Mid City Meddler
It's been one whole year and I finally received a couple of final cuts of the twelve songs I recorded in LA last June. I wrote about my recording experience in my column this time last year, and I had no idea post production would take this long. It's a 'hurry up and wait' world. Sure, there're always factors that contribute to the slowness, but that knowledge doesn't help. I have three songs waiting for me in my new recording room, crying to be finished. They are songs I assured the writers I would work on, putting an outside finishing touch to, be it vocals or re-working. But that was before I knew my soundproofing material would stink so bad and months would go by before I wanted to even step foot in that room. So, they've become my victims. Excuses? Maybe. The bottom line is, it's hard to reap the benefits of finished projects without the assistance of others. And that bites.
For example, after two years of having a computer that would equate to a broken down but functional Volkswagen, I finally have a new one, a four wheel drive. I can traverse Internet planes like never before. Best of all, I can listen to the music, so readily available to everyone else in the online world that has eluded me for all this time.
In true pluggorama fashion, let me say that the first thing I did was keyword …. myself. I found several sites that contained music from my band, Muffy Panics. Although I knew this already, I couldn't fully appreciate myself until buying this new computer (with soundcard!) Yes, I had no noise before, for whatever reasons. The second thing I did was go to a site for a band called Crush! (The exclamation point is part of the name, I presume.) I was contacted by Ken Casper months ago to check out the band, but was unable to do so until now. They have a familiar, classic sound which is compared to Crosby, Stills…in the band's description. This led me to hours more of the (not-so-fresh-to-most) MP3 thing. This is a fabulous new world. Our Four Green Eyes had no audio as of yet, but the site still read a lot cleaner today. They played their first "paid" gig last month.
As for another thing I don't know first hand, the band Naked Sara has been gigging a lot and has a new recording coming out. I was going to check them out twice last month, but got caught up in poker and time slipped away. Yeah, buddy, time slips away.
Mike Gutterman from Spy Ring emailed me about his female-fronted band. I haven't heard about them in a while, so I look forward to watching them play soon. He brought up a topic I've wondered about a lot regarding band rehearsals: where does a band rehearse? I'd like to write a whole column about it. Unlike bigger cities, Louisville has very few paid rehearsal spots. It's a basement/garage kind of place. Mom's Music in Jeffersonville has a nice set of rooms, but it'll cost you. Where do you rehearse?
It may not be suitable for a regular rehearsal room, but House of Ruth has a lovely church available for rent. It would be useful for various things, but especially a recording project. This organization is "an association of persons caring for families and individuals affected by HIV and AIDS. (They) provide advocacy and support for their physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual needs." House of Ruth is located at 607 E. Catherine Street. If you're interested in checking out the place, call Bob Shore at 587-9954.
Email or call me with your band/Mid-City info:
mufalata@iglou.com / 485 - MUFF
Send me something that sounds…
(heart)
Muff