Migratable Type

[100% Fun]

2009-03-05T16:07:52Z

Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Migrant Records 2009.

This is the Post It Note that came stuck to the DOD 640 Flanger we got repaired by Analogman last month.

You can read more about the experiences we had with pedal modification by both Analogman as well as Keeley Electronics over at the Gearslutz forum.

Long story short: the repair on the DOD 640 was not going well. We were told to brace ourselves for the fact that it would never be 100%. Yet, apparently with some last-minute tinkering........

Original Cyndi

2009-02-20T17:03:12Z

Fred and I have written about Original Cyndi here before. Now someone else has written about them here. Not all press is worth linking to, unfortunately, but this article is a good one. Justin does like to put on a show with a capital 'S.'

[FLRS Activity]

2009-02-02T15:34:10Z

Recent goings-on at Famous London Recording Studio:

On Thursday night Yon and I worked on what is shaping up to be the penultimate song on Matthew Lovelace's upcoming full length. At least for now. The song is called "Steel Guitar", and we hope to have a version posted to the Migrant Song of the Day soon. Just gotta get some vocals on it first.

Later Thursday night Kym and Eric of Plainclothes Tracy stopped by to hammer out some details for the recording of *their* upcoming full length. Plus, Eric had never seen the studio. Anyway, it was very productive...and I'm really stoked to begin working with them.

On Saturday, Yon and I reconvened to work on "Steel Guitar" for the entire afternoon, culminating in what is now informally referred to as Steel Guitar Day. Two basses, three guitars, kick drum, and some tambourine were all added to the track. Once we have a Steel Guitar Day II, the song'll be really cooking.

This week: more Hudson K? More Kym overdubs onto Matthew's tracks? Maybe some "Zombies!" work? Time will tell.

[Snapshot of One Musician's Day Job]

2009-01-30T20:51:22Z

[Snapshot of One Musician's Day Job], originally uploaded by Migrant Records 2009.

Although I'm sick today, this is what I usually see during the day, every
Monday through Friday.

Waoooohhhhoooooohhhh! You can see life through my eyessssss...!!

Spooky.

[Is There Something I Should Know?]

2009-01-28T19:36:55Z

(Just for the record, this video was shot by our good friend Tara Davies---camera/media unknown---at the 2006 Pilot Light Halloween Show.)

Album Building

2009-01-28T18:56:26Z

So over Christmas break Matthew Lovelace got to come visit for almost a week, and in that time we got to work on his album. It'd been awhile, and while Fred and I had done some work on it on our own, we were starting to lose the feeling that we all knew what we were trying to do and where we wanted it to go.

What an awesome week that turned out to be.

Some of the demos he brought in were good enough to use as final tracks, and between the work we got in on those and the work we did on pre-existing tracks, we got together almost the entire album. It's not finished, and all these songs might not make it (I've got 12 "definites" on my iTunes right now, but there are at least that many waiting in the wings that we could work up pretty quickly), but now there's a shape. I can listen to all that we've worked on, and there's a flow from song to song.

This is probably my favorite part of making albums. The bones are almost all there. It's just about fleshing things out now. Adding parts (or whole songs, even), changing the order around, thinking about the tone and feel. It's turning out a little quieter and more low-key than I'd expected. I'm excited for people to hear it.

(Parenthetically, this is also my favorite part of making albums because I can hear past the mistakes. Anything that's not right is just an opportunity to make the song better. This is in stark contrast to the deflation of getting a CD back from the presses and listening for the first time. "Well, that's not right. And it's there. FOREVER." (Second parenthetical: this feeling goes away after a couple of months.))

Still, there's a feeling that maybe the whole form is going to disappear. Not music, obviously. But as the media for music pushes towards electronic only, and people more and more buy music by the song, making a whole album seems like an archaic idea.

But I don't care. I still love collecting songs into groups of 10-14 and trying to get them to add up to something greater than the sum.

Catching a Cold

2009-01-25T23:49:51Z

Before I got my tonsils out (which was fairly recently), I got sick all the time. It was just a regular thing I had to deal with. After a couple of sickness-free years, it's kind of a kick in the teeth catching a cold.

But here we are.

I started feeling not-quite-right on the way down to Memphis with Val, and one poor night's sleep and a day in a smoke-filled casino later, I'm full-blown ill. Other than that, our trip is going quite well. I'm having fun hanging out with mom and dad and val, and just generally taking it easy.

Tomorrow I'll pack the car with as much music junk as I can (which will mainly be a drum kit and, hopefully, a speaker cab), drug myself up real good, then drive on back to Knoxville. Good times.

[Title For Nonexistent Album]

2009-01-24T13:47:52Z

Hard Drives and Memory

[Dubs!]

2009-01-23T14:43:32Z

Rachel S-P came by last night with her compadre and bandmate Christina Horn to dub some flute onto one of the Hudson K songs we're working on. Turned out great. A bass part was nixed. Banjo was given the green light, although it was suggested that we use a clawhammer banjo with nylon strings for an "older" sound (essentially, the sound of gut...ew). Rachel will provide that. It was a good idea. The song's coming together well. Oh, and Rachel's one hell of a flutist.

[Recent Activity]

2009-01-22T17:52:55Z

Hello.

Recently recorded folks:

Tommy Bateman (December, solo recording with Yon)
Matthew Lovelace (week surrounding New Year's, for upcoming full length CD)
Hudson K (throughout January, for EP due April)
Kym Hawkins of Plainclothes Tracy (vocal dubs onto a few of Lovelace's tracks)
Rachel Schlafer-Parton (flute on Zombies! musical; cello on Lovelace track)

Whoot!!!

[Lurking]

2009-01-22T15:26:12Z

Well, hello there. I'm really just making sure this works. But also, I'm trying to force myself to be more active online. I'm definitely a lurker. I enjoy looking at what other people have written. Silently judging them...

Well, no, not exactly. I'm not that judgemental. I can't properly explain the allure of lurking. But I have some suspicions as to why I don't write more. To me, writing is all about re-writing and editing. Even the simplest stuff I've written for, say, SotD usually takes at least an hour. Writing online is all about immediacy. Go with your first thought.

I'll try to write that way starting...right...NOW.

...

It's a work in progress.

-j

The Time Is Now.

2009-01-22T14:49:52Z

[The Sampler, Slick, Clermont, Rockwells, Lovelace, J.D., MPMF...]

2008-08-21T16:46:21Z

Whew. It's been seventeen weeks since our last journal entry, says the hand-dandy Live Journal welcome screen. When you put it like *that*...! I suppose I better get crackin' on filling you in on our progress over the last few months.

I'd like to think that the fact that we haven't written---we've been so damned busy---is actually a *good* thing. I'm a pretty good hype guy ("hypist"? "hypewriter"?), but I've kind of lost the desire to hype recently...I feel like we've been putting our money where our mouths are, so we haven't had the time or energy or desire to hype it all. I think the results of our labor will be hype enough. We'll see.

Most recently, we've been in contact with Team Clermont, arguably the finest independent music promoters in the entire country. I sent them a copy of the Rockwells' most recent CD, Place & Time. I wasn't expecting such a quick and enthusiastic response. Within 48 hours of sending them our music, they got back to us and strongly encouraged us to promote the CD through them. We've had some more email correspondence, and we have a conference call scheduled for this afternoon. It's all very exciting, and a little scary. After doing so much of this kind of promotion stuff on our own, it's thrilling to be working with someone who seems to give a damn, but it's also slightly freaky, as it could lead to a lot of great things...or it could all be a dead end and we'll be on our own yet again. Over all, very cool.

The upcoming Migrant Sampler is moving along at fever pitch now. The final sequence is finally taking shape, and songs are edging closer to being completely finished and ready for the mastering process. It's all a bit out of control at the moment, but it's sounding really good. Everyone's done such a good job on their tracks. We hope to have everything completely done next month, October at the latest, for an autumn release.

Actually, we hope to have the bulk (if not all) of the recording and mixing done on the Sampler by the time we go to the Midpoint Music Festival in Cincy toward the end of September. We're going for the entire fest, but we play Thursday, September 25th at 11 PM at the New Stage Collective. It'll be great to spend some time with Tommy and Trace's sister Tricia, and to see Cincy again. Last September was the first in four years that we didn't visit Cincinnati to play MPMF, as Sophie was born right around then. It's good to be back.

While there, we'll be pushing our little room, long ago dubbed the Famous London Recording Studio, for semi-public use. Tricia Bateman is very graciously designing FLRS business cards for us, and I'm working on designing a decent little site for our decent little room. We're planning on producing songs for people and arranging for them, with an emphasis on pre-production, use of demos, and eclectic sounds. We already have some sessions loosely booked for the fall/winter. Whoo!

We've almost completely finished mixing J.D. Reager's new CD. He plans on having it mastered by Memphis' own Kevin Cubbins next month. It's been a long haul, and this is our first album we've mixed entirely within our DAW gear...so it's a very special project to us. It feels really good to have it almost done.

After much weeping and gnashing of teeth, we've finally gotten hold of mixable masters for the Slick project. It's a long story, and not terribly interesting to anyone outside of me, Jonathan, and Slick (or so I'm told, anyway). But suffice it to say, the process took several tries, many man hours, and a FedEx package to Montreal. But the results are stellar, and entirely worth it. In fact, these new masters are probably higher fidelity than the originals. A Slick CD is indeed coming down the pike. And there will be a Slick track on the Migrant Sampler. :)

Otherwise, it's sort of the same ol': Matthew Lovelace is planning a visit soon to continue to work on his debut EP, and he continues to demo more songs on his new DAW rig in Athens for a follow-up full-length later on. We haven't had much of a chance to use the new Huston drums much, as we've been focusing on dubbing and mixing. We can't wait to get some more hours in on 'em.

I WILL be better about journal entries. I WILL be better about journal entries. I WILL be better about journal entries. I WILL be better about journal entries. I WILL be better about journal entries...