Scatterplot
Group: Members
Posts: 1980
Joined: Dec. 2007 |
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Posted: Mar. 20 2009, 04:56 |
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Well, that will take some time. I have all my synths, my one remaining electric git(I miss my Fly a -little bit-) a strat, my bass, my very nice high end '89 Takamine acoustic all tucked in a clean shampooed room closed off to pets(I have a cat too). Mixers and FX stuff are packed in thier original boxes inside other boxes. But I have to tell you about the Theremin. I don't wanna piss anybody off, I know about Sara Rockwell(I think that was her name) and I've got some songs of hers, yes eerily human sounding. But I really think the theremin is a joke. Unless you REALLY get obsessed with this thing, it's a bitch. When I got mine I hooked it to my mixer, first with no FX, then maybe later added reverb. Played with it, found the "sweet spot" with the only 2 controls on the thing so it would be silent with no hand near the volume antenna, tweaked it to the best I could, then "tried" to pick out a simple melody. In this case the theme song from MASH(TV show). I came close to a few notes sounding like the melody, but man.....If you are going to put serious time into learning an instrument.....go buy a synth/piano or a guitar. You could achieve the same sound with a sine wave on a synth and modify a few parameters, use a lot of pitch bend(like set the pitch bend parameter to cover a whole octave) and just master pitch bending. It's a cute prop, if I were in a band I'd use it for excitement value for sure. But as a serious musical instrument, it is not. I saw all the Youtube videos I could before I placed my order, cool. But sorry, I'd rather invest my time mastering something more "common" and usable. Prior to the theremin it was my Fender bass(circa 2003). I bought it, it was SO easy to play. Thats where I'd rather invest time in practice and learning. No offense to those of you I've seen talking about theremins. I'll keep it. I like it. But it's not a musical instrument worth investing 1000 hours into learning IMO.
Interesting tie-in with the MASH tv show. I saw an episode not too long ago where Hawkeye refers to the theremin. Mentions eerie movie songs and Leon Theremin and a brief description of the device. I wonder what posessed the writer of that episode(that was the '70s and early '80s) to put that in the script? The theremin is still something of a mystery to the public even now, but in the '70s? Unheard of. Well I thought it was interesting.
I'm just chillin' now. Got a brewsky in my haind , done vaccuuming 'n stuff. Bathed Eddy(so silky now). Nuthin' better to do than bug you's Tubes most of which are in a time zone 6 or 7 hours ahead of my time(CDT)....funny it took some so long to recognize my new slang term for tubularians Clotty. I need to contact wikipedia and add "Tubularian" and "Tubes" to their database as "Mike Oldfield fans". Why not? It's a valid name for valid people with a valid cause...and a genuine attraction to recognized music by a recognized composer.
I do look forward to uploading songs in the future. I have a back "catalog" if you will, of things I don't think are good enough. Oh I loved 'em at the time! But not good enough. And when I do realize a finished product I want money.....but then I'm getting old, and let's face it....art-rock is dead. Or almost dead. I'll probably just upload it into the public domain. I only want to leave behind a one hour CD(or work/file) before I die. Regardless of monetary reward. To be honest, a lot of this celtic or synth stuff that people come on this site to promote, leave a post and a link to thier new song, thier myspace page.....then leave....for the most part don't impress me. It's cute, but just....weak. Sorry kids. I NEED drums. I NEED clever Drum rolls, toms, turnarounds. I NEED clever bass. But most I need rock 'n roll. To me that means git/bass/drums/keys. You can have all the stringed instruments at your disposal and all the cute soft synths on your PC. Uh uh. Give me rock 'n roll. Clever Phil Collins-ish drums and Mike Oldfield live riffs(the TB exposed part 2 riff). Then I'm happy! Thats what I've been trying to "capture" since the '80s. A one hour tear jerker but toe tapper, but ROCK all the way. That's why I don't think uploading "songs" is a feasable endeavor. When I'm 50 or 51 I hope to be done. Right now I wanna get moved to a clean environment. Electronics do not take well to dust, moisture, temperature extremes. Nor do guitars. And, unfettered by the constraints of "relationships" which caused me to mothball music several times. I've retired from the "find my baby" scene which was a failed-hunt for over 25 years. Music is the true love. I can focus soon. I knew a git/keyboard player/midi programmer/producer in the '80s. We had a lot of conversations, drank a lot of beer. Some were about Mike Oldfield. He once said(I'll clean up the language), "Jim, if you put as much energy into music as you do women, you might be successfull". He was right. But then he was married so he was relaxed.....and focused. A good lesson for you young people. Well, that's the longest "blog" I guess you call it that I've put on here. Goodnight....or Top of the Morning in your time zone.......Tubes. One more beer and I'm to bed.
Jimbo
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We raise our voices in the night
Crying to heaven
And will our voices be heard
Or will they break Like the wind
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What a great way to collectively address us all. 
this time. Then she fell asleep as I got all my furniture ready to move from the dirty room to the clean shampooed room. I moved it all myself, whistling the whole time, stopping to play with the doggies now and then. Jeez I can be an independant son of a B! Good day's work! Now to shampoo this carpet in this room.
