Still here, still going at it. Album (yes, album) is coming along well. Songs are written and recording has been going on for months. Trying to overcome my own shortcomings as a musician is especially difficult when I can’t find a way to reproduce the noises I hear in my head. Hoping to have some live/demo-ish stuff up on the site before the end of the year….which is only 12 days away. Crap.

Stay hungry…

-J

Been spending a lot of time in the studio getting to know some new gear. I recently picked up an EV/Blue Cardinal condenser and a Studio Projects C1. So far the C1 is living up to the hype, sounds clean and balanced with nothing more than an ART Tube PAC (which is an excellent secret weapon btw). The Cardinal is a much more fickle beast it seems. Proximity effect is there in a big way, but I’m really liking it for soft vocal stuff. Still not sure where it will fall in the rotation.

New songs are done, and ready to be recorded but time to do it is at a premium these days. Hoping to remedy that because one song is dominating any new ideas, and I think it will continue to until it’s out of my system. It’s creating a creative logjam, and there is a lot of wood coming down the stream…so I’ve gotta clear it.

Finding Jack Conte’s blog very motivational these days, the man’s energy and passion are contagious.  Really has me wanting to take a stab at a Videosong, or something like it at least. Back to the studio…

Stay hungry,

-J

RecordingHacks.com is running another mic giveaway, and this time it’s the hot new Shure KSM42. You know we entered, and now you can too by visiting their site here: http://recordinghacks.com/contest/

While you’re there be sure to check out the rest of the site, it’s chock full of mic reviews and other recording tips.

In an effort to make keeping this site updated a habit, I thought I’d draw up a quick post about inspiration. Inspiration can be a cold, cruel, fickle bitch sometimes. Especially when you need her. When you’ve been calling for days, leaving messages, checking to see if she’s online (maybe I’m taking this a little too far), and she just doesn’t answer. Then one day, you’re in the shower and she sneaks up and clobbers you with something so good, you’re scrambling for a pen or a recorder.

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Working in the studio to wrap up a few new songs as well as a few covers (and re-makes, announcement soon). We’ve recruited some help in the form of the incredibly talented Mikey B to assist with the recording process and to do a little producing. As we’ve been working together, I’ve found myself explaining (sometimes in great detail) how some of these songs came to be. It’s got me thinking that I should share some of that here. I always enjoy “looking behind the curtain”, so here goes nothing.

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So those of you who’ve been following along for a while will recognize this one since we rush-released it last year for PAX East. Since it was rushed, we’ve never really been thrilled with the way it came out so we finally got around to fleshing it out a bit. Bacon deserves better!
You don’t exist in Canada – MisCast

Lyrics & info

Jay + Whiskey + Debbie Gibson = 80′s cover goodness!
MisCast – Only In My Dreams
Point of reference: Debbie Gibson – Only in my dreams

As heard on Coverville!

Now with more backstory!!

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Still here, still going strong. Hard at work on lots of new material, believe it or not. As a matter of fact, we’ve got at least 3 songs completed and another re-do done…we just can’t find time to record them. Actually, you can blame me. Between my hatred for creating drum tracks to the time/soul sucking games Red Dead Redemption and Halo: Reach, my productivity is non-existant. But have faith die hard fan(s) [or bored/misdirected surfers]! Inspiration and motivation have joined forces and lit a fire under my shapely backside! Thanks to Jonathan Coulton celebrating the 5 year anniversary of Thing A Week with a real time re-release and the healing power of Octoberfest, my resolve is stronger than ever to finish these musical gems and release them for your enjoyment! Seriously! And while I’m not quite ready to start guaranteeing a song a week like Jo-Co (I do have a baby due in less than a week after all), I will promise new greatness soon. Now if you’ll excuse me, I only need a few more hours until I hit 50 in RDR multiplayer… -J

Yep…we’re still here. And yes, we’re still making music. We’ve been sitting on this one for a little bit and finally got around to posting it. Hope you enjoy it. More on the way…[J]

MisCast – That’s what she said

Lyrics & Info

People all through time have written about looking into the stars and thinking about long lost love and wondering if they were looking at the same bright spots in the cosmos.  Maybe wondering what went wrong, maybe happy for the experience but glad to be where they are now. Whatever the case my generations cosmos is now tv events.  Its very interesting and funny to see that the while things evolve technically they really stay the same. As I prepare for the LOST Series Finale I think about the girl who I used to watch LOST with, who I used to bombard with ideas of what was going on, guesses at what was to happen next, make sit through my pauses and rewinds to take copious notes and I wonder all sorts of things. Ultimately I wonder how everything on the island will be concluded for all of us who have watched for 6 years and hope she is happy. Happy end of LOST everyone.

-S