I recently got to borrow an old-school Univox drum machine. It’s strange and unique. Where else can you get volume sliders for Quijada, Guido AND Tambourine. Not only does it have patterns for Mambo, Rumba and Bossanova, but many others including Merinque, Beguine and Habanera. What more could you want?

I felt like making some droning noise so I ran the Univox through my Strymon El Capistan and blueSky reverb pedals. I recently started working with my friends over at Strymon and am really loving what they’ve come up with so far. I’m looking forward to working on some more kick-ass effects with them in the future.

I decided to turn this drum machine effects noise fest into a more involved piece, so I took the original unaltered drum/effects track and added piano, guitar, drums, vocals and some synths. For the video I decided to follow jack conte’s “video song” format, where:
1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice).
2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds).

Hope you like it.

Song-a-week / video-a-week #5. “Let’s Get Bloody”. Recorded for the upcoming SongFight. This was recorded live, nothing prerecorded, nothing overdubbed after the fact… all live looping.

Let’s Get Bloody – DOWNLOAD

This was recorded live using two Gibson Echoplex Digital Pro’s, a Casio SK-8, Yamaha DX21, Line 6 DL4 and my voice. If you have any questions or comments about the setup, gear or the song in general, please comment below.

So I took a look back at the last 10 years and realized that I’ve only released maybe 30 songs. On one hand I’m happy that I’ve had the opportunity to create this music, collaborate with others and even just have some gear in this small bedroom studio. On the other hand, 30 songs in 10 years is only 3 songs a year. That’s pretty pathetic. Not that it’s necessary to be prolific. But it’s apparent that I’ve only spent a small part of my life working on music in the last 10 years. Or at least finishing it. I have gigabytes of unfinished songs sleeping in the corners of my studio.

I’ve been following a couple artists that have really inspired me over the last few weeks (namely Amanda Palmer and Jack Conte). I’m inspired by the fact that they are creative at every turn and make a career for themselves by being an artist every day. I’m done being an artist every 2 to 3 weeks. I’m sick of this being a hobby. So what do I do? Put music first and stop fucking around.

A song a week. AND a video a week.

Ok I know the song-a-week is not an new idea (Jonathan Coulton did it 5 years ago). But the idea is simple. Create something every day, and get some new music out there every week. The videos may range from simple acoustic performances to gear demos to full-blown music videos, depending on how much sleep I can go without.

At the end of the year I’ll compile them into albums and move the rejects to the dumpster.

Subscribe to my Youtube channel

So with that, here’s an invitation to subscribe to my YouTube channel, where all of these videos will be posted. They’ll also be on my FaceBook page. Come on and join me there as well!

Let me know if you have any suggestions for this project. Video ideas, cover song suggestions, questions about my gear, or anything else. I’d love to hear from you. Please comment below!

Here are the first couple videos from the project: “Crush” and “Frostbite”. Hope you like ‘em.

She keeps an eye on my gear. Trying out a Bogner Alchemist (sounds amazing) and a Line 6 M9 (I like it).

Recorded this one a few months back. Set up four cheapo digital cameras and recorded a rehearsal of the song “Time to Go”. All sounds created live, nothing prerecorded.

Here is a looping improv I recorded yesterday.

My live setup is constantly evolving, but I do tend to keep a few things as part of my basic arsenal: two Gibson/Oberheim Echoplex Digital Pro units, a Line 6 DL4 delay modeler and expression pedal, Line 6 AM4, Boss DF-2, Line 6 Echo Park, el cheapo Tapco mixer, and a Behringer FCB1010.

This video has a pedal/foot cam for the people who have been asking about my looping setup… Anyone have any other questions about the setup or looping in general? Please comment below!

UPDATE 3/29/10: It seems like a lot of people are finding this page by searching for ‘Echoplex Digital Pro Manual’ so I figure I’ll post a link to the user guide here. This is for the Gibson Echoplex Digital Pro Plus: PDF, 1.7MB, 310 pages. DOWNLOAD HERE.

I’m really excited about my new drum mic clips! Check them out! Ok, you’re probably thinking, “Really, a blog post about drum mic clips? And he’s excited about them? And I’m still reading this shit?” But, aren’t they, beautiful? They actually work!

Ok, ok. So they just hold microphones above my drums so I can go on making my little songs. But wait, you see, the last 2 years of my life has been a never-ending spree of breaking these little fuckers.

Let me just say this. Do not ever, EVER buy the Samson DMC100 drum mic clip set. I made the sorry mistake of buying two 3-piece sets. I’ve gone through 6 of these. Every last one broke. You know, doing simple things, like, attaching it to the fucking drum or attaching a fucking microphone to the clip. If you like to start recording a drum track and get rudely interrupted because your SM57 is now dangling by your feet, then please go right ahead and buy these abysmal pieces of shit. In fact, I just broke one now trying to carefully remove it from my snare drum. I thought it would at least be worthy of a backup, but it can’t even manage to do that. (Oh, and the Audix mic clips suck too).

Finally, I found a set of drum mic clips that someone actually put a little thought into before manufacturing them. They’re rugged, sturdy, and very adjustable. Please, if you record drums and are in the market for a drum mic clip, buy the Shure A56D. It’s a beautiful thing. And yes, I am actually excited.

Ok. I’m giving away a brand spankin new Line 6 POD Studio UX2 recording interface ($200 value!) for the best remix that comes in. All you need to do is:

1. Create a super badass remix of one of my songs (or several remixes, there is no limit). Source files are here.

2. Submit the remix by emailing me with an MP3 attachment, or by uploading them to ccmixter.org and notifying me by email. Me and my team of remix experts will pick the most awesomest remix of the month. And give you the prize.

Hop to it!

PS. Any State Shirt remix posted on ccMixter (or sent to me) from November 11 to December 17 will be eligible. And yes, there will be another contest starting December 18!

I think I might want one of these.

Over the last five years or so, I have been doing a lot of improvised live looping, sometimes noisy, sometimes melodic, usually with a microphone, guitar and some crappy keyboard. Though I’ve never really bothered to record any of these performances from start to finish, other than to cull loops for other songs. So last night at 1am I decided to break out the cheap camcorder. All sounds were improvised, created with a microphone, a bunch of pedals and a guitar, nothing prerecorded or planned, all one take. I put together a video collage around the live stuff with found footage.

I’ve had a bunch of people ask me what gear I use, so I took a couple photos of what I’m using these days. I invariably switch this up to try new things, so maybe tomorrow this will be outdated. I recently sold a lot of the studio stuff that I wasn’t using much. Sold my G5 and bought a Macbook– I really want a mobile setup so I can do some crazy shit like go camping and do some recording in a tent or in a state park. But anyway here is what I’m using in the studio right now:

Studio Setup

Apple MacBook, Digi 002, Line 6 PODxt, Reason 3, Fender Toronado, Peavey Predator, Gibson J30, pieced together POS Slingerland/Ludwig/Pearl drumset, Yamaha DX21, Dynaudio BM5A monitors, a few mics here and there (Rode, Sure, Sennheiser, AKG, Groove Tubes), a bunch of effects pedals and stupid kids toys

Live Setup

My live setup is constantly changing. The live looping that I do during my shows has been the main reason for trying new setups up… Mostly I’m just trying to push the limits of the gear, but sometimes I just that I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing and end up with a setup that needs to be tweaked. So the stuff that I’m using now consists of two Gibson EchoPlex Digital Pro’s, my Fender Toronado, Line 6 DL4, Line 6 Echo Park, Line 6 AM4, Voodoo Labs Pedal Power, some cheapo Tapco mixer, Yamaha PSS140, and a Behringer FCB1010. Two of the buttons on the Behringer decided to crap out on me so it may be on the way out. Sometimes I use a Line 6 Variax Acoustic 700 but not really much anymore.

Lately I really have been trying to simplify and get rid of some gear, it’s nice to make things a bit more lean and push the limits of the few pedals that I have.