December 2020
Guild Tidings
The official publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 25, No. 12
Live meetings are Cancelled due to Corona Virus.
However, we will be having on-line Zoom meetings.
We will send details under a separate e-mail,
and in the Facebook group page. We expect it to
be scheduled for Sunday December 6th at 5pm.
Any Details not in this newsletter are at:
If you wish to join our Facebook group, please check us out at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/831814850193553/
WebChatter
by CyberToad
Here's an article about metadata, which is the information you can embed
in your music files, especially mp3's. Thanks to Melanie Fisher for sharing.
https://blog.symphonicdistribution.com/2020/10/types-of-music-metadata/
Synchronicity
By Jackie Mason
I am learning about synchronicity. It’s one of the key concepts in The Artist’s Way. I’ve told you before that I have a cynical streak in me. It’s also a Liverpool thing. That’s where I am from. We are the masters of self deprecating and gallows humor. It’s not a good way to be and since starting the Artist Way I have been addressing it in my life. It’s linked to depression and having a poor self image. So bearing that in mind, I ask you to keep an open mind about The Artist’s Way.
I am now free to tell you where I have been creatively blocked. When I play guitar I get a lot of finger noise and string squeaks. I had despaired of ever eliminating it from my recordings. I am not creatively blocked in other areas. I am creating these articles every month. I have written a ton of prose in the last couple of years. I have a few hundred voice memos (song ideas) on my phone. Yet here I am unable to face the studio. Can you see the irony of writing a song coaching article while avoiding the recording process? So purging this creative block was one of my goals.
In 2017, at the Taxi Convention, I met a producer named Fett. He was teaching some recording courses and was very generous in sharing his knowledge. I emailed him and asked for some advice and he gave me some good pointers on the squeaky string issue. That was earlier this year but so huge was my block I barely read his reply. That’s another problem with blocks; they tend to grow bigger over time. Here’s a link to Fett’s web page.
http://azaleamusic.com/about/ He and his partner Nancy Moran are incredible teachers.
Within the first four weeks of doing The Artist Way, I was back in my studio. I opened up Logic and I was teleconferencing with some other musicians who I’d met at Taxi. I was also on the lookout for any synchronicity in my life. Continuing with this positivity, I made plans to attend the first virtual Taxi Convention. Before I go much further in this tale I think I should insert this from Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way.
“Once you accept that it is natural to create, you can begin to accept a second idea: that the Creator will hand you whatever you need for the project. The minute you are willing to accept the help of this collaborator, you will see useful bits of help everywhere in your life. Be alert: there is a second voice, a higher harmonic, adding to and augmenting your inner creative voice. This voice frequently shows itself in synchronicity.
Learn to accept the possibility that the universe is helping you with what you are doing. Become willing to see the hand of God and accept it as a friend's offer to help.
Try to remember that God is the Great Artist. Artists like other artists. Expect the universe to support your dream. It will.”
https://juliacameronlive.com/2012/07/16/synchronicity-6/
The keynote speaker for this year’s Taxi convention was Steven Pressfield, author of a self help book called “The War of Art.” On the dust cover of the book is the following.”Break Through The Blocks And Win Your Inner Creative Battles.” Loud bells are ringing synchronicity as I’m watching him speak. I think he may have mentioned the title of my last article. “Getting Out of My Own Way!” It wasn’t about my article, of course, but he said something similar. We all have an inner saboteur that trips us up and gets in our way. Here is a link to Mr. Pressfields’s inspiring web page. https://stevenpressfield.com/home/
The “bells of sychronicity” continued to ring. I’d been inspired enough to read over Fett’s email again. Among his suggestions was trying to use a “de-esser” to remove the squeaks. “A special type of compressor that is tuned to be sensitive to sibilant sounds, or sounds with high frequencies such as the sound produced by the letter “s”, hence the name de-esser.” This explanation is from Sweetwater’s web page.”
https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/de-esser/ While hunting around the web, I came across some other solutions. So this is going well, I have a half dozen possible solutions.
On the third day of the convention I was feeling burned out. I had the convention on in the background while making my lunch. When I heard the word “de-esser.” I raced back to the room and this was the class that was taking place:
“Zotope's RX 8 and Ozone 9: A Music Production Powerhouse with Product Specialist - Carlo Libertini [sponsor session]
Trusted by the top audio pros around the world, RX 8 continues to lead advances in audio signal processing and machine learning that were once unimaginable.
In this session you will learn how RX 8 gives you more control over your audio. We will show how Spectral Recovery can restore discarded frequencies in audio from compressed live-streams or video calls, and how to use the all-new Wow & Flutter module to fix pitch drift in music recordings. BREAK OUT GUITAR DE-NOISE to tighten up your guitar recordings, an even more powerful Music Rebalance for stem separation and mix tweaking, and the revamped Loudness Control module. Unleash the overhauled Batch Processor on audio of any kind for simultaneous multi-file editing, reformatting, and exporting. Then you'll see how Ozone 9 delivers professional tonal balance to your audio with the most complete mastering toolkit on the market with an even more intelligent master assistant, new processing for low end balance, and instrument source separation. Ozone 9 is the future of mastering.” It’s a piece of software designed to eliminate guitar squeaks! The “bells of synchronicity” are now loudly chiming.
My last thought is dedicated to Julia Cameron. “Ok, you got me!” To quote a Monkee’s song, “I’m A Believer!” Stay safe out there.
ISG Bulletin Board
Meeting space graciously provided by Central Florida Musicians Association,
Local 389. You are invited to join the largest union in the world, representing the
interests of the professional musician. Visit their website at afm389.org for more
information. You may reach them by phone at: 407-894-8666.
Why isn't your gig or live stream announced here? Members in good standing call SusieCool
with your appearance schedule! 407-760-2153 or e-mail her the details at isgorlando@gmail.com
If you are interested in open mics in the Central Florida area, SusieCool has compiled a list.
https://sites.google.com/site/susiecoolsongs/Home/open-mic-directory-central-florida
SusieCool is the admin for a Facebook group called "Orlando Creative Music Network"
where we give out info on songwriter meetings, playing circles, open mics, workshops and concerts.
We have a Facebook page for this group if you want to join.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/274152179716552/
No Critique scores for November, since no live meeting.
New members and guests are always welcome!
© 2020 ISG