Donna

ATom, yah (midwestern scandanavian "yes" for all you others), I may've wanted a textbook answer. Thought there was a formula. But I like your answer - even better along w/ examples from John and John B . Hari, what is an udu - you'd think a drummer would know. The tune sounds really interesting, will watch for it. I'm in some serious February funk right now. Keep trying to exercise and all, but just deeply tired or bored or something. It'll turn around, though I trust.

Ha ha. I would be interested in hearing that one chord song. Sounds like a profitable approach. Been chasing simplicityfor awhile now, albeit in a different way. S & J > Mud Swirl: That's not really a drink, is it?

Yes, I remember you (John) mentioning the Behringer. After the bass! Maybe

(Atom, you are a wisconsin beast! I complained to Loo yesterday that the keyboardists here were being naughty and not replying - and you have sadly proved me right). John, yes! This will help a lot, the little diagram you wrote up...I just need something to start on. I did "bother" him about all this since last post. He remembers nothing of the tune. However, he offered to listen to it, so I think a road trip to his babyhouse is in order. Yes, I can read simple notation. Your diagram ain't wasted even if Mike ("Loo" - I go by either name) gives me the whole rundown "for I will surely face this situation again." The rythym is not a big problem, I'll just practice. Ta-ta. Have a good one! PS: Hari thanks for the "trust your ears" part... PPS: It'd be fantastic if Mike came here. He'd mix in really well, I think. The guy is a monster writer; great affinity between us because of mutual musical admiration/understanding. It's a rare friendship - am realizing this more, with the passing of years. And ain't it funny? I was all set to record with him last Fall. But we could not mesh our schedules, and then the family just needing to nest together the last weeks of the pregnancy...that sorta thing can come up out of the blue, as it were, you just have to stop the world and get off NOW... Well, because of Loo not available, that's why I ended up searching online for...I didn't know what, just knew I was on my own for awhile. I searched one night and found the link to Songstuff...and couldn't believe my good fortune. So that's how I got here.

Tracking down the adapter as we speak...and the cost will not break me. woo hoo!

James, this is so cool...I know how ya feel. Congrats on getting things moving, and quickly! (Do you have a tuner? Mic stand? Are there effects in your pc stuff I assume?)

Hee hee. No you didn't, it's a good starting point. Glad you mention inversions, which I almost always use. Maybe try a straight triad first and progress to inversion? Sigh. ...ya know those 70's rock jams (esp. live) where the guitarist is soloing and "Viv Savage" is hanging on the hammond B3, punching percussive things. But he's changing chords at the same time. I know, I said "vamp/comp". 4 beats is a long time if you only hit the "one!" So...to comp, but also to change quickly (I think I can figure out the latter). So I do wish to comp on this. I am trying to learn a part, actually, and it's very difficult to hear what's being done. My buddy Loo did it and he won't remember what he'd done since that was years ago. And his baby being new and all, I cannot bother him hardly at all! Wouldn't it be easier to get a keyboard player? Yes - the problem is Loo has spolied me rotten and I don't know any pianists who play in his style (which, for every song he's played on of mine is PERFECT, arggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh)

Hari, thanks, it does help. Just to clarify then, the example you gave, you're playing that with your right hand? I listened to "Don't Know How To Reach You" and thus heard what you're talking about. That is a sophisticated melody and song. All your stuff strikes me that way...and "Splinter In My Mind" is all that, plus a major hoot. See ya. (PS: you were right, shoulda got a bass first - I am pining for one! Gonna see what I can possibly round up...actually an upright would be fantastic. I'm certain some part of the 12 yr old me remembers how to work that fretboard)

Hey! How do I comp on one chord (or vamp)? Don't say do like you would on a guitar, cause I don't really know how to do that either, other than varying the rythym of strumming the chord. Just...priciples, should I be hanging for the 3rd or fifth of the chord? Or what? We are talking one hand, gentlemen - just how to vary the triad or whatever so I'm not stuck just playing the chord. Thanks much.

I picked up a Yamaha. I did look at the Alesis (no QS8.2 tho) and even some kind of sound box or something like that, w/ keyboard bought separately to be able to get one's own sounds - big bucko's for that situation. This sounds crazy, but my biggest bumout is where to keep it. The little ones can't be expected to not be little. I think for now, I shall have to tear down and stash it every time. With my old synth, I only needed like 5 good sounds. I've already found five on this one which has over 400. The bass sounds are pretty bad, but a couple guitar sounds are alright. I'm sure I can work w/ it via eq. and/or doubling. Also some reverb/chorus built in and manipulatable. The canned beats sound good but don't swing. However, I may use the keyboard to make my own, at least on some tunes. It'd be great to have the recording feature on the keys take care of everything but vocals, so I can stretch out w/ 3 tracks of harmonies (I have a horror of bouncing suddenly on the 4 track). All in all, Woo-hoo!

ROTFL! You'd make a great cartoon strip, Prometheus. Plus I knew you'd chime in - thanks for that. btw, someone in the Christmas Song Thread (songwriting baord) wants to know what it is you're holding in your pic. Atom, I'd love that Alesis - but this time I'll be settling for less.

Hey - I remember that Apollo thing you're talking about! It was exciting, yes I remember. It's like cowboys for a child only it's spacemen.

But wouldn't the Scot sound more like "DIE uh's"? It's not quite right that, either. The children and I (even the cynical teen) actually sit around sometimes and analyze the...dipthong I think it's called: is the Celt saying "ai" or "au" or what! Better than playing cribbage. On this subject have you seen the movie My Fair Lady? It's funny, that Apollo stuff - them talking, I think it's a part of everyone's subconscious. Interesting you like the moon landing so much you used it in a recording and wrote quite a bit about that on your page.

...and the song ends with the middle eight. That's a nice part, btw. And needed, it's a heavy deal - still chuckling re: yours and john's comments in the Chritmas song thread about this one: ]john: I was listening carefully for something to do with Christmas. i was thinking "Shit! Thats the heaviest, most depressing Christmas song ever!" Prometheus: Yes, I don't think that Jennifer May, the lyric writer, is exactly brimming with joi de vivre... If you go to the site http://www.geocities.com/thetrueprometheus/ you should get a link to the song (Night) on there... I'm listening to it as I write, and went over the lyric, etc; Ya know, I can hear the harmony on the choruses, esp. the one right before the bass-bridge. Sounds good to me, will you be singing on any stuff in the future? Hey, it is such a good description you gave that I have no questions at all, except how and why were 30 tracks done. The lyric sounds like a TERRIBLE experience. Probably in the wiriter's head? Maybe like that Laura Nyro song: It's not love I'm a running from/Just the heartbreak I know will come/ Cause I know you're no good for me/ But you've become a part of me . Once I wondered if she really meant God: God, don't make me love YOU - even with the imagery about a flesh-person. Maybe it's about both...Great line: I'd free myself and cure your want. On an older note about losing innosense in even listening to music: It reminds me of, one day I was studying a face closely. Well, the eyes had bags under them; and there was stuff imperfect on each part of the face - but taken together, when I stopped intensly analyzing/focusing on little parts, the face was beautiful. Really beautiful! The whole was also reality - the little parts such as eyes, were not the whole, not reality if you know what I mean. I would've missed REALITY if I hadn't stopped looking at the specks. Some of us may appear incapable of seeing the whole. But I think ppl can be re-trained. Er - a disjointed post tonight, all over the map mea culpa.

Hari, spoken like a true guitarist Maybe also you saw somewhere else I'd been thinking lately how great it'd be to have a bass (and electric guitar)? What has happened! I used to have ALL of them. Atom, I'm going to that link as soon as I shut up! Johnny B. thanks for your opinion. I know you guys are right. Hey - I'm touched at all the feedback + it helps.

That's right, John Nightwolf - music first. It's keyboard I'm pretty sure , john, on both respects. But it is a bit trickier, when we must think about engineering as well. I guess I'll need a stand then, too.

Plus, I LOVE basslines, they make me swoon. I wish a had an upright, like I used to play as a child - German bow, the whole thing. With the keyboard, I can have bass which sounds like bass, and play it better than basslines-on-guitar, unless I stand the axe upright. Shutting up now...

I'd like opinions from any who've heard Last Train: should I next get: a keyboard? Or monitors? All's we need to do is for me to decide, then go to the store! The reason I ask opinions from ppl who've heard my mp3 is that they'd have some idea of how much I'm hurting re: mixing - like do they think it's crucial I get monitors first? I do want them - but I'm dang bored writing on just guitar - I want to do keyboard songs again. Been thinking about this whole thing in conjunction w/ an artist page where it asks "description of music". For the life of me, I've no idea on how to answer that. Seems to me, I'm at least two different writers (or players??). The keyboard songs to me sound quite different than the guitar-written ones - the recordings anyway. I get bored VERY easily, it is one thing I cannot stand re: sounds and recordings of songs. Y'all haven't heard the keyboard songs, but there's a fair amt in the archives. It lets one orchestrate even they cannot play keys. Anyway - I really miss doing keyboard songs, it's been 10 years and I was doing alright writing/recording-wise on that instrument. So there's my bias. I appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks you guys. As you can see I'm edit-ed and the 2nd thing I did was crop down a picture for the avatar.

OK - will do, thank ye!

Hey - So I'm trying to get a couple photos re-sized for my artist page, but apparently what I need is an editor. Need extremely cheap easy editing program, any help? We have Windows. Thanks from Donna the sea hag

holy cow, the things we do when that manual is lost.

How have I missed these two threads? Happened to you, too I guess. OK, I want to dicscuss these things (and that lyric) but now it's too late and I cannot comment specifically - I mean to hear it with all the liner notes in mind which I like to do. Ha ha, shoulda stayed silent. But I wish to hear the track again - 30 tracks! Wow! I Like the explanation of the middle eight - while I only have the acoustic, I plan to from now on play the bass lines (if I can) on IT. "Utterly abominable - glottal stops" - that's too fun! Your Auntie's must be more colorful than mine even, the language you use. Ya won't like this, but I thought the accent may have been enhanced purposely (speaking part). Good we're just writing here - I'd be lost in a pub with ALL y'all (save John . Now WHY do people with accents [from my American view ] SING in American but speak w/ their native accent? Also, I wonder about American singers who seem to have no accent whatsoever speaking, sound sometimes like they're southern or something when they sing. But that first question, I've wondered about that for a long time. Finn and john and you and Hari Ossa et al sound American English when singing.

Oh dear - I'd better stop listening to The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in order to reply. Is this what you mean? If it isn't maybe someone else can use it sometime...and this is per the 246. ____________________ CHANNEL 1 ASSIGN L/1 * (square button) R/2 * 3 * 4 * ____________________ 0 (Pan) odd even _______________________________________ OK, so that's channel 1, imagaine the vertical strip on the right of the assign box, etc; the strip ends after Pan with a channel fader. Channel strips 2-4 with the assign/pan/faders would be to the right of channel 1, in succession. There might be an extra strip or two (5 & 6) for effects. But to the right of THAT last channel strip is one last one called RECORD FUNCTION, like this: RECORD FUNCTION 1 * (square button) 2 * 3 * 4 * ______________________ The parts highlighted in red are what you'd depress (or PRESS - or PAN for the panning) in order to record on track number one. At the very top of the machine, below the meters are a mic/line/off switch for each channel. Have it to mic/line to record. When recording even channels 2 and 4, the pan should be all the way right (even), opposite for odd channels. Whichever jack your mic or insturment is plugged into, it shouldn't matter - you can be plugged into the jack for channel # 1 (cause that's a jack which hasn't worn out), and still depress and record onto assign switch #2 or whatever. (But whichever JACK you're using to record into, use THAT channel's fader which should be well into 7-8 area (I think this is what you call unity gain). Hope that makes sense. Also, the master faders, use L/ (at unity gain) for odd tracks, R/ for even - the other fader should be completely off. OK, so after all prepping all this: a)channel fader 2)master fader 3)pan 4) assign # pressed 5) corresponding record function # pressed 6) mic/line switch on for corresponding JACK in channel number used then press play and record at same time.

Hey, thanks for that reply, jtb, all of it. I will look further into GASC because of the experience you've had in being taken seriously with curteousy and professionalism. Is there a link to your award-winning song? That's totally cool, congrats! And I like the part about judges may contact privately if something clicks. That to me says a certain respect (wrong word) right off the bat.