Post 4th wrapup
Jul. 5th, 2005 11:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bethlakshmiWow. A very nice weekend, and a busy one. Interesting highlights:
Lakshmi Records Music
Well... I did it. Finally. After a year of planning to do it, I did it. I recorded music. And I listened to myself on tape and didn't hate it. I think it's probably obvious that in this lifetime, I will not be a recording super-star. I don't have a naturally fabulous voice - I have a sweet voice, a gentle voice, a nice voice. I would need lots of good training, and lots of motivation to make my voice really great. My "shtick" is doing wierd songs and dances. And being good at memorizing melodies, and having a good ear, and decent rhythm.
Our goal - make recordings for Pennsic classes. We did pretty damn good. We got the slow speed completely laid down - song and sticks, and the fast speed has the vocals done and mastered. We may do sticks, -- I need to work out a simplified set of stick things that I can do - as a drummer.... I'm a great computer engineer. There's a few things I would change and make better, but I honestly believe that the fault is mine, and to make these things better, I need to learn to sing better. Fair enough - singing is not where I put my time these days.
As for working in a recording studio - boy am I glad I'm a computer geek! We worked about 3-4 hours on Friday, and then easily 9 hours on Sunday. Now... that includes a lot of instruction on Richie's part (Li Kung Lo), he firmly believes that the cost of getting free labor is also listening to free education, and I'm glad to soak up a little knowledge. I certainly feel that I know more about recording techniques than most singers (even the pros) at this point. And, as a geek, learning how stuff works is kind of neat.
... but ... wow - even by the end of the second day, when I had gotten over microphone anxiety, and had truly absorbed that going "ack! that sucked!" midway through about a 1000 times wasn't gonna make Richie kill me and hide my body behind the wallboard in his basement, it was still exhausting. My thought - performing live is much more energizing. You let go of your mistakes, and move on - because you don't have a choice. Or you do the "cat thing" as Ygraine says - screw up and then act you meant to do that. And, you get this audience who is happy to see you and claps when you are done... even if they are clapping out of the joy of not having to listen to you anymore. :)
By comparison - working in a studio is performing for an audience of only extremely cricital listeners - those who have a stake in how the recording will come out - yourself, the recording engineer(s), and any production people you might have. Ouch! And... if you fuck up - your job is to go back, try again, and make sure it doesn't happen. I can only imagine the pressure, as in the professional world, the studio costs tons of money per hour. In this world, at least, the worst that happens is Richie and his lovely wife Ygraine drive you to a nice Indian buffet for lunch.
But... if you are a performer, and you think you might like a really lovely CD of yourself --- GO!! GO NOW!! - Richie is skilled, he's a good educator, this is a SWEET deal, and it might not be around forever. He's moving towards pro, and then he may not be free. And - it's a real experience. I certainly walked away with a far more comprehensive understanding of being a better performer - all around - than I've ever had before. And as an entirely acoustic perfomer up until now, I got some really valuable experience on working with mikes - something that even us acoustic world music types can really benefit from.
As hard as it was - I'm looking forward to going back. I welcome the challenge, and I want to keep trying to get better.
Laskhmis like Hot Tubs
Also very lovely. A truly wonderful "typical 4th of July day"... well... that is if your 4th means steak, sausage and chicken instead of hot dogs and hamburgers, and a really nice hot tub. And guests who talk about goth fashion, SCA, sci fi, crafty projects, and why our liberal Democrat views are desireable... Oh, and did I mention the hot British goth chicks?![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
new_man, man of many amazing connections, invited Zed and her ex-flat-mate, who came while they are visiting the States. I think having a British accent as super-duper coolness to being a goth chick. Of course, the foriegn therefore extra-interesting thing comes into play. But I'm pretty sure these ladies would be nice to get to know better if they weren't an ocean away.
Sewed onladysprite's choli. And, in fact, completed it at the Sunday recording gig. Yay! One done, one choli to go! - must get mockup for Eleanor underway, want to buy fabric at GNE.
A wonderful day of non-critical hanging out.
Cell Phone Quest
Sort of an anticlimatic day, after the nice party and the recording gig. Returned evil Verizon cell phone, after some returning the cell phone angst. Apparently "15" days means "two weeks from the weekday you bought it" - so if you buy it on Sunday, you need to return it on Sunday, not Monday. My evolving "be more of a pain in the ass" approach to consuming retail did get me a waiver, so I could return the damn thing without the $150 early termination fee.
Then off to Sprint, to get a better cell phone. Going with Sprint because bothnew_man and my dad have Sprint, love Sprint, and for $5/mo., I can talk to them unlimited. Makes me very content to get the cheaper plan. Also, their camera phones can upload the pictures to your Sprint account for FREE! No minutes, no text charge. And their text message, internet and downloads are rolled into 1 package - which is the same price as the sum of Verizon's packages.
Most importantly, perhaps, is that Sprint is run by smart people. Now, the Verzion folks (almost literally next door) are not stupid. They can clearly work computers, and do thier jobs. But... maybe this is a corporate thing - the Verizon sales folks seem to be rules following weenies. They are not empowered - by either their personalities, or their company - to make individual intelligent decisions. Sprint folks are. Case in point:
Case 1 - verizon
The whole 15 days is really 14 days mess. The front line employee tells me I have exceeded my purchase date. I explain that I bought it two weeks ago Sunday, and not it's Monday - ergo 15 days. He says "but the receipt says the 19th", you're a couple days off. Now... there being no handy calendar - neither of us realizes that the 19th is that Sunday - and I am not a "couple" days off, I am 1 day off, due to stupid corporate policy of starting the counting the day of purchase, and rounding by days.
His manager can't do anything about it.
We have to call customer service.
Customer Service transfers me to the regional management.
Regional answering guy has to get HIS supervisor to get me the waiver.
ARGH!!!! I have now gone through FIVE layers of stupid people to get to someone who understands the obvious problem, and can do something about it. Midway through, I also use a tool - my checkbook calendar - to verify that the 19th IS that Sunday and that by my count - 15 weeks will have passed at exactly 3:30 on Monday - it is now 1:00!
Case 2 - Sprint
Sprint doesn't have a "car pack" for my phone - that would save me money - making a $60 or $70 set of equipment into a $50 package. Well poop.
But wait, smart sales guy #1 - who almost immediately didn't know enough for my now-overly-educated cell phone shopping needs - has quickly, and immediately stepped out of the way, and even smarter sales guy #2 has taken his place, so quickily I don't even notice the handoff. I think smart guy #2 is also the floor manager - he seems more empowered. He says "no problem - pick three car things - a case, a charger and a headphone - that go with your phone, and we'll make that your car pack for $50". Wohoo!
Uh oh... the typical case is out of stock. But wait! There's a cheap, plastic case, that works great on car visors. That's really what I wanted anyway. Now... it's $20, not $30, so the $50 deal isn't such a deal... but wait! Smart Guy #2 can fix it - he has an algorithm to deduct money from the original cost, making the car pack cheaper and the deal better!
Wohoo! No talking to customer service, my problems are all fixed by 2 levels of employee interface.
I haven't saved a damn dime. In fact, I've spent a little up front to get better equipment. But I'm SO much happier with my equipment, that I left the store with no regrets.
The power of smart people.
Of course it didn't hurt that I'm a 6' tall geek chique chick, with long brown hair, pretty nice hooters, and a slightly sarcastic sense of humor. And that the store was staffed with a guy with arm/hand tatoos, the obligatory spherical smart guy, and a third guy, who I think was also a geek. We are the same race - regardless of skin color - we are geeks. We share a commonality of understanding and norms for resolving potential arguments. Much better than the ghetto/urban chique style of the folks in Verizon, some of whom have a tendancy to sit with their mouth slightly open and a lack of facial expression that suggests a paucity of thought processes.
After the cell phone adventure, the rest of the day is largely boring (homework), or private (time spent withnew_man), and not something that needs a public synopsis or personal rant.
Lakshmi Records Music
Well... I did it. Finally. After a year of planning to do it, I did it. I recorded music. And I listened to myself on tape and didn't hate it. I think it's probably obvious that in this lifetime, I will not be a recording super-star. I don't have a naturally fabulous voice - I have a sweet voice, a gentle voice, a nice voice. I would need lots of good training, and lots of motivation to make my voice really great. My "shtick" is doing wierd songs and dances. And being good at memorizing melodies, and having a good ear, and decent rhythm.
Our goal - make recordings for Pennsic classes. We did pretty damn good. We got the slow speed completely laid down - song and sticks, and the fast speed has the vocals done and mastered. We may do sticks, -- I need to work out a simplified set of stick things that I can do - as a drummer.... I'm a great computer engineer. There's a few things I would change and make better, but I honestly believe that the fault is mine, and to make these things better, I need to learn to sing better. Fair enough - singing is not where I put my time these days.
As for working in a recording studio - boy am I glad I'm a computer geek! We worked about 3-4 hours on Friday, and then easily 9 hours on Sunday. Now... that includes a lot of instruction on Richie's part (Li Kung Lo), he firmly believes that the cost of getting free labor is also listening to free education, and I'm glad to soak up a little knowledge. I certainly feel that I know more about recording techniques than most singers (even the pros) at this point. And, as a geek, learning how stuff works is kind of neat.
... but ... wow - even by the end of the second day, when I had gotten over microphone anxiety, and had truly absorbed that going "ack! that sucked!" midway through about a 1000 times wasn't gonna make Richie kill me and hide my body behind the wallboard in his basement, it was still exhausting. My thought - performing live is much more energizing. You let go of your mistakes, and move on - because you don't have a choice. Or you do the "cat thing" as Ygraine says - screw up and then act you meant to do that. And, you get this audience who is happy to see you and claps when you are done... even if they are clapping out of the joy of not having to listen to you anymore. :)
By comparison - working in a studio is performing for an audience of only extremely cricital listeners - those who have a stake in how the recording will come out - yourself, the recording engineer(s), and any production people you might have. Ouch! And... if you fuck up - your job is to go back, try again, and make sure it doesn't happen. I can only imagine the pressure, as in the professional world, the studio costs tons of money per hour. In this world, at least, the worst that happens is Richie and his lovely wife Ygraine drive you to a nice Indian buffet for lunch.
But... if you are a performer, and you think you might like a really lovely CD of yourself --- GO!! GO NOW!! - Richie is skilled, he's a good educator, this is a SWEET deal, and it might not be around forever. He's moving towards pro, and then he may not be free. And - it's a real experience. I certainly walked away with a far more comprehensive understanding of being a better performer - all around - than I've ever had before. And as an entirely acoustic perfomer up until now, I got some really valuable experience on working with mikes - something that even us acoustic world music types can really benefit from.
As hard as it was - I'm looking forward to going back. I welcome the challenge, and I want to keep trying to get better.
Laskhmis like Hot Tubs
Also very lovely. A truly wonderful "typical 4th of July day"... well... that is if your 4th means steak, sausage and chicken instead of hot dogs and hamburgers, and a really nice hot tub. And guests who talk about goth fashion, SCA, sci fi, crafty projects, and why our liberal Democrat views are desireable... Oh, and did I mention the hot British goth chicks?
new_man, man of many amazing connections, invited Zed and her ex-flat-mate, who came while they are visiting the States. I think having a British accent as super-duper coolness to being a goth chick. Of course, the foriegn therefore extra-interesting thing comes into play. But I'm pretty sure these ladies would be nice to get to know better if they weren't an ocean away.Sewed on
ladysprite's choli. And, in fact, completed it at the Sunday recording gig. Yay! One done, one choli to go! - must get mockup for Eleanor underway, want to buy fabric at GNE. A wonderful day of non-critical hanging out.
Cell Phone Quest
Sort of an anticlimatic day, after the nice party and the recording gig. Returned evil Verizon cell phone, after some returning the cell phone angst. Apparently "15" days means "two weeks from the weekday you bought it" - so if you buy it on Sunday, you need to return it on Sunday, not Monday. My evolving "be more of a pain in the ass" approach to consuming retail did get me a waiver, so I could return the damn thing without the $150 early termination fee.
Then off to Sprint, to get a better cell phone. Going with Sprint because both
new_man and my dad have Sprint, love Sprint, and for $5/mo., I can talk to them unlimited. Makes me very content to get the cheaper plan. Also, their camera phones can upload the pictures to your Sprint account for FREE! No minutes, no text charge. And their text message, internet and downloads are rolled into 1 package - which is the same price as the sum of Verizon's packages. Most importantly, perhaps, is that Sprint is run by smart people. Now, the Verzion folks (almost literally next door) are not stupid. They can clearly work computers, and do thier jobs. But... maybe this is a corporate thing - the Verizon sales folks seem to be rules following weenies. They are not empowered - by either their personalities, or their company - to make individual intelligent decisions. Sprint folks are. Case in point:
Case 1 - verizon
The whole 15 days is really 14 days mess. The front line employee tells me I have exceeded my purchase date. I explain that I bought it two weeks ago Sunday, and not it's Monday - ergo 15 days. He says "but the receipt says the 19th", you're a couple days off. Now... there being no handy calendar - neither of us realizes that the 19th is that Sunday - and I am not a "couple" days off, I am 1 day off, due to stupid corporate policy of starting the counting the day of purchase, and rounding by days.
His manager can't do anything about it.
We have to call customer service.
Customer Service transfers me to the regional management.
Regional answering guy has to get HIS supervisor to get me the waiver.
ARGH!!!! I have now gone through FIVE layers of stupid people to get to someone who understands the obvious problem, and can do something about it. Midway through, I also use a tool - my checkbook calendar - to verify that the 19th IS that Sunday and that by my count - 15 weeks will have passed at exactly 3:30 on Monday - it is now 1:00!
Case 2 - Sprint
Sprint doesn't have a "car pack" for my phone - that would save me money - making a $60 or $70 set of equipment into a $50 package. Well poop.
But wait, smart sales guy #1 - who almost immediately didn't know enough for my now-overly-educated cell phone shopping needs - has quickly, and immediately stepped out of the way, and even smarter sales guy #2 has taken his place, so quickily I don't even notice the handoff. I think smart guy #2 is also the floor manager - he seems more empowered. He says "no problem - pick three car things - a case, a charger and a headphone - that go with your phone, and we'll make that your car pack for $50". Wohoo!
Uh oh... the typical case is out of stock. But wait! There's a cheap, plastic case, that works great on car visors. That's really what I wanted anyway. Now... it's $20, not $30, so the $50 deal isn't such a deal... but wait! Smart Guy #2 can fix it - he has an algorithm to deduct money from the original cost, making the car pack cheaper and the deal better!
Wohoo! No talking to customer service, my problems are all fixed by 2 levels of employee interface.
I haven't saved a damn dime. In fact, I've spent a little up front to get better equipment. But I'm SO much happier with my equipment, that I left the store with no regrets.
The power of smart people.
Of course it didn't hurt that I'm a 6' tall geek chique chick, with long brown hair, pretty nice hooters, and a slightly sarcastic sense of humor. And that the store was staffed with a guy with arm/hand tatoos, the obligatory spherical smart guy, and a third guy, who I think was also a geek. We are the same race - regardless of skin color - we are geeks. We share a commonality of understanding and norms for resolving potential arguments. Much better than the ghetto/urban chique style of the folks in Verizon, some of whom have a tendancy to sit with their mouth slightly open and a lack of facial expression that suggests a paucity of thought processes.
After the cell phone adventure, the rest of the day is largely boring (homework), or private (time spent with
new_man), and not something that needs a public synopsis or personal rant.