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Linux Adventures #2

(Warning: geeks-only post)
I gave up on Gentoo last night. Figured I’d take a tried and true path with DeMuDi and then just Debian. I realize now that I was a little spoiled with the freedom that Gentoo gave me. Anytime there is a choice about how you want to set your computer up, what programs you want to use, Gentoo lets you go either way. Debian assumes a few things, and I guess the idea is you can ditch what you don’t want once your system is running. Then DeMuDi gives you even less choice (it wanted to install a GUI, but didn’t give KDE as an option) and actually brands your desktop as well as the boot-loader screen with their own graphics, which irritated me a bit. I guess the point is that DeMuDi is for musicians not hackers, so it gets your sound and sound apps running immediately (though my sound wasn’t quite working), but I felt like it was throwing on all this extra stuff I didn’t ask for while still leaving me junk to set up (it couldn’t get my network card to work). I’ll probably give both DeMuDi and Debian another shot, and then choose between trying out ReHMuDi or going back to Gentoo.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 31st, 2005 at 11:41 am and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

4 Responses to “Linux Adventures #2”

  1. Erik Teichmann Says:
    January 31st, 2005 at 9:11 pm

    You ever use Mandrake? It’s not really music-specialized, but it is a good go-to. Usually is functional out of the box, and comes with lots of options.

  2. Jeff Says:
    February 2nd, 2005 at 12:46 pm

    I haven’t tried Mandrake. Getting a linux install to work is not the big obstacle though. I actually had Gentoo working pretty well to do almost anything. Just not audio. That’s why I’m messing with these flavors that are specifically designed for audio. Though man… I’ve been missing Gentoo lately. It’s really cool.

  3. jim Says:
    February 13th, 2005 at 11:21 pm

    ahhh… i put mandrake on my fam’s computer. it seems to be okay.. but no matter hwo many times i ran the auto-update app they have … it still popped up as though there was more to update.

    i tried to get gentoo going on a separate hdd in my main comp (xp) just for kicks. no dice yet. prolly shouldn’t have tried to do it all in one night. starting at 2 a.m.

    are there good open source recording/mixing/mastering titles for linux? have you been using them all this time or just recently?

    excuse my ignorance if that’s answered somewhere else on your site.

    lates

  4. Jeff Says:
    February 14th, 2005 at 11:37 am

    There seems to be a whole mess of good open source audio tools these days. And things are just getting started. I haven’t actually produced anything with Linux yet, but I’m starting to toy with Rosegarden (midi sequencer that can record also), Ardour (multitrack recorder), and Hydrogen (drum machine).

    Yeah, gentoo take a long time to install. And then installing a window manager takes even longer. But the nice thing is that since you do every step of the installation by hand, if you mess something up, it’s easier to just find where you screwed up and start from there.

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Music

The Weak Moment

1. I Know My Rights
2. I’m Having Trouble Concentrating
3. One Less
4. We Have the Technology
5. I’m Going Away for a While
6. Chance
7. Method of Delivery
8. Boundaries

[Artwork]

Started as a “mini-album,” I started it in Feb.2006, finished recording in July, and posted the final songs in December. The gimmick here is that I recorded myself playing the songs in order and in one session, and those tracks (lead vocal/rhythm guitar) became the basis for the final versions. I wrote the songs in order as well. They’re all from Song Fight titles. So I’d play through a song I’d written, and when it was over, I’d pick a new title to go with and see what kind of song should come next.

Divider Why Are You Doing This?

1. You’re a True Believer
2. It’s Always Something
3. Let It All Burn
4. It Won’t Last
5. Flagwavers
THE ECHO CHAMBER
7. Don’t Be Afraid
8. Uniter
9. Divider
10. Open Your Eyes

[Artwork]

You can buy Divider at CD Baby.

Started in 2003. Intended to be done in 2003. Instead, I finally tore myself away from the last mix in October 2004. I had to post it on the web just to keep myself from messing with it into infinity. Delays continued, and I finally received my box of CDs for selling in late January 2005, about a week after the inauguration of the original Divider.

It’s a semi-political album… but hopefully more to me than to anybody else. Personally political. I wouldn’t really want it to be specific about that stuff lest the life get sucked out of the music once the national tide turns.

The CD has the video for “Let It All Burn” on it as well as some extra mp3s:
Cold Sweat
Complaining
Don’t Be Afraid (acoustic)
Don’t Let the Waiting Wear You Out
It Comes and It Goes
It Won’t Last (alternate)
Sad Saints
They Will Sing
Voices Constantly
Your God Is an Idol
Your God Is an Idol (Acoustic)

Add Covers Achtung Baby

1. Zoo Station
2. Even Better Than the Real Thing
3. One
4. Until the End of the World
5. Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
6. So Cruel
7. The Fly
8. Mysterious Ways
9. Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World
10. Ultraviolet
11. Acrobat
12. Love is Blindness

Songs written by U2
Produced/performed by Jeff Fal

I needed to work, and I needed to work fast. So I ditched the burden of writing songs. We were listening to this album on a roadtrip to and from California. It was speaking to me.

[Artwork]

Please Let Your Faith and Patience Be Mine

1. Scared to Death
2. Locked Box
3. Towering Inferno
4. What’s Happening to Me?
5. Shades of Black
6. New York
7. Good Morning!
8. Coming Dear
9. Red
10. When Have I Been Wrong?
11. Air Traffic
12. Maybe So

Songs made by Jeff Fal

Made in late 2002 and early 2003, this was an unrealistic project undertaken by me and some of my Song Fight friends. We came up with 12 titles by secret ritual and then attempted to each write and record songs for all 12 titles within a month. We gave up that deadline in favor of making more polished work, which I think is for the better. The companion albums for this are Frankie Big Face’s Smile If You Absolutely Have To and John Benjamin’s Feel Things Deeply.

You can order it here.

Dirty Water

1. Back Like This
2. A Reason to Stay
3. Choose My Battles
4. Dirty Water
5. Alone
6. Carrying On
7. Exactly the Same
8. I Know Better
9. Wears on Me
10. Let It Go
11. I Feel Bad
12. The Smile on Your Face
13. I Know Better

Songs made by Jeff Fal

This album took me all of 2002 to make. Ok, That’s not completely true. Probably 80% of the work got done in the summer. There are a couple of songs from before then, and I did a lot of mixing and remixing afterwards. But all in all, I’d say it’s a summer document. Something about summers… They just get me working.

[Artwork]

Songfight Songs: Feb 2001-Feb 2002

1. Midnight Rendezvous
2. Don’t Dance
3. Shipwreck
4. On a Line
5. Black Hole
6. Dad, I’m Changing
7. Listen Close
8. It’s Invisible
9. Been to China
10. A Thousand Swords
11. I Can See You
12. Do It for Captain
13. Red Robot
14. Birds of Our Own
15. Firecrackers
16. Acid Mouth
17. Experimental Fashion
18. Secrets
19. Hotel

Bad Guy

1. I Won’t Be There
2. Hard Enough
3. Fall Apart
4. Five o’Clock
5. Guess You’re on a Plane
6. I Know This Won’t Solve My Problems
7. Maddie
8. Bad Guy
9. Quit Breaking My Heart
10. Tell You Today

Songs made by Jeff Fal

This is an album I recorded in the summer of 2001. It’s actually the third or fourth album I made, but this was the first one after people other than me and my brother began to listen to my music. Which is fine, because those others weren’t great, and Bad Guy was really the first time I succeeded at recording an album of songs that all belonged together that were also all good songs. Of course, to accomplish that, I had to set myself the modest goal of 25 minutes. Actually, my goal was 30 minutes, but you take what you can get.

[Artwork]