Musicians and artists and other creators

[Dances w/PURPLE]

What projects are you currently working on? Please share.

( hitting any road blocks/ mental blocks? )

[kirk]

hey dances! how ya been? i finally got myself
back in gear musically and otherwise.

i'm afraid those blocks are a big part of the process.
you just have to have the faith that they're temporary
even though they seem to last forever.

i look at them as making the
creative times sweeter.

later kirk

[Q]

playing in diverse musical situations, gigging fairly constantly ...

writing a book to follow up last year's book and just started on yet another ...

[Erdy1]

Speaking of sharing: kirk and spedblavio seem to have started something here -- I've jumped on board too, and I hope the rest of the musicians here do as well.

http://www.ic-musicmedia.com offers musicians a free place to post information about themselves and high quality MP3 files for others to listen to. It is incredibly easy to set up.

If you are a musician, please consider setting up an account there and letting us know about it! Let's share music!

As for me, for now I only have a few minutes a day to doodle on my instruments (piano, a variety of woodwinds, and guitar) and haven't written anything other than the occaisional arrangement for my church choir. Still hoping to get a job that can support my family in which I don't have to work 60 hours / week, at which time I may be able to start writing again.

I'm excited about expanding my music "studio," though. Right now, all I have is Finale notation software, a Roland Sound Canvas, and a Roland keyboard that I merely use as a controller. Composing in Finale is a painstaking process - basically, you write the notes on staves much like you would on paper, only it can play it back for you. It's hard to do things "on the fly."

I'm planning on purchasing Cakewalk Home Studio soon, which is a real bargain at only $80 and will give me a bit more freedom, especially when it comes to putting the music together into a finished audio product (something that Finale just isn't made for). Because of my job, I also can get a free copy of Adobe Audition (formerly CoolEdit Pro) which has some great capabilities. So, when I get more time, I'll be able to have much more fun!!

[kirk]

Q- cool to hear you're gigging!

if anyone needs guidance w/ computer recording,
software, uploading tunes, ect.
drop me a line, the mailbox is always open.
(offer good for yesfans only).

erdy- there's free 30 day trials on most cakewalk
software at: www.cakewalk.com . if you know how
to manipulate your computer's clock,
it lasts even longer!
just don't get hooked on sonar 3.

home studio's a great choice(i can't imagine
composing in finale, i have a copy
for copyright purposes).

i didn't realize h.s. was now $80.
you might have a look around, it may be
cheaper at guitar center,ect.
they'll usually drop 10% w/ a little arm twistinghaha.

the job thing is a real detriment to creativity,
i hope that works out for you.
finding any job in ore. and washington's
a challenge these days.

p e a c e kirk/zenpool

[Erdy1]

Originally posted by kirk
home studio's a great choice(i can't imagine
composing in finale, i have a copy
for copyright purposes).

i didn't realize h.s. was now $80.
you might have a look around, it may be
cheaper at guitar center,ect.
they'll usually drop 10% w/ a little arm twistinghaha.


It's $120 at the CakeWalk site, but is only $89.95 at http://www.zzounds.com/prodsearch?form=prodsearch&q=cakewalk and also at Amazon.com. When I checked zZounds about a month ago it was only $84.95, looks like it's gone up slightly. So somewhere in the neighborhood of $80-$90.

As for Finale, I purchased it while I was taking some composition classes in college. For me it actually works pretty well for some things: arrangements for choirs, music for live performance involving any sort of ensemble, etc. As a performer, my abilities are rather limited (I can't play my own piano music!!), so the ability to write out a score note by note and see it all laid out in front of me is nice. The two major shortcomings of working this way are the time it takes and the lack of ability to control the MIDI output. I look forward to the sorts of things I'll be able to do with "real" sequencing and recording software.

[kirk]

paul- you're not going to believe what you'll
be able to do in midi in cakewalk.

the piano roll view allows you to treat midi notes
as physical objects, dragging up/down a virtual
keyboard, making harmony copies,
sounding the notes as you drag.
note duration time is easily manipulated w/ the pencil tool.

it almost makes me wish i was starting over:crybby:

kirk/zenpool

[spedblavio]

Well, my "block" is going on 8 years now!

I drifted out of active recording partially due to life circumstances, and partially due to frustration with the amount of logistical non-creative work that my primitive studio was requiring to realize my visions.

I'm definitely dipping my toes back in the water now, but I haven't yet realized the path to new recordings. I can't bring myself to work with the failing rubber buttons and tiny LCD screen of my old stand-alone hardware sequencer (which last I recall wasn't functioning correctly anymore anyway), and the cassette tape (yuck!) 8-trk. Definitely need to get into the use of computer software, but will need a second computer to get serious about re-building my studio.

Meanwhile, I'm taking single steps, walking through open doors and seeing what happens. It's very exciting just to have my stuff heard by others for a change.

[spedblavio]

Originally posted by kirk
just don't get hooked on sonar 3.
Mmmmmm.... Sonar 3! :yumyum:

Actually looking at what the technology will do these days makes me feel rather small. Man, what I went through to get the results I did from my primitive gear!

If I step into this hi-tech world, I think I'm going to have to somehow derive all my music from material on old 4-track cassettes just to keep some sort of unique quality that no one else can do, LOL.

[ToneTone]

www.geocities.com/tflas/SFODA
Is what I'm doing now.
Any thoughts on ProTools? Magnification was done on combo 24 track analog and ProTools. I am going to be using a production/edit bay with ProTools at school, how is the home studio platform? Which one would I need? What whistles and bells?

[kirk]

pro tools is sort of "real studio" equipment,
although some use it in home studios.
the thing that adds up fast is all the plug-ins,
add-ons. you can wrap $10,000 into a
pro tools studio.
also, it was "audio only"for a long time, and the midi implementation is rather crude IMO compared to sonar.

i started w/ cakewalk a'way back on 6, so
i've gotten used to it.
i've only had sonar 3 producer edition for 3 days, but it's an amazing upgrade from 2. as a new user, it'll
run you around $649. the other big add ons was
isotope ozone 2, sound forge 7, and cd architect.
those along w/ acid 4 pro put a good dent in the budget for awhile.

btw- sonar's compatable w/ pro tools since
the omf standard was introduced in 2.2

kirk/zenpool

[Dances w/PURPLE]

From a friend:

Make yourself haul the $hitE out and start doing something even when you don't want to. Carry that sketch book and open it whenever you can and put down whatever comes to mind so that it starts to become a habit. From that you start to see the ideas begin and maybe the finished piece won't even be close to what you start off with but that's OK, that's what you want. You want to stretch and extend yourself and dabble with something you may have never tried before.

[Kevin Still]

My band just finished recording our first cd. I have a small studio at my house and we recorded here for nine months. Can't really put a label on genre. It runs the race from punk to jazz. We just got the artwork back from the guy who edited it and set it up for mass production. We are sending master and art disc to the cd plant this week. I am very happy with the project.

We are in rehearsals now to prepare for our release party. Funny, we had to learn all of the songs over again. Since we are a trio, we have to bring people in to help us do it live.

If you wish to check out our web site please go to:

Rule of Thirds (http://www.rof3.com)

We have 30 second snippets of all of the songs on the cd. Pictures and more stuff is being added as we find the time to add it so please check it out as often as you would care to. We will be posting pictures of the studio and booking information in the future (business stuff has to be done first).

Thanks for visiting,
Kevin
:cheers:

[kirk]

dwp- sorry for being insensitive- are you suffering a block?
your friend's right. i've been in both musical and visual arts.
it can be a terrible thing if it goes on long enough.
the insecurity starts saying "what if it never ends?"
and makes it worse. trust me- hang in there, it'll pass.

kevin- congrats man, i'll give a listen tomorrow.
(watch this space).

p e a c e kirk/zenpool

[Randy Hiatt]

ProTools (even for the home) is a must have. It's midi is excellent ( use it extensively for 4 yrs now) and you can dwn load the 8 audio trk version (128 trks midi) from the official DigiDesign web site FREE (address excapes me).

I use PT with the Digi001 rack/interface (10 audio ins/outs, spdif, 2 mic pre's, midi). PT (32 trk audio) came free with it ($700). Check out the MBox for 2 audio in's (+midi) with USB connection for smaller applications.

It simply is the best for audio.... like Photoshop for graphics.

Randy

ps. Logic Audio Gold (Mac) for sale.