The Bass Geek

The new IMN podcast is up and running - you can download it from the link or listen via the Flash player on the main site. You may thank Soulja Boy’s appearance at Conseco for the blog title.

On a somewhat-related topic, I was perusing a Techdirt article regarding the value of free music (Soulja Boy, of course, catapulted to fame via the appropriation of his song and accompanying dance on YouTube on other online sources) - although I’m uncomfortable with the way some of the statements and statistics are thrown around, such as:

“the numbers suggest more bands than ever before are performing live and making more money than ever before performing live” (I’d like to see a larger sample and further data on how fuel costs and other factors are eating into that higher payday - at least anecdotally, I’d suspect folks on the lower end are feeling a huge pinch)

and

“In fact, more people are making money from music today than at any time in history” (Although I understand that the writer is using this to point out a shift from selling CDs to other revenue streams, this statement begs for more context and a larger sample of artists)

Despite my quibbles, I understand what the writer is saying here, and I’d agree with his displeasure with the hopefully-soon-to-be-dying DRM model. I’ll even back his assertion that recorded music can be an effective loss-leader, if you will, for other parts of the artist’s career, like live shows and merchandising. Technology has forced musicians to adapt before - recordings in general, jukeboxes, and synthesizers all forced them to change and modify how they play.

It’s the difference between the ability of music to be distributed freely versus the attitude that the listener is entitled to receive those recordings for free. Although, in an earlier post, the Techdirt author noted that he did not endorse the unauthorized downloading of recordings, there are obviously quite a few other folks with the opposite opinion. And the theoretical models of using free tracks as loss-leaders only works when the listeners actually goes forward with the artist. While my experience may be anecdotal, the vast majority of unauthorized downloaders take the recordings because that’s all they want (even if it was never offered by the artist). And this story always gets me.

My concern ends up at a weird intersection of economics and ethics - I can see how the money part works, but it’s dependent on behavior that I’ve observed as unreliable at local and mid-size levels (and the jury still seems to be deliberating at the national and international level). Finally, not every artist is going to have a dance to back up their recordings - there can be only one Soulja Boy, after all.

“Besides the bass isn’t a difficult instrument to play. It’s one step up from the kazoo isn’t it?”

*sigh*

If I’m whoever got suckered into the bass gig, I’d be tripping Mustaine with my cord at every opportunity.

He should try playing kazoo and bass at the same time. I have, and it’s not easy.

The production of the IMN podcast doesn’t usually involve the use of Garageband - normally, I just take our chattering off of the recorder we use and dump it into Soundtrack Pro for all of the clip sequencing and audio manipulation and such. This week, though, we recorded straight to my laptop using GB, and I was fully prepared to go through the steps I’d used before:

1. Perform the cuts and track insertion in Garageband
2. Export final file to iTunes as an AIFF file
3. Wonder again why I can’t just export the file straight from GB to the disk
4. Watch as iTunes automatically adds a copy of my new podcast to the library and begins to play it
5. Move the final file from my iTunes folder to the podcast folder
6. Curse GB for having to do this
7. Remove the podcast file from my iTunes library and delete extraneous folders
8. Curse GB one more time
9. Open file in Soundtrack Pro and go from there

This is my first time producing in the relatively new version of GB, though, and they finally managed to get it right - export straight to disc as uncompressed audio that I can work with, not as a compressed mp3 or AAC. Skips iTunes entirely, meaning that I reduce my workflow by five or six steps and a lot of cursing. Joy.

After some great music on Friday and Saturday (including Punkin Holler Boys, David Moore, Cameron McGill and 19Clark25) , I had to spend a lot of the weekend around my laptop getting some writing done.  Current projects include the revisions for MySpace For Dummies, an eDiscovery book, and the upcoming Laptop: Just The Steps For Dummies project.  My master scheduling skills appear to have found windows for these projects, but it’s going to be a little tight for the next few months.  Luckily, the Warner Gear schedule is malleable due to recording now, and the Playboy Psychonauts are preparing for a February March show.  My house of cards is stable for now.

I’m being blown away recently by this CD my wife picked up for me in New Orleans from the Lil Rascals Brass Band, if only because of the audacious take on “For The Love Of Money.” That’s a hell of a lot to ask of a tuba player, but he manages to pull it off.

I think it’s that need of space for breath and stamina that makes it so appealing, though. Each note has to be chosen and executed well, because you’ve got to take another breath to get ready for the next round. Consequently, you end up with some spare but extremely funky lines for the rest of the horns to play over.

This whole CD doesn’t let up - good stuff all around. The place where she got it from (Odyssey Records) doesn’t have a web presence, and the band’s site seems about ten years out of date. It looks like you can order it from this location, though. The site seems to have better liner notes than the CD, too - I’m just now noticing the Cyril Neville and Kermit Ruffin credits. It’s not a new recording by any means, but there you go.