I’m gratified that so many of you respond to what goes on here at My Integrated Life. I got a serious reality check yesterday: I happened to hear my most recent audio post coming from a friends computer. It did not sound great. I was horrified. It was clear that I forgot some basic “Internet audio” realities.
Fortunately, the computers’ ability create, edit, store and recall data makes it an optimal tool for the recording engineer. After hearing my ghastly-ness I went to the studio, reopened the file and changed…(more on that below)
Original “rude” version: Venus and Mars Walk Into 24 Bars
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Before I moved to Marin Co. in October 1987, I was lucky to work with Iowa sound engineers including Richard Trump, Roger Hughes, Tom Tucker, Mike Meacham, Larry McKeever, Pat McManus, Mike Miller, Harold Luick, and the Great Lee Bell. They had to learn how to skillfully employ both machines and human beings in order to produce great recordings. The skills and the ears to know when things were “right” is both an art and a science.
With that said, anyone can now purchase the equivalent of a million-dollar sound studio for the price of a properly configured Macbook Pro and software to record multi-track audio.
What you can’t buy, however is the ability to actually play the music or actually handle all of this ‘fancy equipment’ without actually putting in serious hours (Malcolm Gladwell, says 10,000) of in-the-field experience.
As I said above, it was not fun to hear how bad my mix sounded on a friends computer but if I hadn’t had my ego squashed temporarily, I wouldn’t have produced the much more balanced version you hear at the top of this post. (Of course, some people will prefer the “rude” version….and that’s….ok. =-)
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Please let me know what you think about the two versions and what makes them different.
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
Below is a list of the members of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please support their work by sharing and subscribing. Paid subscribers are invited to attend real-time events and occasional Zoom calls among our writers. Your support keeps this reader-only supported service going.
My Integrated Life Begins Here; Episode One
IOWA WRITERS’ COLLABORATIVE
The Roster of Writers
Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center
Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities
Dartanyan Brown, My Integrated Life, Des Moines
Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll
Jane Burns: The Crossover, Des Moines
Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup
Steph Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake
Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley
Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County
Daniel Finney, Paragraph Stacker, Des Moines
Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames
Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines
Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny
Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa
Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilia
Iowa Capital Dispatch, an alliance with IWC
Dana James: Black Iowa News, Iowa
Chris Jones, Chris’s Substack, Iowa City
Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
Letters from Iowans, Iowa
Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County
Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities
Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Vicki Minor, Relatively Minor, Winterset
Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines
Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids
Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines
John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.
Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines
Steve Semken, The Pulse of a Heartland Publisher, North Liberty
Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk
Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport
Jason Walsmith, The Racontourist, Earlham
Kali White VanBaale, 988: Mental Healthcare in Iowa, Bondurant
Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines
The Iowa Writers Collaborative is also proud to ally with Iowa Capital Dispatch.
