overlap.org presents

OVERLAP LONDON
22 OCT 2008 @ 8 PM
18-22 Ashwin St | Dalston
London | E8 3DL | info@cafeoto.co.uk
£6/5

SEBASTIEN ROUX (room40 / optical sound / 12k)
DOUGLAS BENFORD (12×50 / Bip_hop / si-cut.db)
BEDDOES (overlap)

Live performance version of "BOUND" from my Ruiner Severhead project.

It sounds remarkably like the recorded version. That's cuz the support tracks are directly from my original multi-track recording. The effects (pitch-shifting & my "smoke & cloud" delays) used on the fretless bass are also the same.

Performance wise - I prefer this take over the "studio" version in many ways. I think I was just more in touch with the vibe of the piece here than on the recording.

I used to be opposed to this kind of "backing tracks" performance thing.

But then I realized it's a tremendous creative tool.

I love working in the studio AND performing. It would be a waste to limit my studio or performance ambitions with some arbitrary rules about what is and isn't "allowed" in either sphere.

That's how I roll. ;)

To upload this video - I used a service called Tubemogul. It's a service that lets you upload a video once and then deliver it to several different video sites with a few clicks. You have to set up accounts on all the sites ahead of time though.

After the jump is several versions of this video from the various sites it was uploaded to.

It's pretty clearly how each service renders the video and it's relative quality.

Check it out if you're curious about that kind of thing.

REVER

IMEEM

Jeff Schmidt Live Solo Bass [Bound-ruiner severhead] -

MYSPACE

Jeff Schmidt Live Solo Bass [Bound-ruiner severhead]

GOOGLE VIDEO

VIMEO

Jeff Schmidt Live Solo Bass [Bound-ruiner severhead] from Jeff Schmidt on Vimeo.

I think it's obvious there are quality differences.

But what matters most to me is traffic.

The same videos posted at the same time across several video sites are viewed and commented at different levels.

One thing is clear. There is YOUTUBE . . . and there is everyone else.

YOUTUBE is the hit - everyone else is playing the long tail.

In terms of ease of use - Vimeo took the longest to upload, process and finally go "live". Almost 2 hours. And that was after a failed upload thru Tubemogul had to be deleted.

Your milage may vary.

From May 2008 - live performance of TRYPTO. This is the first "proper" performance video of this piece.

There's another one out on the internets. But you'll have to find it.

;)

Stay tuned - I'll have more videos going up over the next few days/weeks.

Though I was out to myself long before, I didn’t experience my first girl kiss until I left my traditional Mexican Catholic hometown of McAllen, Tx. Leaving home for the first time, I didn’t exactly escape conservatism, just traded it in for something a little more Country and a little more racist. I somehow found myself at an “elite Southern institution” where the Greek system affected the academic schedule.

Never mind her name. She was an outgoing, quirky, theater type who lived a few doors down from me on the 4th floor of Renke Hall. I don’t remember how we became friends but we would hang out in the dorms together and catch the occasional dining hall Sunday brunch. There seemed to be some kind of mutual curiosity between us which eventually lead to a hot make-out session in her room.

The kiss lasted though a good portion of her play list, including ‘California Dreaming’ when we paused for a moment. She made me promise not to tell anyone about our liaison right before explaining that the only reason she was making out with me was because she didn’t have a man.

Ouch!

I’ve learned from more than that occasion that desire does not define identity and identity has the power to stifle desire. I can’t identify with the perspective of Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl”, in fact it really annoyed me (It doesn’t help that she sings another song that begins with “I hope you hang yourself with your H&M scarf while jacking off listening to Mozart”.)

I’ve experienced sexual encounters with women that make me feel like their “experimental game”, right before they stop the situation to pick up the cell phone call from their boyfriends.

Ouch!

I havn’t quite done it yet, but some queer women can totally fetishize sleeping with self-identified straight girls and try and win as many toaster ovens as possible. I came up with my own version of Perry’s song in order to reclaim and come to peace with my first girl kiss and some of my frustrations with identity, the patriarchy and internalized homophobia.

Disclaimer: In the case I might be read as a labrys-waving-biphobic-dyke, I love women and I love to sleep with people who own and celebrate their sexuality, whatever their sexual identity.

This is the first time I’ve uploaded a video of me singing and playing the guitar online. Hopefully I’ll do more!

Recently, on twitter and myspace I've been tossing out inflammatory bombs about fender basses. Obviously, this is kind of fun for me because the responses are predictable. And who doesn't enjoy a little action/reaction predictability now & again?

But there's a little more going on beneath the surface. I'm not sure when it started, but I've been getting into a retro kick recently. I think pushing the technology angle so hard has me longing for the organic. I've started appreciating retro production & instrument sounds.

Oh - I should probably point out that I've never owned a Fender bass. When I got back into playing in 04, getting an instrument that to my mind was so common, so pedestrian and predictable was the last thing I wanted to do. Musically, I wasn't interested in doing anything where the answer was - "Fender Jazz Bass".

However - part of my new appreciation for retro sounds had me noticing older and "classic" bass sounds. These are sounds that I considered so common I never really paid much attention to them directly - even as a bass player. I always wrote it off as "The Big Dumb Fender Sound".

Among other experiments in retro, I decided to try out the fender thing. I got a lefty 2008 American P Bass. At first I was seriously underwhelmed. It was such a simple instrument. The neck felt clumsy and, well, dumb. It sounded, well, dumb. I played around with it and thought - "I'm sending it back. This thing is lame - I don't get it".

One morning before work - I loaded up some "real" drum sound drum patterns, pulled out the P bass, hit record and started playing for a few minutes.

It was kinda fun to play "bass" with a "real bass". I hadn't turned the strings upside down yet so I was forced to play simply. As an aside - the downside to having above average technical abilities is that it's really hard not to use it all the time. If you have this affliction - turn the strings upside down. ;)

So off to work I went and forgot all about it. When I came home that night, as I was setting up my laptop - I pressed play on the material I recorded in the morning and was instantly struck by what I heard. It was THAT sound. The classic P Bass sound, with ME playing it!

Ok - I know this sounds geeky - but I've NEVER sounded like that before. It was wild. I had played a mix of finger-style & pick. The pick stuff just blew me away with how authentic it sounded. The bass just seemed to sit in so perfectly with the drums - no eq was needed.

I finally "got it". For the first time ever - I appreciated the fender P for being the fender P. I pretty much decided right there I was going to keep the bass.

I may not use it that much - but it's the most common electric bass sound in pop music and it's important to have if for no other reason than accessibility. I began to realize that perhaps some of the Ruiner Severhead material might have sounded more accessible had I used at least 1 easily recognizable bass sound. P bass with a pick and some overdrive is - really friggin sweet.

At that point I started to re-evaluate my entire view of these basses. I thought if the P bass sounded good - maybe I should have a jazz bass also to round out my "basic bass sounds" inventory. Instead of going the same route as I had with the new AMERICAN P bass, I hunted down a used lefty made in mexico jazz for pretty cheap.

The build quality difference between a new American P and a used MIM jazz is noticeable - but not tremendous. Not nearly the difference between my MTD535 and the Kingston which I would classify as severe.

Sound wise - the jazz sounded like a fender jazz - but not as WOW to me as the P bass.

So I thought I'd change the pickups. I tossed in a set of Nordstrand Js. The before & after recordings I did revealed the stock pups were voiced hotter, and a littler higher in the frequency range with very little sub frequencies but kinda closed sounding up top.

The Nordstrands were lower output, voiced a little lower frequency and were a little more open sounding.

Anyway - I quickly realized the it's the Jazz sound that I'm not really a fan of. I don't hate it - but it just doesn't speak to me. The P bass has character - a personality. The Jazz seems.... well - that's the "common" sound I guess I always complain about.

But again - in the mix - it sits nicely and fills the bass role wonderfully. The fender sound plays nice with everything else that's going on. I've noticed this when artists come through the radio station. I never have to do much with fenders sound wise - just a little compression and move on to the vocal or whatever.

So mea culpa. I get Fender now. At least as a palette of sounds that are pretty important in pop music.

These are sounds I've been uninterested in as I pursued my solo bass work. But now as I explore a wider range of musical ideas I'm glad to have these sounds at my disposal. It's also great fun to play a 4 string. It's all so - familiar. I guess I didn't realize how far off the "bass" reservation I had gone with my boutique, piccolo, solo bass concept.

And at the end of the day - I'm still a bass player and I still love the sound of a good bass.

BTW - I sold one of my pedulla fretless basses to grab these fenders. I know. A few weeks ago that would have seemed insane to me. But I still have a killer pedulla. Now I have some of the most classic bass sounds too.

A couple of nights ago I attended the release party for the new book on the San Francisco Tape Music Center, edited by David Bernstein. There was a fantastic panel including Morton Subotnick, Ramon Sender, Bill Maginnis, Don Buchla, and David Bernstein, and the event was incredibly well attended. So well in fact, that the venue reached capacity and they had to kick many people out on threats of shutting down the event. That left many of us outside peering in through the windows.

I picked up the book and although I haven’t had time to go through it completely, it looks fantastic. If David Bernstein’s previous writing is any indication, this is a must have for anyone who wants a full picture of American electronic music history. It contains interviews with the entire core group of the TMC, including Don Buchla, who doesn’t like interviews very much. The book is accompanied by a DVD with recordings of compositions originating at the Tape Music Center, along with visuals by Tony Martin.

Speaking of Don, he had a hard time getting in too…you can see his head near the wall, mysteriously surrounded by a glowing halo…

One of the nice things on display at the event was the Tape Music Center’s Buchla Box, the first (? at least large scale) Buchla modular synthesizer. It normally lives at Mills College in Oakland, CA.

Christopher Willits, friend of Jon and I from San Francisco are going to perform in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Fo Shan with Dickson Dee. Here is the touring schedule on Chris’ blog in English:
http://christopherwillits.com

我们在旧金山的朋友Christopher Willits 正在进行他的巡回演出，这个月26-28日他将和李劲松在广州，深圳和佛山表演。具体演出时间和地点在李劲松的博客上。

It’s 92 degrees outside! I can feel the heat in the air! Three cheers for the start of summer and a great weekend ahead: Bruno Pronsato performs tomorrow at the Endup during a day party called Apertura.

After his sweet set with Sammy Dee at Mutek (as Half Hawaii), he’s now making his way up from South America and I am so happy to see him a second time this year. Mark your calendars, this is a summer party not to be missed…

 

 

Heya, my buddy Christopher Willits, who did a ccMixter remix contest previously, is playing in Southern China, including in Guangzhou, and please go see it for many different reasons! I wish I was in China to go see him play right now, but in SF for some more weeks.

Photo by Buzz Andersen

Here are the show dates from his site:

CHINA TOUR DATES - CHRISTOPHER WILLITS AND DICKSON DEE

Confirmed dates for China, right after last shows in Japan.. very excited for this.

:: Christopher Willits / Dickson Dee - South China Tour ::

JUNE 26th - SHENZHEN CITY
Mooka Space

address: F3 Block,Mooka Space,Enping Road,Oversea Chinese Town, Shenzhen, China
http://www.myspace.com/mookaspace
time:20:00
ticket:50 RMB
organized by: Noise Asia
co-organized by: Mooka Space

JUNE 27th - GUANGZHOU CITY
Gula Space

address: NO.1 Jian She Liu Ma Lu, Guangzhou, China
http://www.myspace.com/gulatang
time:20:00
ticket:50 RMB
organized by: Noise Asia & Gula Space

JUNE 28th - FOSHAN CITY
Ninliho Gallery

add:No.1402,Hai’er road,Guicheng,Nanhai,Foshan,Guangdong
http://www.sayyes.cn/blog
time:20:00
ticket:free
organized by: Ninliho Gallery & Noise Asia

links:

CHRISTOPHER WILLITS

http://www.christopherwillits.com
http://myspace.com/christopherwillits
http://www.overlap.org

DICKSON DEE

http://www.myspace.com/dicksondee
http://www.dicksondee.com
http://www.dicksondee.com/blog/