Not many details, but it will be a blend of grindcore and progressive metal. More to follow.
Been working hard and have a new playthrough video.
I have been working hard on making Iowa my new old home. The only things I have been able to do has been practicing up a storm. I have been playing drums more frequently and also guitar and bass.
I learned a new song from a new metal band from LA called Systems. The song is called Lucid Dreams and the song was extremely difficult to nail down perfectly. This is my attempt at it.
I plan on learning their other available demo song but that will take me a little while.
Here is their facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/systemssound
Go like them because they are fantastic.
Have a good journey, everyone.
Entering a new phase in my career.
I have moved back to Iowa to begin anew after a fairly heartbreaking break up. I will not be able to provide the services I specialize in until things regain stability and I find out exactly what my next step will be.
I am looking at new jobs, but nothing in stone yet, but I’m pretty excited to get focused on what I want and what I have worked tirelessly to do.
This may be an unfortunate chapter, but the book isn’t done yet. More adventures, more struggles, and more hope for me in store. I’ll keep anyone posted about future events that may lead to me being able to go start doing freelance work again.
Any newcomers, don’t think you missed out, I just hit a weird patch and now I have to get things figured out before I’m back in business.
Thank you.
RJ
There is a Right and Wrong, but what exactly are we discussing?
I have spent the last 22 years of my life learning about what is right and what is wrong for every possible topic I have ever been subjected to. Like how there is a right and wrong way to make a cake, there is also a right and wrong way to drive a car, and there is also a right and wrong way to record music.
This all made a lot of sense to me growing up because it put everything into neat little piles divided by a very thick and noticeable line.
But sometime in high school, I realized that everyone had there own sense of what is right or wrong and, after some intense arguments that left both my opponent and myself exhausted and no further convinced of each others’ views, I concluded that there is no right or wrong, just different preferences.
But now here I am, out of college, out of work, and barely in a band like I once was, I see again that there is a such thing as a definitive right and wrong, the only thing different from before is that there are finer details that can determine if something is right or wrong and not just the whole overall topic.
I will describe this the best way I know how, by using a guitar…
Imagine this is a standard tuned guitar, well, just the top of it and the lower part is facing you. Some may recognize this view from guitar tablature.
Alright, now I tell you to play an E, what do you do?
Did you play that low string open?
Then you are right! sort of…
Did you play the highest string open?
Then you are also right! … sort of, again…
What if you played a big ole E major chord?
Same deal.
The problem here is that I did not specify what sort of E that I wanted. You could also have fretted an E anywhere you would’ve liked and still have been right.
Now, if I was a mean and grumpy person, I could’ve gotten mad at you for not knowing what I meant (It was actually an Emin7 in 7th position, but you got a bit too fiesty youngin’!), or I could be a reasonable person and apologize that I wasn’t specific enough to get you going in the right direction.
What I see too frequently with this right or wrong mentality is that if I don’t do something the way that Some-Big-Recording-Snob-Wannabe learned, then it is wrong and therefore I and all of my sources are wrong. These people never escaped my old high school mentality and don’t have the openness to learn from peers.
In the recording world, you obviously want to avoid going so overboard that you lose all the sound of whatever it was you were recording or just flat out causing so bad of phase issues that all you hear is garbage. There are a bunch of convenient guidelines that can help push you in the right direction to keep you from ruining every possible track you get your hands on. The problem with these guidelines is that some people take it as gospel and then they dismiss new ideas and techniques because they hear it from someone who does not fit into their list of original mentors or idols.
What I am trying to say, is that I have crazy ideas from time to time, and I want to try them out. The problem with this is that the people around me see something they are not accustomed to and they immediately jump in to correct me. They jump in and feel compelled to inform me that my ways are wrong, and that I need to do it in this exact specific manner to be right at all. My response to them is – you are wrong for not understanding how to record, it is not how the mics look or where they are, what is truly important is how it sounds after all has been set. If it sounds horrible, then I know what to fall back on, but don’t discount new ideas because I’m some young guy that wants to try something out. Maybe I will end up failing, but I am right to give it a go before I settle.
Sure, maybe I prefer a Sennheiser 421 over a Shure 57 for bottom snare and I’m not a huge fan of kick drum tents. But that doesn’t make me wrong, it just means that the sound that I like and the sound that I choose to pursue differs from your own. I might just prefer to keep it simple on guitar miking, 2 close mics and maybe one room mic for some depth is all you would ever need, but others may want more. Hell, I get away with 2 mics a lot of the time.
All I can say is that I am not a millionaire studio owner, or even a decently paid intern, but I do have a love for music and doing my very best so that I may feel proud of the product I created. It is just hard to spend so much time focusing all of your energy on your own music and also at the same time trying to draw in business to record or produce others music and still experiment with different noises. So keep an open mind, read up and practice everything.
And always remember, make adjustments according to your ears, not your eyes…
I have had this site up for over a year…
And I only have 20 posts (soon to be 21 with this one). I will make an attempt to post more and more. Since my band is currently in the midst of a ton of interesting and fun projects, I will try to make note of it here.
Current projects in the work… our next EP, Misanthropic Metropolis, has had us in and out of the studio for a few months. Doing final vocal tracking when we can get Brandon and Steve into the studio. I haven’t heard anything since I finished tracking bass for the EP, so I hope it sounds great after the guys finish the vocals. There have been talks of sending this to get mixed and mastered because having 4 audio engineers in the band could cause some butting of the heads when it comes to how it should be done. Aside from that, we are planning a tour for May with our buddies in Do As The Romans Do. And we are going to try to get a music video filmed in the coming months.
So the band front is really busy.
The personal work front has been the difficult part. I don’t have a consistent job, I am not doing anything outside of the band that is audio related, and I have a ton of bills.
That’s alright though.
I plan on doing a follow up Steve Jobs post, even though it is a bit late, but I’m still hoping it isn’t too soon.
Final thoughts heading out, I have been taking lessons and practicing new techniques on bass and I find that taking lessons, even if not in a musical rut or even if you are pretty confident in your playing, really helps you improve in ways you might not even expect. I suggest to everyone to take a lesson from time to time from a very skilled musician. And not just from the same guy. Take lessons from multiple musicians that play the same instrument with a different style. It helps so much!
Writer’s Block
As some of you folks have experienced, writer’s block is just a straight up terrible thing. You get stuck in the same old rut and you try to push through it but nothing in your mind budges.
I’ve known some people that get through it by writing a bunch of junky, unusable tunes until they hit some spark and they go from there.
One thing I found to work for myself, is to play a different instrument for a while and play that instrument only (unless you play a specific instrument in your band or whatever). Playing a different instrument and forcing yourself to play it for a while will get you thinking differently about the same music that you write. I always have a guitar and a bass handy and I play the guitar with a pick and the bass with my fingers. When I’m not in a rut, I’ll play both interchangeably and do whatever I want with them (mostly meaning I play guitar with either my fingers or any one of various picks, and bass with fingers and/or picks).
This used to be especially successful when I also had a drumset or my keyboard handy. I am currently without the drumset and my keyboard is being used by my younger brother so I have been limited to the stringed instruments, but I eventually will get me another for use in my studio and also for me to get rid of my writer’s block.
Another good technique, is just listen to new music and pick out things you like and just learn how to play it on every instrument you own. It can give you some insight into how someone else plays and what their creative moments have lead to, which could also spark some sort of creative fire within you.
This is what has worked for me so far, and I am interested in finding more ways to help me become a better musician all around. I hope this helps one of you folks.
The Importance of Image and What Image Really Means
If you are in a band or running your own business, the way the world sees and interprets you is your image. That is simple enough. What you need to do is be sure that you put out only the image that you want to put out. You want to be in total control, or at least in as much control, as you can with your image.
This image I am talking about is not the image you might be thinking. I’m not talking about what kind of outfit or hairstyle you wear on stage or in photos. That is pretty different. What I am talking about is the professional image.
You should aim to make everyone around you see that you are not some joke that screams and cries every time something goes wrong. You have to take a levelheaded approach to any problems that arise. Say if your equipment goes down, try your best to work around it and make it through your task without freaking out or complaining rampantly. If a microphone stopped working and you are having issues with it, complaining and getting mad around your client may end your professional relationship.
Unless you are super famous, you can not get away with this…
You can’t get this crazy if you plan on keeping your job. Christian Bale can do it because he has proven himself a great actor enough times that he is in control. We, as people building our companies or bands up, have to not do this one bit. Maybe if you are in high in demand, go for it, but don’t expect things to last long if you freak out like this.
So do yourself a favor, keep these type of tirades to yourself and away from people that you have to work with. You can’t ruin your image with this sort of crap.
Just had the opportunity to use Spotify
I’ve got to say that Spotify is one of the best things that could have happened to music in a long while. I’m currently listening to Meshuggah’s “I” and I never had to download it, steal it, or pay for it. And I’m completely allowed to because that is what this service is. You search for what you want and you listen to on the spot, no waiting (unless it happens to be the free variety and an audio advertisement comes on).
I cannot understand how some labels have still chosen to stray away from this awesome service because it could crack down on all of their complaining of the music being stolen. Because we all know that in reality, it is the labels suffering from downloading, not the musicians. The musicians are being heard and, really, that is the best way to sell them. How can you buy something and not know what it is until you buy it. It’s almost a necessity to hear what you want to pay for before you pay for it. Because if you buy a TV or phone and it just sucks, you can return it, but with music you can’t. Spotify makes it so you can listen to music, and then abandon it altogether if it sucks.
Maybe that is what the labels are afraid of. They know they sell crap product and when people can listen for themselves and decide, they know they wont make shit for money when no one revisits it. So if anything, this may revitalize the music that we all listen to because we are more capable of finding what appeals to us and what we will continue to listen to. I would love to be back in a place where bands actually have to be talented in the way they write and perform, because you can get away with a lot of after polish in the production stage these days.
I am at a point where I am heavily considering paying the ten bucks for the full use of the service with the higher quality songs. I think this is the solution to my adamant stance of supporting musicians while also still having my choice in the matter. I never wanted to download illegally because I thought it was a bit unfair but more importantly, I wasn’t going to get sued by some label that was afraid of change. It also gives me a better interface than youtube because it is all about the music and I can listen to full albums. Check it out if you can, totally amazing service.
Obtaining musical equipment
It is a long process but absolutely worth it. When you finally have all of the equipment you need to make sounds the way you hear in your head, it is entirely satisfying. At one point in my life, I was completely happy with the sounds I was producing, but now, I’m not happy with more than an aspect or two of my sound.
I hope to reach my soundscape happiness very soon. I only need to rid myself of my previous happiness tools. It is a bit of a bother to be selling my Strat, but you do what you must to accomplish your immediate goals. Mine being gaining possession of an Aguilar DB750, after which, I will sell my Ampeg SVT 3 and purchase an Ampeg 6X10 or Avatar 4X10 to round out my amp section. And after that, I will be looking into Warwick basses to finish off the trio of sound. Then of course, random pedals and nik-naks to finish the detail of the sound I am searching for.
This will potentially replace all of the guitar playing equipment I had except for a few select guitars. Of which, the Gibson V, Jackson Dinky, Ibanez Iceman, and my Ibanez 7 string will survive the selling process.
Speaking of which, if there is an interest, I have an American Fender Strat, 70’s Reissue. It’s got the giant headstock and a 3 bolt, bolt on neck. I’m selling it for $950 or best offer. There is a Contact Me tab at the top if you are interested.
Being a Music Industry Professional
Anybody can be one. Make a dollar or two and you can claim you are one, too.
Thing is, you can’t just settle at being a “professional.”
You have to strive to be passionate about the things in your field.
Like myself personally: I love playing bass and guitar, and I also like tweaking settings on an EQ and then changing it up later when I find that I heard some things that needed to be changed. I might not be all that professional simply because I haven’t really made any money. I supplement my fledgling studio career with money I make working another day job.
But this paying for a future career with my own money is helping me build respect and knowledge about recording music. It is also helping me become more passionate about it all. I may not have the most equipment or even some of the equipment that the studios in town have, but at least you know that I will make the best of what I have and actually sit down and learn your songs and music so that I know what sound you need and how I will achieve that with my current set up.
As a bassist in a band, I would want the Engineer to care about the music we are playing and I would want the Engineer to know our music almost as well as we do. You aren’t just paying for the use of equipment when you are tracking and mixing and mastering your music with an Engineer/s, you are paying for their skills and knowledge, and if you are lucking, you are saving with their passion.
I want all of my fellow engineers and even friends working in their own fields to take advantage of their knowledge and passion. Don’t let being there be enough, make accomplishing your goals just a small part of what you aspire to be.
RJ Ellsworth 