what is going on in your musical life

Wow

my band has been practicing and playing shows on and off through the pandemic, but we're about to play a show where we debut two (!!!) new songs saturday. v excited, one of them is my favorite song we've ever written. hopefully gonna record an ep this fall

Beware: I think there's a note in the "Careless Whisper" sax solo that is technically impossible, yet it exists. That is, the highest note in the solo is normally outside the usable range of the instrument, and the saxophonist and engineer worked out some trickery.

There's an episode of https://strongsongspodcast.com/ about this. I forget the details but it involved either a different sax or speeding up the recording or some such. Maybe both.

Meanwhile I got two new instruments last week (coincidentally on the same day): a mandola and a 10" snare drum. I played both in open-mic settings over the last couple nights. The mandola is fun. I don't have a good enough ear to transpose on the fly, so I haven't yet had the courage to tune it to the correct CGDA, but it works fine as an octave mandolin, so I'm doing that. It's way better at that than my bouzouki is. Just a much more comfortable scale length for my chordal style.

The 10" Pearl M-80 (Short Fuse) snare is hilarious. I have it side-mounted on my hat stand and it is just so fucking cute. Saves setup time and weight. Tuned low with a Powerstroke 3 it gives tremendous snap. I am in love.

i have definitely considered buying a very cheap saxophone and trying to learn how to play it. probably not realistic given that i live in an apartment, i know the sax is very loud

speaking of living in an apartment, i've been recording vocals for some songs and i've been working on sounding more energetic in my vocals. it's so embarrassing recording "energetic" vocals when i can hear my neighbors walking around upstairs. like i'm down here trying to get into a rockin frame of mind and meanwhile i can hear their floorboards creaking.

re: "Careless Whisper": Found it! The note in question is a high F#. Steve Gregory's tenor sax did not have a high F# key. So he actually played it a half step down, and then they pitch-shifted it up.

so I went in the studio I tried to do it and my saxophone is an old Selmer (tenor sax) from about 1954 or something and I didn't have that top note. I didn't have a proper note on my saxophone, I had what we call a fake fingering I had to do to play it. So it didn't really sound that smooth. It didn't sound that great. And so having been around for a while, having had a bit of experience, I suggested to him, I said, 'look, if you took it down by a semitone, a very small amount, I'd have all the proper notes on my horn and we could see how it sounds. So that's what he did, he sort of did his calculations and took it down a semitone, so I went out again and I played it in a lower key and when after I finished it I went back into the control room and he played it back and he put it back up to the proper speed, and as he was playing it back, George walked into the studio, and he said 'Oh, I think we got it!'

The relevant Strong Songs discussion is about 46 minutes into this podcast https://strongsongspodcast.com/episode/clave-chorus-careless-whisper

not sure where else to put this, but i just read this quote from brian eno in his promo for his upcoming solo album, and i think it captures some things about the meaning of making art

It took me a long time to embrace the idea that we artists are actually feelings-merchants. Feelings are subjective. Science avoids them because they’re hard to quantify and compare. But “feelings” are the beginnings of thoughts, and the long term attendants of them too. Feelings are the whole body reacting, often before the conscious brain has got into gear, and often with a wide lens that encompasses more than the brain is consciously aware of.

Art is where we start to become acquainted with those feelings, where we notice them and learn from them—learn what we like and don’t like—and from there they start to turn into actionable thoughts. Children learn through play; adults play through Art. Art gives you the space to “have” feelings, but it comes with an off-switch: you can shut the book or leave the gallery. Art is a safe place to experience feelings—joyous ones and difficult ones. Sometimes those feelings are about things we long for, sometimes they’re about things we might want to avoid.

I've picked up my guitar for the first time in ??? and feel like I've lost all but the most basic basics - do any of yous have recommendations for not-quite-but-basically-beginner youtube lessons? Really I just want to be able to get my head around chords and scales and such without finding myself being forced to do blooze soloing and/or play Hey There Delilah.

I’ve started writing songs on my guitar and it’s hella fun

everything I write sounds like I stole it from Iron Maiden but fuck if it's not fun anyway

Ask them for $400
haha, thanks Karl, that's not bad advice

recording energetic vocals at home can be super weird indeed, sometimes I drink a beer or two to loosen up, but mostly I just have fun imagining what the neighbours must be thinking

incredible careless whisper trivia, much appreciated

emil.y, I see Slum of Legs is playing a show with one of my pals tomorrow: Samantha Savage Smith. Wonderful band; the drummer Chris is an absolute gem of a human as well as a monster player. Hope the gig is a roaring success and you all end up as friends. It is indeed a small world.

― war mice (hardcore dilettante)

Sorry, I haven't been on this thread in ages so only just seen this! The show was a really great one, and the SSS band were super-lovely people, it was a damn good time. Say hi to them for me!

Not much is going on in my musical life right now, tbh. I fell out of doing solo work during the pandemic, just had no motivation and I'm struggling to get it back. Being in a band is much easier that way, b/c even when you feel like you don't want to do it you have to pull yourself together for the sake of everyone else.

I have one idea that I really want to do but it kind of involves creating an entire new instrument and I have no skills in programming/making things. (NB when I say 'entire new instrument' it's more a case of doing something like creating a raspberry pi-based sample triggering system in a unique shell, but that's still wayyyy beyond my capabilities).

I have one idea that I really want to do but it kind of involves creating an entire new instrument and I have no skills in programming/making things.

I sympathize heavily with this. I tried to do it and completely fell on my face with it, with a small dose of public humiliation. I’d probably do it again! It’s good to take chances :)

I fell into some commercial/spec work with a, like, really huge client. Trying not to think too much about actually winning the job or not, but it's interesting to get a view of this world.

It seems like synchronicity that I'd recently been spending time aimlessly recording my drums to cassette and trying to chop and mix it into good-sounding breakbeats, which turned out to be exactly what I need to use on this project.

thats nice!

Work in the kitchen changing some stuff out pretty much has had my home studio in a wreck for a few weeks. I have not had my guitar amp on in almost 2 weeks, which is pretty unusual.

Two weeks ago I helped my bud in Louisville move to a new place and this house is going to be like going to record at the Power Station to make music after his old basement, which kinda had a bit of Buffalo Bill ambience going on. Supposed to go up next weekend to either do the vocal and guitar overdubs on the 3rd single or if the drummer is available, record the basic tracks for the 4th single. If the drummer can play, we go that way. We have played 3 days with him and have 3 singles recorded over the past year.

Wow fantastic news Jordan. Tell.

Thanks! It was a wild week of horn recording, many revisions, and not much sleep, but I'm proud of what we came up with in the end.

I definitely wouldn't want to do this on the regular, given the amount of work vs the demo fee and presumably very stiff competition. But it was a great challenge. Apparently it's getting presented to the client today (can't say who of course), so cross all your fingers for us!

Fingers crossed!

How did it go?

It was submitted and presented, but we haven't heard anything yet. Not sure if no news is good, bad, or just no news, but we're trying not to get our hopes up since I'm sure the competition is very fierce. It must take some real mental gymnastics to do this frequently -- to work as hard as you can on something, and then instantly detach from it.

So I'm back to prosaic concerns like drum technique, which I'm pursuing more systematically than I have before. Now that I can feel a real difference in my hands after applying some things from that lesson, I started a daily practice where I'm doing continuous 16th notes with my non-dominant hand (straight and accented) for a minimum of 1 minute. Started at 72 bpm and I'm trying to go up 1 bpm per day, I've got a spreadsheet and everything. It's amazing how much more valuable 5 minutes of super-mindful 'micropractice' is than just messing around for much longer, and only playing what feels comfortable. It really feels like a weightlifting program (or I imagine it does, having never done one).

The practice diary thing I'm sure is boring to everyone besides me, but the "do it continuously for 1 minute" thing has been revelatory. You can get away with bad technique for shorter bursts, letting tension creep in at the end, but doing it for that long really reveals any flaws in the motion. So cool to actually see improvement.

I like this idea!

I’ve been doing that for years!! My practice diary is a notebook in the basement. I could be more diligent about it for sure but I love my routine. Feels like home!

That's great! I've never been that systematic about it, lol. Practicing rudiments, sure. Turning on the metronome sometimes, sure. I would do 4s/8s/16s per hand, but never made it time-based or did the daily tempo thing (or wrote anything down).

I had to get up to a passable speed quickly as a late starter and the routine helped me get there. Without the luxury of time, diligence is the best accelerant :)

This is really good reinforcement, from both of you! recently i started doing a similar thing -- one or two minute bursts of playing guitar scales with a metronome, gradually increasing the tempo, and then keeping track of progress (i use a spreadsheet because i like making silly homemade charts for myself).

i started doing it, for maybe 4 days, and then i stopped. this is a good reminder to keep going with it! i was already seeing improvements after only a few days and it was very satisfying.

Technically it's my friends doing the music, but I am the star of their new, professionally shot music video.

It doesn't become accessible until 3:30 PM tomorrow (Eastern time)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2ChDo3l94I

It's up!

Good luck, Jordan!

Well we didn't get the Big Gig, but it was always going to be a long shot (it was the new theme for an American professional sp0rts organization). Still learned a lot about mixing, horns, collaboration, and deadlines.

Back to practicing and full editorial control. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-uSWAJd9GE

...

(I showed that video to my wife, and now it's in her head and she sings it constantly, which means it's in my head constantly and it's a feedback loop)

sorry

Ha not your fault, this has been going on for weeks

-I got up to 82 bpm in my practice routine and hit the inevitable wall that exposed all the flaws in my technique, which is great. Now I've made some improvements and I'm taking the tempo way down, until it hopefully feels super relaxed and consistent.

-I started a label! Even though my interest in promoting music is at an all-time low. But it's been germinating for months, and I'll be much more excited to release and promote other people's music starting with the second release.

Link didn't work https://limitedresourceslabel.bandcamp.com/releases

hit the inevitable wall that exposed all the flaws in my technique

fucking love it

related: been learning a lot of songs by playing them at .75 speed on youtube

Way to avoid dealing with the ASD! Is there a looping function as well?

Brad, my latest revelation on this topic is that it's not about developing speed or endurance really, instead I've gone back to purely focusing on the stroke for my weak hand. If I can get a full stroke (ie where you're letting the stick bounce back up to full height) that's controlled, integrates both the wrist and middle/third/pinky fingers in the same circular-feeling motion, and free of any unnecessary tension, then the speed is just there if you need it.

It sounds like "duh" to say it, but my hand wasn't getting the message. Basically I'm finally getting that sensation where it feels like you're bouncing a ball.

when i'm playing punk songs slowed down by .75 it really refocuses me on obtaining an evenness (and relaxedness) in my stroke and trying to fight against how much my hand/arm/entire body is tensing up when i'm playing fast, so: yes, otm

the ball bouncing analogy is good and one i haven't heard before. man it's just dribbling

Yes, great discussion all around.

man it's just dribbling

It really is! I'd often heard it described this way, but if your stroke is fucked up, then the dribbling effect doesn't happen and you need to figure out how to force it in order to play. Which leads to limits on what you can play, pain, etc.

Not saying I've mastered it all of a sudden, but the physical feeling of it was immediately exciting, like "ohhh, this is what they were talking about."

You start watching Art Blakey, Kenny Clarke, Joe Morello or Buddy Rich videos on the tube and it is just freaking voodoo how those guys seem to have infinite speed out of that match gripped snare hand.

Drums are the instrument I've let slide the most over the years to the point where I just can't play anymore, but this thread has inspired me to crack open my Buddy Rich rudiments book, get a metronome app, and start doing a bit of work on my practice pad.

That's great!

It's always 1 step back, 2 steps forward with this technique stuff. One thing will click into place and reveal what else isn't working properly, like I realized I wasn't letting the stick move enough within my grip, I needed to allow it to have more of a vertical angle. Hard to explain but I was missing out on a bunch of kinetic energy, and things are feeling holistically much better now.

Had a nice day yesterday mixing down a new dance music single, and going over to the practice pad whenever files were rendering.