I've been really happy with my Aphex 1100 preamp unit over the years. But the past year or so, it's been having some audio problems with some crackling on the decay tail of notes, as well as some general button flakiness. I decided to contact Aphex for repairs, sending a detailed description of the problem, and an audio file to demonstrate it.

That was a month and a half ago on March 1st. A week later, on March 8th, I hadn't heard anything, so I wrote again. The next day, an engineer replied saying the waveform was too distorted to analyze. Ok, fine, I replied with another example a couple hours later.

11 days pass. No response. I send another ping.

8 days pass. Still no response. I send another ping, this time CCing the president of the company and a couple other relevant people.

2 days pass. I finally get a response, asking a few questions about trying another method. I track down a cable for this, and reply with new audio files a few days later. The engineer promises an RMA number when he gets back to the office on Monday.

Monday passes. So does Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I send another ping. Friday passes, then Saturday, Sunday and another Monday. Today is Tuesday and I'm sending yet another ping.

At this point, I've already purchased another preamp because I'm afraid if I ever do send the unit in, it'll take an eternity to get it back. I'll be updating this post as the saga continues.

Update, an hour later: I now have an RMA to return the unit for repairs! They claim to have sent it five days ago, and though I don't see any records of this in GMail, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. I'll send this off in the next couple days and keep updating as I find out more!

Update, April 24th: They received the unit from UPS.

Update, May 4th: Haven't heard anything from yet - no confirmation, no estimate. Emailing to see what's up.

Update, May 5th: They responded quickly that they would be repairing it, burning it in overnight, and then contacted me today. The total came out to $98 plus shipping, which is very reasonable if everything is working well.

Update, May 12th: It's back. I just plugged it in and strummed a few chords, and guess what? Not a damn bit of difference. FML. Demanded a refund on the repair charge.

Update, May 19th: Maybe not a happy ending, but at least one good note: refund has been processed with no hassle.

Here's another new tune! This one is almost definitely the creepiest song I've ever written. I won't give it away, but I'm guessing after listening to it, nobody will be brave enough to tell me they didn't like it. ;-)

Under the Stairs: (MP3, Lyrics, Share)

Production Notes:

Just a typical recording. I think the guitar is in mono, which I've been enjoying lately. There's a real cello and a sampled piano (NI's Akoustik). There's also a really quiet bell sound, but I think it's more subliminal than anything.

Anyway. Here's a new one called "Overthrown". It's been earworming me for weeks, so I guess that's a good sign. Here's hoping it ends up driving you nuts as well. :)

Overthrown: (MP3, Lyrics, Share)

I've been wanting to write a song about immigration for years, but I could never figure out how to tackle it. I finally got my thoughts down on paper and said exactly what I wanted to say. Enjoy.

Border Blaster: (MP3, Lyrics, Share)

Production Notes:

Simple arrangement here - just vocals, acoustic (in mono, for a sparser sound), a cello, and an electric (direct in, through Guitar Rig 3 for now). I'm using the stock preamps on my Onyx 400F for this, since my Aphex 1100 has been doing some annoying crackling on note fade-outs.

I dusted off the 12-string to record this new tune. It's a bit cheerier than the rest of the new batch of tunes, musically at least. Enjoy!

Stars Collide: (MP3, Lyrics, Share)

Production Notes:

I'm going to try listing out the tracks this time, to give a better idea what's there. The mic is listed in parentheses after the track name. Let me know if you're a production geek and this is useful to you.

1. Lead Vocal (414): Melodyne > De-Esser > REq (150hz high-pass and a 5dB bump at 1khz) > RVox compression (moderate) > Delay (my usual settings, 6% mix) > Doubler (two doubles, panned almost center, mixed -15dB).
2. Background Vocals (414): Melodyne > De-Esser > EQ (same) > RVox (same)
3. 12-String Acoustic (Stereo 414s): RComp (aggressive threshold in louder parts, 3.5:1 ratio, 16ms attack) > Stereo imager (60% width) > REq (125 high-pass and 4dB boost at 1.8khz). Recorded in the live room instead of the usual dry control room.
4. Akoustik Piano (Bechstein in concert hall): RComp (catches peaks of louder notes, 3:1 ratio, 22ms attack). Panned 25% right.
5. Glockenspiel (Stereo 414s): RComp (Aggressive threshold, 2.25:1 ratio, 25ms attack) > REq (340hz high-pass, +11db at 1.9khz). Panned 27% left.
6. Shakers (Stereo 414s): Straight, panned 33% left.
7. Tambourine (Stereo 414s): Straight, panned 37% right.
8. Hand claps (Stereo 414s): 7 takes at different points in the stereo spectrum, frozen into a single track.
9. EZDrummer (Pop/Rock Kit): For the cymbal rolls only. I don't have any marshmallow mallets to do that myself. :-(

The non-vocal tracks are mixed to a bus as usual, but I didn't use any compression like I normally would. The reverb is TrueVerb's Studio A preset with a decay time of 1.5s. The master bus has an L3 with a gentle threshold.

Here's one that's been gurgling around my head for a couple months now. It took forever to nail down onto tape, and I'm still not quite done, but this is a 2008 song and doesn't want to wait an extra day.

Oh, and this is my 150th song to be released! Granted, one of those songs was "Danger Bus", but I'm still pretty proud. :)

Private Hurricane: (MP3, Lyrics, Share)

Production Notes:

The electric guitar is all Telecaster. The main riff is with the middle pickup position, going into my new toy, a Deluxe Memory Man analog delay/chorus pedal. It went into the Pro Junior amp section with the Blackface speaker cabinet, then into a blend of three mics (Apex, 414, and a little SM-57). It was noisy, so I set up an X-noise for each mic, and enveloped the reduction parameter to take more out in the quiet parts where you hear it more. I might try reamping it again to make it sound smoother later, but for now it'll work.

The vocals (except for the last chorus, where I needed more brightness) were recorded with the Apex 215 ribbon mic. I love the richness and smoothness it gives when you don't need something super-bright. And for an $80 mic, I have no complaints!

I screwed up my left hand while recording the drums. I didn't quite have a good take of the last section of the song when a blister broke, but I had to finish it up, so I did one more take and nailed it. From the solo on, the drums were played in agonizing pain. :D

There are a few random background instruments. The banjo kicks in for the middle of the first verse. The accordion shows up through most of the song. There's a piano part that plays low arpeggiated 1-5-1 chords at the start of each measure of the loud parts.

For mastering, I've been going toward the direction of even quieter and more dynamic than before. It'll be a challenge to make the quiet intro mesh in an album context, but for now I like the way the loud parts punch you.

I finally have instrumental versions of the songs from "Here Today" available! I originally couldn't do these, but the remix project made it possible to make instrumental versions. You can download them all for free, and use them for free in your projects as you would with any of my other music.

I also have another new song that's about ready to launch. Check back in a day or two!

Here's another new tune. This one started its life as an acoustic song, but it never quite gelled for me. But since I've spending more time on this batch, and working with new ideas, I decided to try a completely different arrangement - an almost 70s soul feel - and it made all the difference.

20/20: (MP3, Lyrics, Share)

Production Notes:

One odd aspect to the production of this is that despite using mostly virtual instruments, it's one of the more organic songs I've done. The keyboards and bass were all done in one take each, with no envelopes to fiddle with dynamics. The whole song could be done as-is with a power trio (assuming the keyboardist was nimble).

Stuff used: NI Elektrik Piano (Wurlitzer), NI B4 Organ, EZDrummer Vintage.

Here's another new tune! This one clocks in at almost 6 minutes, making it easily the longest song I've ever done. Add to that a really complicated arrangement, and you've got a song that took way too much time to record. Enjoy!

Grey Snow: (MP3, Lyrics, Share)

Production Notes:

This was a beast to mix, in part because of the 13 tracks of guitars. I recorded them direct-in, and used my fancy new reamp box to feed it later through my Tube Screamer into the Blackface. I miced it with a 414 and an Apex 205, but I mostly used the feed from the Apex. The bass guitar was also reamped through a massive fuzz box to give it edge, and then I enveloped that track to bring the fuzz in and out as needed. The repeated staccato hits is where it's loudest. There's also a Minimoog bassline in parts, also distorted to hell and back.

In the meantime, I have a vast archive of unfinished riffs in search of lyrics. I was digging through it, looking for ideas, when I came across this gem. I wouldn't dare touch anything and try to improve upon it, because it's perfection as it is.

I have my newest tune, "Swansong", up on the site and remixed a little. Enjoy!

Swansong: (MP3, Lyrics, Share)

Production Notes:

Fairly straightforward. The acoustic was miced in XY since there was enough room in the mix. I've got an envelope on the high-pass frequency to gut out the sound when the rest of the mix comes in, since the super-low-tuned strings would interfere with the bass guitar. I used my eBow on the electric guitar during the breakdown, and those parts go through Waves GTR.

It's been a good eight months since I wrote a song, so when it was brought to my attention that my five year Songfightaversary was coming up, I decided to put together a song for this week's contest for old times' sake. You can listen and download it here! The fight title is "Stomach For It", but I'm renaming my entry to "Swansong". While you're there, take a listen to the other great tunes and be sure to vote for your favorites!

Hey everyone, sorry for the quietness around here lately. Things have been a little crazy. :) But I've got some new tunes in the works that should be trickling out shortly. In the meantime, I wanted to pass along a couple links to new interviews I've done recently.

I'm featured in this month's issue of Findlay Living magazine. It's pretty accurate, though I don't recall ever playing at the Springs of Life café for some odd reason. :D

I was also interviewed for the GarageBand.com newsletter this month. That was pretty cool, because it goes out to over 90,000 people. The full text of it is in the "Read More" below...

Web favorite Josh Woodward finds audience with free music

The digital world has changed music, and GB artist Josh Woodward is living proof. With the same tools at his disposal as most independent artists, he released seven albums in the past five years and saw over a million MP3s downloaded from his website. With multiple chart-topping hits at GarageBand.com and worldwide Web-based audience to boot, what separates this unsigned artist from the pack? The obvious reason is that Woodward's music is great, which it is. Of course, it's also free. All 120+ tracks of it. "For the first time in history, you can get your music out to anywhere in the world instantly, but there are also millions of others doing the same thing, competing for the same ears," Woodward told us. Standing out by offering his entire creative catalog for free, Woodward's emotionally resonant dark acoustic pop/rock has found a niche of its own. "The biggest advantage to giving my music away has been in finding an audience," he said, adding that he still makes money from his music by selling CDs on a sliding scale at his well-attended live shows. "I have a distinctive style that won't necessarily appeal to most people, but I'm having more luck finding an audience than someone who's trying to sound like every other popular band out there," he said. "If you find ways to stand out from the crowd, the web will be your best friend." He also gave us some of the best props we've ever received in an artist interview: "It wouldn't be overstating it to say that GarageBand.com is the most useful online resource for indie musicians," he said. "It started as a great way to get unbiased and targeted feedback about the demos I was working on. But when iLike came around, it became probably my biggest single source of new listeners. The Facebook integration was the icing on the cake. It's always the first thing out of my mouth when a musician asks me for advice." And what would be Woodward's advice for other members looking to use GarageBand.com to its fullest? "Don't just upload a song or two: add lots, and put them through the review cycle! Not only does it open up promotional avenues, it gives you humbling but extremely useful feedback. Take the time to do quality reviews yourself, because it's what makes the site work. Talk to your fellow musicians. And definitely consider offering at least a few songs under the 'Anyone can download and share' permissions." Free advice from a guy who knows what 'free' really means -- if you're feeling the urge to get your music out there, get in your garage and go for it!

Overall, the biggest problem with the originals were the vocals. I didn't know anything about singing, I didn't have the ability to easily do comped parts, and I didn't take my time when I recorded these. I was so far off that Autotune wasn't going to cut it. It's a bandaid, where most of these songs needed surgery. So I tried out Melodyne, and discovered that it's simply magical. Transparent, yet incredibly effective. Listenable vocals: check.

From a mix standpoint, the original was incredibly heavy-handed with EQ. Side-by-side, the new mixes might sound downright dull next to the old ones, but the overhyped treble was so grating and fatiguing.

The original mixes were mastered too hot overall. It might just be the fact that I've become a more militant fighter against the loudness wars, but I brought these down to give them less clipping, more room to breathe and more dynamics. Side-by-side, some of the old mixes might even sound better, but only because the human ear thinks louder sounds better. Turn up the volume knob on the new ones and you'll hear the real difference.

1. Incoherent - It was tough to work with this one. Without any electric guitar parts, I wasn't able to add the crunch I wanted. Adding some grunge to the vocals and plugged-in acoustic track helped. The vocals on the original were a disaster, so it took some massive surgery to get them into shape.
2. Mona Lisa - I'd saved the raw electric guitar part so I was able to reprocess it. The original acoustic parts were too clicky and intrusive, so I mono-ized them, scooped out the EQ and de-essed them to kill the pick clicks. Some extra compression smoothed this out and popped it up. I should use the dumbek more often, it sounds cool.
3. Dust - I actually had to pull out the frequencies around 1khz from my voice, instead of my usual boost. I sang really differently back then.
4. Troublemaker - This is one of the ones I was most excited to get my paws on. I always liked the production on the original, but felt like it could really scream with what I know now. Tightening up the vocals helped immensely, especially the doubled ones. I was somewhat restricted what I could do, though, because a lot of stuff was already bounced. The drums were pre-mixed and the vocal telephone distortion effect was printed, as was the autowah bassline.
5. House In My Head - The biggest headache was the fact this was recorded a full 50 cents flat (or sharp, since that's half-way between half steps). Once I adjusted everything to deal with that, this one was easy. I brought up the sound effects because they sound cool.
6. Learn to Fly - I've never liked this arrangement much, but I was able to clean up the timing a little, which always bugged me.
7. Nothing in the Dark - This was a pain in the ass. Like a lot of these songs, I sequenced the electronic parts in FruityLoops and printed them to tape on one stereo track (so I can't change them or adjust their relative properties). In this case, the drums, looped acoustic guitar groove and organ were all together. Worse - the organ was fairly flat compared to the other tracks. I buried it a bit, and adjusted the pitch of the bass guitar down about 20 cents since it was in its own world. I needed a tuner back then.
8. Soft Orange Glow - The original was especially harsh-sounding, and this came out a lot smoother.
9. Morning After - I found a hidden cool accordion part that I didn't use in the final version for some reason! It was a few takes of fumbled parts on top of the first chorus. It made more sense in the second, so I comped it in there.
10. Home Improvement - The dumbek part in the original was tragically undermixed, and bringing it up really improves the groove. The "steakhouse" line was a last-minute addition that I later regretted, so I spliced in the original "100mph" line here. I stretched the rules a little on this one (while still staying in my parameters) by adding a harmony line to the second and third choruses. It's simply a Melodyne pitch-shifted version of what was already there, but it works well.
11. Midnight Sun - This whole song was recorded about 20 cents flat. That's why the piano solo sounds like crap; I couldn't pitch-shift it back then. I do now, and now everything is happier.
12. Wake Up - Another one where the dumbek was mixed too low originally and it really brings out the groove here. There was also a bizarre mystery on the original outtake tracks: the last line of the third verse with completely different lyrics that I don't remember at all, but that have been listed on my website since I added the song. And the lyrics are even better than what was released. Even better, it was recorded in three-part harmony! Score.
13. Sleepy Thought - I almost didn't remix this one because I couldn't find it! It was saved under a different name. I didn't need to do much here. I used a multiband compressor on the guitar to kill the boomy low notes. I hid a couple of the electric guitar licks that didn't work.

Thanks so much for everyone for coming and packing the place for my first show back from hiatus. It was so much fun to be back. Extra special thanks to Jamie Dull, Brad Roll and Marshall Miller for stepping up and helping me rock out full-band style. That's the most fun I've had in ages, and I'm truly lucky to have such great friends on both sides of the stage.

Hopefully there will be video posted soon! And stay tuned for something interesting in the coming days!

Oh, and I've been working on an interesting little project that will be unleashed that day, as well. ;-)

Am I the only one who thinks that Tina Fey needs to come back to Saturday Night Live until November, now that McCain has picked Sarah Palin for his VP slot? Come to think about it, why not just go straight to the source and nominate Tina herself. She could play herself very convincingly on SNL, and she's just as qualified as Palin is to be VP...