The Artistic World of K.L.Storer



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Sat, Jan 1, 2022

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HAPPY NEW YEAR! MMXXII


THE NOT-SO-COZY BASS LINE THAT'S KICKING MY ASS:

My Music
THE ALBUM PROJECT ICON

K.L. on Bass
Song number 14 in progress
Seriously, mastering this "Cozy Cottage" bass line I've composed, to the point where I am ready to record it, is an elusive damned fox in the hen house!

A major problem is that now my left arm is starting to fatigue. It was my right hand that was wearing out to the point of a dull pain, but that has stabilized. But now that I have a significant part of the arrangment in place, there are a few spots during the song that are taxing the un-toned muscles in my left arm as I am fretting some repetitive movements and some of the walking bass line spots. Plus, there are still some sore fingers, but those are healing a bit and the callouses, which should have already been there, are starting to solidify and do their job.

I have still had to take frequent breaks, as the result of the fatigue and the dull little aches that develop, and, in a smaller manner, to not push the finger tips back into being too sore to successfully play the bass line, which moves along at a decent pace.

After a frustrating period where I kept forgetting the different lines for the section that repeats four times that I'd worked out, or where I had not yet completely worked out some spots, I now predominantly have the differences of each pass-through composed and committed to memory. Although as of yesterday/early this morning, I've flubbed where I've been at in the song or I blew the execution of said parts. Some of the blowing the execution is that fatigued arm or sore fingers, but mostly it's that I am not the practiced bass player I could be.

This week, however, certainly has been one where I am getting practice in. I have continued working in the bass line since last post, up into early this morning with the headphones on ‐‐ not disturbing my apartment neighbors thing again.

I like this bass line quite a lot, so I am going to keep wrestling with it until I am the one who's kicking ass.


Despite that I still have the bass line and all the MIDI horns to record for "Cozy Cottage," and all the mixing and mastering of several songs, and the album art work (save for the front cover), I still plan on the album being out before January is over, as close to the middle of the month as possible. This album has been delayed long enough.

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More work on the "Cozy Cottage" bass line, Thursday evening, but no recording session for it.
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And yet more work on the "Cozy Cottage" bass line, just after midnight this morning, bringing in the new year, and still no recording session for the part!

THE ALBUM'S NOT THE ONLY THING DELAYED:

KLStorer.com
K.L.'s Bog: A Diary of Artful Things
KL's Artist's Blog

Well, my plan had been to launch the new version of this blog on the new website today, but I don't have all the past pages recoded yet. In fact, I'm only about 40% done. I have 45 pages left to go, so even if I did a page a day, which would likely be the most I'd be able to do, it would be into February before I could move the blog over.

Frankly, I'm not going to be able to do a page a day. My focus has to be on getting the album ready for release this month, and as written above, there's a bit to finish off on that project.

I don't want part of the blog sitting in one server with one website while other portions are on the other server with the other site. So, for now, this blog is staying with The WriteGallery.

When it moves, as you can see from the image on the right, there will be a minor title change from K.L.'s Blog: a Diary of Artful Things to K.L.'s Artist's Blog.



Mon, Jan 3, 2022

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F I N A L L Y!   THE COZY BASS LINE IS LAID!:

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K.L. on Bass
VIDEO PRODUCTION STUFF ICON
Song number 14 in progress

Sixty-four takes. Sixty-four takes over the course of two recording sessions to get the "Cozy Cottage" bass line successfully into the master mix. New Years Day it was 55 takes, clearly without a good take. Yesterday I did nine more takes to get to the good take.

Actually, the "good take" is really three, maybe four takes, I can't readily remember for sure. I never did play the line all the way through from start to end. I had to punch in and out with the Tascam RC-3F 3-pedal foot switch several times, each punch-in counting as a new take. But I needed to get the bass line finished so I can move on.

STAMINA: I don't have the stamina at the moment. I am talented enough to have composed this bass line but not practiced and skilled enough to play it all the way through without screwing up. But, again, I'm on a deadline so I had to do what it takes to get the damned thing recorded in a good take(s)!

The Director icon
I've shot no more DV footage of rehearsing the bass line, but I did shoot footage of recording the bass line. However, I only imported the footage that covers the good takes. I have more than enough footage of me on the bass.


K.L. on Keys
Now it's time for the MIDI horn chart on the Oxygen 61 Keyboard, using voices from Logic Pro X.

A sax solo is pretty much carved in stone, and I'm thinking that there will at least be a trumpet solo, but who knows, a second solo might be another "horn."

I've decided to not go with a "faux" guitar solo in this one. I've done that several times on the album and I don't really think this one needs a guitar solo sound.

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Working on the "Cozy Cottage" bass line, later in the day, Saturday.
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The first recording session for the "Cozy Cottage" bass line, later, Saturday ‐‐ the first 55 takes!
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More rehearsal, yesterday, before the second recording session for the "Cozy Cottage" bass line.
Adjusting some settings on the 24-Track recorder.
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Recording the "Cozy Cottage" bass line during yesterday's final session.
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Stamping the Tascam foot switch to punch in.
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The hash mark count of the "Cozy Cottage" bass line takes.



Sun, Jan 9, 2022

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A COZY HORN CHART, A VIOLIN STAND-IN, AND VIRTUALLY APPROXIMATE MIXING, MASTERING, ARTWORK, & SONG ORDER:

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K.L. on Keys
Song number 14 in progress

Monday I started working on the "Cozy Cottage" MIDI horn chart on the Oxygen 61 Keyboard pulling the trumpet voice from the MIDI interface in Logic Pro X. Clearly, Monday was Trumpet Day. I worked out the trumpet part, making room for some improvisation during the solo section.

That night I did a recording session with eight takes, but none were good. I was going to drop back onto the seventh take, during the next session, and punch in to fix some errors, but later I decided to scrap that take and move on.

Tuesday night was my second recording session for the trumpet, and I got in two more takes, with the good take being #10. I also worked out and recorded the MIDI trombone part and got it in only two takes. I'd already navigated all the key changes during the trumpet work, plus there was no solo work for the trombine part, so it was easier to get this one down.

The horn chart quartet is filled out with two sax parts, both with solos. And alto and a tenor sax ‐‐ both, of course, again, MIDI. Wednesday evening I began work on the alto sax part, naturally, with the hope to get the keeper take recorded that evening. I did not get to the recording session for the alto sax until the next night.

The alto sax gets the second solo, that being after the bridge, and as I was working out the part Wednesday night, I kept forgetting to go into the alto sax solo after the bridge. I must have dropped back into the the regular rhythm section part for the alto sax several time, before I finally wrote myself an only partially successful note to set on the Oxygen 61 Keyboard to remind me about the solo. I still forgot several more times before I started going into a solo, to work it out.

I'm not sure what it was. Either I was lost in the groove of the alto sax, the trumpet and the trombone and forgot to move on, or my instincts were to keep the alto sax in that groove. If it was the second one, I am quite okay going against my instincts. In fact, going against what seems the musically natural thing to do, seems the way to go in this instance.

I finally conditioned myself to remember when the alto sax solo comes in, but I wasn't rehearsed enough Wednesday night to record. I laid the alto sax Thursday evening. I really had enough time to start working on that fourth MIDI horn before bed Thursday, but decided to hold off until the next night.

Friday, the horn chart quartette turned into a horn chart trio. The fourth horn was to be a tenor sax. I just didn't like the sound of that MIDI voice when played in the higher register of a tenor sax. It just didn't have any verisimilitude in the higher octave. I tried a few other MIDI horn voices but nothing was fitting. So I tried and went with the violin voice. I rehearsed it and recorded it that same night.

Last night I rerecorded the trumpet solo via the punch in/out pedal. In the original solo I left no breaks for the "trumpeter" to take a breath; I just played the solo straight from start to ending; that verisimilitude of a horn player is seriously compromised if it seems like the player has lungs and breath the size of an elephant's. Plus there were a few out-of-key notes that I was going to leave in as accidentals, but since I want to put "breath breaks" anyway, I might as well fix the flat/sharp notes.

VIDEO PRODUCTION STUFF ICON
Of course, I shot DV footage for most of the work described above, except the last two sessions, recording the MIDI violin and rerecording the MIDI trumpet solo, both I did later at and needed to wear the headphones so as not to have the audio coming out of monitor speakers to possibly piss off my apartment building neighbors ‐‐ "One man's apartment wall...." I have 31.5 hours of DV footage from the four DV cameras, including about four minutes shot on my iPhone. It amounts to 3.97 terabytes on my 5 Tb external drive.

I was a little surprised to see how much footage there is. It's the multi-cam shoot aspect. The footage covers just shy of eight hours of action but from four (and in one instance, five) camera angles. What I'm going to do with this footage, I am not sure. I can't conceive that even of I do a documentary about putting the instrumental together, it would be longer than, say, thirty minutes; ten to fifteen minutes would probably be much better. Since all but two of the actual good takes are in the footage, I could also make a music video, though I have no designs on this song being a single. There are official music videos for other than singles though, right?

NEXT icon
VIRTUAL APPROXIMATE SUBTERFUGE ICON
AUDIO RECORDING - ENGINEERING ICON
GRAPHICS ICON
Now that I've finished recording what is definitely the last thing to be recorded for the album, it's major mixing and mastering, not only for "Cozy Cottage," but also for most of the rest of the album. And there's the rest of the art work. As you can see, the album's front cover is designed. But the back cover needs designed. I also want a lyric booklet that will 99% likely have a little liner notes essay. Below is the probable finalized repertoire for the album. The song order is not absolutely written in stone, except that the album will absolutely open with "Identity" and close with "Into the Blue Dawn."

VIRTUALLY APPROXIMATE SUBTERFUGE song list:

  1. Identity
  2. The Night Before the Night Before Christmas
  3. Icebergs
  4. Chilled October Morning
  5. Just One Shadow
  6. Cozy Cottage
  7. The Answer
  8. Burning Bridge
  9. Medley:
         i) The Death of the...
         ii) Memories of the Times Before
         iii) Memory's Endbit
         iv)The Death of the... (reprise)
  10. Into the Blue Dawn
And, as is my long-standing habit, here is a gallery of mostly variations on the same photo concept(s), within the current collection, and in comparison to a myriad of previous photos:
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Working on the "Cozy Cottage" MIDI trumpet part, Monday.
The "Cozy Cottage" MIDI horns project in Logic Pro X.
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Later Monday during the first recording session for the "Cozy Cottage" MIDI trumpet.
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Tuesday night, after the MIDI trumpet track was laid, work on the MIDI trombone part started.
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Later Tuesday, recording the trombone ‐‐ as seen from the lenses of three of the four DV camcorders.
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The MIDI sax icon in Logic Pro X.
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The note setting on the Oxygen 61.
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POV from camera D of me working out the alto sax part.
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Thursday evening, laying the "alto sax" track.
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Searching for a fourth MIDI voice to replace the tenor sax, and settling on the violin.
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Recording the violin, with the phones ‐‐ no DV footage shot for this recording session.
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Last night, rerecording the MIDI trumpet solo to get better verisimilitude.



Tue, Jan 11, 2022

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ON THE HOME STRETCH FOR VIRTUALLY APPROXIMATE SUBTERFUGE:

My Music THE ALBUM PROJECT ICON VIRTUAL APPROXIMATE SUBTERFUGE ICON

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A shot of my laptop screen with the Logic Pro X up during the original mastering of "Cozy Cottage."
AUDIO RECORDING - ENGINEERING ICON
In what cannot be a shock to anyone who knows me or has read very much of this blog, I thought I was finished mixing and mastering "Cozy Cottage" Sunday evening. That, of course, turned out to be a false-positive, as it were. I got into a little bout of slightly remastering the songs already mastered for this album project: "Just One Shadow," "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas," "Burning Bridge," and "The Answer." In doing that, I realized I needed to revisit "Cozy Cottage" to give it the same treatment as these others.

There were a couple issues that prompted the remastering, and in a few cases some slight remixing. One was that I wanted to normalize the volume across all the songs, to get a consistent volume level for the album. I also discovered a great trick to get an enhanced stereo spread and wanted to apply that to these songs. So the songs that have previously released as singles will have "[remastered]" following them on the album listing. The others won't need the designation since the previous mastered versions have not been released.

another thing I have determined is that I need to also go in and normalize the volume level within the span of some of the songs. I have a habit of starting out songs a lot quieter and then have them get louder as I build instrumentation. It lends itself to an imbalance from the ending of one song into the start of the next, one that doesn't sound good. Whether I have to go in and do that normalizing in the multi-channel mixes or can do it in the mastering phase remains to be seen.

I have that normalizing to do as well as finishing, at least, the mastering of "Cozy Cottage" then it's on to remixing and remastering the rest of the album: "Identity," "Icebergs," "Chilled October Morning," "Medley," and "Into the Blue Dawn." "Medley" will be first because the main song, "Memories of the Times Before" is a composition collaboration with my music partner of old, Rich Hisey, and I need to set up the song publishing administration for that one as a collaboration, and think I ought to have the finished master for Rich to hear, as soon as I can.

GRAPHICS ICON
And, yep, there is still a whole lot of album artwork, both the back cover and the booklet, to design and create.

Though the next item below lends itself well to both designs.

Meanwhile, I believe I have finalized the song order for the album ‐‐ though I know that beyond titles, this list has no musically dynamic meaning to anyone, except to the tiny number of people who have heard at least some form of all of the songs.

VIRTUALLY APPROXIMATE SUBTERFUGE slightly revised song list order:

  1. Identity
  2. The Night Before the Night Before Christmas [remastered]
  3. Icebergs
  4. Chilled October Morning
  5. Just One Shadow [remastered]
  6. The Answer
  7. Cozy Cottage
  8. Burning Bridge
  9. Medley:
         i) The Death of the...
         ii) Memories of the Times Before
         iii) Memory's Endbit
         iv)The Death of the... (reprise)
  10. Into the Blue Dawn



Fri, Jan 14, 2022

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THAT VIRTUALLY APPROXIMATE HOMESTRETCH HAS MORE YARDAGE* THAN I ANTICIPATED ‐‐ YET AGAIN:

*) I suppose "meterage" would be the right word for almost everyone outside the USA.
VIRTUAL APPROXIMATE SUBTERFUGE ICON THE ALBUM PROJECT ICON My Music

AUDIO RECORDING - ENGINEERING ICON
fb K.L.Storer's Artist's page post: "If I were signed to a label, I'd be in the doghouse, because I find the need to remix much of what has already been mixed and mastered for the album, thus delaying the release yet again!" I'm going to put on my pretend tech-geek hat for this one. It's not the "geek" part that's necessarily pretend, it's that I am far less of a tech head than many people believe me to be.

The mixing of "Cozy Cottage" may be done, but I will have to do another pass at mastering it, after I have finished both remixing and remastering all of "Just One Shadow," "The Answer," and "Burning Bridge," and I may have to remix "Cozy Cottage." I am leaving "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas" as it is currently mixed and mastered (or, actually remastered).

This all has to do with my work to normalize the volumes both of the entire collection, and, to better facilitate that first goal, also each song, within itself. Last blog post I wasn't sure whether I could normalize each song within itself at the mastering level or would have to go back in an normalize by adjusting volume differences in the mix. It came clear as I started the process that I needed to go back into the mixes.

Sweetwater has a good article on LUFS: "What Is LUFS, and Why Should I Care?"
To reiterate, the normalization issue is several-fold. It starts with the practicality of the volumes of the songs being comparable on the album; you want volume consistency on an album you're playing. What needs to be factored in there is a music industry volume standard called LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale). Every streaming platform has a standard LUFS level that everything they play is adjusted to. Typically it's -14 decibles, or thereabouts.

Of course, regardless of what LUFS I master the songs at, each platform would adjust the LUFS to their standard. Again, the idea, is that all music is at a relatively consistant volume level so the listeners can set the level they want and not be bothered adjusting when new music comes on, the same principle as for all the music on one album.

The LUFS number for a song is the average peak number for the duration of the song. There may be sections with a much lower or a much higher peak. Within this system of measurement is also the consideration of the LU range, derived from the loudness units (LUs), each unit essentially equivalent to a decible. That range is the distance at any given time during a song between the lowest volume and the peak volume. I.E.: if the peak is -10 and the lowest level is -17.5, the LU range at that point is 7.5. What I am discovering is that the smaller the overall range in a song, the more it will be normalized to other songs that have the same LUFS. In other words, the more there will be the perception of a relatively even volume level.

I've mentioned before how my songs have a tendency to build both instrumentation and, correlatively, volume as the song progresses. One of my songs can be considerably louder at the ending than it was at the beginning. That's not uncommon in general, but it is a habitual situation for my music. What that can do, if you've been following along with this verbal monstrosity I've written today, is cause a jarring difference between the ending of one of my songs and the beginning of the next, that, for two songs that have the same LUFS. There will be times when that is of no bad consequence, because it works artistically. A made-up example:

A rocker ends with a bang then the next song starts with a low breeze and windchimes delicately ringing, then a piano starts playing as if in the distance, the volume gradually getting louder over a period of maybe a half-minute, or more.
That contrast between the previous song's ending and this song's beginning would actually be quite interesting. But there are often times when one of my songs starts not with what is obviously a low level volume for effect, but just an overall volume where everything played is much lower than the ending of the previous song. Now it sounds like we're listening to two songs at very different volume levels, as if someone had turned the volume down on the device the songs are being played on. This is an effect to be avoided.

One of the ways to avoid that is to be sure the LU range between the lowest levels of the start a song and the peaks at the ending of that song are not too drastically far apart. This is exactly what my going back to remix then remaster the three songs mentioned at the start is all about. It's about getting the over LU range for each song closer together so when they are normalized to the same LUFS there will be a comparable volume level effect. The reason I am not doing "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas" is that there is a narrow LU range to that one and it is now the benchmark that I will compare all the others to when they are remixed and remastered. It's also what all the rest *(see below) will be measured against.

For the record, I am targeting -12 as the LUFS for the songs. It's 2 LUs above the usual streaming standard of -14, but I want the CDs to have a little bit more volume. The streamers will turn the music down and that's their prerogative. I'm not sure if Apple will turn down to -14 for the album downloads in iTunes, but I know they will for their streaming service. It seems to me I've bought albums from iTunes with drastically different volume levels from each other, however. So, I am thinking my -12 will stay in tact for the on-line purchases.

Of course there's the remixing and mastering of the other past recordings for the album: "Icebergs," "Chilled October Morning," "Medley," and "Into the Blue Dawn." Last but not least, there's "Identity," which has yet to have its first passes at either mixing or mastering. With all of these, I'll be able to pay attention to the LUs and the basic normalization from the beginning of the process, and won't have to swing back through for remix nor remaster pass for any of them ‐‐at least not for THIS reason.

The end result of all of this is that the album release is once again delayed. It is not unlikely that we are now looking at a February release. I am not thrilled with this prospect, but I also want the better sonic results that are to come from this delay. As I said in an exchange on Instagram, early this morning: "Late is better than sounding crappy."

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Last night, (night 2), remixing the track volume levels for "Just One Shadow."



Martin Luther King Jr.
Day

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

CLICK HERE FOR DR. KING'S SPEECH IN ITS ENTIRETY


Wed, Jan 19, 2022

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VIRTUALLY APPROXIMATE HOME-STRETCH MARKER?:
My Music THE ALBUM PROJECT ICON VIRTUAL APPROXIMATE SUBTERFUGE ICON

trudge [truhj] noun: a laborious or tiring walk; a tramp.
I don't know what marker I'm at on that home-stretch toward the album being finished and ready to put out. I know I am on the home-stretch, but I think the finish line is further down the track than I want! But, I trudge on.

AUDIO RECORDING - ENGINEERING ICON
The mixing and mastering is still underway. It started with remixing and remastering "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas," "Just One Shadow," and "The Answer," both to get some volume normalization and also to apply a new trick I learned to get a wider stereo spread.

Now I'm working on the remix of "Burning Bridge." I started completely from scratch with it, as I did the other remixes. Last night, I worked on individual tracks. I added or adjusted the EQ filters for most of the tracks. For instance, there are three separate chorded bass parts, each acting as rhythm guitars in the song, and all having been recorded with fuzz distortion. One of those "rhythm guitars" is placed all the way left in the stereo pan, one is all the way right, the third is in the center. I have varied the ratio of bass and treble in the EQ in each of the three to help distinguish them, thus getting a better stereo separation between the left/right ones, and an over all better stereo-spread feel for the "rhythm guitars" in general. I also have put a compressor on each to help contain the volume fluctuations a little. And I added a Limiter on each.

I've done most or all of that to most other individual tracks including the main bass line track, where I've punched the treble a bit to enhance that Geddy Lee/Chris Squire roundwound-metallic sound. I haven't done anything with the vocal yet, save for flatten the volume to then readjust it in the new mix, which I've done with everything. I probably will at least look at the EQ on the vocal track as well as the compression ‐‐ I'm pretty sure there's compression on the vocal, already.

"Cozy Cottage" gets treatment next, then I go back to remix and remaster all the other music previously recorded for the album, going all the way back to the very first thing, recorded before I knew I was making an album, the instrumental "Icebergs" (written for The Guild production of the play of the same name by Alena Smith).

Music Business
CD BABY DISC MANUFACTURING icon
GRAPHICS ICON
Copyright © Symbol icon
A lot of other details need attended to, as well. Like I've written before, I need to finish the artwork, which means the back cover as well as the booklet. I also need to check with CD Baby to see what specs I need to follow for the booklet (and get a price estimate). Also, I have a whole slew of copyright registrations to file with the U.S. Copyright Office. I have to pay for those, too.


WORKING ON SOUND:

NORWEGIANS logo.
SOUND DESIGNING, NO, SOUND TECH ICON
Show Cue Systems icon - http://www.showcuesystems.com/
Though the sound design is from Director David Shough, Monday I went to The Guild to write the sound cue file program in Show Cue Systems for our next show, The Norwegians, because I am far more familier with the software than David is. In this case you could say that I am the construction foreman and David is the architect.

I didn't have all the music or many of the SFX, so I put placeholder music or effects in at many of the cue spots. I had to do that because SCS will not allow you save a cue if a sound file isn't associated with it. I'll just go in and swap these dummy files out for the correct one's once they are provided.

Beyond the placeholders, what I programmed Monday is the foundation. There will be a lot of tweaking and finessing of fade ins, fade outs, and sound levels, etc. There already are some cue changes that need to be dealt with when I go for pass number 2.
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Monday, in the DTG booth, writing the SCS sound cue file program for The Norwegians.

THE DAYTON THEATRE GUILD 2022/2023 THEATRICAL SEASON:

Dayton Theatre Guild

The Dayton Theatre Guild is pleased to announce our 2022/2023 theatrical season!

THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT
by Jeremy Kareken & David Murrell and Gordon Farrell

Directed by Tim Rezash
Showing weekends: Aug 26-Sep 11, 2022

A fresh-out-of-Harvard fact checker for a prominent New York magazine is assigned to fact-check an essay about the suicide of a teenage boy. It is written by a talented and established writer, and publishing his piece can save the struggling magazine from collapse. The two b attle over facts versus truth, with the magazine's editor, who wants to run the story and who assigned the fact-checker to look it over, serving as referee.

Audition dates: Mon & Tue, July 11 & 12, 2022 (2M, 1W)


BROADWAY BOUND
by Neil Simon

Directed by Marjorie Strader
Showing weekends: Nov 4-20, 2022

Broadway Bound is one of Neil Simon's highly acclaimed autobiographical plays, and was a 1987 Pulitzer Prize finalist in Drama. Eugene and his older brother Stanley are trying to break into the world of show business as comedy writers, while dealing with the break-up of their parents. They write what they know, which is what is going on in their household, giving it all a comedic twist.

Audition dates: Mon & Tue August 29 & 30, 2022 (4M, 2W)


FOR THE LOYAL
by Lee Blessing

Directed by Doug Lloyd
Showing weekends: Jan 13-29, 2023

Toby and Mia are graduate students with a bright future ahead of them: a baby on the way and a college coaching job for Toby. But when Toby stumbles across a secret that threatens to derail their future, he and Mia must decide between honesty and loyalty, and whether doing something wrong is the only way to do what's right. Inspired by the Penn State sexual abuse scandal, For the Loyal is an emotional and thought-provoking play.

Audition dates: Mon & Tue November 7 & 8, 2022 (4M, 1W)


RELATIVITY
by Mark St. Germain

Directed by Debra Kent
Showing weekends: Mar 17-Apr 2, 2023

In 1902, Albert and Mileva Einstein had a daughter. After 1904, the child was never seen or spoken of again. It is now 1942, and a reporter has come to interview Einstein about his mysterious family history, only to discover far more secrets under the surface. As the reporter questions Einstein about his theory of relativity and personal past, she develops a new, more pressing query: To be a great man, does one first need to be a good man?

Audition dates: Mon & Tue January 16 & 17, 2023 (1M, 2W)


HEDDA GABLER
adapted by Christopher Shinn

Directed by David Shough
Showing weekends: June 2-18, 2023

This Broadway adaptation of Ibsen's timeless drama presents a sympathetic, yet striking and powerful Hedda in the classic tale of her struggle to find a means of escape from a loveless, ordinary existence. Returning from her honeymoon, Hedda finds herself already bored of her husband, and longing for the days when she was free to exercise her wild and independent whims. With the return of an old flame and a proposition from an amorous judge, she begins a dangerous game, amusing herself by manipulating and destroying everyone around her in an attempt to regain control of her life.

Audition dates: (to be announced) (3M, 4W)

*all audition dates are subject to change

Stay tuned for ticket information including season ticket memberships.



Fri, Feb 4, 2022

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NORWEGIANS logo.
CANCELED
Snow Day

Due to the current snowstorm and the resulting hazardous driving conditions, the opening night performance of The Norwegians, by C. Denby Swanson has been postponed until tomorrow evening.



Sat, Feb 5, 2022

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Opening Today

NORWEGIANS by C. Denby Swanson at The Dayton Theatre Guild

Click here for the promocast of the show



Wed, Feb 9, 2022

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THE ACTOR WILL GET TO ACT AFTER A YEAR AWAY FROM THE CRAFT:

ACTING ICON
PROFESSIONAL GIG ICON

Though I can't yet give details, I just booked a paying gig that deals with the adaptation of a classic piece of theatrical literature.

The pay won't give me that downpayment on the Caribbean island, but, a paycheck is a paycheck.

I'll reveal more when I get the go-ahead from the powers that be.


GOOD FIRST WEEKEND, IF A SHORT ONE:

NORWEGIANS logo.
SOUND DESIGNING, NO, SOUND TECH ICON
Show Cue Systems icon - http://www.showcuesystems.com/
The Norwegians, is up-and-running, after a one-day delay due to the severe winter storm that hit a large swath of the country last Thursday.

Tech Week, which was kicked of with Tech Sunday on January 30, went well. I of course was overseeing the execution of Director David Shough's sound design. I actually am credited in the program as being a collaborative sound designer with David, which is nice, but not really true. I thinks it's more accurate to say I am the construction forman bringing to life the design from the architect, that being David. It's all his concept, even his curation of music and sounds. Whta I did was write the sound cues into the Show Cue Systems software.

Well, at any rate, though it was a shorter weekend, they did have a good one. There was a small sound glitch during the opening show, but I came in Sunday and was able to identify the problem and fix it.

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One must be prepared for Tech Sunday!
Sunday mornin, before the tech rehearsal, making changes to and tweaking the programing in SCS for David Shough's sound design.

THE CAST OF THE PRICE:

THE PRICE logo.

CHARACTER
      ACTOR
Victor Franz
      Brendan Sheehan

Esther Franz
      Wendi Michael

Gregory Solomon
      David Williamson

Walter Franz
      Ted Eltzroth



Sun, Feb 20, 2022

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Closing Today

NORWEGIANS by C. Denby Swanson at The Dayton Theatre Guild

Directed by David Shough
Produced by Christina Tomazinis & Rick Flynn

A funny, bitter, sometimes odd comedy about two women, single in a cold Minnesota winter, who each hire a pair of really, really nice Norwegian gangsters to whack their respective ex-boyfriends. Then things get complicated.

Showing weekends
Feb 4-20, 2022

Tickets:
DTG Buy Your Tickets Now

The Cast of The Norwegians

CHARACTER
     
ACTOR
Olive
      Jenna De Gruy

Betty
      Cydnie Hampton

Gus
      Mike Beerbower

Tor
      Adam Jones

The Promotional er for The Norwegians


Tue, Feb 22, 2022

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THE INCREDIBLY STEEP LEARNING CURVE THAT CAUGHT ME OFF-GUARD AND STOPPED ME IN MY TRACKS:

VIRTUAL APPROXIMATE SUBTERFUGE ICON THE ALBUM PROJECT ICON My Music
AUDIO RECORDING - ENGINEERING ICON
You may note that there's been no entries about the music project for a month. I stepped back from the project for a while, for a few weeks, because I was getting overwhelmed. To be forthright, I slipped into a little bit of a depression. The mixing and mastering, or remixing and remastering in some cases, has been going slower than I expected. There's a much steeper learning curve to this than I anticipated. I have become painfully in touch with how much I do not know.

Before my little hiatus, I remixed and remastered "Burning Bridge" and got sound that I am satisfied with, but there was still a volume match problem. I have the LUFS for all the songs at -12. I worked on mastering "Cozy Cottage" and have found that I have some problems getting the horn chart voices to sound in a manner that satisfies me. There are other small problems with some other songs that I now feel I need to address, having listened to all that is supposedly in finished mastered form. Another problem is that there still seems a great level difference from song to song. I believe it's because, as I wrote before, my songs tend to get louder as they progress. So I need to go back a remaster some work that I thought I was done with, and I have an overall audio normalization to get to. I just need get to over or power through the dread that overcomes me when I think of sitting down to do any of this work.

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The Logic Pro screen for "Burning Bridge," filled with volume level meters and gain controls, during the normalization process.
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Prototype image number 1 for the back cover of the album.
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Sunday morning, Jan 30, listening to a playback during the on-going process to get a good sound for "Cozy Cottage."

ACTING FOR DOLLARS ‐‐ NOW I CAN GO TO CANCÚN!:

ACTING ICON
PROFESSIONAL GIG ICON

Though I recently auditioned for something that I was not cast in, I do have a couple paying actor's gigs coming up. One of them will be on the Human Race Theatre Company's Loft stage, the other will take place in a college's law school court room. The former being the upcoming acting gig I mentioned, without detail, in the Feb 9 blog post. Of course, neither gig is actually paying me the numbers that could finance a trip to Cancún, but, a paycheck is a paycheck.

MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.
A couple weeks ago I did an on-line audition, via Zoom for this upcoming staged reading of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, adapted for the screen by auteur Shuann Baker.

Shuann has brought me into the team to put this on, on The Loft Theatre stage. The reading is free to the public. Be advised that COVID protocol is in place and all audience members will be required to weak a mask.

My participation is barely as a supporting actor, I have a couple small roles, but it's still going to a fun project to be a part of.

As the official promo write-up says, in part: "The adaptation is set in Appalachia during the 1800s, and uses Appalachian dialect with the original Shakespearean verse."

It continues, "'Shakespeare's words performed with this dialect are really beautiful, as it turns out,' says local filmmaker Shuann Baker who adapted the screenplay and is working to get the script produced as a feature film. 'It's a rougher sound, closer to the Old English the play would have been performed in originally. A very different experience from hearing the story in the more traditional "heightened" dialect we typically associate with Shakespeare. My hope is that the roughness of the Appalachian culture and accent will make this adaptation much more accessible to contemporary audiences.'"

Again, the reading is free to the public, on Monday, April 25, 2022, 7:00 p.m. at The Loft Theatre:
126 North Main Street
Third Floor
Dayton, Ohio 45402

The Midsummer entry was edited on 02/24/2022 to reflect the new performance date.

U.D. Law - University of Dayton School of Law icon
I have also just booked a U.D. Law School gig, playing a witness for a courtroom trial procedure class. That will take place the Monday after the Shakespeare staged reading.


EVERYTHING WAS BEAUTIFUL AT CAN NIGHT:

In the audience icon

Last Wednesday night I attended Final Dress (AKA: Can Night) for the Human Race Theatre Company's mounting of Everything That's Beautiful, by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder. It's really lovely script dealing with a most timely topic.

The icing on the cake is that this production marks the professional stage debut of one young Miss Isabella Roberts, the prodigy of Natasha Randall and Craig Roberts, two of my castmates from my first stage production as an adult, The Cripple of Inishmaan at The Guild in 2004. Tosha would later direct Heather Atkinson and me in Blackbird, also at The Guild.

Isabella is absolutely the genetic offspring of her parents, clearly having inherited Mom's and Dad's talent. The young women did a wonderful job Wednesday evening, giving us some lovely subtleties and presenting a strong stage presence. She plays the role of the young child, born a boy but identifying as a girl. Isabella shares the role with a young man named Jax Heritage. I have not seen his performance but have heard that he does a fine job, too.

The show runs through March 6.



Thu, Feb 24, 2022

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MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM POSTPONED:

PROFESSIONAL GIG ICON
ACTING ICON
MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM logo.
POSTPONED

The staged reading of Midsummer Night's Dream, adapted for the screen by Shuann Baker has been moved. The performance is now:

Monday, Apr 25, 2022 ‐‐ 7:00 p.m.
The Loft Theatre
126 North Main Street
Third Floor
Dayton, Ohio 45402

Admission is still free.




Sat, Mar 12, 2022

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My Music
THE ALBUM PROJECT ICON
DELAYED

On a Personal Note icon
This really probably ought to be more of just a personal essay and not really relegated to a "My Music" entry, but, my music, and specifically the Virtually Approximate Subterfuge album project is directly affected by the subject matter here, so I might as well write this under the banner of the project.

In the February 22 blog post, I wrote of the steep learning curve I came upon and the wall I came up against because of it. I also wrote of how I need to get over or power through the dread that overcomes me when I think of sitting down to do any of the mixing and mastering work on the project, as the result of what seems like the wide, towering, deep wall in front of me.

Now here's the risk for me, to put this out there in any sort of public manner:

Beyond just the dread that I've experienced because of the learning curve as far as mixing and mastering goes ‐‐ there is so much expertise that I do not have ‐‐ I also have been experiencing an overall depression these last several weeks, really, longer than that.

A while ago, several years ago, more than several years ago, I self-diagnosed myself as occasionally suffering from chronic, low-grade, depression. It's important to emphasize that this is a "self diagnosis"; I have not gone to a professional, be it a psychologist or otherwise. I've been reluctant to see a therapist or even mention this to any sort of medical practitioner because I have this inner-voice of self-doubt that stealthily whispers inside my head that the idea that I have any condition that can be legitimately labelled as "chronic, low-grade, depression" is ridiculous, that the truth is that it's simply a character flaw, that I'm really just some lazy, unmotivated, sad-sack schmuck who has conveniently convinced myself I have these bouts of depression, low-grade, or otherwise.

Yet, the times arrise when, despite my ambitions, despite my desires to meet certain goals, especially artistic goals, I find myself dreading the goals, dreading the work, dreading everything. I find myself wanting to do nothing but climb under the covers. Then, of course, I feel heavy, deep stabs of guilt, which only aggravates the scenario, and a cycle then begins to spiral. But I try to do it in secret. I do do it in secret. I live alone so there's no one to witness any "down time" and I don't exactly broadcast it.

I've casually mentioned it a few times, to a few people, but this little piece of writing here is the most I've ever shared about it. And writing it here is a sort of timid way to put it out there because this blog doesn't get a lot of traffic. I never check the stats, but I would not be surprised if I am virtually writing to myself.

One of the problems I have, I am absolutely sure, is the particular brand of perfectionist I am. I am the type who is terrified "it" will not only not be perfect, but that it will be a miserable failure. This doesn't explain the contradiction of how I'm often pleased with what I have done, except for this: that perfectionist fear is always preceding whatever action will be, or is supposed to be, taken.

I also have a tendency to look at the projects I have going and the goals the deadlines and let myself get anxious about them, which often leads to feeling overwhelmed. At the moment for instance, there is this Virtually Approximate Subterfuge album project, which at one time was supposed to be wrapped and released by the end of last summer. There is also the goal to get this whole blog collection re-coded and transfered to the new server at klstorer.com. Right now, that project is only about 40% done, and I've been at it, of-and-on, for almost six months. I'd like to have it all transferred over with some re-direct pages on the old server for at least a couple months before I close down the old server, which I'd like to do on or before this coming July 1. Add on that I have a lot of business admin sort of stuff to do for the album project, as well as the artwork to finish, beyond the mixing and mastering. I also would like to get what can be reasonably considered a final draft of my two-act play. This is a standard situation for me and sometimes when I survey the projects on my table, my impatience and perfectionist's anxieties get me to that state of feeling overwhelmed,

These last two years, it's clear I can add in the stress and anxiety from this damned COVID pandemic, including a heavy dose of frustration and anger about the anti-science, anti-community, anti-compassion, ignorant bullshit from many politicians and an all-too-disappointing large sector of the public. I have literally lost all respect for particular individuals in or close to my circle, and I have no desire to reassess my decision.

All this together, I believe, in my admittedly pure layman's understanding, has led me to this self-assessed depression, low-grade as it may be. I am now trying to adjust my attitude, to do that "take the first steps" action, that "just show up for the next thing" tactic. This weekend, I intend to get back to that mixing and mastering of the album. Let's see if I can overcome myself.


PLAYWRIGHT WORK ‐‐ MURDERING LITTLE DARLINGS:

The Writer icon
Final Draft 11 icon

Though I'm still not deep into it, I have been doing some work on Draft 5h. Mostly what I've been doing is murdering my little darlings. In some cases I have to sit there and debate whether I should cut particular lines or sections, and in a few cases I have decided to not do it, or at least to hold off.

click here to go to the index of the "Playwright Work" blog entries


UPDATE ON THE PRICE:

THE PRICE logo.

DTG Promotional trailer icon
Copyright © Symbol icon
The literary agent for the Arthur Miller estate has granted us clearance to use dialogue from the Price script. Of course, now we are doing trailers rather than something that could more appropriately be called a promocast. I'm shooting for no more than a total of sixty seconds from the play, and if at all possible, all the same moment from the play rather than cutting in different sections.

SOUND DESIGNING ICON
I have started curating the production music, pre-show music, and intermission music for the show. I think that's pretty much going to be it. I don't think there will be any SFX.

Dialect Coaching icon
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Dialect Coach Sarah Summerwell.
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Ted Eltzroth, Wendi Michael, & Brendan Sheehan during the Zoom session dialect coaching.

Last week we had a Zoom session with dialect coach Sarah Summerwell for three of the four cast members to work on NYC dialects.

LETTS AT THE PLAYHOUSE:

In the audience icon

I saw the Pulitzer-Prize-winning August: Osage County, by Tracy Letts at The Dayton Playhouse last Sunday afternoon. Kudos to the cast and crew. Some really fine work, especially from the two leading ladies, Becky Milligan Howard and Mandy Shannon. It's still up this weekend. If you're close enough to the dayton, Ohio area to make it practical, you oughta check it out!


"NOPE" TO PAUL, "YAY!" TO SHERYL:

In Concert icon

Paul McCartney logo ‐‐ Extreme close-up of his eyes behind his autpgraph signature
NOPE ICON
Paul McCartney is doing a small summer tour of the U.S. The closest he'll be, at least thus far, to where I live is Knoxville, TN, which is about 320 miles and 4.5 hours away. I was all ready to make the trek ‐‐ last time I went to Lexington, KY, not quite as far, but not right next door, either. However, the ticket prices are just too rich for my blood. Granted, last time Paul toured, in 1019, I paid $1600 for my ticket, but that was a VIP Hot Sound ticket with access to the sound check and the slight potential to meet the Man, himself. For this new tour, there are tickets going for upward of $1000 more than that 2019 VIP ticket, tickets which are not VIP tickets. The nose-bleed seats have been selling for $300 to $500. It's that newer flex tickets system and so far I have not seen the tickets flex down to a price I can justify paying. So, as much as I would like to see Paul for the twelfth time, at this point, it does not look like that is going to happen.

Sheryl Crow at The Rose Music Center at the heoights, July 8, 2022
YaY!
On the other hand, I do have a decent seat for Sheryl Crow's July 8 show at The Rose Music Center here in the Dayton area. And though it topped $100 ($116 with fees), it is a ticket price I can live with. This will be my third time seeing Sheryl.

Sheryl Crow at The Rose Music Center at the heoights, July 8, 2022
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I'm in the Center pit section, Row H (8), Seat 14. Approximately where the dot in the image above covers the "T" in the obscured word, "Pit."



Wed, Mar 16, 2022

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SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE GAME (SO THEY SAY):

My Music
THE ALBUM PROJECT ICON
Let It Go & Chill Out
AUDIO RECORDING - ENGINEERING ICON
I've pretty much surrendered to, and accepted, this whole "The album release is greatly delayed" situation. It's too bad I don't have some kind of name in music circles and some kind of following (cult or otherwise), then this delay could be something to build anticipation. But, alas, I think probably the only person anticipating or experiencing any kind of impatience for this thing to be out is likely the dude typing these words. But, in between my little hiatus I just took and the amount of work left to do, I can't see this thing being out for at least another six weeks; and I would guess six weeks is optimistic. However, this M-F'er is coming out! Virtually Approximate Subterfuge will be a musical album out there for consumption, even if it's not consumed by many.

Last night I finally got back into the race by normalizing "Burning Bridge." I used the newly-mastered version of "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas" as the reference goal post for normalization. I ended up doing it by ear because when I did it by matching the LUFS meter readings, "Burning" still sounded much lower in volume than "Night" when both were played back at the same level on the monitors. So I adjusted the volume up in the master project for "Burning" by ear. It now has a final LUFS average of -5.7, as opposed to -12.6 for "Night." Yet they have virtually the same volume sound through the monitors, though "Burning" does sound a slight bit louder, but, as it's a rocker, border-lining on prog rock, I want it to be slightly louder.

The streaming services will pull the LUFS down to -14 for all the tracks on the album, anyway, and if someone listens to the whole album on one of the streamers, there will be that sense of no normalization between the tracks, i.e.: "Burning Bridge" will sound much lower than "The Night before...," despite that the metering will be -14 for both, and I don't know what to do about that. But I will get the right consistent volume dynamic on the CDs and the album down-loads. I do believe that Amazon and iTunes leave the volume levels for the music at the submitted levels. I certainly have downloaded albums with drastically different volume levels from each other from iTunes, so it does not seem they are normalizing what they sell, only what they stream.

As for further working on my album repertoire, there a few things I want to adjust in some songs already mixed and mastered. I want to go back to do some remixing, which mostly means I want to adjust some processing of some instrument or vocal tracks. I think there are some effects plug-in on some things that need to either be removed or adjusted. For instance, I think the EQ on the vocal for "Just One Shadow" can be adjusted, to make the voice sound warmer. Likewise I want to adjust the EQ on the bass in "The Answer," plus that whole recording could stand to be a little louder. I also need to change the effects on the horn chart for the instrumental "Cozy Cottage" ‐‐ I'm just not getting the vibe I want from that horn chart. I think maybe there's too much reverb, for one thing.

Then I also have to start the mixing and mastering of "Chilled October Morning," "Icebergs," "Identity," "Into the Blue Dawn," and "Medley: The Death of the..../Memories of the Times Before/Memories Endbit/The Death of the (reprise)." So, yeah, even the target of six weeks from now as an official release may be optimistic.

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During the normalization of "Burning Bridge" last night. The loudness and volume meters in the mastering project in Logic Pro X.

ANOTHER GUIDED IMPROV GIG:

PROFESSIONAL GIG ICON
ACTING ICON
U.D. Law - University of Dayton School of Law icon

Monday night of last week I played an expert witness for a U.D. Law School trial practice class. I've just book another U.D. Law gig for Saturday morning, April 2. Don't have the specs as of yet.


ANNOUNCING THE CAST:

THE OLD MAN AND THE OLD MOON logo.
CHARACTER
     
ACTOR
The Old Man
      Brad Bishop

Matheson
      Chuck Larkowski

The Old Woman and others
      Heather Martin

Cookie and others
      Dylana Harris

Callahan and others
      Anna Hazard

Llewellyn and others
      Drew Roby

Mabelu and others
      Stephanie Johnson



Fri, Mar 18, 2022

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CONTINUING THE CATCH-UP WORK:

My Music
THE ALBUM PROJECT ICON
AUDIO RECORDING - ENGINEERING ICON
Last night I continued remixing and/or remastering, and, of course volume normalizing, the latter by ear and feel, ignoring the LUFS meters. If you haven't been following along, I've been doing all this for most of the works that had already been marked as wrapped. I dealt with two pieces last night.

First I worked, once again, on the remaster of "Just One Shadow," I suppose making it a re-remaster. As I said in this past Wednesday's blog entry that I would, I adjusted the EQ, on the vocal track, as well as slightly lowering the high end on the Multipressor and slightly decreasing the dynamics of the Exciter in the mastering project, all this to get a bit more warmth on the lead vocal. I also bumped the overall volume of the mixed/master to match the dynamic of my goal-post-reference recording, the finished master of "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas."

Then I moved on to the pop-jazz ballad, "The Answer," which I made progress on but did not quite finish revamping. I have the sound on the bass I want, the tone, but I need to tweak the balance between the bass and the sax during part of their duet during the middle solo section. But it was getting to bed time last night and since I still have that rent-payer day job, I called it a night and went to bed.

The plan is to finish "The Answer" tonight and also remix and remaster the jazz instrumental "Cozy Cottage," especially addressing the unruly horn chart, which sounds pretty awful right now. Like I wrote Wednesday, one think I believe needs done is the reverb on the horns needs to be greatly cut, maybe even eliminated. I might be adjusting the EQ, too.

Then I am taking another imposed break, albeit a shorter one, because I'm the producer and sound designer for the upcoming production of The Price, by Arthur Miller at Dayton Theatre Guild, and Tech Week begins this Sunday. Tomorrow I will be putting the sound design for the show together. Although it's not a major task, so I might be able to slide in some more work on the album's mixing and mastering, at least tomorrow. Maybe.

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Screen shot of the channel EQ window for the lead vocal track in "Just One Shadow" in Logic Pro X.
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The windows, in the Logic Pro X mastering project for "Just One Shadow," for the Exciter, the Linear Phase EQ, and the Multipressor.
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Running the master recordings of both "The Night Before the Night Before Christmas" and "The Answer" simultaneously to compare the volume-level dynamics by ear.



Sun, Mar 20, 2022

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AND THE CATCH-UP CONTINUES:

My Music
THE ALBUM PROJECT ICON
AUDIO RECORDING - ENGINEERING ICON

Friday night I did a bit of remixing and remastering, on the pop-jazz ballad, "The Answer," and of course the volume normalizing to match the other mastered songs. I'm nit done, however. I thought I was, but on playback later, I decided the bass is a little to up in the ix in the latter part of the song. So I'll drop that down next time I work on the sing, which may be this evening after I get home from the Tech Sunday rehearsal for The Price at DTG.

No photos today; really, all they'd be are screenshots of meters and effects windows in Logic Pro X.


TECH WEEK BEGINS:

THE PRICE logo.
DTG Producer icon
Shortly after I upload this blog entry to the server I'll be heading off to Tech Sunday, kicking off our Tech Week, with a detour to the grocery store to pick up liters of soda for the lunch break.

SOUND DESIGNING ICON
I dropped by The Guild last night and programmed the sound design for the show. Didn't take long; it's not a complex nor extensive sound plot. There are a total of 17 sound cues for the entire two-and-a-half hours.

DTG Promotional trailer icon
I'll be shooting the trailer tomorrow night. I'm not sure what moment in the play I am shooting just yet, I'll make that decision during today's rehearsal. Then, of course, Tuesday is a vacation day from the rent-payer to edit the DV movie to final cut.

Again, no photos because none were taken.



Wed, Mar 23, 2022

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TECH WEEK CONTINUES:

THE PRICE logo.
DTG Producer icon
Tech Week is well underway and things are going well for the show. This past weekend we all pretty much experienced what our production stage manager, Deirdre Root described as "one of the easiest Tech Sundays I've ever been a part of," which seems to sum it up for all of us, I think.

SOUND DESIGNING ICON
It's also the first time that I have done absolutely no tweaking on the soundwork since having programed the sound plot into the sound cue software (SCS).

Oops, wait! I lied. One change was made: a 10-second fade was changed to 15 seconds, to coordinate with a slow light fade. But other than that, no changes have been made. No sound levels nor anything else has been altered besides that fade length. Though we are having a problem with one of the channels sometimes going out, but, that's a separate issue, that has to do, I believe, with dust inside the mixing board.

Two more rehearsals to go, tonight, then tomorrow's Final Dress, and then the show is up.

DTG Promotional trailer icon
By-the-way, the DV movie trailer is finished and out in cyberspace: youtu.be/BM33P70CXHA.



Fri, Mar 25, 2022

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MORE CATCH-UP ON THE WAY:

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Now that Tech Week for The Price at DTG is wrapped, the remixing and remastering should resume tomorrow, during the day. If not tomorrow, it'll be Sunday. But I see no reason why it can't be tomorrow. The first order of business is to lower the volume on the bass toward the end of "The Answer." Next is dealing with the horn chart effects on "Cozy Cottage." Whether or not all of that is done this weekend remains to be seen.


Opening Today

THE PRICE by Arthur Miller at The Dayton Theatre Guild

Click here for the promocast of the show


SOUNDWORK:

THE OLD MAN AND THE OLD MOON logo.
SOUND DESIGNING ICON
Monday I have a brief production meeting with the The Old Man and the Old Moon director, Jeff Sams to discuss sound design needs for this forthcoming production, which is going into rehearsal that evening with its table reading.


A PLAYWRIGHT AND A COMEDIAN:

In the audience icon
Late tomorrow night I will attend a student production in the Wright State University Jubilee Directing Lab of the play, Breaking the Shakespeare Code, by John Minigan. The pay feature's WSU acting students Zavi Odetta and Dylan Roll.

I made John's acquaintance a few years back at the 2018 FutureFest weekend, where his play, Queen of Sad Mischance was one of the six finalists.
also
Jim Gaffigan Fun Tour at the Fraze, July 5, 2022

Last Saturday morning, I scored a great seat for the July 5 appearance of Jim Gaffigan at the Fraze Pavilion in Kettering, Ohio.

This will be the third time I've seen him live, and it happens just a few days before I see Sheryl Crow in concert for the third time, this time at The Rose Music Center in Huber heights, Ohio.

I have a front row seat, albeit the far house-left seat. Still, it's a good seat. It wasn't the first ticket I bought, however. The thing about Fraze is that the seats in the front section are "plaze" seats, and I always have it in my head that they are "orchestra seats." So, when I frist ordered tickets I chose "orchestra" from the pull-down menu and got Orchestra A, Row A, Seat 5 as the best choice. I interpreted that as a front row seat. It wasn't. I didn't realize my error until I got the confirmation email. I wasn't willing to accept that seat, despite that it's not really a bad seat. I just figured I could still do better. I went back in and got my Plaza C, Row AA, Seat 17 ticket ‐‐ FRONT ROW!

I requested the cancellation of the orchestra seat and also a refund, and I am grateful that both requests were approved ‐‐ otherwise this Gaffigan show might have cost me twice as much, if I wasn't able to sell the extra ticket.

My front row seat and my erroneous orchestra seat:
xxxx



Mon, Mar 28, 2022

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GRADUAL FORWARD MOVEMENT IS STILL MOMENTUM:

My Music
THE ALBUM PROJECT ICON
AUDIO RECORDING - ENGINEERING ICON

My anticipation about the recent progress of the album project may be laced with a hefty dose of frustration, but still, there has been progress made, even if some of it has involved steps backward before forward again. This past weekend saw me remixing and remastering both the pop/jazz ballad, "The Answer," and the jazz instrumental, "Cozy Cottage".

I did remix the bass volume on "The Answer," as planned. As well, I slightly remixed the drums, primarily by pushing the volume of their introduction, which occurs going into the first bridge, by about a decibel or so. I also brought up the volume on both piano parts for the ending section, to enhance the rockin' outro. That all happened Saturday night & early Sunday morning, right before and right after I was at the Wright State University Jubilee Directing Lab to watch John Minigan's play, Breaking the Shakespeare Code, *(see the blog entry, below).

During the day proper on Sunday, I worked on "Cozy Cottage." The big job was to fix the sound of the horn chart, which was phasing with a dynamic pulsing that was drawing far too much attention to itself. Some of that process was reducing the reverb on the whole horn chart. I also adjusted some volume levels for individual instruments in that chart, was well as in various spots in the piece for the drums kit and the bass. Also I slightly tweaked the EQ on the bass. For several tracks, I altered the compressor and limiter settings. In the mastering project for this one, I again tweaked the compressor and limiter, as well as the Linear Phase EQ. I thinking that I may re-render this master version, as volume of the finished track might need boosted just slightly.

NEXT icon
I do believe that "Medley: The Death of the..../Memories of the Times Before/Memories Endbit/The Death of the (reprise)" is next on the agenda. This one will take a bit of work. I might start on it tonight and work on it throughout the week. Although I do have an acting gig this coming Saturday morning for U.D. Law, for which I need to study the facts and figures. That will have to take up a bit of my time budget this week.


OPENING WEEKEND:

THE PRICE logo.

To the best of my knowledge, Opening Weekend went well for The Price. I was only there for the opening night performance, as the house manager, and I know the audience seemed to like the show. I assume that held over for the next two performances.


BREAKING BARD:

In the audience icon
Late Saturday night, I saw the student production of the play, Breaking the Shakespeare Code, by John Minigan, which was presented in the Wright State University Jubilee Directing Lab. The play featured WSU acting students Zavi Odetta and Dylan Roll. I enjoyed both Minigan's script, which I found quite good, and the performance of the two young actors, who did John's words justice.

As I wrote before, I met John, who's a Bay Stater, at FutureFest 2018, here in the Dayton, Ohio area, where his play, Queen of Sad Mischance, was one of the six finalists.

K.L.'s Artist's Blog, (previously K.L.'s Blog: a Diary of Artful Things), © 2004-2024 K.L.Storer ‐‐ all rights reserved

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