a.miller

Frankly, this album is a disappointment. Not that I really thought it would be stellar. Where is Matt Sharp when you need him?

If I didn't change out my D-15 it might swallow me in. That guitar needs some brightness to it, the bass tone alone will cause one shit their pants.

I have the same guitar and I totally agree. However, I have found that the bass tone allows it to be used nicely on chords with a capo and still retain some deep end.

I also prefer the sound of worn strings. They feel like they're all working together or something. However....three months ago I landed a job with a company that manages and rents ultra high-end and vintage equipment for use in recording studios. All of us have heard this gear on the radio -- it's that widely used.

Anyway...I quickly learned that the guitars get restrung all the time. Each and every time they get used, they get restrung. It seems absurd, especially to a guy who likes worn strings. Now, I feel myself adopting this string changing policy, whether I like it or not!!

Ugh....just got back from Guitar Center. $15 for 2 packs -- might as well go to San Quentin and drop the soap...

^^^Hot damn! Are those strings any good? Usually I use D'addario phosphor bronze light for acoustic.

I'll give and educated guess...The place I work manages a bunch of studio guitar equipment, etc. Anyway...a knowledgeable person I work with said that it is likely the result of tubes that need to be changed. This is something you can pretty easily do yourself.

Hey folks...Anyone know a good place to get a deal on guitar strings? I need to buy in bulk. The D'addario style that I use are about $60 for a ten pack, which is a little steep (musician's friend).

I'm tracking guitars for my album and to keep my tone consistent, I'm mowing through lots of strings. Not changing strings as frequently is not an option.

Took me ages but here is a photo of the ladder of death...that I still have to ask guys to carry computers down for me since I think I'll fall over with them and die.

I've used these before. I worked at a place that had two big, yellow ones. They were so rickety I always thought they were gonna fall over. I called them the "yellow ladders of death."

A-fucking-men. Awesome stuff.

I second that.

Happy Birthday!!

This show is awesome. I think the new and shorter season format was a solid move. There was so much filler last year, I almost abandoned the show.

Mila Kunis in Forgetting Sarah Marshall

^^^SST Post of the Day!!!

My heart and prayers are with you through this difficult time. Be strong.

I heard Sea of Change from you guys a little while back -- that's a really great tune. It's a super blend of rock and pop, while retaining a really genuine feel.

No One Else -- I think the transitions from the "jammy" parts to the verses are fucking awesome. Your drummer does a super job of bringing the tight verse beat back in from the wash.

Black Cloud Over Birmingham -- Very cool. The guitar tones on here are super. Reminds me of Radiohead.

You guys have a really cool sound. I could drive across the country listening to Black Cloud.

This thread is awesome! Maybe the best I've seen in the ol' SST area....

Anyway...I'll go into a little depth about a rut and how I came/am coming out of it. I hope this is of some help to anyone.

When I started writing songs around 10 years back, they were always long, many-versed tales of this and that. I eventually came around to thinking these songs were too long. Never once did I think of the upside of actually writing two and three page songs with bridges, all sorts of parts, etc.

So, I focused on writing more concise, 'pop' length songs. Basically, saying no more long songs. This was a bad move. What I did was build a wall around myself, covering one avenue of songwriting.

Then...I discovered a little bit of chord theory, how major and minor chords work in a key, etc. This was tremendously helpful, but ultimately lead to me fearing to stray from these "theory patterns" when writing chords. It was always a lot of F-C-G, Am-F-C-G blah blah blah. Everything I sang and everything I wrote felt like it was slipping into this pattern. So I decided to stop always writing like this -- another wall I built up around myself.

The more I wrote, the more I picked apart. I'd built up rules and walls all over my writing techniques. Things never flowed freely -- always forced and calculated. I think there is a place for this, but it is stifling (at least for me).

I felt out of luck and out of ideas. Whenever I came up with something "good" I just loved it to death and was too scared to do anything with it. I think that's the root of a lot of writer's block. I would compare something that was 10% written and hold it up to something done and polished; casting it aside as being "screwed up" or "crappy lyrics" before it even came to life.

It was at this point I started buying books on songwriting and reading, reading, reading.

In all of my reading, I came across a passage in a book that basically stated that if you get to a "roadblock" where the lyrics won't come, chords won't come, etc. just turn the page of your notebook and start another song. No matter how much you loved the last song's chords, or how goddamn great the first line was -- just turn the page.

I've followed that idea much in my recent songwriting. If I get stuck on a song -- so what? I know my greatest work might be on the next blank page.

$4.11 in California. That's 30 cents more than my post from 13 days ago

is there a better leak than the 128 out there?

Not to my knowledge.

I want this album. PM me, please.

Unfortunately, I don't see that it is available any longer.

The opening tracks sound nothing like I thought they would...then it got really good at track 4.

For those of you interested in building and refinishing, reranch.com/reranch is the finest resource I have ever come across.

Anyway -- just wanted to say I'm actually taking you folks' advice and will update more as I get a setup that works a little tighter.

Glad all our blabbering got you going in some direction! A nice online retailer to use for recording/studio products is Sweetwater, should you still desire more microphones. Their sales staff is, honestly, the most helpful and informative group I have come across (ie not Guitar Center).

I got in such a bad rut I started buying all sorts of books, tapes, vocal guides, theory books....etc. This one was hands down the most helpful.

If you can swing a couple of serious lessons in chord theory you'll be amazed the doors that are opened. I have had the recent good fortune to begin working with a producer/keyboardist/theory wizard. You should seek out a type of instructor like this. He's pointed out some new "ways to go" with songs and how to make much better chord changes and get to chords you want to get to. He always tells me, "It's not rocket science, it's just chords." Seriously.

Whitty, your write-up is phenomenal. It encapsulates just how I feel and have experienced DSOTM. Honestly, that's one of the coolest music-related things I've read, ever. Congrats to you and your band!

Nice set of songs you got there...I really like them. Do you (within the band) write most of them?

Can you swap externals with buddies that run the same Pro Tools format as you and open up sessions to over dub say drum tracks....ect.? In June and July my buddy and I are recording my first record, and I asumed you could just do this. I've pretty much just gone through and done demos for the past year and really wan't to make a polished copy of my/our songs and there will be days when one of us can't be around.

I've done the same thing, only I'm now into the "hand over the hard drive" portion of the project. Total transferability of sessions. However, when it comes time to hand over your demos to someone, make sure to save your session as a session copy with all the audio files included. Otherwise, they won't be there when your demos get opened. There is a little check box in Protools when you select "Save Session Copy In."