Another week has gone by and it feels like forever. We’re almost at the end of February and we’re back into deep winter.
We did another pre-recording rehearsal with Spacecats last week. I now have my new computer more fully set up, with drivers for my audio interface installed plus several DAWs. We made progress on several fronts including headphones, getting a great bass sound, and the arrangement of the musicians and equipment in my space to minimize bleedthru from other instruments. However, it turns out my plan to use my old MBox alongside my new Quantum 2626 didn’t work out because it’s too old; it had firewire, which apple no longer supports. So I’m getting a second Quantum 2626. You can hook them together using an optical cable and combine 8 channels on each to have 16 channels. I also ordered some long cables of various kinds (headphone, XLR, 1/4″ phono, etc.)
The Spellbound project is progressing quite nicely too. I finished editing up the various takes of the 12-string guitar into a single track, and from there moved pretty quickly onto a satisfying mix of the whole song. While was in the mixing headspace I went back a listened to the other five songs and did improved mixes on all of them. Only one more song to go, but it’s a doozy.
At my day job, they sent around an email soliciting people to take voluntary severance. I’d be tempted if they were offering a year or even six months salary, but it’s targeted at people who’ve been at the company a long time, the longer you’ve been there the more you’d get. In my case it’s only a few months. Ah well.
Meanwhile the Global Jukebox is also moving along. I’ve finalized the color palette for the geography-based taxonomy, and integrated Nick’s work on taxonomies for languages and peoples. Still lots more to do, but we’re aiming for a release later this spring.
Lizzy was home for a quick visit this weekend. She came into town Friday with her friend Nora, and Jeannie, Michelle and I met them for drinks and dinner and a Broadway show Friday night. The bar was The Perfect Pint, which was a favorite hangout back when I worked at MTV. The show was Death Becomes Her, a musical adaptation of the movie from the 1990’s. It was lots of fun with great comedy, costumes and production design. The acting, singing and dancing were all great. The music was good, but nothing really catchy that got in my head after I left the theater.
Saturday we went skiing again. Friday it was warm and rainy in New York City. We finally started seeing patches of our lawn again between the melting snow piles. We were worried that it might not be good weather for skiing, but it was colder upstate and they even had some fresh snow. We met up with Kathleen and the kids. We took Charlie with us, although he snowboards rather than skis. The others went snow tubing. It was pretty warm, above freezing until the end, but the conditions were surprisingly good. Afterward we all went out to dinner.
Lizzy came over to visit us Sunday, and her plan was to fly home Monday morning. But then last night we had a great big blizzard and her flight got cancelled so she’s staying an extra day. On top of that, we lost power this morning. Luckily it came back on before noon. Shoveling out was a huge effort, even with Lizzy and Michelle helping. There was over a foot of snow, wet and heavy, and in some places the drifts were two or three feet high. So it looks like there’s gonna be snow on the ground for a while. On the bright side, we’ll probably get to go skiing again this weekend!