Mudvayne

Mudvayne was founded in 1996 by Chad Gray, Greg Tribbet, Matthew McDonough, and Shawn Barclay. In 1998, one of the members contacted an old friend who happened to be a good manager. Thanks to their new manager, Mudvayne signed with Epic Records. During the earlier stages of the band, all of the members wore extravagant make up during both the concerts and music videos in order to add a visual effect to the music. After 2003 however, the band released a new single titled "World So Cold" and abandoned their make-up entirely. Mudvayne really has the best of two worlds in their music. Mudvayne uses both light and heavy parts of songs to bring the whole thing together.

Mudvayne's website: http://www.mudvayne.com/
Mudvayne's discography: http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/mudvayne/discography

Wayne Static

He was born in the 1965 with his birth name being Wayne Richard Wells. Wayne got his first guitar at the early age of seven and was in a band by twelve. Wayne now has a successful career as guitarist and lead vocalist of Static-X. Wayne is well known for his absurd hairstyle which goes completely vertical. Allegedly, it takes him 20 minutes to fix his hair in this fashion. Wayne is also a self-proclaimed atheist and vegetarian.



Wayne's biography: http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Static-X-Biography/FC4B549B574A0537482568AC003C9614

Writing Lyrics

Today, I realized how hard it can be to be a lyricist. When trying to write lyrics for a country song, I drew a total blank. It was frustrating to realize how different writings a song is from writing poetry. I think that this is an excellent lesson for me, and I know that I now have much more respect for lyricists of all kinds.

The Amplifier

An amp's job is to take small electric signals and enlarge them. The amp must take the vibrations of the strings, which are a form of energy, and change them into an electrical charge, which is another form of energy. The electric charge is then sent through a transistor which opens and closes rapidly. This action allows the transistor to let out as little or as much as you dictate. The transistor acts as a valve which dictates how much of the electric current is sent to the speaker. This is how the amplification is achieved.

A somewhat simpler guide to amps: http://stereos.about.com/od/stereoscience/a/howampswork.htm
A very complex guide to amps: http://sound.westhost.com/amp-basics.htm

The Guitar

I will now teach you about the guitar. I would like to start with a basic knowledge of sound. If you don't already know, sound is simply vibrations in the molecules around us. Those vibrations once picked up by the ear drums are translated into our sense of sound. A guitar works because the strings vibrate when plucked. This vibrations resonate differently depending on which string is plucked and which frets are held. This is why the guitar makes any sound at all. The hole in in an acoustic guitar is used to get more bass out of the instrument. That's about all there is to know about the acoustic guitar.

For a more in-depth analysis: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/guitar/guitarintro.html

A Recent Concert

About a year ago, I went to a concert at Ram's Head Live with my brother. The band we had gone to see was the headliner Sevendust. The only problem lay in the fact that the opening acts were terrible. They had a decent amount of good background music, but their singers were pretty much crap. The first singer gradually took off his clothes until he was just wearing pants and then he started to pour water over himself and the crowd. It was really odd. Sevendust, on the other hand, was amazing as always. They even played some of my favorite songs by them. Overall it was a great time.

Jonathan Coulton

Jonathan Coulton is a renowned geek and musician. He once did a project that he called Thing a Week. During Thing a Week, he wrote one song per week for an entire year. Some of the songs turned out really well, but during weeks when he couldn't come up with anything the songs can be just plain nonsensical. As a result, Coulton did not know his songs very well and sometimes forgot his lyrics mid-set. I think the fact that he managed to do this shows how skilled he is.

Coulton's Website: http://www.jonathancoulton.com/
Coulton's Biography: http://www.last.fm/music/Jonathan+Coulton/+wiki

My First Concert

When I was about thirteen, I went to my first concert. My first concert was a Queen concert at the Verizon Center. I know that it was Queen without Freddie Mercury, but it was still Queen nonetheless. It was pretty cool getting to see a band that I grew up listening to perform live. It was actually kind of funny at times. Since Paul Rodgers, the substitute for Freddie Mercury, could not sing Bohemian Rhapsody quite like Freddie Mercury, they ended up playing a recording of Mercury's voice during the song.

Queen's Website: http://www.queenonline.com/
Queen's Discography: http://queen.shanemcdonald.org/album-list.php

Nightwish

Nightwish is known as a symphonic power gothic metal band. If you don't understand that, just know that it is amazing. Their approach to their music makes every song seem like an epic. This makes sense considering most of their songs would sound great in a rock opera. Nightwish is also characterized by the female lead singer's operatic singing, though this has diminished somewhat once the lead singer Tarja left the group in 2005. Listen to Nightwish when your in the mood for some epic music.

Nightwish's Official Website: http://www.nightwish.com/
An Archive on Nightwish: http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=39

Nightmare Revisited

I'm guessing that almost everyone has heard of the film The Nightmare Before Christmas before. For those who haven't, it is a Tim Burton movie with a soundtrack composed by Danny Elfman. Nightmare Revisited is the soundtrack remade by various artists. For the most part, I thought that Nightmare Revisited was a little bit disappointing compared to the original soundtrack. The only songs that I like off of the album are Marilyn Manson's This Is Halloween, Korn's Kidnap the Sandy Claws, Rise Against's Making Christmas, and Plain White Ts's Poor Jack.

Album information and track preview: http://disneymusic.disney.go.com/albums/nightmarerevisited.html
Nightmare Before Christmas Original Soundtrack with previews: http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hnfwxqugldhe~T0

Theme Song

A couple of days ago, my friend asked me to consider something. She asked what would be the theme song for my life. Honestly, I was stumped. Certain events during my day remind me of different songs so it is difficult to choose a single song. If I had to choose, I would most likely say that my theme is Survive by Rise Against. It really is a great anthem for my life.

Mike Shinoda

Shinoda was born and raised in Los Angeles. Towards the end of high school, he formed a band together with Brad Delson and Rob Bourdon. After college, the band brought in a second vocalist named Chester Bennington under its new name Hybrid Theory. After a lawsuit, Shinoda's band was forced to change its name to Linkin Park (as it is currently known). Shinoda has been very successful with both Linkin Park and his own project titled Fort Minor. This is what makes Shinoda one of my favorite rappers.

Shinoda's Website: http://www.mikeshinoda.com/
Biography on Shinoda: http://www.nndb.com/people/084/000030991/

Rise Against

Rise Against was originally formed under the name Transistor Revolt. Since they signed with Dreamworks Records in 2003, Rise Against has recorded three albums. I may love Rise Against for their music, but the beliefs held by band members go against my own. Each member is either vegetarian or vegan and are active members of PETA. They are all nature freaks who absolutely despised now former President Bush. Although I dislike their beliefs, I still love their music.

Rise Against's website: http://www.riseagainst.com/
Rise Against's Discography: http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/riseagainst/discography

Ozzfest

In 1996, Ozzy Osbourne was not allowed to participate in the music festival Lollapalooza. This prompted Ozzy to start his own tour called Ozzfest. Ozzfest had good commercial success from the years 2000-2006. The 2007 Ozzfest however, had free tickets. This caused numerous problems because of the tickets' codes. The bands appearing in the festival didn't even get paid. Now Ozzy is currently recording so there was no Ozzfest 2009. Hopefully Ozzfest will continue on for years to come.

Ozzfest's website: http://www.ozzfest.com/

Pandora Radio

Pandora Radio is an online radio station that automatically analyzes the type of songs that you listen to and plays only those kinds of songs. Pandora uses the Musical Genome Project to analyze the music you listen to. Pandora has no concept of genre. What is great about Pandora Radio is that it is free until you reach the 40 hour per month limit, and it only costs $0.99 a month for infinite use.



Pandora Radio's website: http://www.pandora.com/
How Pandora works: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/pandora.htm

Top Ten Bands of All Time (According to Me)

10. Finger Eleven
9. Sevendust
8. Static-X
7. Skillet
6. Rise Against
5. Disturbed
4. Linkin Park
3. Three Days Grace
2. Smash Mouth
1. Metallica

Serj Tankian

Serj was born and spent his younger years in Lebanon. His family later moved to Los Angeles. In the early 90's Serj met Daron Malakian and formed a band named System of a Down. System of a Down enjoyed ten years of wide success, and the band went on hiatus in 2006. Since then, Serj has released his own album titled Elect the Dead. Serj played most of the instruments on the CD himself since he knows how to play almost everything. About System of a Down's hiatus, Serj has said, "Every few months I am honored to hear interesting rumors about whether the band is going to tour or break up permanently. I find them all to be very entertaining."

Serj's website: http://www.serjtankian.com/
A biography on Serj: http://artists.letssingit.com/serj-tankian-m5h79/biography
System of a Down's website: http://www.systemofadown.com/

Daft Punk

Daft Punk, at its core, is a pair of two people who make incredible techno music together. The duo of Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo and Thomas Bangalter always play their role in the band during photo shoots and interviews. They originally wore their masks because of shyness, but their robot outfits have now become quite popular among fans. Daft Punk was one of the leading techno bands of their era, and have always been my personal favorite source of techno.

Biography of Daft Punk: http://www.rfimusique.com/siteEn/biographie/biographie_6151.asp
Daft Punk's discography: http://www.music-city.org/Daft-Punk/discography/

DJ Hero

DJ Hero is a new game that is being developed by FreeStyleGames and published by Activision (the same company as the Guitar Hero games). DJ Hero will feature a sound track consisting of over 102 individual songs, and a turntable controller with the ability to scratch, cross-fade, and beat match those songs. Personally, I think that DJ Hero is a very novel idea, but I don't believe that it will be as fun as Guitar Hero.

Official DJ Hero website: http://www.djhero.com/
DJ Hero game overview: http://www.djhero.com/game/

Beatboxing

Beatboxing is a vocal imitation of any types of percussion, turntables, or other instruments. It could also involve some singing. Modern beatboxing style has its origins in the early styles of hip-hop, but the art of vocally imitating instruments existed long before that. Although vocal percussion has probably existed just as long as man, such an imitation of instruments first existed in the U.S. in the form of "scat." Scat was an improv style used by jazz singers in order to imitate instruments such as saxophones and trumpets. Today, beatboxing is quite popular and can be a very competitive style of music. It is similar to freestyle rap in that respect.

History of beatboxing: http://www.humanbeatbox.com/history/p2_articleid/27
Scat's enclyclopedia article: http://www.britannica.com/blackhistory/article-9066055

David Draiman

Draiman was born on March 13, 1973. He triple majored in Business Administration, Political Science, and Philosophy. Draiman became a star by simply answering an wanted ad in the paper. Today, he is part of the immensely successful band called Disturbed. In my opinion, Disturbed's only flaw is their lack of much individuality between their songs.




An interview with David Draiman: http://www.concertlivewire.com/interviews/disturbed.htm
A biography on Draiman: http://www.netglimse.com/celebs/pages/david_draiman/index.shtml

Smash Mouth

The band was formed around 1994. They play a mix of ska punk and retro pop music. That may sound like a very odd genre, but it works quite well for them. Smash Mouth has released five albums to date, with the third, Astro Lounge, going triple platinum. Smash Mouth remained popular for over a decade, and it was the first band that I could really say was my favorite. Smash Mouth is the band of my childhood and one of my all time favorites.

Biography of Smash Mouth: http://music.msn.com/music/artist-biography/smash-mouth/
Smash Mouth's discography: http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/smashmouth/discography

History of Surround Sound

In the 30's surround sound was first being introduced in movie theaters. However, It wasn't until the 70's that the audio information of four channels could be encoded into two channels. Then in 1982, the Dolby Surround first started showing up in home theaters. In the mid 90's DVD's were beginning to be produced, this allowed for surround sound use in-home. Now, surround sound systems are quite commonly found in any home, and they sound incredible.

Go here to read more: http://www.5dot1.com/articles/history_of_surround_sound.html

The Sound of Madness

About a month ago, I first heard of the band called Shinedown. After listening to about four of their songs on Youtube, I bought the band's newest CD, The Sound of Madness. This CD is amazing by my standards. It has a good mix of heavy and light songs so that it doesn't all sound the same, and I generally like the band's style. You should try some of their songs out if you like rock.

Shinedown's website: http://www.shinedown.com/
Sound of Madness's tracklist: http://artists.letssingit.com/shinedown-album-the-sound-of-madness-rqnc3k

Britain

This is, of course, a reference to the British invasion of music. Starting with the rise of the Beatles, the United States had a massive influx of British bands. These bands made the American bands work harder and reach greater heights in order to survive in the business. It is thanks to British music that American music has come so far.

List of British invasion bands: http://oldies.about.com/od/britishinvasion/British_Invasion_Bands_and_Artists.htm
British invasion encyclopedia article: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/80244/British-Invasion

The Piano

The piano is one of the oldest of instruments that there are. The theory behind it is quite simple, you press a key and that makes a hammer strike a steel string. I think that the piano is one of the most elegant instruments around. A grand piano is a beautiful thing all said and done, but maybe I am biased since I am now learning to play the piano.

The History of the piano:
http://www.uk-piano.org/history/history_1.html

Everything technical there is to know about the piano: http://www.concertpitchpiano.com/GrandPianoConstruction.html

Adam Gontier

Gontier and his band, Three Days Grace, originally got together in 1992, but their first album (which is self-titled Three Days Grace) was not released until 2003. In 2005, Gontier went into rehab for his addiction to Oxycontin. While in rehab, Gontier wrote some of his best songs for the next album, One-X. Recently, Three Days Grace released their third album called Life Starts Now. Overall, I simply love his band.




Gontier's Biography: http://authspot.com/biographies/adam-gontier/
Go here to see the Band's website: http://www.threedaysgrace.com/

Skillet

Skillet is one of my favorite modern bands. They are a Christian Rock band and have released eight albums to date. If you ask me, their CD Comatose is simply godly (no pun intended). They came out with a new CD recently that is called Awake. It has a few great songs, but sadly they toned down the rock a little too much for my tastes.

Here is a link to Skillet's website: http://www.skillet.com/enter.php
Click this link to see Skillet's discography: http://www.skillet.com/disc/

Digital Performer

In 1985, Mark of the Unicorn (also known as MOTU) first released a music sequencer named Performer. In 1990, MOTU gave the program the ability to synchronize music and renamed it Digital Performer. Today, Digital Performer is one of the more popular Digital Audio Workstations and allows users to record, mix, and master any audio. It is one of the premiere DAWs for Macs.

Emile Berliner

Emile Berliner was Born in Germany in the year 1951. While Emile was a young man, Alexander Graham Bell created the first telephone. Emile was then inspired to create a device that could record and play back sound at a louder volume. It is thanks to Emile's first start that such amazing strides have been made in the world of microphones.

Term Check

1. A dynamic mic will only pick up noice that is within a certain frequency which is useful to record instruments. A condenser mic will pick up the entire spectrum of noise which is good for recording singing or an entire ensemble.

2. Studio moniters give a raw sound because they add nothing. They have a built in amp. They can project their sound. If you sound good on the studio moniters, it'll sound good anywhere.

3. The digital interface will take in the sound and translate that sound into code that can be read and edited by a computer.

4. Reverb is how sound acts when it hits something either close or far away. You can adjust it to sound like a large open area or small room.

5. Yes, I am having loads of fun at this point. I never knew so much about sound before.

Proposal for the Radio Station

I would like to do my audio-doc on my dad. He organizes a pickup of donated computers and gets them to wherever they need to go. For interviews, I could talk to him, his coworkers, the people that the desktops went to, and, if possible, to the guy who gives these desktops to my dad. I think it would be pretty interesting, and it would also fit into the theme, whatever we do.