Marbles
The new
marillion album,
marbles, arrived the other day. I've got it on now, and it's my 3rd time through.
It's very atmospheric, and yet groovy in spots. Marillion are known for beautiful, lush music (or pompous and grandiose music, you judge), and this album is very nuanced and mature in that genre. The interplay between the drums and the bass is stunning, providing a great foundation for the guitars and keyboards to drift in and out. Gorgeous. Steve Rothery's sense of space and texture, with his tasty little riffs and flourishes here and there, is sublime.
Steve Hogarth is oddly restrained throughout much of the album. There's usually one or two tracks on each album where he lets loose and belts it, but nothing like that jumps out at me on this album. However, Hogarth is one of the absolute best singers in music today; his harmonically thick tenor is so distinctive. No one out there sounds quite like him. Though he's restrained, the music suits it. If the singer is somewhat of an actor, then the roles on this album demanded some restraint. He still manages some of his most powerful singing, even if slightly understated.
There are 4 tracks called "marbles' on the album (conveniently numbered for your reference). They are, strangely enough, the odd tracks out. They almost don't sound like they belong on the album. They're all short little tracks, 2 minutes or less, and I don't quite get their role in the story this album tells. They almost sound underdeveloped compared to the rest of the album. The exception is Marbles III, which sounds like it belongs exactly where it is, opening disc 2.
There are several standout tracks. The opener, "The Invisible Man", is wonderful. The dynamics in the song are sweet. "The Only Unforgiveable Thing" is stepping forward as a favorite.
"You're Gone" is also the first single from the album. It's got a nice drum loop, again understated so there is still plenty of sonic room for the boys to put their sounds on top of.
"Ocean Cloud" is the traditional epic track. Not that it matters, but it is quite length and has several movements. Total track length is nearly 18 minutes. The guitars and drums on this one are very powerful. Ian Moseley is a master of the hi hat, that's all I have to say.
The album ends with "Neverland," which I need to listen to again a time or three.
The album was expertly produced by Dave Meegan, and he had engineering help from Rod Bunton. Steve Wilson and Michael Hunter helped with the mixing. Though I don't know for sure (I'd love to know), my suspicion is that Steve Wilson had a hand in mixing Ocean Cloud. The samples are totally his style, as well as the dynamic range of the electic guitars in the heavier section. The vocal harmonies are also his style; you can hear all of these elements in the Porcupine Tree albums.
This is gonna be one of those albums that really grow on you. In its somewhat melancholy tone, and thematic threads that run throughout the album, stylistic comparisons to their 1993 album, Brave, are inevitable. And while I love Brave, I always thought it was too long. There were 3 or 4 songs from that album that shouldn't have been on it (I'll name them if you ask). There are no such tracks that jump out on marbles, with the odd possible exception of the title tracks themselves. It's a sonically dense album, there are many layers to it. Production is impeccable. Kudos to Dave Meegan.
I wonder if Mr. Meegan would be interested in producing a Freakwitch album? :-)
Sonar installed
I have successfully installed
Sonar 3.1.1 Producer Edition, which by definition means I have also successfully installed Windows. I have many thoughts about this.
First, some philosophical/ethical thoughts. This is, if I am not mistaken, the first time I have ever been a licensed, official windows user. This is the case because I have usually gotten my computers used, and they already had windows (95 or 98) running. These you could just, pragmatically speaking, just use. They worked, at least as well as Windows 98 could work.
Windows XP doesn't work that way. You have to register each copy of Windows XP. Once I got the correct version of Windows, I was all set. It was admittedly strange. Like I was joining "Bill's club" or something. I still feel very weird about it. But I'm running with the "right tools for the job" argument; Windows is just a means to employ the right tool. Until someone makes a mature DAW that runs on Linux (ardour is trying very hard, but it only records audio. It doesn't really work with MIDI yet, much less have the ability to work with loops).
I'm sure at some point, a Linux DAW will be capable. I can't wait.
I'm stuck at 1024x768 resolution on a monitor that flickers anytime someone walks on the floor upstairs, which is ergonomically unacceptable for a program like Sonar. This is exacerbated because I'm getting by with a makeshift video card. I need to get a new video card, and one with 2 monitor ports makes sense for this application. Ideally, I'd use 2 19" flatscreen LCD monitors, but as that's not in my budget, I'd get by with what I have (a 17" that doesn't work quite right and a 15" that is a bit dim from years of steady use).
At some point, I'll have to add an audio-only hard drive. What I should do, since these drives will be used for the precious audio data I'm working on, is get 2 identical drives, and run them in a RAID 1 configuration, which means each drive would mirror the other. That way, if one of the drives fails, my data is still safe. It's basically 2 redundant drives running together. The computer may run a fraction slower in this configuration, but much safer, and it should have adequate speed for my needs.
Sonar is sweet. I can't tell if it's just wishful thinking, but the Cakewalk tracks opened in Sonar just seem to sound better. The Sonitus plugins, and the Lexicon reverb are just sweet. This is a very deep and capable program. I now have to translate all the theory I've been absorbing for 3 weeks into practice.
Once I get into a workflow rhythm, things should start to move fairly quickly. This new studio bodes well for our creativity as a band.
OK. Fine. I *sometimes* do Windows...
Well, as expected, I had a problem install Windows XP. Basically, I had the wrong version of Windows. I returned it today, and will pick up the correct version in the next day or two. Then I should be all set for The Great Digital Audio Workstation Install Fest on Friday. I might even have a band rehearsal that night..... :-D
Also, Matt and I wrote a new song last night. We haven't done that in a while; Matt's been very patient with me. I tend to be very slow at coming up with new grooves. On the other hand, Matt has a somewhat uncanny ability to be able to put words to just about anything.
New Studio Name
By the way, I thought of a new studio name: Quitchcraft Productions. Or something.
You call *this* progress?!?!?
I haven't posted in a few days, mostly because I'm seriously in
D.A.W.-land. I went over to the studio the other day to build the computer, and was utterly flummoxed by the first curve ball.
You see, I have two older AGP video cards. They are AGP 2x. But lo and behold, my new motherboard is only compatible with AGP 4x or higher. I thought, erroneously, that AGP=AGP. But sadly it is not the case.
I discovered this at about 4:45pm, and the only place that had a cheap video card for me was at least a half hour away, and closed at 5pm. Doh!
So now, I get to wait until Monday to get the video card and then head back to the studio to try again.
Audio on computers
I'm really angry right now. I knew that by getting
SONAR I was going to have to get a new copy of Windows. I tried to find a copy of Windows2000, unsuccessfully. So, with a "gotta have the right tools for the job" mentality, I made arrangements to get Windows XP.
I just found out that a new, full copy of Windows XP Pro is Three. Hundred. Fucking. Dollars. Ouch. And so I'm mad. I'm made that Microsoft pulls this crap, charging so much money for an operating system that is inferior in every way, except application availability, to Linux. Luckily there is an upgrade version of XP that I can get for $100. But it means I'll have to install Windows98 on my computer first, then install XP. Shouldn't be that big of a deal, but just yet another fucking hoop to jump through so that Bill Gates can get his check.
I really wish Cakewalk would port Sonar to Linux. Linux audio developers have made remarkable progress, particularly the ardour project, but the state of Linux audio is such that I can definitely get work done more quickly and easily using Windows tools, because SONAR is light years ahead of audio programs available on Linux.
I'm surprised by how pissed off this is getting me. If even me, someone who has spent literally years raging against the Microsoft machine, learning Linux, and espousing its technical and sociological benefits, is forced to buy Microsoft products, what does that say?
I remember years ago vowing to myself to never buy another Microsoft product. And here I am, doing exactly that. No wonder I'm pissed.
more sonar/studio stuff
Needless to say, I've been reading lots of interesting stuff online about sonar and general studio things. So here's a list of interesting posts I've found that I want to bookmark (don't worry if you don't get this severe geekspeak, this is mostly for my purposes):
all for now... I'm definitely in input mode. Lots of information gathering.
acoustic treatments
OK, now that the gear™ is on its way to me, I've started to think about the studio itself. I looked up acoustic treatments and found the following:
Matt, if you read this entry, click on both of those links. Good stuff on acoustic treatment for the studio.
sonar books
I now have three books of about the same size to read on
Sonar 3.1. The first is
sonar 3 power by Scott Garrigus. After that, it'll be
Craig Anderton's new book,
Mixing and Mastering with Sonar 3. Finally, there's the manual that comes with Sonar 3 itself. It should be a good collective 1600 page read. I kind of want to blog it. Not sure if that's a good idea or not. Oh well.
Off to read...
Studio upgrades
So given my new employment status, it would appear that a studio upgrade is imminent. First, I need to upgrade the computer. This means a new
motherboard, along with a new chip and RAM to run on it. At some point, I'll also probably add a new super-fast SATA hard drive to it as well.
On the software front, it's soon to be a SONAR moment. This is a serious upgrade from Pro Audio 9, which is what I'm currently running. It should speed up the workflow considerably for the Freakwitch production, and it comes with all kinds of effects plugins. Very nice. The only negative is that I'm going to have to buy a copy of WindowsXP, which rubs me the wrong way big-time. But, you have to have the right tool for the job, and there currently is no Linux software that does what this setup will do.
For audio hardware, I'm going to get one more A.R.T. Tube PAC, and two A.R.T. TPS II preamps. This will give me a total of 8 channels of A.R.T. Tube preamps. In addition, the M-Audio Delta 1010LT I am getting has 2 more mic preamps on it. This means that the studio will have 10 channels of high-quality inputs directly to the computer, 8 channels of which are tube channels, so they'll have a bit warmer sound. And also, we'll be able to record basically the entire band at once, rather than just 4 inputs at a time (which is our current capability).
I'm also going to pick up a new set of near field studio monitors by Tapco (which is made by Mackie). These speakers will be necessary, especially when we get to the mixing stage.
I'm still working out the financing options. Once I order the motherboard and Windows, I'll have to see what sort of financing I can do. I'll either get all the above at once, or I may get it in 3 installments (SONAR/soundcard first, then mic pres, then monitors).
This is very exciting for me, and it bodes well for the Freakwitch album production. I'm just floored by the technology available at a reasonable price, especially considering production capability like this didn't even exist 10 years ago. The fact that it's affordable for someone like me is just amazing.
w00t!
Yay. I found out the other day that my "seasonal" status at
work means that I'll be employed until the end of
nextseason. In other words, they plan to keep me around until at least the end of this year. This is a good thing. The extra cash flow has been very useful for the family, and this is a perfect job for me. I have the right skill set for the job, it's basically zero added stress in my life, and it pays pretty well for the work I do.
It also means that I can afford some studio upgrades. So the wheels are turning here...more later.
