Post # 3 - To all you haters

Okay, I’m a bit fired up about some of the comments I’ve received.

First, dude, give me a break I just got into this whole blogging thing. I’m sorry I’m not as awesome as you and missed some typos. My “One-horse town”, London Derry, NH USA Google it!  Okay, okay Vermont might take the prize for syrup, not NH but I thought I was being witty damn it!

Ever stabbed your self with fish barb that pops out from under the gills? It hurts! This internship is uh, I don’t know, better then stabbing myself with a slimy fish.  It happens to be the most interesting thing that I have to talk about right now. You ask what school would take my first born? Try Berklee College of Music, Boston MA.  I assure you I am a very real music intern, living with very real new city allergies.  I guess If I had a nickel for every time someone doubted my existence I would have a nickel. HA! I crack myself up.

And another thing…

I worked in music retail in NH when I was 17 for a year.  It was Christmas time and the guy came up to the register saying in a low voice “I have a gun.”  Every fool knows the registers a loaded with cash at those times and thus a very real, very scary moment in my life. Oh, and When I went to school in Boston, I tried to transfer so hard to the store there, but I guess I wasn’t a snarky enough scenester with my tight clothes and handle-bar mustache.

I am real!  Phew, sorry. I’ll attach a pic to lighten the mood.

Warning:  This post contains significant amount of music geek content.

The concept of auto-tuning has long been a heated debate. Any idiot with a computer, recording software and a mic can now, theoretically, create a pitch perfect vocal track. Sure, it loses the soul of the performance, but lets face it; it’s 2008 and all the soul has been sucked out of the music industry for many years. Vocal correction software is great, but it has limitations. Without access to the individual notes of chords, the it becomes useless when working with chords.

In comes Celemony, the company responsible for creating the most mind warping piece of audio-software ever, Direct Note Access. It allows users to rip apart of chord and change the individual timing and pitch like editing midi. This could have a ton of bad repercussions, but the fact that someone actually figured out how to do that is amazing. Watch the video and see it in action.

Post # 2 “Take it from the Top”

I landed in San Francisco with a precise picture of the future; a collegiate digi-diva in an international port. Take about options! That is, until I saw the giant fat lady peeing a waterfall through her pants around the corner of my new apartment. I live in the dirtiest part of the city where, NO LIE, every step outside is like playing hopscotch over dirty needles! Not quite the picture that my real estate broker had painted…

Soon enough, though, I got this phone call from BlinkerActive and I was all excited because I just KNEW that I had found my in. Finally, the chance to put all my education and logged production hours to good use. I was super excited…and I had no idea what they even did. So we schedule a phone interview and it goes something like this: all the music that we now get off on iTunes, Napster and Rhapsody - among hundreds of others - comes from someone who placed it there. OBVIOUS. Rather then searching EVERYWHERE for that new goddamn mix CD your “best-friend” gave you, you walk over to the comp in your underwear and say to yourself, now what was that jam I heard last night? Pop on the computer and after a few clicks, you’re listening to the whole album. So easy, we take it for granted, right? That’s because of digital marketing companies like BlinkerActive who use their music industry prowess (word-of-the-day) to navigate through 100s of digital retailers and promote music online. Sooo, we get instant access to the new jams, and the bands ACTUALLY GET COMPENSATED!! It’s pretty neat huh? So, anyway, that’s what they do and in turn what I do these days.

It’s funny because I used to work for Newbury Comics - big time comic and CD retailer - and now I get to see music sales from both sides of the street. Biggest difference is that during the Christmas season, no one is going to pull up to my office desk and hold me at gun point. Uh, yea a little bit safer here…And no snow!

Anyway, here’s what we’re tapping our feet to…

So you procrastinated, top-ramined and caffeinated your way out of college and you think everything is coming up roses, you’ll be rolling dough. The “Real world” is waiting for you, and then you remember something, it echoes in the back of your head, where did you hear this? “Stay a student as long as possible!”

I grew up in cow -one-horse-town central, diversity ZERO. While a good job would be working for the mayors office, I wasn’t going for it. I wanted to make music and use it to create a life that would take me places; specifically places far away from maple syrup county. I ended up at a school that will cost my life and my first-born child in loans. I stand before you with a duel degree in Music Synthesis and Film Scoring. Yea! This degree is going to put me right in the game, better my chances, I’m golden!

So, I’m not exactly even graduated; I have two more credits that I’m finishing with this sweet music internship at BlinkerActive in San Francisco, CA. Holy poop, I’m moving to Cali to work in the music industry! Its happening I’m becoming an adult. Why do I still feel fifteen? Of course it’s unpaid, like most internships, so I have to work on the side as a fishmonger. Yes, you heard right, fishmonger. Hey, someone has to pay the bills. I’m basically working to ensure my teeth don’t fall out. Not that I don’t have good hygiene, but I digress. Isn’t it funny how I have to work my ass off at one job where I have no intension of pursing because I don’t want to end up homeless while I can only work part time at the place that I love? Still, I’m going to make it right? I have the power of youth on my side!

Okay, lets make something of me.

There’s always something up here so I’ll keep you posted.

NP on the office stereo (AKA the jam of the second): Return to Sender “Fast Track”

Keys 2 The City.

I’m kinda feeling the whole focus-on-a-city approach to music. When artists rep their shit so often that they become the ambassadors of their home town, it can offer a unique peek into the culture and promise of a region. Our buddy turned us on to this Imeem post by Indiediot, and I’ve been checking out the footage. And so should you.

Curated by [The Roots], the [Roots Picnic] festival brought together an eclectic group of some of the most revered artists in the country including Gnarls Barkley, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Deerhoof, The Cool Kids, J*DaVey, Esperanza Spalding, Dj Jazzy Jeff, Diplo, and more. Check out these exclusive videos and photos from The Roots Picnic courtesy of Okayplayer.

Beck put out a new video for the song “Gamma Ray” and it definitely isn’t what I expected. It’s kinda psychedelic so I’ll give him a break on the new hairdo but not on being a Scientologist.