Archive for the ‘Black Tape For A Blue Girl’ Category
Apr 07
Black Tape For A Blue Girl Two test bass shots (NSFW)
Image below might be Not Safe For Work, depending on where you work…
This morning, I tried a few more tests of Mercy in the bass (for the cover of These fleeting moments). I’ve been doing tests along the way (as I modify the bass) because I want to be really ready for the shoot. I work without a crew and I find I often miss things on set. I do a good job technically (focus, lighting, angles), but find that leads me to under-focus on the form of the body: arranging the shot. That’s why we’re practicing now, so I will be less worried about the bass, and more aware of the overall.
Even though Mercy (quite proudly) fits inside, This weekend I plan to cut the bass at the bottom to give her a few more inches of room.
I’ve never worked with an object on a cover (I did, years ago in college, on videos). So this has been a pretty fun experience.
Also, Harley wanted in on the act. Naturally. Cats! : )
Apr 03
Black Tape For A Blue Girl, April (with photos)
Today’s post to you is brought to you by circular saw
On Tuesday, I sent the mixes of These fleeting moments to Howard, my mastering guy. That followed a weekend of driving myself a bit batty, finding small changes that seemed urgently necessary (“Is the first half of that word a db too loud? Could the drums go up .3 db in the instrumental section?”) It’s the sort of obsessive stuff that loops in my brain right at the end of the mix. But you know what? The album sounds amazing! So much good stuff, I cannot wait for the world to hear it.
The album has a May 5 deadline to meet the release date for the distributor. That means in the next few weeks I will shoot the cover photo and design the packaging. Next week, I will shoot a photo of Grace for the booklet. In 10 days I will shoot the cover photos (I am still searching for a location). Right after that, I fly to NYC to photograph Brian for the booklet. And I have to do the graphic design as well.
I just came in from the yard, and dusted myself off after making the first “modification” to the bass. I cut it open; next I will check if Mercy fits inside as is. I think I will need to do some work to make it wider, but maybe she’s petite enough?
As I was setting up the scraps for the third photo, I got a great idea for the top premium on the Kickstarter for the Deluxe CD. I’ll make a few Joseph Cornell Box-like boxes using pieces of the bass, outtake photographs, and other bits that fit the mood. That will be a fun thing to make for a few lucky backers!
Two weeks ago, I drove 600 miles into California to record with Mark Seelig. As mentioned to my Patreon patrons recently, Mark plays bansuri flutes on the Fleeting track “Meditations on the Skeleton.” R. Scot Johns commented, “I really like Mark’s flute, but would much prefer the track with no vocal…” Your wish is my command! The backstory on this track is a bit long, you can read the full blog at Patreon. The short version is that I am going to create a bonus album, an extended version of this track as an ambient/electronic journey. I will go into the studio to work with the tracks I recorded with Mark. Process, edit, texturize. My next studio project… Soon.
You might remember the Bike Shop vinyl EP that I Kickstarted back in September. Guess what! It’s almost finished. The plant says the vinyl will be pressed mid-April. OMG, vinyl takes forever! Sorry about this, but it’s been in slow-motion at the plant for a while. I’m ready to ship them, as soon as I have them in hand.
After I get These fleeting moments designed, I am going to launch the Kickstarter for the deluxe CD edition. I have interesting design ideas for the release, ideas are still spinning & forming in my head. Stay tuned for details. I hope you will support this release. It’s the first Black tape for a blue girl album in seven years, and it’s a great one! I am thrilled with Oscar Herrera’s return to the band. He says this is the best Blacktape album yet! I love hearing his voice in the music again; it was great creating these songs for him to sing! The album met my intention of sounding like it was born from the same place as the classic 90s Blacktape albums.
There’s a blog here from January, with links to videos of the band in the studio.
It’s going to be a busy two months, there is a lot for a Black Tape For A Blue Girl fan to look forward to! Thank you so much for your interest in my work, and your support.
-Sam
I thought I’d share some of the visuals I’ve been looking at lately…
1 At the very top is a close up of Mark Seelig’s flutes. Starting below that on the left and then working clockwise…
2 The Bike Shop Vinyl test pressings. The 2nd set of test pressings. I’ve sent copies out to three of the Time Trial level supporters.
3 I dropped by Cascade and picked up some samples of the 12″ cover and insert for Bike Shop. Ooooooh, they look nice. Amber Shine on the cover is just about life size. You can’t do that on a CD! Read a short blog about it (with larger photo) on the Kickstarter Update page. Michael Plaster has signed copies of the cover, and mailed them to me for my signature (these are for the backers, but there will be some leftovers for sale on the Projekt site, after all the backer packages have been mailed.)
4 Paulo in Portugal purchased a copy of the Remnants of a deeper purity vinyl release. I prepared it, signed it, and shipped it off to him. There are still around 50 copies left. If you would like a signed copy for yourself, be sure to tell Joe when you order, and also message me.
5 I designed a 4″ Projekt beer coaster. It’s at the printer.
6 I sent in the 20th anniversary CD edition of Remnants. Yes, really. It’s 20 years this summer! Wow. It will be a 6-panel digipak with 2-CDs (digi design shown here), with a deluxe 16-page booklet, and also a 1-color sticker (see that image on Facebook). This package is super deluxe thanks to the backing I receive at Patreon.
Thanks for your interest, and taking the time to read this.
Stay tune for the Fleeting deluxe CD Kickstarter, launching in May.
Feb 17
Black Tape For A Blue Girl — Album cover, Steps 1 + 2
[February 9] Step 1 to making the cover for These fleeting moments: acquire a bass that can be ‘modified.’
( √ ) accomplished!
I got a bass off CraigsList. The narrow portion (above the f-holes) is thirteen inches across. I measured my model. The way I want her to pose is seventeen inches across. I will have to do a bunch of modification to this bass, to make it wide enough to hold my human.
Album Cover, Step 2: See if model will fit the bass[February 16]
Nope.
My idea for the These fleeting moments album cover is to have Mercy inside the bass. Today I generally wanted to see if she’d fit. Mercy tried on the bass, and while she says she’s a contortionist and can fit in the tight spot, I still plan to make the bass a bit larger. With a circular saw, and a bit of wood at the bottom to add some extra space for her to curl up inside. Maybe hard to picture, I know what I have in mind.
See additional shots of Mercy on the bass at http://sam-r.com/Shoot23.html — but be warned there is some (classy!) nudity, so the page is NSF (not safe for work!)
The third one with the spine is really nice, if I do say so myself.
Oh yeah… I haven’t listened to the mixes of the album since January 29th. I plan to go back this weekend and see how things feel after a bit of distance.
Jan 26
Black Tape For A Blue Girl recording (with video)
I was in the studio this weekend recording vocals with Oscar & Dani Herrera for the upcoming Black Tape For A Blue Girl album, These fleeting moments. As you might know, Oscar was the band’s original vocalist from 1986-1999, performing on the first 7 of our 10 studio albums. Oscar sings eight songs on These fleeting moments. Dani – his daughter – sings three; Dani was not even a year old when vocals were laid down for our The Rope debut 30 years ago.
This was our second weekend of recording, after a session back in August. I’m excited! The vocals are all done, and they sound amazing. In fact, the entire recording for the album might be finished! I have to do some more rough mixes, and listen through and see if there’s anything else I’d like to add. But yeah, I think it might be done. Wow! The album will have a Kickstarter campaign and then a release in mid-2016.
This time I shot some video in the studio of Oscar and Dani. I made one minute clips for you:
I’m limitlessRead more about this track on my Patreon post
One promised love She’s gone The vastness of lifeThe recording of this album is supported by the patrons at patreon.com/Blacktapeforabluegirl
Do you know that there’s a lot of people who didn’t realize that Black Tape For A Blue Girl is still making music. I often get Facebook friend requests with a message like, “Wow! It was so cool to find you here. I used to listen to your music in college, nice to see you’re still active.” If you could help spread the word, that would be great!
Thanks. Sam
Previous statement:
Oscar Herrera returns to Black Tape For A Blue GirlSixteen years after he last sang with the band, original Blacktape vocalist Oscar Herrera is back in the studio with Sam Rosenthal recording These Fleeting Moments. This is more than just a nostalgic one-song appearance — Oscar sings eight songs on the new album. Complementing Oscar is his daughter Dani who sings three songs; she was not even a year old when vocals were laid down for the band’s The Rope debut 30 years ago. Here is a video with an excerpt from one of the new tracks, “The vastness of life,” followed by the duo on Sam’s couch performing the 1989 Blacktape song “Through sky blue rooms.” Recorded in August of 2015, it’s all the more poignant because of the Bowie magazine cover playfully propped up to watch over them. Oscar and Dani return to Portland in late January to record the remaining vocals on These Fleeting Moments. Sam’s lyrics emotionally confront an awareness of time’s passage, questioning where we are in life and love. The album of all new material will be Kickstarted and then released in the spring.
Jan 16
Sam Rosenthal, album by album
Like all of my friends, I have been reading endless articles on Bowie. Suffice to say, Bowie’s artistic integrity has been an important part of my life as a fan of music, and as a creator of art.
An email from the local Clinton Street Movie Theatre, included a few sentences that really sums it up, “I read from friend after friend how life-changing and life-affirming this man was to each of them. His brilliance pierced the divisions of nationality and race and age, and united us in an understanding that it is okay to be whoever we are. Bowie was also a marvelous example that we don’t need to be only one thing — we can be whoever we want to be today, and we can reinvent ourselves tomorrow — as long as our core is true and kind and loving and non-judgemental.”
Reading this BBC article, the infographic of Bowie’s discography caught my eye. I love timelines, graphs, & data. I was curious what my recorded career would look like in a similar format.
You can comment on my facebook page.
Jan 12
Oscar Herrera returns to Black Tape For A Blue Girl
Sixteen years after he last sang with the band, original Blacktape vocalist Oscar Herrera is back in the studio with Sam Rosenthal recording These Fleeting Moments. This is more than just a nostalgic one-song appearance — Oscar sings eight songs on the new album. Complementing Oscar is his daughter Dani who sings three songs; she was not even a year old when vocals were laid down for the band’s The Rope debut 30 years ago. Here is a video with an excerpt from one of the new tracks, “The vastness of life,” followed by the duo on Sam’s couch performing the 1989 Blacktape song “Through sky blue rooms.” Recorded in August of 2015, it’s all the more poignant because of the Bowie magazine cover playfully propped up to watch over them. Oscar and Dani return to Portland in late January to record the remaining vocals on These Fleeting Moments. Sam’s lyrics emotionally confront an awareness of time’s passage, questioning where we are in life and love. The album of all new material will be Kickstarted and then released in the spring.
Stay tuned for updates from the studio.
Video at YouTube https://youtu.be/jK2GxWPLmXE
* Oscar was the band’s vocalist from 1986-1999, performing on the first 7 of their 10 studio albums.
drifting half a billion miles from the sun it’s cold and empty, everything I should have done the vastness of life, so little of it touched time, always time, rushing by death waits, we’re not immortal death waits, we’re not immortal
Click here for a blog with links to all the videos shot in the studio.
Dec 10
Color Matching the Black tape for a blue girl BIKE SHOP ep
Hi! The first bit of GREAT news is that I turned the label + jacket art into Cascade. I heard back from Amber, the cover model, and she’s cool with my processing on her image. Nice! Approval.
Before sending the art in, there was the matter of matching the vinyl color. Ok, I know I will never perfectly match the color between the print and the vinyl. There are always fluctuations in printing, plus the vinyl is swirled so it’s not one exact color. I went nuts for about 5 days because I cannot locate my PMS books. These “Pantone Books” contain pages with all the pantone colors; it is the best way to match color, as what I see on my monitor isn’t exactly the color that things will print. I thought the books were right here on the shelf behind me, but nope! Cannot find them. My friend Howard from Spotted Peccary Records has a set of new books (mine were / are from 1990) and I dropped by to find the color.
PMS 116u, for those of you checking at home
I then went into Photoshop, opened the cover files, and drew a line in PMS 116u, to see how closely it matched the color that I eyeballed…
My eyeballing was pretty close!
Strangely, the front cover looks more greenish than the back cover. Howevere when you lay the two on top of each other, and add the yellow lines, they seem to be pretty close:
I think it’s the orangish spokes that are tricking my eye into thinking the back cover is more redish. Seriously. This is the kind of stuff us graphic designers think about! : )
This is the disc label art
Josh says that he plans to cut the lacquers in the next few days, or before the end of next week for sure. It would be nice to have everything turned in before I leave town for the holidays.
Sam
Dec 06
How did Dennis Hopper get into the lyrics of “The Cabin?”
A few days ago on a post at the Black Tape For A Blue Girl Patreon, I replied: In “Absolute zero” he knows its hopeless and yet he’s still hopeful. In “Cabin” he’s resigned. In “Vega” he’s resigned. And in “She’s Gone” he’s sort of reached the point of, “Oh fuck it! I’m just going to move on and try again…”
Kervin Brungardt commented: I heartily approve of the story arc and stages in attitude in Bike Shop. It happens that way so often and you have captured the emotional landscape so well. Trivia – Dennis Hopper grew up in Dodge City, KS 80 miles 18 years from where I grew up. Always proud of a fellow High Plains person.
And here’s my reply.
Hey Kervin… Dennis is is a home town boy. How cool! Here’s how the idea came to me to include him in the song.
Usually I spend time listening to the music track as I craft words into lyrics. But “The Cabin” and “Vega” were written a bit differently. I had the music recorded, and I wrote some words (first half of photo above) that I thought fit the mood. Nothing polished, just source material for the song. I brought that sheet into the studio and began recording guide melodies over the music. Shaping them into lines that fit the lengths of the lines.
That was verse one. Now what? When I look at that sheet of paper, I see I thought, “What happens next? Oh! Why doesn’t Dennis Hopper show up to give Mike’s character some dating advice!”
“Seems legit!” as my son would say. : )
But why Dennis Hopper?
I was listening to a lot of early Neil Young when writing the tracks for Bike Shop. In “Pocahontas” (from Rust Never Sleeps – 1979 – actually not so early of an album) Neil sings, “And maybe Marlon Brando will be there by the fire; We’ll sit and talk of Hollywood and the good things there for hire.” That line has been in my mind for over 35 years…. so heading into the 2nd verse, I blurted out (as you can see above), “and maybe a young dennis hopper would sit with us here by the fire, laughing and saying, “man, what are you talking about…” (if you’ve ever seen a Hopper interview on Letterman, you know how he loved to laugh and say “man”) and then I continued, “you’re not gonna deny her, your still caught up i desire…” I just started writing out a string of sentences that rhymed with “fire” to get to the joke at the end of the verse.
Later, I reread the words to “Pocahontas” and made a small change to the first line to make it more similar…
and maybe a young dennis hopper, would be there by the fire, sayin’, “man you can’t deny her, you’re still caught up in desire, get her on that ole’ telephone wire, and do what it takes. don’t let your love expire, you’ve gotta go out on the high wire, let your passion burn like fire.” It’s a bunch of somewhat cliche advice that you might hear from a friend, as you’re thinking, “Naw. Nope. Not gonna happen. Way too late.”
Thus the song ends with:
dennis loved to speak in words that rhymed, but i can’t see that they apply to me so i don’t think i’ll go back to that cabin anymore.
And yes, there is a cabin. And I’ve since visited again. I dusted myself off and tried again.
Dec 01
Mastering the Bike Shop (Black tape for a blue girl)
Have I ever mention to you that artists are a crazy lot? We can get obsessed over a trivial detail which – quite frankly – nobody in the world will ever even notice. And if they did hear it, they wouldn’t call it a “problem.”
Two weeks ago, Josh mastered the four tracks for the “Bike Shop” vinyl ep. They sound great; very “live” and present. However, the first verse of “The Cabin” seemed too loud to me, and not compressed well. This wasn’t Josh’s fault, it happened in my mix, and then was accentuated by the EQ and compression in the mastering. Gotta fix it!
I sent Josh a new mix of the track, to compensate. Guess what!?! On the version 2 mastering the vocals in the first verse sound very consistent (as far as the volume from word to word), but they all sounds a bit too soft.
Yeah, right! Probably half a Db too soft. Anyone going to notice?
No.
Now I am going to try Josh’s patience by suggesting an EQ fix to the problem.
In “She’s Gone” I wrote, “Love’s a lot like insanity anyway.” Well, hey. Being a musician is a lot like insanity, too. : )
I found a model that I think would look great on the cover. I’ve sent her a message, but no answer yet. I made a mock-up of the cover, but I have to hear back from her before I can share it.
Things are moving along…
Sam
Oct 26
