Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Words, wonderful words!

What's the point of leaving butter out so it stays soft, when it's as cold in here as it is in the fridge?

Anyway, i gots me a new song for yous. It's called “On Acid In Public.” It reminds me of the state in which i found myself when i was younger... way more than it probably should have happened. Groove along to that one; Enjoy.

I've been thinking about some words. Words are wonderful. There are so many of them, and so many awesome ones.

Awkward. I think there's something bizarre about the 'wkw' in awkward. It's peculiar to look at; true to itself.

No. Ok, i know, all those “think positive self empowerment” motherfuckers will tell you that “no” should be erased from your vocabulary; that it's too powerful of a negative word. Fuck them.

Watch:

Bum on the street: Can you give me some of your hard earned money for no good reason?
Noise: No.

Jackass: Hey, i got a great idea! You lay on the floor and i'll defecate on you!
Noise: No.

Asshole: Let's persecute a people and commit genocide.
Noise: No.

Your Neighbor: We should trust the government/large corporations/everyone else.
Noise: No.

Dumbass: Let's waste our time dedicating ourselves to following the contradictory writings in some book, written by relative retards, thousands of year ago, and then take the obvious metaphors, fictional stories, and outright incorrect information as verbatim irrefutable fact, and claim moral superiority to everyone else while we break our own rules in the name of protecting our book's rules!
Noise: No.

See how wonderful that little word is?

Gastrocnemius. (Gas-trok-nee-mee-us) Essentially, your calf muscle. But say it to yourself, aloud. Raise your fist and say it with valor and conviction. Doesn't that sound cool?

Banana. Ok, there's nothing unusual about this normal word we all say all the time. Or is there? The word banana, broken into syllables, can replace any song's lyrics, chorus, rhythm, or melody. Try it. Wilson Picket: Land of 1000 Dances. AC/DC: Back in Black. Outkast: The Whole World.

My absolute favorite word ever of all time infinity:
Defenestration.
noun
The action of throwing someone or something out of a window.
Derivative: verb – defenestrate.
Need i say more?

Ok, i'm gonna go look around Youtube for videos of disco songs until i go to sleep. Should have done that a few hours ago, but you know how we roll 'round here.

Peace

<3 Noise!





Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.

Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes.

Prophetnoise on iLike.

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Prophetnoise on Myspace.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Critters!

Ok, so i know i said i'd keep up the blog, but i let that go for a little longer than i wanted. To my defense (not that i have to defend myself to you punks) i have been extremely busy.

But, to make up for it, i'm including another fun new song! I know i said the songwriting was on hold, and it kinda is, but the i started this song on monday and liked it so much, i finished it for my show on tuesday! Wheeeee!

Music: Fuck Revolution; Evolve.

I just adopted a new ferret. His mom was moving to a new place and couldn't take him with, so he's here now. The good thing is, she's like family and can come over and be with little Gordo whenever she wants. Yay ferrets!

I wasn't planning on having pets again for a while after Bianca kicked it. That shit was awful, and expensive, and stressful. But we'd rather Gordo stay in the fam, than off to wherever with whomever. And who can resist ferrets? FERRETS!

Here are some other animals i think are fucking awesome in their own crazy bizarre ways:

The Star Nosed Mole

Each of its nose tentacles are individually dexterous and can actually grasp!

The Pistol Shrimp

How fucking sick is that?

The Flamboyant Cuttlefish.

Holy Shit! Super-intelligent, bioluminscent, camouflaging, toxic-lethal flesh, and can fit in the palm of a child's hand!

Tufted Capuchin Monkey

Ok, here's the deal with these monkeys. Yeah, monkeys are smart, we all know that. But, these small monkeys use tools! They find large boulders with flat surfaces. Then they go around knocking certain nuts with rocks to see which ones are ripe. They then drop the nuts onto the ground and let them dry for a few days. They then go back, again, tapping the nuts with rocks or other nuts to see which have dried properly. They then take the nuts to the boulder, and with large crushing stones, sometimes weighing as much as the monkeys themselves, lift up the stones and slam them down onto the nuts, cracking open the hard shell, and revealing the meal inside. Beyond just being cool, the implications are astounding.
1- It was once thought that only higher level apes had the intelligence to use tools. This blows that, and associated theories out of the water. The evolutionary implications are so beautiful.
2- These monkeys will carry the crushing stones for up to 3 miles to get the right stone to their smashing-boulder.
3- This is learned behavior. Again, this is not instinctual, this is learned behavior.
4- The forethought needed to complete this process is amazingly high functioning.
They'll even climb to high places and push large rocks off the edge to scare away predators. That goes beyond fight-or-flight. That's active protection of one's home & feeding area.

I'll let you do your own research.

That's all for now. Have fun. Hope to see you at some of my upcoming shows. (NIN Afterparty in December anyone????)

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise on CD Baby
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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Damn responsibilities! And some awesomeness too.

So, another tuesday, another song. This might be the last one for a while. The events of my life have turned in such a way that i have to dedicate a serious amount of my time to things other than music. This is absolutely necessary, otherwise i wouldn't do it. Also, it's temporary, and without it, i'd probably wind up destitute on the street. That would have much more grave an impact on making music than my current endeavor. I'll keep blogging, because there's always shit going on and i can't let everything lapse.

Also, there are some complete songs i haven't uploaded yet. I might be able to upload those in the meantime.

Some things i'd love to do in the near future, after these other responsibilities are done of course.
Feel free to join in:

-Be part of making a cartoon.
-Be the voice of one of the characters in said cartoon.
-Score the theme and music to said cartoon.

-Take a trip back to NYC.
-Take a trip to anywhere else i haven't been yet.
-Get a bicycle (just in time for the rainy-cold season, right?)

-Fix my truck (it's sooooo close to 300,000 miles)
-Get a new vehicle (that will actually fit my gear and not eat so much gas)
-Road Trip.

-Get some of these new tracks for sale online.
-Increase my collaborations
-Really, for real get my music on some video games or commercials or TV shows, etc.

-Actually see some financial return on my overwhelming efforts.

Music: Depth Charge

And then go the the CD Baby Podcast. My call was featured on episode #037: Roundatble “360 Record Deals” in response to their episode #035 : Roundtable - A New Digital Format for Music? Have a listen to both. (yeah, i know i talk too fast... i'm really trying to enunciate, i swear.) And, it's one of the few podcasts i actually listen to often, so, rock it. Learn from it. Love it. Or just enjoy for now.

=) till next week.

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

This n That n Whatever You Want.

Remember Tron?

Remember the Light Cycle game? Little bikes that left a wall of impenetrable light behind them, turning only at 90 degree angles?

Armagetron Advanced is the best fucking game ever. EVER!

Open source (free+), 3-D, fast paced, simple, editable, beautiful; play solo vs AI, online, LAN; it's cross platform, ported for Mac OSX, Linux (Ubuntu, RPM Package, Bin package), BSD (i386 and sparc64), Windows (for all the chumps out there,) and sourcecode for those who want to compile for their system. Yeahhhhh.

I used to rock this game on my linux boxes. I recently caved and installed it on my 2 Macs.

Digital Organics has a new website up. It's going to be a growing, interactive website with music, 360 degree photos, art, information on upcoming events, and the possibility of a Hans Button. What's a Hans Button? Well, you'll just have to wait and see. But, i'll be sure to update you.

I never thought i'd be so in love with a web browser, but when i switched to Opera a few years ago, there was no turning back. Opera 9.6 is out. It's fucking amazing. I know what you're thinking. I use Firefox, and that's awesome, and my extensions! How will i live without my Firefox Extensions? Opera, which comes pre-loaded with most of the features you have to plug into Firefox, is faster than bare-bones Firefox. Just download it and see for yourself. It's free.

And the features... Have multiple computers? Opera Link will automatically sync your bookmarks, custom search engines, typed history, and speed-dial across all your computers, and on your phones using Opera Mobile.

Wait, custom search engines? Yeah, instead of going to a whole new web-page, or moving the damn mouse all the way over to your little Google Toolbar, i either open a new tab, or press F8 to get to the URL line, and type “g Prophetnoise.” Opera will do a Google search for “Prophetnoise.” That works with Ask or Yahoo, or Bit Torrent or, well, anything you set it up to do.

Wait, typed history? Yeah, remember that web page you were on a few hours ago at home? No? But you need to go back and look at it again on your laptop at a client's? Type any word that was on that page and Opera will give you a list of all websites you visited that contain that word. Viola, there it is again.

Wait, Speed Dial? Yeah, Opera lets you have your blank page/tab laid out with 9 of your most visited websites. That way, at any point in time, you just hit Apple (mac) [ctrl (win)] + the Speed Dial number; bam, that website. You can also edit the code to increase your Speed Dial to as many boxes as will fit in your window. Google “Opera Speed Dial Hacks.” I'm using 22 of my 25 speed dial boxes.

Mouse Gestures. You can turn on mouse gestures and control the browser with simple mouse movement. People seem to love mouse gestures. Look them up. Personally, i hate using the mouse. Opera is fully customizable as far as shortcut keystrokes. I barely have to use the mouse when i browse. I set it up to use numbers 1 & 2 to scroll through tabs (which can be previewed by placing the mouse over the tab.) That alone makes me love this browser. Speaking of tabs, i know it's old news, but Opera was the first browser to do Tabbed Browsing. Opera has a lot of firsts in the browser world.

There's RSS and Mail clients, and zoom, and tons of features i don't even use that you'll probably love too.

It's also more secure and reliable than Firefox. And there's widgets. Look at the comparison charts yourselves.

And i'm sure there's some of you who are all, “Firefox? I use Safari/Camino/Konquerer/Chrome/etc.!” Well that's fine. I still think Opera's better. But whatever. Give a little time and i think you'll love it too.

And then there's the lot of you who are all, “Firefox? Safari? Other browsers? I use Internet Explorer!” I'm sorry to hear that. I wish you the best of luck in your computing. You're going to need it. Don't have any vital information on your computer, and don't ask me why your 6 month old computer is running like shite. Just dealing with the spyware/malware/adware will be enough for you to worry about, I won't even begin to explain rootkit attacks.

Since this seems to be a blog about computer stuff, more ways to spend your days laughing till it hurts, or generally wasting your time on the internets:
-Failblog
-Engrish
-CDBaby Podcast

This week's song: Methane Sunset.
Enjoy.

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Dave Coulier is Just Wrong

The new MacBook Pros came out today. I have total computer-penis envy. The silly thing is, my 2 (two) computers are probably still, individually better and more powerful than a majority of what's out there in the public, yet i'm never satisfied. Stupid techno-holism; i'm so going to have a room full of old computers one day. And, they're all going to be used for something.

This is for all you musicians, engineers, and producers out there:

-I'm looking for peculiar 'tricks' or methodologies you have while composing or mixing or creating music. I've developed my own methods and i'm always curious how others do the same tasks differently, and why.

For instance, when i'm done with a mix, i always listen to it really fucking low volume. There's nothing special about that 'trick'. If you have it just low enough to hear, and you can hear everything clearly, you probably have a pretty good mix. Then, when i'm confident about the mix, i turn up to a decent volume and leave the room. It seems, no matter what room, if you listen to the mix just a few feet outside the doorway, you get a great balanced representation of your mix; any problems will jump out. I don't know if anyone else does this, and if you do, i'd love to know how you found out.

I found out by accident back in school. I had a mix of mine playing in the control room, and went into the hallway to talk to someone. The door was open and a professor passing by stopped and said, “That mix sounds great.” Then i realized, “Oh shit, it does.” I started checking various mixes of my own and my friends the same way in various rooms and hallways and found it worked pretty damn consistently.

I also like to close the program and open iTunes and listen to a few random songs intermittently during various parts of the composition and mixing processes. Mixed with good chunks of silence, it helps to 'clear my ears' from the same thing, over and over for a few hours.

Also, i was recently told, that obnoxious Alanis Morissette song “You Oughta Know,” where she's throwing a hissy fit that some guy is with some other chick... you know the one from like 14 years ago, “...will she go down on you in a theater?” Yeah, that one. I fucking hate that song. Anyway, i just found out she's singing about Dave Coulier (Joey Gladstone from Full House.) All i know is, that's just wrong. Everything about that is wrong and it makes me feel weird on the inside.

That's all for now. The Rays-Sox game starts soon... priorities people!

This week's song: The Mirror.

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

If i were a living human robot...

Wow, it's only been a few days since the last blog. Back to music.

Those of you looking on myspace for last week's song will hopefully get 2 this week. I uploaded it, i but it didn't show up on the player until yesterday. Der. Lets see if this week's song fares any better.

They're both up on iLike and Reverb Nation already. So, whatever, myspace.

This week you get BioMech Warfare. It gives me images of integrated human/robot war machines strewn across a battlefield beating the shit out of each other like only giant robots can, with the urgency of self preservation and war only a human can feel.

This song, along with all my other recent songs makes me wonder: What the hell did people do before sub-woofers?

Which got me thinking about another conversation i had last night over dinner regarding the integration of humans and computer, ie: interactive microcomputer implants. How rad would music be if we could inject it directly into our brain? Forgo ear damage and hearing loss. To fuck with the audible range of 20hz-20Khz. Anything brain-wave pattern we can learn from the brain, we can create artificial sensation by inputting it back into the brain. Music would be beyond audio. How about a song with a color scheme directly injected to your optic nerve, and orchestrated bombardments of brain-waves triggering relaxation, joy, excitement... panic, pain.

It could go beyond that as well. These microcomputers could interact with one another via external server or directly. Imagine truly sharing a thought, a song, an emotional process with someone else?

Where do i sign up, right? Or is everyone out there on the internet a bunch of Luddites? (a link so you can pretend like you got the joke)

I've been thinking about opening up some of my tracks for re-mix. Either remix a finished song of mine, or i can give you the pieces to an unfinished track and you can do what you will with it. If anyone's interested, in any capacity, feel free to shoot me a line and we can discuss terms & details.

The best time-waster ever: Boggle online.

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Sunday, October 5, 2008

A Non-Music Blog: Sports and Politics.

I can't help but get involved in the state of affairs.

1- Pro Lifers: A vote for Pro-Choice is a vote for Pro-Life. I'll say that again, a vote for Pro-Choice is a vote for Pro-Life. I'll explain. When you take away the right to choose TO have an abortion, you implicitly take away the right to choose NOT to have an abortion.

This country, this planet is staring at 5 crises: Water Shortage, Food Shortage, Energy Shortage, Climate Change, and Overpopulation. These crises all feed off one another. It is not unreasonable to see a day in the future where we must control population and limit citizens to 1 baby per married couple. Have a second baby? Mandatory abortion. Not married? Mandatory abortion. Not licensed to reproduce? Mandatory abortion. Etc.

By taking away the right to choose, you set a precedent enabling the government to decide for you, regardless of how you feel.

2- Religious Zealots: The only way to ensure you maintain the right to practice your personal religions is to keep your damn religion out of the government. Personally, i think religion is one of the greatest evils on Earth, but i understand your right to practice it and believe whatever nonsense it is you believe. But, the more you elect representatives who push harder and harder to incorporate their faiths into legislation, the greater the chances that your personal religion will be legislated right out of legality.

I mean, there are so many little factions of you. Roman Catholic, Reform Catholic, Orthodox Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Southern Baptist, Evangelical, Born Again, Witnesses... the list goes on. An active push towards religious fundamentalism is a feedback cycle. It can only lead to exclusivism and power struggle, bordering on religious 'war', however you may interpret my use of the word war.

Authored by Joel Barlow under President George Washington in 1796, unanimously passed by the Senate, and signed by President John Adams in 1797:

Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11;

“As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”

Go back and re-read that first sentence. And read it again.

3- I'm not caught up in the Obama craze. But, i do feel that McCain needs to be stopped. I see how 'passionate' he gets. That's not a good thing. When there's something important going on, like, oh, i dunno... running the country, being a fiery passionate emotion driven creature is not good. Reacting and overreacting and alarmist behavior doesn't help the situation. Calmly assessing the situation and the facts, and devising a calculated plan is imperative. He will not do that. There's about a thousand reasons beyond that why he shouldn't be elected, but i won't get into those now.

For anyone who wants an inside explanation as to how the VP Debate worked, along with a good laugh, this is for you: VP Debate Guide.

4- The bailout: $700 Billion. 300 million americans. That costs every single American citizen about $2,300. That's about 20% of what i earned last year.
The deficit: $10 Trillion. 300 million americans. That costs every single American citizen about $33,000. Together, that's over $35,000 per person. Your money. My money. I can't afford that. I don't have a spare 33 G's layin' around. If i did, i'd probably pay all of my bills every month.

And what do you get from this? A stronger Al Qaeda, a pointless endless war in Iraq that diverts efforts AWAY from the 'war on terrorism'; a 'war on terrorism' - which is an absurd notion (we're never going to do away with every last one by bombing them all – and i'm not a pacifist); a failing economy; a weak currency that nobody in the global market wants; rising unemployment rate; an energy crisis (and resistance towards developing alternatives which will spur jobs and scientific advancement); a failing education system (we no longer have a scientific or technical edge on most other nations); and we're still not guaranteed health care.

I don't just blame the govt. I also blame the voters. They're idiots. Idiots who vote.

5- It's October. It's the MLB Playoffs. Yes, i like sports. I know 'freaks' aren't supposed to like sports. I know most of the 'artistic types' around me in my field and artistic communities were probably made fun of by jocks in high school. I don't care. Get over it.

I don't celebrate xmas; don't celebrate new years; ramadan; kwanza; easter; whatever. I don't bother you when you're celebrating your holidays. Let me me have the MLB and NFL playoffs. Those are my holidays. They're just as arbitrary and pointless as your holidays.

Yes. I am rooting for the Tampa Bay Rays. No, i'm not a front-runner. I've been rooting for the Rays since they were the worst team in baseball. In fact, that was one of the reasons i started rooting for them. It takes balls to play with a Triple A team in the majors, and lets face it, that's what the D'Rays were; it was kinda charming in a “god this team is awful” sort of way.

Of course, my New York teams always come first. But, i'm rooting for the Rays and have been. I've been to two games at Tropicana Field. When i saw the team they put together in the off-season i was thrilled. And how can you not get behind a team like this? Young, talented, discounted by pretty much everyone, exciting to watch. Yeah, i'm a Rays fan, and you can make fun of me all you want. All i know is we're winning the series this year! HA!

<3 Noise!





Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.

Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes.

Prophetnoise on iLike.

Prophetnoise on Facebook.

Prophetnoise on Myspace.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Electronics Unite!

Another week has gone by.

Another song is ready for you. Actually, there are a few, but this one is the shortest, and it's a break from the norm. It's kinda disturbing.

Get Out of My Head

I'm getting all Demented Charles Ives on your asses! (Ok, i appologize, that's probably only amusing to other musicians who know who Charles Ives is)

We're compiling a list of electronic musicians and producers here in greater Portlandia. It's in response to a local 'Music Media Filter' claiming to give fair coverage. In a snide response, this Filter wanted some numbers. Along with a breakdown of the coverage with respect to genre, we're sending them a list of electronic acts that are actually electronic acts, not just Starfucker or Talkdemonic, who seem to be all the local media listens to. Ok, they cover Copy and DAT'R as electronic acts. Politically speaking, I'm not a fan. We'll leave it at that.

Rule of thumb: Sounding 'cutting edge' in Portland means sounding like you're from 1977-83.

So, if you or anyone you know makes electronic music, send me your music name and link. We'll show these uber-hip, anti-hipster-hipsters that there's something out there aside from Indie rock/pop & alt-folk. I recommend some musicians from the other genres of music that get severely overlooked by the pdx media do the same for their respective sounds.

Also, i realized that indie rock/pop is mostly just adult contemporary music made for younger people by younger people. Really, listen to it. Listen to some adult contemporary music. Listen to the indie shit again. They're the same brand of non-offensive safe music. The best of both of them are well written... but there's nothing beyond simple, safe, straightforward songs. Nothing dangerous or progressive about it.

Hell, even Britney Spears (the pop commercially manufactured production team, with Britney Spears the person as the image) pushed limits by using quarter-tones in a commercial pop song. Go listen to “I'm a Slave 4 U.” That's right. Britney Spears pushed musical limits and boundaries and defied convention more than safe Indie Rock/Pop.

And no, not being able to sing in key does not mean you're experimenting with quarter-tones. It means you never bothered to learn how to sing in key.

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Turning Nocturnal

Thanks to everyone who showed up to the PRA Benefit on Sunday.

This week you get the song 4 AM.

It's a time i've been starting to call “mid-day” because my sleep schedule is slowly transforming to nocturnal again. If i couldn't tell by the shrinking daylight and return of the perpetual-overcast, my warping sleep schedule will let me know that fall is here.

I have something on my mind, but i want to hold off before i start talking about it. Hopefully you'll get a mid-week blog update when i find out more. Until then, go out and start some trouble. It's a lifestyle.

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Last holdout of beautiful before 9+ months of overcast

Not a complaint: The beautiful weather is killing my productivity.

I'm down from 3 complete (fully mixed – final product) songs a week, to just the one that you cats wind up hearing, maybe a second. I started about 10-15 new ones this week. Only this one came to fruition. There will be 9+ months of overcast drear where i can easily catch up, and probably surpass myself.

My ears thirst for something new:

Tell me of an artist/band/etc that might possibly change the way i listen to music... that you think i probably haven't heard yet.

Be careful, if you suggest something awful i might judge you. Or maybe i won't. You'll just have to take that chance.

I've been thinking of this: A mixed media scavenger hunt. Not to sound like a puss, but nothing has to get stolen. Armed with our vast array of personal media devices (laptop, camera-phone, digital photo & video cameras, etc) venture out on the town to not only find the classics like a Speed Limit sign not ending in a 5 or 0, but also sounds, abstracts, and physically impossibles. A train going by backwards, negative space, an orange tree, or something sad; ugly; smelly; a rhyming hobo... well, that's the gist of it. Not going to go into all the convoluted details. Points not only for getting the 'item', but also for your creativity in how you display it. Let me know what you think, who'd be interested, other ideas, or negative comments.

I'm playing Sunday at the Someday Lounge here in PDX. It's a benefit for Portland Radio Authority. Mike Jedlicka, Freaky Outty, and freshly transplanted from England, Moss from Pork Records. Good times. Go. Now! Ok, not now, Sunday the 21st.

That is all for today. I was going to say something that would probably piss someone off again, but i'm hungry, and the world stops until i eat.

This week's song:

Bitch!

(you gotta say it with a smile on your face)

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

They're Joking, right?

It's 12:27 AM, which technically makes this Wednesday morning, but i made an executive decision to hold off a few hours until after i met with Bubbles to discuss the state of affairs in Portland Music.

The other day i searched for electronic music in Portland. I know it's out there. But, it sure as hell isn't in the public eye. What the media filters consider electronic music, and what's happening in the rest of the world electronically are... well, lets just be polite and say that Portland has no fucking idea what electronic music is. (And no, pdx isn't that progressively different. It's years behind.)

Electronic music is NOT:

Starfucker. I don't know what these people are listening to when they call a straight-ahead indie rock band electronic music. Is it because they use a keyboard? They don't even list themselves as electronic on their myspace page. They list themselves as straight up Pop. Yet, they keep getting reviewed as one of the greatest electronic acts around town. Guh?

I could go on and list all the bands i found searching through myspace and cdbaby, or from wweek, mercury and vanguard reviews, etc., that claim to be the best thing that's happened to electronic music since the invention of the computer. But, i won't because this blog would be 100 pages long, and none of those bands would be electronic music; an indie rock band with a drum machine and a looper is not electronic music. But, according to Portland, it is.

Another thing that i'm getting sick of, that's probably going to offend every american who listens to music... what the fuck is with Guitar, Bass, Drums, VX, and sometimes Keys. Still? Really? Is that the extent of our musical prowess?

Rock and Roll was 'invented' circa 1950. It's 2008. Rock and Roll is 58 years old. We've been listening to Guitar, Bass, Drums, VX and sometimes Keys for 58 years. Rock and Roll can join AARP. Rock and Roll can start making plans to retire and collect Social Security. I know people keep bitching that rock is dead. I think the problem is that it's not.

One thing that rock has going for it is that it's name is self promoting. A rock show can rock. A fast car can rock. Anything cool, “rocks.” If you go to an electronic show and it's really good, you still say it rocks. I think we need a specific slang for electronic music, having to do with electronic music, meaning 'awesome,' to be memed into general speech.

“Yo, how was the Prophetnoise show you went to?”
“Oh, that shit was fuckin' Binary! Bleepin' Binary!”

Ok, i don't know if calling things 'binary' or 'bleeping' will actually happen.

Either way, here's a bleepin binary song for you:

It's Coming

And one more thing before i go. There really are a lot of great local electronic musicians in this town. I don't want it to seem like i'm saying all the electronic musicians in Portland suck. Just the ones you hear and read about do.

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

AudioCinema Visual Collective Recovery

I'm pretty well recovered from Saturday. I was running sound & stage managing AC/VC (AudioCinema Visual Collective), their annual event featuring the art of 50 Portland artists, readings from writers, dancers, a fashion show, and bands. From 5PM-3AM, i was keeping 2 stages + the floor in order, plus playing a set of my own music. One stage was lofted upstairs with the board on the floor. The other stage was ground level with the mixing booth up a different set of stairs in a room fondly called 'the Bunker.' I was running up and down stairs all night. Yay exercise!

The night did go smoothly and was a success. We stayed on time, for the most part, even though there was no downtime between sets. The two-edged sword of having two+ stages i suppose. That, plus i'm completely awesome and wouldn't expect anything less. Or so i think...

I can't take all the credit. I have to commend the bands as well. Save one act, they all showed up on time, set up in a timely manner while the other stage was performing, ran either a quick sound-check, or we just jumped into the set and it was worked out by the end of the first song. No prima donnas, no drama. Just great acts to work with.

Note to musicians: Be nice to the sound-person. If i need to explain why, you're going to have a 'frustrating' career.

Also, i'm pretty sure most of the art will be on display until friday. AudioCinema will be open from 12-4PM daily (ring doorbell), and will be open all day for first friday. I suggest stopping in and taking a look.

In other news, Digital Organics on Portland Radio Authority is up and running.
That's:
Mike Jedlicka with Optic Echo Presents: Mondays 6-8PM playing Downtempo, Ambient, & Experimental music.
-and-
Ana & X24 with Digital Organics: Mondays 10PM-Midnight playing Electronic music including many local (PDX area) artists.

You can listen online from anywhere on the world on P.R.A.'s site or streaming on iTunes. Good times.

This week, a song aptly named. I don't know where this came from, but i guess it was sitting inside my brain somewhere:

Curiously Peculiar

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

How do you listen to music?

My blogs are often creative & technical centric. They often revolve around concerns of the musician, industry, and technology of music.

Today, and hopefully more often in the future, i'm focusing on the listener. For this blog, i have twelve questions i'm curious about. Don't over-think the answers, just answer them however you see fit.


1- What was the last thing you listened to? I don't care if it was a fluke or a song you listen to every day. I want to know the last song that you specifically listened to.

2- In the past week or so, what are the 3 artists you find yourself listening to most often?

3- Arrange your iTunes (or media player of choice) by play-count. What are some of the artists at the top of the list?

4- Where do you find the music you listen to?

5- Do you actively seek out new music or do you wait for recommendations from reliable sources?

6- How often and where do you listen to music?

7- If you're under 21, how often do you go to see live music, and where do you go?

8- Do you mostly go to see big name acts, or “lesser known”/local artists?

9- What do you think is a reasonable price to pay at the door for a show?

10- How large is your music collection?

11- Do your friends listen to the same music as you?

12- In general, what do you think about music, the music industry, and musicians?


And to be fair, i'll answer the questions so that everyone knows where i'm at.

1- The last thing i listened to is a recently mixed down version of one of my new tracks. I'm actually listening to it right now.

2- Aside from all the time i hear my own music in production & post production, I just loaded my iPod with an 80s heavy playlist. That happens. I have an unhealthy relationship with 80s music.

3- Bill Withers, Wyclef, Peter Gabriel, Prince, A Tribe Called Quest, Whale, Etta James, Tori Amos, Talking Heads, Sade, Skream, Nina Simone, Al Green, Chacka Khan, Tina Turner, Outkast,
Otis Redding

4- A lot of what i find i've discovered through my musical training. Either in studying music, from other musicians, or from friends, who are usually involved in music. There was a portion of my life where i'd find new music while in altered states of reality from friends who enjoyed the same type of recreations.

5- If i wasn't so involved in making music, i would actively seek out new and exciting music. But, since i spend the entirety of my time making music and listening to and learning from the classics, i rarely have time to search out on my own. Therefor, most of what i find come recommended to me.

6- Music is on almost all the time in my world. Wether i'm making it, practicing, playing live, driving, eating, cleaning the house, working on the computer, at work, doing live sound... pretty much, any time, anywhere i have control of filling the silence with music, i do.

7- I'm over 21, but i almost never go to shows unless i'm playing or doing sound. The thing about being a music professional is A)I usually can't afford to got to shows unless i'm comped. And B)I'm usually working on the weekend at shows.

8- When i do go, i usually see local or lesser name acts. I have a rule about paying more than $6 for a show, and maybe – maybe – maybe $15 for a touring act that i love... if i have the extra money. (No, i'm not cheap, just poor)

9- I think $5 is a reasonable price. I'd prefer not to pay at all. I'd also prefer not to charge for my own shows and just take a split of the bar or a guarantee from the venue, but that's another story.

10- Surprisingly, only 30 Gigs. But that goes back to me tending towards creating music, not consuming, for better or for worse.

11- I have a peculiar and broad reaching range of music. There's plenty in there that different friends can relate to, and a lot they can't. How much overlap and the style of the music depends on the person. So, for the most part, no.

12- I'm going to plead the 5th on this question... for now.

This week's song is Binaural Gesticulation. Binaural Beats are 'hidden' in this song. They only really work (if they actually work at all is to be disputed) with good isolating headphones (not crappy little earbuds) so that each ear gets a direct injection of the different frequencies, causing your brain to create the inaudible super-sub frequency and then sync up to it.

True or false, headphones or not, i just think it causes a cool disorienting effect. Enjoy.

Also, if anyone knows of a way to convert a specific frequency of light to its corresponding color (ie: i put in the frequency and the program spits out the specific color onto the screen or in hex,) please let me know. It will help me greatly.

And for anyone using Reason to make music, i posted a tutorial on YouTube on How to get True Stereo Effects from the effects units that sum the stereo input signals. It's not the most difficult tutorial, but it definitely can be useful, especially to help clean up some of your mixes.

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise full length: Godless Music for a Free Mind CDBaby and iTunes.
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Yay, going into the deep end!

Some upcoming projects i'm working on:

-Some Reason 4 tutorials on YouTube and Vimeo.

-A D.I.Y. music video.

-Design and build my own lighting scheme for stage.

-Producing some dance songs for Katie Jean Arnold.

-Rework some of Noir City's songs to incorporate computrixing for a more trip-hop sound.

-Help ready AudiCinema for the upcoming AC/VC event. At which, i'll be doing sound and performing a Prophetnoise set.

-Work on collaborations with Bubbles, Mike Jedlicka, X24, among others.

-Convince a bunch of cats to collaborate on a satire album poking fun at the Portland music scene.

Also, X24 got a Digital Organics show on Portland Radio Authority. He'll be joining Mike Jedlicka, who also has a show on PRA, Optic Echo Presents.

This week i'm posting the song i wanted to post last week.
I fucking love this song. I hope you enjoy it.

Missing Somebody Beautiful

Until next time,

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise CD Godless Music for a Free Mind
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Physical Boundaries of Music & a New Song

Wow. Just, wow. Today marks the day that I ran out of DSP (digital signal processing.) Normally that wouldn't seem so crazy, except for the fact that i'm producing on my Quad Core Xenon Mac Pro. I don't know if i should celebrate my ability to push software & hardware to its limits, or cry because i've pushed my software & hardware to its limits.

So, my questions to you out there in the Interworld:

-How hard do you push your gear?

-Are you always taking your gear to its limits, or does technology go far beyond your needs?

-If you are at the cusp of your limits, is the gear you're using relatively current?

-Any horror stories, live mishaps, or other bizarre stories due to your tendency to push your gear? I'm not talking faulty gear breaking at a show. I mean, your band sucked all the juice out of a venue & blew a main fuse; you bring 3 guitars and 2 amps to shows because strings and fuses break under your violent playing; your computer ran out of steam at a critical point in a session...

When i finished mixing down the track (and listened to the WAV to make sure no digital artifacts were in the final product,) i told myself that i'd have to compose some minimalist songs. That made me think about the music humans make and the seemingly non-musical parameters that define our music.

Obviously, technology plays a huge part in the music we make.

The earliest know musical instruments are bone flutes from at least 30,000 years ago. Even without empirical evidence, i'd find it safe to assume that early musicians were already using their voices when they invented the bone flute. Knowing that rhythm and percussion are both deeply connected to the most primitive parts of our brain and emotional centers, I might even take a jump to say they were using blunt objects percussively. No matter how creative those early musicians were, their creativity was limited to the sounds of voice, logs, and bone flutes.

Here we are 30,000 years later and we're still running into technological limitations of music creation.

A piano causes the pianist to play certain ways. You can change the sound of a piano through effects or electronics, but the layout of the keyboard and the human hand create certain limitations and tendencies.

Django Reinhardt is an amazing example of this. A man with a 'deformed' & paralyzed hand actually used it to his advantage and radically altered the way a standard guitar was played, thus, changing the way music sounds. I've been told that it actually took 5 guitarists to replace him after he died.

A computer, which seemingly destroys all music/technology boundaries, is yet another boundary that will define and limit how music of our era sounds. Thanks to computers, any analog or synthesized sound can be made and molded and affected into music. But, processing power is limited. Methods of audio synthesis are limited. Computers can only make sounds so many ways. Technologically, electronic signals can only do so many things to themselves and other electronic signals to make sounds.

There was an amazing shift in music when we switched to the tempered scale; again when the phonograph was invented; then we plugged in instruments to amplifiers; then came the microprocessor. The next major aural deviation from everything we know will come when the next technology allows music to do so. Perhaps quantum-computers will be able to create a sound we've never heard before? How amazing would that be? That would be akin to seeing a color we've never seen before.

I was going to post a different song, but since the entirety of this blog was inspired by the cut i just finished, here you go:

Morning Glory

Have a great week. Until next Tuesday,

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise CD Godless Music for a Free Mind
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Keeping up with new songs.

Hey there, Noise here again. I'm wondering why everything seems to go wrong at the same time? I swear, the past 3 days it was just one thing on top of another.

But, it's Tuesday, and that means another song for everyone. And since this has been such a bitch of a week, i'm going to post a bitch of a song. Hopefully, this will give you an uneasy feeling inside.

“In a Detrimental Mood”

Next blog will be filled with more stuff, i promise. I just don't want this to turn into Bitchfest 3000, and it will if i keep on going.

Until next week,

~Noise!

Prophetnoise CD Godless Music for a Free Mind
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

New Song, and how Scenesters Ruin Scenes

Hey there folks. I'm moving up in the world. I just installed NeoOffice and I'm using that to type this week's blog. I highly recommend it. It's a Mac ported variation of Open Office (the option for you *nix and Windows users out there) and an open source (read: free, donations accepted) option to the MS Office suite. Linus Torvalds said it best, “Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems.” I might add, their regular software doesn't thrill me neither. I know a lot of people with brand new Macs who wonder why it's running so slowly and their programs keep crashing. Stop using MS Word, or any of the other MS Office programs. Use NeoOffice for a while and see how much better your life is.

Recently, Bubbles directed me to this video about the Portland music scene on MTVNews.com. Aside from the initial problem of it being on MTV News, i couldn't tell you how many things incredible wrong with this video. But, i will tell you a few of them. (...and you thought you'd get away with it!)

Give it a look.

First, i love Portland. It's a great place to live. There are a lot of amazing things going on here. But, it's not the best city in the world. Portlanders seem to have this bizarre notion that Portland is the end-all of anything important, and there's no need to look outside this city for anything, because it's all here. It's not all here, it's not the end-all of anything, and that provides you with a very naïve view of the world, especially if your involved in the arts. It reminds me of those people who claim the US is the best country in the world, and have never left the (continental 48) states. There's a wonderful world outside of Portland, and it should be experienced.

A lot of the things that go over huge here in Portland wouldn't survive a day in other cities i've been. People there have heard & seen it already, and are either done with it, or know there's much better to be had elsewhere. If you've got your head in the Portland's sand, you have no idea of the caliber of art going on beyond this city. Rarely do i go to a show with a local Portland act and go, “Wow, really need to step up my game as a musician.” It's only when people come from other places do i feel the challenge to step up.

“Everyone's kinda doing a mixture of everything...” Yeah, so long at it's some variation of indie-rock/art-pop/punk. This kinda goes back to the previous paragraph in that, Portlanders' view of 'everything' is pretty narrow.

They talk about Portland being an open arena for musicians to try new things; that people go out and do things that are super weird and it goes over well. Again, this stems back to Portlanders' narrow viewpoint on the world. There's not too much new things going on here. Replace the word 'new' with 'something that sounds like 1977-1983' and the word 'weird' with 'unrefined, sophomoric stuff that most musicians were doing in high school.'

Last order of business, it's Tuesday and that means you get a new song to listen to.

Sunday's Twilight.

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise CD Godless Music for a Free Mind
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

New Song Upload with Some Obstacles.

Installment two of my 12 EPs in 10 Months/Song Upload a Week campaign. So far so good.

I'm going a bit crazy because my MIDI controller is still M.I.A. It was under warrantee when it went on the fritz, so Korg had the repair shop take the unit, and Korg was supposed to send me a replacement in no more than two weeks. It's now been nearly two months and several phone calls later. I'm still waiting. It makes composing and producing music extremely difficult, and my productivity is greatly diminished. Also, my creativity is tried because my workflow is severely impeded. Drawing in every note with the mouse and then step editing until it's perfect SUCKS, and doesn't quite compare to actually being able to play music with my hands. It doesn't help that i've gone cold turkey on my caffeine habit.

Nonetheless, when it comes down to it, if i have to grind out some songs, i have to grind out some songs, and make them sound good too. And that's what i do.

This week's song:

Landing Sequence

I love when the song drops back in and the sub bass goes down an octave. Those of you with subs hooked up (or a really good set of headphones) will know what i'm talking about.

Until next time

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise CD Godless Music for a Free Mind
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Monday, July 14, 2008

'New Song a Week' Campaign Launched by Me, Prophetnoise!

I've decided (with the 'guidance' of PR/Marketing Guru Bubbles) to do an 'Upload a New Song per Week' campaign. It's not a completely original task. There are many other marathon composers out there. They've set up their own parameters, be it a 60 second song a day, or a new song every week. Undertaking these tasks gave them a notable amount of press and created a huge buzz. But, they've done this already. I'd like to break new ground, not repeat what other have done. I'd like to raise the bar a few rungs for myself.

For the most part, these artists have put strict time constraints on their music. Essentially, their challenges usually centered around meeting the deadline regardless of the state of the song. It seemed to be more of an exercise in productivity and dedication than it was a means to a set of sellable finished songs, hopefully becoming a better composer and person by the end (or a stressed out psycho.)

This is where i diverge from their paths. I'm not so concerned about the deadline of 'one song per week.' The idea of composing a song from scratch, right down to a finished mixed version each week is not an overwhelming deadline for me. The fact of the matter is, my 'new song a week project' is more like a chronicling of a larger undertaking. I (again, under the auspice of Bubbles) have given myself the goal of 12 new EPs in 10 months. Each EP will consist of 5-7 songs, which will wind up being about 72 songs in about 40 weeks.

Being the perfectionist that i am, each song i upload needs to meet the standards of something i'm willing to release professionally. There will be no half-ass tracks thrown up just to meet the deadline. I have to meet the deadline, and it has to be a 'fully-realized' song.

So, from here on out every Monday night or Tuesday morning, you get to listen to a new song.
This week track is Urgency of Uncertainty. Listen to it on the Prophetnoise Myspace, Prophetnoise iLIke, and Prophetnoise Facebook pages.

Listen, enjoy, critique, spread the word, and pass it along.

See you in a week,

<3 Noise!

Prophetnoise CD Godless Music for a Free Mind
Prophetnoise EP Orange & Silver on CDBaby and iTunes
Prophetnoise on iLike
Prophetnoise on Facebook
Prophetnoise on Myspace

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Prophetnoise CD release, on TV, and your favorite music delivery method.

Today, my first full length release, "Godless Music for a Free Mind" went live on CDBaby.com. (Thanks Deena B for all the help! Check her out on KBOO FM) I'm pretty exited about it. So, tell your friends and family to buy it! Use force if you have to. Blame television or society or god if they try to condemn your violent actions. Those seem to work as legitimate excuses for most people.

I had my first TV performance the other day. I've been behind the scenes, doing sound for Hungry Mob on Ethos Television here in Portland. But, this is the first time i am featured on-screen. It was for the local artistic variety show NOW WHAT? with host Archie Washington. It was pretty fun playing a short set and then getting interviewed. I thought it went smoothly, but we'll see how much of an ass i made of myself when it airs.

Air Dates if you're in the Portland area:
Thursday July 17, channel 21 @ 9:00 pm

Sunday, July 27, channel 21 @ 7:30 pm

Monday, July 28, channel 11 @ 9:30 am

And now, at the risk of starting a flamewar, I'm curious as to your preferred 'music delivery medium.'

-I know here in PDX, this is a very vinyl friendly town. I personally dislike that medium. There's audible degradation after about 30 plays. Storage is a bitch. Portability is an issue, to the point where they're not portable unless you're being paid to lug records to your DJ gig. Fidelity is compromised. Yeah, i know, you're going to give me that "Analog has truer fidelity than digital" argument. Lets face it, it's a moot point.
1)Most of the music pressed to vinyl in the past 10+ years was originally recorded on, or passed through various digital-only stages of production. So the 'analog' record is only an analog representation of a digital representation of music.
2)Beyond that, the physical groove on the record isn't actually true to the original wave-shapes. The louder and deeper the note, the wider the groove needs to be. Heavy bass will literally throw the needle out of the groove. To combat this, the vinyl making process actually entails extreme bass-cutting methods to ensure the groove holds the needle. In turn, when you plug your record player into the phono jack on your stereo, it's actually going through a phono amp that in turn has an extreme bass boost to get the song back to what the original mix is 'supposed' to be. Don't believe me? Plug your cd player into your phono jack. Make sure your volume is all the way down because the bass will blow out your speakers and it will sound like shit.
3)Records are not the most eco-friendly vehicles for music delivery. Aside from the physical disks, and the packaging, the process is kinda wasteful. Plus, the cost of shipping the relatively heavy objects, both money and gas and pollution. (pick up 50 records and 50 CDs. Which is heavier?)
4)Scratching & skipping & dust cackles & various audible artifacts from moving parts and friction based information retrieval. Moving parts = wear. Friction = wear. Circular means inertia pulls the needle to one side, favoring one side of the stereo spectrum. I want to listen to music, not music and the device it's stored on.

-Now that i've probably pissed off all the vinyl lovers out there (don't worry, all my friends are vinyl lovers too) lets get to CDs.
I don't like CDs either. They're outdated as far as information storage goes. They're not nearly as archival as they've been purported to be. I've lost a lot of information stored on CDs from scratches, or top-sheets pealing off, or i don't know why, but the files couldn't be retrieved. Over time, even if left completely untouched, CDs actually degrade. CD players use moving parts as well. That means wear and tear. They skip. I hate skipping. 16 bit 44.1kHz is an outdated standard for digital fidelity. If you really want to get into the fidelity of analog v. digital, CDs are a bad example. We can do a lot better than that these days. Just not on CDs. They're expensive to manufacture, and again, aren't very eco-friendly. Plastic disc, plastic case, cellophane (don't get me started on the cellophane and that damn sticker holding the jewel case closed,) and inserts. Again, plus cost of physical shipping and storage.

-Is there anyone out there still listening to the radio or cassette tapes?

-Then there's the digital realm. Obviously, this is the future. To what extent do you incorporate it into your world? I think this is the best option for audio. Right off the bat, most formats have the capability of being at least CD quality. Not that CD quality is all that, but we're already there. Due to various technological limitations and trends, mp3s took over, for better or for worse. Usually not highly encoded as CDs, they transferred quickly online, didn't take up as much space as Lossless formats, and were often 'easily acquired.' We're not infinitely relegated to mp3s . As transfer rates increase (ie: fios) and storage space become cheaper, we can increase the encoding rates of digital audio to phenomenal levels of fidelity. 500 gig hard drives can be found for $100. Servers also offer remote storage for extremely cheap. That makes storage, local backup, and remote backup extremely accessible. Entire multimedia collections can be had without much risk of loss. When was the last time you were able to back up your record collection? When was the last time you were able to back up your record collection several times over, merely by buying the storage space for it? When was the last time you were able to store your record collection in a space only a few cubic inches? When was the last time you were able to store your record collection at someone else's facility, yet had access to every record from your own home, 24/7?

The only thing that i concede about the use of digital media is the fact that hard disks fail. They have moving parts. Things with moving parts fail. (That's why backing up your hard drives is so important.) But, flash drives are getting larger capacities and in time, will be affordable as well. That's one less moving part. In the future, when plastic disks are deemed obsolete, i dream of a computer whose only moving parts are the fans. And with the removal of the other moving parts, that's less heat generated, which means cooler processors and ram, which means faster computers.

I believe in digital, all the way. I have a hard time justifying pressing CDs (as a tangible medium.) I had to for various reasons, and people still like to buy them, hold them, read them, etc. Not everyone has access to broadband or a computer or an iPod; downloading isn't quite an option. You can't download my songs from iTunes at my shows. You can walk up and buy a CD from me. I do have a digital delivery system at shows, but it will be a while before that catches on. If you want to know what it is, come to a show. You'll love what I'm selling.

In the future, i would prefer to stick to digital-only releases. The cost is lower for me. It's virtually negligible. The cost is lower for fans. The profit margin is higher, even though the consumer pays less. And, the cost is lower for the environment.

--
<3 Noise!

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Saturday, June 28, 2008

Duality of Music

Yeah blog!

I'm often comparing myself to musicians whom i consider to be 'the great ones.' Many of my friends say i'm too hard on myself but, one doesn't achieve greatness by striving for mediocrity. By holding myself to the same standards as the great ones, i too hope to someday be on par with those who've made musical history.

I feel, as musicians, as artists, it is our responsibility to ourselves and our art-forms to strive for excellence. Mediocrity is not an option.

And therein lies my conundrum. The western world is peculiar in the fact that only musicians are 'allowed' to make music. In most other cultures, music is either an interactive communal activity, or a very personal experience. Tribes get together, sing and dance, and there are no "professionals." Mourners in South America sing to their deceased relatives alone from hilltops as a spiritual experience. Yet, here in the western world, should someone sing a song to themselves, or even make up their own song, they're teased or thought to be odd.

I think that's obscene. Music and art should be accessible to everyone. There's no reason why any of us can't enjoy ourselves by making music. Everyone should be able to experience the pleasures of creating music and art. There's no reason why only professional musicians can enjoy making music.

But alas, how can i demand musical perfection yet still have music be accessible to everyone? I'm not a fan of paradoxical states of being. I'd love some feedback on this.

Good news though, yesterday i went down to CDBaby and the lovely Deena B got the ball rolling on my full length album Godless Music for a Free Mind. It should be available for sale online soon. Until then, feel free to rummage around my various online homes to find some streaming samples of my music.

There's also pictures up from Digital Organics: Manifestation Facilitator presents end.user @ the Station. Myspace blog. iLike pics.

Here's a little hint for all you concert-goers out there. If you order a burrito and the venue microwaves it, and the microwave zaps the the PA and Video gear, don't insist on another burrito. Figure out something else to eat or get your money back. And if you do insist on another burrito, and for some reason they microwave it again, and the microwave proceeds to fry the circuit-breaker, causing most electrical systems to shut down, and then we hustle to get things working again, and then the music finally comes back on, and everyone is happy, except for some reason you're angry that we got the music and visuals working again, don't throw your burrito at the man who put the whole show together. Not a fucking good idea. Just in case that's what anyone was planning on doing. I don't think any of you would actually be doing that, right?

Until next time, lovelies. (soon i'm going to have some insight as to how i got the name Noise)

<3 Noise!

Digital+Organics%3A+Manifestation+Facilitator+presents+end.user

end.user

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Tuesday, June 3, 2008

What i've gotten myself into

I recently received an email survey from a certain musicians' organization. One of the questions asked how many hours a week i spent performing music in front of audiences.
I gave a conservative 1-4 hours per week.

The following question asked how many additional hours per week, on average, i spend working on music for non-performance tasks. They gave some examples.

Well, i started doing a rough tally. Between doing live sound, producing, programming, composing, recording, engineering/mixing, learning new songs on bass, practicing bass, band practice, networking, phone calls, emails, expanding my online presence (myspace, iLike, my blog, etc.), expanding my real-life presence, promotion, designing graphics, attending seminars, trying to find my next performance or sound gigs, maintaining my gear & technology, cultivating a professional 'image', reading and research... The list goes on.

It turns out i'm putting in anywhere from 80 to 100+ hours per week.

On a great week, i probably pull in about $200.  And those weeks are rare. Do the math. And that's a great week. I'm usually not pulling in that much. (And to contrast music scenes in Portland and New Orleans, i was pulling in almost that much in one day in Nola.) That's not a livable wage.

And it's not that i'm bad at what i do. All conceit aside, i'm really good at what i do and i know it. The feedback i get about my engineering, bass playing, and electronic composition has gotten better and better.  Some amazing people have gone out of their way to help me because they believe that much in what i'm doing.  

So, my question is, where's the payoff? Bubbles says it's, "Work now, get paid later," and "[artistically] we're rich on the inside." Well, i do work now, and don't plant to stop working later, or ever. But how far away is the later when we get paid? And being rich on the inside is great. I love being happy. But that doesn't pay my bills. I won't be happy for too long when i'm out on the street with nowhere to plug in my computers and, inherently no way to practice my craft.

X24, ever the optimist keeps on telling me we're on the brink. That it's coming, we're right there and doors keep opening.  Well yeah, doors do keep opening to bigger an better things, i agree. Yet, they don't seem to be paying any more. 

Now, i'm not only in this for the money. If that were the case i'd pound out some mind numbing pop songs about melodramatic love loss. Isn't that what the whiny indie rockers are into these days? It's not only about the money. However, call me crazy, but i tend to believe that i work hard and should be compensated accordingly.  

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Moving on from the gripe of the week, i recently had a photo shoot with local photographer Victor Fitzsimons.  He takes a lot of tight pictures of a scene and then compiles them to create much larger images. I'm part of his series Working Portland. I suggest checking out his work. I used one of his pictures on the Prophetnoise Myspace page. The other is in my pictures section.

My MIDI controller is on the fritz.  I took it in for repairs once and it was mostly fixed but had to bring it back because the Joystick's X axis, when centered at rest, wavers anywhere from +1 to +5 (of 127).  The Joystick's Y axis only goes from +120 to -93.  For those who aren't familiar with what any of that means, essentially, when i play my keyboard, the pitch bend actually bends itself sharp and wavers on it's own, making everything i play out of tune.

That said, i keep on walking into my studio room staring at my computer for a minute, realizing i can't make music without my MIDI Controller (keyboard), and leave the room looking for something else to do. Repeat every few minutes. For someone (me) who spends 8-12 hours a day tracking new music, I'M GOING STIR CRAZY.  (That's probably why my blog post is so friggin long.)

With all that said, i'm the happiest i've been in years. My life revolves around music.  I do what i love, and i do what i'm good at, and they're the same thing. All the other problems are minor bumps in the road.

Until next time,

Noise!

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Introduction...

Hello. Welcome.

Music. What a messed up industry i chose for myself. What a messed up lifestyle i chose for myself.  (Un)Fortunately, it's all i know and i love it.

Quick synopsis of where i am this week:

-Waiting for my CD Godless Music for a Free Mind to finish being duped. I hate waiting. It feels so unproductive.

-Tracking or mixing, every single day. Aside from my EP and LP, there's another 200+/- songs in various states of completion sitting on my hard drives waiting to be utilized.

-Learning songs for Noir City, a band i just joined as their new bassist. This is relatively easy.

-Trying to figure out what's wrong with, and how to fix a piece of gear that's acting up. (Anyone have problems with their Korg microKontrol's joystick using Reason 4? The X-axis moves the pitch bend up about 5-15% when it should be zeroed, and the Y-axis doesn't have full range of motion.) Seemingly endless searching and experimenting, to no avail.

-Talking with PR/Marketing Guru friend of mine Bubbles about taking care of things that i'm not too great at, such as PR & Marketing.

-I'm playing a solo electronic set 7PM Friday evening @ D'Merde, a throwback to the Parisian Salon of the 1800's. A meeting of artistic minds of various mediums.

-Straight from there, i'm running over to help set up and/or do sound for some of my friends' gigs at an art installation at Milepost 5. (And then back to D'Merde. Neither of these are paying gigs, but that's the industry. The possible potential to meet someone who might then possibly offer me a paying gig)

-Teaching myself graphic design. Can't afford to hire a graphic designer, so guess who makes most of his own web fliers and album art, and whatever else needs to be designed?

-Putting together a collaborative live show with other musicians, artists and film makers. More on this.

-Meetings and more meetings, and dealing with the slow pace of the west coast.  Wait, Portland isn't even technically on the coast. Hrmm.

-Remeniscing about the days when i actually made a living from music down in New Orleans.

-etc.

More to come later. For now, i have to figure out why i wake up at 4:30 in the morning to start my new blog.

<3 Noise!