Intro: Rambling Librarian ("0.5" of Starfish Stories :: The Band)

[ramblinglibrarian]

Hey everyone, I've heard about www.soft.com.sg but only signed up today. Someone told me most people here are in the mid-20s. I'm not sure if at 37 I'm the oldest guy here

OK, self-intro (I didn't read any regulations against long intros... so here goes!):

1) I'm into rock guitar instrumentals (e.g. Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai) and New Age sounding stuff (e.g. Enya, Andre Vollenweider)

2) Started on the guitar at 18 years old. More to impress the girls but soon got REALLY interested in guitars. Discovered more about electric guitars and gadgets. However, am never formally trained in music.

3) Stopped playing after NS. My guitar collected dust for almost 10+ years. Only resumed playing in 2006. When I discovered GarageBand. First ever GB track here: http://tinyurl.com/qfoc9

4) In 2007, I re-discovered a long-lost Sec Sch mate. He also just discovered GarageBand. Sent me a track via email. I added a lead guitar to it. Sent it back. To cut a long story short, 4 months later we self-produced our music album. We didn't meet to jam nor record at a studio. Everything was done entirely using GarageBand. Then we released it online only. You might want to check it out here: http://seastars2007.wordpress.com/the-album/

5) We decided our music wasn't too bad (my wife didn't cover her ears). Plus we didn't have to spend any money, thanks to the Internet. So we continued as a team and gave ourselves a band name. And we released our 2nd album early this year.
http://starfishstories.wordpress.com/2009/01/31/music-album-2009-one-world-one-moment/

6) Currently working on our 3rd music album. Probably going to release it this year. All our music is released under the Creative Commons license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/sg/
Meaning, anyone is free to use, distribute, share, remix... the ONLY requirement is to credit the band in the way we state (e.g. name and URL). No payment required -- although if they decide to pay our of the goodness of their heart... ahem

7) In my day job I work as a librarian (http://RamblingLibrarian.blogspot.com). What I do for fun, I post it up at http://MyRightBrain.wordpress.com

And now you probably know why I call myself "Rambling".

OK, look forward to meeting more like-minded people at soft.com.sg

Cheers!
Ivan Chew
http://StarfishStories.wordpress.com

 

[sloopyblue]

hi ivan

welcome! you r right many youngsters here. its ok they keep u young. i m not familiar
with 'garageband' but with real band. have a try n it will stick. different feeling!!!!
say u r old??? how abt me at 60???

check it out in one of our take;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8LpwMObCh4&feature=related

if u like it we still looking 4 a 2nd guitar to complement the band. sms me 91468939

cheers
phil

 

[mus]

Welcome to SOFT!

 

[ramblinglibrarian]

No time to jam "live"

i m not familiar
with 'garageband' but with real band. have a try n it will stick. different feeling!!!! say u r old??? how abt me at 60???

Hi Phil, you win!

I've jammed in a band a few times, i.e with drummer, bassist, guitars. Yes, the feeling is different. Overall I must say I'm not that good a "live" guitarist. I have ideas in my head but need lots of takes to get the notes and sound right. So my friend and I prefer to use a software like GarageBand to record and mix our songs, on our own time. Coming together to practice is quite hard, time-wise.

But thanks for the invite to jam. I enjoyed the YouTube video, esp. this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX5DAoZPf0w

Do you all practice in someone's home, converted to a studio? It looks like that from the video.

 

[ramblinglibrarian]

Fellow Epiphone Les Paul owner?

Welcome to SOFT!

Thanks for the welcome, Mus.
BTW, saw your signature that you have an Epiphone Les Paul. Me too!

 

[sloopyblue]

hi ivan

better taste the raw music as it comes. team work and coordination is all you got to repect. when you achieve something which you originally thought is difficult, the enjoyment in many folds. should continue with live band n record them as they are without modification.

yea to play in a band needs determination. everyboby must be commited n do his own preparetion then the outcome will b fine. just make a personal sacrifice for once a week nite.

we practice in a CC n we are all hobbyist. if you like blues rethink abt it ok???

 

[ramblinglibrarian]

Yes, will certainly think about it

we practice in a CC n we are all hobbyist. if you like blues rethink abt it ok???

Hey Phil, I'm more into Rock Instrumentals but am keen to jam. You guys seem more like my age! I'll SMS you (or email) to find out more. I can be reached at RamblingLibrarian@gmail.com. Cheers.

 

[vickomaniac]

Hey Ivan, welcome to soft!

You've got a cool blog and I like what you did with that Hellboy thing heh.

Enjoy your stay!

-vicki

 

[FourSling]

Dude, I like your Rambling Librarian blog. Welcome. Oh and trust me you are way not the oldest guy here...

 

[ramblinglibrarian]

@Vicki - I'm enjoying my stay in SOFT so far. Lots of friendly people here.

@FourSling - OK, I have your assurance there are older guys here!

 

[EngelFaeuste]

Hmm... Welcome here, I guess metal's a hell lot harder to produce that most other genres which is why I can't produce shit at home. Good effort at what you're doing though.

 

[ramblinglibrarian]

Good effort at what you're doing though.

Thanks for checking out our music. I listened to your songs. You do vocals right? Guess you really need a good mic for that. But I bet once you get a good recording at home, you can do a decent mix with the other tracks.