From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V11 #27 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, January 31 2006 Volume 11 : Number 027 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: Audio Blues [Patrick McMillan ] Alloy: Flat Earth & Tape Decks ["Andy Venables" ] Alloy: Back from L.A. [Melissa Jordan ] Re: Alloy: Back from L.A. ["Keith Stansell" ] Re: Alloy: Back from L.A. [Melissa Jordan ] Alloy: He Blinded Us with Science [Elaine ] Re: Alloy: Back from L.A. ["Keith Stansell" ] Re: Alloy: Back from L.A. [Elaine ] Re: Alloy: Back from L.A. [Patrick McMillan ] Re: Alloy: He Blinded Us with Science ["Keith Stansell" ] Re: Alloy: Audio Blues ["Keith Stansell" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 22:59:33 -0800 From: Patrick McMillan Subject: Alloy: Audio Blues Whoo hoo! Yeah Anaheim sound guy! Damn! I should have gone there too. So I move that we campaign to let you mix the new shows. (We can take up a collection for your fees.) And we can rest assured that the work of our man is in loving hands. Send on the techie stuff! Since I got back last night I was inspired to plug an old Casio midi keyboard into my "Garageband" graced Apple laptop and have been having tremendous fun trying to figure out how the hell he does it. Any insight will be appreciated. I noticed that Thomas uses Logic Pro 7 http://www.apple.com/logicpro/ (a distant relative of Garageband). But that's where the comparisons stop. He has such mastery of this stuff. He makes it look easy, fun, and has managed to turn programming into a performance piece! There is genius there. But we already knew that. :) On Jan 29, 2006, at 9:51 PM, John McJunkin wrote: > > Patrick--as a professional audio engineer myself, I must concur. I > could have mixed the show better with ice-picks in my ears. Did > you see the Anaheim show? WAAAYY better. Also, TMDR was having > some serious microphone-connector problems, which may have been the > source of the troubles with his vocoder. I am going to attempt to > provide a technical overview of what I saw at both shows for anyone > else who's as gonzo over the tekkie stuff as I am. Still have > goosebumps on Sunday night. > > John ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 07:12:23 -0500 From: "Andy Venables" Subject: Alloy: Flat Earth & Tape Decks Thomas was way ahead of Bill Gates as usual.. :o) "Why Bill Gates believes the world is flat" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4660244.stm - Funny how I mentioned ye olde tape decks recently - - now a rather good BBC drama 'Life On Mars' about a cop 'time travelling' (actually just a weird coma) back to 1973 featured my old tape recorder! I'm pretty sure it was a new model when I got one for my birthday in 1980-ish, so I think they were a few years out. I used it with Sinclair ZX-80/81/Spectrums, but someone else noticed it too on comp.sys.acorn.misc (search http://groups.google.co.uk/ for : "1973" + "tape recorder" + "life on mars" ) and they've put up a pic : http://www.druck.plus.com/RISCOS/LifeOnMars.jpg - - funny to see the old piece of junk again! Andy - -- ___________________________________________________ Play 100s of games for FREE! http://games.mail.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 08:16:23 -0800 (PST) From: Melissa Jordan Subject: Alloy: Back from L.A. I started to write a message last night, but I nearly fell asleep at the keyboard and just gave up. I'm slightly more alert this morning. :-) It was not only a delight to hear Thomas perform on Friday night, it was also so wonderful to finally meet some of you fine folks for the very first time! I wish the night had not been quite so delayed (thanks a heap, HOB, for extending the wait by an hour), otherwise I would have loved to have gone to a coffee shop and decompressed with y'all. (As it was, my head was lolling to one side by the time English Beat hit the stage - we heard "Mirror in the Bathroom" and left.) It sounds like those of you who were in Anaheim had a blast. I'm envious, but my feet and back couldn't have taken it. As it is, I took a sick day today to try to help my tootsies heal. (A little time on the ocean on Saturday was most therapeutic, I have to say.) I'm still riding high off of seeing Thomas beaming down at us. What a great feeling. Best to you all, Melissa J. http://merujo.blogspot.com - --------------------------------- Bring words and photos together (easily) with PhotoMail - it's free and works with Yahoo! Mail. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 09:50:36 -0700 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: Back from L.A. Melissa, it was great to meet you and the rest of the group. I had a great weekend as well and I'm pretty groggy this morning (and I only crossed one time zone). There are some more cruddy cell phone pictures up on flickr and a clear group photo of old and current Alloy folks. The bald guy with glasses on the far right was the winner of the 2001 Tommy Awards. Thanks again everyone for a great time. See you again sometime I hope. - -Keith weekend photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sole_i/ - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Melissa Jordan" To: Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 9:16 AM Subject: Alloy: Back from L.A. > > I started to write a message last night, but I nearly fell asleep at the > keyboard and just gave up. I'm slightly more alert this morning. :-) > > It was not only a delight to hear Thomas perform on Friday night, it was > also so wonderful to finally meet some of you fine folks for the very > first time! I wish the night had not been quite so delayed (thanks a > heap, HOB, for extending the wait by an hour), otherwise I would have > loved to have gone to a coffee shop and decompressed with y'all. (As it > was, my head was lolling to one side by the time English Beat hit the > stage - we heard "Mirror in the Bathroom" and left.) > > It sounds like those of you who were in Anaheim had a blast. I'm > envious, but my feet and back couldn't have taken it. As it is, I took a > sick day today to try to help my tootsies heal. (A little time on the > ocean on Saturday was most therapeutic, I have to say.) > > I'm still riding high off of seeing Thomas beaming down at us. What a > great feeling. > > Best to you all, > > Melissa J. > http://merujo.blogspot.com > > > > > --------------------------------- > Bring words and photos together (easily) with > PhotoMail - it's free and works with Yahoo! Mail. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 11:06:46 -0800 (PST) From: Melissa Jordan Subject: Re: Alloy: Back from L.A. Keith - your photo #018 from the 28th? I was just telling James how totally cool I thought that shot was. The eeiry quality of the cell phone photo, with the blue tones - it's a great image. Were I you, I'd send that one to TMDR. Glad I'm not the only groggy one. :-) Cheers, Melissa http://merujo.blogspot.com Keith Stansell wrote: Melissa, it was great to meet you and the rest of the group. I had a great weekend as well and I'm pretty groggy this morning (and I only crossed one time zone). There are some more cruddy cell phone pictures up on flickr and a clear group photo of old and current Alloy folks. The bald guy with glasses on the far right was the winner of the 2001 Tommy Awards. Thanks again everyone for a great time. See you again sometime I hope. - -Keith weekend photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sole_i/ - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Melissa Jordan" To: Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 9:16 AM Subject: Alloy: Back from L.A. > > I started to write a message last night, but I nearly fell asleep at the > keyboard and just gave up. I'm slightly more alert this morning. :-) > > It was not only a delight to hear Thomas perform on Friday night, it was > also so wonderful to finally meet some of you fine folks for the very > first time! I wish the night had not been quite so delayed (thanks a > heap, HOB, for extending the wait by an hour), otherwise I would have > loved to have gone to a coffee shop and decompressed with y'all. (As it > was, my head was lolling to one side by the time English Beat hit the > stage - we heard "Mirror in the Bathroom" and left.) > > It sounds like those of you who were in Anaheim had a blast. I'm > envious, but my feet and back couldn't have taken it. As it is, I took a > sick day today to try to help my tootsies heal. (A little time on the > ocean on Saturday was most therapeutic, I have to say.) > > I'm still riding high off of seeing Thomas beaming down at us. What a > great feeling. > > Best to you all, > > Melissa J. > http://merujo.blogspot.com > > > > > --------------------------------- > Bring words and photos together (easily) with > PhotoMail - it's free and works with Yahoo! Mail. - --------------------------------- What are the most popular cars? Find out at Yahoo! Autos ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 11:58:50 -0800 (PST) From: Elaine Subject: Alloy: He Blinded Us with Science Wow!! It's nearly noon on Monday and I'm just starting to be able to process that wonderful weekend. I can't believe I saw Thomas play twice, got to shake his hand and thank him personally, and met all of you wonderful people in the process. The shows were so much fun. Patrick, I'm sorry we didn't catch up with you. By 7, we were already outside in line. photo here! http://www.qnet.com/~elaine/sunset.jpg I wish we had met up! By the time the shows got started, it was so crowded, we could barely keep track of people we'd already met. You're all correct about the sound problems. I didn't really think about it at the time, as I was just too thrilled to be there and too happy about seeing Thomas perform. I didn't realize how bad the sound was until the next night, which was so much better by comparison. To recap, we were told that the Sunset show was delayed due to a change in the show order. The 8 p.m. show was delayed til 9:30, and, according to Lunesse (whom I met on Saturday night finally), it was due to Dramarama wanting to go on second, yet not being ready to perform til 10. Something like that. Anyway, Thomas insisted on 9:30, because it was getting to be a ridiculous time issue of course, and he wanted to go on. Maybe all of this contributed to the audio issues, I don't know. Maybe that distorted blob-sound is the way Sunset attendees like it. Maybe it's always that way. Anyway, we staked out our stage area and stayed there. Thomas's show was incredible! Then there was a long break, then Dramarama played for two hours, and it was just about all I could take to find a corner in the back of the house and wait it out. Their fans seemed to dig them. I'll just leave it at that. :) So, English Beat came out around midnight. They really put on a good show! Dave Wakeling's a pretty sexy guy. I liked the banter he provided between songs. One characteristic I noticed at both shows: there was a gaggle of slim, blonde party girls who try to muscle everyone else out of the way, and bop front-and-center. Since they were polite about letting us have Thomas, I gave them some room on Saturday night. But I still stayed, because I knew Thomas was planning to encore. :) Anyway, back to Friday, we didn't know how long the EB set was, nor whether Thomas would be reappearing, so we all took off in the 1:30 a.m. range. Turns out, he did "New Toy" with them at about 1:40, according to him. Luckily, we got to see that at Anaheim. The order was Thomas/Beat/Dramarama there, and all of us oldsters were extremely grateful. The show also started on time, and the audio problems were gone. I really wish everyone could have seen that show, especially Patrick! My little girl turns 9 this week, so I will call this the best weekend I've had in 8.5 years, far and away! Keith, Russ, Warren..we need to recap the details from Thomas. I know he said he's hoping to put together some west coast shows in April and east coast shows in May. He's going to play at Hyde Park in London in either June or July. I'd say 2006 is shaping up to be a fabulous year for music from our favorite! This is getting long. Before I go, I wanted to ask if anyone got the name of the girl and her husband who joined us Saturday night? She was petite and cute as a button, with freckles on her nose and a huge smile? I wanted to contact her at the other forum but didn't get her name. E ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 12:56:43 -0700 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: Back from L.A. That one ( http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=92489518&size=o ) came out surprisingly well considering the optics and such on the phone. It is my favorite too. I'll send it. - -Keith - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Melissa Jordan" To: Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 12:06 PM Subject: Re: Alloy: Back from L.A. > > Keith - your photo #018 from the 28th? I was just telling James how > totally cool I thought that shot was. The eeiry quality of the cell phone > photo, with the blue tones - it's a great image. Were I you, I'd send > that one to TMDR. > > Glad I'm not the only groggy one. :-) > > Cheers, > > Melissa > http://merujo.blogspot.com > > Keith Stansell wrote: > Melissa, it was great to meet you and the rest of the group. I had a > great > weekend as well and I'm pretty groggy this morning (and I only crossed one > time zone). > > There are some more cruddy cell phone pictures up on flickr and a clear > group photo of old and current Alloy folks. The bald guy with glasses on > the far right was the winner of the 2001 Tommy Awards. > > Thanks again everyone for a great time. See you again sometime I hope. > > -Keith > weekend photos: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/sole_i/ > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Melissa Jordan" > To: > Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 9:16 AM > Subject: Alloy: Back from L.A. > > >> >> I started to write a message last night, but I nearly fell asleep at the >> keyboard and just gave up. I'm slightly more alert this morning. :-) >> >> It was not only a delight to hear Thomas perform on Friday night, it >> was >> also so wonderful to finally meet some of you fine folks for the very >> first time! I wish the night had not been quite so delayed (thanks a >> heap, HOB, for extending the wait by an hour), otherwise I would have >> loved to have gone to a coffee shop and decompressed with y'all. (As it >> was, my head was lolling to one side by the time English Beat hit the >> stage - we heard "Mirror in the Bathroom" and left.) >> >> It sounds like those of you who were in Anaheim had a blast. I'm >> envious, but my feet and back couldn't have taken it. As it is, I took a >> sick day today to try to help my tootsies heal. (A little time on the >> ocean on Saturday was most therapeutic, I have to say.) >> >> I'm still riding high off of seeing Thomas beaming down at us. What a >> great feeling. >> >> Best to you all, >> >> Melissa J. >> http://merujo.blogspot.com >> >> >> >> >> --------------------------------- >> Bring words and photos together (easily) with >> PhotoMail - it's free and works with Yahoo! Mail. > > > > > --------------------------------- > > What are the most popular cars? Find out at Yahoo! Autos ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 13:46:30 -0800 (PST) From: Elaine Subject: Re: Alloy: Back from L.A. Love that screen capture, Keith. That's a great shot. The group photo underneath is kinda goofy. I wondered why our photographer kept telling me to scooch in, when there was obviously plenty of room. Oh well :) That photo was taken post-concert, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I was all sweaty from the midstage area. What fun!! How long did you guys hang out at Downtown Disney Saturday night? > Thanks again everyone for a great time. See you again sometime I hope. > -Keith > weekend photos: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/sole_i/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 14:09:43 -0800 From: Patrick McMillan Subject: Re: Alloy: Back from L.A. Wonderful shot! Thanks Keith! Patrick McMillan On Jan 30, 2006, at 11:56 AM, Keith Stansell wrote: > > That one ( http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne? > id=92489518&size=o ) came out surprisingly well considering the > optics and such on the phone. It is my favorite too. > > I'll send it. > > -Keith > > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Melissa Jordan" > > To: > Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 12:06 PM > Subject: Re: Alloy: Back from L.A. > > >> >> Keith - your photo #018 from the 28th? I was just telling James >> how totally cool I thought that shot was. The eeiry quality of >> the cell phone photo, with the blue tones - it's a great image. >> Were I you, I'd send that one to TMDR. >> >> Glad I'm not the only groggy one. :-) >> >> Cheers, >> >> Melissa >> http://merujo.blogspot.com >> >> Keith Stansell wrote: >> Melissa, it was great to meet you and the rest of the group. I >> had a great >> weekend as well and I'm pretty groggy this morning (and I only >> crossed one >> time zone). >> >> There are some more cruddy cell phone pictures up on flickr and a >> clear >> group photo of old and current Alloy folks. The bald guy with >> glasses on >> the far right was the winner of the 2001 Tommy Awards. >> >> Thanks again everyone for a great time. See you again sometime I >> hope. >> >> -Keith >> weekend photos: >> http://www.flickr.com/photos/sole_i/ >> >> >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Melissa Jordan" >> To: >> Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 9:16 AM >> Subject: Alloy: Back from L.A. >> >> >>> >>> I started to write a message last night, but I nearly fell >>> asleep at the >>> keyboard and just gave up. I'm slightly more alert this >>> morning. :-) >>> >>> It was not only a delight to hear Thomas perform on Friday >>> night, it was >>> also so wonderful to finally meet some of you fine folks for the >>> very >>> first time! I wish the night had not been quite so delayed >>> (thanks a >>> heap, HOB, for extending the wait by an hour), otherwise I would >>> have >>> loved to have gone to a coffee shop and decompressed with y'all. >>> (As it >>> was, my head was lolling to one side by the time English Beat hit >>> the >>> stage - we heard "Mirror in the Bathroom" and left.) >>> >>> It sounds like those of you who were in Anaheim had a blast. I'm >>> envious, but my feet and back couldn't have taken it. As it is, I >>> took a >>> sick day today to try to help my tootsies heal. (A little time on >>> the >>> ocean on Saturday was most therapeutic, I have to say.) >>> >>> I'm still riding high off of seeing Thomas beaming down at us. >>> What a >>> great feeling. >>> >>> Best to you all, >>> >>> Melissa J. >>> http://merujo.blogspot.com >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> --------------------------------- >>> Bring words and photos together (easily) with >>> PhotoMail - it's free and works with Yahoo! Mail. >> >> >> >> >> --------------------------------- >> >> What are the most popular cars? Find out at Yahoo! Autos ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 13:49:04 -0700 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: He Blinded Us with Science > Keith, Russ, Warren..we need to recap the details from Thomas. I know he > said he's hoping to put together some west coast shows in April and east > coast shows in May. He's going to play at Hyde Park in London in either > June or July. I'd say 2006 is shaping up to be a fabulous year for music > from our favorite! I was so amazed that Thomas was just sitting down next to me like one of the gang that I think I forgot most of what was said. I do remember one detail. I asked him about a the DVD copies of the Live Wireless and Golden Age of Video LaserDiscs that I made for him a few years back and if they would still play. He said they didn't, but I didn't need to send him new copies beause there is a likely official release in the works. He said it would have more stuff on it than the originals and include some new (new?!) things as well. We suggested that he should put out a box set - he joked and said - well, it would be a really small box. Oh - and FYI, those curious about what type of cell phone the former Cheif Beatnik uses - It is a Sidekick II. > > This is getting long. Before I go, I wanted to ask if anyone got the name > of the girl and her husband who joined us Saturday night? She was petite > and cute as a button, with freckles on her nose and a huge smile? I > wanted to contact her at the other forum but didn't get her name. > > E > She was cute as a button and I never got their names. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 13:55:26 -0700 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: He Blinded Us with Science Those ads on flickr are pretty clever. This was showing on the page with my pictures: http://www.warnervideo.com/ogwt/ I think this DVD was available in the UK, but is now in the US. - -Keith - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Elaine" To: Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 12:58 PM Subject: Alloy: He Blinded Us with Science > > Wow!! It's nearly noon on Monday and I'm just starting to be able to > process that wonderful weekend. I can't believe I saw Thomas play twice, > got to shake his hand and thank him personally, and met all of you > wonderful people in the process. > > The shows were so much fun. Patrick, I'm sorry we didn't catch up with > you. By 7, we were already outside in line. > > photo here! http://www.qnet.com/~elaine/sunset.jpg > > I wish we had met up! By the time the shows got started, it was so > crowded, we could barely keep track of people we'd already met. You're > all correct about the sound problems. I didn't really think about it at > the time, as I was just too thrilled to be there and too happy about > seeing Thomas perform. I didn't realize how bad the sound was until the > next night, which was so much better by comparison. > > To recap, we were told that the Sunset show was delayed due to a change in > the show order. The 8 p.m. show was delayed til 9:30, and, according to > Lunesse (whom I met on Saturday night finally), it was due to Dramarama > wanting to go on second, yet not being ready to perform til 10. > Something like that. Anyway, Thomas insisted on 9:30, because it was > getting to be a ridiculous time issue of course, and he wanted to go on. > Maybe all of this contributed to the audio issues, I don't know. Maybe > that distorted blob-sound is the way Sunset attendees like it. Maybe it's > always that way. Anyway, we staked out our stage area and stayed there. > Thomas's show was incredible! Then there was a long break, then Dramarama > played for two hours, and it was just about all I could take to find a > corner in the back of the house and wait it out. Their fans seemed to dig > them. I'll just leave it at that. :) > > So, English Beat came out around midnight. They really put on a good > show! Dave Wakeling's a pretty sexy guy. I liked the banter he provided > between songs. One characteristic I noticed at both shows: there was a > gaggle of slim, blonde party girls who try to muscle everyone else out of > the way, and bop front-and-center. Since they were polite about letting > us have Thomas, I gave them some room on Saturday night. But I still > stayed, because I knew Thomas was planning to encore. :) > > Anyway, back to Friday, we didn't know how long the EB set was, nor > whether Thomas would be reappearing, so we all took off in the 1:30 a.m. > range. Turns out, he did "New Toy" with them at about 1:40, according to > him. Luckily, we got to see that at Anaheim. The order was > Thomas/Beat/Dramarama there, and all of us oldsters were extremely > grateful. The show also started on time, and the audio problems were > gone. I really wish everyone could have seen that show, especially > Patrick! > > My little girl turns 9 this week, so I will call this the best weekend > I've had in 8.5 years, far and away! > > Keith, Russ, Warren..we need to recap the details from Thomas. I know he > said he's hoping to put together some west coast shows in April and east > coast shows in May. He's going to play at Hyde Park in London in either > June or July. I'd say 2006 is shaping up to be a fabulous year for music > from our favorite! > > This is getting long. Before I go, I wanted to ask if anyone got the name > of the girl and her husband who joined us Saturday night? She was petite > and cute as a button, with freckles on her nose and a huge smile? I > wanted to contact her at the other forum but didn't get her name. > > E ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 19:40:33 -0700 From: John McJunkin Subject: Re: Alloy: Audio Blues OK--going from memory only, here's what I saw onstage: Thomas Dolby Live California 2006 Gear List Controllers - -CME Pro UF7 Midi Controller - -Novation X-Station x25 - -Nord Lead (2 or 3) Synth - -M-Audio Trigger Finger MIDI Drum Control Surface Rack-Mounted Sound Modules - -Nord Rack 3 - -Roland JV-series Synth (1080? 2080? 5080?) - -Muse Research Receptor VST Host (probably V 1.4) Pre-Amps/Signal Processors/Interfaces - -Presonus Firepod - -ART TPS II Tube Mic Pre - -MOTU MIDI Interface (model unknown-probably a MIDI Express) - -Yamaha Time-Based Processor (model unknown) Computer/Software - -Apple Macintosh G5 (probably a big bad Quad) - -Apple Logic Pro 7 (and he was using several soft instruments here) Elsewhere On Stage - -Doepfer MAQ 16/3 MIDI/Analog Sequencer - -Simpson Signal Generator (Vintagemodel unknown) - -Alsoa second signal generatorbrand & model unknown - -AAAAAND . . . . . some REALLY COOL-LOOKING signal-generator-type box from which emanated a greenish Limelight (gotta have that onstage!) Apparently he used this to create the really cool squeal effect in the Hyperactive sequence. Wow. Thomas--if you're lurking, I simply MUST know what that beast is!!! I missed you at the pre-show dinner with the Alloy group on Saturday in Anaheim whilst taking care of the babysitting arrangements, else I'd have asked you then. There were a handful of other things in the rack that slip my mind, but seems like this was all the important stuff. Logic is excellent for live performance (Peter Gabriel's been using it for quite some time) and TMDR used it VERY effectively. My wife is still in disbelief that anyone would be crazy . . . er . . . brave enough to do that type of sequencing live onstage! Must be all the horror stories I've told her about wrestling with sequencers in a live setting. As I've said before, the Sunset audio was simply not good. (and Mr. Dolby, if you handled the mix yourself and fed it to front-of-house, a MILLION apologies, but there were any number of things that just were not right.) The hot level of the vocoder was distracting, and the overall spectral content was lacking in the high end, a bit bass- heavy, and just not bright enough. There were synth parts that needed to be significantly louder as well. The bass was actually quite punchy and nice (sounded like real analog!) but a bit overdone. The audio at Anaheim was markedly better. I LOVED the chorusing of the vocal on "every place is just the same isn't it," and the fed-back flanging/chorusing of the vocal on other parts. Vocoder sounded much better, but still a little hot. I have been waiting for a very very long time to see TMDR live, and I am still so thrilled I can't wrap my mind around it. It hasn't all hit me yet, but I'm sure I'll run my car off the road when it does. I am now inspired to come back home and dig in with a major refurb of my studio so I can get creative again. And Thomas, again if you're lurking, I want to remix you! Especially any new material that may emerge, nudge nudge wink wink. Simply blown away--I don't know what else to say. For those of you who didn't get to go--pawn your grandmother, take a third mortgage, sell your children for medical experiments (ok--maybe not THAT) but do ANYTHING necessary to get out to see Mr. Dolby when he tours soon. (Just ask Keith the Sole Inhabitant about my powers of persuasion!) Oh, and I INSIST that Phoenix be included in the tour, Thomas. OK? Please? It was great to meet all you Alloyites--looking forward to other future shows with you all. Best, John McJunkin On Jan 29, 2006, at 11:59 PM, Patrick McMillan wrote: > > Whoo hoo! > Yeah Anaheim sound guy! Damn! I should have gone there too. > > So I move that we campaign to let you mix the new shows. (We can > take up a collection for your fees.) And we can rest assured that > the work of our man is in loving hands. > Send on the techie stuff! Since I got back last night I was > inspired to plug an old Casio midi keyboard into my "Garageband" > graced Apple laptop and have been having tremendous fun trying to > figure out how the hell he does it. Any insight will be > appreciated. I noticed that Thomas uses Logic Pro 7 http:// > www.apple.com/logicpro/ > (a distant relative of Garageband). But that's where the > comparisons stop. He has such mastery of this stuff. He makes it > look easy, fun, and has managed to turn programming into a > performance piece! There is genius there. But we already knew that. :) > > On Jan 29, 2006, at 9:51 PM, John McJunkin wrote: > >> >> Patrick--as a professional audio engineer myself, I must concur. >> I could have mixed the show better with ice-picks in my ears. Did >> you see the Anaheim show? WAAAYY better. Also, TMDR was having >> some serious microphone-connector problems, which may have been >> the source of the troubles with his vocoder. I am going to >> attempt to provide a technical overview of what I saw at both >> shows for anyone else who's as gonzo over the tekkie stuff as I >> am. Still have goosebumps on Sunday night. >> >> John ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 19:56:19 -0700 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: Audio Blues John, The group of us that met the man before the show did get a little inside information on the old equipment. He didn't say what they were, but he mentioned in passing (I don't even remember the context now) that he had a friend that retro fits the old equipment with midi controllers. So when he tweaks the old equipment, it is really a midi trigger thing going on. Clever huh. - -Keith - ----- Original Message ----- From: "John McJunkin" To: Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 7:40 PM Subject: Re: Alloy: Audio Blues > > OK--going from memory only, here's what I saw onstage: > > Thomas Dolby Live California 2006 Gear List > > Controllers > -CME Pro UF7 Midi Controller > -Novation X-Station x25 > -Nord Lead (2 or 3) Synth > -M-Audio Trigger Finger MIDI Drum Control Surface > > Rack-Mounted Sound Modules > -Nord Rack 3 > -Roland JV-series Synth (1080? 2080? 5080?) > -Muse Research Receptor VST Host (probably V 1.4) > > Pre-Amps/Signal Processors/Interfaces > -Presonus Firepod > -ART TPS II Tube Mic Pre > -MOTU MIDI Interface (model unknown-probably a MIDI Express) > -Yamaha Time-Based Processor (model unknown) > > Computer/Software > -Apple Macintosh G5 (probably a big bad Quad) > -Apple Logic Pro 7 (and he was using several soft instruments here) > > Elsewhere On Stage > -Doepfer MAQ 16/3 MIDI/Analog Sequencer > -Simpson Signal Generator (Vintagemodel unknown) > -Alsoa second signal generatorbrand & model unknown > > -AAAAAND . . . . . some REALLY COOL-LOOKING signal-generator-type box > from which emanated a greenish Limelight (gotta have that onstage!) > Apparently he used this to create the really cool squeal effect in the > Hyperactive sequence. Wow. > > Thomas--if you're lurking, I simply MUST know what that beast is!!! I > missed you at the pre-show dinner with the Alloy group on Saturday in > Anaheim whilst taking care of the babysitting arrangements, else I'd have > asked you then. > > There were a handful of other things in the rack that slip my mind, but > seems like this was all the important stuff. Logic is excellent for live > performance (Peter Gabriel's been using it for quite some time) and TMDR > used it VERY effectively. My wife is still in disbelief that anyone > would be crazy . . . er . . . brave enough to do that type of sequencing > live onstage! Must be all the horror stories I've told her about > wrestling with sequencers in a live setting. > > As I've said before, the Sunset audio was simply not good. (and Mr. > Dolby, if you handled the mix yourself and fed it to front-of-house, a > MILLION apologies, but there were any number of things that just were not > right.) The hot level of the vocoder was distracting, and the overall > spectral content was lacking in the high end, a bit bass- heavy, and just > not bright enough. There were synth parts that needed to be > significantly louder as well. The bass was actually quite punchy and > nice (sounded like real analog!) but a bit overdone. The audio at > Anaheim was markedly better. I LOVED the chorusing of the vocal on > "every place is just the same isn't it," and the fed-back > flanging/chorusing of the vocal on other parts. Vocoder sounded much > better, but still a little hot. > > I have been waiting for a very very long time to see TMDR live, and I am > still so thrilled I can't wrap my mind around it. It hasn't all hit me > yet, but I'm sure I'll run my car off the road when it does. I am now > inspired to come back home and dig in with a major refurb of my studio so > I can get creative again. And Thomas, again if you're lurking, I want to > remix you! Especially any new material that may emerge, nudge nudge wink > wink. > > Simply blown away--I don't know what else to say. > > For those of you who didn't get to go--pawn your grandmother, take a > third mortgage, sell your children for medical experiments (ok--maybe not > THAT) but do ANYTHING necessary to get out to see Mr. Dolby when he tours > soon. (Just ask Keith the Sole Inhabitant about my powers of > persuasion!) Oh, and I INSIST that Phoenix be included in the tour, > Thomas. OK? Please? > > It was great to meet all you Alloyites--looking forward to other future > shows with you all. > > Best, > > John McJunkin > > > > On Jan 29, 2006, at 11:59 PM, Patrick McMillan wrote: > >> >> Whoo hoo! >> Yeah Anaheim sound guy! Damn! I should have gone there too. >> >> So I move that we campaign to let you mix the new shows. (We can take up >> a collection for your fees.) And we can rest assured that the work of >> our man is in loving hands. >> Send on the techie stuff! Since I got back last night I was inspired to >> plug an old Casio midi keyboard into my "Garageband" graced Apple laptop >> and have been having tremendous fun trying to figure out how the hell he >> does it. Any insight will be appreciated. I noticed that Thomas uses >> Logic Pro 7 http:// www.apple.com/logicpro/ >> (a distant relative of Garageband). But that's where the comparisons >> stop. He has such mastery of this stuff. He makes it look easy, fun, >> and has managed to turn programming into a performance piece! There is >> genius there. But we already knew that. :) >> >> On Jan 29, 2006, at 9:51 PM, John McJunkin wrote: >> >>> >>> Patrick--as a professional audio engineer myself, I must concur. I >>> could have mixed the show better with ice-picks in my ears. Did you >>> see the Anaheim show? WAAAYY better. Also, TMDR was having some >>> serious microphone-connector problems, which may have been the source >>> of the troubles with his vocoder. I am going to attempt to provide a >>> technical overview of what I saw at both shows for anyone else who's as >>> gonzo over the tekkie stuff as I am. Still have goosebumps on Sunday >>> night. >>> >>> John ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V11 #27 ***************************