The more conversations I have about audio, the more I see ways that seemingly simple things can be confusing, like how the overused word “track” means wildly different things in different contexts.
A track often means a song, as in “Hey have you heard that new track by The Weeknd?” However, we don’t really call songs on vinyl or cassette ‘tracks’, yet each song on a CD is a track and each of the four stereo sections of an 8-track is a ‘track’. Go figure.
Track is a verb too, as in “I’m going to be tracking guitars later this afternoon,” which means recording guitars to tape or digital files. On a recording tape, there are as many tracks as there are channel strips on the recording desk or console, for instance, 24, 48, or 128. In a Digital Audio Workstation or DAW, the number of channel strips is limited only by your computer’s hardware specs.
A track in the audio engineering world usually means a single file of recorded information, like a guitar track. This file goes into or is recorded into a channel strip, which is also sometimes called a track. “Let me import these tracks and get mixing.” This corresponds to the way Digital Audio Workstations mostly mimic the workflow of analog recording consoles.
I’ve even heard the word track used in the context of the main song mix before the vocal goes in, as in “let’s see how well this vocal sits in the track”. This implies that the song is a fully functional piece without the vocal, as in an instrumental track.
It’s no wonder things can get confusing quickly, it often sounds like we’re speaking the same language but we may be talking about different things!
Are there any other ways you have heard the word track used in the audio world?
Whatever else happened this year, 2019 was another great year for heavy music. Maybe because of everything else that happened. At any rate, more good music came out than I had time to listen to, but the music that I did was often excellent. Some bands made quantum leaps with their music and simply leveled up everything, which was amazing to see and hear, in some cases live in person, and for that I am very thankful.
I’ll start with my usual disclaimer that the idea of “best” is subjective and in my mind ridiculous, no one with a “best of” list could have listened to everything available even if the person were the critical yardstick by which all music is measured. What I present here is a list of my favorite albums that came out in 2019, the ones that got under my skin and got the most repeat listens and deserve to be celebrated and shared.
Without further ado, in almost no particular order, here are my favorite albums of 2019. Some you may know, some you are about to discover!
I’m not going to hesitate to call this a masterpiece. I don’t know the last time I heard an album that made me feel as much as this one does. Brume is one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s semi-secret treasures, an eclectic heavy rock trio that’s become a cornerstone of the local metal scene. And their latest release, Rabbits, is nothing less than a bold leap beyond their previous work. This is simply a fully realized emotional and sonic landscape that you experience as much as listen to. I highly encourage you to put this album on, lie back, and let it wash over you.
Fear Inoculum by Tool
I was too busy digesting this album when it came out to even post about it. Tool has been my favorite band since someone handed me their worn out copy of Undertow in the early 90s. To wait 13 years since 10,000 Days seems cruel and bound to subvert expectations, but the wait was worth it. What we got was not the fire of young Tool but the studied, evolved musicianship of mature Tool and a worthy entry into the canon of progressive rock. So masterfully produced it’s like melted butter for your ears. Fear Inoculum sounds like the natural progression from 10,000 Days with a little Lateralus thrown in. Standout tracks: Pneuma, Fear Inoculum
Australia’s Arrowhead have released a banger that has all the confidence and swagger of a band that have shared the stage with Monster Magnet, Earthless, Acid King, and Sasquatch, to name a few. Fans of Black Sabbath, Corrosion of Conformity, Alice and Chains will dig this fuzzed out heavy record full of catchy grooves and riffs. One of my top listens for the year. Standout tracks: Coven of the Snake, Root of Evil, March of the Reptiles
Excellent fuzzy bluesy guitar rock from Mexico City! Sounding like a hybrid between Big Brother & the Holding Company, Black Sabbath, and the Doors, the very talented Acid Alice has knocked it out of the park with their debut album The Road. Put it on, put the top down and go for a ride! Standout tracks: Destroy Me, Wolf, Broken Man
San Francisco’s Lowcaster have arisen from their own ashes to produce a complex and emotionally mature sophomore effort, Flames Arise. A quantum leap above their rollicking 2016 debut, Flames Arise is born from “two years of tragedy and loss”, according to the band. A guest visit from Susie McMullan of Brume helps send this one over the top. Standout Tracks: Flames Bemoan the Tide, Shore up the Ashes
You can never have enough head-banging fuzzy guitar rock, and this groovy album is a gym favorite for me lately. Fans of Corrosion of Conformity and Mos Generator will dig the gritty grooves of Indianapolis’ Devil to Pay. Really digging this one. Standout tracks: Heave Ho, The Devil’s Barking Up Your Tree, 37 Trillion
This quirky eclectic electric trio from Los Angeles is out with a new full length, Supercluster. Give it time and let it grow on you, and you too will be infected with their brand of offbeat bluesy rock. There’s something special about Salem’s Bend that I can’t quite put my finger on, but nods to Frank Zappa and other odd influences are hinted at in their groovy sound. See them live if you can, they’re not to be missed. Standout tracks: Spaceduster, Heavenly Manna, Show Me the Witch
Self-described as ‘post-rock with a dose of Greek folk traditional music’, Villagers of Ioannina City have delivered a masterful opus of sweeping rock soundscapes that subtly incorporates elements of traditional Greek folk music into its heavy tales of gods and the grandeur of nature and history. If you like epic, majestic rock, give this a spin. Also, I love how the singer gives the word “aquarius” five syllables. Standout tracks: Welcome, Age of Aquarius, Father Sun
Was sad to see that this was a one-and-done by the darkly fun Witcher’s Creed, calling it quits in mid-2019 after releasing this solid full length on the heels of a few demos and a single. Awakened from the Tomb is an album steeped in the proto-metal tradition of 1970s Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, and it quickly grew on me to become one of my most played albums of the year. Standout tracks: Witcher’s Creed, Depths of the Black Void, Larissa
Another band that leveled up this year is San Francisco Bay Area heavy hitters Zed, local favorites who are gaining international attention with their appearances at festivals like the Maryland Doom Fest and London’s Desertfest. Volume is their best work to date, oozing with the maturity of a hard working band running on all cylinders. All killer, no filler! Standout tracks: The Other Kind, Chingus, Time and Space
Honorable Mention
Albums that came out this year that I thought were amazing but didn’t make it into my ‘can’t stop playing this’ criteria included Lana Del Rey‘s beautiful Norman Fucking Rockwell; When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? by Billie Eilish; and the surprisingly good The Answer is None by The Answer is None, 3 guys who met over the internet and made a melodic hard rock album that sounds like Alice in Chains met Van Halen:
Social media, love it or hate it, has become part of our daily life. As a musician or creative, you are probably painfully aware of the need to be on social consistently (it may feel like constantly!) for engagement and exposure.
It’s generally recommended to pick one or two channels to focus on that cover the sweet spot between where your fans hang out and your own engagement style. As you may know, my long time favorite social media channel is Twitter. It’s so simple that it can be whatever you make it.
Here are my top tips for having a better Twitter experience.
• Make it your own, tweet what you want. It’s more fun if you don’t overthink it. That said, definitely double check your spelling before you hit Tweet.
• Follow who you like, but check their feed first. Don’t feel obligated to follow everyone back, it’s not necessary. Save yourself seeing what you don’t want to see.
• Don’t feed the trolls. This means – don’t engage people who are determined to argue or contradict. Some people need to get out of their mom’s basement. Block and mute without guilt.
• Mute words you don’t want to see. Make sure you mute them ‘forever’.
• You can also turn off retweets for people who just retweet too much. You’ll see.
• Also, you can mute notifications for conversations, like ones you’ve been included in that you’re just over already.
• Hashtags aren’t as important as on Instagram, but they are important if they’re not just made up as emphasis words. They link content together and can be followed, as in a Tweet Chat.
• Images, GIFs, and short videos do very well to stand out. Humor always wins.
• The best way to quickly find quality follows is to check the followers of people you like/respect/resonate with, see who they follow. Peep the feeds of your peeps’ peeps.
• Engage. You can find amazing, like minded people on Twitter instantly and unexpectedly.
• Top tip: make lists of categories of accounts (music friends, thought leaders, etc). If you use Tweetdeck on your desktop, you can make your lists into columns and have columns of curated content! This includes private lists.
• Top tip: another great way of finding and engaging with like minded people is by joining or starting a regular Twitter chat, which is a topic-based discussion held together with a hashtag. Start with #Twittersmarter and get even more tips!
Extra tips for creatives promoting content:
• Create a strategy for posting that aligns with your (music) business goals. Create keystone content posts ahead of time, space them out with a calendar and post them automatically with a tool such as Buffer or Hootsuite.
• Whenever possible, tailor your style to the social channel, while keeping everything on brand. Be authentic and this should never be an issue.
• Social is social, not a broadcast platform. This isn’t Glengarry Glen Ross, don’t Always Be Closing. Instead, Always Be Engaging.
• Definitely feel free to recycle content, everything old is new to someone.
• Don’t fall into the vanity metrics trap, organic reach and growth is always best.
What are your top suggestions for using Twitter? What’s your favorite social media platform? Let us know in the comments below!
The more conversations I have about audio, the more I see ways that seemingly simple things can be confusing, like how the overused word “track” means wildly different things in different contexts.
Whatever else happened this year, 2019 was another great year for heavy music. Maybe because of everything else that happened. At any rate, more good music came out than I had time to listen to, but the music that I did was often excellent. Some bands made quantum leaps with their music and simply leveled up everything, which was amazing to see and hear, in some cases live in person, and for that I am very thankful.
