The Linear Canvas

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.

This song is about terrorism, no matter the source. I am not sure that there is much difference sometimes. The source of terrorism is mainly those that have a financial interest in keeping the world from getting along. Whatever it takes to keep the natural resources and tax payers money flowing to the terror and war machine. Hate me, hate you, just like we do.

“Justice In Your Head”

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Justice In Your Head 20100922_1030m256.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. I played keyboards on a Casio CZ-101 FM synthesizer using the MIDI out connected to my computer, I think. I was playing through the sound card that I had then. It was a Soundblaster AWE64 ISA card. Pretty nice for it’s time. 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.

I bought a Neil Young music book about twenty years ago and learned several of his songs. I have only recorded this one. This recording features me on keyboards, more than usual. I was sick of recording guitars and decided to record this song with less of a guitar sound. Although the electrics get a little loud in the chorus’. I put a lot of effort into the performances, as opposed to my normal treatment of covers. This is still the only song I can play on piano reasonably well. I think I recorded this somewhere around the middle 1990’s.

A Man Needs A Maid

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/A Man Needs A Maid 20100917_0950m256.mp3]

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I made a real breakthrough editing out of sync recordings during this re-mix. The best process is to find the tempo of the original or base recordings. Then using the slip stretch feature of Sonar, adjust any one track of the other set of recordings to match the beat. Find the stretch percentage and apply it to the rest of the tracks in that set. The tracks should be in sync to within a few percent. There’s really a lot more to it than that, but that’s a separate blog, coming soon.

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 probably on an Ibanez Les Paul. The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001. I played keyboards on a Casio CZ-101 FM synthesizer. The drums and cymbals, plus some analog editing, are from the original recording using my Boss Dr. Rhythm drum machine sounds and a Yamaha MIDI drum pad.

This song was written by Neil Young. I sang, and played all of the instruments. I processed it with Cakewalk Sonar 8.5 Producer and Sony Sound Forge 9.

When I think about being in elementary school in the late 1960’s, being in Miss Littler’s third grade class immediately comes to mind. That experience always seems to dominate my memories of those years.

Miss Littler was a very proper and clean woman. I mean that in a good way. She was always well dressed and always had her hair done. She wore what we called cat-eye glasses and seemed cheerful on the surface. But underneath was a driven woman who had a plan to help her students succeed in her class whether they wanted to or not. Sometimes those that paid for her behavior were third grade kids.

I have no idea how she became the kind of teacher that she was. When I was in second grade, I had seen Miss Littler. The third grade was on the second floor so I only saw her in passing. I obviously didn’t have the choice of my home room teacher, but I had heard Mrs. Ridenour was nice, so I guess I was hoping for her. No one I knew had Miss Littler before. (no survivors?) You could only hope for nice, the alternative was not pleasant.

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I wrote this song about all wars, whether they are perceived as righteous or not. There is always an element of war profiteering regardless of whoever or whatever started the conflict. There was some push back in World War Two against war profiteering. I admire their effort, but knowing that some of the same people may have known about the Pearl Harbor attack ahead of time, tempers my admiration a bit.

I also remember being motivated by a sign in the front of a VFW in Delphos, Ohio and also the aftermath of the the first middle-east conflict. I love it when our soldiers win, but I am dismayed when what they won was a victory for big oil corporations and a handful of Saudi businessmen.

“Ghost of War”

[audio:http://www.linearcanvas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Ghost of War 20100901_2205m256.mp3]

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I am getting really efficient at my re-mixing of material I previously recorded. This only took me a week to complete. I think I recorded this somewhere around the middle 1990’s.

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 think the acoustic guitar I played was a Takamine. I played electric guitar on a Fender Stratocaster and maybe an Ibanez Les Paul (?). The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001. I played keyboards on a Casio CZ-101 FM synthesizer. The drums and cymbals, plus some analog editing, are from the original recording using my Boss Dr. Rhythm drum machine sounds. I was using a Yamaha MIDI drum pad.

I don’t hate the Dr. Rhythm samples. It was just the compromises I had to make to get a full drum set recorded. The Yamaha has only four pads and no trigger inputs, so I had to record cymbals and drums separately. I have a Roland Octapad here now with a trigger, but I thought I really couldn’t make this performance any better without playing my Ludwig’s (ankle injury). So I just did some editing, and here it is.