From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V4 #139 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Tuesday, May 11 1999 Volume 04 : Number 139 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: Mothers' Day (OT) ["Stephen M. Tilson" ] Alloy: Guess who.... ["Stephen M. Tilson" ] Alloy: Flattery Earth [thomas@beatnik.com (Thomas Dolby Robertson)] Re: Alloy: Mothers' Day (OT) [Chris Cracknell ] Re: Alloy: Flattery Earth [jacksonhome@home.com (Lee Jackson)] RE: Alloy: Flattery Earth ["Beth Meyer" ] Re: Alloy: Guess who.... [Chris Cracknell ] Alloy: Production Talk [Chris Cracknell ] Re: RE: Alloy: Flattery Earth [Chris Cracknell ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 03:36:47 -0400 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: Mothers' Day (OT) Dear Robin, It saddens us to hear your Mom is stuck in the hospital with a difficult recovery - especially on Mother's Day. Our prayers go with her, and you. Be strong for her. Brush her hair. Hang out there if you can. Be cheered in the extreme good fortune of her having advocates in her former co-workers. Having an informed and effective advocate when you're under intense medical care is perhaps the most important thing next to having a good doctor. No strangers to all this, Stephen and Mary ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 11:21:51 -0700 From: Kathleen Truelove Subject: Re: Alloy: Mothers' Day (OT) Robin, Ditto what Stephen said. Living with pain can make anyone depressed or insane. Glad to hear your mom has a lot of support and a very wonderful daughter to be there for her. Sometimes just having loved ones around helps in handling pain and suffering. Good luck!! I totally sympathize with you all. Pax Aye, Kate;-) Stephen M. Tilson wrote: > Dear Robin, > > It saddens us to hear your Mom is stuck in the hospital with a > difficult recovery - especially on Mother's Day. Our prayers go with > her, and you. Be strong for her. Brush her hair. Hang out there if > you can. Be cheered in the extreme good fortune of her having > advocates in her former co-workers. Having an informed and effective > advocate when you're under intense medical care is perhaps the most > important thing next to having a good doctor. > > No strangers to all this, > Stephen and Mary ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 11:58:15 PDT From: "Ian Gifford" Subject: Alloy: Guess who.... Hello People, It's me---Ian! I am back. By the guidance of Mr. Miles I have returned to the realm of the Dolby-ites and am glad to be back. I would like to say hello to everyone in the group and to everyone who is new to the group. Allow me a few days and I will post an update and info-note about myself so that those new members will know me a little better. Also so that those who have forgotten me will be updated on where I have been. Peace to y'all Love Ian Ian Gifford Singer/Songwriter, Radio show host. Sundays 12am till 2am (est) http://www.chrw.fm.net mailto:igifford@hotmail.com "All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing a song" Louis Armstrong, 1901-1971 ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 15:19:33 -0400 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: Guess who.... WooHoo! Ian's back!!! Welcome, sir. Do fill us in on where you've been. I suppose there have been a few hundred thousand acre-feet of water under your bridge since you last trod these precincts . . . /\/\iles ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 09 May 1999 21:15:54 -0700 From: thomas@beatnik.com (Thomas Dolby Robertson) Subject: Alloy: Flattery Earth All, Thanks so much for the late/revised birthday present--I love it. Here are some notes I took while I listened: Dissidents--reminiscent of the 12 inch "Search for Truth" mix at times. It rocks! Mulu--nice voice, good effort at rearranging a difficult song, love the FX on the 'talk to me Mulu' section. There are many effects possible these days that weren't around when I recorded the song. ILYGB--Lissu always amazes me. "Pulp Culture" was great, but this is really a terrific achievement. She has a lovely voice, and manages to find new ways to express my music without staying chained to the original arrangements. A healthy disregard for the original structures, but not disrespect. She makes this song sound like it was written with a soul vocal and a trance/triphop arrangement in mind. Incredible! I want to see the video with Lissu wandering across barren Icelandic icefields, volcanos erupting in the distance. Herb Ritts will direct. Cruel--daring treatment! I didn't look at the sleeve so I got a big laugh when I realised which song this was going to be. From the intro I was expecting something exotic like 'Hot Sauce' or 'Silk Pyjamas.' Weightless--I havn't heard this song in a while! and actually, Prefab Sprout's last album had a song on it by the same title. A very faithful reproduction of my recording, indicating that a lot of effort went into figuring out the individual notes by ear! Impressive. Europa--I got another big kick when the vocals came in after the acoustic guitar intro. I like the modified note in the chorus melody. Nice production overall. Somehow it sounds like a really relaxed Hawaiian pop song from the sixties. Don't turn away--definitely close to the Lea Thompson version. (I wonder if Lea remembers this now she's a huge star?)--a valliant vocal effort by Mary, and good work on the backing. And an interesting quote from my keyboard intro to a famous Foreigner hit. Hot Sauce--hilarious cajun/zydeco version straight from the Bayou. I love it! I must send it George Clinton. Valley of the Mind's Eye--very pleasant and other-worldly. Sounds like something some alien babe would play on her harp to Captain James T Kirk to lull him to sleep. Flat Earth--The MIDI version sounds uncannily like my own own programming. I like the guitar part that replaces it. Nice little touches like the strum down the piano strings in the middle 8 part. CD2--My my, what an interesting bunch of songs. I especially liked "Wedding of the Weasels." And I'm quite surprised that Beatnik can sound that good coming direct off the Web. You are a curiously talented group of people. Kudos to Steven and others for the digital mastering, which is highly professional; and also to Beth and those who put the sleeve together. Overall--a remarkable pair of CDs and a fabulous birthday present!! I am a lucky man to have such talented and generous fans. (My wife reminded me of that.... a typical Dynasty fan letter comes from a state penitentiary and says he's had Kathleen's photo up in his cell for 10 years but he'll be getting out real soon and would love to look her up.) I have a little surprise in store for all of you too. I'll let you know in the next couple of months. No, I'm not coming out with an album or going on the road, but I think you'll like it anyway..... Thank you thank you thank you! TMDR - -- Thomas Dolby Robertson Founder & Chief Beatnik Beatnik, Inc. - -------------------------------------------- Note: HEADSPACE has changed its name to BEATNIK, INC. - -------------------------------------------- JAM WITH DAVID BOWIE! ...remix "Fame" with Beatnik Player 2.0 http://www.davidbowie.com/fame/index.html - ------------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 20:10:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Chris Cracknell Subject: Re: Alloy: Mothers' Day (OT) In article , you wrote: >wish there were more I could do. Dave and I have brought lots of pretty >presents to her for her hospital room, mingled in with all the flowers she's >received, and I call her every day. If I may ask, what are some ideas you at >Alloy might have for cheering up someone in a long hospital stay? ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ A portable TV with an Atari 2600 and a whack of carts would cheer me up, but I don't know what it would do for your mom. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ >Crackers, I love the anagrams & have run my own name >through that web site. I can't even repeat most of mine... and I was >distressed at how many of them contained the word 'Nazi' (as in 'Nazi Whore >on Restful Branch'!) Yeeesh! ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Nazi Whore On Restful Branch!?! Hey!!! I saw them open for Joan Jet and the Blackhearts back in '82. CRACKERS (They saved Hitler's Anagramme from hell!!!) - -- Collector of Atari 2600 carts - Accordionist - Bira Bira Devotee - Anime fan * http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html | Crackers' Arts Base * * http://www.angelfire.com/ma/hozervideo/index.html | Hozer Video Games * Nihongo ga dekimasu - 2600 programmer - Father of 2 great kids - Canadian eh ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 03:42:43 GMT From: jacksonhome@home.com (Lee Jackson) Subject: Re: Alloy: Flattery Earth On Sun, 09 May 1999 21:15:54 -0700, you wrote: >Dissidents--reminiscent of the 12 inch "Search for Truth" mix at times. Guilty - I do have a copy of this. ;-) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 22:20:56 -0400 From: "Beth Meyer" Subject: RE: Alloy: Flattery Earth Hello, Thomas et al; What a delightful note! I was anxious to see your reaction, and enjoyed reading it immensely. I certainly share your and everyone else's enthusiasm for the disc; it surpasses no small number of commercial CDs, in my opinion! Just had to add a couple of comments... >ILYGB--Lissu always amazes me. "Pulp Culture" was great, but this is >really a terrific achievement. Hear, hear. My husband wants to start a Lissu fan club (hey, we have enough fans here in the Denver area to devise a secret handshake, anyway!) Of course, the real question is, when can we start an e-mail mailing list for Lissu's fans, and will Thomas join? ;-) >Cruel--daring treatment! Yes, I've also become a fan of Erik's original arrangements, ever since 1997's haunting version of Weightless (not that this year's version isn't worthy, as well) >Hot Sauce--hilarious cajun/zydeco version straight from the Bayou. I >love it! I must send it George Clinton. When Keith, Dennis, Erik, Mark and I were all listening to the CD for the first time together, as soon as this one came on, we all exclaimed "Crackers!!" in unison. And then just about fell off our chairs -- with delight, of course. After which, we discussed taking up a collection to fly crackers out to Denver so we can all hear him play live. (What do you say, crackers -- should we arrange you a gig?) >Kudos to Steven and others for the digital mastering, which is highly >professional; and also to Beth and those who put the sleeve together. Well, if there's one thing that got drilled into me in grad school, it's making sure that proper credit is given. Keith Stansell was the one who did the yeoman's work on the cover -- photographing the cake, editing the images, finding the right fonts, editing the layout. I just scanned in the original images from the album. But what lovely scans they were.... Oh, and by the way, Keith -- The Lamp says hi. ;-) Cheers to all, Beth Beth Meyer bethmeyer@mindspring.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 00:52:31 -0400 (EDT) From: Chris Cracknell Subject: Re: Alloy: Guess who.... In article <19990510185815.24800.qmail@hotmail.com>, you wrote: >Hello People, > >It's me---Ian! > >I am back. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Doh!!! We've been using Alloy to bad mouth you behind your back. Great now we'll have to make a new a-mail list to do that. Heheheh! Woohoo! Glad to have you back you tall cool smoothy you. CRACKERS (Slipping into a Perry Coma from hell!!) - -- Collector of Atari 2600 carts - Accordionist - Bira Bira Devotee - Anime fan * http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html | Crackers' Arts Base * * http://www.angelfire.com/ma/hozervideo/index.html | Hozer Video Games * Nihongo ga dekimasu - 2600 programmer - Father of 2 great kids - Canadian eh ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 00:52:32 -0400 (EDT) From: Chris Cracknell Subject: Alloy: Production Talk Well now that copies of PBD:II seem to be in most people's hands and the majority of the reviews are in, I guess it's time to turn to the subject of discussion that I enjoyed last year but the non-musicians here probably found dull, "Production Talk". So let's all share the horror and glory we all went through to get our submissions recorded. I'll start the ball rolling. Hot Sauce: This year my submission was almost entirely accoustic. Apart from the bass drum and 'tit fir (triangle) which were from the orchestral kit in my Yamaha TG-100 GM module everything else on the tape was accousitic. It was recorded, as was last year's submission, in my basement geek-room on my trusty old Tascam Porta-Studio One 4-track cassette recorder. This means I had to ping-pong the tracks within an inch of their life to get it to all fit. I started by recording a basic 'tit fir/bass drum track on my 1040ST using Master Tracks Pro. I then recorded it and one accordion track to tape while singing the lyrics in my head. That gave me the bare skeleton of the song that I then expanded on. Next I began work on the rest of the rythme track. I recorded the snare next. My snare drum is actually the head of an old banjo of mine I foolishly left laying on the floor one night and stepped on the neck of it while making my way to the bathroom. Played with brushes it makes a nice portable snare. I then ping-ponged it with a washboard. Traditionally the washboard isn't played with cajun music but with zydeco music. Originally the washboard was played with a pair of forks but later many percussionists switched to thimbles to give them more control. I used a pair of metal lipstick tube covers on my pinky fingers to play it. I think I then ping ponged the three tracks together and began adding more instruments. I recorded a second accordion part (the first was done on a Titano 120 bass, the second on my beloved Hohner 12 bass), fiddle (which I really, really suck at) and then my hubjo. The hubjo is a two stringed dobro I made with my grandfather out of an old dodge hubcap. It has a very interesting sound that is sort of like a cross between a steel guitar and a sitar. Somehow I managed to pingpong this all enough to give me room to ping pong 4 more vocal tracks. Listening back to the mix I felt it was a little light in the bottom end so I recorded another bass track with the Titano again to beef it up a bit. I had spent the entire day busking before I came home to work on this late one night so my voice was very tired and strained and that's just perfect for recording cajun music. I'm still completely unsure how I managed to ping pong it all to fit into two tracks. Ooplik Vali Das Krochiev (The Wedding Of The Weasels): This was a song I had actually recorded some years ago when I first got my accordion for a Keyboard Magazine Reader's Contest (it must have been quite some time ago because I haven't subscribed to Keyboard in years). The song failed quite miserably but despite this it's always had a special place in my heart as it was the first song I ever recorded since making the switch from keys to accordion as my main instrument. It was an easy one to record. The bulk of the arrangement is made up of midi tracks recorded on my ST. Most of the midi tracks are played on my TG-100 (which I had just purchased). Originally they were played on my Kawai K-5m and Yamaha RX-21 drum machine but the TG-100 had much better accoustic instrument pallets and fuller drums. The clarinet is played on my Ensoniq Mirage. All that was dumped to one track of my 4-tracker. Then I recorded the accordion (a Vivaldi 120 bass) on another track. Next I recorded the vocals. I wanted to give them a very mid-range sound so that the song would sound like it was playing on an old victrola. I used a very expensive, high-tech studio equalizer effects unit to generate this effect... ...okay... I really just pinched my nose and cupped my hands infront of my mouth. To complete the illusion I used the last track of my 4-tracker to record "record noise". You know that scratchy "skrrtch" old records make? To accomplish this I used my trust old Casio SK-1 sampler (the same one I modified and posted pictures of on my webpage). I took a cheap, crappy, portable turntable I bought at a garage sale and sampled the sound it made when I dragged a piece of cloth lightly across the needle. I then looped the sample and put a heavy weight on the "A" key so it would repeat over and over again. Dumped that to the last track and that was all I needed to complete the song. A very simple, low budget effort (which is probably why it failed to generate any interest in the Keyboard Magazine contest). But I think the song is cute so I thought I'd share it with you all. I've noticed that none of the liguists on Alloy have taken a shot at translating the liner notes for this song (or the song itself for that matter). Don't feel bad about it. The liner notes and the song lyrics themselves are pure gibberish ad libbed on the fly in one take. Any similarities between Ooplik and any real language is either purely coincidental or a result of demonic possession. Okay, so who's next? CRACKERS (Ping pong from hell!!!!!!!!!!!) - -- Collector of Atari 2600 carts - Accordionist - Bira Bira Devotee - Anime fan * http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html | Crackers' Arts Base * * http://www.angelfire.com/ma/hozervideo/index.html | Hozer Video Games * Nihongo ga dekimasu - 2600 programmer - Father of 2 great kids - Canadian eh ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 01:23:32 -0400 (EDT) From: Chris Cracknell Subject: Re: RE: Alloy: Flattery Earth In article <000801be9b54$e6c9de20$05010101@secondary.advtech.uswest.com>, you wrote: >>ILYGB--Lissu always amazes me. "Pulp Culture" was great, but this is >>really a terrific achievement. > >Hear, hear. My husband wants to start a Lissu fan club (hey, we have enough >fans ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Woohoo!! Can I join too? ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ >When Keith, Dennis, Erik, Mark and I were all listening to the CD for the >first time together, as soon as this one came on, we all exclaimed >"Crackers!!" in unison. And then just about fell off our chairs -- with >delight, of course. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Heheheheh! Gee, does that make me the "Norm Peterson" of Alloy? ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ >After which, we discussed taking up a collection to fly >crackers out to Denver so we can all hear him play live. (What do you say, >crackers -- should we arrange you a gig?) ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Hey! If someone's willing to give me room and board too I'm more than willing to go anywhere to give shows. ;) CRACKERS (Will play for food from hell!!!) - -- Collector of Atari 2600 carts - Accordionist - Bira Bira Devotee - Anime fan * http://www.hwcn.org/~ad329/crab.html | Crackers' Arts Base * * http://www.angelfire.com/ma/hozervideo/index.html | Hozer Video Games * Nihongo ga dekimasu - 2600 programmer - Father of 2 great kids - Canadian eh ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V4 #139 ***************************