Steve...(and other helpful folks from around them parts)

I wanted to let you hear the strange amalgamation that is the the tune we worked on together...it's as patchwork as it comes...but I think you'll get a kick out of it...you should be able to access it here:

http://www.duenowmusic.com/thelivingdollar.mp3

I took the drums and some of the bass parts from the 2" tape, and dumped them into a computer....then I re-recorded vocals, harp, and guitar using some pro-toolery and tom-foolery...let me know what you think...

I'm probably too conceptual of a musician (READ: what I lack in genuine talent I try to disguise as "concept")...so I think that played a part in my lack of success while working with you...I did a bunch of thinking about it and I think I came up with a pretty good analogy...

When impressionists were beginning to take momentum in the landscape of painters, realists stood their ground claiming that impressionists were merely telentless hacks hiding behind the illusion of "progression." I realize that a similar thing happened with the birth of Jazz...as I also realize that a similar thing is happening with the birth of cut-and-paste computer aided recording. There seems to be a still blurry, but sharpening line between sides of people involved with the recording arts about whether or not to embrace the "impressionism" of cut-and-paste recording, or to stay true to the "realism" of straight forward reel-to-reel recording...

in the end...who gives a fuck...just do whatever puts goosebumps on your arms and forget what other people say...only a fool would make recommendations to another about how to experience joy through their own art...

But I do think it's to all our benefit that there are realists, like yourself, who are staying loyal to the tradition of capturing a real moment for all its truth (be it ugly or beautiful) without changing it or altering it. Even philosophically we could all benefit from a bit of that in our own lives...there's an undeniable impulse on a daily basis to "fix" or to "improve" the reality that lay before us...it's sometimes cool to question that impulse, and just let an imperfection become perfection...

But I digress...

I guess in the end we come from different places in terms of how we make music, but I have great respect and admiration for your energy and your loyalty to your vision...I, however, am way too shitty of a musician to benefit from realist recording...I need the laboratory of the computer to decorate my tunes, or they end up sort of like a shaved cat...charming...but really not worth taking home...(sorry if you have any shaved cats...but they really fucking freak me out)

I enjoyed my time at Electrical Audio...I hope you like the end product that you'll hear at the above link...and perhaps down the line we'll find the right project to work together on again...

Until then...

Thanks Steve...you were a sincerely energizing part of an otherwise tiring journey...

zach duenow

p.s. I'll send you the full album in a month or so...

Until I looked at the title of the song, I thought you were singing "Id like to fuck the little daughter out of everyone", which i thought was quite amusing.
I listened to it on shitty computer speakers, but it sounded good on them.
mike

I'll coin it so the whole world understands:

DIGILOG. It will be very realistic and leave an impression.

What happens if you lose all of your gear except for a guitar? Will you stop playing because you are such a shitty musician?

Our bodies use discreet intervals down to our very own atoms. There are ideas that we even percieve time in set steps! This makes us fairly digitalesque. The digital gear is no where near our own organic system setup. It is a faulty and half-assed, if you will, version at the moment.

You might be trying to ween yourself off from the nipple of Mother Binary by choosing to be an impressionist (kids), but the gear you use is modeled after your own body. It is very real, isn't it? You will be sucking on that baby until you die.

A tape machine is a continuous thing, capturing every moment, even those that don't exist to us. It goes a helluva lot deeper than realism. You like to be an impressionist...great. I think you have to leave it at that and not start shit with the type of gear you use and where this places you in the world of other engineers.

At some point digilog will be commonplace. Anatal just doesn't flow like digilog. Use digilog free of charge for now, but I have it copyrighted. Quit trying to segregate.

I'm not a number, I'm a free man, my blood is my own now, and I'm not sitting at the back of your bus.

Cordially,
Mike

Sounds like Blues Traveler. Is it Blues Traveler?

What happens if you lose all of your gear except for a guitar? Will you stop playing because you are such a shitty musician?

all i do is play slide guitar on an old acoustic when i am not with my gear....can't afford therapy

so for me no....gear is an ends and my guitar i will play 'till the end.

besides i go for what i call hyper-realizim....but that is a whole nother story