Sincerity.

Malik and I have a different approach to music. Although a musician, he is very much from a business perspective. First and foremost, he would like is ventures to be profitable. By now you must know me. Although it would be nice to make a living from music, I don't like to make compromises. Not to be all cliche "I'll die for my art . . .blah, blah, blah" but in actuality it is very close to the truth. It is a part of me. Indivisible from me. It is me. I cannot be dishonest. There is just no room for insincerity when the narrator has a story.

I'll do all I can to market what I do as I do it, I have no interest in cashing in on fads. I believe if you believe in your product with your everything, others will believe in it too. In fact, that is how I've convinced every creative collaborator on any project up to this point, including Malik. No one knows what they are getting into when I have an idea. Sometimes I don't exactly know either.

Sometimes it surprises me because I think I ask for a lot from my co-conspirators. Complete trust and a healthy dose of blind faith. But no one has said "no" yet. And I would never lead anyone astray.

Whenever something happens in pop culture or the world at large I often wonder what Bill Hicks or Howard Zinn would say (the latter more for current events.) As for music, it can be one of two things-- completely sincere or completely insincere and manufactured. There really is no in between. You can't cash in on a craze and honestly say you are giving it your heart. Your intentions wouldn't be sincere.

I think Malik and I will be a good partnership. He'll remind me that I need to find some way to survive by what I do and I'll remind him that he is not just a business man. Before we sat down yesterday and had a talk, he was really focused on creating a phenomenon based on what was already popular. Likewise, I was floating with minimal direction besides a loose "marketing" plan based on documenting EVERYTHING. I convinced him that being true to your soul can be profitable and he convinced me that we don't have the time or assets to create art that doesn't at least pay for itself. Basically, we balance each other out.

His deadline to get his project up and running is May. My goal is to have all the pieces for my project recorded by the time I turn 28 (8/15.) Although I do not put a lot of stock in astrology, my Saturn return has started. By 30 I would like my life to change for the better artistically.

Before this, I was terrible slump musically. It probably lasted for about three years. I had no focus or direction. I wrote poetry/pros(e), circuit bent toys and performed harsh noise shows; but that was about all I did. Then about February or March I figured out what I needed to do. And it has been clear ever since. What it comes down to is trust. Primarily trusting others-- and trusting myself to do what is best for every one.

I leave you with this:



Play with your fucking heart, indeed.

(Little did I realize at the early 2am-ish I posted this Bill Hicks video--amongst others--on Malik's facebook, it was Hicks' birthday. He would have been 48.)

Sincerity.

JT plays . . .

JT plays . . .

Test run: arabic ring drumming with JT

I am on my way to record JT who plays Arabic ring drum now (I am actually typing from my Blackberry, so I am sure this will be riddled with typos.) I am a little nervous since this is the first person I am recording with this set up.

JT has also dropped something on his hand which has affected it's dexterity so he cannot play for too long. I am concerned that his drumming today may cause further irritation to his healing hand.

If anything, we'll only be recording one five minute piece. This may work out best anyway because I am not sure what bugs need to be worked out of this recording system anyway.

Test run: arabic ring drumming with JT

Recording JT-- try #2

Recording JT-- try #2

Recording JT-- try #1

(I forgot to confirm-- whoops. But that is okay, we rescheduled for 8/31.

Recording JT-- try #1

Tools of the trade P1.

My Tascam DR-1 arrived in the mail Tuesday. Light-weight, portable and easy to take on the road. (It is charging as I type this.)



I will admit I am slightly befuddled by the “adjustable mics”. They seem to be omni-directional due to the openings all around the microphone head, so unless I am doing it wrong; rolling them in one direction vs. another probably doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of difference. (My significant other suggested it might have something to do with where the diaphragm is located.)



Initially I was debating between the DR-1 and the DR-07, but what sold me was this comparison:





Nice it came with a warranty. However, Tascam can't make all dreams come true:

Tools of the trade P1.

The plan.

As I discussed in my previous post, I have difficulty relating to others on a collaborative musical level-- especially if I am required to get many of these people together in a room and do something besides converse about the weather. On the flip side, because technology enabled me to do virtually anything I want musically, including making whole melody lines based on alterations of one note sample I've recorded, sometimes I can be a bit of a musical control freak (AKA: Billy Corgan Syndrome.) A third problem is the members of my ideal band live far away. And probably would not be able to stand each other over a long period of time.

Well, I found a work-around for all three of these problems. The idea was sparked by something my friend Terry told me when I was first trying to pull together an ensemble. I found a viola player, but she just gave birth a month prior and it was difficult for her to leave the house for long periods of time. Terry suggested I bring her recordings of the band's sessions for her to use for practice purposes.

In the end, the band never materialized as I would have liked. But Terry's advice stuck with me and came back in a different manifestation. Why not record every instrument separately and put them together as I go along? I can even email the next player the tracks ahead of time so when I get there, the individual would have a basic idea of where to start. When I get done, I can do a final mix and master in Cakewalk Sonar. But I will need to keep myself in check and avoid the temptation of cutting, altering and editing parts outside of the basic effects (ie: reverb, noise reduction, pan, etc.) I want this to be as close as a collaborative effort as possible. Not just me doing what I have always done-- recording what I want and slapping it together however I deem fit.

For my audio recording, I ordered a Tascam DR-1. It is a pocket-sized audio recorder with an external mic input which can capture 24-bit 48/44.1kHz .wav files. I've also decided to document the process so I have also ordered a cheapo video camera (you know where my priorities lie), an SVP HDDV 2300 which can capture videos up to11MP and 640x480 in size.

The plan.