Random/off topic posts

M-Audio problems…

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I’ve had my M-Audio interface for a long while now. When I record audio on this thing, I always hear this strange humming sound and I always kept thinking it was either coming from the guitar or microphone but turns out it’s neither. I just found out that the electric humming sound has something to do with a ground loop issue… from the website:
Hum/Ground Loop/Electrical Noise

If you experience a constant humming or low frequency buzzing you probably have a ground loop.  Try connecting all devices to the same power outlet on the wall.  If you have a laptop, disconnect its power supply to see if the hum/buzz disappears.  Please see this guide for assistance with troubleshooting ground loops.

If I figure out the ground loop which should be easy, I should be able to get rid of that annoying humming sound and I’ll be able to record perfectly clean then. Can’t believe I just figured this out after all this time!

I may not have to buy a better Audio interface at all!

Kev

Local music

The Pros and Cons of becoming big in music…

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A lot of musicians out there wanna be big, popular or famous. Is popularity always a good thing in music? A lot of people want to mistakenly believe it’s a wonderful and glorifying thing to have lots of fans and recognition but at the same time it can be bad in some way. There’s too many musicians out there who will never admit they don’t enjoy being popular themselves. Allow me to explain the pros and cons when becoming a popular/well-known act in music.

The Pros

Getting lots of fans and recognition can mean a lot of good things. You’re getting your music heard and getting it out there. You get a lot of gigs that come out of it. Getting a lot of good opportunities. You meet a lot of nice people and moving forward to the next level in your careers. You can also make a lot more money by becoming well-known.

The Cons

HMmmmm, I can go on all day with this one. Becoming an established act would mean that you’re going to have to say goodbye to your privacy. You’re never gonna be left alone by local media or your die-hard fans. You’re like a mini-celebrity — you’re a public figure now. You could also get a lot more haters & doubters, people saying negative things about you. You have to watch what you do or watch what you say most of the time. It might be a little stressful and overwhelming for ya (it’ll get to you, believe me). You would also get accused of becoming “sell-outs”. The more popular and bigger you become, the more you’ll get looked as a pop act, no matter the genre. You will also get looked at as pretentious and will get criticized a lot. These are some reasons that popularity can be lame sometimes.

Some may not enjoy the popularity but whether they enjoy it or not… they’re gonna get it if enough people like their music.

Like I always say, I don’t care if I get the popularity or become well-known for my music or not. I’m all fine with playing music for just a few people or none at all. Music shouldn’t really be about getting as many fans as possible, anyways. Music should really be for you and that’s what I’ve been trying to explain for years. Too many musicians thrive on popularity when they really shouldn’t. The last thing you wanna do is call yourself a “successful” musician even if you know you are. Letting the music speak on it’s own and leaving your ego at the door.

Nothing wrong with musicians wanting to get big but don’t ever think you will be or you are. I give the most respect to bands/artists who act like they are nothing in music when they don’t realize they are a pretty big act. That’s a good attitude to have as a musician.

The point of this post is that don’t always believe that getting big in music is a good thing. It’s not always good, and you know it. Getting big with your music can be pretty risky if you aren’t careful with things. No need to worry about getting big in music, ya know? I never cared to move forward to a bigger career. Just wanna write songs, that’s the end of it.

Kev

movies

Jack Black reunites with School of Rock kids in celebration of 10 year anniversary…

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Jack Black reunited with some of the cast members of the 2003 comedy film, “School of Rock”, as you can see in the photo here. It is in celebration of the film’s 10th Anniversary. In this photo are just 5 of the kids from the School of Rock band, not the whole gang. I believe this photo was sent by Miranda Cosgrove who plays Summer in the film (she’s pictured bottom row, center). The kids look pretty much the same, they’re just a bit older now.

There have been talks on a sequel for years but Jack said last year, he tried really hard to get Richard Linklater (the director) and Mike White (screenwriter) back together for the sequel but he failed. Jack is dying to make the sequel happen himself but he wouldn’t do it without the film’s original creators. Mike White is the film’s screenwriter and actor who also has a role in the film as Ned Schneebly.

I think a sequel would be great ’cause “School of Rock” is actually a wonderful film. It’s one of my favorite comedies. It’s also a pretty realistic movie too. You can actually learn about rock n’ roll from it.

“School of Rock” is one of those films, I can watch over and over… never get tired of it.

Kev

movies

“Oz: The Great and Powerful” brief review…

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So I finally saw, “Oz: The Great and Powerful” on DVD last night. It was a Netflix DVD rental. This film is the prequel to the original 1939 film, “The Wizard of Oz” directed by Victor Fleming and based upon the book by L. Frank Baum.

My thoughts on, “Oz: The Great and Powerful”… I thought the film did a pretty good job explaining the original film; however, the script was a mess. Yes, this new film was based upon the Oz books ’cause remember they were a series of novels. Sam Raimi was pretty faithful to the stories but there was something missing with the script and needed a little improvement. The dialogue was a bit of a mess and the acting wasn’t that great either. I thought James Franco was pretty annoying and they should have used a better choice of an actor for Oz.

I was actually most impressed with Mila Kunis who played the Wicked Witch of the West. Mila was the best part of the movie. She was pretty sexy as hell in the film with or without the witch costume & makeup. Mila made a sexy Wicked Witch even in the green skin. Mila did a great job playing her.

After watching the movie, I can see why Disney wanted Sam Raimi to direct this movie ’cause they wanted this movie to be kind of scary and they knew that Raimi has horror experience. A lot of material in this reminded me so much of the “Evil Dead” movies, for sure. I’ve always liked Sam Raimi’s directing style. He’s unique and different. Even though this is a high budget movie, Sam still has some of his B-movie directing in this film.

Some of this movie is pretty entertaining, though. The film has a lot of action and quite a bit of violence in it. Sam did an okay job making Oz having a love for magic and turning him into an evil wizard when he’s not really.

With all this being said, I thought the film was okay. Nothing all that great and nothing amazing. I just wish they didn’t make it so similar to the original film. After I watched this film last night, I thought to myself, “Was this a remake or a prequel”? I looked at it as a remake ’cause almost every scene was pretty much the same from the original film. If you wanna call it a prequel, then make it a prequel… don’t make it similar. I hate it when prequels do that. George Lucas didn’t do that with the Star Wars movies… he made those prequels totally different stories.

The original “Wizard of Oz” movie with Judy Garland is one of my favorite films. I’ve seen that movie too many times ever since I was a child and still love that film. It’s a classic indeed and honestly that film doesn’t need prequels, remakes or sequels. It should have been left alone ’cause if you make it a prequel, you’re just ruining the mysterious part of the story. It takes the magic out of it, know what I mean?

“Oz: The Great and Powerful” was alright. It’s nothing I’ll watch over and over again. It’s still worth checking out, though!

Kev

Random/off topic posts

About the topic of microphones…

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I don’t need to get a better microphone ’cause I already have one. In fact, I already have two professional sounding mics. I have the Shure SM58 and I also have the Shure SM86. I can’t use the Shure SM86 ’cause this mic requires Phantom Power. I just found that out. I bought these two mics years ago. Even though, I’ve never used the SM86, I still kept it ’cause that mic costed at least $180.00. SM86,, the Phantom Powered mic. I would like to use it but I would need to hook it up to something that has phantom power.

So, what I would need to use this microphone is that I would need an M-Audio interface that has Phantom Power. I think I have found the one. I would need the M-Audio Fast Track Pro.  I’m dying to use this microphone the SM86 ’cause it’s a condenser microphone which helps make the sound studio perfect. The condenser helps eliminate unwanted noises like hissing sounds and other background noises.

Other than buying better DAW software, I think I should buy a better MAudio interface down the road too. If I use the SM86 microphone, then my recorded demos would sound so much better. I almost forgot that I had two Shure microphones. When I first bought the Shure SM86 mic, and tried to use it… no sound was coming out of it. I was at first like, “Did I just buy a microphone that didn’t work?”. I almost was going to send it back to the company but I realized that it’s a special microphone that needed something and that’s why I kept it ’cause I figure it might be a really good mic. I’ve had this mic for several years and never used it, the SM86. I didn’t know much about the mic and now I’m realizing that the mic was worth the purchase.

I think I should focus on getting M-Audio Fast Track Pro first. Can’t afford it now but it’s something I’m going to start saving for sometime in the future.

Kev

Edit to add: Well to hell with the M-Audio Fast Track Pro. If I feel that is way too pricey, I could find other brands that has phantom power and other USB units that would be much cheaper. I just gotta do a little more googling.

Edit to add #2: I think I just found what I needed, and it’s very cheap! What I would need to use the SM86 mic is this thing called, the Icicle. You can plug that thing into any Audio interface and you have phantom power! If I get that, I won’t need to buy any audio interface at all, I’ll just keep the M-Audio that I have now. I’ll have to order that Icicle plug since it’s only $40.00. I’m probably gonna end up ordering it next week. Bookmark it for now.

Random/off topic posts

Will there be guitar solos on these new songs???

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The truth is, I don’t know yet. Not sure if I will add guitar solos to these upcoming new songs. Admittedly, I’m still not the best at lead guitar and I’m still trying to improve myself on that too. I feel that I’m way better at rhythm guitar than lead. I think I know how to stay in the pocket with the metronome well-enough.

I’m still trying to teach myself lead guitar a lot, though. Maybe I will try to put guitar solos on these new songs ’cause it’ll be good practice for me. I do know a few scales and know some music theory. I’m no virtuoso at lead guitar yet but I certainly would love to get there someday! Maybe people will like my lead guitar solos, never know, ya know? Again, I can be my own worst critic. Can never tell if I’m good or not. I just let the people do the judging of my tunes.

Learning lead guitar is a lot of fun. I’m just trying my best to improve my improvisation and ear training so soloing over my own songs would be good practice. Maybe I will give the solos a go. I’m also trying to improve my techniques like vibrato, hammer on/pull offs, string bending, slides, etc. I’m also trying my best with the phrasing so I can sound musical and not sound like I’m playing random notes.

I refuse to have someone else to play guitar solos for my songs ’cause I want the songs to be mine, ya know? I’ve always felt that if you wanna be a guitar player you gotta be good at both rhythm and lead. I think guitar solos are my favorite part of music to begin with. That’s why I love Led Zep, Hendrix, Satriani, etc. Any musician or band who plays a lot of guitar solos, I would probably end up liking.

I would like to get better at lead guitar so I can one day make a badass guitar driven rock album on my own. Lead guitar is pretty much the only reason I picked up the guitar. Wanted to be like Jimmy Page who is a guitar solo master! I’ve been trying to figure out how to become a great lead guitarist ever since I picked it up 18 years ago and still not the best at it. It’s a lot of learning and memorizing. Pretty tough!

Kev

movies

Finally, a photo of Harrison Ford on the set of EXP3!!!!

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Arnold just tweeted this pic today of him filming “Expendables 3”. Look like Arnold is still on for the Expendables even though Bruce is no longer in it! Here is Arnold on the set of the EXP3 with Harrison Ford and the guy in the center is the film’s director, Patrick Hughes.

You can tell by the look of Harrison’s face that he looks pretty psyched to be a part of this franchise.

Nice to finally see Arnold and Harrison together. Two icons of Hollywood! Terminator and Indiana Jones!

Now I hope I’ll get a photo of Mel Gibson on the set of the film.

Kev

Kev Brock music

I think my next batch of songs will be more of an album release than a demo…

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I think what my plans are for the next release that it will be more of an album. An internet exclusive album. It won’t be on CD. Just for the internet only. When I get the songs completed and ready to go, I’ll find a place to upload them where you can stream them in it’s entirety. Maybe, I will have a change of heart with bandcamp and upload it on there for you to stream and download for free. Don’t know yet but I will think of something.

I don’t know why bands continue to make CD’s ’cause you have to be honest with yourself that nobody’s buying them anyway, right? Nobody’s buying CD’s anymore and this is another good reason for releasing your music for free.

I got 5 songs ideas down, working on a 6th song.

I’m pretty serious that this is going to be a more folky and poetic album. You’ll know once you hear it. There’s going to be plenty of finger picking, light strumming and heartfelt singing. It may not be rock n’ roll Brock you want it to be. I will have a few upbeat rock n’roll songs on there but I wanna concentrate on slower music.

Also for the album, I will have bonus tracks on it. I’m planning to bring back a few of my older songs like “Evil Fred”, “Mr. Tough Guy”, and “Time Bomb”… kind of like a Greatest Hits thing to bring back memories from the old days.

I don’t know what I’m going to name the album yet. I’ll think of a title after I get the lyrics done and I’ll pick an album title from the lyrics. The album may not be studio perfect but I just wanted to keep it old-school and homemade. I want to show other musicians and bands you don’t have to be all special when making music.

I will come up as many songs as I can for the next album. It could be more than 10 songs, maybe 20, 30, etc. Can’t wait for you to hear them. Teasers, previews… coming soon.

Kev

Random/off topic posts

Remember these???

4tracks

 

I guess you can call this a kind of a throwback Thursday thing. This was the kind of 4 track machine that I had before ProTools/Cakewalk came around. These old 4 track cassette machines. I’ve had it for a pretty long time but sadly I had to get rid of it since it no longer works. I guess I broke it for using it way too much, lol! These were cool machines though, and I do miss it.

The recording industry still makes similar machines like this but they’re all digital now, they don’t make ’em cassette anymore. The cassette industry is pretty much dead.

I recorded too many songs on these old cassette tapes but I think I threw ’em all out. Maybe I still have a few laying around somewhere, don’t know.

Kev

Local music

To hell with ProTools, think I’ll stick with Music Creator 5…

I just re-installed ProTools successfully today. Got it to record audio successfully but the playback wouldn’t work. On top of that, ProTools Academic 7.3 is pretty slow ’cause I have a slow computer. I think I’ll use Music Creator 5 from now on ’cause it’s faster and easier to use.

When I was first using ProTools 7.3 way back in 2006… it used to work perfectly fine for me but up until now that the software is pretty old and outdated… it doesn’t work too well anymore. I haven’t used ProTools in so long that I’ve probably forgotten how to use it. I had to uninstall IE8 in order for ProTools to launch. So after I uninstalled ProTools, I went back to Google Chrome. Another reason I’m sticking wth Music Creator ’cause it actually sounds better than ProTools. In ProTools you hear humming noises and in Music Creator you don’t.

I think I’ll either throw out Pro Tools or just give it to somebody, I guess.

I don’t know why these programs go outdated and then you have to buy new software. I guess it was done intentionally ’cause it’s their sneaky little way of making more money.

I want better DAW software so I can do my own mixing, producing and try to find my sound with my music. Music Creator 5 is just a cheap software for beginners that was about $40 or so but still sounds incredibly decent! So I’ll stick with Music Creator for a long while, I guess.

I don’t know why the musicians industry make it so hard to find decent recording equipment these days. I really miss those Tascam 4track/8track cassette boards. With those things you didn’t have to worry about using too much memory in your computer or worry about wasting a lot of time trying to figure out your input/output stuff. That stuff was cheaper than recording software too. I miss making demos on regular cassette tapes back in earlier days. Yep, I’ve been songwriting and recording music for years… it really has been that long.

I started off pretty crappy in songwriting when I was younger but I improved as I went along. I would like to go back to my older cassettes and listen to my older demos for fun but to be honest, I don’t really enjoy listening to myself. I only listen to myself when I’m recording and when I am finished with the track, I never look back on it. I don’t listen to my own music like a lot of musicians do. I don’t have that big of an ego and I can be my own worst critic!

Kev

The Official Music Website of Kevin Brock – Brocking N' Rolling