For the past while I've made a conscious choice to model Calm here. I theorize that you come here for a time out. See a certain conceptual clarity in the Stormcellar, eh, eh? Big brainy think think!
I also theorize that I come here to keep a record of what we're up to, rather than some accidentally-semi-autobiographical-semi-confessional...no hang on, if I was unfettered this site would be a lot more out there with more hand puppets.
Mr Wizard has put a strict limit on such things.
But definitely more Blue Oyster Cult.
During Band Driving sessions I'd get complaints if I played this :-)
What the heck. My favourite guilty pleasures.
Ahem. Moving right along.
I don't believe any conscious being can withstand the 24 hour news cycle of constant alarm. During actual crisis, the first rule is:
There's a 'perfect storm' set of circumstances that seem to demand your attention and then feed off it. Yuck.
Somehow our online world wants your everlasting attention permanently and wants you to stay in a heightened state of alarm to keep you viewing. (hell no).
Writing this blog started so that some friends and family who were o/s, some in harms way, could have something to read about that took their mind off where they were at. (see a parallel yet?)
Dad told me of letters that he read when he was In Country, how he would treasure the mundane, normal elements of life. That stuck in my mind.
I think we qualify :-) blogs about driving to gigs. The PA breaking down. Traffic. Set lists. Making sandwiches.
We started this to provide a little solace to people we love.
I write knowing that this blog has a readership (me chief tech nerd, me got stats) yet I don't expect you to read/view/listen/watch or even come to a show.
We have another phrase in Band Parlance: This is a voluntary organisation :-)
We make the stuff we make, do the stuff we do, and you're always welcome to join us when we're doing it, when or if it suits you.
Yeah I'll climb down from the soapbox, but so much is going on that makes me want to say something, then I realise the correct and useful thing for me to do, because we really are your friends in the stormcellar, is to be that place of safety.
Soapbox over.
Videos! New Videos! I want to make some more videos!
With the new album coming along, there are 9 songs close enough to Synchronise with a video. So it's time to make some.
But let's take a look back at some concepts from the last 10 years of making stormcellar videos.
we make what we can, when we can, with what we've got.
the band hates being in clips
making videos is easy. Making good videos is harder.
I only make something when I get a concept that we can carry out.
I've got scripts for just about every song.
I don't often get to make the clip I want LOL (MORE DRAGONS!)
That's one of the reasons clips don't necessarily coincide with the arrival of the song.
Right now I have 9 very good candidates to choose from.
So why am I back to thinking about Light In The Distance from Hired Guns? (sigh).
To be fair I have been out doing some research on ideas for Heavy Weather, from the new album.
I've been checking out an amazing online weather simulator. How cool is this? here's a video
Cheers to all the folks who joined us at the Wicko on Sunday evening and to Kel and Con on sound.
As we were driving home, Rosie and I were listening to a little Tangerine Dream.
In keeping with the current themes of mixing, remixing and because I'd like to share a little Calming Vibe, here's a great cover/reinterpretation of 'love on a real train'.
There's some crazy good talent out there on youtube. Me Gusta Mucho David!
Here's music to create calm in spacetime :-)
EDIT -
I felt like I had to post the original too. It's a beautiful piece of work. I've spent a bit of time watching videos of them live to see how they do the sequencing and it's some truly mind testing stuff.
And yeah it might be 1980's but it's been remixed and used by a current US Sci Fi Show.
Here's the current mix used on Mr Robot set to some beautiful HD train travel footage. Told you I was aiming for relaxing eh?
Chase the dragon came back this week. I was a little reluctant to put it in the player....err...I mean click the link and let VLC sort it out.
The song really affected me for a while there and was greatly comforting whilst we were on tour.
I listen to the tracks on repeat for quite some time. I vary between thinking it's weird to do that and 'no that's part of the process'.
When you're editing, you may need to go over it so often you start to get the equivalent of Semantic Satiation - the feeling that the words don't really mean anything anymore.
I prefer to think of it like a carpenter or a sculptor running their hands along a piece of work, feeling for the rough spots.
There comes a point where it's smooth enough and any more whittling/fiddling is detrimental to the work. Striving to better, oft we mar what's well.
There's really not much to say or add to the mixes AJ has been sending us. I jokingly suggested we could have tweeted him our requested tweaks.
At the old 144 character limit :-)
I can't help but to contrast this against the post production on Kansas City Gold, which was beset by some genuinely tough technical problems, to the point where we had to re-record tracks.
For this album, the first mix tracks so far sound 'finished'.
To translate this into Intelligibility...
Mixing and mastering are usually done by two different people so that you get the benefit of a fresh assessment.
Here's a pic I found that illustrates a little of the concept of the phases of raw recordings, mixing and then mastering.Ignore the MP3 part cos I disagrees. But anyway.
I'm not sure if in some way this pic isn't politically incorrect, but a small amount of error saves a ton of explanation. Girrl Power does not require makeup, but I guess glamour shots do? so confused metaphor...brain hurtings..
What I am attempting to convey is how close to finished these 'first' mixes are. They're arriving pretty much close to end state. Not end mixed state, end mastered state.
Which brings me to artwork and names. Why? It's my job. This job is activated in response to the imminent arrival of something that needs a Cover and a Name.
This is the 9th album, in internal parlance SC9, in likely catalogue number, SC1701, in Name...well...
I floated a few concept names out there as 'working titles' and I judge by Eye Roll how well received they are.
Lovesong of the midwest?
Ok. So no. How about 'Pyramids of the midwest'.
Theo had suggested 'FY', short for...an exclamation of exhuberance...but I think that's already been done and well...
But it got me thinking. FY. Fi.
Fee fo fum?
All right already.
So the name has to be part of the overall vibe, part of the 3 album cycle, reflecting the themes and vibes we found in the midwest over the last four years, using Iconography that references the place.
I have it! The water tower and the highway signs, good companions each.
And the mood for the times when we were there and recording/writing it?
FY indeed.
Ok great.
So I started working through the concepts.
I think the noun is better is better than the verb, so
