Set 33 is Finished

You can visit the King Pigeon site to snag a torrent or listen to a streaming version.

It almost didn't happen! Had a big crisis in the middle of the day with seemingly insurmountable audio issues, and even wrote and briefly posted an apology on this blog saying it would be delayed once again. (For your enjoyment, I reproduce that earlier blog post in italics below.) But yes, it's done, and at last I am free to contemplate other things. :-)))

Another Delay for the Set

So, a big :-( No Set 33 on 10 February. And no more announced release dates until it's finished (this is turning into "DJ King Pigeon: Turn Off the Dark"). The artistry behind this set is magnificent--easily my best work. But the post-production has been disastrous, and I'm sort of stunned right now regarding what I'm going to do about it. Need a couple of drinks and some rest--and most of all several more days to review and repair (if that's possible).

So there you have it--the biggest problem with a 3.5 hour set. There are literally not enough hours in the day to deal with any major issues.

Set 33 - Progress Report

Guess what I'm listening to for around the 20th time in two weeks? That's right--Set 33! I'm in Hell!!!! ;-D No! Scratch that! NO winkie face! I'M IN HELL!!!!!

The last 48 hours are the worst. One day everything sounds fantastic, the next everything sounds wrong. Monday night was all fantastic--Tuesday night was all wrong, this due to reviewing the set on my "bassy" headphones and finding the levels not as perfect as they were on by "trebly" headphones. And I have only until around midnight tonight to get it all straightened out. Schedule is to finish listening this morning, make a round of volume edits during lunch (each such edit a terrifying experience since these have the potential to ruin the set), and then listen again in the afternoon. Then I head back to the motel, pay for my next week there, shower, pack a change of clothes, and come back to the office to edit and listen once again. If all goes well I will post the set by 10 PM. Then I'll have to check the downloads to make sure they are working, give a download another listen (though most likely I'll spot check it), and then announce it to the world around midnight--that is, 7 AM in Romania, 6 AM in Paris, 5 AM in London.

One thing is certain: the transitions sound remarkable--recording is now DONE. Nothing needs re-recording.

The problems at this stage always lie with the sound levels, and for reasons I've written about on this blog before...well...the bottom line is that one is doomed to fail. Either the set starts off too soft, or it winds up distorting. All I can do is accept that on a technical level the set cannot ever sound as good as I dreamed it would, and to hope that the listener enjoys the DJ'ing on display. So if the first hour is too soft, get an amplifier! If it's distorted in spots, consider it an "underground" touch. ;-)

While there is always a sense of disappointment in the final result due to the aforementioned, I always find that when I return to the set a week or two later I am quite happy with how it sounds. I'm a bit myopic right now, hearing only the trouble spots, and unable to enjoy all the fireworks on display. Like, hahaha, this transition I'm listening to right now, where a trance song suddenly turns into the perfect banjo-pickin' accompaniment to a rockabilly tune (who knew?). Lots of good stuff here, and I need to keep reminding myself of that during these tough final hours.

Rotten People

There are two classes of rotten people. One class see themselves always as undeserving victims; another class see themselves always as deserving winners.

I'm in both classes, because I'm depressed and delusional. ;-D

Drum & Bass

It never fails to fascinate me how drum & bass went from being the most po-faced genre of dance music in the 90s to the most reliable celebration of tear-the-room apart joy today.

Set 33 - Progress Report

Monday begins the final week, or more accurately, half-week of work on Set 33 before it is unleashed on you poor unwitting victims. This is the crazy time, where sleep becomes only a pretty concept.

I'll be spending lunch today making edits per notes made over the weekend, and then I will listen to the set twice on two different heaphones, which will take a total of 7 hours to get through, which means I'll be up until around 2 AM. I may spend the night here in my "studio," an empty office down the hall where three plush chairs in a row plus a snug sleeping bag and two pillows make for a surprisingly decent bed.

Then, I will wake up for a regular day of work tomorrow, spend my lunch break making edits per the previous night's listening experiences, and then drive the set again after work a couple of times until 2 AM or so.

On Wednesday I will make edits again at lunch, and then will likely post the set sometime in the evening--but without announcing the set's presence publicly. This gives me a chance to listen to it once again to make sure that nothing got lost in translation during the posting phase. I'll probably fret about something or other, and so then make another (hopefully small) round of edits and repost. Probably around 2 AM or so (9 AM Eastern European Time, 8 AM Central European Time, 7 AM Greenwich Mean Time) I will officially announce the set's presence, and that will be that.

It's exhausting to think about all this right now on this dreary and bleary Monday morning in Atlanta, but as I get closer to the goal (and see a light at the end of the tunnel), I know I'll find the strength to carry me through. :-)

All Songwriters Fall Into One of These Three Classes

1) Hacks
2) Craftsmen/Craftswomen
3) Artists

(artists further subdivided as:)

a. artists with craftsmen/craftswomen ability
b. artists without craftsmen/craftswomen ability

The hacks aspire to be craftsmen/craftswomen, but fail to understand and replicate the emotional connection between song and a typical listener.

The craftsmen/craftswomen understand how to create an emotional connection between song and listener, but lack the special madness that transforms music from passable to great.

The artists possess that special madness lacking in the craftsmen/craftswomen.

The artists with craftsmen/women ability are the best songwriters, as they exhibit the lunacy that makes a song unique and memorable without losing their ability to communicate and connect with the average listener. They are both visionaries and communicators.

The artists who lack the communication ability are the ones lost in outer space (although they may find an admiring niche audience whose psychologies coincidentally overlap with those artists' psychologies).

DJ King Pigeon - Set 33: The First 20 Minutes