New Post on Music Think Tank
By Craig | April 3, 2008
Howdy,
I’ve written a new post for Music Think Tank. Have a looksee..
It’s not replicated completely here because it’s about an idea that might be successful in the music industry and since we have our standards to maintain it has no place here.
Topics: Collaboration | No Comments »
Digital Products You Absolutely Don’t Need.
By Craig | March 27, 2008
You have to admire the commercial spirit of the human race - it’s what got us where we are today.
Our limitless imagination means that along with all the fun stuff like sex, music and homemade meatballs, we are also able to come up with products and services that our fellow humans never knew they needed until the point comes that they discover they need them, which is a neat trick.This ability to come up with all manner of shit that we don’t need is also what drives our willingness to celebrate those people who can sell ice to Eskimos, send coal to Newcastle and so on and so forth.
The long and the short of it, folks, is that if you can’t convince people they need something, then you might as well not bother creating it in the first place. It’s a one-man-clapping thing. Kinda like making a country/folk album and then realising that you can’t sell…..oh, that’s another story.
Anyway…
Talking of stuff you don’t need, I thought one of the dumbest products I’d seen to come out of the…ahem…digital music revolution was this:
…..the USB Turntable. The premise of the USB Turntable is that converting your silly old vinyl to shiny new digital is not only a piece of piss but also a worthwhile use of your time, when neither of which could be further from the truth - Converting vinyl to digital is a long-winded process that leaves you with substandard versions of what you started with and you will never, ever get those hours back… However, the USB turntable starts to look as necessary and vital as good old-fashioned fresh air when compared with this…. 
…which is a very expensive ‘valve’ amplifier doohickey that comes with an iPod docking station. Yup, that’s an analogue ‘valve’ amplifier system for you to play your digitally compressed audio files on.
Now, on first glance this may look like a sledgehammer to crack a walnut, but it’s actually far, far dumber than that. So dumb and pointless, in fact, that you can comfortably expect to see adverts for it in the next issue of Observer Music Monthly. USB Turntable salesmen across the globe are jumping ship to this product as you read this.
Seriously, if you’ve bought one of the above products then please don’t bother buying our album. The rest of you should feel free to proceed to the shop or to iTunes.
(Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed the cack-handed use of sales psychology in this post)
Topics: Internet Doohickeys, Apropos of Nowt | No Comments »
Live Video and Photos from the Dorian Wood night - 21/03/08
By Craig | March 25, 2008
Here are some things that were captured on Friday….
Anna singing with Dorian Wood (USA) on his song ”Watsonvilled”…
..and some photos from the night.
There are many more photos to see in this handy Friends of the Stars / Dorian Wood FLICKR set
Friends of the Stars
Dorian Wood (UK)
Dorian Wood (USA)
There will be some audio to come just as soon as Dorian USA gets home to California and makes it Interwebable.
Were you at the show? Leave a comment below with your thoughts…
Topics: Music, Images, Collaboration, Birmingham, Live | No Comments »
Thank You, Kings Heath
By Craig | March 23, 2008
A big thanks to all of those who braved the howling winds, sleet and cold to make the show on Friday night.
Both the Dorians played storming sets and joined each other onstage for a double-Dorian finale to bring the house down.
Photos and Audio to follow shortly..
Dorian Wood (USA) continues his UK tour at The Half Moon in Putney, That London tonight.
Topics: Collaboration | No Comments »
This Good Friday, All The Dorian Wood You Can Eat.
By Craig | March 18, 2008
Just a quick reminder about our night on Friday at The Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath. We have Dorian Wood from California, USA and Dorian Wood from Birmingham, UK. We also have sounds from the Step Off DJs and an acoustic set from ourselves, Friends of the Stars. It’s £3 on the door and kicks off at 8pm.
Confused about the whole double Dorian thing? Clicky to read all about the show, listen to songs from the performers and even get directions.
Hope to see you there…
Topics: Collaboration | No Comments »
We Built This City On An Early Night.
By Craig | March 16, 2008
Lots of Birmingham sites have posted this over the last few days. I’m happy to join in.
It’s all part of the Keep Digbeth Vibrant campaign, something I support completely. If you’re unaware of the back story then it goes something like this:
Property developers build far too many Luxuty 1 Bed Apartments in and around the city centre of Birmingham. As soon as the buildings are constructed they become massive, gigantic twat magnets. Idiots are strangely compelled to purchase their identikit boxes at hugely inflated prices and once installed they throw themselves whole-heartedly into the Modern Urban Living Dream. The Modern Urban Living Dream doesn’t include any noise after 11pm.
It’s a crazy world, kids.
Obviously, I should qualify the above by pointing out at that not everyone who lives in a city centre apartment is a twat (Some of my closest friends etc etc). However, if you are one of those people complaining then why did you move to the middle of the second largest city in the United Kingdom and expect peace and quiet? That was stupid.
Topics: Apropos of Nowt, Birmingham | No Comments »
Music Think Tank
By Craig | March 14, 2008
So, I’ve been asked by Andrew Dubber to join his online writing venture - Music Think Tank - and will be contributing ideas, articles and comments about the music world and the internet as part of this new group blog.
There will be some cross-posting between here and MTT as some of my writing will be relevant to both. However, the tens of readers of this site can rest assured that I won’t be discussing the rules of MP3 Tagging or the like here. To put it simply, Music Think Tank will be about acheiving success in the new music business and this site will continue in it’s fine tradition of documenting the exact opposite.
Anyway, it’s a buzz and an honour to be involved with the group as it contains some very clever folks.
Topics: Collaboration | No Comments »
9 Mistakes To Avoid When Recording Your Own Album
By Craig | March 12, 2008
Today was a good day. I finally began to work on our next record.
It’s been almost 18 months since we were last recording anything intended for release. That’s a long time. One of the reasons for this was that I figured we needed to place an embargo on any new recordings until “Lighting and Electrical” was finished and available to anyone in the world who might want to hear it. I knew from experience that if we had started recording new material before that point then the songs would have joined that pile of other songs that we never got finished, and I didn’t want that to happen.
So, with the album now out and the embargo duly lifted I have to say that the thought of working on a new set of songs is making me very happy, very excited and a little nervous - and all at the same time. I am happy because making music with the others makes me very happy. I’m excited because it’s been a while since we were recording and it’s a chance to show what we’re made of, a challenge. Lastly, I’m nervous because I know there is a long journey and some hard work ahead of us. Still, it feels liberating to finally be out of the traps and it’s made me give some thought to the process ahead…something we could have benefited from the first time around.
Without going into too much detail, the whole process for recording and releasing “Lighting and Electrical” was absolutely torturous and I say that without the slightest exaggeration. The experience was perhaps the first and only time in my life when my over-developed stubborn streak actually came in handy. I learned a lot during the whole process, and mainly that a lot of the delays I moaned about were ultimately down to our own stupidity. A little patience would have been useful at times, too.
So, for the benefit of anyone about to embark on recording their own album, on their own and also to serve as a behavioural mantra for our own second album, here are some things I’ve learned from all the mistakes we made last time. I’ll add a complimentary post listing all the mistakes we made after we finished recording in the next day or so.
Off we go, then….
9 Mistakes To Avoid When Recording Your Own Album
by the band that made them all.
1: That Odd Buzzing Noise Will Come Out In The Mix
..and one day there will be free jetpacks for us all. No matter how good you think that last take was, if your singer kicked the mike stand halfway through or the small change was rubbing against the keys in your pockets then you need to think about starting that take again.
2: If You Are Having Drums, You Might Want To Record Them First
You may think you’ve nailed that guitar part to that click track but there are two people who won’t share your confidence. The first person is the drummer and he will till you all about this when he comes to play along to the song. The second is the person who will spend weeks going through the all the component drum audio files, making miniscule adjustments to the placement of a kick beat here and a high hat there. When I say weeks, I mean WEEKS…easily enough weeks to fill a month or two.
3: “Hey, Shall We Tune-up?”
This one sounds teeth-grindingly obvious, doesn’t it. Oh yes, so obvious in fact that you’d laugh at anyone who made such a stupid error.
*cough*
Moving on, then…
4: Effects Breed Like Rabbits
It might not sound the way you hear it in your head but if you cave in now and add that tiny bit of distortion - just to make yourself feel better about everything - then imagine how great you’ll be feeling when you come to the mix and you can’t get rid of it. Record EVERYTHING dry.
5: “You Sound Like You’ve Got A Cold…”
If you didn’t have a cold when you recorded the vocals for the other 9 tracks, why do you want to do record the vocal for this one now?
6: Clean Out Yer Ears
If you’ve listened back to that rough mix more than 10 times today then it’s probably time to go out, meet your pals and get drunk. Additionally, when you all come back from the your night out your friends will probably be in the mood for some ELO or possibly some Fu Manchu. That track without vocals and that piano part littered with cack-handed mistakes will be waiting patiently for you tomorrow - it ain’t going nowhere.
7: Less Is More
These days home studios can be augmented with a dazzling array of plugins that enable you to have thousands and thousands of sounds and instruments at your fingertips. You are limited only by your imagination, but remember that this cuts both ways.
8: Organise, Label & File
At some stage, when you’ve recorded your last vocal or overdub, you’ll want to think about mixing your album. When this point comes it is waaay too late and entirely pointless to have the bright idea of giving audio files sensible names and putting them into folders that, say, represent the names of the different songs they come from.
9: Back-Up
Death, Taxes and At-That-Crucial-Point computer malfunction. They come to us all in the end. Do it daily, weekly or monthly….but make sure you do it.
Now….go and make a great record!
Topics: The 2nd Album, Music, Apropos of Nowt | 3 Comments »
Taking the FOTS cavalcade of mishap to Twitter.
By Craig | March 9, 2008
We enter a new realm today. Rather than having to wait for updates on our self-inflicted failure and disappointment to be posted on this here website, you’ll now be able to tune in to rolling, as-it-goes-wrong coverage via a Twitter account.
Here’s how I came to this most considered of decisions:
Twitter is something I’ve been aware of for a while but have never felt the need to use, so naturally I dismissed it out of hand. Then, of course, I started using it anyway and now, approximately 24 hours later, I’m now going to commit to something stupid and quioxtic that involves using it on a daily basis and probably forever. Something like….oh, i dunno…announcing that I’ll be documenting everything related to Friends of the Stars via the medium of Twitter.
(You can see the faultless logic involved there, though, can’t you?)
If you are an existing Twitter user then the username you are looking for is craig_fots.
If you are unfamiliar with what Twitter is or does then depending on who you choose to believe you are either technosocially hopeless or alternatively incredibly cool for not knowing. Yep, it’s another one of those things. It’s not a ‘new’ thing (in interweb terms) and the main arguements for and against were made over a year ago.
So, tune in and be privvy to exclusive updates on broken strings, missed rehearsals, aborted recording sessions and anything I happen to Twitter whilst I’m drunk. For my part, I’m looking forward to finding out what the average Friends of the Stars fan (or interested party) is doing at any given moment.
I’ve just Twittered (I have Twuttered?) the fact that I’m going to be Twittering everything FOTS related.
Topics: Interactive Tools, Promotion, Internet Doohickeys | No Comments »
Thank You London!
By Craig | March 8, 2008
Well, ok, 30-odd people in London….
Just a note to say Hello and Thank You to all the kind people who saw us play and gave us such a cool reception last week at London’s 12 Bar Club, and especially to those who bought CDs!
Hopefully we’ll see you again soon.
Topics: That London, Live | No Comments »