Why iTunes will be the death of interesting music

What could be wrong with iTunes, or digital music distribution in general. You can buy music in your underpants. No need to pay for shipping. And you only need to buy the songs you want. No need to sit through the filler. How could this possibly be bad for music fans?

There is one major flaw in this scenario...The death of the album format. Whats the big deal about albums? Who cares if they shuffle of to the elephants graveyard?

Think about what is happening in brick and mortar music stores as we speak.  Call it Greatest Hits Syndrome.  Look up any older artist in the CD rack at your local store and you will undoubtedly find their entire catalog replaced with a single Greatest Hits compilation. What's up with that??  An artist's entire body of work boiled down to 12 of their toe tappiest tracks. Unfortunately, iTunes is the Greatest Hits concept taken to the ultimate degree.

A greatest hits album is like a banquet where every course is a Twinkie. There's no meat. There's no spices. Just a big pile of empty calories filling up your gut hole. For a song to reside in the hit category, it needs to fall within a very narrow set of parameters. It can't be too fast or slow. It has to be straight forward enough to be instantly memorable, no complex melodies or unfamiliar chord structures. Not to long. And keep those lyrics simple! No deep concepts thank you! The truth is that hits sell! So if a band is releasing a single song, why would they chance anything that didn't fall squarely in the "Hit" category?

The good thing about the album is it provides the artist a sizeable chunk of real estate to build on. Of course an album needs a couple of catchy pop hits and at least one ballad to make the record execs happy. But then there is some space for the artist to stretch out and explore some uncharted territory. Perhaps add some intros or connecting pieces to join things together a la Pink Floyd. And a real chance to have some fun with the last song. Something out of the blue. Think Van Halen's Happy Trails on Diver Down. If they had presented that as their new single, people would have thought they had lost their minds!

Some of the best music really needs to be given a chance to grow on you. On my favorite albums, it is these deeper tracks that have stuck with me long after the hit single has worn out its welcome. Look at someone like David Bowie. He has so many musical personalities, if you just looked at his pop hits you would miss out on his most interesting work. How about Frank Zappa? If you only knew Valley Girl, you would have no idea what he was about.

It's in the best interest of music lovers that artists continue to be given the space to create interesting stories with their music. Not to be constrained to releasing pop single after pop single. If you have more that a passing interest in a band, buy the album. If the album format goes, a lot of interesting music will go with it.

 

A frightening glimpse of the future!

 

What the Heck: Is an XLR connector?

You've seen them, those seemingly indestructible cables strewn across stages and studios. You've probably heard them referred to as Mic cables. They are the cable of choice for Balanced Audio in a professional setting. But what the heck does XLR stand for?

Lets start with a little history. The XLR connector was originally invented by a guy named James Cannon, founder of Cannon Electric (later bought by ITT). That is why you may hear some old timers refer to these as "Cannon Plugs". Cannon Electric branded this new plug the Cannon X-Series. They later added a model with a Latch to lock the cables together called the Cannon XL. And finally, a model with a hard to break Rubber compound surrounding the female socket called the Cannon XLR. So XLR stands for Cannon X-Series connector with Latch and Rubber.

The original Cannon XLR design was great, but had one major flaw. The pin assembly was held inside the case by a small screw. These screws were notorious for falling out, allowing the pins to twist around in the case. Eventually, this would strain the wires and break the cable. I've come across many old cables that had this problem.

A company called Neutrik came out with a redesign of the XLR connector that did away with the troublesome screw, making them all but indestructible! If you have bought a XLR cable in recent times, it probably has Neutrik connectors.

The screw is gone!!

As previously mentioned, the XLR is the connector of choice for Balanced Audio. A balanced audio cable consists of a Positive Signal (Hot), a Negative Signal (Cold). and Ground. In an XLR cable, pin one is Ground. pin two is Positive, and pin three is Negative.

Pin 1 = Ground, Pin 2 = Positive, Pin 3 = Negative

If you look closely at the female connector, you can see that the metal sleeve in the socket of pin one is closer to the surface than in the other sockets. This ensures that the Ground pin is the first to connect when you plug it in. This simple trick does away with the pops and buzzes that occur when other types of cables are plugged into a live amplifier (guitar cables, I'm looking at you).

Ingenious!!

And there you go! More than you ever wanted to know about the XLR.

Guitar Practice - Don't be afraid of Change

The dreaded plateau!

Think back to when you first picked up a guitar. The first time you grabbed a pick, you probably weren't thinking about how this simple action would effect your future development as a guitarist. You just picked it up in a way that felt kind of natural and away you went. After some time, you started developing some technique and getting some songs under your belt. It was an exiting time.

But then something happened. You plateaued. You reached a point where your development seemed to stop. Your improvements were minimal no matter how many hours of practice you put in. You may have even felt some painful twinges in your joints. That's OK, no pain no gain right?

But what could you do at that point? You've spent a whole lot of months developing your technique. To change now basically means you are throwing away all that hard work. Starting over from zero. That's just depressing.

I know it's a drag, but it's time for a change. Right now, you are like a guy trying to be an Olympic sprinter when your running style resembles John Cleese doing the silly walk. No matter how many hours you train, you won't improve.

If your fingers resemble this, it's time for a change!

This happened to me in a big way. I hammered away at what I thought was a good practice routine without seeing results. Then, a visit from the tendonitis fairy finally forced me to re-evaluate things in a hurry. There I sat, sad and guitar-less, wondering if my left hand would ever recover. When I would finally pick up the guitar, the pain would return almost immediately.

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  It forced me to seriously examine all aspects of my playing. The way I gripped the pick. The angle of my left wrist. How low I would wear the guitar on a strap. How much pressure I used to press the strings.

Back when I used to teach, I saw many students in this exact position. I would point out the parts of their technique that where holding them back.They were reluctant to change because it felt like they were going backwards.

The good news is, it really doesn't take long to change. Yes, you will feel like an uncoordinated novice for the first couple of weeks. But, if you keep with it, that new technine will be yours in about two months. Then be amazed as you watch your playing reach new heights.

Help me identify this Lap Steel

I'm putting a call out to all the gear heads out there. I bought this Lap Steel on consignment from a local music store. As you can see, it looks pretty sexy and plays great. The store had no idea of its manufacturer. There are no markings on it whatsoever. Please leave a comment below if you know anything. Much appreciated.

The sad saga of the BeatScope

Sometimes, technology is the answer to a question no one has asked.


A number of years ago I was working with a cover band. We were a four piece consisting of Guitar, Bass, Drums, and a Vocalist. A lot of the songs the singer wanted to do would require a little more instrumentation to sound right, so it was decided that we would experiment with adding some backing tracks.

I've never been a fan of playing to backing tracks. There is quite a lot that can go wrong.  

The classic example. The drummer starts the wrong track for the song and hilarity ensues!

In this White Zombie performance, the drummer can no longer hear the backing track once the band kicks in (0:37 Seconds) due to bad monitors. He drifts out of sync with the track and things go down hill from there. 

Usually the drummer will listen to a click track through headphones so he can keep in sync with the backing track. The rest of the band simply follows his lead. As you have seen, things go bad quickly if the drummer loses his place.

Now, one thing I could never understand is how drummers can listen to that click track blasting through their headphones (usually an obnoxious cowbell sample) for hours at a time and retain their hearing/sanity. And seeing the amount of Advil our drummer was swallowing after each rehearsal, I could see it was taking a toll.

I started thinking about other ways this could be accomplished. Then one night it came to me. Instead of an audio click track to keep tempo, how about a visual one!.  My mind started piecing things together and within a few hours I had planned out a device that was to be christened the "Beatscope".

My plan was to base it around a Motorola MC68HC705 Microcontroller for which I already had a development kit. I would record the backing tracks in stereo, pan the music to the right channel and send that to the main mixer for the audience. The left channel would contain DTMF tones (Dual-tone multi-frequency - You know, the ones that your touch tone phone makes when you dial it). Each numeric tone would represent a digit on the display. By syncing the tones with the backing tacks, the display would keep perfect time with the music. Genius!

I found a DTMF decoder chip called the TDK 75T202 and built the circuit to accept the tones and decode them to binary. This was then fed into the 65HC705 chip which in turn outputted the correct signals to light up the numbers in the display. Overall, not too complicated.

I wire wrapped a prototype and mounted it in a Brownie Pan (Yeah that's right!) covered with a plexiglass top. A gooseneck mic adaptor was attached to the back so it could be mounted on a mic stand. I proudly bundled it all up and headed for rehearsal, wondering what it will be like to accept my Nobel Prize for saving the hearing and last shred of sanity of drummers worldwide.

Brownie Pan FTW!

MC68HC705

TDK 75T202

Baby's got back!

The drummer tried it out and was immediately not happy. The one thing I did not take into account was how drummers need to look around the kit as they are pounding things. Eventually the drummer suggested I add a headphone jack and have it output a click that he could listen to. What's the point!!! I later tried it with another drummer with similar results.

If I was one of those highly driven individuals who don't know the meaning of the word failure, perhaps I could have continued refining the idea. But instead, I am generally lazy with a short attention span so the device now sits sadly in my pile of projects that might have been. Still, it was a great way to flex my digital design muscles and sometimes, it's all about the journey anyway.

If anyone is interested in trying this, I can post some schematics and code.

Use your Multimeter as a Cable Toner

Here is a trick that kind of falls under the "DUHH!!" category, but it actually took me a while to think of it.

If you spend any time with electronics or any form of music that involves electricity, you will sooner or later need to test a cable. You will need to know that a signal generated at one end is going to make it all the way to the other end relatively unmolested. Once again, your trusty old multimeter is going to get you through this.

In an ideal world you will have access to both ends of the cable and simply attach one lead to the tip of the cable and the other lead to the tip of the other end. Set your Multimeter to Continuity Mode and a reassuring beep will indicate success. Repeat this exercise with the shield, and any other conductors the cable contains. Simple!

But what if the cable is 100ft long? And runs through the ceiling? Into the next room? What will you do?

No need to run out and buy a specialized tool like a Cable Toner. And you certainly don't want to pull the cable through the wall just to get access to both ends.  There is an easier way!

Grab your Multimeter and an Alligator Clip test lead and follow me.

1. Make sure to unplug both ends of the cable in question.

2. On one end of the cable, connect the tip and the shield of the cable together using the test lead.

3. Select Continuity Mode on your Multimeter and place one lead on the tip and one on the shield of the other cable end.

4. If you hear a beep, you are golden! The cable is conducting.

5. To be safe, remove the test lead from the far end of the cable. attach the multimeter to the tip and shield of the cable once again. You should not hear a beep this time. If you do, your cable is shorted!!! This is BAD!!!

(If your cable has 3 or more conductors (XLR, Stereo Phono) you can still use this trick. Just attach the alligator test lead to each conductor in turn and repeat the test process.)

This trick has saved my butt more times than I can count! Enjoy!

Power On!

Welcome to Notes and Volts. This is a blog about music, electronics, miscellaneous geekery, and my lifelong struggle to become proficient in any one of these endeavors. These subjects have been a passion for most of my life, and through the years, I've picked up a trick or two I'd like to share.
There will be posts about guitars, circuits, and ways to combine them to seriously piss off your neighbors.  Electronics, for fun and evil. And all types of geeky pastimes like retro gaming and cool old boxes that go beep.  And for God's sake, if you see me reaching for the wrong end of the soldering iron, leave a comment!

Dave