Equipment Rundown 1

So I thought that I should talk about what I actually do during a session a bit before I demonstrate during my presentation. The following is a list of some of my pieces of recording equipment and what all they do.

This is my amp. 

Well is actually not mine. It's my Mom's old JVC amp/radio/phono that she used when she had a turntable. What's that? What are records? Ew. But it works well, and I can use it to power my newer speakers using some newer technology! I run the L/R (red and white) audio cables from a tri-color cord I took from an old dvd player, and stick the other ends right into my audio interface, so I can do direct playback from my computer. The controls that you see (from L to R) are: the Power button, and underneath, a headphone port. The vertical sliders are mixers that control bass, middle, and treble. The two little buttons control the speakers. The orange light is on when the amp is on. The horizontal slider controls the output volume. The buttons to the right control the setting of the amp. Choices are: AM, FM, AUX, Phono, Tape, etc. I have it on AUX because I have an auxiliary cable plugged in for my speaker output from my computer. The screen shows AM/FM radio frequencies, and the tuner on the right controls the radio. Not pictured is the back of the amp, where all of the cords are. The speakers, audio cables, power cable, and radio antena are the only things attached to the back - not important. 

These are my audio interfaces. 

The top one is an M-Audio Fast Track, and I use it for tracking vocals, guitars/bass, and also for playback. It connects to my computer using a USB cord, which also powers the interface. An instrument is plugged into the interface, and then can be inputted directly into my computer. The controls that you see (from L to R) are: Mic Input, which controls the levels of the mic that is plugged in. The next knob controls the amount of playback volume verses the amount of input volume. This is for when recording, so that you can find a balance where you hear enough of what's already there, (including the metronome, or, "click") as well as what you are currently trying to record. The button in the middle controls mono versus stereo output, which basically means that you are either listening to a balance of everything in both ears, or specific things in specific ears, depending on where they are placed. The next feature is a headphone port, where you can see that I have headphones plugged in. The last knob controls the output volume, which could either be headphone volume, speaker volume, or both, depending on how I want to do playback at any given time. Not pictured is the back, which features the inputs. There is one mic input, one 1/4" input (used for guitar/bass or "line in" inputs, which are auxiliary inputs like pedals and keyboards), a button that lets you switch between guitar and line functions, the audio cables, and the USB cable. 

The bottom one is a Tascam US-800, and I use it purely for tracking drums. The reason why I do this is because it has 6 mic inputs, making it so that I can mic up my drum kit much more effectively than with a 1 mic input. This makes it so that I can do all of the drums in one take, rather than having to only do a portion of the kit in one take, and another portion in another take, and so on. It also connects to my computer using USB, but has a separate power cord. The sticker is from a clothing company that I like called Glamour Kills, whose logo is a flying pig. I don't know. The controls that you see (from L to R) are: 2 different headphone ports for different types/sizes of headphones. The next two knobs control volume of playback. One is labeled Phones, and is purely for headphones. The other is labeled Monitor, and is for output only. The next six knobs are labeled 1-6, and control the mic input of the respective input. The two things on the right are the first two inputs. Not pictured is the back, which features the rest of the inputs. There are 4 more inputs like those on the front, and then two MIDI inputs, used for a special kind of keyboard/synthesizer. There are also audio cable outputs, the USB cable, and the power cable. 

Presentation Participation

Adam Chafee, who is doing a WISE project similar to mine, has asked me to participate in his presentation on June 12th. He was a part of Luke's presentation last night, where he played guitar. He has asked me and a few members of my band to play a song that he wrote with him. I will be playing the drums, and hopefully Max and Joel, or Kristian will be able to play guitar/bass with him. The song that he wrote is up on SoundCloud, so I should be able to learn it in about one practice session, and the other guys too. I think it's really cool that he wants to do something like this for his presentation, and I'm more than willing to help out.

Sample Presentation

Last night was the sample WISE presentation. Luke Mendola gave his presentation to everyone taking WISE, as well as the teachers, some parents, and some others from the community. All in all, I was thoroughly impressed by his presentation. His use of his notes/narrative, live performances/demonstrations, and useful slideshow provided the audience with great insight into the harmonica. You could really tell how into it he was, and it made me more into it. I'm sure that's what WISE is all about, and I hope I get the same experience from the two presentations that I have to evaluate. Some things that Luke did that I definitely want to incorporate into mine are the use of a simple slide show that you just talk in front of, live demonstrations, and referring to your narrative in terms of background, quotes, etc. My presentation is actually likely to be much like Luke's, what with all of the background info and live demonstrations. I left feeling very confident. Luke was definitely ballsy to go out there in front of everyone and do the first one, but his went very very well. Jamming with Adam was definitely a plus, and I'm planning on tracking a live musician as well, so hopefully it will turn out alright.

Heartbreak, For Art's Sake

I was up in Binghamton at On Point Productions for 4 and a half hours this evening, finishing what is going to be the single for my band's upcoming album. It is sounding great! When I left, Damien was just starting to bring the track into Reason (an alternative recording software) to be mastered. The final mix already sounds so good, I can't wait to hear what the real master track sounds like. In case anyone out there cares at all, the song is called "Heartbreak, For Art's Sake" and the graphic for the single looks like this: 

Working

I've been getting a lot more recording done recently. Here is a screenshot of me working on a new song with Joel Beckwith:

This shows what the software actually looks like while recording. You can see all of the tracks and their faders along the bottom, as well as on the left-hand side. The names may not make sense, as most of them are abbreviated, but they just indicate what is being played on each individual track. I'll go into a lot more detail on this in my final presentation.

I had Kristian come in to record vocals on another song as well. Looking forward to finishing the several works in progress that I have sitting around on my computer.

Upload of Rough Mix

I finally got it to work. If you want, you can take a listen to a very rough mix of and instrumental version of the song that I've been working on as of late. A lot of the stuff you hear will be changed, re-recorded, etc. by the end, but I wanted to put something up. The song's working title is "Argyle," and was written by Max Gaeta and myself. It will most likely end up being a song for my band, as is meant to have vocals. I have to get Kristian Wood-Gaiger in to do them some time soon. Guitars: Max Gaeta. Bass: Joel Beckwith. Drums: St. John Faulkner. It's super rough

https://soundcloud.com/stjohnfaulkner/argyle-instrumental-rough-mix

MM

Today's mentor meeting went well. It was shorter than most, but we just got right down to business. He told me stories of his previous mentees' successes and failures, and made sure that I was where I needed to be, only having one month left. More talk went into my plans for the presentation, and just finding a good balance. I'm happy with everything, and he seems to be too. Wahoo!

Advancements

I still haven't found out why the uploading wasn't working the other day, but it's alright. I have scheduled a session with a musician that I haven't yet worked with - Parker Callister. He goes to SUNY New Paltz and studies Jazz Guitar. He applied for transfer to Ithaca College for Composition, but I'm not sure what became of that. Either way, he's done with school on May 11th, so I'm going to have him come in any day now. He plays cool stuff like the banjo and ukelele, and is constantly writing music. I've always wanted to collaborate with this dude, so I'm excited. Otherwise, I have plans to schedule a session with the indie-acoustic duo, Allie Young and Vanessa Anderson. They play some sweet stuff, and I've never recorded an all-acoustic anything, so that should be fun. Either way, my project is starting to really come together.

Trouble Uploading Mixes

Today I spent about an hour trying to get a track uploaded, so that I could share it on here. I was all ready to post it, but nothing worked. I tried uploading it to SoundCloud, but it couldn't process. So I tried uploading it the old fashioned way by putting it on YouTube. It couldn't process. So I tried something obscure - uploading it straight to blogger in a blog, but to no avail. It was a frustrating little while, to say the least. I'm still not sure why nothing is working, but it's definitely a problem. I have about 4 rough mixes now, that I'd like to be able to share ASAP. This is definitely something I'm going to work on. I'm just very perplexed. I'm usually relatively tech-savvy, but I just couldn't figure this one out. More on this to come, I'm not giving up just yet.

Happiness Revisited

1) I feel most happy when I'm busy. The more things I have to do, the more ways I will be able to expend my energy, and the more effort I will be able to put into everything I do. Especially when I really care about the things that I am involved in.

2) This was an interesting read. Some of it was ver informative, and made good historical connections. However, I felt that it was very repetitive in most areas, and its point was made on like the 2nd page. The rest of the article was different quotes about happiness from random people. It also felt pretty pretentious to me, telling people that they could never be truly happy if they ever questioned themselves. I don't know. It just rubbed me the wrong way for the most part.

3) Just about the middle. I have relative skill set and am moderately challenged now.

4) This has changed because when I started, my skill set was much smaller and I had many more challenges. As I grew in my understanding of what I was doing, I began to feel much more comfortable and confident, without ever feeling bored.

5) One can achieve flow by putting themselves in the right mindset for the task at hand, then staying busy enough with what are doing as to not get distracted. After this, make sure that the work they are doing is interesting enough to keep them engaged. Set goals, and complete them, but always with a next step in mind. Just get into it.

Latest Mentor Meeting

On Wednesday I got the chance to meet up with Parker again. He had read my blog, and we talked about the usefulness of the "blog" tool. He also told me the good things that I was doing, as well as the things that I still needed to do. He gave me some very useful pointers about what to do/say in my presentation, and how to make it as effective as possible. Today in class, I scheduled my final presentation for Tuesday, June 11th, from 3:30 - 4:30 pm. He told me he could make it, so it looks like we're good to go with that. Yikes!