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snoozefestaudio75F and sunny today. I was outside with the pets by 11:30 this morning. But my appointment is at 2PM, so... I gotta leave in forty minutes.
It took me until about 8:30PM last night to get all the lyrics done, and turn, Alb-O-Matic into an album.
After a shower, I went back to SoundCloud and put in descriptions for all four albums, and then a brief comment on every individual song track.
It's nice to finally have all of that done. But traffic to that profile has gone back down to zero over the past few days, so... it's time to produce new material.
The dynamic mike came the other day, and the interface box is coming this afternoon. So I should be set up to record better vocals in a day or two.
I also need to dig through old tapes to find versions of songs I intend to record. Never Rains, is the one I plan to tackle next, but while I was working with the old albums a few other forgotten songs came to mind.
I may even wind up dusting off the old bass and the guitar eventually. They're still down in the basement, in their cases, up in the rafters.
If I did that, however, I'd need new guitar stands... and new strings... and maybe a new tuner.
Okay, I'll talk to you when I'm back from my visit with Tom.
------------{=0=}------------
5:40PM
Jesus, what a day!
I showed up at the law office at 2PM, and the receptionist told me that Tom wasn't in, but she'd call him. What?
Ten minutes later, she told me that he had left without his phone, so there was no way to reach him, but... he should be back by 2:40.
So I went to a nearby MacDonalds and got something to eat in my car... watched a little TikTok... smoked a cigarette... and was back at the law office by 2:40.
The receptionist had nothing to say. I just sat there and waited until, finally, at 3PM I decided to leave.
I drove way across town to a different law firm, walked in their door, and made an appointment to speak with an attorney by phone on Tuesday at 1PM.
Then, once I was back in the car, my phone rang and it was Tom... apologizing and asking if I could come back.
So I did!.. and got in to see him around 3:30PM.
--<>--
This guy is OLD!.. easily over seventy!
He was taking down notes in a legal pad, writing in cursive!
Writing down my email address in cursive!
But anyway, he had a look at all the documents, and the loss mitigation letter that BMO had sent to my parents... and he photocopied everything.
He said it all looks pretty straightforward. Loss mitigation departments are used to dealing with people who are declaring bankruptcy, or simply can't pay for some other reason... usually very difficult situations.
They're not foreclosing yet... just trying to work something out.
Tom's job is to speak to them on my behalf, and to obtain other documents they may want, such as a copy of the deed from before Mom & Dad died or whatever.
And he said it shouldn't be a problem slowing things down until September 15th, when I've got the full year under my belt with GeoStaff.
--<>--
I had to pay him a $750.00 retainer, which I put on the new PenFed card.
But apparently his younger partners would've charged me a lot more. He said he hasn't raised his hourly fee in a long time... which makes sense, being that he's already past retirement age and probably set for life.
It's still a lot of money but... to me, it's worth it for the peace of mind.
Let the old man deal with an old man's bank, and do everything by snail mail... because neither party knows how to use a computer!
Let them do it with pens & paper, and slide rules.
Just let me go work my goddam job!
------------{=0=}------------
8:18PM
Well, there are still lightning bugs out there!
I went out to mow, and got most of the back before it got too dark. I'll have to finish it up tomorrow, in the evening.
--<>--
But before I went out to mow, I looked into Bandcamp.Com.
The idea being... If I just went to all the trouble of creating new track images and album covers... and writing out all the song lyrics... and writing little descriptions of each album...
Maybe I should upload everything somewhere new, so that it actually gets a few plays?
Spotify and a few other places require you to have a distributor... which is ridiculous.
But Bandcamp lets you create an artist profile for free because they think they'll be able to make a little money of your content.
And that's not impossible. I've listened to random songs from unknown artists before and actually paid the dollar to have my own copy.
So, Bandcamp lets you sell your stuff by the album, or by the song... and merch too, if you have it... and they take a cut and... I mean, I guess it works for them.
I could make like... five dollars, on their site over the next 20 years, so why not?
--<>--
The trick with them, however, is that every image has to be 1400 X 1400... and every track has to be in FLAC format. They don't let you upload MP3s.
I uploaded the first track of the first album, which is in draft mode at the moment, just to test it out.
So I think I will put all four albums on Bandcamp, but I need to convert my old MP3s to FLAC, and regenerate most of those NightCafe images... because they're all 1024 X 1024.
I could just enlarge them but... that might make them lossy. I have to experiment.
--<>--
In related news, the interface box arrived today.
It has two XLR jacks for microphones, and two 1/4" plug jacks for guitars or whatever.
I have no idea how it's gonna work... like... will Windows just see it as an audio device?
Can Audacity just see that box and receive input from whatever's plugged into it?
The box also has headphone jacks so... can I monitor what's playing on the computer, through that box???
Lots of unanswered questions... though, it does seem like I'll want to be upgrading FL Studio to Producer Edition in the end.
--<>--
It's starting to look like it'll be winter before I'm really rolling with that studio.
Like, I'm sure I will be taking small steps, and doing more tests between now and New Year, but... there's a lot of other stuff still on my plate right now.
By winter... Dad's funeral and the family reunion will have come and gone. There won't be any more yard work to do. And I should have secured some kind of loan from a bank to settle the old debts... maybe with a little cusion to get by in 2024.
--<>--
However... guitar stands are cheep! Sixteen to twenty bucks! And strings are about the same! So... I may just be ordering both those things soon.
Okay... that's my Thurday.
Tomorrow's another day off.
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
It took me until about 8:30PM last night to get all the lyrics done, and turn, Alb-O-Matic into an album.
After a shower, I went back to SoundCloud and put in descriptions for all four albums, and then a brief comment on every individual song track.
It's nice to finally have all of that done. But traffic to that profile has gone back down to zero over the past few days, so... it's time to produce new material.
The dynamic mike came the other day, and the interface box is coming this afternoon. So I should be set up to record better vocals in a day or two.
I also need to dig through old tapes to find versions of songs I intend to record. Never Rains, is the one I plan to tackle next, but while I was working with the old albums a few other forgotten songs came to mind.
I may even wind up dusting off the old bass and the guitar eventually. They're still down in the basement, in their cases, up in the rafters.
If I did that, however, I'd need new guitar stands... and new strings... and maybe a new tuner.
Okay, I'll talk to you when I'm back from my visit with Tom.
Jesus, what a day!
I showed up at the law office at 2PM, and the receptionist told me that Tom wasn't in, but she'd call him. What?
Ten minutes later, she told me that he had left without his phone, so there was no way to reach him, but... he should be back by 2:40.
So I went to a nearby MacDonalds and got something to eat in my car... watched a little TikTok... smoked a cigarette... and was back at the law office by 2:40.
The receptionist had nothing to say. I just sat there and waited until, finally, at 3PM I decided to leave.
I drove way across town to a different law firm, walked in their door, and made an appointment to speak with an attorney by phone on Tuesday at 1PM.
Then, once I was back in the car, my phone rang and it was Tom... apologizing and asking if I could come back.
So I did!.. and got in to see him around 3:30PM.
This guy is OLD!.. easily over seventy!
He was taking down notes in a legal pad, writing in cursive!
Writing down my email address in cursive!
But anyway, he had a look at all the documents, and the loss mitigation letter that BMO had sent to my parents... and he photocopied everything.
He said it all looks pretty straightforward. Loss mitigation departments are used to dealing with people who are declaring bankruptcy, or simply can't pay for some other reason... usually very difficult situations.
They're not foreclosing yet... just trying to work something out.
Tom's job is to speak to them on my behalf, and to obtain other documents they may want, such as a copy of the deed from before Mom & Dad died or whatever.
And he said it shouldn't be a problem slowing things down until September 15th, when I've got the full year under my belt with GeoStaff.
I had to pay him a $750.00 retainer, which I put on the new PenFed card.
But apparently his younger partners would've charged me a lot more. He said he hasn't raised his hourly fee in a long time... which makes sense, being that he's already past retirement age and probably set for life.
It's still a lot of money but... to me, it's worth it for the peace of mind.
Let the old man deal with an old man's bank, and do everything by snail mail... because neither party knows how to use a computer!
Let them do it with pens & paper, and slide rules.
Just let me go work my goddam job!
Well, there are still lightning bugs out there!
I went out to mow, and got most of the back before it got too dark. I'll have to finish it up tomorrow, in the evening.
But before I went out to mow, I looked into Bandcamp.Com.
The idea being... If I just went to all the trouble of creating new track images and album covers... and writing out all the song lyrics... and writing little descriptions of each album...
Maybe I should upload everything somewhere new, so that it actually gets a few plays?
Spotify and a few other places require you to have a distributor... which is ridiculous.
But Bandcamp lets you create an artist profile for free because they think they'll be able to make a little money of your content.
And that's not impossible. I've listened to random songs from unknown artists before and actually paid the dollar to have my own copy.
So, Bandcamp lets you sell your stuff by the album, or by the song... and merch too, if you have it... and they take a cut and... I mean, I guess it works for them.
I could make like... five dollars, on their site over the next 20 years, so why not?
The trick with them, however, is that every image has to be 1400 X 1400... and every track has to be in FLAC format. They don't let you upload MP3s.
I uploaded the first track of the first album, which is in draft mode at the moment, just to test it out.
So I think I will put all four albums on Bandcamp, but I need to convert my old MP3s to FLAC, and regenerate most of those NightCafe images... because they're all 1024 X 1024.
I could just enlarge them but... that might make them lossy. I have to experiment.
In related news, the interface box arrived today.
It has two XLR jacks for microphones, and two 1/4" plug jacks for guitars or whatever.
I have no idea how it's gonna work... like... will Windows just see it as an audio device?
Can Audacity just see that box and receive input from whatever's plugged into it?
The box also has headphone jacks so... can I monitor what's playing on the computer, through that box???
Lots of unanswered questions... though, it does seem like I'll want to be upgrading FL Studio to Producer Edition in the end.
It's starting to look like it'll be winter before I'm really rolling with that studio.
Like, I'm sure I will be taking small steps, and doing more tests between now and New Year, but... there's a lot of other stuff still on my plate right now.
By winter... Dad's funeral and the family reunion will have come and gone. There won't be any more yard work to do. And I should have secured some kind of loan from a bank to settle the old debts... maybe with a little cusion to get by in 2024.
However... guitar stands are cheep! Sixteen to twenty bucks! And strings are about the same! So... I may just be ordering both those things soon.
Okay... that's my Thurday.
Tomorrow's another day off.
°¦}
