band from the Southern sahara region called "Tinariwen." Their music is a combination of afro-pop and blues from the Mali region. Many of the songs are based on call and response where the lead singer sings out a phrase and then is echoed by a chorus of voices repeating the same line. Absolutely hypnotic, powerful music!! I wish I knew what they were saying, that would make it even more interesting for me. I'm not sure what language they speak, I think it's Algerian, but not 100% sure. Check it out!

http://www.createdigitalmusic.com/

This is a cutting edge site as far as seeing what's out their as far as new digital equipment goes. The site does a good job of explaining the capabilities and limitations of the technolagy available.

School of Rock

This is offered to kids n Central MN through the Central Mn Music School!
It's an absolute blast! This is the 2nd year for School of Rock!
It'.s for kids between the ages of 11-18.
Check out some of the video's from this years performance at Apollo High School.

http://www.jimmyography.com/

Jimmyography is a site run by James T. Hoffman, self proclaimed "Jimmyography"
Jimmy creates videos for nite clubs, bands and also co produces the crappy kitchen

The Crappy Kitchen"/>
which is a cooking show that runs on cable access in the central MN area.

I'ts easy to get lost in "jimmyography" There are a lot of places to go to and check out. Jimmy also has many videos on you tube to check out.
Check out the "Spanish Rice" episode. Awesome dish!!

Soul vs Souless

I would say a couple of the bands that I like but consider fairly souless are Steely Dan and Yes. Both bands have incredible musicians and create arrangements that are mind blowing, but never seem to scream out to me from the soul. A funny quote from Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols that I heard one time was "they (bands like Yes, and Emerson Lake and Palmer) act like they are so sophisticated when really all they are are a bunch of college graduates twanging and bashing slowly and miserably!" It doesn't totally make sense but it rolls off the tongue pretty well.
As far as white bands/musicians that aren't really considered to be "blues" or "soul" music but still have soul and great dynamic intensity in my opinion are the Doors and Neil Young. There are many other examples that I could give of bands on both sides of the soul and souless spectrum, but this is just my mind wandering at 4:30 in the morning, and I don't feel like elaborating. I'll let these cuts do my elaborating for me. Good but souless..."Peg" by Steely Dan. Great and soulful..."When the Music's Over" by the Doors, especially live. I think maybe I'll talk about Bands that are great live but not in the studio and vise versa sometime, but not now. Gotta go.

What makes a great piece of music.

I often find my mind wandering thinking about what exactly makes me feel that a particular song or piece of music is great. There is both the lyrical and musical aspect of it. As a songwriter, it's both inspiring and frustrating to hear an amazing song. For example, the song; "A Day in the Life" by the Beatles. In my opinion, this is the Beatles masterpiece. I find myself thinking, "How could anyone come up with a song that f'ing amazing?" The frustrating part is I'm also thinking to myself, there is no way in your wildest dreams that you will ever write a song that good. Sad but true.
I think the best songs are the ones that seemingly fall out of the sky into the minds of musicians. The key is having the ability to turn that moment of "insperation" into a great song. The polar opposite of this are songs that are both lyrically and musically predictable. Songs that follow an already exhisting template. Music fabricated by well to do uninspired musicians who's sole purpose is to make a bunch of cash selling their image more than making original music. It's like a Rubics Cube. They can change the colors, but it will always be a Cube.

http://danielmcvicar.blogspot.com/

I couldn't really grasp what this person was strving for. It seemed like I was in a booth at a restaurant having dinner wth people that really couldn't relate to.

1+1 blog
Very insightful

city of sound blog
Didn't checked it out yet

crappy kitchen website

blog#1

Finally learning how to do this. Nothing much more to say. Brain dead today.