How I'm managing my Twitter timeline

A few months ago, Twitter added a Lists feature. I've used it a bit to categories the twits (my term for Twitter users) I follow, but only recently have I really started to use the feature.

The problem is that I've started following more and more people, and the tweets of the ones I know best were getting lost in my home page timeline. So I setup a private list called "favs" which allows me to add the ones I really didn't want to miss. If I click on this list, it shows me only the tweets of the twits on the list.

I've also got lists for family, twits in my metro area, close friends, fellow musicians, tweetup twits, etc. It's a great feature.

Now I'm gonna need to see which of the iPhone Twitter apps support the lists feature. I'm using mostly Twitterrific right now, but I don't think lists are supported yet. Probably just a matter of time.

So if you're not using the lists feature yet, you're missing out. And if you're not using Twitter yet, well.. what are you waiting for?

How three Jeff B's changed my life

Got a call back in June of 1999 from my mother. Apparently, local musician Jeff Barbush (of the Painkillers and the Deadbeats) committed suicide.

This troubled me greatly. Jeff was the reason I wanted to learn the guitar. He gave me my first guitar lesson.

My mom used to date his dad many years ago at Webster Groves Senior High. Years later, both were married with children, and at some point, they ran into each other when I was around 9 or so. Somehow, we all ended up hanging out one day, and Jeff, excited that we had a cassette tape recorder, convinced us to let him use it (along with his) to record a sound-on-sound version of the Beatles' "All My Loving", complete with guitar, vocals, harmony vocals and audience cheers. I was quite impressed, and asked him to teach me some guitar, which he did. After that, I began taking lessons with a local guitar instructor, and took an informal after-school class, as well. I was hooked, of course.

Not long ago, when Googling "Jeff Barbush", I happened upon this article in the Riverfront Times. I was surprised to learn that local drummer Lori Blue (of Johnny Magnet) also committed suicide, also in June of 1999. I only knew her as Lori, but had an opportunity to play with her in the band Alchemy for a rehearsal or two, and saw her play in another band, the name of which escapes me. I also remember seeing her working in one of the record shops in the Central West End.

When I was about 11, I had befriended another Jeff B. at our apartment complex. I liked hanging out with him, because his parents spoiled him a bit (he was an only child), so he had lots of "neat stuff", including an electric guitar. So we became jam buddies at that point. He taught me a few things on the guitar, we rode bikes together, and we had a good time.

Years later, in late 1994, while perusing the new and used CDs at a local shop, I came across a promo copy of Jeff Buckley's Grace. At the time, he was virtually unknown. But the CD piqued my interest, so I gave it a listen.

The second track - "Grace" - had me hooked. It wasn't the vocals that did it; it was the sound of the low D in the bass, juxtaposed with a D major chord high up on the guitar, and then the somewhat unexpected move to E minor. I really dug it, so naturally, I bought it! After that, I played it for anyone who happened to come by. Unfortunately, when I heard he was stopping in town, I didn't go. He was, somewhat unfortunately, known as a chick magnet.. a pretty boy. Of course, I really regret not having gone to see him.

If you aren't familiar, he drowned accidentally back in 1997 while swimming in Memphis - seemingly a tragic loss for the music world, but perhaps he accomplished what he intended to in his short life. He is certainly well-known now, especially for his beautiful cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", which has been featured in many TV shows and whatnot.

Of the three Jeff B's, only my friend from the apartment complex is still with us. I still see him online every now and then.

Seth Horan

Saturday evening I had the opportunity to see and hear Seth Horan play bass, sing, and entertain, and I have to say, it was one of the most incredible events I've ever attended by far.

I also sponsored the show, held at a local fav Chinese restaurant, Chopstix Asian Kitchen.

Now, it's not often you'll find a singing bass player at a Chinese restaurant.

Here's the story:

• Seth needed a gig.



• I booked him a gig with my jazz group at a somewhat famous local bar.



• There was a bit of a misunderstanding about me booking that gig, so we had to look elsewhere, and on a different date.



• Seth was open to doing house concerts, and was available the following evening.



• I offered, but upon reflection of the condition of my house, realized my local Chinese restaurant was a much better venue.

So Saturday, following a decent lunch at Fitz's in the Delmar loop (and a stop at Vintage Vinyl, of course), we setup for the gig.

The crowd was not great in quantity, but great in quality.. we had a gentleman travelling many hours from Kansas to attend!

And Seth did his usual, incredible show, somehow managing to play bass, using many varied techniques, sing, and operate the looper all at the same time. Absolutely incredible! Quite funny as well, that Seth.

If you have an opportunity to see him, you must go, but in the meantime, go to YouTube and check him out!

Bargaining with a ghost

Had a bit of an odd dream last night.

There was this ghost. And apparently he was a salesman of sorts. He wanted to sell me a T-shirt. But what was peculiar about this T-shirt was that it was invisible.

The price?

$835.00

He told me if I buy this invisible T-shirt, he will not be a bother for the next year. I couldn't remember buying his T-shirts in previous years, and we've had no problems with paranormal activity, even though our house is 119 years old.

Anyway, I didn't buy it.

We'll see what happens..

Ugly scars from the Loudness War

Genesis' Wind & Wuthering, originally released late in 1976, is a good example of a dynamic rock album. There are loud bits, there are very quiet bits, and everything in between.

Let's have a look at the zoomed-out waveform for "Eleventh Earl Of Mar", the first track off the album.


This is from the 1990 version of the CD. Note the diamond-shaped crescendo and decrescendo (volume swell) at the beginning of the tune, and two more at the very end. There is also a quiet section about two thirds of the way through.

Now here's the same track from the 1994 remaster of Wind & Wuthering:

You can see that the basic shape of the waveform is about the same, but amplified a bit.
Now, take a look at the 2007 version of the same track:

Hmmm.. hardly looks like the same track!
The louder parts are squashed with lots of compression and limiting. This is done to maximize the overall level of the tracks in an attempt by the record companies to sell more albums (the Loudness War).
The volume swells at the end are almost completely gone, and the one at the beginning.. well, have a listen to the clips and judge for yourself how it was affected:
1990 version
1994 version
2007 version
I've adjusted the volumes so they are more or less equal. You'll note that, while the 1990 and 1994 versions have dynamics and punchy drums, these features are lacking on the newest (2007) version, and that volume swell? Almost completely gone!

There are a few redeeming factors for this set of remasters, however. Compressed and limited as they are, they do include surround sound mixes. It's almost guaranteed that you will hear some details you couldn't hear before. It's really a bit of a tradeoff then, isn't it?

A new Genesis box set of the older albums with Peter Gabriel, 1970-1975, will be released in the U.S. on November 11, 2008. Will these discs have received the same highly compressed and limited treatment as the 2007 discs? We'll find out soon, but I won't be at all surprised if they do.

Clipping? What the %$#@ is clipping?

I've created eight ugly zoomed-in samples of clipping from Metallica's "The Day That Never Comes" from the much-talked-about album Death Magnetic today.

Let this serve as a lesson on what not to do (normally) when mixing a recording.

Example 1 - major clipping

Example 2 - more major clipping

Example 3 - major clipping

Example 4 - major clipping

Example 5 - leftmost part severely clipped

Example 6 - righmost part severely clipped

Example 7

Example 8 - major clipping

Note in all of these examples there are large (lower frequency) waves with the tops or bottoms cut off.

They don't make CDs like they used to, do they?

Why the new Metallica CD sounds bad

Apparently the major labels have been making CDs as loud as possible in recent years, at the cost of sound quality and dynamics. Rick Rubin, who produced Death Magnetic, has a history of producing overly compressed CDs.

Here's a rather odd situation:

Metallica's new album sounds better in the Guitar Hero III version than the CD!

This is a zoomed-out view of the entire waveform for "The Day That Never Comes" taken from the Guitar Hero 3 version of Death Magnetic. This is very typical of a waveform from a well-produced CD, but note that waveform alone will only paint part of the picture, and you must listen to really know the sound quality as there are many factors. You can see differences in volume, and it appears to get loudest at the very end.

Now here (above) is the CD version of the same song from Death Magnetic. See how the differences in volume are almost non-existant? So much compression was used that it makes for a very loud, but uninteresting and painful listen.

This is a zoomed-in section near the end of the GH3 version of the track. Again, this is pretty typical-looking.

And this is the same section (more or less) from the CD. Note the funky-looking sawed-off tops and bottoms of the wav? This is clipping, which is a nasty-sounding kind of distortion. It sounds like you've blown your speakers, even if you haven't.

Now, maybe Metallica intended for the CD to sound distorted and one-dimensional, but if not, I'd say the whole run of CDs is defective.

There's an online petition to get this album re-issued with proper sound. If you want to help end the "Loudness War", I urge you to sign it:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/re-mix-or-remaster-death-magnetic.html

Also, here's a group that is determined to end the Loudness War:

http://justiceforaudio.org/