Instrumental Invasion, 5/24/23 May 25, 2023
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Animation, Astronomy, Audio, City Pop, Comedy, Internet, Jazz, Music, Personal, Photography, Radio, Technology, TV, Video, World Music.add a comment
The May 24 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was the fourth show in a row with the talk breaks recorded in one day, and second in a row/third out of four to be recorded and mixed in one day. The recording/mixing date was March 22. Pickups were recorded on the night of the 22nd and mid-afternoon on the 24th.
The playlist was created March 18 with annotations on the 20th and the talk break script draft on the 21st.
The scoped aircheck before further details:
After immersing myself in Casiopea music for the first few weeks as a city pop aficionado and Japanophile (my post about the first eight days), I introduced The Square/T-Square into my musical diet. The jumping-off place was “Texas Kid” from their third album, Make Me a Star, thanks to a March 10 post in the Japanese city pop and fusion collectors Facebook group I belong to. The member commented on his post with a link to “Texas Kid” on T-Square’s YouTube topic channel:
I listened several times from March 10 to 17 before delving into the T-Square topic channel’s full catalog. As I type this paragraph on the morning March 23, I am up to New-S (1991). (I also have to contend with construction work and chatter in my neighbors’ backyard.) And as I type this before publication on May 25, I skipped from B.C. A.D. to FLY! FLY! FLY! and WISH.
My first impression of “Texas Kid” was that it sounded like an homage to The Crusaders. So, I made the first segment with them and The Square in mind. The song I ultimately chose, “Honky Tonk Struttin’,” tied in with the feel of “Texas Kid.” I extended the Texas theme into the second segment by including “An Evening in Dallas” by Joe McBride and “Houston” by David Benoit (told you he’d be back). All that was preceded by a nod to “The Eyes of Texas.”
“Houston” was recycled from last August 17, nine months and one week ago. It gave me an opportunity (during the talk break afterward) to work in a funny text-to-speech dub from the following Technology Connections video (at the 19:48 mark):
Here is the dub on its own:
The joke about not telling a wizard to “make me a star” lest he zap you to the Milky Way was a nod to a scene in episode 68b of Garfield and Friends:
ORSON (narrating for Booker and Sheldon): The wizard Bo ran a little restaurant at the edge of the forest where he made magic and sandwiches. Occasionally, he got his two skills confused.
(Bo, in wizard garb, stands behind the counter, wiping a glass. Roy walks in and takes a seat.)
ROY: Hiya, Bo. Make me a sandwich.
BO: Okay. You’re a sandwich, man. (Bo transforms Roy into a sandwich.) Oh, like, sorry, dude. I’ll, uh, change you back.
(Roy returns to normal, but with his face covered in mayonnaise. Wade, as The Ugly Duckling, walks in with a bag over his face.)
WADE: Wizard, you must help me. I… (He notices Roy.) Uh, why do you have mayonnaise all over you?
ROY (exasperated): Don’t ask.
U.S. Acres in “The Ugly Duckling” (originally aired October 19, 1991) – written/voice directed by Mark Evanier
Gregg Berger as Orson Pig, Thom Huge (“HUE-ghee”) as Roy Rooster, Frank Welker as Bo Sheep, Howard Morris as Wade Duck
This show also marked the first week with tracks from Les Sabler‘s Flying High CD – thank you, Dave Love (speaking of Joe McBride) – and the debut of world music duo Strunz & Farah via their Syncretic Strings album.
I went 75 seconds over, thanks to a lengthy talk break in the first segment and another 21 in the fourth segment, but with short talk breaks here and omitted tidbits there, I broke even by the last segment. (My “even” is 1:49:00.)
Recording and mixing a full show in one day is as exhausting as running a marathon. Flubs were plentiful and mouth clicks were everywhere. Adobe Audition‘s declicker only goes so far. On the plus side, I finally realized the need to orient the microphone at my second location vertically to match the sound at home.
Second location mic:
Home mic with Kaotica Eyeball attached:
Back next week with more music.
Instrumental Invasion, 4/12/23 April 13, 2023
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Astronomy, Audio, City Pop, Computer, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Sci-Fi, Technology, Video, Video Games.add a comment
The April 12 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded entirely on February 22, the day after my city pop journey began.
The playlist was created February 8, except for the last segment on the 10th. Annotations started on February 14 and finished on the 15th. The talk break script was drafted on the 21st.
This is the third week in a row with two Chick Corea songs, and second where the first song was followed by an Earl Klugh song.
I expanded my Maynard Ferguson collection with three of his latest albums, debuting this week. Maynard and Will Donato covered different songs with the same title: “I’ll Be Around.” One was the Alec Wilder standard, the other by The Spinners. Of course, last week, I played two versions of the same song: “Sunrise” by Chet Atkins.
Fourplay‘s “Aniversario” was originally played on December 30, 2020, and Najee‘s “Bounce” was first heard on August 10, 2022.
I had the opposite problem of last week, ending up two minutes and 30 seconds under after five segments! Thus, I filled the void with an extra song and reworked the final talk break. That song was David Murray’s 8-Bit Keys arrangement of “The Unknown Planet” by John Keating (or Johnny Keating), as adapted by Rob Hubbard for the video game Warhawk. In my haste, I forgot I played a Cedar Walton song (“The Early Generation”) in the first segment that featured Freddie Hubbard, so I didn’t emphasize Rob’s first name. Here is the accompanying 8-Bit Keys video:
The plan worked too well and I had to give back five seconds in the fourth segment. Either way, the last segment was the longest I’ve ever produced: 20 minutes and 45 seconds, breaking the old record set on January 4.
Click here to download this week’s scoped aircheck or listen below:
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