Above – pencil sketch,

below – finished off on computer

The above is a picture of a breastfeeding monkey I took at Templar park a while back.

And this is a waterfall in Templar park… Testing how it posts a large picture.

That’ll do for now….

Today I finally got around to updating this website.  While it’s been over six months since my last blog here I have been blogging quasi-regularly at www.transitofvenusproject.com with news of the latest happenings of the band.

On the game music side of things, the popularity of the iPhone has provided the opportunity for me to write for a couple of iPhone games. I can’t give you any details (NDA’s!) but I will let you know as soon as the games are released.

Theoretically I’m spending Sunday afternoon and Sunday night recording Tory Staples on drums for my album.  However in reality we will be escaping the studio for a while for a gig.  The gig is at The Crib Bar 151 Ponsonby Road, Auckland New Zealand, kicks off around 6pm and I’d love to see you there!

Old strings just don’t sound as good.  They don’t vibrate as evenly as new strings due to dirt, corrosion or pitting of the string, unevenness in the metal as the string is stretched out over time.  This is usually first noticed as the string becomes less crisp sounding, the high frequencies are lost.  eg.  If you’re playing the open A string, the string will be vibrating at 440 Hz.  Thats 440 vibrations per second and is called the fundamental frequency.  But on a real musical instrument as opposed to a straight sine wave, you get harmonics that give the note it’s depth and character.  The string is oscillating loudest 440 times per minute, but it is also vibrating with less amplitude at other frequencies.  So mostly what you hear is the fundamental frequency, but the other frequencies, the harmonics, are what gives the life and color to the sound.  As a string becomes older, dirtier and less flexible it is still able to vibrate happily close to its fundamental, but the very high frequency vibrations are disrupted.  The string no longer sounds bright and sharp and clear, it sounds like it’s played through a low pass filter.  It sounds dull, without life or definition.

Old strings with their dirt and corrosion can cause premature fret wear on your guitar.  They are more gritty and abrasive than new strings so will wear away at the tops of your frets faster.  Also, if you aren’t changing your strings often you don’t get a chance to give your guitar a proper clean and oil the fretboard.

You can make your strings last longer by washing and drying your hands before you play your guitar, using a string lubricant such as ‘Finger Ease’, and wiping your strings down after you play.  Long life strings are more expensive but do last longer.

For steel string acoustic guitar, Elixir strings (in my humble opinion) don’t sound as good to begin with.  The coating they have on them seems to dull the sound.  My personal favorites are Dean Markley Alchemy’s, which sound amazing.  A close second for me would have to be the Martin SP+ strings.

For electric guitar, I quite like Dean Markley Blue Steel’s.  And not just because I’m a Zoolander fan!  They are long lasting and very crisp and clear.  They don’t seem to suit every guitar though.  I find some of my guitars need a warmer sounding string and then I just go with Ernie Balls.

I have just put Blue Steel bass strings on my bass and I’m really pleased with those.  I have a very cheap old bass that was a borderline case for being chucked out but the strings have given it new life.

Buying the cheapest strings available is fine if you’re going to change them often.  Even though I use long life strings I still change them before recording or a gig because there’s nothing like the sound of fresh strings.

I’ve often heard it said that you should change your strings after every 20 hours of playing. This sounds like a good rule of thumb, but it can depend on what kind of playing you’re doing and how you look after your strings. So it is a good idea to just use your eyes and your ears to decide. Do my strings look manky? Are the unwound strings showing signs of pitting and corrosion? Do my strings sound less than fantastic? Is my intonation going out?

The strings on your guitar are the source of your sound.  Keep in mind that horrid strings can make the best guitars sound awful. And, because I’m a girl I have to say it, old strings are gross and unhygienic and probably will give you tetanus if you spike yourself on them.

Came across this video on geeksaresexy.net and had to repost it because it made my day. 

2.  Today I went to the gym.  I have been meaning to join for a long time and I’m glad that I finally have.  When I got home I ate chocolate biscuits.

3.  I discovered my degrees of separation from my most favorite author Terry Pratchett today.  I play/ed in a band with Tory Staples —> Who also plays in a band called Battle Circus —->  Who recently opened for Amanda Palmer —->  Who’s photo book “Who Killed Amanda Palmer” had text written for it by Neil Gaiman  —> Who co-wrote the book Good Omens with Terry Pratchett.  Small world aye?

4.  I am really pleased with the game music I have done lately, though I keep wanting to do more and more little tweaks because I am on a perfectionist buzz.

5.  With my album I am much less of a perfectionist.  Keeping it indie, keeping it real, it has to sound like it was recorded in a bedroom. I want to finish it in time to go on summer tour.  This summer is just screaming road trip at me.

A little sneak peek of a current WIP. Really rough, not mixed cos still in the recording process on this. Still gotta record drums and redo the bass, record my vocals if I ever get my voice back (thats just my old guide track in there so far), gotta fix up those harmonies a bit (thats my friend James on backing vox, he’s gonna kill me if I don’t make him sound fab).
If you can’t see it on the RSS feed just click through to the site. I do need to find a better player that works on RSS feeds. Any recommendations?

I went to a really good gig last night, Battle Circus, Infinite Flying Kick, Decortica and Crash Test For Favorite Things.  Unfortunately I missed Crash Test as I had wandered off in search of a hot lemon drink to sooth my throat after trying to have conversations with people I hadn’t seen for ages.  I arrived back partway through Infinite Flying Kicks set.  Infinite Flying Kick (IFK) were incredible.  It has been a while since I have seen them play, and I thought they were good then but now they are fantastic.  Check out their myspace at http://www.myspace.com/infiniteflyingkick

It was the first time I had seen Decortica play, they are a very good very loud three piece.  Probably the loudest three piece I’ve seen play in a while.  The music was a little heavy for my personal taste but still very good.

Battle Circus were on last, it was there first gig since arriving back in NZ after touring Australia, Germany and the USA.  Despite complaints of jet-lag they played really well.  I have been a Battle Circus fan since gigging with them back in 2005, and they just get better and better every time I see them play.  Check out www.battlecircus.com/

Today I decided to keep a blog here on this site.  I already have a blog on the site for my recording project transitofvenusproject.com but that’s supposed to be a helpful music type blog or news about my recordings, and I often feel I shouldn’t use it to blog about things like, well… cheese.

Kaimai Cheese

I discovered a great cheese place on Monday.  I already knew of it’s existance due to my mother often bringing me cheeses she had picked up on her way up to Auckland from Tauranga.  But on Monday I stopped there myself for the first time.  It’s called Kaimai Café and Store, and it’s also a cheese factory.  It is in Waharoa, just on the Auckland side of Matamata.  Definitly worth stopping if you’re driving past, they make a decent cup of coffee as well as excellent cheese.  Nice lemon cake too.  Their website is www.kaimai.co.nz and you can order their cheese online or find a local stockist.

The places to be this weekend….

Today is Halloween, and I am inundated with Halloween party invites.  I have trawled through them all and eventually managed to plan my weekend.

Tonight, Galatos to see Deja Voodoo play along with my old friends Miscreant and Litvak attack.  The door charge is only $10 if you dress up.  I’m still trying to decide what to go as, probably something lame like a vampire.  I’m tempted to put a black streak in my hair and go as Susan Death, but I’m not sure that all my too-cool-for-discworld friends will get it.

Tomorrow night its off to The Basement for Decortica’s album release party.  I haven’t seen Decortica live before, but two of my favorite bands will be playing support, Battle Circus and Infinite Flying Kick.  If you’re in Auckland and haven’t seen these bands, I really think you should!  Battle Circus have just returned from a tour of Australia, Europe and the USA and I can’t wait to see how much more awesome they could get while they were away.

Sunday night is the last night for Jester Events Acoustic series at The Crib in Ponsonby, always a nice relaxed and fun evening.

Format: MP3, 256 Kbps.

Enjoy!