Cool fan-made video for Breaking Benjamin's song "Dear Agony" featuring scenes from Seven Pounds.

The Breaking Benjamin album "Dear Agony" has been out for almost a year now, but I'm just recently getting into it. These guys haven't really changed their sound across 4 albums, but instead seem to fine-tune it each time around. After really listening to it, this is definitely their best effort.

I came across this fan-made video for the title track, which features scenes from the movie Seven Pounds. This might be one of the best fan-made videos I've seen. It's absolutely perfect for this song. Check it out.

Panned Right

You ever have one of your ears clogged that it's almost like you are deaf out of that ear? Well, that was my right ear yesterday. Yesterday also happened to be a day I had available to dedicate entirely to mixing (which hasn't happened much lately due to a hectic schedule outside of music). I woke up this morning with the clog pretty much gone and I'm listening to my mixes from yesterday. It's pretty funny to hear how much I overcompensated for my deaf side. haha.

I applaud Roger Goodell. He is an excellent commissioner. [#PTBL]

Normally, posts that get the #PTBL (Preach Truth. Believe Lies.) tag are related to those who say one thing and do another, or just overall deception. I thought it'd be nice to break from the negative perspective and point out when someone sticks to their beliefs/morals.

I don't know how many of our fans enjoys sports, but I'm sure many have heard about the Steelers quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, and his recent "indiscretions." Ben wasn't charged with a crime, but that didn't stop NFL commissioner Roger Goodell from suspending him anyway. Since Roethlisberger wasn't charged with a crime, it gave Goodell an easy opportunity to use that as a justification for not suspending him. Plus, suspending a player of Roethlisberger's caliber is definitely a money loser for the NFL. Goodell didn't care - slapped him with a 4-6 game suspension anyway. Bravo sir.

Since Goodell took charge of the NFL a few years back, he basically said he'd have no tolerance for poor off-field behavior. He has 100% lived up to his word. He took some flack for it in the beginning, but he didn't let public opinion or money get in the way of doing the right thing.

I believe most people WANT to do the right thing, but it's not always the easiest path. I applaud someone who makes the hard choice, sticks to their word, and actually DOES do the right thing. Keep up the good work Mr. Goodell.

-Chris
Preach Truth. Believe Lies.

Recording Update #3 - Guitars for "Self-Fulfilling Prophecy"

Hey guys! It's been a little bit since the last video update. Since the last time, I finally caved in and bought Logic Studio, which also meant getting a new Mac.

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Diet Coke is heart friendly? [#PTBL]

A product loaded with caffeine and chemicals supports good heart health. Comical.

"I get your attention with my left hand so I can punch you with my right."

Preach Truth. Believe Lies.
-Chris

The real issue with the music industry: There are no filters.

(Link to outside article enclosed below)

I love the fact that walls have been broken down, and a band like us can reach fans that we wouldn't have been able to 10 years ago (if we were around 10 years ago), but I gotta say I agree with the point of view in this article. We mentioned it in our LI News Tonight interview last year, but it didn't make the cut for what aired on TV (what aired on TV is below. I might still have the unedited footage for upload at a later time.)



Basically, the point we made was, because so many walls have been knocked down, there are more artists than ever before. As I heard someone say, "no one is in the crowd because everyone is on the stage." As a listener, it's hard to filter through the mass quantities and find what you like. Previously, radio stations and MTV filtered it down. The problem was, it was filtered down WAY TOO much. Now, the filter is totally gone, and the average listener doesn't have the time to go searching, or has too much to search through. As this article describes, finding the good stuff (or even stuff that matches your tastes) is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Click on the image below to read the original article:

Or go to: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2010/03/23/the-real-crisis


The scary/ironic part of this is, the only artists that seem to be trying new things are the pop artists (see Lady Gaga), who are notorious for playing it safe by recycling the same crap over and over. As someone who loves rock and loves hearing new stuff, I haven't heard anything really fresh in a while. There have been some good new releases, but for the most part, it's the same sound/artists. I know it's not because creativity has suddenly vanished.


As fans of us, you guys clearly don't mind searching, so I'm curious to hear your perspective on this. Also curious to hear younger fans perspective, who might not know any other way.


Oh, and for the record, I don't like KISS, and can't stand that arrogant ass, Gene Simmons. :)


Preach Truth. Believe Lies.
-Chris

Why Pandora and the Music Genome Project is AMAZING

Pandora claims to analyze song traits based on hundreds of musical qualities and then play similar songs. In their words:


"Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like."

When I first heard about Pandora a few years back, I thought this was just marketing. But in the last year or so, I've started to use Pandora on a regular basis, and have over 60 artists and tons of thumbs up/downed songs on my main station. I now know Pandora's claims are totally legit. At times, I'm puzzled as to how they even do it.

We've grown accustomed to hearing music grouped together by similar genre, but never have songs been grouped together based on small music attributes in the way Pandora does. Many times songs played back-to-back will be incredibly similar...almost as if they flow together. Other times, there will be 2 songs that have pretty different sounds, but there is a hook or riff that makes you think the 2nd band ripped the 1st one off. I came across an example while listening today. 2 obscure songs by relatively obscure artists.

Song #1 - "Kerosene" by Mad At Gravity
Song #2 - "Makeshift" by 32 Leaves

As a whole, the songs aren't very similar. But listen to the guitars in "Kerosene" from the 10 to the 20 second mark:


and now listen to the guitars in "Makeshift" from 1:12 - 1:30




That's no joke right there. Those two licks are very similar, but the songs sound nothing alike. If the drums behind both songs were the same, you'd notice it even more. Again, it's not like this is Daughtry and Nickelback. These are 2 bands well under the radar (MAG was only around for a year or 2 in the early 2000's). How does Pandora do that? It's nuts. If it were just this one time, I'd chalk it up to coincidence, but this happens somewhat frequently when listening to Pandora. In fact, right after this, it played a Breaking Benjamin song (can't remember which one) that had a guitar part that was similar to another part in the 32 Leaves track. To have music matched up at that level is absolutely crazy...especially for something that is free.

I'm not saying Pandora is the hands down best from a listeners perspective, but as a musician, I gotta say... I'm f**king impressed. I can't wait to get our new EP done so we can get our tunes up there.


Preach Truth. Believe Lies.
-Chris

Positive feedback on Jango (listener comments)

Thanks to Jango.com's airplay service, we are able to get our music alongside major acts for a relatively low cost (at least compared to similar services out there). For those unfamiliar, Jango is very similar to Pandora, but it's more geared at interaction (more like a social networking site). The site isn't as clean as Pandora, but it essentially does the same thing as far as playing music you like.

Since we are independent, Jango will let the listeners, who are unfamiliar with us, know we are a new artist and ask if they like what they are hearing. They also have the option of leaving a comment as well. Here are some of the nice things music fans are saying about us:  

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Recording Update #2 - A vocal session for "Groupthink"

Working on a specific part of the song ("Groupthink") in this clip. After Chris does a few vocal takes, Ruben gets an idea for some background harmonies. Sometimes the 1st idea is the best, but not always. In this case, the last harmony we came up with sounded best. Trial and error is usually the way we operate. Keeping trying different ideas until we get one we like.

Follow our recording updates at:
Here on our blog (write-ups/video) - Official Recording Vlog
YouTube (video only) - YouTube Recording Vlog Playlist

Rickrolling, the next generation - introducing "Karma Chameleoned"

I don't know how, I don't know why, but somehow, this song got stuck in head a few days ago....and it seems impossible to remove. In fact, it's almost like quicksand....the more you struggle, the worse it gets. Well, as we all know, misery loves company, so I decided I'd post it on my personal facebook page and get it stuck in other people's heads too.

The response was tremendous, with a nice surprise effect....apparently you don't even need to hear the song to get it stuck in your head.

Awesome. That means this is way better than Rickrolling. Even if you don't get them to click the link, you still GOT them! Plus, this song is WAAAAY more obnoxious. Even the still preview of the YouTube vid makes me want to run away from the computer. haha.

Let's start a trend people! You've been Karma Chameleoned!

"Karma Karma Karma Karma...Karma Chameeellleeeoon!"

I just hope this melody doesn't subconsciously show up in one of the new songs we are mixing...