Next Wed at 11:00 will mark a new landmark in my recording carreer. I am taking the day off work. I am taking Master tracks to “You Give Me Vertigo” to the Tonic Room, they are a local studio that comes highly recommended. I am going to have them remix and master it. I am wondering about the difference of my recordings vs. “professional” mix. it’s gonna cost $35 for the mastering and $65 hour for mixing so I am thinking a hundred bucks. If they blow me away It will be worth it. After that I am going to the spa and getting a massage. because that is what rock stars do. (Then maybe snort some cocaine from the thighs of groupies.)

A day in a life

A day in a life of Ronnie Marler

1:00AM
Went to bed wasn’t stealthy enough and woke my wife up …oops

6:50AM
Woke up, no time for breakfast I’ll have a Latte when I get to work.

7:10AM
My BMW has satellite radio and I like the 70’s station in the morning. First song of the day,,Back stabbers by the O-Jays. I wonder if that’s where he got the idea to kill Nicole & Ronald. Driving to work with my wife. I met her here at work 16 years ago. We drive together every day

7:40AM
Here I am another day in the salt mine. I work at  Micron Technology where I write computer programs for machines that are used to make computer memory and cell phone camera chips.

8:10AM
Coffee, We have a coffee cart in the cafeteria, I have a Vanilla Latte with my good friend Dave. He is my band’s sound man and a fellow programmer. He’s a big guy, Diabetic, kinda goofy, and terminally single.

8:30AM
Side tracked by the internet again. My cube mate Bill asked me If I knew where Kent State was. Half an hour later I am reading about National guard killings of 4 students protesting the US invasion of Cambodia. Yes I work in a Cubicle, I have a small shop too where I work with the hardware aspect of my job. It’s full of computers and cameras and misc electronic crap.

9:00AM
Rounded up a Video capture card and camera for Todd .. Listening to the Wicked Karma stream on my computer, Circe said she would put some of my tunes on the play list but never did. When I play one of her venues again I’ll ask her about it.

9:30AM
The program I am working on today takes the input from a camera on a machine and and analyzes the image. Keying off specific changes that I see in the image, I take a snapshot and save it to disk. along with time sensitive production data.Think of it like, watching a video poker game and every time there is an ace of hearts I take a picture. But instead of an ace of hearts, it’s a microscopic bonding pad on a silicone wafer covered with hundreds of tiny cell phone camera chips each the size of a tic-tac.

10:16AM
Computer crash, I just lost all the work I did yesterday…. 2 steps forward one step back….. I need to get away from This…. Takin’ off early for lunch.

10:20AM
Went to the post office mailed a package. kinda chilly today I’m glad I have my favorite Black Velvet jacket on. It makes me feel luxurious. Not many people round here can pull off velvet. But my personality and  reputation is just flamboyant enough. I feel sexy when I wear it. Does that sound gay?

11:00AM
Lunch with the boys in the cafeteria. Dave (see 8:10), Paul our keyboard player, Tim our Bass player.. we call him Timmay like on South Park. and Bob Guitars. every one but our drummer Jim who has lunch at 1:00. We had a little dirty joke contest Tim won with a joke who’s punch line is “a hungry rat on a string”. Then we chatted about band practice. I took my song “Darkness Within” to them a few weeks ago. OMG!, Friday night we played it for the third time ever as a band, Jim slowed the tempo by about a third. Bob’s Guitar was thick and wet with reverb his long tailed licks hung on each phrase he was completely lost in it. And my vocal was so strong I scared myself. It was a “moment”, In 10 years when Rolling Stone asks me “When did you know…?” I’ll tell that story, and you read it here first. My band mates are my best friends,We all work here at Micron there is probably 100 years of working here if you combine all our time at this company. I have never had friends this close. I love these guys.

1:00PM
Just got dumped on. A new project that will consume my life for the next week. and since it is not tied to any of my current goals set by my management, I will likely not meet my target dates and miss out on the company’s new profit sharing program for the quarter. This new system is a morale breaker for sure.

1:05PM
WOOT! just discovered my crash didn’t screw me after all. wheeeew!

2:00 PM
Just heard Emmylou Harris sing “Red Dirt Girl” such a sad song, made me well up. I must be hormonal. “One thing they don’t tell you ’bout the blues when you got em, You keep on fallin’ cause there ain’t no bottom there ain’t no end. least not for Lilly Anne”

3:00PM
Usualy the time of day I have break with the lefties, But not today everyone is to busy for break time. Our programming group is split right down the middle when it comes to politics and religion. Half of them are the worst kind of born again, gun toting, kill all the Muslims and let god sort them out, “Your sister is going to hell for being gay”, Christians. And the other half I take break with. The gay comment is an actual quote BTW. I prefer people who can converse with an open mind…….. Break by myself.

3:45PM
Back from break. Dave ended up going after all. I like Dave but when it comes to women, he can be a real pig. Just think of your stereotypical sailor that’s Dave, checks out every girl that walks past and always has a commentary. I really think if he just had a girlfriend he would cool it. But like I said before, he is terminally single.

5:00PM
Time to go home, Stopped by Timmay’s desk to pick up audio recording interface he had borrowed then into the car and into gridlock

6:00PM
Home and watching the news. Fish for dinner tonight

Famous. To be… or, not to be? That is the question

I have been giving this a lot of thought lately,so I thought I would think about it out loud here on Ronnie Blog.

It’s the big “What if?” If opportunity knocked, would I have the courage to answer?

I think about the security I would have to give up to follow my dream. If a recording deal fell into my lap would I quit my job and move to LA? Take a leave of absence head to the studio and go on tour? How much would my wife risk for my dream? How much would I?
The question has always been a theoretical. but recently I don’t know, it no longer feels out of the realm of possibility in today’s interconnected Internet world. I have friends who know people in the business. People with the power to realize things.

I had conference with my spiritual adviser today, and have decided to decide what I want and to ask for it.
So,

Putting this out into the universe…
I am going to be famous, It is my belief that people will be humming my songs in their heads. while they are doing the dishes. It is my belief that my songs will be on the radio so that when you are alone in your car, my lyrics may strike a truth in you, give you a chill, or make you cry, in your private realization of who you are. I believe that I am a proper servant to my art, and I am willing to accept my success. This is what I want and this is what I am taking. It is mine and I deserve it.

Ok, I’m a Geek Part C (Tek speak)

Technical aspects of gigging in SL

There are a few things you need before you can gig in-world.
1. A desire to get your music to a new and gracious audience

SL may feel like a game and it is, but remember there are real people behind those avatars. Real people who you can direct to your website who are interested in listening to new music.

2. Broadband

Don’t even think about trying this on dial-up

3. Audio interface

You need a way to get your live music into your computer. You can also stream pre recorded content but the live performance is what people come to hear. My system is the same gear I use to record. I have a small mixer, a nice preamp/compressor chain for my large diaphragm condenser mic. I play my guitar through my regular guitar processor into the mixer along with the microphones. One for my voice and another to pick up live acoustic sounds from my guitar. the mixer out put plugs into my computer’s audio interface.

4. Streeming Software

Once the audio is in your computer you need to send it out to a server that is connected to Second Life. This server is the responsibility of the venue in world. But to send your audio to their server you need software. I bought a program called Simplecast from Spacial Audio It will streem whatever you have going through your sound card’s output directly to any servers you are connected to. It is kinda spendy, $60 US I was able to get a discount by asking for a coupon through their site’s contact link. 10% .. better then full retail. This software has level meters on it which is the only way to tell if your streaming audio is clipping. There is a 20 to 30 second lag from the time you transmit and the time you are heard in world. This lag makes it hard to monitor your output to the web. Leaving you with just those meters so stay out of the red.

5. Second life

If you want to converse with you SL audience you will need to be running Second Life. You will need an account to do that. You will need an account to talk to venue owners to set up your gig. everything is done in world. It is just like real life, You need to get face time with owners and managers. Give them a demo usually your myspace account. If they like your music they might set you up for an audition where they give you stream information and stage time to test your stuff.

6. The performance.

Would you step on a stage to play a gig without your guitar or keyboard? Of course not. If you are playing for tips don’t forget your tip jar. These things you can buy in world. The people listening to you arn’t just passively listening. They are chattering in the chat window watching your avatar, Talking about what they like/dislike about your performance. They expect to see someone on stage playing an instrument. If they like what they hear they might want to give tips and check out a link to your website. They expect that be ready for it.

7. Be ready to have fun and share your show.

Your Stream will be available on the Internet for non second life users. once you have your server log-in info you can build a link to that stream that anyone can plug into their media player, winamp, musicmatch… player of choice and listen. be sure to send links to your friends.

I don’t pretend to know everything this is just what I have learned from my experience so far. I hope you found it interesting.

Ronnie

Ok, I’m a Geek (part du)

Last night I had my first gig in Second Life

In an impromptu performance at a virtually unknown parcel in SL my Second Life persona earned $1500 L in tips (that’s like $6 bucks US). And got enough exposure to earn a regular Thursday evening gig at a popular in-world hotspot.

Ronnie Carr is no longer a nobody in V.R.

Ok, I’m a Geek

So what!?

I bought some audio streaming software today based on the advice from a red headed avatar in a virtual reality world. For the purpose of performing my acoustic set across the Internet. So that people posing as avatars can come see me posing as an avitar playing a virtual guitar, and listen to and I hope, enjoy my music in real time.

Translated… “I got a gig in second life” and I am excited!

Details to follow as I figure out the connections from my guitar to my computer to the world.

Feeling Poopy

Went and caught a cold. Feeling overwhelmed. Monday is hell. Emotions are in fallow. Just feeling poopy

Good bye yellow brick road

Sir Elton was in good form last night. We had good seats and a good time. Stopped by the Ram and had a steak and a couple micro brews before the show. He sang for 2:45 minutes most of which was his old stuff which was Fantastic! nothing from lion king (Thank god) he has a new CD “The Captain and the Kid” he played 4 or 5 from that. So in all it was a great show. different from what we saw in Vegas last year when we saw him at Ceazars.
I have this thing I am doing lately I am calling my brother on the cell phone from concerts and holding the phone up for a song. He probably thinks I am crazy.

Gigging

Last week a Party in Cascade. That was a real hoot. Sunday, an afternoon on the big stage at the Winery at Eagle Knoll where there will be 2 parties checking us out for wedding receptions. There’s also a Costume party for an acting troop on the books.  Looks like we’ll have the dough to put on a New Year’s Bash!

Colaborations with Undead Monkey are going well.Maybe even a colab. with my cousin Lesil! I am excited to get some of those songs out where people can hear them.

Creative juices are flowing now if I can just make the time to get it onto disk.

God I hate football season

Time for a rant kids

Football season again (insert  sarcastic tone here) oh boy I can’t wait for the weekly betting pools the hours of time spent on the job by my meat headed co workers while I am forced to pick up the slack. I can’t wait for the hours of mindless drivell pouring out of the public at large, the distraction from what is truly important to the evening news. the traffic jams around BSU. oh and don’t get me started on that blue turf crap. Shut the fuck up! truly shut up. I can’t take it any longer. The polar caps are melting and we are dying our hair blue and orange. WHERE THE HELL ARE OUR PRIORITIES?!!