We recently hooked up with the marketing director over at Griffin Technology and he kicked us down a box of goodies! I’ve been checking out some of their stuff this week, like the iTalk and lapel mic. Its really weird hearing sound coming out of the iPod through the little speaker. I’m thinking I’ll use it to quickly capture lyrical ideas when I’m on the move. I used to use a cassette recorder for that, but I could never find blank tapes to use, since I don’t exactly listen to cassettes anymore, and it’s such a pain in the ass finding the part of the tape with the song idea you want. Digital files have really simplified that process. Still, it is sort of interesting going back and listening to all the stuff I’ve recorded to tape since 1998. Some ideas I’d totally forgotten about. I was just telling Ryan about the recording I have of the very first time I asked him to “write me a song” and we sat down and jammed with guitar and voice. Maybe I should digitize some of that stuff? I guess I’d just use the Griffin iMic to plug the cassette player into and then record it into Final Vinyl, like I’ve been doing with the turntable… that’s what I did with some old LSD tape demos a few years back. That iMic might be one of the handiest things those guys came up with! I also use it to power my speakers and it sounds considerably better than when I plug ’em in direct. I’m excited for their SmartDeck connector to come out this summer. Right now I’m using an old 90’s CD car adapter and the cable is too fricken long.

We just uploaded our 2nd Chillin’ with Lovespirals podcast tonight, wherein we talk about our involvement with the Pink Floyd fan tribute, None of Us is Pink. This time around we spent just a little under 10 minutes talking, but who knows how long the next one will be? We’re thinking we’ll be doing them once every 2 weeks, but that could change if things are more or less exciting, I suppose. Ryan’s still not sure what all we’ll talk about, but we love to talk, so I’m not too worried about it. Now I’d love to know how many people are listening and if we’ve done an OK job getting the word out there that the podcast exists?

Wow I feel like such a geek right now. I just upgraded iPodder and am downloading the new episode of TWIT (This Week in Tech), plus I’m using the newly installed MacFLAC to decode a few bootleg tape trader files, and I’m getting ready to encode our latest podcast from AIF to mp3 (whilst I blog, of course). Oh, and I just got a big box of goodies from Griffin (Derrick is da man!) and so I’ve been checking out iTalk and iTrip a little bit. They always say Aquarians love technology, and I’d have to say that is completely true!!! Back to the fun…

So I had thought we’d do a weekly podcast, but Ryan’s thinking we’ll do an every other weekly podcast. What’s the technical term for that, anyway? The first one was released on a Wednesday. I wonder if we should stick with the “humpday” release date? Some people say we’re “babymaking music” so I guess that’s kinda cute. Sheesh, what station was it that used to talk about “humpday” — was it KLOS or KMET? Hmm… I seem to remember it being a classic rock station, anyway. Well, when the music was still actually contemporary in the 70’s. Come to think of it, when did that genre name come into use?

I can hardly believe I faxed the RIAA today. I felt all creepy doing it. Even though I’m a recording artist, I feel that most of what they’ve been doing lately is largely misguided and wrong. I guess I think of them as “evil.” But I do want to get ISRC codes for our songs so that BMI can track our royalties. We don’t get tons, but it’s nice to get checks now and again from radio play and stuff.

Now it’s time to get our artwork and packaging together for the new CD. It was difficult getting all the lyrics into the last one, even with the extra panel. I don’t think we’ll be able to print them inside this time. I’m thinking about creating a PDF file that folks can download off the site to either read on their computers or print. Of course, the lyrics will be on the site, too. I dunno. I always like being able to read the lyrics while I listen to albums. That’s one of the things that was so great about the 12″ vinyl format! You got great artwork, plenty of room for band photos, complete credits PLUS the lyrics. CDs are just too small to squeeze all that in. I tried with Windblown Kiss but I’m not totally happy with how it turned out. I’m really not sure how I want the new one to look, but I think somehow more like a record.