Attack of the Gentle Tones

I've only started recording again in a last week or so, but it got things organized here -I've got the drum kit set up again, and already I'm amazed to have compiled myself a mixed album of 8 songs entitled "Voyeuristic Jam Sessions." Of the songs I've recorded, I want to redo most of them with more tracks, proper tempo etc. but I really like how the one song turned out with some creepy flanger effect on it. The cool thing is, I only wrote it last week, so there's a lot of room for improvement.

Since my ears got tired and I got frustrated that I couldn't turn the metronome on the program I'm using off, I needed a little break. Switching tasks and doing things in little bits always helps me get homework and tasks done. I thought my soundwaves looked cute on the screen so I copied them and used them to make this picture -my version of a city in 2035AD.

I was thinking, if I wanted to put out a real album, I don't know anything about managing music as a business (there are some that are intuitively good at it). I don't know how to get my stuff copyrighted or mass-marketed etc. I think it would be dangerous to mass market before you have a name built for yourself anyway, but if I were to create an album of my regular repertoire, I would call it "my songs can't be stolen because I share them."

So for 2006:
1. I want to make a full length album with several tracks including vocals, guitar, drums, some accordion and the odd trumpet note.
2. I want to move to Toronto.

It is the big city, with lots of opportunities for music. So many multiplications of venues compared to where I am now. I want to move there, get a decent day job, and continue working and performing music. That's my ideal anyway. It's a bit of a fantasy.

But, getting back to my album name "my songs can't be stolen because I share them." It relates to the crisis we are having over security as a global society as the simple result of other things not being shared. As we globalize, it means we have to raise and homogenize the standard of living, meaning that everyone needs everything everywhere to function properly. It may be tough, but that's where we're at. We are terrified of revolution, anarchism, rebellion etc, because we've become so specialized, vulnerable, and individually weak. People have less and less rights as laws and realities become more and more strict. People spend thousands of dollars protecting themselves legally, getting patents and copyrights and supporting themselves with documentation. Record labels thus give strength and credibility, but you can make your own label, which is my plan. Still, I can only record with the help of a computer, and complex programs which continue to boggle my mind because I can't figure out how to get the precise level of EQ or of digital delay or any of the mentionable effects for my voice or guitar not to sound like rabbit manure. (Not that I think it sounds like that in the first place. Look at these waves! Do they not look harmonious?)

This picture above is dedicated to Maria, who just told me that she loves music. She doesn't just like music, but she loves it, which is now an official rule for anyone getting a picture dedicated to them on this blog. They have to love music.

Footnote: Maria happens to live in Toronto, which she says is "the city [she] loves".