This whole time leading up to the GZ performance on Friday has been very exciting
My way of coping with the negative anxiety was to work as much as I could on every detail of the performance
Although I have redundancy-ed the crap out of the show, I still have recurring anxieties about potential monkey wrenches
The first one is my computer

My Zune player just malfunctioned and I have surmised that it is the hard drive
I bought both the Zune and the laptop at the same time so…. 2+2=????
Having seen tons of bands and filmmakers tear their hair out while the audience waits for their computer to re-boot, I am plenty scared that this is going to happen to me

The other thing that scares me is that I will get confused and forget something in my programming
There are several moments when I am using...

Went to Marko’s today and set up the whole performance
I had everything mapped out and in the right order
The volume spiking problem was fixed and I had every video just the right length
My physical chops are not so great but that is ok because I will have penty of warming up excercises between now and then
I was able to make it through the set twice
Even though I have simplified things, there are still a ton of things to keep straight
Luckily, my set is so chaotic and freeform that no one will notice too much
I begrudgingly have to use 5A sticks because the others are just too heavy right now
I don’t like the tiny bead of a 5A and miss the big marble nylon tip of my 3As
These sticks will work out just fine because I am not playing a lot of intricate stuff on the ride
The Quick Beat hi hat...

The past few months of artistic acceleration and evolution have caused a new concept to form in my head
It is the concept of the 21st Century Musician
My first attempts at become a more evolved musician started right around the turn of the century when I joined Autonomy
I had begun to develop a multi-media approach with my TV show and the video loops that I played on TVs on the stage
This coupled with the Ground Zero video gig gave me plenty of opportunities to learn how the visual nature of multi-media affects an audience
I had only begun to think about electronics, having played around with William’s Zoom drum machine and tinkering with an Alesis drum brain
However, I was weak in those areas
Although, playing songs like “Ignite” and “We Have it All” did give me plenty of growth when it c...

Final adjustments for the performance now
-loading vids into the proper folders and in sequence
-adjusting sound levels
-playing along with them on the drums to see if there are any un-expected glitches or mis-aligned samples
-figuring out what gets run through my board and what gets sent to a direct box

Every time I do a run through, something pops up that is a problem, as soon as it gets fixed, other things happen as a result of the actions I have just taken to fix the first problem
It is getting a bit taxing on me and I am discouraged
I was thinking of going out to GZ tonight but I cannot allow myself any social time until everything is fixed
100%
It would have been a good opportunity to flyer but I am also running out of steam in that department

Let’s hope I get everything running smoo...

I just came back from my 2nd dentist visit and have had 4 of my 7 cavitites filled
Although I am not terrified of the thought of it, everything changes when your’e in the chair and the drill is in your mouth
So, in order to cope, I have applied my philisophical/overthinking mode to the most un-comfortable aspects of having drills and grinders applied to your teeth
I try to keep my eyes shut and breathe evenly to relax
The eye shutting is also helpful because the needles and drills can be a bit frightening

The surface anesthesia made it easy to take the needle which spread the numbing agent throughout my mouth and jaw
I didn’t really have problems with pain but I started to think about what it feels like to have these things happening in your mouth without feeling the consequences of intens...

I love mistakes
Especially in music
I get to say to myself “they just fucked up there” to myself (and anyone around me) whilst listening to the track
Some examples are-
-The intro to “On With the Show” on the 1st Motley Crue album (Mick Mars doesn’t completely synch up when double tracking the guitar part)
-The beginning of “Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones (Charlie Watts is trying to find the beat and hesitates for a sec, covering it up by making his hi-hat washy)
And countless other flubs like stray voices when recording instrument tracks or slight mistakes in technique
I know lots of other music-philes that share the same love and it becomes like an episode of MST 3k
Rock music is full of such mistakes but I find that electronic music is lacking in such a human element
Obviously, the ...

getting ready to ride my bike
taking 3 hardboiled eggs and a peanutbutter sammich
Trying to figure out how to access flyers in the left big pocket of my cargo pants whilst there’s a sammich in the same pocket
After all, there’s no way you can fit a sammich AND 3 hardboiled eggs in one pocket
Right?
Until you try to put them in the same pocket
Then you have the difinitive answer and you can stop standing there thinking about how to do it and just do it
Now get your ass to work
You’re gonna be late

Now that Marko has helped me tweak my loops and samples, I can start constructing the set from start to finish
Marko gave me advice early on that all samples should be sent as flat as possible to the board which makes sense
Sound as with any kind of art like painting or cooking, it is easier to add to than take away from
This means send a fairly bland signal to the board and the sound person can mix it the way it sounds best for the club and the PA
Sending too much bass is especially bad because it can sound distorted even before it gets to the board
Highs are easier to tame and get affected less by too much gain
I wish I could actually apply these techniques because I still mix like shit
Just because you watch Hell’s Kitchen don’t make you a chef

There are only a few things left to accomp...

Up until now, I have not really sent anything to any record labels and i was asking myself why
I just now came to the conclusion that I have been avoiding the subject because I believe in the concept but not in the product

A huge issue that I am figuring out is that I have put so much effort into developing the concept that I haven’t even really considered looking for any kind of support

The recent advancements I have made in preparation for the live show have given me a new sense of momentum and I need to start learning how to approach a record label

The next project after the show will be a promo reel
Hopefully, there will be lots of good footage
I must encourage my friends to bring their video cameras

I have been trying to work a guitar player into the band for this performance for the last month or so and the guy looked promising at first but he showed pretty much no enthusiasm
If you have been reading my blogs lately, then you know I have been re-cutting all of the loops and sample for the live show
This is because I had made my decision to let him go but I could not tell him in person until yesterday
Luckily, he was of the same opinion and we parted ways amicably

I just finished all of the backing loops for the live show
All I need now is for Marko to put the adjustment on the levels and the EQ so that the PA will need the least abount of adjustment
My deaf ass is terrible at mixing, plus, what I like in a mix doesn’t always produce the best result out front

One of the biggest advan...