Notes_Norton

When the then future Mrs. Notes and I decided to form a duo, we named it The Sophisticats and wanted to play jazz and blues. Then we decided we wanted to eat and pay the mortgage, so we switched to pop music. We got a 3 week with options gig on a cruise ship. That lasted 3 years until we decided to get off (Mrs. Notes' mom needed a caregiver). Starting from day one, we asked for requests on cocktail napkins. The songs that got requested the most, we learned. Some people think going pop is a sell-out, and they are probably correct. But for us, working as a wage slave at a day job so we can play jazz once a week is a bigger sell-out. If that is someone's choice, it's OK, but it isn't my choice. I suppose in a bigger city, there are more opportunities for jazz cats to make a living doing that kind of music, but around here, it's barren. Insights and incites by Notes ♫

And they do, but they expect to be paid for their work. AI will do the same thing for free. That's what worries singer/songwriter recording artists, and I think it should. Sure, it's mediocre pop. But mediocre pop like that sells millions of copies to those who don't really know how to listen to music. If I were the record company, or whoever the gatekeeper is today, I'd start working on a few of them. A sexy gal singer, a sexy boy singer (sex always sells), a couple of rappers, and so on. I'd invest in the market now, and as soon as it'e ready, flood the market, make a billion bucks, and get out. It'd be as the early birds into Bitcoin or NFTs. Well, actually, I wouldn't do that, but other people would. I'm happy gigging with my wife, my glory days are behind me, we blew our record deal, because we wanted to get paid. But I'm living a happy life with a happy wife, doing music and nothing but music. Not rich, not wealthy, but not poor either, living modestly but enjoying every minute of it. Notes ♫

20 years ago, CGI in movies ware about where this AI video is today. People running or walking looked like they had no weight but were floating, their hair didn't move right, and so on. Obviously CGI. Today, it's so realistic I, and probably most other people, can't tell the difference. It's only a matter of time, and probably fewer than 20 years, before most of us won't be able to tell the difference between the AI and the Human. It looks like Anna Indiana now has 1.03K subscribers and they want you to subscribe, too (I won't) A search for her brings up this, though. If you missed it the first time. I'm glad I'm in the live performance end of the business. I think I'll go to the great gig in the sky before I'm put out of work by the bots. But who knows? Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Sorry for the repeat, I missed the first discussion And it will only get better, the longer it's around, and the more people contribute to it. I can imagine local bands in the future, learning tunes originally composed and recorded by AI-Bots. Notes ♫

I don't listen to the lyrics until the rest of the song is analyzed, and to tell the truth, they really don't matter to me (which is probably why I am not a songwriter - every attempt has sounded bad). And I listen to Pop/Rock (from 50s to now), Jazz (from big band era to now), Mambo, Merengue, Salsa, Calypso, Soca, Reggae, Cabo Verde, Brazilian, Country (from all eras), Klezmer, Great American Songbook era, Disco, Blues, roots R&B, Beach Music, Symphonies (from the Romantic era to the Contemporary), HipHop, Metal, and a few other genres. Anybody doing that analysis on me, will probably think I have multiple personalities. (They might be right). Basically, the majority young people will like whatever is fed to them. They are growing up and wanting to fit in with their peers. I've played pop music all my life and watched the changes. When the influencers say, "This is the latest and greatest thing", and their peers repeat that, the youngster trying to fit in will like it. Me? I learned not to try to fit in. When I was a kid, and we all rejected our parents music, I loved it as much as I loved ours. I also loved classical, thankfully got to play a lot of it in school band. I have dozens of Putumayo World Music recordings, as they tickle different parts of the ear. Not many people know of Simentera, by their first album was fantastic. It's in Portuguese, I don't understand a word. I don't mind being a weirdo. Notes ♫

IMO it's pretty lame. BUT it cops a lot of the features that I absolutely do not like about a lot of pop music today; non-artistic phrasing, it actually sounds like auto-tune at times, and those weird, awkward, un-conversational pitch jumps that are common in a lot of modern pop. So in that respect, it's actually a bit of a success. Especially for an early attempt. (I remember when CGI in movies made everything look like they were floating). It'll get better and more realistic as time goes by. With my musician's ears, it was quite lame. As lame as a lot of pop music is today. I wouldn't buy it. I would suspect the people who like this style of music might. Lyrics, I'm not sure, I never got to most of them, too busy analyzing the musical part. The lyrics always come last for me. I don't hate all modern pop music, some is quite good, this is just typical of the kind that bugs me. Every generation has its good and bad music. Of course, that's my personal opinion. If it sells, it's a success whether I like it or not. I think the AI generated singer didn't look like she was into the song, but that's another thing altogether. How about you? Insights and incites by Notes ♫

WOW! Mine are all in road cases, and not nearly that organized. Although, the cases get loaded the same way every time. I also bring spares of each type to the gig. Luckily I don't have that many. Most of them are XLR or 1/4" mono phone plugs. I do have a piece of gear with RCA jacks, so I use a converter to phone jacks, and carry a spare of that. When you set up and something doesn't work, the first rule is this: It's always the cable. Notes ♫

Being a duo has its advantages in today's climate. We're still gigging 3–5 days a week. * A duo costs less for the venue, and with all the duos using tracks, it fills the room with music. Unlike DJs, it doesn't put musicians out of work, because we play small venues that would never hire a bigger band. * We make more money per person, too. Every time you add a member, the pay per member goes down. * Fewer band problems, if compatible, a duo can last longer than any larger band I've been in (my current duo has been gigging since 1985) I've done my share of both big bands in concert halls, and small bands in small rooms. I know the cons as well as the pros. * Since I make my own tracks, the drummer (me), bass player (me) and all the other parts we don't play 'live' will never surprise me. Different musicians have different ideas. My partner plays guitar or synth over the tracks, and I play sax, flute, wind synth or guitar over them, so there is at least some variation. * It's a lot more work, because I have to learn all the parts before making the backing tracks. Fortunately I make MIDI tracks, so if I flub a note, I can fix it without re-recording from the start or risking a lousy punch-in. * I'm moving a lot of gear 3–5 times a week, but at least I don't need a gym membership . * With no money to pay a manager, I have to be the 'band salesman' as well as the performer. It hasn't always been like this. When I grew up, everybody wanted a band. Every hotel from a Holiday Inn up, every bar with entertainment, every yacht club, every country club, and so on, plus it was at least 6 nights a week for the same band. Weddings and parties required a band as well, playing records was considered cheap and low class. Then Disco came along and DJs took a sector of our biz, putting musicians out of work. Then comedy night, karaoke night and open mic night took the 6 nights a week gigs away, taking more gigs away from us. Even worse, sports bars with dozens of TV screens popped up, taking more jobs away. Nothing is like it used to be. When I grew up, anybody who could play at a decent level (and some not so decent) could make a living gigging. But nothing stays the same in any industry. AI and something we haven't yet recognized will take even more live musician gigs away. There is nothing we can do to stop it, so we need to just react to the changing situation. And before amplifiers, it was the big band era of my parents and grandparents lives. Bands had 5 saxes, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, a drummer, a bassist, a guitarist, and a pianist. My generation put a lot of older musicians out of work. I'm lucky to be as old as I am. I lived through the golden age of small bands, and I'll probably leave the stage before it's impossible to make a living as a musician anymore. For the younger folks, keep your eyes open for new opportunities, be flexible, be creative, and when something new comes around, adapt. If you really want to make a living doing music, you will need to evolve with the business. AI or something else is coming for your job. Insights and incites by Notes ♫

I hope you are right. However, I still see people having 4 or more children, and an increase in the population every year. Our main human drives are food, reproduction, and self-preservation. It seems our brains don't do a good job of controlling our drives. Notes ♫

As far as pop music goes, there has always been some I've liked/loved, and some that I've disliked, but the majority are in the middle meh zone. But that's me as a musician listening. With Ms. Swift, it's in the middle category that I don't mind listening to, but would never purchase any. If her songs were in my chosen market, I would definitely learn a few. For my entertainment, I'd rather listen to a Shostakovitch or Dvorak symphony, or some cool school jazz by Stan Getz or Stanley Turrentine. Neither one of those will put food in my fridge. I play pop music for a living, and as much as I wouldn't want to listen to a lot of the songs I play from week to week, I have a great time playing them. Besides for that, I've known enough pop musicians, rub shoulders with some of the top stars, and find that many of them wouldn't listen to the kind of music they do, for a living. I've met country and rock stars that wished they could play jazz.. Let's face it. We're all in the entertainment business. What are the people who will enable me to make my living want to hear? That's what I need to play. I'm very impressed with how she knows and works her market. She is an excellent entertainer. Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Plus, use single ply, septic safe paper when you have to use it. It degrades quickly and doesn't use cotton in the manufacture.

I've seen videos, she is definitely talented, and a pro. I watched the “errors tour” on YouTube, and she handles mishaps very nicely, and is usually the sign of a seasoned pro. From what I've read, she seems like a nice person, too. She does pop music, and does it well. She has the market figured out, too. It's not my cup of tea, but I am impressed with her act. I play pop music too, so that wasn't an insult by any stretch of the imagination. Of course, the charts are different now than they were when people were buying physical media, but it's still a tremendous feat.

Almost all singles, duos, and trios around here use tracks. Most just buy karaoke tracks, with background singers, and some even play over the solos on the recordings. I make my own tracks, which seems more honest to me (honest and $5 will buy a cup of coffee). I tried buying some, but I spent so much time customizing and/or fixing them, that it's easier just to make my own. Sometimes I miss playing in a bigger band with the surprises that come from other drummers, bassists, and other musicians, but this is what I had to do to pay the mortgage and keep food in the fridge. Since the then Mrs. Notes and I started this duo in 1985, we gigged steadily except for the COVID pandemic time. I think many audiences still like to see people making the music. So far—so good. When they totally replace us, I'll retire. In my other business, I write aftermarket styles for Band-in-a-Box, to help folks who are not multi-instrumentalists make their own backing tracks. So I suppose I'm part of the problem. Notes ♫

Fresh water is a precious commodity. Desalinization at present is expensive and polluting. I'm seeing humanity as an algae bloom, the kind that eventually kills the pond. The difference is, our time frame is millennia longer and our pond the entire Earth. Both involve logarithmic growth, until the host can no longer provide what the organism needs to survive. What's going to happen when we double our population again? We might be lucky enough to see the beginning of the end of the human race. Or perhaps, I've read too many dystopian sci-fi books. So I'm going to keep my footprint rather small, while I enjoy each day of my life to the fullest. Notes ♫

I still think the copyright should go to the author(s), be limited to 50 years or death, whichever is greater, and cannot be sold or transferred to others. But neither do I make those kinds of decisions, or would those who do even listen to me. Notes ♫

Back in 1985, the then future Mrs. Notes and I quit our 5-piece band and started a duo. We were out of work for 3 months of the year, due to first a bass player then a drummer quitting. Then the new drummer had problems playing where alcohol was being served (God will never forgive me if I play in a bar). We knew it would be smaller venues, less glamour, less big star in a small pond status, and so on, but more money. More than the money, it was more job security. Mrs. and I both have very strong work ethics, and since we started our duo, 38 years ago, we were never out of work, until COVID hit. After that forced vacation, we are back at it doing 3-5 one-nighters per week, in small venues. We are easy to get along with, and we know what the entertainment purchaser wants. If commercial, we want to be zero problems, nice to all the staff and customers, make the audience happy so they stay longer and come back more often, so the owner makes more money. If a private party, we want them to tell the host/hostess that they had a great time. That means play what the audience wants, and when they want it, to the best of our ability. I've been gigging in the music business long enough to see DJs take a lot of our work. When I started, I was in bands that did weddings, school dances, singles clubs, strip clubs, and quite a few other gigs that DJs now do. Back then, if you played records, it was considered sub-par and tacky. DJs got a lot, and I'm sure AI will take some more. I'm an amateur photographer - actually a pro because I sold a few on Adobe - and I've seen a lot of modeling with AI, and it's quite good. I see a problem in that it's too good, the models don't have the slight imperfections that 'real people' have. But I'm looking through a photographer's eyes. I listen to music with musician's ears. The general public is not so picky. It'll come to music. I'm already in small venues that probably won't be the early adopters, and I'm old enough so that I might go to the great gig in the sky before AI hits my venues. And I've said it before. When AI takes all of our jobs, who is going to have the money to buy the products? Insights and incites by Notes ♫

I'm not. Most people have only their own self-interests in mind. In Florida, a study by National Geographic found we are drawing water from the aquifer faster than it can replenish itself. Yet people still water lawns, and commissioners still approve huge housing developments adding thousands of new homes per day. No, most people have never acted right, and never will. Notes ♫

Definitely. I have two Parker Maxxfly guitars, two tenor saxophones, more than two wind MIDI controllers (since they are now discontinued), more than two VL70m sound modules, amped PA speakers so if one goes out the show goes on and duplicate cables, and other gear, so the show will go on. Being they we are both multi-instrumentalists in a duo, it's impractical to bring all the spares. I can cover sax, synth, or guitar parts 'good enough' with the WX5/VL70m wind synth combo, so I don't have to bring my spare guitar and sax or Mrs. Notes' spare guitar or Tactile MIDI controller. I suppose if you are a studio musician, you can work with the newest, latest and greatest gear, but for playing live, reliability, redundancy, and longevity is paramount. We've been gigging in our duo http://www.s-cats.com full-time since 1985, and we haven't missed the gig or the downbeat. The WX5 is lighter, but I still think it would be a problem. I'm sorry your joints keep you from your pleasure. In the first 15 years of our duo, I brought a MIDI Keyboard instead of a guitar. The music our retirement market wanted was more of the Frank Sinatra/Glenn Miller era. During that time, I was playing at a country club, in the lounge. I was using the WX/VL to play a harmon (wah) muted patch. I person from the dining room, who could hear but not see us, walked up to see who was sitting in on trumpet. Another occasion, probably shortly before I started leaving the keyboard home and bringing the guitar to work, we were playing a private house party. We were out back, by the pool, and the wife attended the guests there. Her husband took care of inside the house, and he is an accomplished guitar player (gigs part-time). I was playing a guitar solo withe WX/VL and came out of the house to see who was playing the guitar. Sadly, nobody is that invested in Physical Modeling anymore. People are buying tone more than expression, which I think should be reversed. Sure, a ROMPler will provide more realistic tone, but at the expense of the infinite nuances of the physical instrument that PM Synthesis can recreate. I'm really sad that Yamaha gave up on wind controllers and physical modeling synthesis. Notes ♫

We're all guilty of something, I suppose. Mrs. Notes and I flew to Hawaii this year for a vacation. Perhaps there are just too many people on the planet. In the 1960s when there were only 3 billion of us, it seemed the earth could support us much better (or degrade at a much slower pace). The exponential human growth might be the major problem. I'm surprised at how many 'environmentalists' use Air Conditioning at home. Over 99% of the humans who have ever lived on the planet, did just fine without AC, so it's not necessary. If you paint your roof white (see below *), plant shade trees around the house but not over the roof, and open your windows, your house will rarely get over 80 degrees. At least that's how we cooled our houses when I was a kid in Florida, before central AC. Why AC? The AC uses energy from the grid, which is still partially fed by gas and coal. The nuke and solar plants run at 100% all the time, and the power company ramps up or down the gas/coal plants as needed. So the AC heats up the planet by using more gas/coal power and also by creating a heat island outdoors. ||: Since the planet is now warmer than before, the AC has to work harder, burning more gas/coal to make up for the difference. This heats up the planet even more than before :|| repeat ad infinitum, until the earth goes into a feedback loop and quickly gets too hot for our crops to grow. I drive by school zones and see scores of cars idling with their AC on while moms wait for the little darlings to get out of school or in the morning for the bus to come. Why? If you must wait, turn the motor off and open the windows. * A major university did a study and said if everyone would simply paint their roofs bright white, it would buy us another 100 years to address climate change, by reflecting the heat back out of the atmosphere. When I was a child in Florida, everyone had a white roof, because central AC hadn't come here yet. Now almost everyone has a dark roof, which not only doesn't reflect the heat back out, but makes the AC work even harder. Of course, there are zillions of other things we can do, recycle the cans, drive energy efficient vehicles instead of the 2 ton capacity family truck vehicles, use the clothesline instead of the dryer, consume less, have fewer children, get rid of lawns, and on and on and on. I got 'fixed' after two children, replaced the lawn with no-mow/no-fertilize/no-insecticide native plants, planted over a dozen trees on my lot, painted my roof bright white, don't use AC, put all recyclables in the proper bin, drive with slow acceleration and coasting as much as I can before applying the brakes, buy durable goods and don't replace them as long as they still function properly, hang clothes on the line, and do other things to minimize my carbon footprint. But I'm not perfect, as I mentioned at the top of this post, I flew to Hawaii for my first vacation since COVID reared its ugly spikes. Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Related but not guitar. I have a 1925 King Alto Sax that not only works today, but can be repaired by any decent woodwind tech. Pads? Springs? Cork? Even a part broken or dented from a fall can be fixed, and probably will be for another 100 years or more. I have wind synthesizers that are no longer being manufactured. Yamaha gave us 3 models WX7, WX11, and WX5, in that order. They are nothing but wind MIDI controllers. There is some competition left, Akai and Roland each make one, but they have internal sounds, and playability issues that make them not as expressive for me. Thankfully, they are rugged, and I bought a few extra ones. I also bought some spare parts. I use a Yamaha VL70m physical modeling synth module. The physical modeling is fantastic, nothing else comes close. Instead of feeling like I'm triggering a synth, it feels like I am playing a musical instrument. The nuances I initiate in the controller are expressed in the synth. My primary instrument is saxophone. The VL70m is the only sound module that reproduces the nuances of my sax playing. I actually use it for sax on stage. It's discontinued. The wind synth (Controller + PM sound module) can do things, like emulating other wind instruments, that cannot be done with a keyboard or guitar synth. I love my Master Tracks Pro MIDI sequencer. Without audio in it like modern DAWs, it's fast and easy to use. No long menus with sub menus and sub-sub menus. Every dialog box is available with a hover over the menu bar, the menu drops, and one click get you there. The editing features are wonderful, I don't see anyone with any better MIDI editing features. It's also orphaned, and doesn't work well on Win10/11. Mrs. Notes bought a Buchla Thunder tactile MIDI controller in the 1980s. It does things a normal keyboard synth cannot. She has two because long ago they are discontinued. We had a power supply go out in one, and it had to be repaired by the only guy who has been with Buchla long enough to remember them. He said we are lucky it was the power supply, because many of the IC Chips on the main board are no longer manufactured, and there are no substitutes. I started my duo with Mrs. Notes in 1985. At first, it was a 4-track reel-to-reel and mixed to cassette tape for my backing tracks. Later I bought a MIDI sequencer. This was Pre-Standard MIDI files, and used a proprietary system to store MIDI files. I used it for many years, and then it broke. By then, General MIDI and SMF were standard, and there was no way to convert the proprietary files to Standard MIDI files. I lost 300 backing tracks. Thankfully, GM came around, and I save all my files in both proprietary and Standard MIDI file format now. When I started playing sax, my tenor was a used Selmer made in the 1930s. I don't have it anymore, but if I did, I could have it repaired as easily as the King Alto. The Buchla Thunder, WX5 wind controller, Master Tracks Pro app, my first MIDI sequencer are bound to be as obsolete as an Atari/ST computer some day. I've learned that the old physical instruments that have been here 'forever' have proved themselves. The Variax is a little like Mrs. Notes' Thunder instrument. Potentially to become an orphan, obsolete, and no longer serviceable. As wonderful as new cutting edge tech can be, it can also become a huge problem when it becomes orphaned. I've learned not to rely on new tech for anything that I need to make my living with. If it can't be repaired and replaced, it might be a nice toy, but it's not going out gigging with me. As I read in a magazine long ago, “The cutting edge can be the bleeding edge.” Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Same for me on saxophone. Like most of us, I don't think of the note names, and unless it's very complicated, I just play the rhythms, too. I don't understand how, it just happens. I can't do that on the guitar, but guitar is my 7th instrument, I started late in life, and I really haven't applied myself to reading on the guitar. There are too many demands on my time for that. My bro-in-law has absolute pitch, which has helped his career out for decades. Now that he is getting older, though, he says things are sounding sharp, especially in the lower pitches. He can hear a C, and it now sounds like a C#. For someone who doesn't have perfect pitch, I can't imagine that. We all have separate 'tools' that we bring to the task of playing music. There are dozens or more of these tools, and not many have all of them. So we use the ones we have, and work on the ones we don't have yet. Insights and incites by Notes ♫

And Elvis is hiding out somewhere, living off his riches, and getting obese.

Definitely. He was a daring guy, and crossed the Pacific in small sailboats a couple of times. His wife described crossing the Pacific in a small bot as “Endless hours of boredom, punctuated by moments of sheer terror.” There is often the balance between pleasure and danger. Sometimes like my friend in the airplane, the danger can happen suddenly, sometimes a slow deterioration. The obese person balances the pleasure of eating things he/she loves with the risk of dying early due to an obesity-related disease. The drug user, whether it's alcohol or fentanyl, does the same thing. Same for smokers. Most smokers don't get lung cancer, but some do, and any smoker can be in the 'do' category. Skiers risk broken bones. It's so common that almost every movie that depicts a ski lodge, has someone with their leg in a cast. Hang gliders and wing suit 'flyers' risk sudden death for the pleasure of the sensation of flying. Climate change has unearthed bodies on Mt. Everest of climbers who risked death for their pleasure. Motorcycle riders risk death by inattentive motorists. Going down in an unapproved sub to see the Titanic can kill you, too. Some people are more daredevil than others, and sometimes the devil wins. Most of us probably have a risk vs. pleasure evaluation for many of the things we do. Even if I had the means, I probably wouldn't pilot a single engine plane, or climb high mountains, but I wouldn't stay 'safe at home' all the time, either. But 'safe at home' would help me avoid improperly socialized, bratty kids (there, back on topic) Notes ♫

I'm not ready to retire yet

I prefer to err in the direction of caution. If putting on the brakes saves humanity — that's great — we win. If putting on the brakes doesn't address the problem, it will definitely greatly reduce pollution — we still win. If we are either the problem or accelerating it, as most climatologists believe, and we hit the accelerator, or just maintain status quo — we lose. So it seems to me, erring on the side of caution is the best choice. Notes ♫