The Jam Room Blog Thread.

[dogfood]

Do real people actually visit the Obelisk?  That place was a morgue everytime I visited.

[Metal and Beer]

It's pretty dead; they're less tolerant of shenanigans, douchery and e-humor than we are (I'm not taking a moral stand one way or the other, mind you...) but they do talk about music a bit more (speaking o' General Diss-cuss-shun on both, their Jam Room is a ghost town, ours is pretty good, etc)

[the diddler]

First studio sesh with my new band today- we're helping a friend complete her audio engineering class project.  Should be a good dry run for our Rancho de la Luna trip this summer.

[RacerX]

Good luck diddler.

Looks like my newest project has lost both wings, run outta fuel, crashed & burned before the lineup even solidified.

A lotta potential there, but the past 4 months have been an exercise in frustration, so good riddance.





"Crawlin' from the wreckage, crawlin' from the wreckage, into a brand new car..."

[the diddler]

Bummer racer, but no doubt you'll get something going soon

[Discö Rice]

Heading out to play my drums again today. Man, I get so depressed when I don't have anything going on project- wise. Playing by myself just feels like an exercise in futility, or an acknowledgment of failure. Gotta keep those chops up though, right?

[RAGER]

Her racer. Thought you were just doing the lone bluesman thing.


Not sure this jazz trio thing is gonna happen for me do contacted another killer bass player I know to do some jammin to feel shit oot. Don't think he'd be into doing the stuff I wann do on guitar but he'll be a blast to play drums with

[jibberish]

disco, srsly, do you want to work on some long distance projects?  and maybe not even involving me if the common vector isn't there.   at least you can be moving forward while searching for local people.

the previous 3 posters=whole band, ijs

[RacerX]

I guess I'm kinda back to square one, but I have two killer songs I wrote for the previous project, so not really.


Fuck that shit, anyway. I have a renewed sense of purpose.

I've been waffling on the solo act idea, but that's where it looks like I'm headed. I don't even have to show up for practice because I'm already there. Let the woodshedding (re)commence.

[Discö Rice]

disco, srsly, do you want to work on some long distance projects?  and maybe not even involving me if the common vector isn't there.   at least you can be moving forward while searching for local people.

the previous 3 posters=whole band, ijs

I like the idea of that, I'm just unsure of the execution. I don't have drum mics, Pro Tools, or an actual computer of my own (I use an old desktop at work and my fairly crappy phone everywhere else). I've never done anything long distance, so if you have and have an idea of how that works, fill me in. I've said it before and it holds true - there are a good number of people here I'd like to do that kind of thing with, yourself included.

[jibberish]

ok, so you need a couple pieces of gear. either a laptop audio input setup or a standalone like HD recorder with USB file upload capability. and either way, 1 or 2 mics.  and  mic cables. you can fake stands.

besides, I read about a problem with rigid mic stands anyway: they pick up energy and ring at their resonant freq or otherwise transfer noise right into the solidly attached mic. 

===================================================================
I have a story to tell:

I will be seeing my sister for Russian easter family get-together in a couple weeks. [our family is from there way back, old tradition, nice to have it split from commercial easter, so we just kept it going as an extra holiday]

much of our family basically is involved in our family business heh.  including my mom, who passed away last august.
my sister and I have not addressed the issue of sorting mom's stuff, which will start when we all are together with the equipment etc ( manufacturing eqpt, not the heirloom tea set sort of stuff)
my mom had computers everywhere. she just liked buying shit heh.  my plan is to see if there isn't a decent laptop laying around. all this stuff is a couple years old, but win vista/7/8 or anything past xp can run the most recent internet explorer convention and has plenty of horsepower for audio. so in a couple weeks, MAYBE I will have a laptop for you.

how close are you to B&H video? I am clueless of nyc layout. just answer the question, i'm brewing a nefarious plot lol

=============================================================================

I tenderized my still recovering separated shoulder a bit from hand sawing. these damn injuries take waaaay toooo long to get right. BUT, I was taking one for the team. I found the ideal crosspiece for my cord and cable hanger: the top of an old dead ash tree that had been standing in the neighbor's back yard for years. the thing finally fell over and I cleaned it up since I was back there last week, cleaning up in general at the edge of my yard. anyway...the top is well weather beaten and dried = lightweight but very stout. so I had the handsaw and just zinged off a 4' piece without thinking that my arm is extra weak from all that injured non use time...I was reminded.

[JemDooM]

Oooh I'd like to see your ash tree hanger I love using free stuff from nature...

The other day I was moving a few cabs from my flat down to the car, and my neighbour was talking to me every time I went past about re-decorating her house, in the end she told me about this old saying...."there is nothing more greedy than a house", and I thought what a fitting saying that'd be for a band too...

[jibberish]

yes, like the expression "money pit"  I have a "gear pit" too. too many pits, not enough filler.

...just taking a break from hauling a small mountain of scrap steel to the street for the scrappers: old dryer cut up , cans, PC cases, old car parts etc etc.  have to sit a minute after that wrestling match.

While I was outside, I pondered the hanger pegs for the cord rack.    dead cedar branches are sheer hell to cut with loppers, SO, I will try making my pegs from these dead aged cedar twigs from off the tree as a first go.
if later I find a pile of cables behind the table on the floor, go with the lucite rod cut up.

now here's a question.  with Lucite(clear plastic) pegs , I can put LED's behind, or really all kinds of crap into routed out compartments in the back of the main branch piece, but Lucite is anti-gothic, whereas gnarly cedar twigs stay the course.
decisions decisions...heh

I have to make a photobucket account for stills. we killed our domain last year, so I cant host my own crap at a whim any longer, then I keep forgetting..

edit: this one is a job for the drill press. I need parallel holes drilled into an oddly rounded shape.

edit BWAHAAAHAAA, that fckn steel is gone already. yeah!!!!

[fallen]

I like the idea of that, I'm just unsure of the execution. I don't have drum mics, Pro Tools, or an actual computer of my own (I use an old desktop at work and my fairly crappy phone everywhere else). I've never done anything long distance, so if you have and have an idea of how that works, fill me in. I've said it before and it holds true - there are a good number of people here I'd like to do that kind of thing with, yourself included.

If your drums sound good to you in the room get yourself a Zoom H4n ($270) and put it on a camera tripod either low in front of your kit or over your head behind the kit. Then move it up or down to get more or less mix between cymbals and bass drum etc. Led Zep style recording.

The files get recorded in a format that you can attach to an email and send out. With digital stuff you don't have to worry about tape speed or things getting way out of sync with each other so you can do workflows like guitar player tracks scratch tracks to a click or basic beat, you listen in on an iPod and record a drum track to your recorder and send it back to get reassembled/mixed.

There are lots of home recorders in the Jam Room like myself that would be into trying to put something together.

Here's a video of somebody recording some drums with the Zoom on 'auto' mode with two extra mics plugged directly into the bottom of the unit.

[Discö Rice]

Fallen - Yeah that's a cool device. I should own one.
Jibberish - Check your PM's.

[eyeprod]

finally found a decent bass player for my old band, so that's good. Will be doing shows again in a couple of months. this guy has "naked time" tattooed on his toes, so we found him acceptable. He can also do what needs to be done without being told how to do it. I don't know why decent musicians with a similar mind set are always so hard to find and get along with. So far, so good.

I also got my new project started and it's going really good after two practices. I bought a synth finally, again, and that little fucker is awesome. A minibrute made by arturia. Old school sounds in a new school (meaning totally reliable) package. Highly recomended for anyone looking to make some swirly weird sounds.

[Discö Rice]

Yeah man - I went into a GC and goofed around on a Minibrute for like 45 minutes. Really cool little synth.

[khoomeizhi]

there are lesser (cheaper) zoom recorders that are nearly as awesome. we get good room sound with an h1.

[VOLVO)))]

Ive got an h4n. It rules.

[RAGER]

I've had the H4 since they first came out. Use it often.

[VOLVO)))]

This is the H4N, raw. Excuse the trashy drummer.

[Lumpy]

From Blackie Pagano's FB feed:

[jibberish]

nice score eyeprod.

btw, I did play with a roland gaia.  it was cool that I watched a bunch of videos prior. walked right up and started in on the 3 layers like I owned it.

very nice toy. endless tweaks for sure. I only had one real problem with it. it seems like the overall fidelity was low. too many sounds crapped out at the edges and they weren't intentional dirty sounds. but that was only one half hour round.
I still would own one if I got the deal.


Uriah heep had a mini-moog in that old live video comp I linked the other day fwiw.

so after watching more synth demo videos,  this guy might actually have some useful info for you eyeprod
that is a nice piece.

[Discö Rice]

This is the H4N, raw. Excuse the trashy drummer.

Thanks, Jake. That sounds pretty good.

[Chovie D]

I'm going to start a live music blog about the seattle music scene. I plan on reviewing 5 shows a week. I plan on going to zero shows a week. you do the math.