The Linear Canvas

I wrote Happy about how in the face of hardship or other difficulties, it is so easy to be negative. Instead of depending on others to make you happy, rely on yourself to keep yourself that way. You can be mad or sad, but why not just be happy?

“Happy”

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Happy 20110321_1942mcd.mp3]

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I wrote the song and sang all the vocal parts.  I used a Shure SM-58 microphone to record all the vocals. I played my Takamine G-Series acoustic and Fender Stratocaster guitars on the recording. All of the other instruments were played using a Roland MIDI keyboard and Roland Octapad drum pads, except the tambourine, which is real.  The acoustic bass and violins are from the Dimension Pro synthesizer. I used TruePiano for all the piano sounds. The drums are from Session Drummer 3. Everything is played live, one track at a time. No performance has been computer generated. There was no Auto-Tune used in this recording. I didn’t use any rhythm track or metronome to keep musical time, or any post recording beat synchronization process.

I recorded this song entirely on my desktop computer using Cakewalk Sonar v8.5 Producer and Sony Sound Forge v9. The master is recorded at 24 bit 96 kHz resolution.

I took a trip to the lake with my video camera and made a music video for my newest musical recording Days Go By. This is the first music video I’ve ever created.

I used Pinnacle Studio v12 to produce the video.

 

I have recorded Days Go By several times. Most recently it was on my released CD from June 2010. That version was played very fast and very loud. I had originally written it in the late 1980’s and my intention then was that it not be too electric. I was very entertained by the hard rock version, but I don’t think it has much appeal beyond that. This newest recording takes it back the other direction completely.

I had moved from Columbus, Ohio to Ada, Ohio just previous to writing this song. I was living in a great big old farm house there. I was sitting in the huge living room looking out the window onto the beautiful tree filled front lawn. It was a wonderful sunny early fall day, and that must have completely depressed me. Here I was all of thirty years old and I felt my life was just about over. I felt like my youth had escaped me and that it was all down hill from here.

I don’t think it turned out that bad, but it’s early yet.

“Days Go By”

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Days Go By 20110305_1623mcd.mp3]

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This is probably the most keyboards I’ve ever played on one song. There’s not an electric guitar at all on this. I thought about it, but decided to leave it this way.

I wrote the song and sang all the vocal parts.  I used a Shure SM-58 microphone to record all the vocals. I played my Takamine G-Series acoustic guitar on the recording. All of the other instruments were played using a Roland MIDI keyboard and Roland Octapad drum pads.  The acoustic bass and violins are from the Dimension Pro synthesizer. I used TruePiano for all the piano sounds. The drums are from Session Drummer 3. Everything is played live, one track at a time. Nothing has been computer generated except audio effects like reverb, etc. There was no Auto-Tune used in this recording. Like my previous recording “The Wavelength”, I used no rhythm track or metronome to keep musical time or any post recording beat synchronization process. It is all my internal sense of rhythm. I am not against using those things, but I just didn’t.

I recorded this song entirely on my desktop computer using Cakewalk Sonar v8.5 Producer and Sony Sound Forge v9. The master is recorded at 24 bit 96 kHz resolution. This is the first time I have recorded with the resolution and bit depth set that high.

The Wavelength is my newest song. I had been working on it for a few months now. I knew I had the melody and the arrangement figured out but I just didn’t sit down and start to write the lyrics until a few weeks ago and then it came slowly. I would be driving along and think of a new lyric or I’d wake up repeating a line I thought would work. It wasn’t the fastest I ever wrote a song, but it was by no means difficult. I just let it come to me.

The Wavelength is about the wavelengths of sights and sounds. That includes radio and television wavelengths. Also Extraterrestrial and Terrestrial wavelengths. I think the earth and the universe are trying to talk to us but we’re not listening. Not necessarily about anything bad, they’re just lonely. It’s also about the people who use and receive wavelengths. For good and bad.

“The Wavelength”

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/The Wavelength 48kHz 20110220_0943_256.mp3]

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I did several things different on this song. I used my PreSonus Firebox computer interface for the entire recording. I started using it, but was also recording some on my Fostex. I found myself back on the computer and in the end used it for all the tracks in this song.

Usually I have been recording at 16 bit with a 44.1 KHz sampling rate. That is all my Fostex is capable of. I was going to try 24bit at 96 KHz on the computer but finally settled at 24bit at 48 KHz. The reason was I thought I might be using my new ADAT mike preamp and it is only capable of 44.1 and 48 KHz.

The guitars were all recorded direct through an ART passive direct box. That’s the first time for that too. I used AmpliTube for the bass guitar and Guitar Rig to process the electric guitar sounds. I also miked the acoustic guitar with an MXL condenser microphone.

I played acoustic guitar on my Takamine G-Series jumbo. I played electric guitar on a Fender Stratocaster . The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001.  I played the drums/percussion on a Roland Octapad using the sounds from Session Drummer 3. I used TruePiano with my Roland slave keyboard for the piano sounds. I processed the instrument and vocal tracks using Cakewalk Sonar 8.5 Producer DAW. I mastered the 100% digital recording using Sony Sound Forge 9 audio editor.

I wrote this song about getting older and the realty of death. My wife Jill says it’s a sad song.  It is probably a little morbid, but not in a gruesome way. I think it is about facing that reality and being there for those that experience life and death.

“Gotta Go”

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Gotta Go 101212_1032m256.mp3]

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The analog tracks were originally recorded on a Yamaha MT-100 II 4 track cassette recorder using high speed (3.75 IPS) and dbx noise reduction . I recently transferred the recordings to my Fostex VF-16 digital multi-track. I used an Iomega Jaz drive to transition them to computer format. I used Cakewalk Sonar v8.5 Producer and Sony Sound Forge to mix, edit, and master the recording.

The drum tracks that I recorded were actually pretty well done I thought. But the drum sounds were a bit dated. I had performed the drum part originally on a Yamaha MIDI drum pad using my Boss Dr. Rhythm drum machine. I used Cakewalk Sonar’s Audio-Snap to identify the drum transients and used the “copy to MIDI” feature to recreate the drum in Session Drummer 3.  I did some automatic and manual editing to tighten up the new drum track.

I played electric guitar on a Fender Stratocaster . The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001.  I added two extra vocal tracks. I am singing along with myself  from twenty years ago. It’s almost like meeting my younger self in a time machine.

I wrote this song on November 22, 1993. The thirtieth anniversary of the murder of President John F. Kennedy and the coup d’état that resulted in a dozen more years of corporatist war profiteering in southeast Asia.

I seemed angry that day.

“JFK 11/22/63 (Civil War)”

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/JFK_11_22_1963_Civil War 20101205_2319m256.mp3]

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No doubt there were many people and organizations that had a motive to murder President Kennedy. But I believe that the Corporatist and Congressional  Military Industrial Complex, and the C.I.A. assisted by elements of organized crime (Is that statement redundant?), had the greatest need to eliminate their biggest obstacle in the path to war profiteering in Vietnam and gambling profits in Cuba. Like 9/11, it would take several suspicious security lapses to allow this to occur.

The Civil War that rages between the classes and in American politics, is the genesis of all that is wrong in  America right now. It is truly the battle between the have and have nots. It is  not a culture war that is commonly defined as religion, homosexuality, or abortion by the propagandist corporate media. (Fox News, mainly) It is a true class war pitting the affluent against the middle class and the poor.

With the assistance of the corporate media, the rich have shifted this war so that their opponents make war on each other.

No “Preventive War” will ever defeat a tactic like terrorism. The only cure for terror attacks by small groups is “Preventive Democracy”. Empowering the middle class and the poor in foreign nations will defeat the conditions that breed terrorism. All of the remaining terror attacks could be eliminated by arresting several hundred Saudi Arabian citizens and government officials. Probably a few in the U.S . as well.

In 1961,  then Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was also Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War Two, gave President Kennedy and the world this advice.

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the (congressional) military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

Had President Kennedy heeded those warnings, he may have lived a bit longer.

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The analog tracks were originally recorded on a Yamaha MT-100 II 4 track cassette recorder in late 1993 using high speed (3.75 IPS) and dbx noise reduction . I recently transferred the recordings to my Fostex VF-16 digital multi-track. I used an Iomega Jaz drive to transition them to computer format. I used Cakewalk Sonar v8.5 Producer and Sony Sound Forge to mix, edit, and master the recording.

I surprised myself on how quickly this came together. I hadn’t done any music recording work in about a month. I was afraid I’d forgotten how. I loaded and synchronized these older tracks very quickly. I started on Saturday night and was done programming the drums by late Sunday.

The drum tracks that I recorded in 1993 were pretty lame. I used Session Drummer 3 and programmed the drums using MIDI patches and some manual editing. I only had issue with the bass part and did some auto-sync and some manual editing to tighten it up to the new drum track.

I played electric guitar on a Fender Stratocaster and probably an Ibanez Les Paul. The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001.  The keyboard part was played on a Casio CZ-101 FM synthesizer.

I was working for a cable TV company in northwest Ohio as a manager in the early 1990’s. I had an incident where several people thought I broke the rules of political correctness (PC) and made my life a living hell for about six months, including having to go to “sensitivity” training. I wrote this song about that experience.

“Crumblin’ Walls”

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Crumblin Walls 20101014_1050m256.mp3]

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My company’s regional office and training facility was in Newark, Ohio at the time. Newark was about one–hundred miles from my office in Ada, Ohio. They had begun an intensive supervisor training course that lasted for about a whole month. I was more than happy to take part and I still use some of the training to this day. Really there should have been some college credit, it was so intense. We stayed all week and work/class started at eight AM and usually let out for good between eight and ten PM.

I have this observation about evolution. It goes, something like someday in the future, because of natural selection, deer, dogs, chickens, etc. will be able to cross the road safely. Not a joke really, but discussions after I’ve said it have been interesting in the past.

Well, I made the mistake of saying in a mixed group once at Newark and most people thought it was funny. About half the people laughed really hard. But some others didn’t quite understand what I was saying. I will admit, the context of the that conversation did not lend itself to joking very easily. But I thought it worked at that moment.

The next day, I was summoned into an office by one of the trainers. She told me that several people had been offended by the comment and she accused me of being a homophobe, a racist and a sexist. Political correctness was in full swing at the time and the trainers were from southern California. A hot bed for PC then, if there ever was one.

What can you say? “No I’m not” seemed not to be working. I just had to take it. She told me that this would stay between us and basically “she’d be watching me”.

If that’s all there was, this song wouldn’t have been written. Before I even got home I had to explain it to my boss. I got written up for it and had to complete therapy and apologize for all I had said to keep from losing my job.

In the end the trainer apologized to me. After she got to know me, she better understood my sense of humor and the comment. She even advised me on how to pull it off better the next time. Some of those offended by me that day, were used to being the center of attention themselves, When I was in the room, the tall guy must’ve seemed more in control or out to get their jobs. I get that reaction from many people. Those imbeciles flattered themselves thinking I was even considering their puny selves (joke).

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The analog tracks were originally recorded on a Yamaha MT-100 II 4 track cassette recorder using high speed (3.75 IPS) and dbx noise reduction.

I made at least two big mistakes on these recordings. I accidentally had erased the beginning and the end of one of the guitars. I was able to restore the guitar to almost original using other recordings of the song. I can’t hear the repair. That’s what I wanted.

I also was able to do a MIDI drum replacement. I was able to mark the drum audio transients and then I mapped them to MIDI notes. The drums are me playing Yamaha MIDI drum pads many years ago. But the drum sounds are from Session Drummer 3. I made a few edits, but it is still me playing.

I played electric guitar on a Fender Stratocaster and maybe an Ibanez Les Paul (?). The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001.  I digitally processed the instrument and vocal tracks using Cakewalk Sonar 8.5 Producer DAW and Sony Sound Forge 9 audio editor.

This was a basket case recording that I was able to rescue. I think it came out very nicely.

Does It Matter is about apathy. But it also about, my perception of, the general lack of inquisitiveness in more people every day. Terrorists attack our cities, and we are told to “Go Shopping”. And we did.

“Does It Matter?”

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Does It Matter 20101006_1544m256.mp3]

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If I were the sworn enemy of the U.S.A. and wanted to defeat it, I would:

1. Destroy the education system by focusing our tax monies on sports and entertainment.
2. Close all manufacturing and move it to the third world, thereby eliminating unions.
3. Sell dangerous products to the citizens, including fast food.
4. Buy up large amounts of U.S. assets and debt.
5. Give large amounts of money to the politicians.
6. Gain control of the news media and use it to spread fear and distrust.
7. etc…

As this goes on around us, we find ourselves surrounded by the corporate elite whose hand in this whole process. Two-thirds of our elected officials have succumbed under the weight of the cash being given to them to not do their jobs. I suspect when the final showdown comes, the communists, who can lose everything and still win, will be victors. Finally the corporatists will fail, but what will be left in their wake?

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The analog tracks were originally recorded on a Yamaha MT-100 II 4 track cassette recorder using high speed (3.75 IPS) and dbx noise reduction.

I played electric guitar on a Fender Stratocaster and maybe an Ibanez Les Paul (?). The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001. The drums and cymbals, plus some digital editing, are from the original recording using my Boss Dr. Rhythm drum machine sounds. I was using a Yamaha MIDI drum pad. I only added bass drum through the fills. I digitally processed the instrument and vocal tracks using Cakewalk Sonar 8.5 Producer DAW and Sony Sound Forge 9 audio editor.

There’s not a whole lot I could tell you about what I was thinking when I wrote Crazed and Hypnotized. I was thinking about “Bad Bikers in Love”. That’s what I call this song sometimes.

“Crazed and Hypnotized (Bad Bikers in Love)”

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Crazed and Hypnotized 20101001_1820m256.mp3]

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The analog tracks were originally recorded on a Yamaha MT-100 II 4 track cassette recorder using high speed (3.75 IPS) and dbx noise reduction.

I played electric guitar on a Fender Stratocaster and maybe an Ibanez Les Paul (?). The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001. The drums and cymbals, plus some digital editing, are from the original recording using my Boss Dr. Rhythm drum machine sounds. I was using a Yamaha MIDI drum pad. I only added bass drum through the fills. I also played handclaps, foot stomps, wood block, and cow bell. I recorded my newly rebuilt Wesco 18 inch lineman’s boots stomping on the floor in the kitchen with my MXL condenser microphone. My ankle hurt all the next day. I digitally processed the instrument and vocal tracks using Cakewalk Sonar 8.5 Producer DAW and Sony Sound Forge 9 audio editor.

I personally would never call “I Don’t Know (09/12/2001)” the blues. All I’m going to say is that it has a bluesy sound and I had the blues when I wrote and recorded it.

By definition I guess it is then…

“I Don’t Know (09/12/2001)”

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/I Don’t Know 20100926_1039m256.mp3]

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When I wrote this song on September 12th, 2001. I didn’t know as much about the events of the previous day as I do now. I must say that my internal skeptic was in full gear though. I, like every one else that day, was too shocked by the events to do any real critical thinking. Like how did they know so much about the hijackers so quickly when none of their names appeared on any of the flight manifests?

The reports started coming in about the incidents of that day as I was nearing Cincinnati, Ohio on I-75 listening to the radio. I was on my way to the town of Amelia to work on a TV distribution system there. I worked eight straight hours on the distribution network and did a good job fixing the problems. But I had some TV channels off most all day. People were probably trying to watch the events unfold on TV like I was doing, but their favorite channels were probably going on and off. Lucky for me, I knew what channel to watch.

I didn’t think of that until days later. I probably should have come back the next week. But not knowing the scope of the situation, I just kept working.

Not suspecting any conspiracy yet, I knew that whatever the Bush administration did next would be wrong just based on their performance to that date. They certainly didn’t take long to prove me right. The whole war thing has been a bungled disaster that will have cost the suckers, er, I mean the taxpayers two trillion dollars and the lives of countless thousands of poor innocent people.

I don’t know what really happened that day. But volumes of evidence and common sense should tell us that there is more going on here than we’re being told. They want me to believe that nineteen men, mostly Saudi Arabian’s, defeated the trillion dollar defense I and many others have been paying for since World War Two? Then, a) I want my money back and/or b) I want a new investigation into what happened on September 11th, 2001.

Any national defense and airline employee that dropped the ball that day, should be at least fired because they failed their duties to protect America.

If someone were found responsible for the act itself in some way, life in prison or the death penalty. Either will do. I don’t even care if they are an Arab, Israeli, Asian, European, African or American. Osama Bin Laden even. As long as we have the evidence. I think there is most likely plenty of it.

To this date, no one has been fired or criminally charged for the attack.

Will Someone Ever Pay For This Crime?

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I was in my basement in Swanton, Ohio at the time and sat down at the drums. I started playing this beat. I thought it was cool so I recorded it with one microphone and built the rest of the song around it. It was the first time I had ever done this. Use one microphone that is. I love overkill.

These tracks were originally recorded on a Fostex VF-16 digital multi-track recorder. I played electric guitar on a Fender Stratocaster. The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001. I played drums on my Ludwig’s. I digitally processed the instrument and vocal tracks using Cakewalk Sonar 8.5 Producer DAW and Sony Sound Forge 9 audio editor.