busybee fluffy rambles

Okay so, let me explain a thing about my two upcoming albums, and then a thought about a possible change of plans. I’d like to hear folks weigh in on these ideas.

Does it count as navel-gazing when my fursona canonically doesn’t have a navel?

Wellp it’s another day that I feel like talking about.

The other day in a chat about text editors (you know, the most important thing to anyone who spends a lot of time at a computer) someone recommended Zed and I figured I’d try it out. So this blog post is the first thing I’m writing in it.

My editor of choice for the past 10 years or so has been Sublime Text, although I’ve stayed with version 3 since I didn’t like some of the changes made in 4 (more in terms of features than in terms of licensing structure, although the latter was also a disincentive towards upgrading). At a glance, Zed looks like it’s a bit better in general.

So here’s some ramblings as I get acquainted with it.

As part of the Fediwave Artists Streaming Series, I have a concert scheduled for Tuesday, August 13 at 3 PM Pacific Daylight Time (GMT-0700). To watch, join my personal Owncast server. I’ll be playing acoustic versions of a bunch of my songs, and answering some Q&A as we go! And maybe sharing previews from my upcoming album!

Stuff’s going on as usual. Here’s some of it.

Woke up today in considerable pain, but I did some of my physical therapy stretches and some of the stretches that Castiel showed me on Wednesday and that helped somewhat. I also spent 10 minutes on my vibration plate which helped as well.

Mowed the lawn.

Went down to the studio and started working on the album version of Valley Highway, because it feels like as good a place to start as any (even though it’s going to be the last track) and decided to take the opportunity to define the overall sound for the album, which mostly meant cycling through a bunch of microphones until I found the right one for the vocals, and also cycling through a bunch of guitars until I decided that my favorite one (an Ovation Elite TX) is the one I’ll use. Because it’s my favorite one to play, so, why wouldn’t I use it on the album? Plus I think it has the nicest tone of my three acoustic 6-strings.

The downside to the Elite is that it doesn’t have a traditional soundhole, so I can’t use my preferred pickup (a Seymour Duncan Woody) on it, but the Ovation’s built-in pickup is pretty good, and I record it in conjunction with a mic anyway.

I also recorded a bunch of guitar and drum takes and got annoyed at a few things so for now I’m using Logic’s AI drummer. I hope to rerecord it with real drums though. I’m just having trouble keeping steady time; my drumming is fine for live sets but studio albums call for a bit more precision than I can muster right now. Also my cheap nylon brushes started to fall apart even though I’ve barely used them. Meh. So I ordered some proper metal ones which should arrive tomorrow. I also finally got around to ordering a better drum throne, too, because the one which came with my kit is driving me absolutely nuts.

Also, not all of the songs on the album will use drums.

For strings I’m using NI Cremona Quartet as usual, although for some parts I’ll probably rerecord the cello using my actual cello, and some of the songs need some cello articulations which Cremona Quartet doesn’t provide so for those I’ll definitely be playing the real thing. I might even try to record some of the violin and viola parts with physical instruments but as much as I enjoy playing them, I’m really not all that good, and I want this album to sound as good as possible.

Anyway after all that I went to another VR yoga class.

Also I’ve had too much caffeine today and am feeling hyper and rambly, so, here’s some rambling about my musical instruments.

I got back from Denver very late last night, and boy were my arms tired. And legs. And body.

Lesson learned: if you have the option to take a much earlier flight and it only costs $50, take it. That is much better than wandering around the Denver airport for 8 hours. Or, failing that, the $79 to get an admiral lounge day pass isn’t really all that bad either.

Anyway. Today was mostly a day of recuperation, and I was in extreme pain in my back and right shoulder. I was supposed to go to the STANCE annual meeting but I was way too tired and in too much pain to attend. I did at least virtually attend a yoga session to work on my shoulder a bit and it helped somewhat, and the instructor also gave me some good stretches specific to the pain I was feeling, so, that was super helpful.

Having an in-person, actually-live show was such a great thing for my psyche.

I came to Denver wondering what the hell I was doing, like I was coming out of obligation rather than for something I actually wanted to do. But having had two nights of great performances and camaraderie, which was much needed and sorely missing from the last few years' worth of online-only shows, has made me feel so much better.