((newstereo)) production notes...

I Hope Your God Delivers – Track 7

“Olive in the car and the motor is running”

…but I have cabinets to install in the morning so I cannot stay up until this day rolls over.

This song is an attractive nuisance.

Everything and the kitchen sink.

Not for everyone.

We’ll release it in the morning.

Good night nor’easter.

((newstereo))

I Hope You God Delivers - Track 7

“Olive Dissrotation”

One straight long crawl to the diving board later…

Double takes us for a ride with her twin sister. (And she told two friends, and so on, and I over heard two young girls at the home center today saying “aisle five pseudofed” over and over and laughing…)

This song is a bit like being in a very busy space. The back beat is the paint shaking machine at Duron. I have been enjoying it for years.

We’ll throw Olive overboard on the first.

((newstereo))

Beat sound can be on/off by MUTE button – Track 1

As sure as doors open and close, we pry the lid off a new album. Packed inside are unwritten songs wrapped in tomorrow’s editions. I’ll take this opportunity to thank those of you who have been with us so far. “The people with ears”, as Duke Ellington might call you, “We do love you madly.” It is a great time, truly, to be able to bring you this music without the aid and interference of the music business. We can handle our own interference. (Or can we?) Let’s find out.

“Back Track” is the new song and it is something of a rocker. (Minus the guitars and drums and other instruments, which usually are associated with the term.) I have been thinking about bringing back the harmonica but have to thoroughly check the ‘Dissonance is Consonance’ rule book to see if this is allowed.

Winston: 'You have read it?'

O’Brien: 'I wrote it. That is to say, I collaborated in writing it. No book is produced individually, as you know.'

In 1984 we did the play of the same name at my High School. I was O’Brien and had to utter the line above, or something like it, adapted for the stage. Winston was played by Brian McCann, who proved a powerful creative partner. He wore blue coveralls for the role and I white. The footlights flooded our faces as we dug deep and plucked torture from the air. We knew who we were, and it wasn’t who we were. We had somehow believed in each other enough to allow ourselves to disappear. “No book is produced individually, as you know.”

((newstereo))


P.S. For those of you considering buying a Panasonic RR-US360 digital voice recorder think again. Six months of use and the record button has stopped working. I have moved on to a Sony ICD-ST25.

I Hope Your God Delivers – Track 7

“Olive Uprooted”

-Back to the crawling board.

Or

“Olive Uplifted”

-Crawl to the diving board.

I have an affinity for self discovery which makes me a slow learner and a fondness for burnishing shiny ideas.

“Olive all over the map”

((newstereo))

I Hope Your God Delivers - Track 7

“Olive Overboard”

This may be the most overlaid voices I have attempted. I think, if I ever get this type of song right, it will resemble something that has been over-manipulated in the delay department, the type of song which you could write off as smoke and mirrors, if it wasn’t for the nagging feeling that the technology involved is not perfect enough. I really like that the bug in the system here turns out to be human error, in the form of variations in tune and tempo, over a month’s time and several recording sessions.

When I work this way, I end up with piles of the same song in different stages of life and then draw from the piles, indiscriminately, to re-make the song I started out with.


((newstereo))

I Hope Your God Delivers - Track 7

“Olive I am”

-Obvious Popeye and harmony’s bastard child. What would happen if the recordings were better? Undoubtedly something would be lost and something else found in the tall shag carpet of experience. Just like opening a can of spinach, we’ll move on soon and pronounce “I am not a magician. I’m just learning.”

((newstereo))

I Hope Your God Delivers – Track 7

"Olive alone" or "Olive in the rough"

Wow, writing things down really lets you know just how often you do the opposite of what you first think. “Olive” has gone big instead of sparse with dithering ducks and a guest appearance. It comes in like a rising curtain and rides out like an obituary in the paper girl’s bag, so this may be the last of “I Hope Your God Delivers”.

((newstereo))

Doctor Lightsinger – Song 2 – ((MisStereo))

“So and leave” says Anatoly and so we make this song available here and under the heading of ((MisStereo)) on the website. The lyrics are below.

“Take up my muff and walk on”

I will take up my muff and walk on.
I will stake my existence
on this thing you call a lawn.
Me oh my how I cry.
You're the onion of my eye
as I take up my muff and walk on.

I will clear cut the forest of my dreams.
I will spearhead the notion
that devotion follows need.
With a smile I'll defile,
burn the branches in a pile,
as I clear cut the forest of my dreams.

Turning lock echoing out in the hall.
Twice around you will sound
as your cylinder revolves.
Just one key opens me.
Try another you will see.
Turning lock echoing out in the hall.

Cook the books, crop the picture, shred the news.
Off the hook, out to pasture,
you will have to play to lose.
Take my queen, love fifteen,
side retired, Penalty.
Cook the books, crop the picture, shred the news.

As I take up my muff and walk on...

-Thank you Anatoly.

((newstereo))

What a waste of time!

http://www.newstereo.net/ is our web address. Its official name is Locust Housing <((newstereo.net))> and it looks like it was created on an Atari 800. The name was adopted after considering the low monthly cost of a web space and a photograph of a cicada shell placed upon a porch step. Early visitors were like mars rovers. Even the real robots didn’t like us. But we had a robot of our own.

The manager was an S.O.B. (spirit of business). He left us for a while when we started clowning around, but then he made peace with pipes and wound up here and there directing traffic.

A thousand pictures worth a word.

This post was designed to commemorate the confusion felt by those early web settlers.

((newstereo))

Doctor Lightsinger - Song 2 - ((MisStereo))

Okay, will someone stop me when I get too many big ideas?

Yes to learning how to sing the song and no to filtering down. We are back to five overlaid tracks, but, this time, they are tighter and in true stereo. (I added a second cable this week) The delay/echo business is still there but ever so slightly and, when it is pronounced, it is sharp rather than sloppy. I have to hand it Anatoly. He has done nothing but push me in the right direction since we started this collaboration. I, for sure, would have left the song as done, but now I like it better. I will send it to him and wait for his word.

((newstereo))

Doctor Lightsinger - Song 2 - ((MisStereo))

Anatoly likes the voice but feels it should be lower with less delay. The volume is not a problem, but the delay he is hearing comes from the overlapped vocals. The only way to bring these vocals closer together is to re-record them. In a way, I am glad about this because the more time I spend with the song, the more I hear elements of Tolia’s music that are intended to compliment a vocal.

Having a previous mix with a lot of voices is also a good thing. It is an interesting idea to filter five random performances into one. I think we do this all the time with songs we have heard. The ears take in all elements of a recording we like and then, as we sing the song unaccompanied for pleasure, our performance is affected by an overall aural snapshot of the song. In the case of “I will take up my muff and walk on” this seems a nice way of combining multiple vocal interpretations.

((newstereo))

On the subject of albums...

The invention of the 99-cent single is changing the way people listen to music. It is now possible to view an artist’s entire repertoire and procure only the songs one desires. This development is sending the notion of an album and an important facet of the art of producing to the musical recycle bin.

At newstereo.net we release singles but retain the concept of albums. The albums are short due to the absence of an instrumental component and my supposition that it would be very strange to listen to voices without music for too long. Also, I agree with Laurie Anderson’s assessment of a listener’s attention span, in which she surmised that people are only good for about 20 minutes of focused listening.

((newstereo)) songs have been designed to fit together in albums. These albums are similar to a movie which has been shot in chronological succession. If you have trouble with the music on a single-song basis then, perhaps, it would help to put the songs in sequence. If I have done my job right, the environmental aspects of the recordings should lend themselves to transition.

((newstereo))

Doctor Lightsinger – Song 2 – ((MisStereo))

I had several nights of work this week on MUFF0db.

I am learning by following my ears.

Another voice was added to the vocal mix and it rolls along and grooves with Anatoly’s music. Despite not liking aspects of my performance, I finally decide last night that this groove was essential. I sent the mp3 to Tolia for his stamp of approval. If he likes what he hears then I am ready to call it done.

((newstereo))

I Hope Your God Delivers – Track 6

Release of "Still Love".

There is some kind of scream at the end of it, almost like a cat, I have no idea what it is or how it got there. I really like the things which just show up.

((newstereo))