web log 08 (176-200)

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Volume 8

Posts 176-200

Friday, February 29, 2008 to

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

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F R I D AY, F E B R U ARY 2 9 , 2 0 0 8

Studio News: ORC Album Extension

The original intent of the O RC album was to record between January 1 andFebruary 29 and have a completed album released in March. It was soon realized

this was not going to be possible. So the deadline was extended a month, but at

the current rate of recording the album will not be finished by the end of March

either.

It has been decided that the album will be finished when it's finished. All deadlines

have been cancel ed. And since recording isn't at the furious pace it started out this

update may not be as informative on a weekly basis as it has been in the last few

weeks. There will be future updates on the ORC album, but they will not be

documenting every movement Me tal XOR Studio makes.

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 3:26 PM 0 commentsLabels: Studio News

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SAT U R D AY, M A R C H 1 , 2 0 0 8

State of the Studio #7: March '08

There will be a lot of fresh, new material hitting the blog thi s month. Here is asummary of changes to some of the regular features.

Album of the Week - This is the longest -running weekly feature of the blogand it will still be here for quite some time. But later this month we shift

into "Vintage" phase where there will be albums highlighted that were not

really "albums", just tapes with collections of songs on them. And the first

round of "Vintage" albums will be from Jason's early keyboard years .

Musician Profile - This Wednesday feature will soon be replaced by onecalled Equipment File . This will showcase an instrument or piece ofrecording gear the Studio currently uses or has used in the past.

Studio Chapter - This wi ll be the new Monday feature and will start at thebeginning of the Studio's history (before it even had a name) and each week

will explain the next version of the Studio as it was rebuilt so many times.

There have been issues with my file hosting site lately. They seem to be

unavailable much of the time, which means all links to songs, videos, or

publications temporarily go down. Unless I decide to find another host we will have

to put up with this inconvenience until they get their act together and can pr ovide

stable service again.

As far as projects go, O RC will be an ongoing project now. There will be ocassional

updates telling the progress of the album but it will be a while before the album is

released. And there is another recording session of Paige planned for this month.

This will lead up to the release of her second album this fall.

It's going to be a busy month here at the Studio, but it should be another fun one.

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 6:54 AM 0 commentsLabels: State of the Studio

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SU N D AY , M A R C H 2 , 2 0 0 8

Album of the Week #28: Heimlich Maneuver

Project name: The Two -TonesAlbum name: Heimlich Maneuver

Release date: December 5, 1989

Release format: cassette

Studio name: none

Tracks: 1. Hog

2. Swine Time

3. Italian Sunrise

4. Belmont

5. Princess

6. Disco Primavera

7. Euthanasia

8. Fat Girl

9. Art T hing 10. What About That?

11. Rock of Ages

12. Bird's -Eye View of the Bema

13. Tim es Tuff

14. Dairy Queen (Revisited)

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15. Donkey Hotay

16. Tres Gringos

17. Misnomer

It was at the end of Jason and Harry 's junior year (1987 -88) in high school whenthey got together with their friend Jeremy at Harry's house and recorded a song

called "Hog" about their English teacher. That song was the catalyst for them to

continue writing and recording music for the next year.

They had been recording since March of 1988 but "Hog" was their crowning

achievement. Most of their songs dealt with inside jokes during their senior year at

school and making fun of various people.

The or igin of the album title has been lost to history. But there was a play on

words at one point and it was almost titled The Hind - Lick Maneuver .

It was mostly Jason, Harry, and Jeremy in the songs but their friends Darrin and

Joe were at some of the recordin g sessions.

The recording technique was as basic as one could get. They set a standard

cassette recorder in the middle of Harry's bedroom and usually sat in a circle

around it and played the music and sang. The songs were usually recorded in onetake, alt hough alternate takes of some songs do exist.

In June of 1989, Jeremy moved away to attend West Point. So the first week of

July was spent by Jason timing all their recordings and arranging a playlist for the

album. Soon the album was created and a lyric booklet typed up. But then the

album sat on a shelf for months. It wasn't until October that the lyric booklet was

printed and December when the tape was finally loaned to various people to hear.

There was a second version of the Two -Tones in the fall of 1989 where Joe sat in

for Jeremy. A few songs were recorded but it was after the Heimlich Maneuver

was complete. So they have never been released.

This album will no doubt end up on CD some day, possibly a 2 -CD set containing

many of the other songs not o n the original album. But that's another project in a

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long list to be completed.

Next week's Album of the Week: My First Album by Paige from 2007.

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 6:45 AM 0 commentsLabels: Album of the Week

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M O N D AY , M A R C H 3 , 2 0 0 8

Studio Chapter 1: [unnamed - early]

The earliest days of Metal XOR Studio can be traced back to Jason and Harrysinging their ad -libbed lyrics to instrumental music on the radio (1985 -87).

Although they recorded their songs at various houses, when they recorded in

Jason's room it was with nothing more than with a microphone plugged into his

stereo.

It wa s also during this time that Jason was recording his own songs from the small

keyboard he received as a birthday present in the fall of 1986. And again, the

recording was nothing more than a microphone placed by the keyboard's speaker

and plugged into the stereo and recorded. In fact, in some songs you can even hear

the clicking sound of the keys being played.

There was no fancy equipment, there wasn't even a nam e for this recording

location, yet it served as the basis of what would eventually become Metal XOR

Studio.

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 5:47 AM 0 commentsLabels: Studio Chapter

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W E D N E SD AY, M A R CH 5 , 2 0 0 8

Equipm ent File #1: Electra Phoenix guitar

Electra Phoenix electric guitar

The first guitar used at Metal XOR Studio was this Electra Phoenix electric guitar.

It was early 1988, the end of Jason's junior year in high school, when he decided to

try playing the guitar. His friend Mark was a very talented guitar player and had a

small collection of guitars. So he loaned Jason this cheap model to see if he was

interested in learning to play.

Jason first played it with the Two -Tones . He played it with incorrect tuning and

did little more than power chords. Early Two -Tones recordings reveal the amateur

playing.

Throughout the next year Jason also used it in the Christmas program in Decemberof 1988 and for the Traveling Deengelburys show in March of 1989.

Jason had borrow ed the guitar for more than a year. So after graduation in May of

1989, Jason decided it was time to return the guitar. He went to Mark's house to

drop off the guitar but no one was home, so Jason took it back home with him.

And it is still with him to thi s day.

This has been the only electric guitar Jason has recorded with in his twenty years

of playing guitar. He has used it with every project associated with the Studio,

mostly notably Mune Mud , O RC, Isthmus , and many others.

Over the years it has had a few changes. The back of the guitar bears a

Greenpeace '94 sticker whose origin is unknown. Also on the back are two clips and

some velcro which once held a beltpack transmitter for playing the guitar wireless.

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But since most of Jas on's guitar playing is in the Studio now there is little need for

being wireless. In the early 90's the guitar had a "Doubletree" label across the front

of it. That was Jason's Traveling Deenglebury name. But that label has long since

been removed. And mos t recently the white/clear knobs replaced the original solid

black knobs (of which one had always been missing).

So this guitar has played MANY songs and unless something drastic happens, it will

play MANY more!!!

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 6:17 AM 0 commentsLabels: Equipment File

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F R I D AY, M A R CH 7 , 2 0 0 8

Article: CD Codes

Metal XOR Studio took a step forward in 1999 when it released its first CD, O RC'sdebut album Purging the Great Abyss . It was the end of the era of the cassette.

There have been thirteen albums released since then and each has had its own

unique number in the format of CD -XX (Purging the Great Abyss being CD -01). This

is a list of the albums with their CD codes.

CD-01 Purging the Great Abyss (1999) - O R C CD-02 Love Songs (2001) - Nikki and Jaso n Watson CD-03 The Vintage Years Vol 1 (2001) - Harry and Jason CD-04 The Search for Metropolis (2001) - Mune Mud CD-05 Olympus 10th Anniversary (2001) - Mune Mud CD-06 Underwater Problem Factory 10th Anniv (2002) - Mune Mud CD-07 Pryme Material 10th Anniv ersary (2003) - Mune Mud CD-08 Singles Collection (2004) - Mune Mud CD-09 Hobson's Choice (2004) - Mune Mud CD-10 Hobson's Second Choice (2005) - Mune Mud

CD-11 Equation of Time 10th Anniversary (2006) - Mune Mud CD-12 Sleep State F 10th Anniversary (2007) - Mune Mud CD-13 My First Album (2007) - Paige Watson Updates CD-14 Precursory 33 (2008) - Mune Mud CD-15 Parabolic Dish Festival 10th Anniversary (2008) - Isthmus

This list will obviously grow so watch for an update to this article in the future.

Poste d by - Mune Mud - at 5:17 AM 0 commentsLabels: Article

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15. Baa Baa Black Sheep

16. Down By the Bay

17. Hello Neighbor

18. Jingle Bells

19. Old McDonald 20. Bedtime

21. The Bear Went Over the Mountain

22. ABC 's

23. Theme from "The Wonder Pets"

24. [various conversations]

25. [end of CD message]

Paige's first recording session was on March 25, 2006. She was 2.5 years old and

there were no plans to make a CD. Then over the course of the next year there

were sev eral other recording sessions. So in late summer of 2007 it was decided to

collect the best songs of her recordings and release them as an album

The art for the CD label and the inside of the jacket were both drawn by Paige.

And this was the first time in the Studio's history that it contracted an outside

service to do some of the audio editing. Attic Works Studio was given the task of

adding noise reduction and adjusting the levels of each track so they were uniformthroughout the entire CD.

The first p ost on this blog back on August 23, 2007, was to announce the creation

of the blog. The second post was about the release of this album. So it is one of

the catalysts that got this blog started.

Since the release of this album, Paige has had a recording s ession almost every

month to record material for her next album, due out this fall.

Next week's Album of the Week: Mune Mud debut re -release from 1994.Posted by - Mune Mud - at 7:15 PM 0 commentsLabels: Album of the Week

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M O N D AY, M A R CH 1 0 , 2 0 0 8

Studio Chapter 2: [unnamed - late]

To accompany the small Yamaha keyboard Jason received as a birthday present inthe fall of 1986, he borrowed an electric guitar and amp early in 1988. Other than

the bands he was in during that time ( Pheonix , The Two -Tones , and The TravelingDeengelburys ), he was also experimenting with the guitar and keyboard at home.

This was his early solo period.

In the summer of 1990 he got an old mixing board from where he worked. So using

that and his home stereo, he began experimenting with mutli -track recording. In

June of 1990 he recorded what would become the very first Mune Mu d song,

"Plutonic". Over the next several months he recorded many more songs this way.

He collected the best songs and put them on a cassette and labeled it Mune Mud .

Not only was he recording his own music now, he also began getting new music

equipment. In 1990 he bought his first drum machine. It replaced the cheesy drum

sounds he was using from his Yamaha keyboard. In early 1991 he bought his 4 -track

cassette recor der, which was true multi -track recording. The quality of his

recordings instantly improved immensely. He immediately began work on a new

album. Then he bought a delay/sampler effects pedal for his guitar. In the summerof 1991 he got a new Casio keyboard which replaced his Yamaha.

In November of 1991 he released his first true album, Olympus . Many copies were

handed out and people were surprised that he was able to accomplis h this in his

bedroom.

So the Studio was taking shape. He now had a mixer, a recorder, an electric guitar

with amp, an effects pedal, a real microphone, and two keyboards. He had two

albums finished and was preparing to begin work on his third. Yet the St udio still

did not have a name.


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W E D N E SD AY, M AR CH 1 2 , 2 0 0 8

Equipment File #2: Ibanez bass

Ibanez CT Series bass guitar

The Studio had been using an electric guitar for its music since early 1988. But a

bass guitar wasn't used until the early 90's.

The first appearance of a bass guitar was in the song "Paroxysm" from the 1991

Mune Mud album Olympus . Jason had borrowed the bass from a friend. He

recorded a couple of songs with it and used it in some jam sessions with the band

Pheonix . And unlike the borrowed electric guitar, this bass was returned to the

friend.

Then one of his high school friends moved to Monmouth, IL, to attend college.

During one of his trips to visit her they went to the Quad Cities area to go

shopping. While there they went into a music store and that is where Jason found

his bass guitar. But he wasn't sure if he should buy it, so they left. By the time he

got home a few days later, he realized he should have bought it. So on April 29,

1992, he drove back to the Quad Cities and bought the bass.

The bass has been used at the Studio and in his jam sessions ever since. It has its

popular times and sometimes it will sit for a year or more without being used. But

it is the only bass the Studio has ever owned.


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F R I D AY, M A R CH 1 4 , 2 0 0 8

Collector's Corner #24

This mask has been a part of the Studio for years. Its origins have been lost intime, but it has definitely been around since the early 90's.

When Metal XOR Studio delved into short film production in 1994, the mask was

used in a couple of movies. It has also appeared in various pic tures throughout the

years.

But most recently it has been used in the project O RC. The character it currently

represents is called Gargoyle (whose name dates back to Devastation and Minim

Opi , the lyric booklet for the 1993 NueroMorgue album Devis Tortura ).

And watch for more appearances of this face as the new ORC album slowly takes

shape.Posted by - Mune Mud - at 5:06 AM 0 commentsLabels: Collector's Corner

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SU N D AY , M A R C H 1 6 , 2 0 0 8

Album of the Week #30: Mune Mud [re - release]

Project name: Mune MudAlbum name: Mune M ud (debut re -release)

Release date: August 2, 1994


Studio name: none

Tracks: 1. That's All I Need to Know

2. Ominous

3. S Paradise

4. Peachtree

5. Umbra Flame

6. Harley

7. Lyric

8. That's Life

9. Go West 10. Under the Sky

11. I Dream

12. The One -Liner

13. Just Defied

14. Fruit Preserve

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15. Why Did You Go? v2.0

16. King Song

17. Downstairs

18. We Dog

19. EnVenum Above 20. Disco Babies

When the original Mune Mud debut a lbum was compiled, it was not meant to be

distributed to friends and family. It was an organization of the music Jason had

recorded on various tapes throughout 1990 -1991. So only a couple of people other

than Jason even heard those songs. But after the rel ative successes of Olympus in

1991, Underwater Problem Factory in 1992, and Pryme Material in 1993, Jasondecided to create a real album based on the unreleased debut album from a few

years earlier.

The major changes from the original album to this release was the different album

cover and the slight change in the playlist. A couple of the songs changed positions

on the album, some of the better songs moved towards the front of the album. A

different version of "Why Did You Go?" was used on this album. And a politically

incorrect song title was shortened to be friendlier.

The album cover was basically the same. Whereas the first version was deisgned onthe Commodore 64, the cover for the re -release was designed on a PC.

This re -release still rea ched a small audience, but at least a few more people got

to hear the roots of Mune Mud. There are plans to release this album yet a third

time, this time on CD and with more tracks than the first two versions.

Next week's Album of the Week: Merry Christ mas to Me from 1986.

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 6:39 AM 0 commentsLabels: Album of the Week

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M O N D AY, M A R CH 1 7 , 2 0 0 8

Studio Chapter 3: QDQ

After the release of the album Olympus in 1991, recording immediately began onthe next Mune Mud album. When the follow -up album, Underwater Problem Factory , was completed in 1992, it was decided that the Studio should have a

name. So it was during the album cover design process that the name

Quintessential Disco -Quest Tapes & Discs (QDQ) was created.

The name was a left -over of the themes of disco and the 70's from the earlier band

The Two -Tones . And it was during the Underwa ter Problem Factory recordingsessions that the song "Go Disco!" was recorded (and appeared on the album). Thus

was the origins of the first Studio name.

Everything at the time was released on cassette, but CD's were becoming more

popular in the real musi c world. So the "Tapes & Discs" was added to the end of

the name to give the impression that the Studio was technologically up -to -date.

The first song recorded under the QDQ label was "In My Heart" in Nivember 1991

(which appeared on Underwater Problem Fa ctory ) and the last song recorded was

the Underwater Problem Factory outtake "Nothing Cube" on April 19, 1992. Theonly album released under that label was Underwater Problem Factory in thesummer of 1992.

Thus this period of the Studio's history lasted f rom November 1991 to the summer

of 1992.


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SAT U R D AY , M A R CH 2 2 , 2 0 0 8

This Day in Studio History

It was on this day in 1994 that the lyric booklet Devastation and Minim Opi wasreleased for the NueroMorgue album Devis Tortura .

This was the third ly ric booklet released by the Studio. The lyrics were presented

in short story format and the booklet also contained the original artwork titled

"Primordial Water and Lotus ".

Happ y 14th anniversary!!!

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 9:19 AM 0 commentsLabels: This Day in History

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SU N D AY , M A R C H 2 3 , 2 0 0 8

Just For Fun #8

Happy East e r

From all of us at Metal XOR Studio

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 7:37 AM 0 commentsLabels: Just for Fun

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SU N D AY , M A R C H 2 3 , 2 0 0 8

Album of the Week #31: Merry Christmas to Me

Project name: [ early keyboards ]Album name: Mer ry Christmas to Me Release date: unreleased (recorded in 1986)


Studio name: none

Tracks :

1. Away in the Manger

2. Jolly Old St. Nicholas

3. Joy to the World 4. Silent Night

5. O Come All Ye Faithful

6. Good King Wenceslas

7. We Three Kings of Orient Are

8. The F irst Noel

9. Hark the Herald Angels Sing

10. Up on the Housetop

11. What Child is This? 12. Jingle Bells

13. Christmas Fun!

Jason received his first keyboard in October of 1986 for his birthday. He

immediately began recording his own music using a microphone plugged into his

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home stereo.

The first collection of songs he recorded was given as a Christmas present to his

aunt. The tape was called Merry Christmas to Me and was recorded in one

afternoon.

There are only three copies of this tape known to exist . The first is the original

master tape he recorded the songs on. The second tape is the copy he gave to his

aunt. And the third tape was a compilation of this album and an album he

recorded in 1987, Songs to Enjoy, putting both albums on one tape for easi er

listening.

There are no vocals on the tape, it is just instrumental Christmas songs. The last

track is the only original song on the album. There are no plans on releasing this

album, but the songs have been transferred to the computer so they will now liveforever in the digital domain.

Next week's Album of the Week: The Deuce from 1986.

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 6:16 PM 0 commentsLabels: Album of the Week

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M O N D AY, M A R CH 2 4 , 2 0 0 8

Studio Chapter 4: Circle IX

Circle IX was the second name the Studio went by in its long history. Whereas theprevious name, Quintessential Disco -Quest, was used just for the recording period

of Mune Mud 's 1992 album Underwater Problem Factory , Circle IX (C9) was used for

two years and covered the release of several albums. The album s released under

the Circle IX label were:

Mune Mud Pryme Material [September 7, 1993] NueroMorgue Devis Tortura [December 14, 1993] NueroMorgue E. Phantasmata [April 5, 1994]

Mune Mud Mune Mud re -release [August 2, 1994]

Mune Mud Devaulted [August 2, 199 4]

Binary Pipedream Binary Pipedream [September 6, 1994]

NueroMud ...Libra 971 [October 18, 1994]

The name itself comes from Dante's Divine Comedy. There are nine circles in the

story, the Studio was named after the ninth one.

There were two phases to Ci rcle IX. After Underwater Problem Factory wasreleased, recording soon began on the next album. The Studio didn't really use the

QDQ name any more. On May 19, 1993, the Studio was taken apart in preparation

for a large amount of new equipment that had been ordered. The equipment

arrived and from June 7 to June 10 it was rebuilt from the ground up. But this new

version of the Studio had a new element, MIDI. Now the sequencer could be

programmed to play back the sounds from the sound module and drum machine.

This was a real break -through for the Studio and this is when the Studio actually

took on the name Circle IX Studio.

The first song recorded following the Underwater Problem Factory sessions was"Palace" (which appeared on the 1993 NueroMorgue album Devis Tortura ) onOctober 21, 1992, and the last song recorded was the original " Albino Boy " song on

November 4, 1994.

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After the "Albino Boy" song was recorded, the Studio was slowly dismantled to be

moved to its new location. A couple of months later, on January 28, 2005,

everything was taken out of C9 and delivered to the new studio. It was the end of

an era... but the beginning of another.

This period of the Studio's history lasted from October 1992 to November 1994.


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T U E SD AY, M A R CH 2 5 , 2 0 0 8

Studio News: Precursory 33 Announced

Metal XOR Studio is proud to announce its newest album...

The earliest Mune Mud recordings date back to June of 1990. This was when a

home stereo was used as the recorder. There was no multi -track recorder, no

effects, and no bass guitar. The songs were mere experiments with what littleequipment the Studio owned.

Many of those early songs were compiled on a tape in 1991 and simply labeled

Mune Mud . Then in 1994 the tape was re -released, again as Mune Mud . And now in

2008, the songs have been cleaned up in the computer and the newest version of

the album has its own title, Precursory 33 . This is the 19th Mune Mud album to be

released.

This album makes available again those earliest songs, the foundation of today's

Mune Mud. It is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, April 8, 2008. So watch this

blog for a preview song next week and other details leading to t he release.

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 5:42 AM 1 commentsLabels: Studio News

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W E D N E SD AY, M AR CH 2 6 , 2 0 0 8

Equipment File #4: Cimar acoustic

Cimar acoustic guitar

This guitar was a Christmas present in 2003 from Jason's wife. Jason had

mentioned th at he did not like the sound of his Hohner acoustic guitar, so she

bought him this one. It is made by Ibanez, the same brand as his bass guitar.

Like the Hohner, this guitar had no pickups either. But Jason was able to mic the

guitar and get a good sound on tape. It was most often used playing live to their

new daughter at the time. But it was used in several recordings also.

He received the guitar while recording the Mune Mud album Hobson's Choice . So

this guitar was used on several of those tracks, including "She Walked to the Fair","In Search of...", "Puffing Billy", and "Mr. Carpenter".

The guitar is still played on occasion today, mainly to entertain the two kids that

now share the house with Jason and his wife. And there are plans to record new

music with it some day.


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F R I D AY, M A R CH 2 8 , 2 0 0 8

Collector's Corner #25

Who does this mysterious mask belong to?

Technically it belongs to the Studio. But who wears this mysterious mask? Someone

associated with the Studio.

It was created on November 29, 2007, for the first O RC photo session which took

place that same evening. The Studio on ly owned one mask at the time and needed

this second one. It turned out to be an image that could only come from thedarkest nightmares.

It took about 10 minutes to make the mask. It is constructed of one sheet of

printer paper covered in gaff tape and the face is made of white electrical tape.

The mask has been caught on digital film only a couple of times:

http://metalxor.blogspot.com/2008/01/studio -news -orc -session -1.htmlhttp://metalxor.blogspot.com/2007/11/studio -news -orc -photo -session.html

And watch fo r more appearances of this face as the new ORC album slowly takes

shape.

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 1:30 PM 0 commentsLabels: Collector's Corner
http://metalxor.blogspot.com/2007/11/studio-news-orc-photo-session.htmlhttp://metalxor.blogspot.com/2008/01/studio-news-orc-session-1.html

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Album of the Week #32: The Deuce

Project name: [ early keyboards ]Album name: The Deuce

Release date: unreleased (recorded in 1986)


Studio name: none

Tracks :

1. Take the Train

2. Baby Elephant Walk

3. Where Did Your Love Go? 4. City Life

5. Londonderry Air

6. Ioelios

7. Trauma at Barnes

8. Miami

9. Amphition

10. Night Vision

11. Night Vision II 12. Boogie E

13. Soul Rhythm

14. Vertigo

15. Preternatural

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This was the first collection of songs Jason recorded that he also wrote. It was

recorded in late 1986. During this time he also recorded the Christmas album

Merry Christmas to Me . Although most of the songs on this tape are originals,there are a couple of covers that he had learned on the piano and often played.

The covers were "Baby Elephant Walk" and "Londonderry Air".

The name of the album comes from the fact that it was the second tape he

completed (following the Christmas tape). This metho d of album naming would

continue throughout the early keyboard years.

These songs were recorded using a microphone pointed at the keyboard's speaker

and plugged into a home stereo. For songs that have two sounds at once, he would

record one sound into the left channel and then play the second sound in the right

channel while dubbing the left channel.

This is the only know copy of the tape to exist. It has never been heard by anyone

other than Jason.

Next week's Album of the Week: Diversity au Troi from 1986 -87.Posted by - Mune Mud - at 7:33 PM 0 comment s

Labels: Album of the Week

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M O N D AY, M A R CH 3 1 , 2 0 0 8

This Day in Studio History

It was nineteen years ago today, on March 31, 1989, that the TravelingDeengelburys made their worldwide debut by playing a fund -raiser dance at a

small high school.

Please visit the official Traveling Deengelburys website , the most comprehensive

site on the internet to find information about the band.

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 5:48 AM 0 commentsLabels: This Day in History

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M O N D AY, M A R CH 3 1 , 2 0 0 8

Studio Chapter 5: Metal XOR -A

There was a big change in the fall of 1994, Jason and a friend moved into a rentalhouse together. Although Circle IX Studio was only five minutes from the rental

house, it was too inconvenient to record music. So it was decided to build a studio

in the basement of the rental house and move the equipment from Circle IX Studio

to the new studio.

In early January of 1995, the basement was cleaned out and names were

considered as the Studio was designed and built. Bl akMetal X -OR Studio was an

early choice. But by the end of January it was known as Metal XOR Studio, or MXOR

for short.

On January 17, the first plywood was cut. The walls were framed and shelves were

added for specific equipment. And the power was run. T he new studio was

progressing very well.

Then February 5 was the first Isthmus jam. The video of the session shows Harry

and Jason playing in the unfinished stud io, the walls were still just framed and not

all of the equipment had been moved in yet. But the jam was successful enough tolead to the first Isthmus album, El ectric Field Donut .

Two weeks later on February 19, the final pieces of music gear were installed and

the Studio was complete. The first song worked on in the new Metal XOR Studio

was called "Bacon". It was music written to accompany a video of a new surgery

technique (being demonstrated on a pig body). The song was started on February

20 and finally finished and recorded on February 26.

Other than that special project, the first song recorded that appeared on a Studio

album was "Happy Little Squirrel" recorded on March 4. It was recorded by Jason

and Jimmy and would end up on their debut O RC album Purging the Great Abyss in

1999.

The last song recorded in this version of the Studio was on October 24, 1995, and

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was originally titled "Nine Days Wondering". The song was later renamed "At the

Last" and appeared at the end of the NueroMud album Nine Days Wonder , which

got its title from the original name of this song.

On October 30, 1995, the Studio was moved from the basement up to a groundlevel bedroom. There were two reasons for the move. The first being the fact that

the b asement was more damp than expected and it was starting to affect the

equipment and recordings. The second was the purchase of the Studio's first

computer program to control the MIDI equipment. And since the computer was

upstairs in the bedroom, the Studio had to move.

So after eight months, MXOR -A was finished. The Studio moved upstairs and

became MXOR -B.

No albums were released under the MXOR -A label. But songs were recorded that

would end up on the aforementioned Purging the Great Abyss and Nine Days W onder albums. There were also a few NueroMorgue songs recorded that have yet

to appear on an album.

This period of the Studio's history lasted from February 1 995 to October 1995.

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 11:25 AM 0 comments

Labels: Studio Chapter

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T U E SD AY, A P RI L 1 , 2 0 0 8

State of the Studio #8: April '08

It's hard to believe this is the eighth State of the Studio I've done. Seems like itshould be number three.

I mentioned last month that the Album of the Week feature would soon delve intothe archives and spotlight some early music. The last two features have gone back

to the very beginning of the Studio to 1986. And that will continue through this

month, shedding more light on the 'Vintage Years'.

There was a recent recording session for Paige's next album. There will be another

session this month. After a few more sessions I will begin selecting tracks for her

next album , still due out this fall (which at this point is starting to come into

view).

The Equipment File will move from guitars to keyboards this month.

The Studio Chapter feature will continue chronicalling the different eras and

names of the Studio.

But the BIG news of April is the release of the next Mune Mud album. The pre ss

release was posted on March 25 and a preview song will appear later this week on

the blog. And one week from today the album will be released. On the same day

the Precursory 33 official website will come online. At the site you will be able to

listen t o and download most of the album. This will be the first time an OnlineAlbum has been available.

And following on the heels of that album is another project being considered for

2008. More on that will be announced at a later date. Equinox.

As I set a f ew more irons in the fire, I close this month's update and look forward

to seeing what next month brings. . .

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 8:33 AM 0 commentsLabels: State of the Studio

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W E D N E SD AY, AP R I L 2 , 2 0 0 8

Blog News: 200th Post

This blog has muscled its way to post # 200 !!!

So at this point I wonder, "How much more info is there to put on this site?" Then I

answer myself, "Even with all of the different features that have been posted,

there are still some series that have not been started yet!" I think, "Having read all

the al bums of the week, project spotlights, musician profiles, interviews, etc.,

how can there be more?" And then I answer myself once again, "There's more!"

Will we see post #250? Yes!

Will there be a better picture to use for the 250th post? I sure hope so!

See you then. . .

Posted by - Mune Mud - at 5:49 AM 0 commentsLabels: Blog News

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