Bands that Dared to Cover "YES": The Prog Dog Compilation

You either have to be a fool or gifted musician to undertake covering one of the most unique and legendary prog groups in the world. In this video compilation you get to hear and see some of the best YouTube has to offer. 

Ora Cogan - "Dyed" EP REVIEW (singer/songwriter, shoegaze EP)

by Dean Wolfe, Prog dog Media   [EP released October 21, 2022]

[Video version of this review HERE]

Singer-Songwriter Ora Cogan is a musical explorer, and a fearless one at that. But her sense of adventure is not one of selfish ambition. She's seems to be a purposeful observer- a reporter intent on sharing the musical truths she is uncovering while being the transparent object through which it is expressed. 

Listening to Ora Cogan's new EP Dyed is like crawling into a warm and cozy luminescent cocoon. The songs are both familiar and strange, textural, sublime. 

Her singing is endearing: fragile and gentle, even with childlike chants in parts. The production is generously awash with balmy reverberations and echos. The song structures are at times traditional, at other times indecipherable. Overall she's a melodic composer, and the first track 'Dyed' has a chorus that is almost hooky.

She always has her electric guitar in hand- usually playing finger-styled patterns rather than block-strummed chords. Sometimes her riffs are almost like Indian ragas. If I'm correct, there are some acoustic guitar parts adding to the prettiness of the albums first track. The overall vibe is airy but often gently pinned down by a lightly played drum kit. 

With news of a new EP, I was excited because her music is always beautiful, diverse and unpredictable. I bought her last album Bells in the Ruins on vinyl and have listened to many of her previous recordings on YouTube. I have not been disappointed by this latest release. 

As far as categorization, her own bandcamp page describes it well: Alternative, drone, folk, psychedelic, shoe gaze, singer-songwriter. I would add that at times she has an earthy/ lo-fi vibe. I'd love to get my hands on the lyrics as I usually get lost in melodies and probably don't pay enough attention to specific context. 

I'm aware Ora was present at the recent Fairy Creek blockade/protests as an independent journalist and photographer. She is currently touring Europe promoting her music. Ora resides on Vancouver Island, BC Canada. 

http://www.oracogan.com/

https://oracogan.bandcamp.com/album/dyed-ep

How I got into recording/ audio engineering

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[originally published September 2014]

I've always enjoyed the process of recording my music as much as I do writing it. 

It started with reel-to-reels and cassette tape recorders in the 70s. Then Tascam's revolutionary 4 track Porta-Studio One in 1984, up to a Yamaha's magnetic tape-based 8 track, and eventually 16 track digital in the late 90s (Roland's first VS-1680). Since about 2005 I've worked on however many tracks I need on my laptop - having hopped over to Logic from Pro Tools.  

As a kid in the 70s, the recording process seemed both simple and magical. I loved making comedy skits, radio plays, commercials, dramas on tape- in a word: 'content' according to today's usage. 

My brother Greg and I made a new audio James Bond movies. As the bad guy, Greg would act all tough -at age 12 or so- stealing memorable lines like: "What's your name?" [reply James Bond]..."Name's for tombstones, baby"  while a huge piece of hard candy loudly clattered in his mouth- very professional! 

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And I loved DJ-ing as a kid too. Once I set up a walkie talkie next to my kiddie record player that I picked out from the 'Towers' store. It was painted in a swirly psychedelic fluorescent green. 

From the second floor bedroom I'd 'broadcast' with my best cheesy AM radio DJ voice to my brother who prolifically produced amazing art in the basement. I had some of my own LPs (long-playing albums)- like Saturday Night Fever, Sgt. Peppers and the Blue album by the Beatles, and played mom's '45's' (singles were played at on a different speed on the record player) like "I can help" by Billy Swan ('74) which was a very radio-station-y song that Greg complained I overplayed. 

My mom also had Gordon Lightfoot's shipwreck classic. But my longstanding fave was the Lady Madonna single by the Beatles.

My first stab at multi-tracking was taking two Radio Shack tape recorders and bouncing tracks by recording on the first then playing it while I played a new 'track' - both being recorded to the second tape recorder. If you do too much of this the recording gets muddy. 

First I did a low piano line, then I lifted up the piano's lid and plucked the strings for an interesting intro. Then I played this back while recording on the second recorder- but also played my guitar and thereby bouncing the 2 tracks onto the second tape. Then i could repeat by playing the double recording while playing a bass borrowed from my brother's friend- effectively making the deck a 3 track machine. I was about 10 years old.

I was really piqued by Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells'. I never lacked amazement that one guy could play all the instruments and layer an entire album that way. Nowadays this would not seem such a feat. But in the analog days of recording it was a complex and even risky proposition because you were working with magnetic tape that can stretch, wear out etc before you finished recording all your parts.  Nowadays he could have done the album out of his own bedroom on a Macbook Pro with Logic or similar software, a few microphones and input box.

Setting Up RC 300 to record and playback in Verse/Chorus/Bridge Style

I want to show you how to set up the RC 300 Loopstation so that you can record 3 independent sections, like a verse, chorus and bridge. They can play continuously, independently from each other or in series at your command. 

To do this I programmed and recorded the rhythm and bass parts to the song Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen, which i will be singing and playing guitar over in a live venue.

Out-of-the-box the RC 300 will let you record up to 3 single tracks that can be played all together, or isolated from each other to play in series.

To record in series mode- which is what I needed- we need go into the system parameters that allows only one of the tracks to play at a time- for example a verse, chorus and bridge.

Also, you may want to set it up so that while a track is still playing the verse, for example, that you can push another footswitch to trigger the chorus and it won’t jump right into it, but will start playing when the verse phrase is finished. 

Here's the Video!

DIY CD Packaging!

the making of cd pack with pop up techniques

Origami Instructions: CD/DVD Case - Make your own