… the scientific method …

Maybe you learned about it in high school … I don’t know. It’s the way in which most advances in sciences, technology and commercial products are made and I just wanted to go on record and say that I think that it’s missing something.

It goes something like this:

1) Pose a question
2) Compose a hypothesis
3) Experiment and collect data
4) Analyze data
5) Publish your results

This method has been used in some form or another for hundreds and hundreds of years. The progress of human knowledge has has proceeded on and on and now there are countless specialized fields of study. The many branches of science spread out growing new tendrils every day.

This fits with the goal or purpose of the scientific method; to break down observable phenomena into its constituent pieces. The pieces get smaller and smaller until all the ingredients are distilled into primary components.

The problem is … we keep finding small and smaller pieces that make up the universe, and the laws that bind them together become increasingly strange. Our understanding of the universe becomes increasing complex in order to explain the ultimate simplicity - a Grand Unified Theory.

Our knowledge is becoming more compartmentalized, instead of melding together. The scientific method does not allow for creative leaps of intuition or flashes of insight. Instead, it depends upon a rigorously plotted course of action based on experimentally proven data aimed towards a foreseeable end.

Avenues of science come into being, grow, and are sometimes discarded if they don’t fit into the current structure of belief. But so much of science depends upon the ability of the individual to conceptualize something outside the scope of what is believed to be true. I don’t want to venture too much further down the philosophical path … but let me just say this:

Today, scientists are taught the fundamentals of known physics and mathematics, how to follow proper experimental procedure, and how to formalize research findings … ect.. No one teaches you the importance of being creative, how to form conjecture, or how to pursue the unknown in an unorthodox or personal manner.

Maybe you can’t teach these things. Maybe you’re born with that certain “spark of genius”. But I have a feeling that’s what the one group of cavemen was thinking about the other group of cavemen that learned to make fire:

“Wow Thack, that’s great! I would have never thought of that!”

… every job I’ve ever had …

Making my summer 2008 to do list and working on my resume today got me thinking about working.

I’ve had quite a few bad jobs. I started working when I was 16. I was the dishwasher at a restaurant called “Michael’s Italian Steakhouse” in Pullman, Washington. My friend Rafe came to visit me and said I looked like the guy in Poison’s “Nothin’ But a Good Time” video. He was right.

From then on out it has been a non-stop skyrocket to the top for me! I’m right on track to be the next President or maybe a doctor … my new BS in Physics will help out I’m sure.

Here is a list of every job I can remember having. It starts current and goes back to the beginning of my employment history:

1) Computer Lab Assistant
2) High End Audio Sales
3) Radioshack Sales Clerk
4) English Teacher (Portugal)
5) Barista
6) Census Bureau Field Agent
7) Songwriter (Eureka Farm)
8) Assistant at an Electronics Repair Shop
9) Goodwill Donation Attendant
10) Soup Cook
11) Bagel Baker
12) Computer Maintenance
13) Movie Theater Projectionist
14) Radio Station Specialty Music Programmer
15) Movie Theater Ticket sales
16) Cabinetry Shop Hand
17) Singing Telegrams
18) Seafood Fry Cook
19) Dishwasher
20) Janitor

If anyone has any information on other jobs I may have had, please contact me…

… summer to do list (2008) …

After recording in la la land for two weeks, I need to write down my goals for the summer.

1) finish lyrics to the songs “Brain Games” and “Warlords”
2) finish recording guitars for “Bits”
3) finish recording vocals for “Bits”
4) create a guitar feedback VST
5) re-work my Hydrogen spectra VST
6) create ray gun based VST
7) bring all previous VSTs out of BETA status
8) create CD design for “Bits”
9) finish editing the “Combat” video
10) storyboard a second video for “Bits”
11) get a copy of my degree in Physics
12) get a job
13) update my resume
14) sell superfluous musical gear to buy more superfluous musical gear
15) mix “Bits”
16) master “Bits”
17) press “Bits”

I have until September 20th on the list. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

(this list will be updated as I complete the goals)

… 100th Post - Badi - (1983) …

Today, Liz, my mom and I went to Movie Madness and my mom picked out quite possibly the worst and strangest movie I’ve seen in years.

Badi (1983) is a Turkish knock-off of our beloved movie E.T.. The film was in what I imagine to be Turkish without subtitles and yet we watched all 72 minutes of this disturbing tale of an extraterrestrial who likes little boys and has an affinity for nudie mags.

-Scene from Badi-

Double Click to play:

They pay homage to almost all the original scenes from E.T.. The lab frogs are there … creepy healing fingers … floating apples on a string … the refrigerator raid … and of course a flying street vendor cart at the end that takes the kids to an amusement park where Badi (E.T.) powers up the rides and lets the kids ride all night for free before returning home in his propane powered sparkler ship.

Can I say “OOOOUUUUCH”????

… back to Portland …

Not much to say except that I made it back to Portland today.

I have my work cut out for me now. I listened to the demo of “Bits” on the ride and it was an interesting experience to say the least. Hmmm ….

Here is a shot of the studio where Nick, Jason and I recorded Eureka Farm’s “Analog” back in 1997…

… the real Adventure …

I packed it all up today. I set out to record guitars for the song “Adventure” but it didn’t come together for me. I couldn’t get the sound. I don’t know if it was a problem with my set up or if it was because I knew that it was my last day.

The next couple months will require a lot of focus to finish the work I have started here. I have some ideas on how to make it all come out. I’ll have to do some more gear shuffling … but I’m okay with that.

I feel good about the time I spent here.

I played guitar for ~ six hours a day for two weeks straight.

I worked out quite a few vocal lines and wrote some lyrics.

I recorded some vocals and most of the preliminary guitar tracks.

The songs have all seen some good changes since I’ve been here.

I’m on track to finish by the end of summer.

I’ve also been watching the original Outer Limits episodes every night. Good stuff. The show actually had some great camera work at times.

When I was five, I saw this episode by myself while my parents were out. It scared me to death and has stuck with me for my whole life. I haven’t seen it since and I didn’t know it was an Outer Limits episode until recently. It may seem corny as an adult … but I assure you … I took it very seriously when I was a kid. More on that one later…

… No Escape! (whew!) …

I tracked the guitars for “No Escape!” today. I thought it would go quickly due to the relative simplicity of the song. Whew! It was a tough one. I can’t remember how many different combinations I tried. I ended up using the Blackheart with my old Daddy-O pedal. Miked with my 414.

I recorded everything with manic redundancy … tracking the same line over with different sounds and pickup configurations and gain settings. I’m just hoping to blend something together that sounds like what is in my head. I feel like I have a long road ahead of me on this project.

“No Escape!” is one of the first songs I wrote for Bits. I think it went something like … Night Driver (years ago) … Outlaw … Adventure … No Escape … Lost Luggage … Demons to Diamonds. That was the first batch. There were some other ones that didn’t quite make it so I might have to do another batch.

I went downtown Palouse tonight to see some live music. This was strange. You have to realize that Palouse has a population of 800 and is 15 miles from the nearest gas station. The Green Frog (where I get my coffee every morning) is a little cafe that has helped revitalize my hometown.

These high school kids played there tonight and reminded it me of when I would play music with my old friend Rafe back in the day. We would play Guns n’ Roses covers at the Palouse Ice Cream Social. Here is a little video blurb of them jamming down at the Frog. I think this may have been the first live performance of a Radiohead song in Palouse.

… Brain Games- a challenge of the mind …

I woke up thinking that I might just cut this song from the record. I went down to get my morning cup of coffee at the Green Frog and popped on a rough mix on my D2. I thought to myself … “How am I going to make this song make sense?”

My goal in writing songs for “Bits” has been to keep the songs simple and true to my mindset I had when I first played these games. “Brain Games” is easily the most bizarre and complex of the bunch.

I pulled the song out of the muck today and I feel pretty good about it. I transposed some guitar lines from the beginning of the song into a point further inside the song … changed a bass line … created some melodies …

It’s starting to make sense…

In some ways, it’s very straight ahead. I had to lose some angular chords. I recorded with my Delta Blues 210 cranked to $h1t and all the overdrive came from blasting the clean channel with tons of gain from a Zinky Master Blaster.

Listen to the a short clip of LOUD guitars from “Brain Games” {lacking vocals … of course}

Brain Games clip:

Trust me on this one … it will all work out … really!

… Demons to Diamonds (guitar) …

The song “Demons to Diamonds” was from my first batch of songs for “Bits”. I spent the day tracking some guitar parts for the song. My Blackheart amp worked all day with no fizzles … and sounded good.

I’m thinking I’ll have to re-record the intro and possibly the outro of the song. They have totally different sounds and I couldn’t quite fill out the midrange the way I wanted using the 414 on the Blackheart.

It looks like I’ll have a bunch of vocal work to do when I get home … and a fair share of guitar overdubs. This was to be expected.

I still plan on getting this thing done by the end of summer. I have four songs left to work on while I’m here; each one getting it’s own day. Reflecting back on the past week and a half … it seems like this time has been about getting these songs into shape. I have the rest of the summer to get the right takes. Heck … two of the songs don’t even have lyrics yet! Others have melodies in spots but no words.

I’ll keep going …

(Why do I have two songs with the word Demon in them?)

… the sound of Warlords …

Tracking is going well. I worked on the song “Warlords” today. It is a great four player game.

The song is one of two that are still without lyrics. I think I ‘m going to stay up for a while tonight and try and work some out.

I used my 414 on the Blackheart amp once again … in tandem with a line out to my isolation cabinet. I’m a little concerned because my amp fizzled a little on me today. Very unsettling.

The intro to the song is a sequence of cut up guitar feedback. Working on it has inspired me to create another VSTi. I need to create a chromatic sample bank of various forms of guitar feedback.

Here is a very rough idea of what the intro to Warlords will sound like:

The final version will make some sense of the chaos….