Majic: Music And PODcast Comment Thread

Since I'm kicking PODcasts over the ATS/BTS feeds like a weasel on crack, it seems like a good idea to have a thread where listeners can comment on what I'm doing in PODspace.

In particular, as I produce more World of Majic® opinion features, I'm sure folks will want to comment on those, too. Because those deal with ATS-specific topics, however, I may just start some threads in the appropriate ATS forums for those.

Meanwhile, I'm also publishing some of my music over the BTS PODcast feed, and you may have heard some of it.

The “Majic musical style” is a rather eclectic mix of genre-challenging loop music featuring my mellifluous vocals.

Although I play guitar and focus on bass (I love bass), my recordings so far have been made using synthesized instruments. It's easier than recording the real thing and, as Krusty the Clown so famously said, “I'm a lazy, lazy man.”

Most of what I've been uploading so far is older stuff (meaning from earlier this year) and material from my Wings of Gray concept album that I recorded for a “contest”. It's my first album, and I recorded it in nine days, and it shows, but now I can say I have an album.

Oh yes, I'm cool.

I have already posted some of this work in my member thread, Majic After Dark. I'm planning to kick out more of my existing repertoire over the BTS feed, but I want to remix some of it first.

I also have several upcoming songs in the conceptual phase, some of which I've already laid down some MIDI work for, that are aimed less at the haibane market and more at the ATS/BTS/PTS market.

ATS PODcasts are very inspiring to me, and the appeal of becoming an “iPod star” is hard to resist. I mean heck, I can already brag about being available on iTunes now.

Oh yes, I'm cool.

My favorite band is Yes, by the way, if anyone was wondering.

All that said, I welcome comments on any of my PODcasts here or wherever you see fit to offer them.

Tech Note: My Rig

I do all my recordings on a PC running WinXP with the following music-related features:

SONAR 4 Producer Edition by Cakewalk for MIDI/Audio editing and sequencing.

SoundBlaster Audigy 2 sound card.

AudioTechnica AT3035 wide-diaphragm condenser microphone.

M-Audio Firewire Solo recording interface.

I used to record my vocals straight into the sound card via a 1/8” phone jack, which sucked (for what I wanted to do, anyway). Now that I use a dedicated interface, it's like going from Kansas to Oz. I'm still just beginning to explore the potential of the AT3035/Firewire Solo combination. I love them both passionately.

Send some of that majic my way!

I heard something about a Majic stick

WHA? WHA?

Maaaahaaaaajjjjic, maaaaaaahahaaaaaajjjjic




Could you please explain?

ok This isnt a comment on the music , although I am liking your tunes.......

mate the chupacubra podcast absolutely killed me!

classic ! I'm still laughing.

Good music, that was you/your band? Sounded good. ANymore music like that?

Majic, I dig the tunes, and about the only I could say, if I had to anything, would be slightly quicker transitions to choruses, and the use of real instruments for the kind of stuff you're doing. Those things would help IMO. Still though, I dig the groove on Wings of Gray, and the melody of the chorus. Nice stuff man.

Group Hug

Thanks for the feedback! I love it when my “aht” is the topic.

1. parr, more Majic, coming up!

2. Lys, I got the Majic stick, I know if I can hit once, I can hit twice... I'll show you Ma-ajic. What? What? (Love that song. Too bad about L'il Kim's legal troubles)

3. mulberry, there's something about me and chupas, I don't know. Maybe it's just because the name's so cool. When I say “chupacabra”, I do it in my best Cheech Marin voice. (Too bad about Tommy Chong's legal troubles)

4. Jesta, all music composed, performed and recorded by yours truly. Yes, including all the vocals. And yes, I have more “old” tunes (I really didn't start recording original stuff until this year) on deck -- most of them haibane-related -- and some new stuff I'm trying to carve out some time to do which is focused on ATS. In addition to some more World of Majic and other ATS/BTS/PTS “talking head features”. Busy guy, that Majic.

5. TA, yeah, the music is all synth'd loop music, and almost all of it is done in a single session because I tend to jump from one project to another like a cat on a hot tin roof. While I would love to go with live instruments or even better synths (my new stuff uses the Cakewalk TTS-1 which is a step up from the Edirol VSC I was using), my priority is just getting the songs out, which trades quality for quantity. My consolation is that I can go back and redo them later -- the creme de la creme, anyway -- if the need ever arises. In the meantime, I'm just glad to be able to come up with songs at all. Until this year, I couldn't write any original tunes. Then I loosened up, mellowed out, stopped taking myself so seriously and voila! It ain't superstar music, but at least it's mine.

Thanks again for all the kindness and encouragement.

Being a “rising PODcast star” is such a glamorous and exciting world of adventure.

Okay, maybe that's a bit corny, but I am utterly jazzed that we have PODcasts to help bring us closer together as members.

That can only be a good thing.