Author: Paul

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Animated iPad Music Video Almost Done! So, So Close…

Still from the upcoming iPad animated music video for I know I posted last week about how close this video was to being done, but I really mean it this time. Seriously, I can taste it!

After over 2 months of animating on my iPad using Animation Creator HD our video for “People” is literally frames away from being finished! Would you believe I actually overshot the frame count and have been carefully cutting all week? All I’ve got to do now is add the big finish!

…Also, sadly, rumours of a Batman cameo have been greatly exaggerated.

UPDATE: It’s Done!

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DIY Effects: Cookie Tin Paramix Pedal Video Demo

I’ve been building a few crazy pedals lately, so expect a lot of video demos in and around things like our upcoming animated music video for “People”.

Case in point, the very versatile and useful Paramix circuit from Guitarpcb.com (designed by Tonmann). This sort of pedal can be a bit difficult to explain (as you can no doubt infer from my nonsensical ramblings in the video demo), but, while it’s no in your face fuzz or swirly phaser, it adds new options to how things like your fuzz or phaser can interact. You can almost think of it as allowing them to live beside each other instead of mashing on top of one another.

Just trust me when I say it really is an awesome pedal. I wouldn’t steer you wrong, would I? Also, that oranges and lemons tin is pretty great anyway…

Check out the build documents at the forum here (where you can also buy the circuit board) and the mods I did are here.

Paramix

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Animated iPad Music Video Coming Soon!

People Animated Music Video StillIf you follow us on Twitter or pay attention to our inter-band/marital disputes on Facebook then you might have heard that I’m working on a 1600 frame animated music video for “People” done completely on my iPad 2 using the Animation Creator HD app. I’m only a few hundred frames away!

People Animated Music Video StillHere are a few stills from this lo-fi magnum-opus that I hope to have finished soon. That cute little stud is yours truly (Laura’s a lucky girl….) and I’m putting him through all kinds of zany stream-of-consciousness situations.

Suffice to say this video has been consuming most of my waking hours for the past few months (aside from semi-aborted attempts at a Replacements cover—more to come on that). We’re hoping to bulk up our Youtube channel with a few other videos too (not to mention a gazillion more pedal demos for all my fellow gear-heads). Stay tuned!

UPDATE: It’s Done!

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Gadgets: DIY Blinking Band Sign

I cobbled this blinking band sign together a while back (painted using a similar spray-paint method as shown in our video for “Raise Your Dead (Reprise)”), but it’s one of my more precarious DIY efforts so it’s often out of commission. I fixed it up again the other night and thought it’s time to finally show it off.

It’s got 2 settings: the first just has the lights on constantly and the second has them blink to the input of Laura’s trusty Korg Polysix. You can see my lovely assistant demonstrating that for you above (we had to do a few takes, as she’s a real ham. At least one version ended with her yelling “Dog Is blue” while fist pumping…in retrospect I definitely should have used that one!).

I want to repaint the name and make the words themselves light up, but it does the job in the meantime!

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Dog Is Blue Live: Rancho Relaxo with Hue, James & Blackburn and Illitry

Dog Is Blue Live at Ranch Relaxo, Feb. 16 2012Photo by R.Mirsky

  • When: Feb. 16, 2012
  • Where: Rancho Relaxo, Toronto ON
  • Who with: Hue, James & Blackburn, Illitry
    Set List:

  • Tortoise
  • Dusty Bones
  • Young Enough (Ukulele)
  • Till the End of the Day (Kinks cover)
  • Southern Ontario
  • People
  • Raise Your Dead (Ukulele)
  • Laura’s Song (Ukulele)

Shows like this past Thursday at Rancho Relaxo are why we play live music. All the bands sounded great, the crowd seemed to enjoy themselves as much as we did, we didn’t have any technical difficulties AND the sound was amazing. We should probably retire now.

Something clicked earlier in the evening when we decided to start the set with “Tortoise”. We usually ease in to that one, so it definitely signaled a “show them that 2 people can rock pretty damn hard” approach to the set that was a lot of fun. We also brought out the ukulele again for a few songs, which seemed to go over well (especially during “Laura’s Song”).

The whole shebang was put together by the good folks at The Indie Machine, so we definitely recommend checking them out for future shows.

If you’re looking for a less biased recap of the show with some great pictures (not unlike the one above by our pal R.Mirsky) check out the writeup at Buyingshotsforbands.com. If nothing else that review reveals the scary fact that some people are actually listening to the nonsense that Paul says between songs. Scary indeed.

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DIY Effects: Video Demo of Stutter Tremolo Pedal

DIY Stutter Tremolo Tin PedalIt’s been a while since I built a new guitar pedal. Putting together that gallery of all the ones I built in 2011 made me realize that I only finished a half-dozen or so the whole year. I guess that means I’m spending the rest of my time actually making music, right?

In any case, here’s a lovely lady I like to call ‘Stuttering Ginger.’ As I explain in the video demo below, I had to eat a lot of candy to empty that tin out (the pedal builders diet?). What’s inside now is a very choppy tremolo circuit called the ‘Stutter Trem’ designed by Forced Fire Pedals.

She’s a real beaut and I don’t actually have a standalone tremolo these days, so she’ll fill that niche very nicely. Check out the demo below if you want to hear me ramble…

DIY Stutter Tremolo Tin Pedal

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Show Recap: Broadview Espresso with Anna Atkinson & Our New Ukulele

Dog Is Blue live at Broadview Espresso with Anna Atkinson

  • When: Jan. 7, 2012
  • Where: Broadview Espresso, Toronto ON
  • Who with: Anna Atkinson
    Set List:

  • Dusty Bones
  • She Said
  • People w/Anna Atkinson
  • Young Enough (Ukulele)*
  • Till the End of the Day (Kinks cover)
  • Southern Ontario (Ukulele)*
  • Alligator Song
  • Raise Your Dead (Ukulele)*
  • Laura’s Song (Ukulele)*
  • *First time

This recap has been a long time coming. I held off a bit to get our favourite albums of 2011 and gallery of pedals I built last year posted first before we were too deep into 2012!

When this poster went up around our neighbourhood people thought Laura was leaving the band*. I suppose we should have clarified that it was her farewell to Broadview Espresso (we live across the street though, so take “farewell” very loosely…). Suffice to say she sold her soul to Dog Is Blue a looooong time ago…

Speaking of posters, I always try to save the ones we tape to the counter at the coffee shop, as after a few weeks they look wonderfully grizzled and abused by all the drips and spills. Sadly, I’ve only actually been able to rescue one of them, but a vigilant friend took the photo above before it got tossed.

As for the show itself, what more can you say about Anna Atkinson than she’s awesome? This time around she had accompaniment in the form of stand-up bass and vocals, which only made the experience more ethereal and charming in the intimate setting.

We kept the atmosphere light by debuting 4 songs newly arranged for the concert ukulele (we’re working on recording these for fun, so stay tuned). Speaking of which, Laura completely one-upped me by running the uke through one of my fuzz pedals during “Laura’s Song” —I can jealously admit that the sonic destruction was magnificent!

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Dog Is Blue show if the audio/video equipment didn’t malfunction. We were set to record the whole shebang through multiple mics, but somehow only ended up with Anna’s set. The nerdy A/V gods are still mad at us apparently. We’ll sacrifice a VCR for them before the next show.

*They also thought someone drew that moustache on her, but that’s actually one of Laura’s self-portraits as is.
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Best of 2011: Our Favourite Albums By Other Bands

Sandro Perri - Impossible SpacesRich Aucoin - We're All Dying to LiveMy Morning Jacket - CircuitalMiracle Fortress - Was I The Wave?Shotgun Jimmie - Transistor SisterThe Burning Hell - Flux CapacitorHooded Fang - Tosta MistaBeirut - The Rip TideTimber Timbre - Creep On Creepin' OnIron & Wine - Kiss Each Other CleanDoug Hoyer - Walks with the Tender and Growing NightWilco - The Whole Love

I know it’s getting a bit late to do 2011 year end lists, but it was another great year for music, so I wanted to quickly make a note of the albums we enjoyed most.

Here they are in no particular order (except that Sandro Perri really was #1 …so good):

Sandro Perri – Impossible Spaces
Rich Aucoin – We’re All Dying to Live
My Morning Jacket – Circuital
Miracle Fortress – Was I The Wave?
Shotgun Jimmie – Transistor Sister
The Burning Hell – Flux Capacitor
Hooded Fang – Tosta Mista
Beirut – The Rip Tide
Timber Timbre – Creep On Creepin’ On
Iron & Wine – Kiss Each Other Clean
Doug Hoyer – Walks with the Tender and Growing Night
Wilco – The Whole Love

Check them all out if you get the chance and support the bands making such amazing music! We’ve got lots on the go for 2012, so expect some new tunes from us as the year chugs along.

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DIY Effects: Homemade MKC1 Mini Klon Pedal

DIY Klon Centaur pedal with mods

With all the hype the Klon Centaur pedal gets I couldn’t help but try my hand at a project based on its likeness. This isn’t really a clone, as guitarpcb.com (where I get a lot of circuit boards for these projects) has stripped their MKC1 down to the bare essentials, while also adding some really useful modifications, like a bass toggle and extra stomp for even more gain.

I can’t really say how close to the “real thing” this circuit is, but a) it’s a great sounding overdrive and b) this build reminds me how perfect Fossil watch tins are for building pedals.

I’ve started gigging with this bad boy and it works very well with my BYOC 250 (the first pedal I built) to create some great lead sounds.

DIY Klon Centaur pedal in a Fossil watch tin with mods

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New Music: Holiday Stan Rogers & Flaming Lips Combo Song!

The 2011 Zunior Holiday BlenderI don’t blame you for thinking that headline sounds a bit ridiculous, but it’s true: we’ve got a new tune on Zunior’s annual charity Christmas compilation that blends the melody of Stan Rogers’ classic “Barrett’s Privateers” with the lyrics of The Flaming Lips “Christmas At the Zoo.”

Not only that, but our song is in amazingly zany company, as our good friends The Burning Hell have combined “Summer of ’69” with “Deck the Halls” and Nick Zubeck’s blend of “Sunglasses At Night” and “Silent Night” is amazing.

In case it’s not obvious, the mandate for this year’s charity collection (Zunior does a holiday compilation every year to benefit the Daily Bread Food Bank) was to take a revered Canadian song and overlay the lyrics of a Christmas classic. Our interpretation of those two things was a bit more loose than some, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t the most fun we’ve had in the studio in a long time. On paper it’s definitely the weirdest thing we’ve ever recorded, but I’d like to think we added our own strange holiday flare to the whole thing.

Check out the compilation at Zunior.com for only $8.88 and get some crazy original music for the holidays along with the warm & fuzzies of supporting a great charity.

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