The Funkerater
Last Friday I played a gig with Karan Chavis at the Pebble Creek Country Club in Bryan Texas.
Pebble Creek Country Club
The gig was great and I met a bunch of great musicians whom I had never played with before.
After the gig, Karan told me she had a Christmas present for me but she had forgotten to bring it along to the gig. So I followed her and her husband Craig to their home to receive it.
Keep in mind that I have just about everything anyone would ever want when it comes to audio and video production here at my studio, but she assured me that I probably didn’t have this particular piece of gear.
I was curious, so I waited with anticipation as she went into her home and returned with a small thin metal object in her hand.
As she handed it to me I busted out laughing. It was a Funk Logic Funkerator.
Funkerater Algorhythmic Prosecutor
Why would I laugh about this?
Well, ever since 99.999% of all work done on audio and video has been handed to computers, the need for external processing gear has slowly and steadily shrunk to near zero.
This process has had the inevitable result of producing a bunch of blank spaces in the many racks that I have here at the studio. In fact, I have so many blank spaces in my racks now, that I actually make excuses for them.
But now I need not make excuses for at least one of the blank spaces in my racks thanks to Karan.
For those who don’t know, Funk Logic is a company that makes nothing but fancy blank panels. They look really really cool, but do absolutely nothing.
The knobs are labeled as seemingly meaningful names like “The Brady’s” or “Thumb poppin good” or “suck less” or similar. But the knobs do absolutely nothing…
And that’s the cool part!
Now, I don’t have to worry any more about at least one of the many blank spaces in my racks here at Electric LarryLand. I have something that looks cool and covers up all of the miles of wires that I have here.
Thanks Karan!
Goodbye Nakamichi
In 1990, when I had more money than common sense, I bought a top-of-the-line cassette deck from Nakamichi for around $1000.
Don’t get me wrong, it is a fantastic and great sounding cassette deck. In fact, in critical listening tests more people could not tell the difference between masters and cassette copies on most common listening environments. (you could using studio monitors, but not in cars)
Nakamichi Cassette deck
Since I have found essentially a gold mine worth of original material recently on cassettes, I have been transferring the material onto a computer while David and I have been working on other things.
Unfortunately, yesterday during one of the transfers, the Nakamichi stopped working. I had barely gotten 5 cassettes done and it was to be no more.
So I called my friend Stan Ginsel and asked to borrow his TASCAM 122 cassette deck.
TASCAM 122 Cassette Deck
Today, we’re gonna hook the TASCAM up and continue the transfers onto the computer.
We’re also writing a new song and will probably be the final full tune for the Wanderer Awakening project.
Four boxes of cassettes with original songs
I’ve been writing songs for most of my life… and when I write songs, I usually record them onto some kind of analog tape. Either reel to reel, cassettes, or micro-cassettes are my choices.
David and I need some more songs for our “Wanderer Awakening” project so I’ve been digging through some of the boxes I have at the studio with tapes that have original songs on them.
Typical Audio Cassette
It’s almost overwhelming the amount of songs that we have to listen to… I guess that is what you get when you’ve been doing this as long as I have.
But it’s been worth it!
There are been some real gems that we’ve found. Most of them, I had totally forgotten about until we pulled them out today… what fun!
The bad news is that my Nakamichi cassette deck died today. So while I was transferring the songs from cassettes onto computer for easier access, the Nakamichi decided that it would no longer work for me.
So my good friend Stan Ginsel came through and is letting me borrow his cassette deck for the rest of the transfers.
Thank you Stan!
David Wilcock is at Electric LarryLand
David Wilcock is here working with me finishing up the Wanderer Awakening project.
We hope to be able to post audio and video podcasts of our work sometime during the next 2 weeks, so be sure and subscribe to our RSS Feed to be notified when we do.
It’s exciting here!
Monday morning Podcasts
It’s Monday morning and I’m doing my Monday morning podcasts.
It’s something that I’ve been doing for a couple of years now for some companies here in Austin. I can’t tell you who they are or I would have to send Guido after you.
Basically it’s fairly easy and takes a bit of time, but it allows me to start my week off fairly easily while assuring that there is at least some income coming in for the week.
Things to do in the studio today include preparing a computer for mixing which will involve installing software, configuring and testing.
Other than that, it’s an easy day.
Mighty Seek Logo
I’m still having trouble with the podPress plugin for WordPress. It is not working properly.
It acts like it is working, but none of the podcasts that I put up here show up in iTunes.
I run a Joomla site on my http://www.LarrySeyer.com website and it’s plugin for podcasting is working perfectly… so I’m fairly sure it’s not me.
And the guy that makes the podPress plugin states on his website that users have been complaining about some problems with it… so my guess is that there are problems with the plugin and not the configuration.
Taking some time off
David has gone back to California and I’m taking a few days off for some much needed rest.
However, I did get to play some guitar for Gary Powell yesterday.
Here is a short video of me and him in the studio:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1052842605805
And some pixes:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41736&l=c7400&id=521064518
Enjoy!
David Wilcock is here (http://www.DivineCosmos.com) recording on our new project
David Wilcock is here working with me as we write, record, and mix our new project “Wanderer Awakening”.
We’re writing new songs, recording vocals, guitars, keyboards, drums, bass… everything necessary to make a national release quality recording.
More to come later.
Larry
SongBirth – 01 – Evolution of a Song
I have been writing and producing songs for over 35 years.
And in all of that time, I have never documented the process.
A few weeks ago I was inspired to setup my video camera and record the process I go through when writing a new song.
My hope is that those of you who watch this might find this entertaining and maybe even educational.
I call it ‘SongBirth’… or Birth of a Song.
For the finished song, visit www.LarrySeyer.com and click on the ‘SongBirth’ link.
Electric LarryLand Pictures
Electric LarryLand studio is located in Austin Texas.
View from Electric LarryLand
Founded in 1995 by Larry Seyer , Electric LarryLand was originally intended as his own project studio.
However, it quickly grew into a full fledged mixing and mastering studio where many Artists have chosen to work.
Here are a few pictures of the studio taken when we remodeled a fews years ago.
Note: Click on the pictures to see a larger image. Computers and Speakers have been updated since these pictures were taken… .
The Ears of God
by Gary Powell
March 25th, 2003
“The Ears of God”
If world leaders were chosen by their ability to “hear”, Larry Seyer would be King of the World. Often times, the professionals who truly make the records fronted by celebrities are, in fact, judged just that way, by their ability to “hear”. That means hearing alternate melodies, harmonizations, instrumentation, mix decisions…..vertually every possible musical and electronic opportunity.
Knowing this little inside music industry fact explains how a boy raised in Oran, Missouri has become one of the most sought after recording engineers and session guitar players in Texas. If Texas isn’t big enough for you, check out who has called on Larry regardless. There’s Chet Atkins, Ray Benson, Shawn Colvin, songwriter Helen Darling (“Bring on the Rain”),The Dixie Chicks, Vince Gill, Johnny Gimble, Paul Glasse, Goldie Hawn, Tish Hinohosa, Eric Johnson, Lyle Lovett, Manhattan Transfer, George Martin, Reba McIntire, James Mitchner, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Lee Roy Parnell, Bert Rivera, Phillip Sandifer, Joe Scruggs, Dardin Smith, George Strait, Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, Steve Warner, Lee Ann Womack, Dwight Yokum, and the United States Air Force Band of the Rockies.
Now I suppose most people in Oran, Missouri used to scratch their heads when it came to the Grammy Awards. Not anymore. Larry has been either the recording engineer, the mixing engineer, or the guitarist on nine Grammy winning albums.
The mystery of Larry’s talent and work ethic can best be understood by his family’s policy of the old upright piano in the living room always holding favor over the television and radio.
It has been said that Larry Seyer has the “Ears of God”. He’s been proving it steadily since 1978 when he showed up in Austin. Maybe we have his parents and the old upright to thank for that. Regardless, Texas music has never been heard the same way again.
