2 new songs

Here are a couple of recents tracks I constructed...

One Time Flex (featuring MC Vag Touch III) by Bob Kurthy

Horse Ahead (featuring Rowan Kurthy) by Bob Kurthy

BlowUpBlow videos

Paul Zanzler has assembled 2 videos of our band BlowUpBlow* (2003-2008) compiled from photographs, video and artwork.

One is for It's Time; a song that was often a live show closer/favorite. We did a great recording of at The Compound studio in Long Beach, CA. Unfortunately it was never finally mixed, mastered nor released...



The 2nd video features an audio track that for a song we were laboring over off and on for a long time during the twilight of the band's run. It may sound trebly, but, hey, it was just a practice recording, quite possibly on cassette...Visually, this is a pretty good nostalgic overview slide show. Personally, I felt that we were creating music better than that of each our previous bands.




*If you're new, I was the drummer in this band, and did the artwork for the releases, merch, flyers, etc.

Musical Telephone Game, Pt. 3: Listen to the results

Here are 2 mixes of the final outcome of the Musical Telephone Game I previously described HERE and HERE. Take a listen...

Musical Telephone Game, Round 1: Ass Massacre


Personnel, in order of game:
1) Jesse Wilder - Drums, Guitar (riff), instigator/moderator of the game
2) Bob Kurthy - synthesizers
3) Chris Paul Overall - Vocals
4) Filippo Costanza - Bass, Marimba
5) Chris Cacavas - Organ, Guitar (lead & chords)

New studio toys...

Used. An off brand no one's heard of.
But they were affordable, they work and they're mine.
Thanks, Jesse.

[click on thumbail to enlarge]



If you look closely, past the Play Sand, you will see that I am now The Man with Two Brains.

I Know This On The Real

New track based on some accidental voicemail audio semi-verité
(semi- as in names were edited out to protect the innocent/guilty)

I Know This On The Real by Gazilcher

Gazilcher by Gazilcher

Further evolution of the Honeycomb Hideout

The Honeycomb Hideout is improving.

Well, the hardware/software aspects are, anyway. The environment hasn't become anymore homey.

But when one is engrossed in a project, the surroundings blur out and disappear.

Just like in this photo...

[click thumbnail to enlarge]

New computer

I finally got a new computer. I've been talking about it for a year or so, and I think I somehow picked the right time and place to get it.

It's going to be a long, drawn out process getting it loaded, fine tuned and running. But it's pretty nice. Should definitely be able to handle my CS4 Master Collection and the audio recording stuff that bogs down my old computer.

Little guy, you have served me well. We've learned and created some great stuff together. But 2GB RAM being the maximum...it's time to move on. And your vertical DVD drive never opens unless I tilt you on your side and try a couple more times.

Musical Telephone Game, Part 1

It looks like I've got myself involved in an experimental music game.

The game is experimental, not necessarily the music. Although it can be. And pretty much all my music is experimental, in that I know so little that every thing I do is an experiment. I don't consider myself much of a musician beyond playing drums. But I digress.

The game is something of a musical Telephone Game. No telephones are involved, although email, FTP, etc. will be. It's more like The Telephone Game many of us played when we were young.

Accomplished local tunesmith Jesse Wilder is the instigator of the game. I'm sure I'll refer to him as DM (Dungeon Master) at some point.

It will involve 4 other...musicians. I was going to say local musicians, but I know that one in this group is in Germany, and another is unknown.

5 musicians are picked.

1 musician is designated to start the game, creating/creating/programming 1 or 2 tracks for a piece of music/song that is no longer than 6 minutes.

Musician #1 sends the track to Musician #2, who adds his/her own 1 or 2 tracks to it, mixes it/them in and sends it to Musician #3, who does the same thing, and so on.

By the time Musician #5 is done, the thing will have mutated quite a bit. After that, everyone will give up their high quality wav/aiff files to be mixed. The DM will probably mix the final product, but I'm sure each musician will be able to do their own mix after all is said and done.

Sounds like fun. I'm in the first group, and I'll be the 2nd to add my tracks. Wish me luck.

I'll post the results when the game is over...unless it's crap.

Kurth Crisis

Those f**ckers cut the power, neutering the Honeycomb Hideout!

Luckily I was able to create a Valentine's Day card there by hand. They can't cut the power on bristol board, pencil, paint & scissors.

But musical projects will cease until this crisis is resolved. Personal bum-out.

Some music

Here are some random pieces of my music (from 2008, 2 from 2009) for no particular reason.

Bob Kurthy music by Bob Kurthy

Honeycomb Hideout

Sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do...or make do, anyway.

Chock full o' compromises, in a secret location...here is the current, temporary studio setup.
Working title: Honeycomb Hideout.*

[click thumbnail to enlarge]








* Yes, I see that there are businesses, blogs, etc. with this name, but, hey, we all took it from the same fictitious place in the cereal commercials.

Fang Cover

Awhile back, I recorded a cover version of the song Landshark originally by Fang for fun.

Click below to listen.
Landshark (Bob Kurthy covering a Fang song) by Bob Kurthy
( Note: This track is not for download, nor is it for sale. Please don't hurt me, Slammy! )

Four Drummers

Last night I got to play percussion with 3 of the greatest drummers in Long Beach: Tim Bender*, Brandon Laws** and Chris Clawson***.

Bender has had the idea for an orchestrated 4-drummer project for a few years. One of the concepts was for it to be very division-of-labor; 4 cogs in the same machine, rather than 4 guys trying to dominate each other in chops or volume.

But last night was completely improvised, getting a feel for how we all can play together, the collective setup, etc.

I believe it was Chris who commented that it was probably the quietest jam session he ever had with multiple drummers involved. I agree with this, for in my experience, even with only 2 drummers, often dynamics quickly go out the window, and the whole thing turns cacophonous and unbearably loud.

[click thumbnail to enlarge]


It went well enough for us all to agree to meet up again in a week.

Pretty cool for me, 'cos not only is it an honor to play alongside these guys, but it was nice just to play music with some other people. I haven't played since I retired from The Bolides, so I literally had to brush some cobwebs off a drum.
(Well, they are in a garage, so it doesn't take long for those to form, but...)

---
* Project Shepherd, KNAC/DC, The Ringleaders, ex-Death By Stereo, ex-One Eye Open
** Forcefield On, Slippers, Mister Mister Miyagi
*** Telomere Repair, Look Daggers, The Year Zero, ex-Sexytime Explosion/Knives of the Eternal Disappointment

Listen to this song (Soundcloud test)

I'm testing out Soundcloud.
Listen to this song and tell me how you would categorize it.

Menthol Ziggurat by Bob Kurthy

If Thine Enemy Wrong Thee...

"If thine enemy wrong thee, buy each of his children a drum."
- Chinese proverb

My son exposed to real drums for the first time...

[click thumbnail to enlarge]

Celebrity Studio Guests

Last night, I set out to record something resembling a hiphop vocal.

Of course, before long, it turned into something...else.

[click thumbnails to enlarge]

(Marco and Tito)

New songs uploaded

MySpace has now allowed artists to upload more songs, from 6 to 10.

So: I am currently uploading 2 songs...

Pear-Shaped Resolve
(this track will probably be on my next CD, which won't be available until early 2010 -- God, that seems bizarre to type that year in a nonsciencefictional context)

Ten Speed
(this track is on my 2008 CD Menthol Ziggurat, which is currently being remixed/repackaged)

Go to my music page at http://www.myspace.com/bobkurthymusic to hear the music.

Enjoy?

The Latest from the Studio

I haven't had much time to work on music lately...as if I ever do. But no cobwebs have formed.

I did get a better gtr/mic-->computer interface. Unfortunately, my computer is falling behind. New software, hardware, larger files are all weighing heavily on the old thing. I doubled/max'd out my RAM to a whopping 2g, which is about 25% of what I probably need.

I recorded a cover version of Robert Calvert's The Right Stuff, complete with samples of an F104 and my son's toy spaceship, as well as vocals by (=gulp=) me. My pipes ain't made o' gold, but I did it anyway. Since my hardware is slowing down, I resorted to recorded them on a handheld digital recorder and transferred them later. Another sample I recorded and deployed was a rhythmic, looping 'industrial' sound. Is it a swirling Spacerock vortex, the Galaxy Express 999, or merely my laundry spindrying? (Perhaps an inadvertant tip of the hat to Andy Kaufman and Geddy Lee)

I had the opportunity to record a legendary local guitarist a few weeks ago. He was there, axe plugged in and ready to rock. Unfortunately, the session was tragically defeated by the sluggishness of the computer.

Tim has set up a drumkit in the house, so I've done some recording experiments. The drums are somewhat muffled, and struck with 'rods'* to cut down the chances of police knocking on the door. But, some interesting sounds can be created regardless, mic'ing from other rooms or recording via cellular phone/voicemail.

Besides research and development, I hope to finish remixing Menthol Ziggurat. I found a manufacturer so that I may make it available as a proper CD, rather than a homeburned CDR.


*"Rods" are basically drumstick-length bundles of thin dowels, bound together by a plastic sheath. They yield a volume somehwere between sticks and brushes. The word 'rod' is usually preceded by a silly word denoting the specific production line, like "hot," "wham" or "lightening."

Birthday presents!

The foreshown Casio Exilim camera counts as a(n awesome) partial birthday present.

Also, from family, I got 2 more gems...

I knew this one was coming, and it's a friggin' doozie!



A legitimate copy of the entire Adobe Creative Suite 4, which includes (holy sh*t):
InDesign CS4
Photoshop CS4 Extended
Illustrator CS4
Acrobat 9 Pro
Flash CS4 Professional
Dreamweaver CS4
Fireworks CS4
Contribute CS4
After Effects CS4
Adobe Premiere Pro CS4
Soundbooth CS4
Adobe OnLocation CS4
Encore CS4
Adobe Bridge CS4
Adobe Device Central CS4
Dynamic Link
Version Cue CS4

!!!!!

But this one was a surprise...


It's really amazing to watch; breathtaking, beautiful and bizarre. Lovely with either with it's own classically British narration, or with the sound muted, replaced by instrumental progressive rock.

I found right away that Spirit Animal, the latest release by Pittsburgh/N.Y. duo Zombi, sounds like it was made for the visuals, and vice versa. Haha!

The mix adjusting trap

Since I am submitting a set of songs for a specific purpose, I needed to put high quality versions of them on an audio CD. This led me to go back into the project files and export them in wave format. Once there, I try to adjust a few minor annoyances here and there; cymbals too loud here, missing cymbal there, odd synth bass note to be deleted, etc.

I hate to go back and keep tweaking on past pieces.

The whole idea of the Menthol Ziggurat CD was to be done with 2008 and moved forward in 2009.

But now I'm caught up in remixing, adjusting, adding, deleting, exporting and burning to disc, only to find what suddenly sound like glaring errors (e.g. piercing/blaring hihat), or areas lacking crucial components (e.g. obvious need for addition of a bass guitar line, where there were only low, sustaining synth lines). Aaaaand repeat.

It's all worth it in the end, but I just don't like being caught in that trap. It's like what they always said in art school, "Don't make it too precious." Meaning, I believe, don't tweak out on the same piece over and over, just decide that it's finished, move forward and create your next piece.

I thought it was just a Sunday night's work, but I'll have to give myself an extra week. Well, in my reality, a week of studio work is actually, on average 1 to 2 hours each weekday.

And now, here is the preceding blog entry translated into Japanese and back into English, using Babel Fish:

" Because I the embankment have put out the song of the deck intended for specifying, as for me it was necessary to make those high quality editions music CD. As for this me it went to the project file again, it led in order to export those of the format of the wave. If there, you try the fact that I adjust small-numbered minor trouble here and there; Note etc of the bass of strange synth which the cymbal excessively here, the cymbal and it should delete with yell are let escape there. I return, hate the fact that twist it continues the past part. All thought of CD of Ziggurat of menthol makes 2008, to 2009 should be moved first. But now I' It overtakes, adjusts just m and adds with [rimitsukusu], deletes, exports to the disk and sounds suddenly, for example it is addition because of the based guitar line which or the serious part (was low simply and is and the synth line which is supported for example in clear necessity) the error whose area ones which have been lacking are clear (boring the hole or hihat which echoes) the way in order to find, it burns. The repetition of Aaaaand. It' Finally, with that value but all s I exactly don' T like the thing which is caught with that trap. It' As for s they always saying in the school of fine arts, " You like; Don' As for t to that precious." It makes excessively; Meaning, as for me, don' It believes; Many times the mental agony of t of the same part exactly thing it' It decides; It advances s which it ends, draws up your following part. I that exactly Sunday night' You thought of that is; The work of s, but I' ll must give excessive week to by your. With that, in my actuality, as for week of work of studio when in 2 hours, it averages, each weekday." Actually it is;