Retailing MP3's on Amazon

Anyone retailing their music on Amazon? I found a service called CreateSpace that will apparently help get one's Amazon store online, but I want to know if anyone else is using it and how they feel about it so far. I'd love to think people out there would buy tracks (for listening, not licensing) - maybe even enough to buy some groceries.

What say ye?

In the wild: Library cuts

MovieSet is using a couple cues from my music library as beds in their ongoing behind the scenes film blog.

Help: Electrical Problems

I need some help from the electrical and journeyman geeks out there. As previously documented, I'm having some ongoing electrical issues in my office/studio. It seems whenever a switch is thrown, either in my unit or an adjoining one, a noise spike of some kind travels down my electrical wires. The momentary glitch is sufficient to cause my audio system to drop sync, resulting in annoying (and time consuming) digital noise.

I really need some insight here. Theoretically (and this has been tested in a basic way) the power systems in each unit are physically isolated. I cannot see how this can be the case, because I can document voltage spikes when a neighbor flicks a lightswitch on and off. Shutting off overall power at the junction box seems to indicate the systems are indeed isolated.

At some point, these lines are physically connected, I just don't know where. But it has to be in such a way that a light switch (or in some cases, ceiling fans) causes a noticeable spike/dip in line noise/voltage in an adjoining system.

What can I do to mitigate this???

Photo by ajft.

In the wild: Not As Good As You Think

NAGAYT Final Trailer from Nicholas Tucker on Vimeo.

This is the trailer for Not As Good As You Think: The Myth of the Middle Class School, a doc project that commissioned an original soundtrack from me. I accepted an invitation to see the doc's San Francisco screening, an experience that can be harrowing for any artist (if they care about their work). In my experience so far, the 'exec' screening is maybe a dozen people, more if there's cast there too. Imagine my surprise when I see almost two hundred people in attendance (on a Tuesday night!!). I was happy to see the attending audience respond well to the screening - I may have heard clapping, too.

A few interesting things I learned tonight:

• Renting a theater (sometimes called "four-walling") can be inexpensive...from just a few hundred dollars (ok, so it's for Wednesdays at ten in the morning...) to a nice pile ("thoouuuuuusands" intones the manager) for a weekend or holiday night.
• When screening in said theater, ALWAYS have a 1/8th stereo-to-RCA cable.
• Amtrak really needs to have people with better English skills piloting their coaches around. I got love for my lately-naturalized brothers and sisters. Welcome to your new home! Repay the kindness by making sure your English is game-tight when it comes to the responsibility of dispensing specific information (like, bus departure locations grrr!!!?@$@?) That way, I'll never stand you up, Amtrak.
  
• Amtrak is absolutely the BEST way to travel between Sac and SF (the Capitol Corridor).
  

This song is for you

This Song is for You (mp3)
3:16
(c) 2009 Jeremiah Jacobs
All Rights Reserved.

Guitars by Jeff J Findley.

Reviews in the comments. If you want to post on a site that needs a shorter URL, use this one: http://is.gd/z57k

Photo by steena.

Students can license music too

Photo by: Brent Weischel

As I'm watching the demo-reel channel on Vimeo, I'm struck by how many members are using unlicensed (obviously!) music in their demo reels. I'm all for having emotional attachments to music, and can even empathize with the impulse to pay a kind of tribute to those works by incorporating them into my own. However, I'd like to see more directors reaching out directly to composers and musicians rather than simply co-opting a favorite Radiohead song.

In my opinion (and I'm willing to hear other voices here) a director looking to establish a unique impression on viewers is better served with completely original music, versus something better known. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I think it's in everyone's long term interests to establish productive artistic relationships. It's also easy - the days of artists being unreachable are long gone.

What say ye, directors and producers? Do you prefer to obtain music without interacting with musicians? Too much time/work to produce? License?

Brain Dump: Digital noise with SONAR Producer Edition

I'm still having issues with digital noise (or static, depending on how you interpret the sound) and dropout on my SPDIF connection.

I know for a fact I've got serious electrical problems, and I'd love to be able to afford a power conditioner just to see if that solves the problem. My Yamaha synth (M08) seems to be stable - it appears the EMU 0404 USB is the problem child. I did recently update the hardware drivers for the EMU, but that has not changed its behavior.

The main symptom is digital noise (static, or crackling) that occurs randomly during SPDIF recording (done in realtime from the keyboard...). It seems the EMU unit is dropping digital sync for some reason - my suspicion is noise in the AC power. The killer is I can't hear this until I playback the recorded track.

Usually, I just cycle the power on the synth and the 0404, and I can continue recording without problems....until the next AC pop comes over the lines...

..but this is really annoying. And time consuming.

Brain Dump: Aphids and Artichoke Plants

I attempted to deal with an aphid problem on my artichoke plants, and tried a couple "organic" methods. One one plant, I used a simple mixture of vegetable oil, dish soap, and water. That plant survived.

On this plant, however, I tried adding a bit of vinegar and mineral oil, and as you can see, it completely burned this poor plant. The aphids have not returned....at least not in their previous numbers, but the plant's growth has been seriously inhibited.

Live, learn.....etc.

Brain Dump: Controlling aphids in your garden

Aphids: What I've learned so far:

• Aphids love my artichoke plants.
• Keep your plants dry by watering the ground, not the plants
• Don't water during the afternoon (if you can avoid it)
• A solution of 1 cup veg oil, 1 tsp dishsoap, 1 tsp vinegar, 1tsp wood oil. I dissolved this in water (enough to make the difference in a spray bottle).
• Spray on affected area.
• The ants and aphids will die in minutes.

I'll let you know how this goes.
Photo by wwigins.