I made a fake Slint song... people thought it was real

A couple of months ago, when I drove back to Schenectady from Nashville, I wrote some music. If you look at my previous entry called, "How to track a full album of drums in two days," this was composed/recorded shortly before that blog post.

I recorded the drums for this fake Slint song (titled "Vellum") originally for a song that was supposed to be like a slow-burning, Lynyrd Skynyrd-esque Southern Folk-Rock tune. I was too lazy to write a real melody so I just played some random chords over the top instead. Then I added a bass line and thought, "This is basically a Slint song."

Once it was Slint-ified, my idea for the track was like one of those concept albums that are based around a fictional story. My conceptualized lyrics for this music were going to tell the story of "The Patient." Stay with me... A man works at a local research lab every day, and checks in on a patient who has been in a coma. At the crescendo of the music, he visits work to find the patient has awoken, and in fact, he is the patient himself.

I think I wrote some lyrics but then I tried some spoken word like Slint does, and it sounded bad so I just gave up, because who cares? Instead I figured I'd post the instrumental to see how many views it would get as a fake (though seemingly real) unreleased Slint track. People immediately thought it was real. Here are some of the reactionary comments the video garnered over on YouTube:

"holy fucking shit!"
"Where did you get this?"

"New Slint!? i mean they are around lol it could be, Maybe not tho i only hear 1 guitar and 1 bass, a drummer and a repetitive part with no build, nothing else"
--"theres 2 guitars for sure if u listen closely"
-- "Hmmmm, yea i hear it!"

"this song sounds like this year"
"Not slint. I know them like the voice of my mother. Listening to them for ages.But cool, good work. And maybe change the title with your name man."

"Is this real?"

Nope, it's not real. Instead of milking any illusion I just posted a comment saying I made it, and that it's fake. But hey, if I can convince someone it's real, maybe it is. - Mike 

How to create your own blog

Oftentimes when I send a link to my blog to someone, they reply with, "Wow, this is cool, I wish I had a blog."

Whether you're into sports, politics, music, or just want a place (outside of social media) to post hi-resolution pictures with as much descriptive text as you want, a blog is always an option.

Many times, you may want to document something you've just done, like a trip to the beach, or a vacation to the Great Wall of China. A blog is the perfect way to keep a record of your thoughts, and also a great place to cheaply promote your business.

The winning combination is this:
http://www.blogger.com/
http://www.porkbun.com/

First you sign up with Blogger to create a blog, then sign up with Porkbun to register a domain name. Blogger is a 100% Free service and your information is hosted by Google. A domain on Porkbun for 1 year will run you about $4.50.

You can sign up for a Blogger blog with your Google (i.e. G-mail) account. Not all of your sensitive Google-based info is explicitly linked to your blogger blog, although some defining characteristic will carry over, for instance, your profile picture.

When you find a Porkbun domain that's satisfactory, you will then assign the domain to your blogger blog fairly easily. The total setup time is about 15 minutes. Here's a tutorial on how to do it: https://kb.porkbun.com/article/101-how-to-connect-your-domain-to-blogger.

There are a few more steps that are fairly straightforward from the blogger side of things, basically enabling the custom domain, and also enabling www redirects, both are buttons you have to find and press (i.e. activate) within your blogger control panel to activate the functionality. It's pretty easy. There isn't a big wait time either, it's pretty much instantaneous.

Because blogger is a free service, this really is a money-saver. Your blogger blog could even be formatted to be a professional forward-facing website with a PayPal "Buy Now" button. By finding the correct theme, you can have your blogger blog show different pages for different aspects of your business or personality.

If you are wondering if you should start a blog, I'd definitely recommend checking out blogger.com. I've enjoyed the experience of having somewhere to post my thoughts on a variety of different topics without being constrained by text-length limitations, or certain social-media-based etiquettes, etc. The blogger interface allows you to express yourself without feeling any pressure to conform to a certain post format. Good luck! - Mike 

Smokey and the Bandit: Movie review

I watched this movie for the first time ever yesterday. First off, the leading lady (Sally Field) isn't attractive enough to be the female star of such a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster. Just my opinion.

The movie itself is entertaining for the full runtime: 96 minutes. If you ask me, 90-99 minutes is the perfect length for a movie. Any longer and I start to lose interest.

The film is surprisingly realistic. Disbelief is suspended while Reynolds does 130 mph in a Pontiac Trans Am for 90 minutes straight, whilst conducting conversations with the film's co-stars. It never seems fake. Re-releases of the film have inauthentic car sounds dubbed in. I watched an original version, with the real Trans Am sounds.

The movie is based around a car chase scene. While modern films rely on effects like super slow mo, and computer graphics to enhance scenes like this, "Smokey and The Bandit" shows you don't need all of that for a compelling story. There are a couple of major car "stunts," but these are more-so improbable than impossible. Most of the time it's quick-thinking from "The Bandit" when the police are eluded, rather than a major Hollywood stunt.

Anyone who has driven a similar route to the one "The Bandit" takes on during the movie can confirm the film is visually accurate. I recently drove through Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia, all the way down South, and several of the rest stops looked just as they do in the film, which was released in the late 70's.

As for what goes on inside the car, the interactions between Sally Field and Burt Reynolds are kind of strained. Field isn't much of a seductress, but rather, willing to give in to whatever "The Bandit" asks of her. I guess there is a touch of 'Girl Power' in the movie, when Field's bride-to-be character takes the wheel of the Trans Am. "The Bandit" does call his hitch-hiking lady-friend "Frog," though, which comes off as less-than-endearing. Reynolds isn't much of a looker, either, if you ask me. It's not quite James Bond and Twiggy on screen, and I guess that's supposed to add authenticity.

The Snowman, who is Burt Reynold's sidekick, has some good scenes by himself. At one point during the movie, he faces adversity at a truck stop. Why was this included in the film? Was it a message to the audience that not every truck stop is a friendly place to stop? Or was it a way to express that the "Snowman" isn't as quick-thinking as The Bandit?

The other major star of the movie is Jackie Gleason's sheriff character. His performance is both humorous and quotable. He never breaks character which is impressive considering how outrageous "The Sheriff" is as a fictional police chief.

Overall, the car scenes are great, and the rest stop scenes are just as interesting. The film moves at a rapid pace. It's both enjoyable and lighthearted. Definitely worth watching, and there's replay value for all of the one-liners.

A visit to a local used CD store

A couple of months back I drove across the USA by myself, specifically from New York to Nashville to see a live wrestling event. I saw Ring of Honor: Bound by Honor at the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, and was satisfied with how the event panned out. I sat in the second row.

A week later I found myself in Baton Rouge, Louisiana looking for something to do. One of my favorite hobbies is to peruse book stores and CD stores. I don't really listen to vinyl. I own about 10-12 vinyl records, and at a time I did listen to them, but I prefer CDs. There are some vinyl records I've recently become interested in, but I don't have a record player right now so those'll have to wait.

 

Anyway, in two visits, this is what I bought:

The Ramones - Loco Live
Bauhaus - 1979-1983 Volume One
BeeGees - Number Ones
The Breeders - Last Splash
Mountain - On Top
Morrissey - World of Morrissey

Other stuff: I almost bought Daft Punk - Random Access Memories, but skipped out on it, and when I returned it was gone. I noticed one album that caught my eye which was one of Jack Endino's band's albums, I think they're called, "Skin Yard." I bought a copy of the Armor for Sleep CD "Smile for Them" during this time also. I asked the owner if he had any Sly Stone CD's, he had some compilations (inside of a locked glass case) but I was looking for a particular one he didn't have. I also asked about Deep Purple's "Machinehead" which wasn't there.

The store was called, "The Exchange" and I recommend visiting, they have a lot of stuff you don't normally see, including B-sides, CD singles, rare albums and more. The owner was also friendly and interested in helping you find whatever it is you might be looking for.

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (Movie Review)

I just watched this classic for the first time since the movie's release, in 1994. I may have caught bits and pieces of the film on TV re-runs, but haven't seen the full movie from start to finish since at least 1996, or so.

Watching it back at age 32 gave me an opportunity to understand the movie more thoroughly. Before I dive into all of my opinions, a quick note. "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," at just under 90 minutes, is the perfect length.

The plot of the movie back then was confusing for me, because I was 8 years old in 1996. I didn't understand the twists and turns of the story-line, and didn't understand all of the jokes.

What's actually hilarious is that when I was a little kid, in the climax of the movie, when Finkle is revealed to be Einhorn... I thought that Lois Einhorn had crapped her pants and there was a big load in her underwear, which is why it was funny.

As an adult, I realize it's actually because Finkle had just tucked his junk in between his legs and the "load" is actually his man parts. Heck, maybe I'll re-watch this film in my 60's and realize I was wrong back in my 30's as to why this scene is humorous. It's all up for debate.

My other takeaways from the film involve some of the less than kid-friendly humor that's thrown in, and how it's sort of like a rapid-fire collage of scenes. "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" doesn't drag whatsoever. The relationship scenes between Courtney Cox and Jim Carrey are pretty enjoyable. I'd even venture to say the scene where they argue while in poolside lounge chairs is borderline endearing and dare I say, realistic.

Another scene that stuck out for me is when Ace breaks into a Los Angeles apartment complex. There are some shots interspersed that present a cool juxtaposition between a realistic look at life for some (either hard-working, or lazy) American one who likes to relax at his home and watch TV, and the cartoonish and very Hollywood character that is Ace Ventura, who scampers down the apartment complex walkways to eventually interact with this person.

I think the reason why this movie became so popular and such a phenomenon is because of the easy-to-understand, facial-expression-based humor from Ace. The over-the-top slapstick humor appeals to small children who relate to the type of interactions you see on Bugs Bunny, where every gesture is hyper-exaggerated.

The film also appeals to adults, with a somewhat complex detective/mystery subplot, and the macabre look into a disgraced football player who goes mental, and then changes his identity to become a woman in order to plot revenge on... a mega-famous archetype of Americana and pop culture, but also someone who is flawed himself in never having won "The Big Game," ... Mr. Dan Marino.

The writers certainly tossed every idea into the script except for the kitchen sink, and Jim Carrey pulls it all together with his performance.

"Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" combines gags, a light-hearted and easy-to-follow detective story-line and more complex and sort of "scary" elements. It accomplishes a lot in a short amount of time.

My NFL Score prediction app: Year 2 on the Google Play Store

I just updated my NFL Score Prediction game app. We are now entering Year #2 on the Google Play Store. You can download the application here (Android users, Google Play Store).
 
If you want to use the app, but do not have an Android phone, visit the direct URL: NFLScoreApp.com

The annual maintenance took me about 3-4 hours of work. This involved inputting the 2020 NFL schedule and resetting various internal knobs and levers. Not bad from a time standpoint... Although I will admit, I'm pretty lazy and I thought about just throwing my hands up and not renewing my server space about an hour in.

It was pretty nice out today, so I missed out on the great weather but instead was stuck inside staring at the computer screen, which is one reason I left the tech industry to begin with, but whatever.

The application costs $20 a year for the server space and it cost me a one-time fee of $25 to become a Google Developer, so from a money standpoint, it's not a huge waste of money. It amounts to a couple of magazine subscriptions, more or less.

This year (as opposed to 2019) I opened up the free app download to every single country that's available in the Google Play store. Last year I only had the application available to the U.S.A. and the United Kingdom.

Some improvements I made for the 2020 NFL Schedule: There is now a "My Stats" page that shows some bar graphs about your level of participation and gives your definitive ranking.

I redesigned the navigation to simplify it.

I limited the Leaderboard to the Top 25 users only.

I'm not sure how long I will continue to keep this app active, but I'm satisfied with how it's working as of now. I still believe in my concept, but I'd need major help to bring it to the next level.

If you are interested in working on or buying this application, i.e. purchasing the source code outright, shoot me an email. My address is listed on my "About Me" page on blogger. - Mike

Hooking up a mixer to a compressor or external preamp

I've been recording music for the past 3 years with a bizarre device, something I picked up online called the Peavey 10AT mixer. It's an audio mixer that has "AutoTune" built-in.

The Peavey 10AT mixer

Going back to the early days of my audio engineering interest, back in 2001 when I picked up my first recording device, a Fostex-MR8 digital multi-tracker, I didn't know what I was doing. I jumped into the home recording hobby at a time when digital recording was very new. Analog was inaccessible, because I knew nothing about tape machines, or even DAT, so I was forced to figure out digital recording. Without any real mentor figure, I had to teach myself everything. It was almost 100% trial and error.

I can remember often hearing advice, going back to the early days of my interest in sound recording, which was always, "You need a mixer." But, I didn't understand. How could I hook up an analog mixer to record the sound into a digital file on my computer? It didn't make sense.

Remember, this was 2001, and so the concept of an affordable audio interface (or even a well known one) wasn't yet possible. Hence why I was directed towards the Fostex MR-8 machine, a consumer grade, "Digital multi-tracker" that essentially recorded audio files onto an SD card that was inserted into the device.

The Fostex MR-8 Digital multi-tracker

The Fostex MR-8 forced you to "Bounce" your mixes into a final version before you were able to transfer them via USB to your desktop computer. This mix-down process was shaky, and I remember the set of steps required was possible, but not automatic. You had to make sure the file sizes and the lengths of the audio were proper, otherwise you'd be unable to mix-down and you'd be left with files stuck on the physical machine, unable to proceed with the USB transferring. It was less-than-ideal, to say the least. Regardless, I was able to do this even back then, when I was only 13 years old.

I guess, for the sake of thoroughness, I can talk about three other devices I've personally spent time using to record, in between the Fostex MR-8 device (in 2001) and the Peavey 10AT (2017-Present).

The Presonus Firepod

In 2006 I bought and used a Presonus Firepod. This was a unit that allowed for 8 microphones to be connected simultaneously, and each of the audio tracks to be recorded individually into a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). So, this bridged many gaps for me at the time. First off, having eight microphone inputs was desirable. As a neophyte drum recordist, I saw plenty of videos about how and why you needed separate microphones for every drum on the drum kit (Although now I favor just using a stereo pair). I used the Firepod actively until about the fall of 2013, so it lasted me 7 years. The device suffers from preamps that contain some sort of digital "sheen" artifact that's unpleasant, although I will mention, if you record in a good environment and with the leveling properly set, you'll notice this "sheen" disappears entirely. Still, the Firepod didn't offer the most sterile input signal processing. Which is why....

The Focusrite Saffire Pro 14

In 2014, I bought a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14. This device solved the issues of the Firepod, because the input signal it offers is very dry and sterile, almost completely transparent. I can't say much about this device, as I ultimately found it sort of lifeless and less-than-inspiring. I guess the most interesting part of my ownership of the device was the fact I had to risk my life to pick it up. I walked on foot to a very remote FedEx pickup location, and found myself in a bad part of town. At one point I was surrounded by a gang, who were riding ATVs around the streets, and this was in the inner-city, in a very remote part of New York City. I felt like I was in an episode of the Sopranos, when they take a guy to the remote part of Coney Island, for instance, and all of the sudden he realizes what's about to happen.

The Focusrite ISA One Preamp

I did, however, attempt to liven up the Focusrite, with another piece of Focusrite gear, an ISA One analog Preamp. This was the first (and only) ever dedicated pre-amplifier I've owned and used. It's one piece of gear I somewhat regret letting go of, because it was pretty cool. I will mention, though, that it's only a one-channel device, so it's somewhat flawed in that sense. In order to hook up this preamp to the Focusrite Saffire Pro 14, I didn't have to try too hard, because I asked for help at the local Guitar Center (near Union Square in Manhattan) on what cables I'd need. The salesperson seemed to be knowledgeable, and let me know the exact cables I'd need. The ISA One included very easy-to-understand instructions as well, which helped me hook it up to the Saffire Pro 14 audio interface seamlessly. The ISA One performed well in that it livened up the input signal for the Focusrite Saffire Pro 14's AD conversion, and it also provided  more clarity to the signal, which I mostly utilized on the vocal tracks on the music I was recording at the time. It was pretty good, but I wasn't that into it.

From Wikipedia: In electronics, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC, A/D, or A-to-D) is a system that converts an analog signal, such as a sound picked up by a microphone or light entering a digital camera, into a digital signal.

The Teac A-3340S (Pictured without reels)

The other major device I used was a TEAC A-3340S. This was my first (and only) foray into fully analog recording. This device was interesting. I bought it off Craigslist and spent hours cleaning the heads with rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs, before running some brand new (at $65 a reel) tape through the machine. I was surprised to find out it actually worked, and seemed to be calibrated too. I used an analog mixer with this tape machine, namely a Yamaha MG series mixer.

Yamaha MG Series analog mixer

So at one point, I was able to record to 1/4" tape with the TEAC A-3340S, and then playback the tape through the Saffire Pro 14's AD converter and into my computers DAW, for a fully analog to digital experience. This was back in 2015, more or less.

Eventually, I lost my job and looked around at the extensive amount of equipment I had acquired and decided I ought to part ways with most of it, and ultimately I sold all of my gear except for an acoustic guitar and a pair of cheap Shure PGA57 dynamic microphones, for the sake of minimalism and simplicity. That was years ago.

The Peavey 10AT mixer

Obviously since then, I've been able to re-assess my recording interest and eventually found another job that paid well, and I was able to buy new and different recording equipment, and that's where I decided on the Peavey 10AT. And that's where everything came full circle.

The Peavey 10AT is not only a traditional analog mixer, it also allows you to stream the audio directly to your computer via USB (without any convoluted mix-down steps) with a built in AD converter. However, the 10AT has it's limitations, namely an inability to separate input signal feeds into separate tracks post AD conversion. Anyway, I was recently interested in adding some outboard gear to the Peavey 10AT and that's where I started to investigate how to hook up an external preamp or compressor to this mixer.

A block diagram of the signal flow for the Peavey 10AT

I've noticed the Peavey 10AT gives me a tonality that I've been able to work with, for sure, but how about the idea of using this Peavey 10AT as a traditional AD converter, much in the way I used my old Saffire Pro 14? How would I connect outboard gear to the mixer at the correct part of the signal path? That's where I checked out the above block diagram and considered the below schematic.

Schematic on how to connect a Warm WA12 MKII 500 preamplifier to an audio interface.

 
So if we inspect the schematic provided by Warm Audio, to show how to connect their WA12 MKII 500 preamplifier to an audio interface, we see it says, "Just plug it right into the front of your interface, into the first channel."

Well, upon closer inspection, it also says, "Buy our leveling amplifier and patch that between our preamp and your interface," but I'll disregard the inclusion of the leveling amp for now to avoid an in-depth discussion. But anyway, a leveling amplifier is a device that reduces the dynamic range of a signal, so the quieter parts become louder and the loudest parts become quieter. This effect creates a fuller or "richer" tonality to the signal, something I probably could've used with the Saffire Pro 14. But continuing on with the wiring discussion...

Inspecting the block diagram of the Peavey 10AT, you'll notice if I were to follow the above schematic and wired the Warm Audio output into the first channel input of my 10AT, I'd be running my microphone signal through TWO preamplifiers... the Warm Audio WA12 MKII 500 preamp AND the Peavey 10AT's built-in preamplifier , which obviously will muddy up the signal with excess gain. So, how to address this?

Looking at the Peavey 10AT block diagram, using channels 5 and 6 will allow us to bypass the Peavey 10AT's built-in preamplifier. This ought to work, however, we'll need to use the correct cables, and I believe these are referred to as "Stereo 1/4 inch" cables, or, rather, TRS cables, and also "Balanced 1/4 inch" cables. So you'll need this type of cable...

1/4" TRS male to XLR female cable

Just to double check, I read the Peavey 10AT official user's manual and found this:

"MIC/LINE INPUT (CH.1-8)
This combination input jack accepts a ¼” or XLR balanced plug. The XLR balanced input is optimized for a microphone or other low impedance source. The ¼” input is a TRS balanced type, and also accepts ordinary TS guitar cables."

Beyond 5/6's inputs, there are more channels on the Peavey 10AT mixer to consider: channels 9 and 10, and the AUX channel.

It seems like (again referencing the Peavey 10AT Block Diagram), channels 9/10 allow you to bypass the built-in EQ, but also disallow adding any built-in Digital FX to the signal, or applying AUX sends. So, it seems like using channels 9/10 isn't really designed exclusively for connecting outboard gear, but rather, running an external audio source into the mixer, like streaming audio from a radio, or an iPod, or something like that. Though, technically it can replicate the functionality of using channels 5 and 6, while also allowing you to explicity bypass the 10AT's built-in EQ. Channels 9/10 are basically just like Channels 5/6 minus a robust channel strip with Gain, L/R Panning, and Input Volume adjustment. With Channel 9/10 you're limited to a single master volume fader.

I guess, with the AUX channel, you are sending variable levels of each channel with an AUX dial to the AUX send outputs, which is useful for live mixing when your drummer asks for "More guitar" in his monitor. His monitor would be wired to the AUX send outputs, and the guitar's input, for instance, wired DI into Channel 4. By turning up the AUX dial on Channel 4, the drummer would hear his requested, "More guitar," in his monitor.

Of course, you can replace the drummer's monitor in the above example with, say, a piece of outboard gear, perhaps a rack-mounted EQ unit. Considering this idea, you are sending the guitar signal into the input of this rack-mounted EQ, instead of to a monitor.

By then connecting the output of that rack-mounted EQ back into a different input on the mixer, you are using the AUX function as an Effects Send/Return, or an Effects Loop. By turning the AUX dial on the guitar (Channel 4) up, you will send more of the guitar into the rack-mounted EQ, and subsequently back out of the rack-mounted EQ and into that separate channel on the mixer for playback.

So, bearing all this in mind, it seems Channels 5/6 are probably the way to go. So we've figured out how to hook up an external preamp to the Peavey 10AT, now what about a compressor as well? If we look at the back of this device below, FMR Audio's RNC 1773 compressor, we are given some clues on how this might work.

FMR Audio's Really Nice Compressor 1773 model, with unbalanced inputs/outputs

So this device has simple unbalanced 1/4" inputs and outputs. Now what?

If we follow the logic we found in the Peavey 10AT's block diagram, we notice on Channels 1/2, the 10AT's built-in preamplifier is first in the signal chain, and comes before the Peavey 10AT's built-in compressor. So, following that logic, with our outboard gear, we'd want to put the FMR RNC 1773 compressor AFTER the Warm Audio WA12 MKII 500 preamplifier in the signal chain.

Male to Male TRS (balanced) cable

Remember, we decided to connect the Warm Audio WA12 MKII 500 to channels 5/6 of the Peavey 10AT. So, the FMR Audio RNC 1773 will sit between the Warm Audio Preamp, and channels 5/6 of the Peavey 10AT. And... it seems as though, because the Warm Audio device offers us balanced XLR outputs, we're basically just patching the FMR compressor in with an additional male to male TRS cable. Pretty easy huh?

But wait, we're connecting cables between the balanced output of the Warm Audio preamp, and the unbalanced inputs/outputs of the FMR compressor to our balanced Peavey 10AT inputs. Now what? According to an article I found online, Mike Rivers, an audiologist tries to squash some rumors about balanced versus unbalanced connections, he tackles the issue head on:

• "If you connect a balanced output to an unbalanced input you'll lose half the level. Sometimes, sometimes not. It depends on the output topology."

Much to my surprise, there are full-blown threads online with debates on what cables to use to connect this FMR Audio RNC Compressor much in the same way I'm suggesting here. One person even alleges that the creator of the FMR Audio compressor has told him in confidence the I/O for the 1773 is in fact balanced, despite the official documentation saying otherwise.

The "Quick start" guide for the RNC delivers official information:

"The RNC can be hooked into Tip-Ring-Sleeve (TRS) insert points found on many consoles where: TIP = Console insert out, RING = Console insert in, SLEEVE = Ground reference. This means that each channel of the RNC can be hooked to a each channel of a TRS console insert with a single TRS cable."
 
Needless to say, I'd probably go with strictly (balanced) TRS connections between the Warm Audio preamp, the RNC compressor and the Peavey 10AT mixer. Boom!!
 
Lastly, the Warm Audio preamp discussed is only one-channel, whereas the FMR compressor offers two-channels. So, ideally you'd want a 2-channel preamp, or you could just buy two (2) of the Warm audio preamps, so you can record in stereo and apply uniform compression to your stereo signal. Shazam!!

That concludes this discussion and history of my own recording experiences and tutorial/explanation on how to potentially patch in outboard gear with your digital mixer or AD converter. Until next time. - Mike.