The Unofficial Roadtrip

This Friday around 11 PM will mark the start of “The Unofficial Roadtrip.”  My partner in crime Jesse Caffrey and myself will be making our way to Tucson, AZ to start the tracking process for our album which is due out by the end of 2020.  We are going Dr.Dre style with this one, and we want it to be perfect before it is released.  We figured instead of sweating it out in our confined studio spaces in Minneapolis, we would seclude ourselves somewhere.  Following in the footsteps of groups like Thrice and Bon Iver, we think this “lonely cabin” style will work perfectly for us.  Escaping from the daily grind will be crucial to our success, and will it will also relieve the pressure of feeling unproductive from cramming in hours in our hometown studios.  We will definitely thrive off of the living room couch, stratocaster, and coffee vibe.

We will take off from Minneapolis on Friday night, and head for the hills with most of our audio gear crammed into the back of my Pathfinder.  Our first stop will be in Denver, Colorado for a some inspiration.  What is more inspiring than thin air and Fat Tire Ale? Jesse has never been to the mountains and I am, myself, a retired mountain man. (AKA Lift operator/slacker)  I figured I could show him the ropes of the western states as well as meet up with a few old friends.  We want to document as much of the trip as possible, so thanks to my gracious sister, we will have a nice digital camera to work with. We are hoping to stumble across some rickety old diners and sketchy rest stops to keep us invigorated.  Our theory is, the weirder, the better.  After the 24 hour drive, our focus will be to stay relaxed and have fun with the music we create.  It is easy to start thinking of music more as work than a hobby when you are going to school for it and constantly studying it’s properties, so it is time to get rid of that type of thinking and get to the bare bones of it.  Music is fun.

All of the snapshots will be posted to my Facebook and/or on the site you are looking at.  Alongside photos, I will be updating this page with “thoughts and perspective” from our trip.

We will keep you updated once we set sail on Friday and we look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Winch Fest 2010

This past weekend was the second annual Miller Compound Winch Fest, also known as the “Life Is Good” rail jam.  This competition is a hybrid of wakeboarding and snowboarding founded by George and Alex Miller from Mendota Heights.  Snowboarders get pulled by a winch up to about 30 miles per hour at its peak, and hit different obstacles along the way.  This year there was a thirty foot kicker gap, kicker to wall ride, a forty foot flat handrail, and my favorite feature, a step-up to quarter pipe to down rail.  I’m sure all of these features sound a little bit confusing if you do not snowboard or wakeboard, but hopefully you can get the idea from the photos.

Courtesy of Marc Bateman Photography

It was an absolutely perfect day for the event.  The temperature was warm and the sun was shining. People slowly started rolling in at about 11:30 am and there was about 60 people there by 1:00 pm.  The Red Bull crew showed up and the cooler was filled, the keg was tapped, and the hot dogs hit the grill.  All of us snowboarders signed our wavers and strapped up the helmets.  The riding commenced around 12:30 and people started throwing down.  It took a little while for some of the riders to adjust to getting pulled by a winch on a snowboard, myself included. After about an hour, the progression session started to kick in.   People were getting pumped up off of each other’s tricks, and the crowd was cheering loudly for all of the competitors.  The DJ was pumping out loud music, and the place was hopping.  Flickers and clicks from all the photographer’s cameras were going off like crazy.  Marc Bateman, Jason Ahner, and Lana Merkley were the still shooters, while Eoin Small was on the HD cam.  Channel 4 news even showed up to do an interview with George and Alex. Their mom, Phyllis Miller, even joined the festivities. She is always game for a good get together.  Half way through  warm ups, a second winch was setup specifically for the flat rail.  The competition was going full-bore.  Everybody was laughing, eating, drinking, and enjoying the beautiful day.  After warm ups/preliminaries, there was a break to groom the features and to give the riders a little time to breathe.  The best part of the break was that none of the riders stopped taking runs.  We all started hitting the down rail on the step up to stay warm.

Finals started off with a bang.  Jade Whirley threw a backflip, and a front side 360 over the gap, and Josh Tranby threw a backside lipslide over the top of the wallride, followed by a flawless sequence on the step up.  You could definitely tell it was the finals. We all continued to give it our best, and give the crowd a good show.  Alex Miller even stepped in for a couple runs and threw a mean seatbelt grab over the gap.  It wasn’t so much that it was getting competitive, it was more that everybody was having a blast, and supporting every rider that walked back to the starting block.  It was the most fun I have had snowboarding in a long time.  There is nothing like being surrounded by a bunch of good friends and doing what you love.

Courtesy of Marc Bateman Photography

The day wrapped up with the award ceremony.  First place went to Jade Whirley (who also took first place last year) and second place went to Josh Tranby.  Both were well deserved wins.  First place prize was a snowboard spray painted gold, along with a brand new back pack full of goodies.  The prizes were awesome and large amounts of free t-shirts and stickers were thrown out.  There was even a brand new pair of shoes up for grabs!  As everybody started to leave, and the sponsors started to take down their tents, the sun was setting over the horizon and everybody knew that an epic day was dwindling down.  I don’t think one person left unsatisfied, it was a great day for all involved.  Thanks go to the Miller family for their hospitality and determination to make sure that this event happens each year!

Courtesy of Marc Bateman Photography

Marc Bateman Photography Website

Privacy On Your Favorite Media Websites

Youtube- The privacy settings on youtube are pretty basic.  They are divided into three sections; search and content restrictions, advertising settings, and statistics and data.  Search and content restrictions has two filters within it.  The first filter allows only friends to send messages or share videos, which is a very vague statement, and if you do not take the time to think about what it is actually saying, could lead to some usage issues.  What it is saying is that only people you are “friends” with on youtube can send you messages or share your videos.  Some might take it as if you post a video, only your friends can see it.  Easily confusing, at least to me it was.  The other filter in this section allows others to find your channel if they have your email address, which is pretty simply stated and understood.  The advertising settings consist of one check box that allows advertising to be broadcasted to you based on your account information.  There is also an ads preference manager that allows you to pick and choose certain advertisement matter that you would like to see, or not to see while surfing youtube.  I feel these advertisement settings are more crucial on the advertisers side of things, rather than the you tube viewer.  The less people go to their ad preferences manager, the more your advertisements will reach people.  And, of course, the default setting is to allow all advertisements to come through to you with ZERO filter.   The last section, data and statistics, is quite useful for the up and coming media professional.  This option allows you and your viewers to see the statistics behind your video.  You can set each individual video to public or private depending on the situation.  It does not go into much detail about what statistics are actually seen, but i know that views is under this category, and this is a crucial statistic.  Overall YouTube privacy settings are pretty bare and simple.  There does not seem to be any particular settings to filter out certain elements, but being able to set your videos to private should take care of any nerves you have about posting video to YouTube. If not, don’t post video and you will no have to worry!

Flickr- Flickr does a very nice job of keeping you informed of exactly where your photos can go.  The privacy settings page is very detailed and in depth.  Under the global settings tab you can adjust many aspects of where your pictures can and can’t go.  All of these categories can be edited; who can download your stuff, who can share your photos, who can add you to a photo, printing, who can blog your material, can your material be added to a gallery, exif data, hide photos from public search, hide your profile from public search, who can see what on your profile, and if you want to share your material on Yahoo.  The list is quite extensive, and each category has a full edit page ranging from only you to any flickr member.  It gives you absolute control of your material which is crucial when it comes to media arts.  Everybody is stealing everybody else’s ideas, so it is good to keep them protected.  On the other hand, you never know who is looking or who wants to use your material for career opportunities.  The next section is the privacy settings for who can view and comment on your material.  This is one of those all, some, or none settings, it is up to you.  There is a nice setting for selecting which licensing method you are using. These range from all sorts of creative commons licenses to all rights reserved.  I find this very useful since copyright and licensing is what protects the artist’s material.  They also have safety level and content settings which allows you to rate your material based on content, to possibly protect viewers who would not find it suitable. They also have two content filters which allow you to filter your content to other’s settings.  Flickr’s settings are awesome, they are very detailed, and help both the uploading party, and the viewing party.  This is good for leveraging your product because you can pick a niche group of people who will be willing to see you material.

Twitter-  Twitter’s privacy settings are much like youtube’s.  Everyone can see, only moderators, or moderators and people of your choosing.  You will probably want as many people as possible to view your tweets, but at the same time you need to watch out for spam getting through your tweets.  They have a geo tagging setting that can be toggled on or off.  When this is on, it allows third party applications to annotate your tweet locations.  I would recommend leaving this off, but it is up to you.  I think if you are getting your tweets out to everybody, there is no need to know exactly where they are coming from.  Twitter is just another site you can use to get the word out about yourself, although I am not a fan of it, it could be useful in your work.

Vimeo- Vimeo’s settings are a lot like youtube’s settings.  Some, all or none. I could not seem to find an exact page to edit these functions, but reading through the privacy policy I found these settings.  Much like twitter to facebook, Vimeo can be used as another way to leverage your ideas or products.  The more you use, the merrier.  You might be able to find a better market on vimeo than youtube, or the other way around.  There are so many of the tools at your fingertips you might as well use as many as possible.

Overall, the privacy settings for these sites very greatly.  They can be great for media professionals to get the word out about their services, or to show what they are doing.  There are a few cautions to look at before posting anything on to these.  Make sure you understand your filters and settings.  If not, you could end up with some troubles.  If used correctly, these tools could bring you to the next level of your career.

Stress Relief…Kind of….

I seem to have an easy time remembering random lyrics from songs and quotes from movies.  You can easily find me in my car reciting rap lyrics at the top of my lungs word for word.  I can relieve stress easily this way, but when I attempt to write lyrics lately, I have been getting mental block every single time.  I know exactly how I feel about the subject, but I can’t get my idea across to save my life.  When I can get on a microphone with my own lyrics I can do some serious stress relief, but I can’t.  The pen touches the paper and I can’t come up with anything.  The words are always sitting on the tip of my tongue, and if they do end up on the page, I feel that they are weak at best.  This has been one of my biggest dilemmas in releasing my new music.  I have many songs written out already, but I am trying to start over fresh, and keep the theme of my album constant.  So now, instead of being in my studio and taking care of business, I am getting completely frustrated and flustered.  I like my studio area to be a stress relieving, peaceful zone, but when nothing seems to be lining up in there, it is really aggravating.  If you have any tips or comments for how to overcome writers block, let me know!

Here is a link to a song with lyrics that I am really feeling right now…

Got Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 is a term that has been getting tossed around more and more lately.  I looked around for somewhat of a “dictionary” definition, but I obviously could not find one.  There isn’t one!  Web 2.0 simply put is the maturing of the web and internet.  We have worked our way forward from websites that only allow you to read information off of them, and don’t allow much personal interaction.  Web 1.0 was all reading and advertisement.   Web 2.0 is all about interaction.  Interaction with other people, interaction with websites, and interaction with information.

This world of web interaction opens up an entirely new business model for almost any company.  With the ease of access for users, you can keep customers and potential clients on the forefront of your business.  You can keep them constantly updated on what you are working on, or providing, through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.  Services like google maps allow people to find your location in less than 30 seconds.  They can even get a review of your business by clicking maybe five more times after they find the map.   All you need to do is make yourself readily available to internet users and they will see you.  There is a company called topspin media that provide retail channel for musicians that desire to do so.  It allows promotion and marketing all via the internet.  You pay for their services and you are immediately in the sights of millions of music fans.  Their main goal is to help you get into the eyes and ears of new listeners, and even current listeners waiting for your new releases.  This method of taking the information and sending it straight to the client is web 2.0 at it’s best.  It allows media professionals to keep their businesses and ideas directly in front of you at the click of a mouse.  Also, things like webinars and web conferences allow companies to hold major business meetings with employees or clients that are on the other side of the world.  This definitely cuts down on overhead for many companies that rely heavily on travel to get their employees to specific locations. The old business model of having everything done in an office and on paperwork is almost over.  Efficient and cost effective web tools are starting to dominate industries.  This is not a bad thing.  It is taking what we have used for the past ten years and making it easier to access and easier to use.  Many people who have already made a good living in their respective industry might be skeptical to this new wave of technology, but it is something to embrace.  If you adapt and learn the new methods, you can expand your reach to many new, fresh, and younger markets.

The best way ideas get spread is word of mouth, hands down.  When word of mouth does not require talking, or even seeing another person, it only makes the idea that much easier to spread.  Blogs and social networking sites make this happen every single day.  If you can spark interest in one person, and get them to blog about it, it will catch the attention of at least fifty other people.   What those fifty other people do with it is up to them, but at least you are gettting to their computer.  I can’t even count how many bands i have discovered through email, online reviews, or even Facebook.  It comes back to direct to fan marketing.  Hit one fan with a blog, or an opinion even, and the domino effect will no doubt kick in.  Social sites like WordPress, Blogspot, Twitter, and Facebook can help for this type of marketing.  You can even keep track of who hits your website, where they are from, and how many times they have been on your website using google analytics.  This helps with the process of collecting data, reviewing it, and then optimizing your business strategy even further.  It’s like having a consulting firm without having to hire anybody!  Internet services are at an all time high and they can only help your business.  Some of them require payment, but you can do so much marketing and data collection without even spending a dime. For example, say you want to put out an album.  If you already have the recording gear, you can record and mix for free.  Put the music on the internet and sell it for a dollar, or even give it away for free.  Any person that hits your page and likes the music will no doubt come back to the site or come to a show.  They will start to tell their friends about it, blog about it, embed a song on their Facebook page, boom, you have already hit fifty people with just one person going to your page.  If you are selling that album for one dollar, and these fifty people come and buy it, you will make fifty dollars of pure profit.  This is just an example, you can do things on as big of a scale or as small of a scale as you want.  That is the beauty of it.   As long as you can leverage your product, Web 2.0 will help push it that much farther.

Becoming fluent in using these new web functions is crucial to expansion of a business, artist, or anything you want to get into the hands of others.  Knowing how to set them up, where to find them, which ones cost money, which ones are free, etc…  will be crucial in your success.  Keep the information direct and as easy to access as possible, and people will see it and tell their friends or co-workers.  We are in the infant stages of a new level of technology, and this level allows simplicity and ease for the spreading of ideas, opinions, and products.  Get to know it!

Topspin Media

Google Analytics

Web 2.0 on Wikipedia

My Sampling Endeavor

For the past eight months, I have really been diving into hip-hop production.  I have been a hip-hop nut for about 15 years and it is definitely my genre of choice. Hip-hop is a beautiful thing because you can fit so much emotion, opinion, or belief into a three or for minute track.  Many other genres have minimal words, which is not always bad, but can sometimes leave a song open ended.  Anyways, looking beyond the beats and melodies, hip-hop is poetry in motion, and sends many messages.

I decided my best way to go about creating the best hip-hop music possible would be to save up for an MPC. (Music Production Center)  This allows you to record any outside audio, mainly vinyl, directly into the machine and completely rearrange it into your own sound(s).  Also known as “sampling,”  this is an extremely popular technique in hip-hop and many other genres.

I finally saved up enough money to buy a mid-level MPC, so of course I went and bought one.  I found that  the learning curve is not too bad for learning the layout and function, but learning what sounds to look for, how to chop them, and how to get a nice sound was quite difficult.  I have been at it for roughly six months and I am progressing quite a bit.  Sampling is a tedious task, but at the same time, all your sweat and effort goes into every single sound the listener hears,  which is pretty much the definition of hip-hop.  You want people to stay focused on the lyrics and rhythm throughout the entire composition.  I spend hours in my room looking through old vinyls and collecting snare hits, cymbals, kicks, and riffs of all sorts.  There are also many websites that have sample sharing and loop downloads.  It is quite the community.  Out of all the music styles I have been involved with over the years, working with samples is by far my favorite.  Some people see it as stealing, but I see it as keeping music of the past and present alive. You can take a song from ten or twenty years ago, and make it sound so extremely different that nobody would even know it was the same song.  It’s like saying “Hey, I made this song, now what can you do with it?”  You can take rock, jazz, blues, country, or any other genre and take super small pieces of them to make a composition that is a polar opposite of the original.  Sampling opens up doors for innovation and music that is fresh and original. Every person who works with sample based music has their own style and feel.  I have yet to hear two producers come up with the  same thing while working with samples.  I think that is the reason I like it so much, it’s always brand new when you’re flipping the old stuff!

Follow these links to learn more!

Akai Professional- Makers of the MPC

Looperman- A sample and loop online community

Wikipedia page on sampling

Googletastic

We have all heard about google these days.  We use it to search the internet, watch videos, get directions, and look at images.  The list goes on and on.  It puts a lot of services right at our fingertips for free, but what is the history of google? Where did it come from?

Google was started as a research project by two students at Stanford university in 1996.  Larry Page and Sergey Brin were friends that met at school in 1995.  They were working on the Stanford Digital Library Project and were studying the mathematical aspects of the world wide web.  They were looking at the webs structure as a huge graph.  They were given advice from a professor and started to focus on how many web pages link to a certain page.  Larry Page’s original project was nicknamed “back rub” and Sergey helped Larry to develop something called the page rank algorithm.  This algorithm analyzed the output of Back Rub, this output listed backlinks by importance for a given URL.  Before this project, pages had been ranked by how many times they had been searched, rather than how important they were to actual search.  When they finally got the search engine up and running, it was simply part of the Stanford university’s web page.  It slowly gained more and more attention, people liked the search engine much more than the ones that were running at that time.  They incorporated the site in 1998.  At the end of 1998 they had 60 million index pages. In 1999 they moved into their offices, which are now known as the Googleplex.  There was much talk of Initial Public offering for google.  It did not occur until 2004, but there were over 19 million shares offered at 85 dollars a piece. They raised over 1.6 billion dollars after the IPO and have continued to grow economically and socially ever since. They have combined forces with Time Warner, Myspace, Fox, Youtube, and the list goes on.  Google has come to be the world’s most used search engine in a matter of years.

The main thing to learn from this, is that something as small as a school project, can be grown and raised into one of the world’s largest concepts.  Google is all over the world and gives us communication capabilities people thought we would never see.  Google continues to grow and is known for their customer service and loyalty to their employees.  They are definitely a modern marvel.

Check out these links for more information on Google and other search engines…

http://www.searchenginehistory.com/

Dessa Releases New Album

Dessa Darling from the Minneapolis based collective, Doomtree, has released her second solo album as of yesterday.  All pre-ordered albums were personally autographed by Dessa before being sent out.  She also broadcasted a live webcast the day of the release.  The webcast  consisted of Aby Wolfe, Jeremy Messersmith, and of course, Dessa, taking questions from fans and answering them in a roundabout fashion.  They also played a couple songs from the new album, giving a nice preview of what is to come.  With the release of this album, Dessa continues to be known for her genuine, relaxed attitude, and her appreciation for all fans.  She has an album release show coming up on January 22nd that will include other members of Doomtree, Aby Wolfe, and select members of Heiruspecs.  The album was produced by Paper Tiger, Lazerbeak, Big Jess, and Cecil Otter.  The album contains a wide array of genres which she is known well for.  From hip hop to melancholy a capellas.  It promises to be a great album, grab a copy as soon as you can!