VO WORKPARTS NOW ON ROCKET SCIENCE

If you've been poking around the site lately, you've noticed a new category called VO Workparts. It's made up of free and clear, dry voice tracks that subscribers can use any way they want. Male and female tracks are posted now. That's pretty cool but, it gets better. If you have something specific you need for imaging, you can let us know and we'll get it posted. Everybody can use an extra, FREE voice now and then right?

Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas tracks all coming this week.

GREG GIRALDO DEAD AT 44

Right now, it is being said that he died of an accidental overdose of prescription medication. Whatever the case, many will miss Greg's comedy. He was a regular on comedy central celebrity roasts and he was never off of his game.

You don't have to look very hard to see that he was well liked as a person. Even though he was an insult comic, he left people with a good feeling. Here's a link to a performance clip.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/0eba527cea/greg-giraldo-is-the-best?=twitter

THE KING OF ROCK AND ROLL

Ok it's Stephen King but still, this creepy old guy manages to stay relevant. Recently in Entertainment Weekly, he wrote about music. He grew up in a small town that got only one radio station. Worse yet, that station played a lot of Perry Como. As pop and rock slipped in to the playlist, King found his bony feet moving to the new sound of Jerry Lee Lewis. The young geek's life was transformed.

Though EW held him to one page in the mag, which must have been tough for the high priest of blabbity blab, he managed to make good points without going all "The Stand" on us. One in particular says it all. "The best rock isn't about thinking, but about being on fire and delighted to burn".

Well said Mr. King, now get back to your IBM selectric and write something that will give us all emotionally damaging, horrible nightmares.

OCTOBER IS JIMI HENDRIX MONTH ON FIREPOWER

For the debut of our artist spotlight category,we featured Rush. In August, we published inspired pieces throughout the month so you would have a nice pile of goodies to work with the next time a Rush project makes its way to your in box.

Coming in October, we'll feature Jimi Hendrix. While gathering up all things Hendrix, we came across this Vanity Fair article that discusses the less public side of Jimi. It was written by a woman who got to know him while writing an article for Rolling Stone.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/09/remembering-jimi-hendrixs-vulnerable-side.html

YES, WHAT YOU DO IS ART

Music, production, sound design, sweepers, promos, even legal id's. All art. It helps to not think of your audio projects as "noise making" or "knob fiddling" even though your parents may call it that.

If you're creative, you should treat your projects like you treat your mint condition Star Wars collectibles. We found an inspirational quote about producing that sums it up nicely. The quote is from a dude we don't know quoting another dude we don't know so you know it's profound. It goes like dis...

"Greatness in art depends solely on how much love you put in to a work. You put it in, it pays you back, your friends back, and everyone who listens. Moral of this lesson. Never take mixing and mastering lightly."

Sure, sometimes you have to run out on a piece because happy hour drink specials don't last forever and your friends never remember to save you any jalepeno poppers. We've all been there. If your like most people though, true masterpieces don't come out of that scene. The good stuff oozes from long sessions populated by copious amounts of pizza, red bull and a sequestering from the public that rivals the O.J. jury.

WHY YOU DON'T HAVE A BIG CONSOLE

The first two reasons you don't own a monster console are price and space. But when you think about it, you don't really need a dining room and big consoles can be found used for less than some control surfaces. So now what's stoppin' ya'? After all, every major audio genius is working on one and they all they say nothing beats 'em for sound.

The one thing nobody tells you is what it costs to run juice through that big bucket of knobs. Some producers report electric bills of several thousand dollars a month. That includes outboard gear as well but, you get the idea.

WATCHING TRENDS

If you don't have your trend radar running 24/7 you can miss some premium pop culture blunders that are great fodder for today's promos/sweepers and in ten years when you're looking back on today.

For example, did this high heel tennis shoe thing show up on your late 1990s radar?

Here's a blurb on these fashion wannabes from http://shoes.lovetoknow.com/High_Heel_Tennis_Shoes...

"It's amazing what a pair of high heel tennis shoes can do to transform a look from sporty to sassy. This unusual style had its heyday back in the late 1990s, when platform styles made a huge comeback and every type of shoe imaginable was treated to an exaggerated heel. Today, they might be less common, but they're still every bit as fun as they once were."

WHAT DOES THAT PLUG REALLY DO?

So, they make cheeseburger flavored Doritos now. Some people think they're gross while others plow through the bag like there are diamonds at the bottom. Different folks like different flavors, it's that simple.

Same goes for plugs. There are dozens of equalizers on the market and most have their own unique flavor. When you demo a plug, you should be trying to figure out the properties of that flavor.

There's a lot more to consider than presets and interfaces when shopping for your next audio twister. Developers have burned a lot of calories writing code to differentiate their products and you can benefit by building your arsenal based on specific characteristics that you want or need.

Some eq's are more musical than others. Some compressors are good for drums but not so great on other tracks. Some limiters create more artifacts than others. Before you buy another plug ask yourself if you know the properties of the plugs you already own. It may sound geeky but, why not go try 'em out on different projects and make some notes.

MILK WAS A BAD CHOICE

Today was a good day. We secured our 12 pack of Ron Burgundy collectible trading cards. They come with the Rich Mahogany Edition of Anchorman that's out on blu-ray. Along with the trading cards, it includes Wake Up Ron Burgundy which is the extra movie that was made from unused scenes, out takes and alternate story lines of the original. Bubble gum not included with trading cards. Bummer.

MACHETE THE MOVIE

We can't wait to see this flick! The cast alone is pulling us toward the theater to pay way too much for popcorn and 98 ounce drinks. Hey, Lindsay Lohan stayed out of prison and rehab long enough to play a nun in this little masterpiece.

We were cruising the Machete website today and found a section where you can chop and post custom photos. Someone apparently is not a Steven Segal fan and the proof is in this piece of art pictured above. Give the guy a break, he was married to Kelly LeBrock. He's had it tough.

NEW SOUNDGARDEN ALBUM SEPT. 28

For the first time in about 13 years, Soundgarden have reaffirmed their commitment to not getting nice jobs at the DMV like their parents wanted them too and have pushed out another record. That's cool and all but, it gets better. The disc will be distributed with Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock. Reports are that it's the first time something like this has been done.

IT'S A SHILLER!

Can you tell the difference between the 3 band eq from one company and a similar 3band eq from another? A lot of people can't. It's confusing and companies that make audio gear know it. Competition is heavier than ever in the gear universe and that has led to some greasy behavior.

It's not uncommon to see a video on youtube from a respectable, professional producer that mentions specific gear used in a recording. It's an independent producer so, you think this person is being cool and honest by posting this vid about an audio technique. What you don't know is that sometimes, a producer has a relationship with a particular company and pushes their gear in his "instructional" videos almost exclusively. Beware when someone says "we did a mic shootout and picked this one because it sounded best". Could be legit...could be someone shilling in exchange for free gear or cash.

Keep your bull**** detector in good working order when you go to a free event, sponsored by an audio company. Often, the panelists for a seminar happen to agree the sponsor's gear is the best.

Most of us know enough to give the stink eye to paid endorsements. That guy wearing the lab coat in the tv commercial isn't a real doctor and we get it. Today he wants you to eat healthy and exercise while tomorrow he'll be telling you to get down to Taco Explosion for the 12pack meal deal. Of course, he'll be sans lab coat.

The regular guy nature of youtube and other sites is blurring the line between info and advertising in a new way. Old concept sure but, new way to chrome plate it.

When it comes to gear, the best beta test comes from those two chunks of cartilage on the sides of your head. If you don't trust your own ears, don't be too quick to pick up on skanky internet advice.

FREE PRO TOOLS PLUGS

Massey is not exactly a new name in plugs but, there are still many who don't know about this small and very cool company. There are two things that make these doods mondo cool.

First, they make great plugs for cheap. You can snag a mastering quality limiter for $89. We compared it to the Waves L3 and had a hard time telling the difference at moderate settings. There is a distinct difference when you crank each to settings you should never use if you're making audio for humans.

Second, Massey has a unique demo deal. They give you the plug for free with no expiration. There are some feature limitations but, no beeps, no static, no crapping out every 30 seconds. You can use the demo with full audio capability in a realistic way. The demos reset to default when you close a session but, hey, they're free. Again, if you like the plug, it's so cheap you'd be half a lunatic not to just buy it.

High level pros use Massey plugs for real. At a recent audio panel discussion in LA, all 5 speakers, who mix audio for the movies, video games, and cds you groove on, gave high marks to all Massey plugs.

Here's the link. Go get yourself some free stuff.

http://www.masseyplugins.com/

HOW MUCH GEAR DO YOU NEED?

This question is a bear we all have to wrestle to the ground in our own way. Hardware and software are fun to buy and even more fun to use. Every new piece may be the missing link that saves you from hours of tweaking the same old stuff. Finally, when you're released from debtor's prison, you realize that you could have gotten by on less.

One artist has taken "less is more" to the extreme. It's John Mellencamp and on his new record he said no to gear. The equipment list reads like this...1 microphone and 1 reel to reel tape recorder.

One microphone. That means mono folks. Above, you'll see an excerpt from the album credits that states it plainly. He ain't kiddin'.

We previewed some tracks and it certainly doesn't sound like anything you're hearing on the radio...or anywhere else. It's like your great grandparent's 78s without the scratches. Still, Mellencamp writes good songs and usually, no piece of gear can keep a good song down.

What we took away from this was that, when everyone is pushing the limits of auto tune, multi fx processing, grid perfect editing and a dumpster full of mod studio tricks, there's only one way to go. The other way. Of course, a lot of that ground has been covered and re-covered in recent times so, maybe you have to get into the wayback machine with Sherman and Mr. Peabody and visit a time not so heavily traveled.

Getting all retro has been cool for a long time but, this record transports you to an era that nearly challenges the beginnings of magnetic recording. We can't wait to see who tries to top that.

RADIO ON TV

Maybe it started with WKRP. That's as far back as anyone here could remember. Then there was Newsradio. Both great shows set in radio stations that resonated with a lot of people. More recently, VH1 gave us Freeradio. We're lazy on research today so we didn't check to see if it's still on but, you can probably get past eps at least.

With radio coming under fire from many angles lately, would anyone consider making another tv show about this medium in transition? Why not? It's actually a great time to capitalize on all the wild stuff that's going on and how that affects the people in the biz. And who better to do it than a guy who is actually doing morning radio right now?
The creator is LA morning dood Larry Morgan and he's made a pilot for a show called "Indie". It's a funny, inside look at what's happening at a station in trouble. We'll skip the recap and just give you the link. No laugh track, no budget, just good comedy.

http://vimeo.com/13444308

LATE NIGHT MUSIC THIS WEEK

Here's the deets on late night talk show musical appearances. Remember, Coco comes back in November on TBS.


Monday, August 9

David Letterman: Bettye LaVette (R)
Craig Ferguson: Vampire Weekend
Jimmy Fallon: Menomena

Tuesday, August 10

Carson Daly: Surfer Blood (R)

Wednesday, August 11

Jay Leno: Los Lobos
Jimmy Kimmel: Joanna Newsom
Tavis Smiley: Carolina Chocolate Drops

Thursday, August 12

David Letterman: The Dead Weather (R)
Jay Leno: The Whigs
Jimmy Fallon: The Walkmen
Daily Show: Arcade Fire

Friday, August 13

Jay Leno: Alejandro Escovedo

VIRAL ADS

Viral has been a big buzzword in marketing. Creating viral content is powerful. For example, that goofy, hamster-voiced kid Fred, turned his viral youtube fame into a movie deal with Nicolodeon.

So, how do you "go viral". We don't have the answer but, maybe you can figure it out by watching these top viral ads compiled by Advertising Age.

http://www.visiblemeasures.com/adage

RUSH MONTH UNDERWAY ON FIREPOWER

What a year it's been for Rush. Just a few months ago, a documentary was released that chronicled their entire career. This summer, they released two new songs online that will be heard on their upcoming album Clockwork Angels. They appeared on The Colbert Report which was their first American tv appearance in about 30 years.

With the new album likely to drop in the coming months, we thought it would be great for our classic rock Firepower users to have some specialty imaging and workparts to create the appropriate buzz around this amazing band.

This is the start of a new feature on Firepower. We'll be doing more of these artist theme months to fatten up your classic rock imaging arsenal. During an artist theme month, you'll still get regular beds, sounds, sweepers etc. The theme is a bonus.

AUGUST IS RUSH MONTH ON FIREPOWER

This is brand new for Firepower. Throughout August, we'll be posting some Rush related workparts for artist focused imaging. In the future, we'll be featuring more artists in randomly selected months. It means a new level of depth for our classic rock users. FP will be bigger and better than ever. That's how we roll.

FREELANCE OPPORTUNITY

Even in these tough times, The Bag is growing. With stations short on staff, we want to provide more turnkey imaging than ever before.

That's why we're looking for a classic rock imaging pro to contribute to Firepower. If you specialize in major market, truly creative, classic rock imaging, we'd like to hear your stuff. We prefer someone who is currently working at a classic rock station so they'll be constantly plugged into what's happening in the format.

Send an mp3 demo (no larger than 3mb) and resume to production@brownbagimaging.com.