How is everyone?

Posted on

www.TheLondonProject.ca
Member Since: Feb 07, 2005

It's been a long time since I hung out here but hopefully some of you still drop in from time to time.

I have a feeling I'll be spending more time here in the future!

Cheers!

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Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Mar 31, 2018 06:56 am

Hey BH, good to see you. The place has slowed down a lot in the last couple years, kind of a bummer, I certainly would like to see some activity and get it kickin' again.

Hit me up when you are in town, I'd love to hunt down some beers!

Byte-Mixer
Member
Since: Dec 04, 2007


Apr 16, 2018 06:33 am

Long update post ahead!

I've been somewhat busy on the band angle rather than recording lately. We auditioned and added a pretty decent drummer to the band back in February. Though he's down in FL for flight training at the moment (commercial pilot), he should be back the week after next.

Our band consists of me on keys, guitar, and vocal harmony.
Tom Oritt on guitar.
Andres Villamil on Bass.
Lena Vardy on vocals.
Dan Goldfedder on drums.

My stage rig will be a Nord Lead 2X, Roland VR-09, and my Reverend Double Agent OG 20th Anniv. guitar through a Zoom G3X and into my Carvn AG100D. Keys will go to the PA, but I might take a headphone output into my Vox keyboard amp as a personal monitor. I'm thinking about getting a Boss EV-30 expression pedal so I can send a separate expression control to each keyboard from a single pedal rather than having to use two pedals.

Our music is a variety of pop rock (think early Genesis style stuff) with some slight blues/funk elements on up to more progressive (aggressive?) alt/experimental rock (which is kind of what I write). The stuff I do is influenced by Radiohead, Muse, QotSA and has some flavors of older King Crimson or Spoon stuff. According to Andres, the material I've written isn't really being done by anyone in Philly to his knowledge, and he thinks it's awesome. Apparently I'm ahead of the curve.

We put together 3 basic demos (One of Tom's, one of mine, and one of Andres songs) which you can hear over on the temporary soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/cr337 none of my vocals on these since I wasn't harmonizing with the singer yet, and didn't record myself. We did the demos last year, trading files, and having Andres handle the mixdown.

We're gig ready. Just voting on a band name now. (second time voting. First time, everyone picked a different primary and secondary name from the list, so we shrank the list for this round and picked new names) Plan is to cut our teeth at a venue with a decent sound like The Fire or Johnny Brenda's. WXPN World Cafe upstairs stage might also not be out of the question once we've gigged a bit, and have our name get around a bit. We should be performing in public sometime in May.

Aside from the original band, I also play cover jam sessions with a UPenn professor for funsies on Sunday afternoons in his basement. He's got a PA set up with a pair of Yammy 15's and a Mackie ProFX mixer. His neighbor is also a drummer and bass player, and he was jamming with us up until last year. I think he's involved in a few different bands now, and has become absentee.

We (my wife with me helping) are also job hunting, since her work ends in September. None of their grant proposals got through the review boards. Not sure if we'll be able to stay in Philly, which will SUUUUUUUCK since I'd have to leave the band if we move far away. It would suck for them too because 5 of the songs are mine. I'd probably work out an agreement to let them keep performing a couple of my songs since those songs wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for the influences and inspirations from being in the group.

Regardless, if we do have to move away, I have enough material written, and a couple other almost-finished pieces that would allow me to start up a new band. I've almost got enough material for a 45min set; I'm about 3 songs short.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to for the last year and a half or so.

Ultra Magnus
Member
Since: Nov 13, 2004


Oct 03, 2018 04:58 am

I might be the last one to post here since nobody's said anything since July.

I've been mixing and mastering old unreleased stuff (which is most of the things I've made) and putting it out on my little micro-label the last few months. There's about 20 albums in all. It's been a huge trip down memory lane. Spending long periods of time in specific parts of the past has recalled very vivid recollections, almost like reliving at times. I've also reconnected with some people along the way, both online and in real life.

I've been working on 2004 stuff the last few weeks and you guys and this place has been a very present memory, especially the 'save the music' project where we all made tracks for a compilation. The tune I had on there 'Little Rug' is especially evocative of this forum.

So yeah, just wanted to reach out, say hi and see if anyone's still around. I might not be remembered, it's been a long time. I'll have a poke around, see what's been going on.

Much love from the English seaside,
Matt.

Eat Spam before it eats YOU!!!
Member
Since: May 11, 2002


Oct 13, 2018 10:50 am

Hey everyone!

I've mostly been doing video now but the audio background is starting to come back into play as I've added a couple new clients in the past month where being able to do boom operating and field recording is important.

I'm staring down converting my church to a digital mixer in the next year or so. Probably an M32.

Things have just been busy and I was able to roll out a pretty hefty rate increase this month too and only probably lost one client so I'm pretty happy with how things are going.

Byte-Mixer
Member
Since: Dec 04, 2007


Nov 02, 2018 05:31 pm

Midas gear is pretty good. I know Behringer bought them, but the stuff they're putting out tied to the Midas gang is looking pretty good. (mostly speaking of the X32 mixer, and the analog synths). I recently bought a Deepmind 12 for dirt cheap ($520ish previously owned but mint condition) and having a lot of fun with it. It's basically a Juno on caffeine and steroids, and fits really nicely with what I'm doing. The fader caps are a bit wobbly, but the faders themselves are as sturdy as anything on any other higher end synth including DSI or Modal. Very similar to alpha linear faders found in modular gear. Might end up using it instead of the Nord with the band.

The Roland VR-09 is still on organ/keys duty, and I layer it with the Deepmind for some stuff.

Speaking of the band, it's been a bit of a roller coaster this year. We're actively seeking a first gig now. The drummer we found early this year bailed. I think his head just wasn't in it what with the work stress of being an airline pilot and worrying about not passing his medical evaluation, or possibly being out of a job.

But we got a new drummer in October, he's pretty solid, nice guy, and isn't easily rattled by anything. He's pretty much up to speed on our material except for a couple minor "gotchas" on some more complex stuff. But yeah, we're looking for gigs now.

Our band's name is Blackjack Rose. Tom registered the domain name for it, so it's official, hah!

Oh, and Heather did get a new job, new lab, more potential with newer cutting edge techniques, and good potential for longevity and R01 grant money. Her new boss is a guy who was doing science projets on crayfish in a basement lab he had in his tweens. He's a native Germantown Philadelphian who went to study abroad, and came back to start up a lab at UPenn as an Assistant Professor under a K99 mentoring grant. They did a feel-good news blurb on him at CBS. philadelphia.cbslocal.com...-penn-medicine/

So the future is looking good and we're very possibly going to buy a house next year, hoping to close when or a little before our lease ends on August 1st. I have plans to turn whatever basement we get into a rehearsal/tracking/general media space (I plan on setting up a PA system) and hopefully a decent sized main floor room somewhere for the mixing space.

Oh, I also went to AES a couple weeks ago. Our bass player works with a startup group called DAWtomation out of Nashville, the stuff is designed by Capi-gear, and they're putting out a very interesting unit, the Solo8 with some motorized faders, the MotorDrive coming next March: www.facebook.com/dawtomation/

edit0r
Member
Since: Aug 17, 2004


Dec 15, 2018 04:10 pm

Hey fella's,

Happy holidays! Hope you're all well.

I'm in the USA for xmas this year (DC), just finished some work here and decided to stay. If anyone's around hit me up!

C_S

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Dec 21, 2018 12:02 pm

Merry Christmas to you, thanks for stopping by. Let us know when you are in Minnesota!

Member
Since: Aug 13, 2005


Dec 29, 2018 09:51 am

Yay how are you all ? Still gigging ? Have Great new year.

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