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It sure is pretty, I wonder how hard it will be to keep polished. More info at the builder's blog and an interview on steampunkworkshop.com.

This nifty little gadget is the Sync2 from Mungo Enterprises lets you start and stop sequencers in sync while leaving your master clock running. This is great for live shows where you are using both hardware and software sound sources. You could keep your drum machines and hardware synths grooving along while you load up new tracks on your laptop all without having to start/stop.

More info here.

I did happened to stumble across a very cool, retro-arcade styled midi controller today.

It's someone's implementation of the MIDIbox project.

Where do I put in the quarters?

We spent my last day in Colorado doing some last minute cleaning of the house and trying to pack the car full of music gear and clothes that I hadn't let the movers take. After jamming the car completely full except for a place for our dog Dublin and I to sit I headed out.

For those of you who shop at Interpunk, Royal Dead's Enough Noise to Wake the Dead is now available there as well as everywhere it was before.

For dance music the bass and the kick are two very important elements that both need to sound clear and loud to get people moving. A lot of times people will just compress the fuck out of both but then you just have a square wave mess. The kick especially will sound crappy if you over compress it just because of how speakers work, you need that big initial THUD, not a sustained wave. Often times you'll end up having to reduce the level of the bass track to get the kick to pop but then your bass sounds weak.

How do you get around this tricky problem? Side-band compression.

Have some side-band compression setup so when the kick track hits (you DO have a seperate kick track right?) the bass gets compressed. Use a ratio of about 4:1or maybe even 8:1. Make sure the attack time is very fast so it will trigger right when the kick hits and use a fast release time as well, that way the bass has time to breathe in between kicks.

This trick will give you some more overall headroom out of your track so you can get a little louder without clipping and your bottom end stays clear instead of distorted.

I'll also use some gentle multi-band compression along with EQ in the mastering phase but this is something that can easily be abused. Less is generally better. Also the mastering process changes a bit depending on the genre of music you're working with and the target delivery medium.

Royal Dead: Enough Noise to Wake the Dead


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As I was walking around the mall today I pondered how ingrained into our collective psyche the instinct to buy people shit around the holiday is. I'm still buying gifts for people who probably don't deserve it but why? The marketing drive that's the been pushing Christmas as a consumerist holiday has brainwashed me. I can't help it or avoid it and even if you try to buck the system you're going to get guilted by your family members just like Mr. Pink got the stinkeye for not tipping. The economy needs us to spend, even when we're all in debt up to our asses. No Christmas surge in spending would mean a weaker economy at the end of the year when businesses are trying to make up for their losses during the year. And we all know a bad economy means people lose jobs and we all end up in the breadline and all become socialists.

So, remember Tiny Tim. Go out and spend your money.

Probably best known for writing the song "Powerhouse" Raymond Scott became more and more interested in electronic music and synths. In 1971 Berry Gordy of Motown hired Scott to run his electronic music and research department and he started building the Electronium. It's an AI machine for automatic composition of music. Supposedly it worked but he felt like the project was never really finished. It's currently owned by Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo fame.

It's a mixture of sunset strip sleaze and hard-edged glitch. Aggressive rock with an electro-glam beat.

Go forth and pick it up today!

Divine Reich: An American Tragedy

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