mistrustmusic's posterous

Mixtape, Muxtape, MuddleTape

I was quite excited about the Muxtape idea that mentioned the other day, and it even got a mention in Dreamrapper's blog too. However, it's all gone a bit pear-shaped over at Muxtape's HQ and I feel a little bit foolish now. It looks like my twelve tracks have gone from my virtual tape and ended up in someone else's, as there've been one or two problems with their software and servers.

On May 21st, Muxtape experienced an error that caused every song in the database to be overwritten with the wrong artist & title. (from Muxtape's blog)
I must say that it was a very good concept, and right now I hope they manage to get everything sorted as soon as possible. If you're not too sure what Muxtape is, have a look at the article I wrote the other day for more information. By the way, I'm still on the hunt for recommendations etc., about the Presonus Firestudio. If you're using one, can you give me some info about it (pros and cons, that sort of thing) as there's just too much info to wade through on the web.

Filed under  //   firestudio   hardware   mistrust   muxtape   personal   presonus  
Posted June 1, 2008

Croydon Library track on O'Neill TV

I've just found out that my some of my tracks can still be heard on O'Neill TV - the place that all the promos for O'Neill surfing contest are shown. Three tracks (Croydon Library, Never Alone, and Hello) were used in Deep Blue Open 2005. The thing that sets this film apart from all the regular surfing events is that it focusses mainly on the effects of Tsunami on the Maldives. Watching it again recently reminded me of the devastation of the hurricane in Burma and the earthquake in China. Click the link here to watch the whole film (approx 25 minutes): O'Neill Deep Blue Open 2005 on O'Neill TV If you don't want to sit through the whole thing, here's a short clip: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPIDdLCTLUg] The film has been shown all round the world on TV (eg the Fox network in the USA, Channel 4 in the UK) and in all the O'Neill equipment stores. A couple of the clips from the film are on the Video Wall section of my blog - and have received a lot of plays since they were uploaded to Youtube. I remembered the other day that O'Neill Europe started up a TV channel on their website last year and that the whole of the DBO 2005 film was up there in its entirety. I thought that it might have been replaced by footage of more recent surfing events, but I checked yesterday and it's still there. It's a bit tricky to find if you're searching for it on the O'Neill site as it's fairly well-hidden behind some of the 2007 events, but it's there...... New music.... We recently got rid of our old desktop computer at home and replaced it will the Dell Inspiron 1300 laptop/notebook that I bought a couple of years ago. Before we binned it (actually - gave it to Adam - eldest stepson), I had to transfer hundreds of files including loads of half-finished tracks I'd made in Acid Pro over the last few years. I've just started listening to some of those tracks and rough arrangements and I really think I can do something with them. Maybe some of them will turn up as new tunes soon. One thing that should finally see the light of day soon is the remix I've been working on for the last few months. It's for a New Zealand band called Pitch Black and the song is "Rude Mechanicals", the title track of their latest album. Site changes.... My website schizophrenia has kicked in again and I've changed the site theme again (and will probably change it again). I wanted this blog to look fairly original and be able to tie it in with the main mistrustmusic.co.uk site (and my myspace page). Some work ahead to make everything tie up!

Filed under  //   acid pro   burma   china   dell   earthquake   film music   music licensing   oneill   pitch black   remix   rude mechanicals   surfing   tsunami   video   youtube  
Posted May 28, 2008

Mixtape, Muxtape

Updated: 28th May 2008 It seems that my Mixtape/Muxtape isn't working because the Muxtape website has lost most of its data. I'm currently uploading a new playlist which should be available here shortly... Here's a word you don't come across much these days: Mixtape. Remember? The thing you made for your friends or for listening to in your car on a long trip, taping your favourite vinyl tracks or the week's Top 30 on Radio One. The thing you made for your mate's party. The mixtape is now only a mythical beast since the ubiquotous CD came along. Well, I came across a website that will let you recreate your favourite mixtapes online. It's a website called "Muxxtape", which lets you upload upto 12 tracks to create your very own mixtape. A lot of the people who've signed up seem to have have made mixtapes of their favourite albums (copyright problems anyone....?) and uploaded them to the site. Well, I thought I'd upload some of my own tracks from the last few years, seeing as though there may not be many new ones finished for a while. You can listen to my own "mistrust" mixtape by clicking the image below. There's also an RSS feed so you can add the playlist to iTunes etc and get notified of any updates.

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Add mistrust.muxtape.com to iTunes (RSS) Don't forget, you can listen to all my blog entries via Talkr at the Podcast Directory

Filed under  //   mixtape   mp3   music   muxtape  
Posted May 14, 2008

Advice wanted about the Firewire audio interface

So my first goal was to find an audio interface that had a powerful headphone mixing system with zero latency.....I ended up selecting the Presonus Firestudio. It has just about everything I need for $700.

Filed under  //   audio   firestudio   firewire   interface   music   presonus  

Kids making electronic music 2

Following on from my previous post about how I started making music with various bits and pieces of old radios and things, I posted a comment on Createdigitalmusic's website about all it in an article about Kids making electronic music between the 60s and the 80s. I also I put in a link to "This is the Mood....", the track I made in the mid-80s using just a Jen SX1000, Casio MT31, and a Kay Drum Machine. I was really surprised to get a reply. I maybe expected maybe a "hmmm", or "well, it WAS the 80's". The reply came from the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher himself, Peter Kirn: "Excellent. Totally excellent". I'm convinced there's something in some of these old tracks of mine - maybe I have a plan.... Have a look at the original article on Createdigitalmusic, with all the comments: Kids making electronic music

Filed under  //   80s   artists   blog   mistrust   mp3   music   old   retro   songs   unsigned  

Golden oldies - kids making electronic music

I often get asked how long I've been making electronic music. The answer is - probably most of my life! My dad was a TV engineer in the 60s and 70s, so he had allsorts of circuit testers and oscilloscopes and other bits of junk that I could mess around round and make odd bleeps and sinewave wails! My dad also had an old valve stereo radio and I used to tune it in to all sorts of weird and wonderful Eastern European radio stations on Short-Wave, and made crazy frequency sweeps. I even hooked up a model train transformer to the radio's input socket and made wacky noises. I moved on to buying a cheap stereo reel-to-reel in a wooden box and recorded tunes I made on an old electronic organ that worked by blowing air from a fan. The first "proper" song I made was called "The Car Park", and then something called "Do you know Mister Wall?" (anyone spot where I got that title from?). I used to try making "musique concrete" tunes by cutting up my tapes, but I didn't have the right gear to join them up again, and made a horrible mess of the tape heads! I got my first synth in about 1980 - a Casio MT31, followed by a Kay Memory Rhythm, and then a Jen SX1000. Not much, I know, but it was all I could afford and it allowed me to make tunes for all the lyrics I'd been writing about teenage angst and life in general. I recorded everything onto a Phillips hi-fi system (with adjustable Left and Right mic inputs!) bounced down with a Phillips portable cassette player and a home-made 4-input mixer (in a small tin box!). Most of the parts were pretty much played live, then bounced down and things like the synth solos and vocals were played over the top. I made about 5 cassette tapes full on songs around that time, and they all survive to this day. The only one I've copied to CD so far is the first one, called "Ultraviolent Light". Listening to them now makes me think of the songs of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, who still use similar gear as I used. One of the tracks from this "album" is called "This is the Mood (I'm in) and is here for you to listen to in all it's glory. Bear in mind that it's from a cassette tape that's nearly 30 years old and I haven't used any noise removal equipment..... it sounds quite a quirky little song....see what you think! This is the Mood (I'm in) - 4'40" [audio http://freedownloads.last.fm/download/192871862/This%2Bis%2Bthe%2Bmood%2B%252...] Download: This is the Mood (I'm in)

Filed under  //   artists   blog   kids   mistrust   mp3   music   music library   oldies   unsigned  

Presonus Firestudio - shall I get one?

I've been using Acid Pro, samples, plugins, etc for ages but I'm now seriously thinking of going "hardware" (much more fun!). Thought about getting a basic mixer but I need more flexible routing and control (MIDI/Audio), and someone recommended the Presonus Firestudio. It looks like it's the sort of thing I need, so maybe someone who's reading this has used one? I think it's around £500 and seems to be worth it - it includes loads of plugins and comes with Cubase 4 LE, Reason Adapted, and loads of other stuff. I've already got a computer so it might be the complete package - it got a great review in MTM too! There's an offer on at the moment where you get a rebate on the MSR remote control for the Firestudio.... Anyone else used one of these? If you have or can offer some advice, please let me know....It's a big outlay so I want to get it right!

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Filed under  //   MSR   artists   blog   blogging   firestudio   presonus   recording   remote  

Everything's gone mobile

I've just launched a new add-on to my blog/website. It's a mobile website, built on something called Winksite. I came across this through my elearning daytime job when I was looking into podcasting. Winksite lets you make webpages that can be viewed on mobile phone, and it's something I've wanted to do for a while, but never got around to it. I've only added a few things to it at the moment, some things are copied directly from this blog, but I'd like to have some mobile-only content. At the moment, it's in it's infancy and I haven't tried it out on many phones, so I'm hoping that a few of you who read this blog and who have mobile phones will browse the mobile pages and let me know if there are any problems with it, or if it works ok. The address for the mobile site is: http://winksite.mobi/mistrust/music or just click the Winksite logo...

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Other news: I'm still plodding along with my remix of Pitch Black's Rude Mechanicals. Should have it finished soon, but it feels like it's missing a melody or pad line, so it's that which is holding me up - plus I only get about 10 or 15 minutes a night to do something with the remix because I've started taking Paul for a drive a lot earlier than usual. I got a message posted on my blog the other day from the editor of an e-learning magazine in the USA, asking if he could use one of my posts in the forthcoming edition of his mag. It's something I wrote a few months ago on my e-learning blog about getting young children used to the language of the Web as soon as possible. I said yes to them using the article, so it should appear in ELearning! Magazine in a few weeks, in a section entitled "The Last Word". More fame!

Filed under  //   e-learning   family   pitch black   remix   rude mechanicals   social networking  

Farewell, Motif!

After much soul-searching and discussions with Mrs Mistrust long into the night, I've decided to sell the wonderful Yamaha Motif XS6 that I recently won on the Music Tech Magazine forum promotion. It's a brilliant keyboard and I could spend hours playing on it, but the problem is that I just haven't got any HOURS or minutes to use it. With all the stuff that's going on at home with Paul, my stepson, and his Autism, the only chance to make music is for about 10 minutes a week on my laptop, sitting in front of the TV, waiting for Paul to get ready for me to talk on his regular evening ride. This situation isn't going to change for the forseeable future, so I'd rather the synth went to a good home. I can use the cash to upgrade my laptop and take my family on holiday. The Yamaha Motif XS6 is currently listed on ebay.co.uk if anyone's interested....

Filed under  //   mistrust   motif   yamaha  

Where have all the musicians gone?

 I'm still concerned about the apparent lack of musicians who run blogs on Wordpress and (ahem) Blogger, in fact all the other major blogging sites. Come to think of it, there don't seem to be many "bands that blog" on Myspace these days. When I've looked under the "music" tag on Wordpress, the majority of links and headlines that appear are usually from people commenting about their favourite tracks or all-time 100 love songs, something like that. Not a lot from either established acts or bedroom musicians like me. Why's that? Why not blog, all ye musos of the world? I must be missing something. I'll be they all run blogs on their own websites. That's it. Must be the answer. So, here's the challenge: If anyone knows of either established acts who run blogs on Wordpress (or Blogger) comment back and I'll add them (and you) to my blogroll. If you look at this  blog regularly, you'll notice my capacity for dissatisfaction with my blog theme. I think the people who design the themes are very clever, but the ones on offer at Wordpress.com don't really suite the needs of a downtempo/chillout musician. I've chosen the "blue" one this time, and added my own header (a crop from Music Tech magazine's announcement of me winning the Yamaha keyboard - see thread below). Well, it's different to all the clouds and rivers and flowers, and other pretty pictures. No doubt I'll get bored and go for pink or something soon. I used to frequent a website and forum called "Electromancer", where I uploaded my first "modern" tracks ("Never Alone" included), and where I got a lot of support and inspiration to make more tunes. Sadly, Electromancer folded (read about it in my old blog) and most of its members went over to a site called Nervejam, where they all continue the spirit of support, inspiration (and tomfoolery) and make nice tunes. I'm mentioning Nervejam because the site admin (Nervejam, himself) has changed my profile name/avatar to something that I really like and which I've decided to adopt as my byline on this blog (thanks NJ).... YammyGit Talking of which, you can now listen to this and all my other blog posts in MP3 format. I've got a RSS feed going off to Talkr.com which produces all my posts in audio format with a weird-sounding, automated female sounding voice. I guess I now have my own podcast. Rather than having "listen" blocks in every previous post, there's a link to all of the "podcasts" here at TruMix. Have a listen - it's really quite bizarre.....

Filed under  //   electromancer   entertainment   mistrust   motif   music   podcast   talkr   trumix   xs6   yamaha   yammygit