From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V4 #140 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 Wednesday, May 12 1999 Volume 04 : Number 140 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: Flattery Earth ["Stephen M. Tilson" ] RE: Alloy: Guess who.... ["Ulfstedt, Louise" ] Re: Alloy: Production notes... [Kathleen Truelove ] Re: Alloy: Flattery Earth ["Keith Stansell" ] Alloy: hello again, and Flattery Earth [RThurF@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 02:51:50 -0400 From: "Stephen M. Tilson" Subject: Alloy: Flattery Earth /\lloy, Beth wrote: > 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... To which I add: , and putting up with Stephen's obsessive tweak tweak tweaking. Keith also produced test CDs which were sent to me for QA before the duplication began. And let us also not overlook that EACH AND EVERY CD WAS BURNED BY KEITH, and Keith alone. In consideration of all of the above and the many other things Keith did to further our project I am remorseful to not have insisted that Keith name himself co-producer of The Flattery Earth, for surely it is so. I really couldn't have achieved these results without you, buddy. You really did a smashingly first-rate job!!! Let the record show, for all future reference, that The Flattery Earth was co-produced by myself *and* Keith Stansell. Gratefully, /\/\iles ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 04:43:07 -0400 (EDT) From: andyjmail@cheerful.com Subject: Alloy: yee-ha. Wow! > I am a lucky man to have such talented and generous fans. We're lucky fans to have such an appreciative inspiration! Thanks Thomas (and cheers for your mail to me, another ambition fulfilled. I'll delete the house pic) >I have a little surprise in store for all of you too. Whoo-hoo... can't wait. :-))) OK then folks, the Adam and Joe Show pics can be found on my site (new URL) here: http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Lot/8142/music/tmdr.html - just follow the link. I hope y'all enjoy my little effort! back to work then... +Andy+ - ---------------------------------------------------------------- Get your free email from AltaVista at http://altavista.iname.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 10:33:50 +0100 From: Tim_Dunn.JBA_HEATHROW.SPL_EXTERNAL@jba.co.uk Subject: Re: Alloy: Production Talk OK - me next!! I wish I'd had an a-side to do this year. THere won't be any more problems though as my big PC arrives on Thursday, so as long as I can scrounge some free software from somewhere I'll be rocking - I have so many songs to do. Anyway, Sunny Day/Binary was conceived a while ago. Sunny Day came about while messing about on my acoustic with a capo. I couldn't think of anything else to go into the song, and it seemed so complete at 1 minute long that I just left it, and then when Binary happened it seemed musically and thematically to make the perfect intro. Binary happened while I was sat at work in Birmingham. I was walking down the street with my flatmate to meet some friends, and I simply had to stop and write down this fantastic tune and words that just appeared. The chorus was even worse - it came while in the office a few weeks later, and I was bouncing up and down with excitement. Anyway, techie things. I recorded the whole lot in the Old Dairy studios in York, with Phil Elliot engineering. I used my Les Paul, my Fender acoustic, my Tanglewood 5-string, and my new Korg X5D, along with all the usual drums etc. The studio has a programmable 32-track Tascam system which looks like the flight deck from the Enterprise, and there's a vast raft of outboard gear, mics etc. It was quite a mammoth task, as the two songs were recorded in one session - - ie in one mix, which took up a hell of a lot of desk space, especially given that we had to duplicate all the drum channels for the drum solo (which plays over the normal drum beat. In the end I managed to fill up all 32 tracks, and an extra four on the hard drive - quite a good effort for a 5-minute song. We spent a serious amount of time sorting out all the guitar sounds - I wanted them shiny but also crunchy, not an easy feat unless you're in the Morrissey band or something, but it worked great in the end. The worst bit was my playing though - in the end we had to go and cut'n'paste some guitar parts from one verse to another, as by the time we got to the second day it would have been impossible to recreate identical sounds to dub over. All very complicated and frustrating. To get the final blend we cut off Sunny Day and took it down to 2-track, then did the same for Binary, and flitered them into each other. I think maybe the way the volume drops at the end of Binary is a little quick, but al least you get to hear the outro tune on the acoustic. So that was that. Things are a lot simpler working with Boz, and I've already got 2 b-sides for someone to choose from. Also it was horrifically expensive. OK, who's next? the_copse ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 00:52:30 -0400 (EDT) From: Chris Cracknell Subject: Re: Alloy: Flattery Earth In article <37365D7A.341CBB45@beatnik.com>, you wrote: >All, > >Thanks so much for the late/revised birthday present--I love it. Here >are some notes I took while I listened: ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Woah! My head is swooning. I feel like I've heard the voice of god! ;) ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ >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. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ I can't put my finger on it, but there's something I really like about the way JAMac belts out the line "Big Hunk Of Carrot Cake". ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ >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. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ So then I take it I wasn't the only one who was thinking, "I didn't know Perry Como was on Alloy." I really love the "It isn't, is it?" line. I just see Ian holding a pipe in his hand, wearing a polo shirt with a cardigan draped around his shoulders, lounging against something looking cooler than in inuit's door knob. Ians cover just reaks of an effortless cool that says "smoooooooooth". ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ >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. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ I've never heard any other version of this song but there's something so sweet and endearing about Mary's voice in this one. There's just such a hurt, child-like quality that really comes out in the chorus that I find so touching. I've had this song running through my head a lot since I received my copy of the CD. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ >Hot Sauce--hilarious cajun/zydeco version straight from the Bayou. I >love it! I must send it George Clinton. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Can't... leave.... basement geek-room.... head.... swelling... too large.... won't... fit through... door... can't.... wear.... hat... or speak... at normal... rate of... speed. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ >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. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Lem dons the glittering helmet and screams out as his face is bathed in a brilliant blue light. Falling to his knees he looks over at the sequencer buttons on his Ensoniq Mirage. "A child could do it, Jim. A CHILD could do it!" Captain's Log: Suplimental. Lem has been labouring away on the Ensoniq Mirage for some time now but he's becoming forgetful and appears fatigued. "Damn it, Jim, it's impossible. What was I thinking. No one can record a song on the Ensoniq Mirage's sequencer. Nobody can do it." "Nobody, Lem? Just a few minutes ago you were saying a child could do it." "There's not enough memory, too few features. Nobody can do it, it's impossible, Jim, impossible!" ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ >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. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ I had almost thought I was listening to my copy of the Flat Earth when Stephen's cover started playing. The begining is so bang on it's scary. But I was quite pleased when after teasing us Stephen took us somewhere of his own choosing with the cover. One of the things I really enjoy about these Project B-Days, apart from the fact that we're all honouring a special artist whose music has touched each of us on alloy in some special, personal way, and apart from the fact that I'm taking part in a creative effort with people all around the globe, is the way each of us taking part in these tributes expresses ourselves and in turn get to see each other in our reflections of your brilliance. All these diffent interpretaions of your work gives us all further insight into the work by letting us see it through someone else's eyes or perhaps more accurately hear it through someone else's ears. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ >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. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Aarrrrggg... no... longer..... able to.... support.... massive weight... of my.... head.... on my own.... neck.... must design..... head support device.... before it's.... too late..... ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ >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.) ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Well if you'd just make available to the public those pictures of you performing in drag with The Lost Toy People then you could receive those kinds of letters too. I'm very glad that you're honestly flattered by our efforts to honour you so. It's always a tricky thing when mucking about with someone else's work not to end up unintentionally rubbing them the wrong way since our works are really like pieces of ourselves and nobody wants to be violated. I've known many artists who would not tolerate something like our Project B-Days no matter how honourable the intentions behind them. Thank you for letting us all share with you what you have so graciously shared with us all these years. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ >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..... ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~ Is it the pictures? It's the pictures, right? The pictures!? CRACKERS (Anticipation 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 09:15:44 +0300 From: "Ulfstedt, Louise" Subject: RE: Alloy: Guess who.... Hi Ian! Welcome back! What have you been up to? :-) Lissu xxx > -----Original Message----- > From: Ian Gifford [SMTP:igifford@hotmail.com] > Sent: Monday, May 10, 1999 8:58 PM > To: alloy@smoe.org > 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: Tue, 11 May 1999 09:31:26 -0700 From: "Jennie Bolton" Subject: Alloy: Re: any Alloy people in Seattle ? Peter wrote: >I'm heading to the mothership in Redmond for a few days next week and hope >to have some evening free to hook up : some live music and beers would be >divine.... >any takers ? Oops! You missed the Creatures last night...I would love to show ya the town, but unfortunately I HAVE TO WORK...too old to stay out too late at night on a work night ;-) But if you pick up a copy of the Stranger or the Seattle Weekly, I'm sure you can find plenty to keep you occupied in our fair little city. Cheers, Jennie (:^ ____________________________________________________ Jennie Bolton, Research Chemist Northwest Fisheries Science Center · Vice-Chair, Pionus Breeders Association ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 16:12:01 PDT From: "Ian Gifford" Subject: Alloy: Production notes... Hello, Thank you first to all for the kind welcomes etc. Thank-you to Thomas for his response (peed myself laughing at it -- oops is this too much info? ;). I think he should know that my ancestry (before they came from Scotland and Norway) were actually Hawaiian Conquistadors who had a short history of raping and pillaging in the British Isles. I swear this is true look it up and you will find that I am a distant cousin of Don Ho! Crackers, with all the nice things you keep saying about me, the alloy-ites are going to think we are having an affair! Let's face it, as far as most of the members are concerned London and Hamilton could be off-shoots of Toronto as is the rest of South Western Ontario. So.... About the greetings; most of the dolby samples were taken from the Greatest hits CD or Aliens ate My Buick Cassette and sampled and edited on the Emax keyboard. (note: most of the NIN-pretty hate machine LP was created on the same machine.). The snippets of Dolby songs were played into a Mac using Cubase with a Korg wavestation keyboard as the Slave. You will notice that the main rhythm track or "beat" is from "Pulp Culture". Other samples included are from "Hot-Sauce" & "The Flat Earth". I think I slipped some others in there but forget at the moment. The snippets of the melodies that I played in are pretty obvious I think but include; She Blinded me..., Europa, Budapest..., and Pulp Culture. Most of them were chosen randomly and then arranged with the samples using a lot of Cutting and pasting (I got to know the mac keystroke commands pretty well!). The synths were mixed onto 4 tracks to an 8-track Tascam 288, cassette unit. I then used tracks 5 & 6 for the greetings which I staggered and ultimately tried for a slight crossfade time between them. Notice the glitch before "the Rocky Mountain Contingents" message? Oooooops! What was I thinking? Why is that there? Sorry guys. Even schooled engineers make mistakes :) The mix was done well after 2am on a busy & super hectic day. By the time I finished I couldn't focus my eyes enough to find the off buttons in the studio so I left everything on!!! HAH! Over all I am happy with the mix with the exception of the "ducking" issue. The only compression in this mega-thousand dollar room was a shitty old TOA with banana plug inputs. Who the hell keeps Banana Plugs sitting around (I suppose anyone who purposefully buys leaky bananas right?)? So the mix as I say was all done manually with no extra effects and some slight equalization. The trickiest part of the whole excersise was balancing the messages as they all (24?) came from different sources! I had the same troubles with the first BD greetings mix. All in all I hope you all like the backing tunes and are satisfied with the way your voice was represented. Europa and the Pirate twins. THe arrangement for this is simple as Hell! I lifted it by seeking the roots and then expanded the chords. I always like to have fun with 7th chords as opposed to straight majors and minors so you will find it has a bit of a swingy sound to it. I originally was going to play it much faster but I liked the sound of my voice to it as a slower piece. The rest was improvised when I went into the studio in Sarnia. I used Adats for the recording and only used about 7 tracks. Everything was done on the first take pretty much with the exception being the melodic guitar line that plays the chorus bit. The guitar I used for that is a Don Carter original (Sarnia Luthier who has sold guitars to the likes of Slash from G&R and others) and the intonation was off. So, when I played the actual line it sounded out of tune against the Bm7 that I was playing, so I took the liberty of going to the E as opposed to a G note. It changes the mood a little but worked out okay (Thanks for the nod Thomas and thanks for not throwing your arms up and screaming "That's not how I bloody well wrote it!!!!"). I was actually going to arrange it full out with drums and bass as I did for "My Brain is like..." but as I said improvised with a djembe and shakers that just happened to be sitting at the studio. As far as the mix goes let me say that it sounded alot different in the room (which wasn't quite completed) that it was mixed in. When I played it at home (in London) I heard the Djembe a-howlin' away!! I called Stephen up in tears (well almost ;) and told him THat I was about to lose it and he offered to re-mix it (thank-you for that sir) but I said I would make do. Stephen did a fine job of subtracting some of those "middy howls" and now you all can here the results on the disc! Overall, I am pleased with the results and thrilled to know that Thomas didn't hate it! Thanks again for all the great notes; and to all those who curse me for it's catchyness, let me tell you that I am cursing /\/\iles & Lissu to what they have done to my Brain this week!!! Lot's of Love guys and keep the prod notes coming. 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: Tue, 11 May 1999 16:59:32 -0700 From: Kathleen Truelove Subject: Re: Alloy: Production notes... Ian, How can I get a copy of the Bday project CD?? I'll even pay money for it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to contribute to this masterpiece, but after hearing the rave reviews, I'm insatiably curious as to how it sounds. I myself have always to do a female version of 'Airhead'. Reversing the gender sung about. Anyway, let me know about the CD. Just got married by the way about three weeks ago and am still in a bit of a daze. Thanks!! Pax Aye, Kate;-) Ian Gifford wrote: > Hello, > > Thank you first to all for the kind welcomes etc. > > Thank-you to Thomas for his response (peed myself laughing at it -- oops is > this too much info? ;). I think he should know that my ancestry (before they > came from Scotland and Norway) were actually Hawaiian Conquistadors who had > a short history of raping and pillaging in the British Isles. I swear this > is true look it up and you will find that I am a distant cousin of Don Ho! > > Crackers, with all the nice things you keep saying about me, the alloy-ites > are going to think we are having an affair! Let's face it, as far as most of > the members are concerned London and Hamilton could be off-shoots of Toronto > as is the rest of South Western Ontario. > > So.... > > About the greetings; > > most of the dolby samples were taken from the Greatest hits CD or Aliens ate > My Buick Cassette and sampled and edited on the Emax keyboard. (note: most > of the NIN-pretty hate machine LP was created on the same machine.). The > snippets of Dolby songs were played into a Mac using Cubase with a Korg > wavestation keyboard as the Slave. You will notice that the main rhythm > track or "beat" is from "Pulp Culture". Other samples included are from > "Hot-Sauce" & "The Flat Earth". I think I slipped some others in there but > forget at the moment. The snippets of the melodies that I played in are > pretty obvious I think but include; She Blinded me..., Europa, Budapest..., > and Pulp Culture. > Most of them were chosen randomly and then arranged with the samples using a > lot of Cutting and pasting (I got to know the mac keystroke commands pretty > well!). The synths were mixed onto 4 tracks to an 8-track Tascam 288, > cassette unit. I then used tracks 5 & 6 for the greetings which I staggered > and ultimately tried for a slight crossfade time between them. Notice the > glitch before "the Rocky Mountain Contingents" message? Oooooops! What was I > thinking? Why is that there? Sorry guys. Even schooled engineers make > mistakes :) > The mix was done well after 2am on a busy & super hectic day. By the time I > finished I couldn't focus my eyes enough to find the off buttons in the > studio so I left everything on!!! HAH! Over all I am happy with the mix with > the exception of the "ducking" issue. The only compression in this > mega-thousand dollar room was a shitty old TOA with banana plug inputs. Who > the hell keeps Banana Plugs sitting around (I suppose anyone who > purposefully buys leaky bananas right?)? > So the mix as I say was all done manually with no extra effects and some > slight equalization. The trickiest part of the whole excersise was balancing > the messages as they all (24?) came from different sources! I had the same > troubles with the first BD greetings mix. All in all I hope you all like the > backing tunes and are satisfied with the way your voice was represented. > > Europa and the Pirate twins. > THe arrangement for this is simple as Hell! I lifted it by seeking the roots > and then expanded the chords. I always like to have fun with 7th chords as > opposed to straight majors and minors so you will find it has a bit of a > swingy sound to it. I originally was going to play it much faster but I > liked the sound of my voice to it as a slower piece. The rest was improvised > when I went into the studio in Sarnia. I used Adats for the recording and > only used about 7 tracks. Everything was done on the first take pretty much > with the exception being the melodic guitar line that plays the chorus bit. > The guitar I used for that is a Don Carter original (Sarnia Luthier who has > sold guitars to the likes of Slash from G&R and others) and the intonation > was off. So, when I played the actual line it sounded out of tune against > the Bm7 that I was playing, so I took the liberty of going to the E as > opposed to a G note. It changes the mood a little but worked out okay > (Thanks for the nod Thomas and thanks for not throwing your arms up and > screaming "That's not how I bloody well wrote it!!!!"). I was actually going > to arrange it full out with drums and bass as I did for "My Brain is > like..." but as I said improvised with a djembe and shakers that just > happened to be sitting at the studio. As far as the mix goes let me say that > it sounded alot different in the room (which wasn't quite completed) that it > was mixed in. When I played it at home (in London) I heard the Djembe > a-howlin' away!! I called Stephen up in tears (well almost ;) and told him > THat I was about to lose it and he offered to re-mix it (thank-you for that > sir) but I said I would make do. Stephen did a fine job of subtracting some > of those "middy howls" and now you all can here the results on the disc! > > Overall, I am pleased with the results and thrilled to know that Thomas > didn't hate it! Thanks again for all the great notes; and to all those who > curse me for it's catchyness, let me tell you that I am cursing /\/\iles & > Lissu to what they have done to my Brain this week!!! > > Lot's of Love guys and keep the prod notes coming. > > 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: Tue, 11 May 1999 18:54:11 -0600 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: Production notes... Kate, Although not as nice sounding as the CD, you can listen to the work at: http://www.keith.stansell.com/flattery.htm - -Keith - ----- Original Message ----- From: Kathleen Truelove To: Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 1999 5:59 PM Subject: Re: Alloy: Production notes... > > Ian, > How can I get a copy of the Bday project CD?? I'll even pay money for it. > Unfortunately, I wasn't able to contribute to this masterpiece, but after > hearing the rave reviews, I'm insatiably curious as to how it sounds. I myself > have always to do a female version of 'Airhead'. Reversing the gender sung > about. Anyway, let me know about the CD. Just got married by the way about three > weeks ago and am still in a bit of a daze. Thanks!! > > Pax Aye, > Kate;-) > > Ian Gifford wrote: > > > Hello, > > > > Thank you first to all for the kind welcomes etc. > > > > Thank-you to Thomas for his response (peed myself laughing at it -- oops is > > this too much info? ;). I think he should know that my ancestry (before they > > came from Scotland and Norway) were actually Hawaiian Conquistadors who had > > a short history of raping and pillaging in the British Isles. I swear this > > is true look it up and you will find that I am a distant cousin of Don Ho! > > > > Crackers, with all the nice things you keep saying about me, the alloy-ites > > are going to think we are having an affair! Let's face it, as far as most of > > the members are concerned London and Hamilton could be off-shoots of Toronto > > as is the rest of South Western Ontario. > > > > So.... > > > > About the greetings; > > > > most of the dolby samples were taken from the Greatest hits CD or Aliens ate > > My Buick Cassette and sampled and edited on the Emax keyboard. (note: most > > of the NIN-pretty hate machine LP was created on the same machine.). The > > snippets of Dolby songs were played into a Mac using Cubase with a Korg > > wavestation keyboard as the Slave. You will notice that the main rhythm > > track or "beat" is from "Pulp Culture". Other samples included are from > > "Hot-Sauce" & "The Flat Earth". I think I slipped some others in there but > > forget at the moment. The snippets of the melodies that I played in are > > pretty obvious I think but include; She Blinded me..., Europa, Budapest..., > > and Pulp Culture. > > Most of them were chosen randomly and then arranged with the samples using a > > lot of Cutting and pasting (I got to know the mac keystroke commands pretty > > well!). The synths were mixed onto 4 tracks to an 8-track Tascam 288, > > cassette unit. I then used tracks 5 & 6 for the greetings which I staggered > > and ultimately tried for a slight crossfade time between them. Notice the > > glitch before "the Rocky Mountain Contingents" message? Oooooops! What was I > > thinking? Why is that there? Sorry guys. Even schooled engineers make > > mistakes :) > > The mix was done well after 2am on a busy & super hectic day. By the time I > > finished I couldn't focus my eyes enough to find the off buttons in the > > studio so I left everything on!!! HAH! Over all I am happy with the mix with > > the exception of the "ducking" issue. The only compression in this > > mega-thousand dollar room was a shitty old TOA with banana plug inputs. Who > > the hell keeps Banana Plugs sitting around (I suppose anyone who > > purposefully buys leaky bananas right?)? > > So the mix as I say was all done manually with no extra effects and some > > slight equalization. The trickiest part of the whole excersise was balancing > > the messages as they all (24?) came from different sources! I had the same > > troubles with the first BD greetings mix. All in all I hope you all like the > > backing tunes and are satisfied with the way your voice was represented. > > > > Europa and the Pirate twins. > > THe arrangement for this is simple as Hell! I lifted it by seeking the roots > > and then expanded the chords. I always like to have fun with 7th chords as > > opposed to straight majors and minors so you will find it has a bit of a > > swingy sound to it. I originally was going to play it much faster but I > > liked the sound of my voice to it as a slower piece. The rest was improvised > > when I went into the studio in Sarnia. I used Adats for the recording and > > only used about 7 tracks. Everything was done on the first take pretty much > > with the exception being the melodic guitar line that plays the chorus bit. > > The guitar I used for that is a Don Carter original (Sarnia Luthier who has > > sold guitars to the likes of Slash from G&R and others) and the intonation > > was off. So, when I played the actual line it sounded out of tune against > > the Bm7 that I was playing, so I took the liberty of going to the E as > > opposed to a G note. It changes the mood a little but worked out okay > > (Thanks for the nod Thomas and thanks for not throwing your arms up and > > screaming "That's not how I bloody well wrote it!!!!"). I was actually going > > to arrange it full out with drums and bass as I did for "My Brain is > > like..." but as I said improvised with a djembe and shakers that just > > happened to be sitting at the studio. As far as the mix goes let me say that > > it sounded alot different in the room (which wasn't quite completed) that it > > was mixed in. When I played it at home (in London) I heard the Djembe > > a-howlin' away!! I called Stephen up in tears (well almost ;) and told him > > THat I was about to lose it and he offered to re-mix it (thank-you for that > > sir) but I said I would make do. Stephen did a fine job of subtracting some > > of those "middy howls" and now you all can here the results on the disc! > > > > Overall, I am pleased with the results and thrilled to know that Thomas > > didn't hate it! Thanks again for all the great notes; and to all those who > > curse me for it's catchyness, let me tell you that I am cursing /\/\iles & > > Lissu to what they have done to my Brain this week!!! > > > > Lot's of Love guys and keep the prod notes coming. > > > > 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: Tue, 11 May 1999 19:27:37 -0600 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: Flattery Earth > Beth wrote: > > 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... > > To which Stephen added: > >......Let the record show, for all future reference, that The Flattery > Earth was co-produced by myself *and* Keith Stansell. - ------------------------ To which I reply: Thanks guys, I appreciate it. I'll put the $10.00 in the mail. Burning 80 CD's is not something I wish to do again soon, but it was definitely a labor of love. For those curious about the technicalities, Beth Meyer sent me scanned images of Dennis Alexander's vinyl copy of The Flat Earth. I purchased an Oreo ice cream cake from King Sooper's bakery (grocery store bakery) and scraped the Oreo's off the top and topped it with approximately 40 birthday candles I balanced the cake on my knees while capturing still images with a Connextix Quick Cam on my computer. I adjusted the cake and camera until the angle of the cake matched the pan TMDR is holding on the TFE cover. I then lit the candles and took another shot. Luckily, there is a window to the left of my computer and the late afternoon light coming through it had the same quality and color as the light on TMDR's shirt in the TFE photo.. The cake remained in my freezer and some of it was consumed on October 14th in honor of the man. I used Paint Shop Pro V4.0 to edit the images and insert the cake into the TFE photo. The layout and design for the cover is based on the look of the vinyl album cover, which is much more detailed than the CD cover. The Alloy Records logo is based on the Capital Records logo with the capital dome replaced by the Aliens taken from Cracker's work last year. The small unreadable text in the logo is www.smoe.org The image behind the credits is a layout sheet I found on the internet for submitting artwork to a CD pressing plant. The liner notes, back listing, and CD labels were created using the software that came with my CD Stomper labeler system. I made the CD copies using an HP 7200i CD Recorder using Goldenhawk software(http://www.goldenhawk.com) That's the details. Thanks to Stephen for providing the liner notes in a cut-n-paste-able format. Thanks to Beth for the great scans, thanks to Dennis for loaning Beth the Album. - -Keith ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 23:54:38 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Alloy: hello again, and Flattery Earth I've looked at my Alloy digests today & wanted to drop a line to thank everyone for such good advice & kind thoughts toward my mom's recovery. I'm glad to say she's beginning to improve & regain some degree of strength. She still has a long road in front of her but having made it through so much already, she seems much more optimistic in facing the rest of it. All of you here are wonderful for being so supportive. Thanks for having my family in your thoughts. I'm also truly overjoyed to have read how much Thomas enjoyed his birthday cd's! I was sorry to hear about Kathleen's fan letter though :( How much nicer it would've been if all the inmates had gotten together with some film equipment & re-dramatized some of her Dynasty scenes for her birthday (oh no, the idea is beginning to take form & I'm suddenly yearning to get my hands on some Dynasty footage & a video camera myself, somebody stop me pleeeease) I can't wait to see what Thomas' surprise for us turns out to be :) Suspense! Robin T ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V4 #140 ***************************