Bandcamp, Part III
So, now Bandcamp has a Facebook integration feature. A long time back, I had created a Facebook page for James, Not Jim, but I'd left it unpublished. But the prospect of using it in conjunction with Bandcamp seemed like a good reason to move it along. And, as it turns out, the setup was cake.
The page looks like any other Facebook page, but the Music tab pulls straight from the James, Not Jim Bandcamp site, so I get to manage it through Bandcamp's beautifully simple and nicely documented interface.
In fact, Bandcamp does such a good job of serving up music that I'm going to forward the jamesnotjim.com/music page straight to the jamesnotjim.bandcamp.com site. After I do that, I'm seriously considering deleting my JNJ accounts on MySpace, Last.fm, and ReverbNation. I don't have time to manage all of that, and I hate their interfaces. I think this domain + the FB page + bandcamp is enough for now.
Bandcamp, Part II
I added "A Sketch," an improvisation based upon the main theme to "Ocean" to the bandcamp site. Here's the embedded player (we'll see how well it works with WordPress):
And here's "Ocean," the track upon which "A Sketch" is based:
I'll be adding more soon, including some new stuff.
Bandcamp
A lot of my musician friends are using Bandcamp these days to distribute their music. I've had an account for a while but never finished setting it up, until last night. I like how they do things. They have a nice option that allows fans to listen to tracks or to buy them for whatever price they name. So I'm going to be moving my existing tracks there and adding new ones as well. And I invite you, of course, to have a listen:
http://jamesnotjim.bandcamp.com/
The first track, "Ocean," is there already:
http://jamesnotjim.bandcamp.com/track/ocean
Bonus: if you do choose to buy a track, you can choose your format. Bandcamp lets me upload the wav output generated by my recording software, then creates other formats (mp3, AAC, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, etc.) based on the original file.
Same site, new host
I'm in the process of migrating all of my sites from Dreamhost to A2Hosting.com. Since jamesnotjim.com is a WordPress-powered site, I'll be using it as a test to make sure everything is up and running. I'll have more to say on the subject over at wheatblog.com, once I get that site ported over.
Even though things have been quiet at jamesnotjim lately, I still consider this a live project. In fact, I've been thinking quite a lot lately about some things I want to do here. But, as with every other thing in my life, it has, of late, taken the back burner in favor of my most important project, raising my son, Haden.
Back from the outage
The servers that host all of my sites went down this past Sunday and I was only able to restore from backups last night! Full details are in this post over at wheatdesign.com.
The iMac lands
I posted over at wheatblog about my switch back to Macintosh. Here, I'll only note that one of the biggest reasons I wanted new hardware was so I'd have enough horsepower to record without worrying about dropouts, and enough screen real estate so that editing would be a pleasure rather than a chore. I've only done one test recording so far, just to make sure my ins and outs all work. But I think the new gear will inspire new music.
“Good Day”
More fun with GearBox's "Analog Delay w/ Modulation" effect simulation. I recorded this Monday night, and Monday was a very good day, hence the title:
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If you're a TonePort user, here are the settings:
Time: 1005 ms
FX Tempo: 240.0
Feedback: 100%
Mod Speed: 76%
Mod Depth: 88%
Mix: 50%
I used my trusty '85 Fender Jazz Bass Special, sporting a brand new set of Hartke HSB 440 strings (new strings always make me want to play my bass).
[Update (07/02/08): Here's a direct link to the mp3, if you'd like to download a copy.]
“A Sketch”
I was playing around with delays in GearBox and came up with this variation on a theme from "Ocean." It's all done in one pass (just bass + delay).
You can check it out at its bandcamp page:
ReverbNation
Bassist and FaceBook friend of mine Andy Long uses ReverbNation to share his music. So I set up an account for James, Not Jim, just to try it out. If you're on that service, please become a fan. They also have an player widget:
Update: If you're on Facebook, you can become a fan of the project via this link.
End of year project review
It has been ages since I finished a track for the James, Not Jim project. But, now that the semester is finally over, there may be hope. I decided that I'm too much of a perfectionist when it comes to audio and that I should take the open source mantra of "release early, release often" to heart. So dug through my James, Not Jim project folder and did quick and dirty mp3 mixes of everything that looked remotely promising. Here they are, warts and all. Tell me which ones you like, which ones you don't. Constructive criticism and outright snarking is welcome:
Araby
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Brahms Lulaby
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Chang, Chang
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Circus
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First Run with Gearbox
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Funky Wav
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Loopy Llama Test
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One Four Five
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Portrait
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Postage
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Second Run with Gearbox
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Smoove
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If you'd rather download the mp3's, just hit the audio folder:
jamesnotjim.com/audio/