Matt Meshulam's Brain Dump » music http://meshlabs.net Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:18:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Excuse me while I geek out here for a second http://meshlabs.net/2008/11/excuse-me-while-i-geek-out-here-for-a-second/ http://meshlabs.net/2008/11/excuse-me-while-i-geek-out-here-for-a-second/#comments Fri, 07 Nov 2008 06:54:50 +0000 Matt Meshulam http://meshlabs.net/?p=30 Buried deep within the Department of Music lies one of Washington University’s best-kept secrets. Rich O’Donnell, former principal percussionist for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, runs the electronic music studio, possibly one of the most badass collections of synthesizers-old and new-available to be used by college students in the country. Let’s take a peek inside, shall we?

Here you can see (from left): old Mac G4 running ProTools; a Buchla Electric Music Box; THROD, a massive modular synth built by Rich in the 70’s; and an ARP 2500. On top of the 2500 is its little brother, the 2600.

Here on the other side of the room you’ll find a Korg WaveStation and a Korg Triton. On the right there’s a Nord Modular G2, connected to a second Mac. This Mac also has Digital Performer, Ableton Live, and I think some other music production software on it. All inputs are directed to the patch bay next to the Nord for convenience, but I’m pretty sure there are some jacks that nobody knows where they go to.

Oh, and there’s also a Moog modular on the back wall:

Some other goodies not pictured: 4-track tape recorder, a decade of Electronic Musician back issues, a wall of posters from local electronic music concerts, tube amps driving those monster JBL monitors, and various percussion instruments.

Rich refers to this place as “Fantasyland,” and I must say I agree with him. It’s certainly put my lonely MicroKorg to shame.

]]> http://meshlabs.net/2008/11/excuse-me-while-i-geek-out-here-for-a-second/feed/ 1 Correlation of the Day http://meshlabs.net/2008/10/correlation-of-the-day/ http://meshlabs.net/2008/10/correlation-of-the-day/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:31:14 +0000 Matt Meshulam http://meshlabs.net/?p=16 According to the Guardian, every major economic recession in England has occurred around the time of an AC/DC album release. The correlation is staggering:

1973: AC/DC form in Sydney, Australia.
Economy: Start of the oil crisis, which saw the price quadruple

1980: AC/DC release breakthrough album Back In Black
Economy: Inflation in UK reaches 20% and unemployment nears 2 million

1990: AC/DC score comeback with The Razor’s Edge
Economy: Recession in UK imminent

2008: AC/DC top UK album charts
Economy: Biggest world recession in decades looms

This is the most important discovery in correlation science since it was found that pirates prevent global warming:

]]> http://meshlabs.net/2008/10/correlation-of-the-day/feed/ 1 Craigslist hits close to home http://meshlabs.net/2008/10/craigslist-hits-close-to-home/ http://meshlabs.net/2008/10/craigslist-hits-close-to-home/#comments Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:30:17 +0000 Matt Meshulam http://meshlabs.net/?p=10 On Saturday, Broken Social Scene came to the Gargoyle for our second show of the semester. If you’ve never been to the Gargoyle, just picture a basement cafeteria with big speakers and filled with sweaty indie kids. We are proud to be the leading shithole concert venue in the St. Louis metro area. Which explains why I was so amused to come across this posting on Craigslist:

To the woman wildly swinging her purse at Broken Social Scene – m4w – 26 (The Gargoyle)

You snaked your way through the ass-to-ankles crowd so that you could stand directly next to my friends and me. You were alone, a fact about which you must have been quite bitter and decided to take out on us. You clung to a 100% Naugahyde purse. It was the biggest fucking purse I’ve ever seen. And I know what you had in there: baby skulls.

And it gets better from there. I nominated it for Best-of-Craigslist, and I hope you’ll do the same.

Hat tip to St. Louis music blog A to Z

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