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Monday DEC 31 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - One more quick update before the New Year is upon us!
After listening back to the new vocal track for Red Barchetta I found that it was a little hot in several places, so I will need to
re-record the track. I need to remember to stand back at least 10" from the mic because it is much more sensitive than my SM57. But I was so
excited about the results from the new mic that I re-recorded the vocals for Freewill and I am extremely happy with
the results! So far the feedback from the other Digital Men has been positive, so as soon as they all give it a thumbs up
I will re-do the synth tracks, tweak a few minor issues, and then Freewill should finally be done! I hope to also have Red Barchetta
done soon, and then we can move onto some newer projects and perhaps re-do a couple of oldies that were never quite 100% finished.
Happy New Year to everyone! Talk to ya again next year...
Sunday DEC 30 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - All this singing got me thinking about
buying a new vocal microphone, so while I was visiting a local music store to spend my Christmas gift certificate I bought
an Audio Technica AT2020. It's a condensor mic so it's got a better high-end response than my jack-of-all-trades SM57, and
after testing it yesterday afternoon I can hear the difference. For my tests I re-did the vocals for On The Loose, and I also recorded
another vocal track for the Digital Men version of Red Barchetta. I found that I could hear myself better when using this mic
which helps me to concentrate on the pitch of each note, and the emphasized top-end helps my vocal cut through the mix
without having to do a lot of crazy EQ.. I am going to try and finish both recordings tomorrow and will post them here when they're done.
Monday DEC 24 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - One more quick update. I managed
to finish my Saga singer video audition (see note below). It's a cheezy concept, but it spares everyone from watching me stand there during the
spots where there's no singing ;)
The auditions are over so I've taken the video offline Saturday DEC 22 2007 - MUSIC UPDATE - Just enough time for a quick update. The folks at the Saga website have said they can't access my audio clips (nobody else seems to be having a problem though) so I am working on a video for them. Also, here's a picture of "The Team" that I've assembled to work on my recording project. The new guy in the middle has something to prove but I'm sure the veteran on the right will keep him on track. The thin character on the left just groans and shakes his head a lot. We'll see what kind of magic numbers they manage to put together in the new year. Stay tuned... 
"The Team" Friday DEC 14 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - The lead singer from the band Saga is retiring
at the end of this year, and the band is holding open auditions at their website. For fun,
I submitted an audio audition of myself singing with the two audition songs. My hasty
recording was done late last night so there are a few off-pitch notes, but it gets the point across and it was interesting to sing something
new. It's a bit of a sneaky audition because the singer usually plays keyboards on both songs but they left those extra keyboard parts out of
the audition songs, perhaps to see if any potential candidates would notice (very sneaky!). So, I added the missing keyboard parts, though I
couldn't figure out the quick bit of piano playing that Michael Sadler does in the middle break of Wind Him Up. I have to hand it to him, I
always knew he had a great voice, but while watching a live Saga DVD to help me figure out the missing keyboard parts for Wind Him Up I realized
what an incredibly talented guy Michael really is to be singing, playing keyboards, and bass on some songs as well. I think whomever the band chooses to be
their new lead singer will have some pretty big shoes to fill.
In other news, back when I started to get serious about playing guitar there was one guitar I always wanted. A black Gibson Les Paul
Standard. Well, a real Gibson Les Paul has always been pretty pricey, but Epiphone, which is owned by Gibson, makes lower cost Les Pauls
that look and feel like the real thing (see the pic just below). After trying a couple of Epiphone Les Pauls at a few local music stores
I decided to save up for one. After selling my bass amp and then saving up the rest I now finally have a shiny black Les Paul! It's not quite as heavy as
a Gibson LP (and that's a good thing for my shoulder), and it looks fantastic and the neck is very comfortable. I plugged it into my new Logic 8 recording setup last night and played it for a bit and it
sounded great. I thought perhaps I might have to swap out the stock pickups but they sounded thick and crunchy so no need for changes. So, now it's
time to get down to work and see what can be done with all these new toys!
That's the scoop for now, and this will probably be my last "blog" entry for this year, so everyone have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Thursday NOV 29 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - Two days ago I received a package
in the mail, and inside was a DVD and letter from the director of the Tribute Bands documentary series. In
the letter she explained that they had put together an interational version of the Rush episode to try and sell the series outside of Canada, and that
My Weekly Crime was now included in the episode! I called Terry, who was over to my house in 2 minutes flat
with beers in hand, and we watched the episode. Though we get some good-natured ribbing (from Alex Lifeon no less), and the narrator
makes sure everyone knows how long we had been practicing in the basement ("FIVE... YEARS..."), we were laughing too,
and we were grinning from ear-to-ear just to see ourselves on the screen. They also mentioned all of the members of
The Digital Men by name (Kirk, Ben,
Pete, and myself) and spent a moment explaining how we do what we do as well as showing the website. Very cool :)
So, a HUGE thank-you to Allison Grace and her production crew for adding us back in to the documentary. We are forever grateful
for the experience, and wish her continued success with the documentary. Due to current copyright
restrictions we can't show you any of the video here at the moment, but if that situation changes I
will be sure to post some clips. If you are interested in seeing the Tribute Bands documentary series in your area then
send me an email and I will forward your request to the production company. If enough interest
is generated they may have a better chance at selling it to networks in your area.
And just because I like the way it looks, here's another picture of a Black Les Paul:
Saturday NOV 10 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - So, what does everyone think of
the Tribute band documentary so far? There's one more episode to air tomorrow night at 7:00 PM about the Tragically Hip tribute bands, and then
an encore presentation of the first episode about Police tribute bands on Sunday Nov 18th. I emailed
the director after the first episode aired and she said they had received a really good response to it, which may be why they
changed the time from 10:00 PM to an earlier time slot of 7:00 PM to try and get even more eyeballs watching. Speaking of which, did
anyone catch me singing along to Closer To The Heart in my car for 5 seconds near the start of the Rush episode? It was my understanding that MWC was
cut from the documentary, but apparently we weren't completely cut out. Aside from my TV singing debut they also
thanked Terry, Scott and myself in the end credits, which was very nice of them to do. We're still hoping they will send
us some of the video they shot of us. We shall see...
In other news about other bands, I was cleaning up my hard drive and found some pics I took of Saga in concert at the Sarnia Bayfest back in 2002. It wasn't one of their
bigger gigs like back in 1983 when I saw them at Maple Leaf Gardens but they played and sounded great. Saga is revered in Europe but
they can't seem to get the same attention here at home in Canada so they don't play here very often. I last saw them at The Hard Rock Cafe
in Toronto for the Marathon Tour with their original drummer Steve Negus, but since then Steve has left the band
and started a solo career, and was replaced by Brian Doerner from Helix. They've toured Europe quite a bit over the past couple of years
and just this past October they played close by in Brantford and Toronto but due to a lack of concert funds sucked up by Dream Theater, Rush and
Van Halen (it has been a great year for shows) I wasn't able to see them. I read later at their official website that
Brian had had heart problems on Oct. 6th and wasn't able to play the 2 Canadian shows so Steve subbed in. Brian has announced that he won't be able to play for the foreseeable future
so Kim Mitchell's drummer Chris Sutherland has stepped in just prior to their European tour. After some quick rehearsals with Chris the band is now back on
tour currently in Europe. Hopefully they will swing back this way when they come back, but when/if they do the lineup will be different yet again because the singer
Michael Sadler has announced he is leaving the band at the end of '07 to spend more time with his family. The other bandmembers have indicated they will try to continue. Hmm, the
band's name seems pretty appropriate eh? Anyway, it was cool to see them close up in Sarnia and at The Hard Rock Cafe, but it would be nice to see them in a bigger venue to get
the full effect of their show. Only time will tell... In the meantime I would like to wish Brian a speedy recovery. Brian managed to breathe some new life into the band on
the "10,000 Days" album with his energetic drumming so I'm looking forward to what he may be able to do for the band on their next album.
Wednesday OCT 24 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - PLEASE NOTE!!! I just received an email advising
that the air time for the 3 remaining episodes of the Tribute documentary has changed from 10:00 PM to 7:00 PM. The
dates for each episode remain the same. Also, the first episode focusing on Police tribute bands will air again as an encore
presentation on Sunday Nov 18th at 7:00 PM.
Saturday OCT 20 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - The production company that created the documentary
about tribute bands (see Sept 17th update below) sent me a "press release" regarding the TV airing schedule of the 4 episode series. Note that the schedule
is for TV viewers in Ontario Canada, but the director did tell me that the series would eventually air internationally so if you
are outisde Ontario then keep checking your local listings. I will post more info when/if I get it. Here's the press release:
OCT 10 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - Picked up an M-Audio FireWire Solo
digital audio interface last weekend. I've only played with it for about an hour and I'm really impressed. I recorded a little bit of acoustic guitar
and also a few electric guitar bits and the sound is crystal clear. No hiss, and no latency issues. This is a very good thing because I've started
working on some ideas for the follow-up to the Tower Demo. Right now I have about a dozen rough bits and
pieces of music that I've been playing over and over in my car (nicknamed "Le Studio Mobile") on the way to and from work. Listening to them over and over helps me to think up new parts to add. As for the recording itself, I'm hoping to recruit a couple of very talented drummers
I know when the songs are ready to record, but that is definitely "down the road" stuff at the moment. For now, I am focused on just getting some ideas put together and that alone is a
task because I am easily distracted--
So, anyone else watching the show Heroes?
And what do you think of Porcupine Tree's latest CD "Fear Of A Blank Planet"? I can't seem to stop thinking about the songs...
What was I writing about?
SEPT 17 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - I recently received an email from the director of the Rush Tribute documentary
that we we're asked to participate in this past spring, and unfortunately we've been cut from the documentary. The network asked for only 2 bands to be included
in the episode about Rush and the other 2 bands were actual working bands so we got cut. It's disappointing, but understandable. I'm still looking forward to seeing
the documentary which I've been told is scheduled to air Sunday October 21st at 10:00 PM Eastern Time. I'll have more details as they become available. In the meantime, I've
asked the director if she could send us some of the footage they shot of us back in April. She responded that she is going to try to get some of the footage of us sent to me but the
documentary is the priority at the moment so she will keep me posted. When the video becomes available I will try to post some of it here. Stay tuned...
In related news... It's been a while since I've posted any news about my band "My Weekly Crime". After we finished the videotaping session for the Rush Tribute documentary we all
decided to take a break for the summer with the intent of getting back together in September to see what might be next for the band. Last Sunday Terry, Scott and myself
got together and after a very amicable discussion we've decided to put the band on an "indefinite hiatus". After 5 years of plugging away at the
same basic list of Rush tunes we've all gotten kind of bored, and the recording project didn't pan out either, so we've all gone our separate ways musically
for the forseeable future. Terry is getting lots of use out of his new iMac recording some original tunes with a couple of friends. Scott has taken his drums
home to woodshed a bit with some of his favourite CDs. And after 5 years of playing bass my trusty homemade guitar seems to be re-asserting itself in my life. I've setup most
of my gear in my home office and made it into a basic home recording studio. I've
started working on some new ideas but I think things may really get rolling with a new audio interface and
some badly needed repairs to my speakers. So far the music I've come up with fits nicely with my long-standing desire to record
a followup to the Tower demo. Tower II? We shall see... And I'm still working on the Digital Men project
as well. I'm hoping to post a finished mix for Spirit Of Radio soon, and then I can focus on finishing Freewill, and then ???
So does this mean My Weekly Crime is finito? One phrase I kept repeating during our discussion on Sunday is "never say never". We may all get bored of
whatever we're doing on our own in a few months and decide to get back together to work on Rush tunes again. Or we may not. That's why I used the term "indefinite hiatus". We've
left the door open so who knows? In the meantime we've all got some projects to keep us busy over the winter and I'll keep posting progress reports here as I get them.
SEPT 13 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - Saw Rush last night here in London... what a great show! It has been 26 years since they were last here
for their Moving Pictures Tour in 1981, and though I have seen them a few times in other venues since then it sure was nice to see them back in our hometown! I saved the ticket stub as I
always try to do for any concert I go to, and just for fun I whipped up a webpage of a few of the concert tickets I have collected over the years. There are more in a desk drawer somewhere,
but for now here is my collection. Note how much I paid for a Van Halen ticket in 1984 ($13.50) compared to 20 years later
for their 2004 "Reunion/Money Grab" Tour ($69.50).
SEPT 02 2007
- MISC UPDATE - A picture I took last year around
this time called "September Leaves" is being featured this week at MacDesktops.com. MacDesktops
is a website that allows people to submit their pictures so others can dowload them and use them for their wallpaper backgrounds. Make a pot of
coffee before you visit the site though, there are a lot of great pictures to see.
"September Leaves" AUG 28 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - Rough mix 8b for
Spirit Of Radio is now up at the Digital Men website. This might be
the final mix!
AUG 13 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - The latest rough mix for
Spirit Of Radio is up at the Digital Men website. Almost done...
JULY 16 2007
- MOVIE UPDATE - If you liked the movie "Batman Begins" as much as I did then you're probably
already looking forward to the sequel titled "The Dark Knight" due out next summer. Well, after surfing the web to find info on the new movie I found a picture on Wikipedia
of a new vehicle from The Dark Knight called The Batpod. Click the small image below to go to Wikipedia's site to see a larger image. Looks like it's going to be a pretty cool sequel!
JULY 15 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - Added a new solo projects webpage for the music
I come up with on my own. If you like movie soundtrack music then you might just like this stuff.
JUNE 26 2007
- GENERAL UPDATE - So whats new? A little of this and a
little of that. The band My Weekly Crime is on a summer break again, though we are all continuing to work on music in the various ways that work for us. Scott and I are jamming
to come up with some original material while Terry works away on his new iMac. I've had a few lyrical ideas as well, some more
useable than others . . . My writing projects are on the back burner while we try to come up with some new music, though my mind has
been drawn back many times to my notes for finishing BG Cross because of a new character, and to a story I started
last year about a young witch. No, its not like Harry Potter ;) All I can say now is that it's set in the 1600s when the witch hunts
were reaching a fevered pitch. Doing the research for the story has been incredibly interesting! . . . On another musical front,
I am trying to get back to work on the Digital Men songs Freewill
and Spirit Of Radio, as well as finishing up Red Barchetta. Waiting in the wings are Between The Wheels and a couple other newer Rush tunes . . . The "home
studio" project continues slowly. The Paisley Research speakers I bought for $5.00 at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago need the foam surrounds replaced. A local
stereo shop wants $100.00 but you can buy a kit online for $29.99 and do the job yourself. I also found a page where you can magnetically shield your speakers yourself. I'm going to try and get the speakers fixed
in the next couple of weeks so I can get working on the various music projects. Should be interesting to hear the various tunes we've worked
on through the new noisemakers! As always, the guitarist's farewell until the next update; "Stay tuned..." Oh, and just because it looks so cool, heres a pic of a black Les Paul.
APR 23 2007 - The video clip I promised is now available. It's only 4 minutes long but it's a 45 MB file so you may want to go make some coffee while you wait for the download ;) Requires Quicktime 7 or a compatible MP4 movie player. APR 15 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - A video crew showed up
at my door two weeks ago. Why? Check out the My Weekly Crime News page for details...
MAR 18TH 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - Head over to the
Digital Men's songs page to hear their
latest effort, rough mix 3b for Spirit Of Radio.
FEB 28 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE - "The more things change, the more they
stay the same." A new short-term project has My Weekly Crime working on a set of Rush tunes again. The recording project
is on hold temporarily until we complete the new project at the end of March. More details will be available then...
FEB 10 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE: I had always wanted to put down a bass track
for the Digital Men's version of Limelight but just never got around to it. Well, here it is! I used the new
Ibanez bass for this track, and also replaced the synth tracks and cleaned things up a little. Have a listen...
FEB 08 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE: A new rough mix
of Red Barchetta is up at
the Digital Men site. A few more tweaks and it should be complete. I recorded a new bass track for RB
with the new Ibanez bass that I recently picked up (see below). I think this bass is a keeper ;)
JAN 18 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE: Just when you think you have things figured out... I have the week off this week
and after 2 days of "relaxing" I got restless and decided to take another trip to Toronto to look at-- what else? Bass guitars! After doing a lot of research
for the past few months I had settled on either a Spector bass (see Jan 13th) or an Ibanez. When I got to Steve's Music I was pleasantly surprised to see that they
had a large selection of Ibanez basses in stock, so I was able to give several models a good test drive. I also spent some time playing a couple of
Spector basses, including their last 2006 Performer (they are now offically discontinued), and when all was said and played, the Ibanez basses won hands-down.
I found the Ibanez basses had slimmer necks which made them more comfortable to play with my average-sized hands ( for some reason many bass players have long fingers), and
they were lighter as well, which has been a problem with my Squier Jazz bass. The model I liked the most, the EDB-700 HSF (Honey Sunburst Finish), also had a carved back,
an active preamp, and just plain looked great, so I put some money down on it. I hope to go back down to Toronto in a weeks time and pick it up! I still like Spector basses,
but the proof is in the playing.
JAN 13 2007
- MUSIC UPDATE: Usually a new year doesn't inspire me much, but 7
is my lucky number and I have this feeling that it's going to be a special year. To that end, My Weekly Crime is getting back to work on our
original project after a break over the holidays, and the Digital Men are working away on Spirit Of Radio. And I'm excited to see
that Spector has recently announced an update to their Performance series
basses for 2007, and as luck would have it the new 2007 "Classic" models are identical to the 2005 line. I think another trip
to the music stores might be in order...
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