mistrustmusic's posterous

Guitar Hero and the great untalented

I've so far managed to avoid all the fuss surrounding Activision's Guitar Hero video game that's taking the world by storm. I'm not really a fan of video games and consoles such as Playstation 3 and XBox, and never have been, and I'd much rather use a computer for either searching on the web or making music. Could never see the excitement or the fun of things like computer games, and even when I had a Spectrum ZX81 when I was a teenager, I tried to learn how to PEEK and POKE it, rather than play games on it. Even had a Commodorer 64 and an Amiga, and used them for making music. However, I've suddenly seen the light and think that Guitar Hero 3 is just great. Paul (my stepson) got the demo on a PS3 magazine disc the other day and immediately took to it. Even though he had to use his Sixaxis controller, he loved it. The next morning, he wanted the real mccoy. Paul being Paul, with his impulsive nature (he's got Autism) desperately wanted the full version, complete with the guitar. Fast Forward to 9.30pm and a trip to the Trafford Centre,  we found what he was looking for, and traded in a few of his other games to get it. We got home, and Paul thought it was great. I spent ages afterwards just watching him getting hooked and thinking I could do that. I had my first go of it last night, and just wanted to stay on it. It's a great thing for someone like me who tried to learn the guitar (a real one, with strings) years ago but never had the co-ordination or the ability to play a proper tune.  Now I can play the lead on Anarchy in the UK or Walk this Way without looking a fool if I get it wrong. Paul's been trying to learn the guitar himself, but hasn't got much idea of a what makes a good tune. Paul, being Paul tends to give up because of stuff like that. Now he has Guitar Hero, he can learn more about how a song is made and maybe get back to playing the real thing. I used to think the same as John Mayer - via Rolling Stone magazine - that things like Guitar Hero are  "making it easy for untalented people to pretend they are good at playing the instrument". just another excuse for people to sit at home and think they were become proper musicians. After seeing how Paul has taken an interest in it, I really think it's a good thing. My only wish now is that someone will come up with something like "Synth Hero" for eighties throwbacks like me!

Filed under  //   activision   guitar hero   mistrust   music   paul harrison   playstation 3   ps3   rolling stone   special needs   synth   tune   videogame   web2.0   xbox   zx81  

Stop: Windows misery strikes again

[caption id="attachment_110" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Tree Swirl, by Paul Harrison, aged 15"]

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[/caption] Windows never ceases to amaze me. It's like the be-all and end-all to the world of computing. It's like gateway to a parallel universe, that will only let you in if you meet a million and one criteria, all encrypted in hexadecimal code. BSOD (Blue Screen of Death), followed by STOP: 0x0000007B. What's that supposed to mean, then? Run Chdsk /F or something - that'll get you a ticket to ride the rollercoaster again. I feel like the world's a blur when this happens...... As you've probably worked out by now, my laptop with all my Acid Pro files, VST plugins, and all my work projects, died on me. Or rather, Windows XP Pro died on me. It's a 2 year-old HP/Compaq NC6400, which has been running very slowly for about 5 or 6 weeks but has been more reliable than my old desktop. Should have backed everything up, but there's probably 20 gigs' worth of files on there, but you wonder about viruses and spyware being passed on. Took ages to load up last week, then on Friday evening: STOP: 0x0000007B. Couldn't run Chkdsk because I couldn't get into Windows, so that's not much use. So much for Windows. Lots of trawling on the internet later, a Linux Rescue disk came to my aid - System Rescue, with TestDisk on it. It told me that all the contents of the drive where safe, and not corrupted. Runs from RAM, not the HD. Thank heavens for that! How to get to them without a good knowledge of Linux. Ahaaa! Bypass Windows! Find a sneaky way past the guard dogs at the eternal gateway! Took the drive out of the laptop, plugged into a USB drive adapter connected to another PC, and hey presto! There were all my files, looking the same as ever and (hopefully) not corrupted. This little incident, along with many other run-ins I (and so many people I know) have had with Windows, makes me realise that I should either by a Mac and get some decent recording software, or install Linux on a laptop and make music the open-source way. Either way, I'm getting very tired of having to second-guess the system and waiting around for an error message to appear. I very nearly lost all of the Pitch Black remix stuff I've working on for months, just when I'm clear about finishing off. If you're a Mac or Linux user, please don't laugh at me. I've seen the light and I'll be converted soon.... Don't forget to bookmark this post, in case you ever get this problem!

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Filed under  //   0x0000007B   Apple   BSOD   Blue Screen of Death   Mac   STOP error   Windows   audio   blog   blogging   music   pitch black   technology   thoughts  

Audio Podcasting for the idle blogger

Apart from actually reading out the various posts on here and recording what I'm saying, the only other way I can make an audio podcast of my blog ramblings is to use one of the many "audio feed" tools that are out on the web. There are quite a lot of these things suddenly appearing all over web, and if you're not familiar with them, they take the RSS feed from your blog and play it back using an articifial voice. I've used Talkr on my blog before and it had a nice synthetic feminine lilt to its voice. However, I can't seem to get on to their site anymore and fear that my audio feeds are no more.  So, what else can I use, seeing as though it's impossible to get any peace and quiet at home to record a podcast myself? Well, according to various blog posts, reviews, and promo sites there are several, so I thought I'd test what some of them sound like, and what other things they offer (eg the ability to add your audio blog to iTunes. Let's have a look at a few and compare what they sound like. First up.... odiogo Offers a whole "audio" and sharing page, including a link to subscribe in iTunes (which I've added to my "subscribe" links on here), plus a direct mp3 stream for each post. It also creates an M3u playlist. Here's an example or two - see what you think: A is for Amazon (on odiogo) Stream all articles Audiofeed This is the "free" version of Readspeaker, which seems to be making a big impression with allsorts of companies and organisations. It offers a HTML link to your own "audiofeed" page where there are a few sharing options, in addition to a player and direct to mp3 download for each 'cast. There's a really useful link to a mobile version of your page. More soon.... By the way, I'm trying out this new social networking toolbar called "GetSocial", to make it easier for people to bookmark these posts. So go on then, give me a whirl!!!

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Filed under  //   add me   audio   blogging   getsocial   mistrust   music   odeo   podcast   podcasting  
Posted July 14, 2008

A is for Amazon

Not exactly music-related, but some news anyway. I've recently had an article published in a popular e-learning magazine in the USA. I wrote about how young kids are growing up learning the language of the World Wide Web and how we should encourage them to become proficient in using the internet at an early age. The article was reproduced from my own e-learning blog that someone from the magazine found a while ago, and asked if they could publish it. I'm quite chuffed, as you can imagine, and it just adds to the the list of other articles/letters I've had published in the last year or two (eg in Future Music magazine). You can read the whole thing (and the rest of the magazine) online in a virtual magazine reader here at E-Learning Magazine's website (go to page 50 of the NextBook edition.) or see it in its original form on my e-learning blog. Also.... I'm seriously considering moving all my other blogs into one place (here!) as it's easier for me to keep tabs on what I'm writing and who's reading them.

Filed under  //   b2bmediaco   blog   blogging   children   e-learning   family   kids   mistrust   music   web2.0  
Posted June 17, 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  

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  

Everything's gone (Pitch) Black

I've been working on the Pitch Black remix for the last week and a half, but I'm getting quite bogged down with it. The problem is that I've been too reliant on sample CDs to find something that fits the existing tune ("Rude Mechanicals") and not really restricting myself to only a few sounds. I use Acid Pro pretty much all the time for getting ideas down quickly, but it's too easy to become lost in all the options that it gives you. My attempt at this remix is a bit "directionless" at the moment, and I'm probably doing the wrong thing by listening to remixes of other Pitch Black tracks in order to get some direction. A friend of mine - DJ and musician, The Only Michael - who did a Pitch Black remix a couple of years ago, advised me not to listen to other remixes, and to just do what inspires me from the original track.

Filed under  //   artists   band   dj   download   music   pitch black   remix