well in this blog we are just going to do reviews on albums i guess...
yip/jump music by Daniel Johnston: daniel johnstons first 6 albums were done live on a tape recorder, this was one of these albums. he originally lived in west virgina, and was sent to live in texas with his brother. his brothers house didn't have a piano, like his parents house did so he found a way to make an album. this whole album was done on a chord organ, a cheep reed wind keyboard instrument that was more of a toy than a real instrument, it was bought at a dollar store of some sort if the story was correct. The man focus of his music are his lyrics and this album has some of my favorites. "Everything is big in Texas, you know it is, I guess I made a big mistake" are the opening lyrics of the album. Some of my favorite songs are "museum of love", "speeding motorcycle", "don't let the sun go down on your greviences" and "i Remeber painfully" which has some of the best lyrics, and tells an amazing story. Major song themes are lost love, comic book characters (casper the friendly ghost, and captain america are the main two) and just his life experiences. If I must i would compare him to a rougher underground Bob Dylan.
Matt- Stadium Arcadium. One of my favortie albulms by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This was a two disk album containing twenty-eight tracks, fourteen on each. This cd contains many hits like, Dani California, Snow (hey oh), and she's only 18. They were able to maintain their Funky bass lines and alternative rock guitar in this CD while simotaniusly creating a new more laid back sound. They were also able to be more creative with this CD. They got so creative that they were able to use everything that they had into a much larger CD than they probably would have thought that it would have been.
Robert- Translanticism, an album by Death Cab for Cutie, would have to be my all-time favorite album by them. I really appreciate the experimentation and the seeming sarcasm/irony behind sad lyrics within a happier sounding, major-key. Death Cab does this very well and sensibly on this album. I appreciate the overall laid-back feel to some of the songs on Translanticism.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Answers to the qu-est-ion-ez....
Robert- Hello... Doctor.... awh yes. As far as the recording programs, well...we ripped Cakewalk for free but it usually costs. Audacity is free. Garage band comes free with any modern Apple computer, and Pro Tools is expensive but worth it.
Nick- well pro-tools is quite spiffy, thats all i can say about that. if you want an affordable guitar, get a squire pack, it comes with a practice amp and all of that good stuff. or an epiphone pack which is about the same, just different styles of guitar, pretty much.
Matt- Well, If he is just going to start out then i would recoment don't getting any kind of pedals at all to begin with. If we wants an amp to be able to use different effects like mine, then he could get the spider three line 6 amp thats only 15watts with 1 10" speaker in it. It's small and does the same thing mine does, mine just is bigger with more power. This amp will run you about 100 to 150 depending on where you go and if your able to talk them down a bit.
Now, for guitars. You could do as nick suggested and get one of the starter packs. I would recomend the squire pack because if you wanted to upgrade your guitar later but do not have the funds to do so, you can switch out the pick-ups out and get new better ones for cheaper and it will make the guitar sound much different and better. Those packs can run you from 200-350 dollars. But, if you wanted to just get a guitar and an amp then i would suggest Ibanez guitars. They are very good quality for a good price. The only problem with Ibanez is that many of them have a Floyd Rose on them or have a lockable nut at the top of the neck, making it hard to tune. The other options i would suggest is Schecter guitar. They can range from 250 to 2000 dollars. It all depends on what you want in a guitar.
Find out what kind of music he wants to play also;
Metal:
LTD/ESP
Schecter
Les Paul Epiphone
Ibanez
Classic Rock:
Telecasters(fender)
Strats (fender)
Gibson
Rock:
Almost any kind, depends more on style and what kind of amp your using for the situation.
If you want more of a classic rock sound for amps
THen go with a tube amp, they generally are much more expensive since most amps these days are digital or electronically enhanced.
Nick- well pro-tools is quite spiffy, thats all i can say about that. if you want an affordable guitar, get a squire pack, it comes with a practice amp and all of that good stuff. or an epiphone pack which is about the same, just different styles of guitar, pretty much.
Matt- Well, If he is just going to start out then i would recoment don't getting any kind of pedals at all to begin with. If we wants an amp to be able to use different effects like mine, then he could get the spider three line 6 amp thats only 15watts with 1 10" speaker in it. It's small and does the same thing mine does, mine just is bigger with more power. This amp will run you about 100 to 150 depending on where you go and if your able to talk them down a bit.
Now, for guitars. You could do as nick suggested and get one of the starter packs. I would recomend the squire pack because if you wanted to upgrade your guitar later but do not have the funds to do so, you can switch out the pick-ups out and get new better ones for cheaper and it will make the guitar sound much different and better. Those packs can run you from 200-350 dollars. But, if you wanted to just get a guitar and an amp then i would suggest Ibanez guitars. They are very good quality for a good price. The only problem with Ibanez is that many of them have a Floyd Rose on them or have a lockable nut at the top of the neck, making it hard to tune. The other options i would suggest is Schecter guitar. They can range from 250 to 2000 dollars. It all depends on what you want in a guitar.
Find out what kind of music he wants to play also;
Metal:
LTD/ESP
Schecter
Les Paul Epiphone
Ibanez
Classic Rock:
Telecasters(fender)
Strats (fender)
Gibson
Rock:
Almost any kind, depends more on style and what kind of amp your using for the situation.
If you want more of a classic rock sound for amps
THen go with a tube amp, they generally are much more expensive since most amps these days are digital or electronically enhanced.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Garage Band woot
Matt- So basicly. The music that has inspired me most recently have been the same bands that i have previusly talked about in my most recent blogs. So, I plan on telling you my view on Garage Band and the basic things that are cappable with it.
So, Last night at about nine at night i got bored and decided to try seeing what i could create in garage band. After an hour or so of watching video's on youtube on how to use garage band i was creating music in no time. I was able to create basic drum beats and piano progressiosn. I decided i would base the whole composition off of four power chords of D,C, F, and G (played in that respective order). I used a combination of drums, basic piano, synth chords, distorded guitar, two different bass lines, and a random weird drum sound that i could not tell you what it is, but either way it sounds awesome. After five hours of playing around with it i was able to create a song that was a full minute and forty-five second longs. Nothing special. Nothing amazing. But, i thought it was fun to create after five hours of toying around with this program. After I have more experiance using this program i will hopefully have more creative and meaningful songs. As for now, I just plan on doing this in my free time and to play around with.
I really enjoyed using this because i did not have a key board infront of me so i got my guitar out and translated my guitar into piano language and figuring out the distances between notes in the power chords and finding what notes were in each chord. It was also a fun experiance because i learned much more about my guitar by having to translate the notes from guitar to piano.
The other thing that i enjoy about this is that i can also record real instruments like vocals, guitar, drums, or any other kind of instrument. But, for now i am going to stick to doing it all electronically since i do not have the equipment to do that.
So, Last night at about nine at night i got bored and decided to try seeing what i could create in garage band. After an hour or so of watching video's on youtube on how to use garage band i was creating music in no time. I was able to create basic drum beats and piano progressiosn. I decided i would base the whole composition off of four power chords of D,C, F, and G (played in that respective order). I used a combination of drums, basic piano, synth chords, distorded guitar, two different bass lines, and a random weird drum sound that i could not tell you what it is, but either way it sounds awesome. After five hours of playing around with it i was able to create a song that was a full minute and forty-five second longs. Nothing special. Nothing amazing. But, i thought it was fun to create after five hours of toying around with this program. After I have more experiance using this program i will hopefully have more creative and meaningful songs. As for now, I just plan on doing this in my free time and to play around with.
I really enjoyed using this because i did not have a key board infront of me so i got my guitar out and translated my guitar into piano language and figuring out the distances between notes in the power chords and finding what notes were in each chord. It was also a fun experiance because i learned much more about my guitar by having to translate the notes from guitar to piano.
The other thing that i enjoy about this is that i can also record real instruments like vocals, guitar, drums, or any other kind of instrument. But, for now i am going to stick to doing it all electronically since i do not have the equipment to do that.
Artists Who are most inspiring at the moment...
Robert: The artist whom I find to be most inspiring as of today, would have to be none other than Ben Gibbard. Gibbard is the lead vocalist/guitarist of the band Death Cab for Cutie. He is also associated with such acts as: The Postal Service, All Time Quarterback and his own solo project. The reason that I find Ben most inspiring is that his lyrics in every one of his songs are so deep and meaningful. Every song that he takes part in, not only sounds great, but his words and how they are sang litterally send chills up and down my entire body. Ben Gibbard is a very intellegent man, based on the way he writes. There is a song on the "Plans" album, by Death Cab for Cutie that is about eight full minutes long and for about the final three minutes, Ben repeats the phrase, "I need you so much closer." He does this in a sort of way that makes it sound better and better each time. I am in a place of woa everytime I hear the song. Another lyrical phrase that really means alot to me is in a Death Cab song called: "Tiny Vessels," where Ben sings, "The tiny vessels move into your neck and form to bruises that you said you didn't want to fade...but they did and so did I that day." The man makes an immoral time, leading to a depressed leave, while refering to a hicky, seem so beautiful, sad and poetic. I am very impressed as not only a fan of his music, but also as a fellow musician. Ben Gibbard is where I draw most of my inspiration lyrically and emotionally. He is one of my heros....aw yeah.
Nick: Well currently I am finding many different artists very inspriational. There styles are quite different, but here goes. The first I think would have to be a fella by the name of Daniel Johnston, he is fairly minimalistic, and not ocnvensionally talented. But he has a deep sincerity, in his songs which really makes them so amazing. His first 11 albums were him recording into a boom box, and would give the tapes to his friends and girls that he thought were cute. Ben Gibbard claims Daniel as an inspiration and has covered one of his songs. Another band that that I have been inspired by recently is the Beach Boys, they are just really amazing, and i don't really try to sound like them but i practice vocals to their stuff so I suppose I am. Grampall Jookabox inspires me, I really like the tribal sounding drums with his guitar and folk sounding songs.
Nick: Well currently I am finding many different artists very inspriational. There styles are quite different, but here goes. The first I think would have to be a fella by the name of Daniel Johnston, he is fairly minimalistic, and not ocnvensionally talented. But he has a deep sincerity, in his songs which really makes them so amazing. His first 11 albums were him recording into a boom box, and would give the tapes to his friends and girls that he thought were cute. Ben Gibbard claims Daniel as an inspiration and has covered one of his songs. Another band that that I have been inspired by recently is the Beach Boys, they are just really amazing, and i don't really try to sound like them but i practice vocals to their stuff so I suppose I am. Grampall Jookabox inspires me, I really like the tribal sounding drums with his guitar and folk sounding songs.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Gear Preferances:
niffugcm otrebor mailliw: This blog is simply a discussion on what equipment we prefer to use, as musicians, and why exactly that is. I personally only play acoustic music, currently. Actually, my tunes only consist of my voice and my acoustic guitar. I play an Ibanez Talman. The Talman itself is not quite as large as your average acoustic guitar, per say. The feel of the Talman is almost a more "personal" feel. She sits close to the body and when playing, in my opinion I feel like the guitar is mine and I am fully in control. This is almost comparable to the feel of an electric guitar, one may say. That is all as far as my live instuments. As far as recording, I have used five different programs. I have experience in Sonar, Cakewalk, Audacity, Grage Band and Pro Tools. As far as the overall best program, I would have to say Pro
Tools would be my personal choice. The majority of Professional Audio Production today, in the music industry, is done on Pro Tools. When recording, above all else, my experiences with the Sure microphones have been most memorable. Sure microphones are considered the all-around best by most people when using anywhere from condensor to vocal microphones. Sure is the way to go as far as brands; not to mention, from what I have learned, Sure also puts forth a great live sound as opposed to any other microphone. So, to make this short, I guess you could call me a "Sure-Ibanez Talman-Pro Tools-Acoustic-Type-of-guy." P.s. For the record, I would be down with using a somewhat more expensive guitar, possibly like a Martin but I am a broke white boy, so...what I have works for now. Peace.
Sregor Kcin- When it comes to gear I am a fairly easy person to entertain, I prefer nice things but I don't mind saying "what ever works." When in come to electric guitars I am currently liking Univox Guitars, which was a company in the 60's and 70's I believe they were cheaply made and sold guitars, but the one i have is quite nice. It is light and has a great tone, like Chuck Berry sounding tones when clean. When it comes to bass guitars, I prefer Acoustic ones, they have a very raw and punchy tone and I just like them better than electrics. Plus they are very large making great contrast and some challenge for a short fella like me to play. I have a cheap Dean Acoustic Bass. When it comes to keyboards anything works as long as it has some synth and pipe organ tones. I have recorded on Audacity, which is somewhat minimalistic, but is is workable, with some effort. Cakewalk is a nice little program, which is fairly easy, and pretty nice for all you can do with it. Also tascam makes a nice 4-track recorder, if you are into that. And I use a sony tape recorder some times for basic recording, i like lo-fi sounds a lot. I no nothing about Microphones but they are helpful tools. Guitars that look nice and play well are great. I have a Johm Lennon Epiphone, feels just like the gibson but is cheaper. OH YES.
Enal elyk wehttam: So my personal opinion on most gear that anyone might use is that it is all "prefferance". I hate going online and seeing reviews about products that do the same thing as the other products but are used differently or have a different feel to the ear or the physical touch. My personal set up at my house is: Line 6 spider II 60 watt 1x12 speaker, Schecter Damian 6 diamond series. I also have a veriaty of pedals and tuners as well. For starters i prefer my amp of most because of the presets that i can choose from. it contains a tuner and contains a mix of different distortion levels and six different effects. If we would like we can also create our own settings and save them on up to four different channels. The only downfall that i have with my amp is that it doesn't not have an output, meaning i could not connect it with other speakers or cabs. I Love my Schecter guitar because of the neck. The neck is very smooth and the neck contains bat inlays as fret markers. I also like the Pick up's it has. They are EMG-Z, they are not the best type of EMG but they are still one of the best in the buisness compaired to many others. The only thing i currently do not like about my guitar is that the output is lose and needs to be retightened every few times i begin to play.
Now, for my pedals. I have a Boss Chromatic tuner showing me all the notes allowing me to tune to anything i wish, when most tuners only show the orginial six standerd notes for standerd tuning. I also have a Line 6 pod giving me the same effects plus 300 presets that i can use. This is not neccessarity a "pedal" but it is used like one, with combination with a footswitch at the end of the chain of pedals setting the channels with the different effects. Now, you are probably wondering what the point of having this is when i ahve all the effects on my AMP as well. That is because i also have a 4x12 marshall Cab with a Fender FM 100 Head which is my other amp which is much louder and much better, but it does not contain any effects except reverb and gain/distortion.
Tools would be my personal choice. The majority of Professional Audio Production today, in the music industry, is done on Pro Tools. When recording, above all else, my experiences with the Sure microphones have been most memorable. Sure microphones are considered the all-around best by most people when using anywhere from condensor to vocal microphones. Sure is the way to go as far as brands; not to mention, from what I have learned, Sure also puts forth a great live sound as opposed to any other microphone. So, to make this short, I guess you could call me a "Sure-Ibanez Talman-Pro Tools-Acoustic-Type-of-guy." P.s. For the record, I would be down with using a somewhat more expensive guitar, possibly like a Martin but I am a broke white boy, so...what I have works for now. Peace.
Sregor Kcin- When it comes to gear I am a fairly easy person to entertain, I prefer nice things but I don't mind saying "what ever works." When in come to electric guitars I am currently liking Univox Guitars, which was a company in the 60's and 70's I believe they were cheaply made and sold guitars, but the one i have is quite nice. It is light and has a great tone, like Chuck Berry sounding tones when clean. When it comes to bass guitars, I prefer Acoustic ones, they have a very raw and punchy tone and I just like them better than electrics. Plus they are very large making great contrast and some challenge for a short fella like me to play. I have a cheap Dean Acoustic Bass. When it comes to keyboards anything works as long as it has some synth and pipe organ tones. I have recorded on Audacity, which is somewhat minimalistic, but is is workable, with some effort. Cakewalk is a nice little program, which is fairly easy, and pretty nice for all you can do with it. Also tascam makes a nice 4-track recorder, if you are into that. And I use a sony tape recorder some times for basic recording, i like lo-fi sounds a lot. I no nothing about Microphones but they are helpful tools. Guitars that look nice and play well are great. I have a Johm Lennon Epiphone, feels just like the gibson but is cheaper. OH YES.
Enal elyk wehttam: So my personal opinion on most gear that anyone might use is that it is all "prefferance". I hate going online and seeing reviews about products that do the same thing as the other products but are used differently or have a different feel to the ear or the physical touch. My personal set up at my house is: Line 6 spider II 60 watt 1x12 speaker, Schecter Damian 6 diamond series. I also have a veriaty of pedals and tuners as well. For starters i prefer my amp of most because of the presets that i can choose from. it contains a tuner and contains a mix of different distortion levels and six different effects. If we would like we can also create our own settings and save them on up to four different channels. The only downfall that i have with my amp is that it doesn't not have an output, meaning i could not connect it with other speakers or cabs. I Love my Schecter guitar because of the neck. The neck is very smooth and the neck contains bat inlays as fret markers. I also like the Pick up's it has. They are EMG-Z, they are not the best type of EMG but they are still one of the best in the buisness compaired to many others. The only thing i currently do not like about my guitar is that the output is lose and needs to be retightened every few times i begin to play.
Now, for my pedals. I have a Boss Chromatic tuner showing me all the notes allowing me to tune to anything i wish, when most tuners only show the orginial six standerd notes for standerd tuning. I also have a Line 6 pod giving me the same effects plus 300 presets that i can use. This is not neccessarity a "pedal" but it is used like one, with combination with a footswitch at the end of the chain of pedals setting the channels with the different effects. Now, you are probably wondering what the point of having this is when i ahve all the effects on my AMP as well. That is because i also have a 4x12 marshall Cab with a Fender FM 100 Head which is my other amp which is much louder and much better, but it does not contain any effects except reverb and gain/distortion.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Bands we love to hate... ;) aw yeah preppy.
WILLIAM "DR. LOVE" MCGUFFIN: Oh yes...there are many bands that I can not stand for whatever reason. The band that I absolutely LOVE to HATE: "I am the Shump." This band absolutely sucks. There is no doubt in my mind that it is the worst attempt at making serious music that I have ever heard. Mike Shump is the least talented musician that considers himself to be an actual musician. He believes himself to be "the best preppy! Awh yeah!" Shump is famous only for being so terrible. This is nothing short of the truth. The funny thing is...he has no idea. In a way, I am simpathetic but there is a part of me that just says, "this kid is either a lunatic or is in denial." Either way, "I am the Shump; The Shump Experience; Take a Shump"...whatever man. He sucks.
NICHOLAS DANGER "BLACKBEAR" ROGERS: Um... hello, well, i have found many bands to dislike, in fact they are all on one record label. Fueled by Ramen, they deserve no respect from anyone. When all the bands sound alike, which is an uncreative just add water and stir, pop-rock band, then why would this be appealing to anyone. Terrible... so terrible, whiny vocals, power chords with simple picking over top of them, and a basic 4/4 for every song, geez so terrible. Panic at zee disco... what can i say about them... um... vest are cool, and i suppose eyeliner is as well, but that is no reason to start a band. Fall out boy/ cute is what we attempted/ an acadamy is, cute is what we aim for is a band that is naturally untalented, i swear this band makes the shump project sound like the beatles, they were booed off stage at the warped tour, geez. Fallout boy is just repeative, and sounds like every other band in that genre. One band breaks out of this barrier, Paramore. They have a girl singer! Besides this they are the exact same as everyone else. with the doo doo dood oo doo doo dood and they. such a terrible group of bands that my frusteration cannot even be put on to a blog.
MATTHEW "MKLane" LANE: The band that i hate the most is not a band, it is more of a new aged rap that I dislike. I'm not going to lie, there are some older rappers who were good and expressed real life issues and problems with life through poety and ryhms. The thing that irritates me most is the "yeahs!" and the "Okays!" Like, what is that? Anyone can scream ok and yeah into a microphone...But, they are they making millions of dollars off of repeating them selves over and over again. The other thing that irritates me is the fact that they all always have to state their names somewhere in the song. At the beginning of a song they will be like..."LIL JON, "OKAY", LIL BIG BOI "YEAH". In comparison to the older rap scene, they do not show any kind of poetic or musical talent. Many of the old school rappers would sing with their music as well in the chorus and rap the verses. The next thing that i dislike is that all the new music sounds the same. There are eight different songs that could have almost the same beat but have a note or two different. The other thing that i dislike is that they always have to have an "artist" featured on their songs. If you go to a record store and look at a newer rappers CD on the back. It will list the songs and have "featuring: XXXXXXX." on more than half of them. Can they not make a full albulm by themselves? Whats the deal?
NICHOLAS DANGER "BLACKBEAR" ROGERS: Um... hello, well, i have found many bands to dislike, in fact they are all on one record label. Fueled by Ramen, they deserve no respect from anyone. When all the bands sound alike, which is an uncreative just add water and stir, pop-rock band, then why would this be appealing to anyone. Terrible... so terrible, whiny vocals, power chords with simple picking over top of them, and a basic 4/4 for every song, geez so terrible. Panic at zee disco... what can i say about them... um... vest are cool, and i suppose eyeliner is as well, but that is no reason to start a band. Fall out boy/ cute is what we attempted/ an acadamy is, cute is what we aim for is a band that is naturally untalented, i swear this band makes the shump project sound like the beatles, they were booed off stage at the warped tour, geez. Fallout boy is just repeative, and sounds like every other band in that genre. One band breaks out of this barrier, Paramore. They have a girl singer! Besides this they are the exact same as everyone else. with the doo doo dood oo doo doo dood and they. such a terrible group of bands that my frusteration cannot even be put on to a blog.
MATTHEW "MKLane" LANE: The band that i hate the most is not a band, it is more of a new aged rap that I dislike. I'm not going to lie, there are some older rappers who were good and expressed real life issues and problems with life through poety and ryhms. The thing that irritates me most is the "yeahs!" and the "Okays!" Like, what is that? Anyone can scream ok and yeah into a microphone...But, they are they making millions of dollars off of repeating them selves over and over again. The other thing that irritates me is the fact that they all always have to state their names somewhere in the song. At the beginning of a song they will be like..."LIL JON, "OKAY", LIL BIG BOI "YEAH". In comparison to the older rap scene, they do not show any kind of poetic or musical talent. Many of the old school rappers would sing with their music as well in the chorus and rap the verses. The next thing that i dislike is that all the new music sounds the same. There are eight different songs that could have almost the same beat but have a note or two different. The other thing that i dislike is that they always have to have an "artist" featured on their songs. If you go to a record store and look at a newer rappers CD on the back. It will list the songs and have "featuring: XXXXXXX." on more than half of them. Can they not make a full albulm by themselves? Whats the deal?
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