02
Mar

The time sink of a pedalboard

I’m a little relieved that our last show got cancelled. I thought my effects setup (Line 6 Bass PODxt Live) was ready — it wasn’t.

A couple days before the show, I was setting up channels using Sennheiser earbuds as monitors rather than my bass amp. (I don’t have a smaller amp for outside the garage.)

At rehearsal, some channels sounded good with everyone else. Some didn’t.

When you listen to our songs, the crazy effects are from Bill. With this pedalboard, I hope to add some texture to my bass guitar.

But, I can’t get too excited. I need to set the noise gate, compressor, and EQ perfectly before I start experimenting.

I had a failsafe bank that I thought was good. That wasn’t the case, either. At least now I have some more time to find these quirks before our next show.

By the way, I ended up ordering Sony MDR7506 Professional Large Diaphragm Headphones rather than a small bass amp. That way, I won’t bug neighbors. Hopefully, they’ll help me perfect my sound so plugging into an amp is seamless. (Hopefully.)

*****

Have you shared our music with a friend? Head to our music page and click the “Share” button. That’ll get you started. Thanks!

Next show: Saturday, March 13, 2010 7pm at Azusa Pacific University (Azusa, CA)

27
Feb

CD release show at APU

A few weeks ago, Casey from Theoria — one of Chris’ friends that went to APU — asked if we’d like to open for them. A show at a university with wicked sound? We couldn’t say no!

Theoria is releasing their début album, The Serpent and the Staff, on March 13, 2010 at Azusa Pacific University.

The line up:

And the rest of the details:

  • Date: Saturday, March 13th, 2010 7:00pm
  • Location: Upper Turner Campus Center (UTCC) on East Campus — Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, CA (Google Maps)
  • Cost: $7
  • Elsewhere: Facebook

Tickets

There aren’t physical tickets. But, we need to make an undisclosed amount of pre sale.

There will be a list of names at the door and that’ll be the only way you can get in.

Method 1: PayPal

How many people?

If you buy several virtual tickets for your friends, you’ll save money on transaction fees. So, be a pal and order tickets for them!

The “thank you” page will explain that you need to e-mail us so we can include their names on the list. (Again, that’s only if you buy more than one virtual ticket.)

Method 2: Snail Mail

For each person, please send seven dollars ($7) and a piece of paper with your name and email address to:

Bryan Villarin
Attn: The Scarlet Paradigm
PO Box 661684
Arcadia, CA 91066-1684

Once we receive your money, we’ll send a confirmation email and include your name(s) on the list at the door.

Please postmark your letter no later than Tuesday, March 9th, 2010.

Why two methods?

Method 1 is easier for you. Yay! It just makes me do a bit of legwork to get the cash.

  1. Transfer money from the band’s PayPal account to my PayPal account.
  2. Withdraw the money from my PayPal account to my bank account.
  3. Wait for the money to be deposited into my bank account.
  4. Withdraw the money from my bank account.

Method 2 is easier on us because it’s all dealt with cash.

Our EP release show, too!

While we’re not going to say it at the show, this’ll be the first time you can buy our physical EP! We’ll also have a box of new, ridiculously comfortable T-shirts with our name on them. (Cash only at the moment, but I think we’ll get a credit card swiper. I’ll cross this out when we get it.)

I’ll stop now

Thanks for the support and we’ll see you at APU!

Update 2010-03-02 — Notte Bella can’t play this show, so Johnny Strat (another APU band) will be taking their place. I think this is their Myspace.

26
Feb

Tonight’s show at CKB cancelled

Hello friends,

Our apologizes for the short notice. We *just* found out that tonight’s show at CKB (Pasadena, CA) got cancelled.

Gah! Why?!

From what we were told, it had something to do with the landlord of the building. Boo.

Our new EP release show will be on Saturday, March 13th. (It’s only a couple weeks away!) We’ll send more details in a couple days, but please save that day for a show of epic proportions – we promise.

26
Feb

Special Treat

Stoked about the show tonight! In honor of my stokedness I decided to share a song I’ve been working on. I’m not sure that its done yet, and I’m not sure whether it will ever be a The Scarlet Paradigm song or not. Whatever it is, you can download it directly from the following link for free! No strings attached! Maybe it will inspire you to draw something great, or do something better than before, or drop out of school, or go back to school, or build yourself a cake, or maybe even write a song of your own.

http://www.mediafire.com/?2ui15nzm2ei

Enjoy…

P.S. Come out to our show tonight if you are free!

25
Feb

CD release show tomorrow, new Line 6 Bass PODxt Live

My new (used) Line 6 Bass PODxt Live

I ordered my Line 6 Bass PODxt Live two weeks ago and it was worth the wait!

I picked it up Tuesday and spent about five hours that evening messing with its different effects. Needless to say, I was a zombie at work the following morning.

Last night, I was setting up the channels for one of our songs. I can’t get too crazy for tomorrow’s show — it’d be terrible to throw everyone off. I primarily bought it for its noise gate, compressor, EQ, and volume pedal. But, we’ll see where this’ll take my sound for new songs.

On a related note, the output jack on my bass guitar is tripping out. Last night, I think I made it worse. I accidentally stepped on my instrument cable, yanked the jack out a little, and one of the tiny screws popped out. I can’t find it. Crud.

It’ll still work, but on stage with movement, I wouldn’t trust it for consistency. I need to get it fixed today.

Finally, I just realized that tomorrow is our CD release show! We’re really not emphasizing that enough. Ugh. :)

See you tomorrow night in Pasadena!