Permanent Historical Record: 05/04/08
April's Showers Bring May's Super-Double-Kick-Ass Rock!
In April, we had snow, ice, floods, and 90 degree weather, thunderstorms, high winds, tornado watches, and also some absolutely beautiful Tahiti island days. Yaaayyyyyy! global warming! so, this year, it wasn't just April showers hard at work reminding Hades to release Persephone on the world, letting loose the coiled energy of vernal verdigris...oh, fuck all that....it's Spring! Spring has sprung! And like a junkie who is sprung, Spring is shakin' and bakin,' quakin' and undertakin' (almost).
In keeping with the title of the post, most of DNA's news this month will have to do with musical goings-on. That's novel, isn't it? A music blog focusing on music.
For DNA's own reference, DNA will list the topics he would like cover this month:
1. Music news, including 4, count em, 4 songs now done for the new record, and several more new ones on the way;
2. Music news, including a long overdue primer for you Mac nuts on how to get the most out of Garageband. Considering DNA has recorded about 75 original recordings using ONLY Garageband drums, you'd think he'd have figured it out by now, but just LAST WEEK he discovered a new trick which really improved the sound he was getting;
3. Music news, including the tragic story of MR. Kamikaze, and why he WON'T be playing drums if the DNA Vibrators play out this summer...
4. Music news, including reviews of some bands that if you haven't listened to, you should, because DNA knows what is good for you. These bands include: The Near Death Experience, Unclefucker, The Supersuckers, Moonbuggy Kids, Nonagon, and Polysics;
5. Music news, including, hopefully, the confirmation of a DNA show this summer;
6. DNA's choking incident...yes, that sounds serious;
7. Pictures from the nature hike, along with the end of the first chapter of the story of Suresh (you might remember Suresh from the FREE SURESH campaign DNA was part of a few months back);
8. Various and sundry other shit DNA promised to do last month but didn't :D
DNA is struggling with the title for the new record. DNA has called it "3," even though this will actually be the DNA Vibrator's 6th album, and "De-Mandatory," cuz H.O.G. told DNA a funny story from somebody who used that term as a real word--- but, neither of those are quite right. DNA is leaning towards a title in the same vein as the titles of the previous two records. Here's his first try: "The Inconspicuous Intersection Of The Gross And Sublime." Too pretentious? Probably. It's the word "sublime." Nobody calls his own stuff sublime, unless he is a pretty big douchebag. But hey, if the douchebag fits,....insert it??? Or, maybe DNA could substitute the word "obvious" instead "sublime?" That might work, too.
Permanent Historical Record: 05/07/08
A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On!
Southern Illinois lies on a network of deep, ancient geologic faults, most notably, the New Madrid fault. A couple of weeks back, a 5.2 magnitude earthquake shook this area, followed by several aftershocks. Do you know the difference between an aftershock or a foreshock? Well, if the big earthquake happens first, and then smaller quakes happen later, the smaller quakes are aftershocks. However, if what you thought was the big quake was followed by even bigger quakes, then the quakes before the big one are called foreshocks. so, what a scientist calls an aftershock today, might be a foreshock tomorrow.
Oh, DNA also found out that homeowner's insurance typically does not cover earthquake damage. Thanks, multi-billion dollar huge profit industry.
Those of you who read here from time to time know that DNA is the driving force behind the Akkademiks, a band that writes songs about academic subjects, like earthquakes. Here is an early demo version of the song "Earthquake Report," before it appeared on the Akkademiks record called, "The Akkademiks....ROCK!"
Earthquake Report
There is another fine song about earthquakes on the record, but you'll just have to buy the record to get that one. If you buy the record, you get the studio final version of Earthquake Report, too. Isn't that nice?
During the actual earthquake, DNA slept. The next day, DNA felt the aftershock. It was strange, feeling the building at which DNA works sway back and forth, and seeing the water in the fish tank slosh back and forth.
Since the quake, there has been about 20 aftershocks, and some other quakes in nearby areas. There's nothing like an earthquake to make you feel like an inconsequential case of fleas on the back of a big, big, dog.
There are more songs on the way, and a couple of features DNA is looking forward to writing. Check back soon.
Permanent Historical Record: 05/14/08
Garageband Is For Nerds Who Are Gay For Macs
You may not have a Mac, and you may not know what Garageband is. DNA can�t help you. But if you have a Mac, then you probably know what Garageband is. In fact, like most people, you probably played with it for about 10 minutes, like you did with the built in camera/photobooth feature which seems really cool�for about 3 of those 10 minutes you messed around with it. The difference is that Garageband is much more than just a gimmick.
If you have a PC, DNA isn�t ignoring you. In fact, there are many programs like Garageband around the net to download for free or for cheap. Basically, Garageband is a simple, all-in-one multi-track recorder, composer, mixer, sampler, digital converter, mastering deck, and loop browser.
So, you may have one of many other similar pieces of software. Good for you. Since DNA will be talking about Garageband, some of what is discussed next is ubiquitous and applicable to you, but some of it is anachronistic and only will make sense if you use Garageband.
Garageband is a no frills music engine, extremely easy to use, but full of hidden potential to produce some top notch recordings. Don't believe DNA? Almost all of the last 50 songs DNA has put out on the last several records have been completely recorded in, or using software instruments of, or loops from, Garageband.
The key to making Garageband recordings which sound and feel live, have a certain spaciousness, and warm quality that belies their digital pedigree, is drums. Not the drum sounds themselves, because the loops are top notch, nor the built in drum kits from which you can compose your own beats, which sound very live. Like DNA has said before, computers make perfect worlds easily. It's all the tiny imperfections and variations which give our world its dimension that computers get snagged up on. This logic holds for computer drums. They are too perfect. The tempo is too precise, especially for rock and roll. So, in order to get the most out of your drum sound, pretty soon, you will find you will build your own beats, and use loops for flavor. When you make your own beats, even though it takes more time, create your first measure, and instead of pulling the tab to simply loop it over and over, copy and paste each individual measure next to each other separately. That will be the flexible base from which you work. As you lay down other tracks, whether they are live or virtual, then you will have the freedom to tweak individual measures, adding or subtracting elements as needed. Also, though it takes more time, leave your high hat and cymbals to another separate track. The effects you might want to put on them later will be different than the effects you will want to put on your toms or snare.
As you place and tweak each measure, it is important to build in imperfections---fluctuations in the lengths that the high hat is held, differences in the velocity at which you hit the snare, triplets that are held a fraction too long on the first beat---you get the idea. You don�t have to do it every measure, but you do need to do it enough and with enough subtlety that it still feels natural. This is a must do.
DNA has followed this basic premise for most of his songs, and except in rare instances, it is really difficult to tell that the drums are almost all 100% canned. However, after successful recording with Garageband for a few years now, just last week, DNA discovered the next natural progression in making the drums sound even more live and natural.
The step is an extension of the "put your high hat and cymbals on a separate track" philosophy. On your main basic track, you put your snare, toms, and bass drum. Leave this track unaffected, except for any EQ and compression you need to keep the track levels and tone right.
On another track (sometimes two, if you want right and left separation) you put your high hat and cymbals. On another track, you duplicate your snare/tom/bass drum track, but then you remove the bass drum.
On this track, you apply any of the matrix reverb effects. When you do this separately, instead of applying a little bit of matrix reverb on the first track you make, in which you kind of have to split the difference between having a crisp snare or an effected snare, it sounds different. Better. More like real drums in a real club.
You have the original snap of the dry snare, and also the effected track which fattens it up so much more. The same sound holds true for toms and other percussion, but not so much for the bass drum. In fact, if you leave the bass drum in the second track, it sounds kind of flappy, probably because there are some noticeable phase problems with the low frequencies that aren't present with the higher frequency drums.
Listen to these two versions of the same demo, one without the duplicated effected track, and one with.
Fat Drums DRY
Fat Drums EFFECTED
Doesn't this defeat the purpose of the simplicity of Garageband? No. So there. Well, it does make creating drums a little more complicated, but in the end, once you have finished all of those drums, you can save it as a loop, and make it all real simple again. In various degrees, all of the new songs DNA is working on will use this method of drum creation.
Permanent Historical Record: 05/19/08
Individual Arias From The Collective Opera
On the way to work today, DNA swore that he wouldn't even think about music. Then, the title for the new record came to him. It will be called, "Individual Arias From the Collective Opera," because the new record is purposely being driven by songs specifically about individual people DNA knows. Or, individuals DNA made up for the purpose of the song. This is very different for DNA, whose subjects generally are not actual people, but are comic book characters, cats, or sexual organs.
There are five songs ready for the new record. They are:
You Call My Name
The Ballad Of Theo And Marian
I Saw Jared
There's Something On Your Back
Black Monday
These are all about people DNA knows, with the exception of Black Monday. Listen to them, and see if one is about you!
Permanent Historical Record: 05/29/08
It's A Happy Song!
You know why you hear a thousand songs about being angry to every one song about being happy? DNA could leave you to your own designs, but, fuck it, it's a rhetorical question anyway. The reason is because it is a lot harder to write a song about generally feeling content and happy. The reason it is harder is because a happy song generally doesn't have the dramatic tension that a bad relationship song, or a dirty love song, or a hate your guts song, or poor misunderstood teenager song comes loaded with. It is hard not to make a happy song sound like sissies sucking lollypops wrote it, or make it sound like a greeting card set to muzak.
The Coolies wrote a couple of happy songs, (most notably, "Happy" ) without sounding too much like we wore Power Puff Girls underwear (even though we did). Angst, betrayal, jealousy, lust, these baser emotions still bear lyrical fruit even in the clumsiest of hands.
So, DNA isn't trying to brag, but after writing a kick-ass song about regret and remorse, addiction and loss, it wanted to try its hand at a song about being content. DNA stayed with its plan, and picked a person he knew to use as his template, and literally, in the next 10 minutes, it was done. It took a few more hours after that to finish the tracks, but once the lyrics were done, everything else was secondary.
Without further ado, here is
The Simple Pleasures
DNA is already hard at work on the next song, inspired by DEVO.
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