Listen to Larry

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[larryslabel]

I've been quiet lately on this blog and I finally know why. Keeping with my musical theme I figured I'd find a musician with the same ailment I'm now suffering from. 

I thought I was just being lazy, unmotivated and suffering from fatigue from the horrible heat wave. I was wrong. After a long bout of being lazy as hell i developed a rash on my inner thigh, it got so bad that i went to the emergency room. They diagnosed me with an infected jock itch, great. Took my meds and the rash returned accompanied by difficulty doing any physical task. I went to my doctor and they tested me, sure enough I have lyme disease.

Articles like this one scare the living shit out of me, I've been on meds for about 10 days and the symptoms are still strong as ever. Getting up and walking to the bathroom feels like running a mile. I have a wife who is pregnant taking care of me, because on certain days, standing up is a task in itself. I'm being told that after 3 or 4 weeks of meds I should get better, but I've also heard that symptoms can last months or even years after. Nightmares of heart disease, facial paralysis and depression plague me because of articles like this. I try to stay away from the internet and try to stay positive in hoping I caught it early enough so that it doesn't become a lifelong fight. My heart goes out to Daryl and although i was never a big Hall and Oats fan I recently got turned on to his show "Live at Daryl's House" check it out if you ever get a chance. Seeing him active on that show, which is available for free online is quite an inspiration for me at this point.

Here's to hoping energy will return, I hope anyone else with this disease can check him out on the show and see an energetic performance from someone living with the disease.  

[larryslabel]

Here's a great video of my all time favorite composer, musician, engineer and philosopher...Frank Zappa.

A very interesting and different view of the decline of the music industry. Whats so funny about this is that he never got to see how bad it really got, he passed away before Napster took hold and really brought the industry to it's knees....there's a Zappa song in there somewhere. I'm sure at the time the execs where brushing it off as some artsy bullshit....just like Frank's idea to have people buy music through the phone lines before the internet existed. 

[larryslabel]

And with the shrinking metal fan base we see glimmers of hope in kids like this. From the same streets where Biggie and Jay-Z grew up who would've thought? These kids are less than half my age and seeing their drive and determination is truly inspiring. Here's to hoping we see them on the world stage in a few years.

[larryslabel]

'Happy Birthday' fight: Good Morning to You Productions sues Warner/Chappel Music - L.A. Biz

As if you couldn't find a billion other reasons to hate the record industry, here is the....icing on the cake...pun intended.

In my opinion there is no other song in history that should be public domain more than Happy Birthday. Can you remember the last time you heard this song on TV or in a movie? Probably not, and that's because Warner Chappel "owns" the rights to that song and will sue your ass for using it. So how does a company like this get away with owning a song that is well over 100 years old and clearly should be public domain? Who knows, legal loopholes, evil lawyers, take you pick. Maybe they do have some sort of legal ownership over it, but is it really ethical? Did I just mention ethics pertaining to the music industry?

The real issue is going to be how hard they push other sources using the song. If a little kid sings it on youtube to send to their grandmother as a link can they be slapped with a lawsuit? We are walking a fine line here and the results of the lawsuit mentioned in this article will be very telling and interesting. I for one will do all i can to make sure I don't give Warner any of my business or money based on my own ethics.

[larryslabel]

I for one am excited to hear this. Looks like Brian basically wrote a new Beach Boys album, and since Mike Love is a douche he's going to be making it on his own. After Mike Love ended the reunion for no good reason Brian decided to move on, and take some original Beach Boys collaborators with him. If that isn't exciting enough he's also got Jeff Beck on guitar. 

[larryslabel]

I’m a huge fan of most of his work, but like most amazing artists, he’s more than a little insane. Here he talks about his use of the Theremin in his hit “Good Vibrations” along with a host of other crazy ramblings. For those who don’t know, the theremin is an old instrument played by moving the air around it to change pitch, but believe me, you’d rather hear Brian Wilson explain it. This is one of my favorite artist interviews ever, still love you Brian….and fuck Mike Love, more on that asshole later

[almostfamousmusic-blog]

What has Slayer done??? \m/

[larryslabel]

I have to admit, I'm a bit of an environmentalist. So when waste is made I try to find ways to re-use it. This album for instance, after putting it in my CD player I realized it's garbage, but can it be recycled without exposing others to the horrible sounds within? So over the next few weeks I'm going to show you some things you can do with this album that would be much more beneficial to you than putting it in a CD player or computer. 

For starters I tried putting it on a turntable, sounds WAY better this way. You can try this at home, notice how much better this album sounds with the scratching screeching sound of a needle dragging across its surface. They could've saved a lot of money on studio costs if they heard this first.

[larryslabel]

Not sure if you've ever heard this before, but it provides great insight into the life of a recording engineer. Here we have Diamond Dave's isolated vocal track on "Runnin' With The Devil" from Van Halen's first album. A classic song with one of the best front men of all time, reduced to the sound of kittens being stepped on and thrown into a wood chipper. Trust me, this is worth a listen, some of the best parts come at 3:05 - the end of the track. Of course the asshole engineer in me would like to point out the massive bleeding from his headphones into the mic, but most others can enjoy this as a hilarious look at late 70's rock vocals.

[larryslabel]

Visit Original Link

A lot of people ask me about my experiences composing and recording music for television. I think people try too hard. Music in television is meant to support the visual aspect, not take over. This is a great example of a "bumper" which is a very short and simple audio clip meant to be behind a brief visual. It is a single guitar (pictured above) playing a very simple riff with a definitive ending. This clip aired live today on The Tennis Channel during the French Open. It was a quick clip introducing USA Tennis star Sam Querrey. These bumpers usually only last 10-15 seconds and also have audio of the player speaking over it. One easy guitar riff, one instrument and recorded on a very simple interface to computer set up. So remember, if simple is what they are looking for, give them simple!

[larryslabel]

So when I originally posted this last night I had a whole  page of commentary on this article. Not sure why it didnt make it over to the original post, but I figured might as well get the ball rolling and blame yahoo for it!

Anyway, has anyone out there heard of code? I assume I've only heard about it because I've been in the business so long as an engineer. Whatever the reason is, its a shame that it hasnt become more popular since this article was written.

I love T-Bone Burnett's work, I've heard most of his albums, soundtracks and even seen him live. He is what a musician should be, jack of all trades. Whether its composing, producing, engineering, performing, he does it better than most. As a producer he dug up all those great traditional songs for O Brother Where Art Thou? and also chose some of the less traditional songs found on The Big Lebowski, so its safe to say the man knows his music. So why in the hell isnt anyone listening to him? He has some really great points and ideas about the future or lack there of in the music industry. He's here to save us all from shitty over compressed music with no dynamics and nobody seems to care.

All of us who have been around long enough to hear the sonic changes in our music or any audiophiles out there can clearly hear the difference. It's been going way down hill really since the release of CDs, then it just went WAY bad once we started using MP3s, so why is it ok with people? It's been a problem for so long now that I think this new generation doesnt even know about or care about the difference, which is a shame.

I agree with what he is trying to do, but T-Bone, Im afraid focusing on any kind of physical format is a losing fight. After so many years in the industry I've seen so many new physical formats crash and burn, we live in a new age and nobody wants to buy CDs or DVDs at a store anymore. Im not even sure how many stores are left! Best Buy, FYE....??? I know there are some attempts out there now like HD tracks and Mastered for iTunes, heard them, doesnt work for me. The issue is, like T-Bone said, these songs need to be made/mixed/mastered for specific formats. If you want a MP3, they need to mix for it. Essentialy the major labels, and everyone for that matter are creating formats from other formats. This is completely changing the music and even cutting out frequencies that you are supposed to hear! In the long run, the artists are really the ones who lose out, like he said, they hand in one thing and the label puts out another. Its true! You know how I know? Because I was that guy! I pushed the buttons, when i was told to make WAVs from MP3s for release because "thats the only file we have" I had to do it. It payed my bills, of course i hated myself for it but thats why I walked away from a sweet gig as an engineer for a major label.

I can go on and on about the loudness wars, over compression and my disdain for the major labels...but thats another 10 or so blogs coming to you soon. Either way, God speed Mr. Burnett, please keep up the fight and save our ears from shitty sounding music while giving these artists the sound that all their hard work deserves!

[larryslabel]

Ladies, what do you think of this? There are some bad ass bassists out there but I suppose there is some truth to saying in general the chart above is quite accurate. Pretty sure this was an official study done by the IGS....Institute of Groupie Studies, a dissertation by Professor David Lee Roth, often disputed by Dr. Gene Simmons who's done extensive field studies on the subject. 

[larryslabel]

Phantom metal: Swedish rockers Ghost work hard to stay anonymous

I haven't posted in a while so thought I'd do 2 for today. If you haven't heard Ghost (Ghost B.C.) then you are missing out. For legal reasons they needed to add the "B.C."  to their name in the U.S. but thats not important. Whats important is how great they are. I saw them about a year ago opening for Opeth, I got tickets through Roadrunner Records who I've done a lot of work with during my time at WMG. I went into this show thinking it was going to be a cheap gimmick, or some kind of modern day KISS wannabes. This was absolutely not the case. There was so much hype around this band, I had never seen a venue packed to capacity at 7pm for an opening band, but clearly the hype around Ghost was very real. A few of my Roadrunner buddies said that the execs over there and over at every major were foaming at the mouth to sign Ghost.

Not only was their show insanely entertaining, led by their Satanic "Pope" Papa Emeritus II and backed by what they refer to as "Nameless Ghouls" but they had some really great songs. Nobody knows who they really are and nobody should care. This is how I like my music, based purely on the music, not who the singer is dating or what their wearing.

I really think this band is going to be huge, if you havent heard them, check out the article here, get some music, and thank me later!

[larryslabel]

Song Premiere: Philip H. Anselmo and the Illegals Rage Through 'Usurper's Bastard Rant' | Music News | Rolling Stone

Metal-rocker set to release first solo album, 'Walk Through Exits Only'

"Traditions were meant to be celebrated and/or destroyed. The celebration is worn out in my view, it's time for more destruction, and this is exactly the point of 'Usurper Bastard's Rant.'"

well said Phil. Love the quote and what he is trying to do but not sure I'm loving the song. That being said, I'm a huge fan of about 90% of everything this guy has been involved with so I'm gonna reserve my judgement for the album and a few more listens of the song. I guess the beauty of Phil is that no matter what you, me or anyone thinks about him or any of his music, rest  assured he doesn't give a fuck, which is what is missing from a lot of today's music. This attitude is what makes something new and creative happen, so whether you give a flying fuck or not Phil, you rule, keep kicking ass, looking forward to the album. 

[larryslabel]

You know in my opinion, Metallica haven't done anything to great lately. Specifically the horrendous pile of shit with Lou Reed, which I hear is now bad luck to mention by name. The massive suckness of that was a failure of the worst kind. That being said, I'm still a fan and will always love them for a large portion of their previous efforts. This video of The Star Spangled Banner being played by Metallica is pretty damn cool. Those harmonies make me think of their better days.

[larryslabel]

One ore dedication to Hanneman. Had no idea Bob Ross was a fan, a happy demon here...maybe some fluffy playful blood here...RIP

[larryslabel]

Damn it, damn it, damn it. As if things couldn't get any worse for Slayer. Earlier this year there was so much drama about the way Kerry King has treated the other band mates, so much to the point that Dave Lombardo left the band mid tour. These are guys that have been friends for years screwing each other financially and poisoning an excellent band with bullshit. Speaking of poisoning, Hanneman has been on hiatus since 2011 because of a spider bite that gave him a flesh eating disease! I saw them at the Big Four concert last year at Yankee stadium, with the guitarist from Exodus sitting in for Hanneman. Supposedly he was hard at work rehabbing his arm so he could play again, but according to a recent interview with Kerry King he wasn't trying all that hard and Kerry didn't give a shit. Then again after all the drama, who knows what's actually going on. Nevertheless, this sucks, Hanneman not only shredded like a mofo, but he wrote some of Slayers biggest and best songs. He will be sorely missed in the metal world. South of Heaven...not anymore, glad I got to see him play the times that I did.