Getting Around

Just wanted to put in a quick word about a couple more open mics around town. I went to both the Local 506 and the Cave recently. The Local 506 has a great stage inside. It was remodeled a few years ago. The venue is medium sized, with a large open floor, raised benches along the walls, and a good sound system. You'll get a big, professional sound when playing here that is very forgiving of small mistakes, nice reverb, light show, etc. Sign up happened about 30 minutes before the show started.

The Cave, on the other hand, is small and intimate. As a performer, you feel very close to the audience, and it sounds like they can hear each nook and cranny of your voice. I enjoyed it very much. The quality of the sound was very true. This mic is an all-originals only, so be prepared before you show up. The sound guy (Peter, I think) maintained a "virtual list" in his head. It seemed like there was a strong community of folks here that knew each other.

Both are great open mics which you should check out!

Release of my vinyl single!

http://tomazicc.tumblr.com/post/150055442994/i-had-a-record-made

I had a friend recently put out an LP on vinyl, and I thought to myself, "hey, I can do that too!" After a bit of online research, I did find a site that would cut one-off vinyls (see Tangilble Formats). Other than getting one-off cuts, you would have to pay a major pressing opperation, which might cost up to $1000.

One-offs are direct cut onto a disk. Major pressings direct cut, then take a negative of the cut. The negative is used to press subsequent vinyls. One-offs are good for getting a sense of how a mix will sound on vinyl. They are also more cost efficient if you need less than 50 copies of a record.

The packaging looks great. The mixing could use some work. I find that the high frequencies in the digital recordings do not translate well to the records. For example, reverb on one of the guitar parts has a "artifact-like" sound on the record. It sort-of sounds like a bad mp3 file. There is also a bit of distortion.

Still, it was a fun endeavor to try it out. One of my long term goals is to get 8-10 new songs and have them pressed to vinyl.

Find me on Bandcamp

Just getting my old Bandcamp site revamped. I'm adding a couple recordings I made. One ("Mountain Boy") is an old song, while the other ("Greater, Louder, Farther") is new. I'm also having a 45 rpm record cut with these two songs, which should be ready in a couple weeks. I'll give more details on the record once I have it in hand and can take some pics.

https://christomazic.bandcamp.com/

Jazz at Durham Farmer's Market

My jazz band played the Durham Farmer's Market last Saturday. The gorgeous weather and receptive crowd made me feel great. We also put together a few "new" tunes for the show, including the Farmer and the Dell and the Mario I Theme. When we played Mario, there was a kid who took out his cell phone and video recorded us. I'm probably on a snap chat somewhere in the cloud...

The gig gave me a chance to try out my amp after the mods, and I gotta say, it sounds pretty good. My only complaint is that there doesn't seem to be much bass left in the mix. Maybe I did a bad soldering job when I modified the amp. But, maybe I'm still adjusting to an amp without that boxy bass sound. I will say that dialing up the bass on the amp does change the sound. It seems to open the sound now (like the sensation of taking ear muffs off) rather than giving me a low booming. I might need to take it it for a look see by a trained amp tech. Check out a video from our gig!

Blue Junior Re-vamp

One of my amps is an original revision-C, made in USA, Blues Junior. I like it because it's tube, very portable, and good for small club gigs. I've been really craving a different sound from it lately. The amp can be a bit boxy. It sort of sounds like a small, Fender amp. After the mods, the Blues Junior has a very open, crisp sound without harshness.

First, I changed all the tubes. I swapped the stock 12AX7 tubes with 12AY7, which do not distort as soon. Practically, this means you can turn the amp to a higher volume setting without distortion. I went from breaking up at about 4-5 on the volume, to about 7-9.

Second, I swapped the stock Eminence speaker with an Eminence Cannibus Rex. This is a warm, speaker with a bit more bass/mid response.

Finally, I performed the "Bill M" mods. Well, technically speaking, I had to purchase these from Fromel Electronics because Bill M (go ahead and google "bill m mods" and you'll find his site) never sent me the mod kit! This involved changing a few pieces on the circuit board (soldering required), fixing the horrible stock reverb, and changing the mids so that you can completely dial them out of the mix.

The amp really sounds good. I can't wait to fire it up and especially run a screaming blues solo through it. Here's a quick sample I hastily put together:

6th Floor at Open Eye

My jazz band gigged this past weekend at Open Eye with our new bass player. Acoustics of the room were tough for me to get a handle on, but I had fun anyways.

Check out my SoundCloud feed

Added a new song to my SoundCloud page. It's called "Greater, Louder, Farther" at least until I can think of a better title. :) Couple things of note. First, I'm pulling a Rossini with this one, by remaking an old melody and lyric scheme. Most of the song is new, of course, but some of it is re-purposed. Second, that's me on the violin! I picked one up it Pittsboro, NC on the way home from our honeymoon in Hot Springs, NC. Took lessons over the summer, and lately just been playing tunes. Finally, I wrote the organ solo as a duet, intending to play it on the violin. I may still do that, but I'm excited to share this one, so I'll put it out there now and maybe update it later, once I learn the parts.

Carrboro's 2nd Wind Open Mic

I've gone the past couple Sundays to this open mic, hosted by a guy named Danger, and featuring a full band backing (if you're so inclined). Sign up starts at 8 pm (though you can afford to be a few minutes late and still get a good spot). The show starts at 9 pm (again, it may be a few minutes late).

This week my 3 song set included Bowie's "Space Oddity," the folk classic "Froggy Went A Courtin'" (done up with three character voices), and an original called "Nothin At All," which despite being written in my youth (i.e., some ten years ago), has a nice melodic hook. Check out a short video below. You might need to turn up your screen brightness. ;)