From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V11 #29 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 Thursday, February 2 2006 Volume 11 : Number 029 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: Audio and Oration [Patrick McMillan ] Re: Alloy: Wonderful weekend of shows [Robin Thurlow ] Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration [Melissa Jordan ] Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration [John McJunkin ] Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration [Melissa Jordan ] Re: Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration [] Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration ["Keith Stansell" ] Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration ["Kara R. Laidlaw" ] Alloy: Oddly out of sorts - a ramble [Elaine ] Re: Alloy: Oddly out of sorts - a ramble ["Keith Stansell" ] Re: Alloy: Oddly out of sorts - a ramble [Elaine ] Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration ["Keith Stansell" ] Alloy: Man did I miss out. ["Crackers" ] Alloy: marseilles/DM [Monya De ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 00:11:41 -0800 From: Patrick McMillan Subject: Alloy: Audio and Oration Sheesh John. How did you know all of that? (And keep it straight days later?) Impressive! I'm still wrapping my mind around the concept of midi thru... Last time, promise. And, I'm betting that the soundthug at WeHo just blew it. All of the audio, even before the show was near lethal levels. Is it another hazard of the trade?Do rock venue engineers lose their hearing? I know lots of jazz musicians died of lung cancer because of the pre-antismoke lounge scene. Is this similar? The audio in SF was beautiful. How can a professional establishment like the HOBLA get it so wrong? (I could rant about this for months...I'm so peeved. But I'll shut up about it now. I promise.) Thomas is releasing a DVD of the shows with his mix. Isn't he?! Hmmm? Now what I really want to know is why aren't there any reviews of TD on any news sites? I've been googling TD in the news section of google since last week and only see "coming to town" type ads. No reviews. I know I don't need a better source than Alloy or Flat Earth Society to read what happened at each of the venues, but I would like to see our hero get the credit and publicity he deserves. Isn't this monumental, like, um, California tipping in the ocean? Why do the political puppets in governments get all the press when the visionaries go unsung, excuse the pun? Does anybody know what gives? Patrick McMillan On Jan 30, 2006, at 6:40 PM, John McJunkin wrote: > > 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. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 04:55:37 -0800 (PST) From: Robin Thurlow Subject: Re: Alloy: Wonderful weekend of shows My friend Pyre went to the Anaheim show.. I asked if I could post what she wrote about it & she said I could :) Here's her take on it. "Dolby was amazing of course. The sound sucked, but that wasn't his fault it was the stupid mix-guy. Thomas was very sweet and genuine. His smile is amazing and his character came through with such purity and truth. I was very touched to see that. It was also very interesting to see his gear and how he was formulating the music. I saw so much of myself in him. "The sound guy really sucked, but it is also VERY hard for a sound guy to deal with a solo artist like Dolby. Most sound people are used to 5 piece bands and the formula there-in to make them sound good. Running a bunch of equipment like what Dolby has is a whole different story. I've run into problems like this with my own set-up as well. ALSO The production on all of Dolby's recorded stuff is so top notch, it is HARD to duplicate that exactness in a live show. THEN AGAIN The English Beat wasn't sounding good either. Not sure if it was the same sound-guy or not. "I think most of the crowd wasn't there to see him and had no clue about what it takes to do what he was doing. I was impressed with the set-up and how he's got things going, but then again I do this same thing and have some inside knowledge about some of the problems and drawbacks of it. He was so casual between songs talking about what inspired him to write the next song or whatever came to mind, all the while he was loading up the new sounds for the next song. I dump all my stuff on CD and have just a backing track so as not to deal with the downtime of reloading. I also don't have the skills he does in developing loops and stuff on demand. I have never seen such a "live" performance done with so much electronic stuff. He was putting that stuff up on the fly pretty much - that is no easy task. Kudos to Dolby." With a free 1 GB, there's more in store with Yahoo! Mail. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2006 08:24:32 -0500 From: "Andy Venables" Subject: Re: Alloy: Thomas on the web... >From: "A. van Lammeren" >http://ilx.p3r.net/thread.php?msgid=3783890 >Tara, Anton. Thanks for that, interesting reading! I thought it was a bit much to call the Sprouts w**kers, LOL It contains some links to download rare tracks, I wonder how they get away with it in this day and age. I'm glad the Live Wireless version of Europa that I checked out sounded even more ropey than mine :o) Just thought I'd point that out for the benefit of anyone who may have missed it amongst all the recent excitement. Cheers, Andy - -- ___________________________________________________ Play 100s of games for FREE! http://games.mail.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 06:06:30 -0800 (PST) From: Melissa Jordan Subject: Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration Oh dear god - the music before and between sets was deadly loud. We brought ear plugs, but they weren't really helping. The goal should not be to numb the ears of the listeners before the bands come out. I can utterly understand why TMDR didn't want to do meet and greets in these clubs. Too damn loud. My voice is shot this week. "Soundthug." Great word. - Melissa http://merujo.blogspot.com Patrick McMillan wrote: And, I'm betting that the soundthug at WeHo just blew it. All of the audio, even before the show was near lethal levels. Is it another hazard of the trade?Do rock venue engineers lose their hearing? I know lots of jazz musicians died of lung cancer because of the pre-antismoke lounge scene. Is this similar? The audio in SF was beautiful. How can a professional establishment like the HOBLA get it so wrong? - --------------------------------- Bring words and photos together (easily) with PhotoMail - it's free and works with Yahoo! Mail. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 08:25:24 -0700 From: John McJunkin Subject: Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration A few more thoughts on the quality (and quantity) of sound at the HOB shows: Normally, in advance of a major artist's tour, there are minimally days, if not weeks, of rehearsals, which obviously benefit the artist, but also the front-of-house (FOH) engineer (the one who mixes what the audience hears.) Thomas himself said that his show was put together on pretty short notice, likely precluding much rehearsal. Moreover, there's a strong likelihood that Thomas was not traveling with his own private FOH person. In that case, he would be at the mercy of the house engineer, who may well be competent, but not up to speed on the subtleties and nuances of Thomas' iron-fist-in-a-glove- full-of-vaseline music. It's simply not possible for such a person to handle the mix with the same TLC that I would, for instance. I know what these songs are supposed to sound like--a house engineer would likely be hearing them for the first time. Robin's friend Pyre also makes a good point that most live sound people are accustomed to handling a "rock and roll" band with a drum kit, bass, guitars, vocals, and maybe a keyboard of some kind. Thomas' rig is unorthodox to say the least, by way of comparison. Synthesizers create sounds that transcend the capabilities of traditional acoustical instruments, both in terms of frequency and levels. If you don't normally work with them, it's unlikely you'll have a grasp on these idiosyncrasies. In re: "tin-eared" engineers who are half deaf, I must say that it is an epidemic. As an educator of young engineers, I preach the gospel of hearing protection, and most of these youngsters are receptive to the concept that their ears are the precious means by which they'll make a living as engineers. Unfortunately, the previous generations of audio engineers have not paid such careful attention. Part of the reason is that the hearing protection we currently have available is shoddy, vis-a-vis quality. When you shove chunks of foam rubber in your ears, you don't just hear everything more quietly. These substances actually alter the spectral balance of what we hear. In particular, high frequencies are diminished much more completely. Anyone mixing with such hearing protection in place would naturally boost treble to compensate, and those who had no hearing protection would perceive the treble as being far too loud. For this reason, hearing protection should not be used by the FOH mixer during the show. On the other hand (and here's where the professionals generally fall down) a competent engineer should have hearing protection in at any moment when they are not engaged in critical mixing. Generally speaking, when I go to concerts I wear protection. For that matter, I normally have a pair of plugs available at all times in case I wind up in a high sound-pressure- level (SPL ) environment. On the other hand, and if you ask Melissa, you'll know that she offered me ear plugs at the Hollywood show, and I declined. On VERY rare occasions, I will forego hearing protection in order the hear the mix the way it really is. There are very few artists for whom I will risk my hearing to enhance my enjoyment. Thomas Dolby is my favorite artist ever (and largely the reason why I've chosen to pursue audio as a career.) There's simply no way I'm going to fly halfway across the country and listen to the show through foam rubber. With 99% of all other artists--I'm protecting my hearing, but not this time. It's like I told Melissa at the show, I didn't come out to California to kiss my sister. Robert Scovill is a friend of mine, and is widely regarded as the world's leading expert in live sound. He has been a huge proponent of the idea of getting a mix dead right during rehearsals long before the public hears it in a concert venue. He comes from the school of thought that you use a console with recall and get a snapshot of the "perfect" mix in an acoustically-appropriate environment, and then use acoustical analysis software to "tune" the PA system to each venue individually during the tour. By taking control of the way that the PA behaves in each environment, you significantly increase the quality of the sound by virtue of the fact that your stored mix never changes--you change the system to fit the room, hence presenting your perfect, rehearsed mix identically every night. I'm hopeful that Thomas will (or already has) adopted that way of thinking for his tour. There are any number of excellent digital consoles available for touring that enable snapshotting. I'm actually about to review Yamaha's M7 in Sound & Video Contractor magazine, and that type of console would be quite good for this application. Sorry everybody for the lengthy diatribe. It's like I said, my enjoyment of Thomas' brilliant music as a young man compelled me to learn about the technology behind it, and I've made a vocation out of it. I love high quality sound, and I tend to run at the mouth in regard to it. Here's hoping that the upcoming tour will feature equipment and professionals providing quality of audio befitting Mr. Dolby's incredible music. Enough. Cheers! John McJunkin On Feb 1, 2006, at 7:06 AM, Melissa Jordan wrote: > > Oh dear god - the music before and between sets was deadly loud. We > brought ear plugs, but they weren't really helping. The goal should > not be to numb the ears of the listeners before the bands come out. > I can utterly understand why TMDR didn't want to do meet and greets > in these clubs. Too damn loud. My voice is shot this week. > > "Soundthug." Great word. > > - Melissa > http://merujo.blogspot.com > > Patrick McMillan wrote: > And, I'm betting that the soundthug at WeHo just blew it. All of the > audio, even before the show was near lethal levels. > Is it another hazard of the trade?Do rock venue engineers lose their > hearing? I know lots of jazz musicians died of lung cancer because of > the pre-antismoke lounge scene. Is this similar? The audio in SF was > beautiful. How can a professional establishment like the HOBLA get it > so wrong? > > --------------------------------- > Bring words and photos together (easily) with > PhotoMail - it's free and works with Yahoo! Mail. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 09:05:43 -0800 (PST) From: Melissa Jordan Subject: Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration Oh, I only keep the earplugs in for the canned music clubs play (usually far too loud) before bands and sometimes for support bands when I'm there just for the headliner. But, when the band I want to hear comes out, those babies get yanked. I couldn't imagine wearing earplugs during Thomas' set. No way was I missing a single moment or nuance of what he was doing! I did, however, have those suckers in for Dramarama. I may have had them perilously close to my eardrums for that set, as a matter of fact. I'm still convinced at least one of their songs *had* to be about Middle Earth. Any band that plays miserably interminable songs should only do so if singing about Mount Doom or Frodo or the Shire (either that, or it's the jazz fusion rebirth of Spinal Tap...) I mean, dear god, one of those Dramarama numbers had to have gone on for more than 10 minutes... John McJunkin wrote: On the other hand, and if you ask Melissa, you'll know that she offered me ear plugs at the Hollywood show, and I declined. On VERY rare occasions, I will forego hearing protection in order the hear the mix the way it really is. There are very few artists for whom I will risk my hearing to enhance my enjoyment. Thomas Dolby is my favorite artist ever (and largely the reason why I've chosen to pursue audio as a career.) There's simply no way I'm going to fly halfway across the country and listen to the show through foam rubber. With 99% of all other artists--I'm protecting my hearing, but not this time. It's like I told Melissa at the show, I didn't come out to California to kiss my sister. With a free 1 GB, there's more in store with Yahoo! Mail. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 12:35:31 -0500 From: Subject: Re: Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration And I always thought that the mighty Led Zeppelin was the only band singing about Tolkein (in "Ramble On.") jm > > From: Melissa Jordan > Date: 2006/02/01 Wed PM 12:05:43 EST > To: alloy@smoe.org > Subject: Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration > > > Oh, I only keep the earplugs in for the canned music clubs play (usually far too loud) before bands and sometimes for support bands when I'm there just for the headliner. But, when the band I want to hear comes out, those babies get yanked. > > I couldn't imagine wearing earplugs during Thomas' set. No way was I missing a single moment or nuance of what he was doing! > > I did, however, have those suckers in for Dramarama. I may have had them perilously close to my eardrums for that set, as a matter of fact. I'm still convinced at least one of their songs *had* to be about Middle Earth. Any band that plays miserably interminable songs should only do so if singing about Mount Doom or Frodo or the Shire (either that, or it's the jazz fusion rebirth of Spinal Tap...) I mean, dear god, one of those Dramarama numbers had to have gone on for more than 10 minutes... > > John McJunkin wrote: > On the other hand, and if you ask Melissa, > you'll know that she offered me ear plugs at the Hollywood show, and > I declined. On VERY rare occasions, I will forego hearing protection > in order the hear the mix the way it really is. There are very few > artists for whom I will risk my hearing to enhance my enjoyment. > Thomas Dolby is my favorite artist ever (and largely the reason why > I've chosen to pursue audio as a career.) There's simply no way I'm > going to fly halfway across the country and listen to the show > through foam rubber. With 99% of all other artists--I'm protecting > my hearing, but not this time. It's like I told Melissa at the show, > I didn't come out to California to kiss my sister. > With a free 1 GB, there's more in store with Yahoo! Mail. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 11:01:18 -0700 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration I generally wear earplugs during most concerts. I know it changes the dynamics of the audio a bit, but I find my ears get "overdriven" and distort with extreme volume, so the earplugs sound better to me at times - especially near the speakers. Sometimes they are handy at getting a nice close spot because you can get in direct line of site of the speakers which would be too much for people without the ear plugs. I once found some that I really liked - they were like little balloons with cotton in them - not the foam type. They simply slipped in the ear canal and didn't do the squeeze/expand like the industrial types. I forgot the name of them, but I need to find some more. They came in a little plastic bag and were green. They seemed to cut volume to prevent damage, but not so drastically that things were muffled. These: http://www.epinions.com/Earplugs-Flents_Quiet_Down_Fiber-Filled_Ear_Plugs_NRR_22 While looking for those on the net, I came across something that might be good too: http://store.yahoo.com/earplugstore/hehinasoearp.html I wore my earplugs for the LA show, but did take them out during the Anaheim show though because the volume wasn't as high. - -Keith - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Melissa Jordan" To: Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2006 10:05 AM Subject: Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration > > Oh, I only keep the earplugs in for the canned music clubs play (usually > far too loud) before bands and sometimes for support bands when I'm there > just for the headliner. But, when the band I want to hear comes out, those > babies get yanked. > > I couldn't imagine wearing earplugs during Thomas' set. No way was I > missing a single moment or nuance of what he was doing! > > I did, however, have those suckers in for Dramarama. I may have had them > perilously close to my eardrums for that set, as a matter of fact. I'm > still convinced at least one of their songs *had* to be about Middle > Earth. Any band that plays miserably interminable songs should only do so > if singing about Mount Doom or Frodo or the Shire (either that, or it's > the jazz fusion rebirth of Spinal Tap...) I mean, dear god, one of those > Dramarama numbers had to have gone on for more than 10 minutes... > > John McJunkin wrote: > On the other hand, and if you ask Melissa, > you'll know that she offered me ear plugs at the Hollywood show, and > I declined. On VERY rare occasions, I will forego hearing protection > in order the hear the mix the way it really is. There are very few > artists for whom I will risk my hearing to enhance my enjoyment. > Thomas Dolby is my favorite artist ever (and largely the reason why > I've chosen to pursue audio as a career.) There's simply no way I'm > going to fly halfway across the country and listen to the show > through foam rubber. With 99% of all other artists--I'm protecting > my hearing, but not this time. It's like I told Melissa at the show, > I didn't come out to California to kiss my sister. > With a free 1 GB, there's more in store with Yahoo! Mail. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 12:21:15 -0600 From: "Kara R. Laidlaw" Subject: Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration Mr. McMillan opined admiringly: > From: Patrick McMillan > Date: 2006/02/01 Wed AM 02:11:41 CST > To: alloy@smoe.org > Subject: Alloy: Audio and Oration > > > Sheesh John. How did you know all of that? (And keep it straight days > later?) > Impressive! > I'm still wrapping my mind around the concept of midi thru... ###################################### I hear ya, Patrick--John's impressively detailed post has just shown me that I know *nothing* whatsoever about music equipment!!! I was like, "huh?!" ;^) ###################################### > Thomas is releasing a DVD of > the shows with his mix. Isn't he?! Hmmm? ############################## Please, Thomas, with muffins on top? :^) ############################## > Now what I really want to know is why aren't there any reviews of TD > on any news sites? I've been googling TD in the news section of > google since last week and only see "coming to town" type ads. No > reviews. I know I don't need a better source than Alloy or Flat Earth > Society to read what happened at each of the venues, but I would like > to see our hero get the credit and publicity he deserves. Isn't this > monumental, like, um, California tipping in the ocean? Why do the > political puppets in governments get all the press when the > visionaries go unsung, excuse the pun? Does anybody know what gives? > Patrick McMillan ######################################## I think I can take a guess...granted, what I know about the music business could fit in a teacup ;^), but isn't an artist's manager usually in charge of publicity??? I don't know [obviously], but maybe Thomas isn't shooting for renewed popularity and world domination just yet--that's maybe scheduled for a few weeks from now. ;^) Maybe he just wants to get all the gremlins exorcised, ya know, get the musical kinks out with an audience of loving Alloyites, before he goes "public"? I'm sure he *knows* he can do no wrong amongst us loving fans! :^) Love and wild speculation, Kara the Kookie Monster ######################################## ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 10:41:21 -0800 (PST) From: Elaine Subject: Alloy: Oddly out of sorts - a ramble I remember the day I heard Astronauts & Heretics (specifically ILYG) for the first time. I was driving through the desert between Vegas and Laughlin. The striking song, my happy anticipation of a new Dolby release, combined with hearing bayou sounds in a desert setting -- and the sadness & beauty: loved it instantly. The disc then moved into Suitcase, appealing because of the subject matter and again, beauty of the music. Living in a suitcase, which I was doing at the time... the dirty-desert-town thing... stars instead of a crowd. Anyway, I felt moved enough to write to Alloy about it. It's one of the few times music has made me want to do that. I'm sure it's in the archives somewhere, circa 1992. So, this weekend I heard Suitcase played live, and he shared with us that it was written about "the desert beyond Los Angeles," which appeared to him at Griffiths Observatory, during a partial blackout of the city. If I can paint you guys the picture, L.A. is in a basin/valley surrounded by mountain ranges, and the high (and low) deserts lay beyond. The high desert to the northeast with the ground level plateau at 2500' elevation; the low desert being east of L.A. and basically sea level (that's where Palm Springs is). Turns out that, in 1992, when I heard this song which I associated closely with Las Vegas, I could NEVER have predicted I'd live in the high desert of California four years later. And then I find out the song was about THAT place, all along. Isn't that kind of weird? It's a good weird. I guess. But the thing is, I have despised living here for nearly 10 years now. Thomas really is a poet, if he can find inspiration in this place! Actually, it's probably more the *idea* of this place, which I can see.. kinda. You'd have to come here to decide for yourself, but basically, if you start in Los Angeles and run up the 14 freeway & beyond, you (eventually, after four+ hours in the car) find California at its ancient best: Death Valley, Bristlecone Pines, Owens and Mono Lakes, Mammoth Mountain, the road to Reno. But down here, just north of the San Gabriel mtns, you find dryness..scrub..LOTS of wind..dust..tumbleweeds...and that's in the "natural" places. The developed areas of Palmdale and Lancaster are plain ol' McSuburbs with a gangland flava. And I'm being kind, leaving it at that. It's not as if people get shot on street corners, but it's not very pleasant. We refuse to live in the cities and bought property 20 miles outside of incorporated areas. The podunk towns of Mohave, Adelanto, Boron, China Lake/Ridgecrest, and the rest, are sad places with sad people. IMHO. This isn't even getting into the way The Industry (entertainment/tv/radio/movies) permeates the people. That's a whole 'nother essay. Suffice to say, as my good friend described it, southern CA is a place that tends to value the shallow. What do you think? Am I discombobulated because a preconceived notion turned out not to be truth? Wondering what Thomas sees that I don't? Making something out of nothing & just need to grow up? Feeling post-event letdown? (I could never make it in rock and roll. It would be a roller coaster of big highs and terrible crashes.) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 11:56:47 -0700 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: Oddly out of sorts - a ramble > What do you think? Am I discombobulated because a preconceived notion > turned out not to be truth? Wondering what Thomas sees that I don't? Well, he did end up moving to the northern part of the state... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 10:18:40 -0800 From: clif brigden Subject: Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration Hi everyone, I'm normally just a lurker here, but sound being my thing - Tom's sound in particular, I thought I'd break out the QWERTY and pitch in. Just wanted to let y'all know (I've been in the States 13 years now - I'm allowed to use y'all) about Etymotic's Musicians Earplugs. They're custom fitted hearing protection that attenuate the entire audio spectrum by a selectable amount, rather than simply bunging up the ear canal like foam rubber does. They're not cheap, but the professionals amongst you should definitely look into them, as well as anyone who attends a lot of live shows. You can't really mix with them - not even live, but if you're around big live rigs, they do a great job of keeping your ears safe while still allowing you to carry on a conversation and hear the music clearly. I wish I'd heard about them 20 years ago. Maybe I wouldn't be listening to this annoying wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 24/7. More information at http://etymotic.com/ephp/erme.aspx And an article by my friend Lily Maoyeri on the subject is here: http://www.grooveradio.com/article.asp?ArticleID=366 The HoB sound did suck pretty bad, I know. You can rest assured it'll be sorted for the better on the extended tour. Happy new year guys. / clif ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 11:48:13 -0800 (PST) From: Elaine Subject: Re: Alloy: Oddly out of sorts - a ramble Very good point. Friends of mine in the Davis area insist that northern California is a totally different state. I'll let you know what vibe I pick up from Sacramento. We're driving up for the night this Saturday. (Family thing with my husband's grandparents -- can you imagine being married to someone for 65 years? 65 years!) On Wed, 1 Feb 2006, Keith Stansell wrote: > Well, he did end up moving to the northern part of the state... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 13:51:06 -0700 From: "Keith Stansell" Subject: Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration This reminds me of another tidbit from Thomas during our dinner meeting. He was saying that he wears an in-ear monitor that goes in the ear with some type of goop that is poured in to seal it up. When wearing those he can't hear any outside sound, which was disconcerting because he couldn't hear the audience response. So his solution was to patch a mic facing the audience that he could turn on between songs to hear the audience. The only problem with that was it wasn't directional, so he'd here someone say something, and it could be somewhere in the back and he had no idea where it was coming from. I guess those funky headphones he wore with the antenna looking adjustments are just for show, the real headphones are inside his ears underneath. - -Keith - ----- Original Message ----- From: "clif brigden" To: Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2006 11:18 AM Subject: Re: Alloy: Audio and Oration > > Hi everyone, > > I'm normally just a lurker here, but sound being my thing - Tom's > sound in particular, I thought I'd break out the QWERTY and pitch in. > > Just wanted to let y'all know (I've been in the States 13 years now - > I'm allowed to use y'all) about Etymotic's Musicians Earplugs. > They're custom fitted hearing protection that attenuate the entire > audio spectrum by a selectable amount, rather than simply bunging up > the ear canal like foam rubber does. They're not cheap, but the > professionals amongst you should definitely look into them, as well > as anyone who attends a lot of live shows. You can't really mix with > them - not even live, but if you're around big live rigs, they do a > great job of keeping your ears safe while still allowing you to carry > on a conversation and hear the music clearly. I wish I'd heard about > them 20 years ago. Maybe I wouldn't be listening to this annoying > wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 24/7. > > More information at http://etymotic.com/ephp/erme.aspx > > And an article by my friend Lily Maoyeri on the subject is here: > > http://www.grooveradio.com/article.asp?ArticleID=366 > > The HoB sound did suck pretty bad, I know. You can rest assured > it'll be sorted for the better on the extended tour. > > Happy new year guys. > > / clif ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006 17:58:43 -0500 From: "Crackers" Subject: Alloy: Man did I miss out. Okay, saw the video, looks like it was an absolutely killer show. Thomas, you looked like you were really having a hoot there on stage. You had the look of a man in his natural element. This will hopefully spark a desire in you to get back into live performing and making music I don't need a cell phone to listen to. C'mon man, be a pal, come to Hamilton and play a show (but not in March, I'm pretty booked up that month). Oh, and did Brenda O'Leary perhaps perform a set? Because, you know, she's hot. Hehehehehe. Oh hey... somebody mentioned East Coast shows I think? There wouldn't happen to be a show on Long Island anytime during the March 24-25-26th weekend now, would there? Because I'll be in that neck of the woods that weekend. I'm still seething with jealousy over here. I feel like I'm a teenager again and was grounded on the night when all my friends got to go out to the really cool party at the house of some kid whose parents were away from the weekend. Damnit. Why must geography be the boss of me? Crackers Ghastly's Ghastly Comic http://ghastlycomic.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2006 19:16:37 -0800 From: Monya De Subject: Alloy: marseilles/DM Hey tara, Marseilles was something he only performed live that I know of, the lyrics don't make any sense to me but it's just a fun upbeat song. I wasn't around when he was talking about the midifying, elaine, so I don't know. Monya - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V11 #29 ***************************